[Bugalugs McScruffin]

We may just possibly get Lurkers.

Also, just from the way he talked, it seemed like even the dev team didn't really understand how flexible Terrans were going to be compared with Protoss and Zerg. I also like the idea that they're not just going to add three new units per race per expansion and just be done with it. Add what needs to be added and remove or change what needs it.

Quick question for everyone. What unit would you be happy to see go if it was replaced with a unit that was useful in more situations? Any ideas what you would want it to be replaced with?

[Primex]

Originally Posted by Bugalugs McScruffin

We may just possibly get Lurkers.

Also, just from the way he talked, it seemed like even the dev team didn't really understand how flexible Terrans were going to be compared with Protoss and Zerg. I also like the idea that they're not just going to add three new units per race per expansion and just be done with it. Add what needs to be added and remove or change what needs it.

Quick question for everyone. What unit would you be happy to see go if it was replaced with a unit that was useful in more situations? Any ideas what you would want it to be replaced with?

Maybe Terran can go back to having drop ships and medics seperated :PP

[Dox]

Originally Posted by Bugalugs McScruffin

Also, just from the way he talked, it seemed like even the dev team didn't really understand how flexible Terrans were going to be compared with Protoss and Zerg.

This is the case with all Blizzard RTS to be honest. They design a fairly open-ended balance scheme, throw it into the hands of the players and sit back and watch what unfolds. 90% of the strategies that have surfaced and evolved since beta never could have been anticipated.

It's always been one of the secret ingredients to Blizzard games - they players take what's on the table and make it into something dynamic, even when the developers never saw it coming. Love it.

In response to the post/subject above, I honestly think a few tweaks and active abilities would give the less-popular units the attention they're lacking and increase the skill ceiling at the same time. By no means am I suggesting that these should actually happen, but some examples:

Thermal Lance
* Research Cost reduced to 100/100.
* No longer a passive ability.
* When active, Thermal Lance increases Colossi Range by 3, for 15 seconds.
* 30 second cooldown.


Warp Prism
* Phasing Mode duration reduced to 1 second.
* Gravitic Drive research time reduced to 50 seconds.


Gravatic Drive
* Warp Prism acceleration increases whilst moving, to a maximum speed of 4.0. If the Warp Prism stops moving, the effect wears off.


Corruption
* Reduces target armor by 1 for 15 seconds.
* Stacks up to 3 times on a single target (to a minimum of 0).
* Grants the player vision of the target for the full duration.
* Also effects structures.


Contaminate
* Removed from the Overseer.
* Now a Corruptor ability.
* Range increased to 6.
* Disabling structures also prevents them from attacking for 10 seconds.
* 30 second cooldown.


250mm Strike Cannon
* Increases the Range of the Thor's Ground Attack by 3, for 15 seconds.
* Increases the Damage of the Thor's Air Attack by 3, for 15 seconds.
* 30 second cooldown.


Some random justification
* Thermal Lance: Currently the deathball paradigm pretty much revolves around throwing down some forcefields and making sure your Colossi don't get focused down. In it's current design, Thermal Lance doesn't require much input from the player. They're a safe unit to have, due to their range, so the Colossi rarely find themselves in compromising positions. This would enforce a little more ownership on the player to control their Colossi during battles.

* Warp Prism: Faster Warp-In's would encourage multi-tasking during big battles. (ie. Protoss version of MMA drop play.) Also aligned the research duration with the time it takes to build a Warp Prism, so that you could have it ready when your first Warp Prism pops. This would open the door to more dynamic Robotic play. Currently, it's a given that you'll always get an Observer as soon as your Robo is finished. But in this circumstance, you might want to delay the Observer and go for a harass-based play with a Warp Prism.

* Gravatic Drive: Pretty straightforward. As long as you keep the Prism moving, you can outrun pretty much any unit in the game. This would make for some very entertaining early-game Protoss play, especially when they start moving Colossi around.

* Corruption: Reducing the armor of units and buildings gives the Corruptor more utility against a lot of core units in each matchup. It means they have a purpose once the Colossi are dead. It means you can bring 1 or 2 Corruptors along with your flock of Mutalisks to make your harassment that much more powerful against structures. They're the kind of unit you'd want to bring a few of to every fight. Now as for the "granting vision" part, this also means that you could cast it on a Tech Lab and see what is currently researching. Is it Stim? Is it Combat shield? Or maybe cast it repeatedly on enemy structures/units to know exactly where your opponent is at all times, like the Queen Parasite in Brood War.

* Contaminate: Once again, bring these guys along with your Mutalisks and you'll have no trouble clearing out a batch of Missile Turrets. And it means you can also engage a Planetary Fortress with ground units. So this forces quite a bit of decision making on the Zerg player. Once your spire finishes, you've got 800/800 saved up. What do you spend it on? Currently, the answer to that question is 8 Mutalisks. But with this sort of dynamic, perhaps the answer is to create less Mutalisks and compliment them with a Corruptor or two.

* Strike Cannon: The biggest issue with the Thor, is that it's often trapped behind the rest of your (fast, mobile) infantry force, doing nothing but wasting supply. We've lately seen this unit reduced to nothing more than a Meat Shield for absorbing damage so that our Marines may live. So by providing it with a temporary range increase, this allows the Thor to pick off units like Siege Tanks, Colossi or Infestors in critical situations. Increasing the range of the air attack makes no sense however, so it receives a damage bonus instead. This effectively doubles the anti-air damage of an un-upgraded Thor for the duration.

Quick Comments

TAhackdZ:

I like your suggestions for the Corruptor/Overseer

[Maynarde]

Originally Posted by Bugalugs McScruffin

We may just possibly get Lurkers.

Also, just from the way he talked, it seemed like even the dev team didn't really understand how flexible Terrans were going to be compared with Protoss and Zerg. I also like the idea that they're not just going to add three new units per race per expansion and just be done with it. Add what needs to be added and remove or change what needs it.

Quick question for everyone. What unit would you be happy to see go if it was replaced with a unit that was useful in more situations? Any ideas what you would want it to be replaced with?

I actually wouldn't mind seeing the Broodlord replaced with the Lurker And possibly having the leviathan from single player as an end game unit like a Zerg mothership. Now THAT would be interesting... :P