[Dox]

Three pretty immense changes in this patch. It looks like Blizzard has decided they don't want to discourage strategic diversity by having gold bases eliminated from tournaments. Protoss, rejoice, as you now have a very powerful response to Mutalisks. And Zergs can once again feel safe using Brood Lords & Infestors against Ghosts!

MULEs now harvest the same amount of minerals on both high yield minerals and normal minerals.

+ [MULE nerf explained] +

We’ve been looking into the effects that high yield expansions have on gameplay, in particular how the added efficiency of MULEs on these mineral patches can affect matchups. This is also a common piece of feedback we’ve received from both pro players and the community.

We’ve been closely monitoring several sources of information: GSL tournaments which feature maps that do not have high yield mineral patches at all, major tournaments that still use high yield expansions, and our own ladder maps data now that our 1v1 ladder features a tournament-like map pool.

Based on these observations, we’ve made the decision to keep MULE resource generation the same regardless of mineral type, while allowing high yield mineral patches to remain on our ladder maps. This change helps keep the risk vs. reward the same for all three races when acquiring expansions that feature high yield minerals.

Snipe damage changed from 45 to 25 +25 Psionic.

+ [Snipe nerf explained] +

We felt the Snipe ability was countering zerg broodlords and ultralisks slightly too well. Especially at the pro level, we were seeing a lot of games where terran players were playing very defensive games while massing ghosts to counter most of the options zerg players had at their disposal.

While we like to see creative and innovative use of units, we felt that in this case Snipe was becoming too effective against zerg’s most expensive units. When adjusting the ability, we tried to settle on a number that would allow using Snipe to remain a viable tactic, though not as powerful as it is now. With this change, brood lords will fall in ten casts of Snipe rather than six (taking into account health regeneration), while an ultralisk will die in 19 casts, up from 11. This also significantly increases the number of ghosts and stockpiled energy needed to pull this tactic off, which we feel confident about because, previously, terran players rarely needed to consider the energy on their ghosts units.

Phoenix now has a range upgrade at the Fleet Beacon.

+ [Phoenix buff explained] +

In the past, we’ve discussed whether protoss needed a more immediate change to give them additional ways of dealing with mutalisks in PvZ, or whether it was more appropriate to make changes to that matchup in Heart of the Swarm. After investigating, testing, and reviewing both community and pro feedback, we’ve decided to include a change in this patch.

The phoenix will now have 6 attack range after purchasing an upgrade, which should allow them to more easily deal with a large number of mutalisks. In the previous patch, when protoss players attempted to move their armies out across the map, their bases became extremely vulnerable. Existing options to cope with massed mutalisks were costly and not always effective. This range upgrade should help even the odds by giving protoss players the option to reactively build phoenixes in smaller numbers, and with some micro, allow them to more efficiently defend against mutalisk swarms. Upgraded phoenixes should also offer protoss players the potential for better map control in the PvZ match up.

Still, we also wanted to make sure that producing mutalisks in PvZ remains a viable strategy, and believe that it is. While it might not be a good idea to brute force a protoss opponent with a ton of mutalisks, pairing them with units such as infestors and/or corruptors will help counter the advantage the new range upgrade provides.

Classic APM gauge makes a comeback!

+ [APM explanation] +

There was a lot of concern and debate regarding whether APM should be an accurate number or it should be a fun, play style distinguishing factor like it has been traditionally. After hearing a lot of feedback from both sides, we decided to bring back classic APM, and change our current APM (that doesn’t count spam clicks) to be called Commands Per Minute, or CPM.

This way, pro players who want to show off how fast their hands move can do so, while at the same time players who really just want to know how accurate and efficient their actions are can look at CPM.

Source: Battle.net

Quick Comments

	Nemo:	Thanks !
	Loach:	SUCK IT TERRAN!
	LennX:	It's not an official patch if Terrans don't get nerfed! :)
	TcaTX:	WOOT!

[TAEdgE]

YESYESYESYES

Perfect. I don't go mutas and now protoss may not bitch as much woo.
Also for the snipe change, screw you iaguz.

Quick Comments

	Champi:	SCREW U IAGUZ :D
	TARane:	truth :)
	TcaTX:	ROFL <3

[LordByrnsy]

haha @ edge

I like these upgrades... tho the pheonix might still be a bit hard to use as a direct counter... seeing as a zerg can make like 10 or so mutas at a time and a protoss could make like 1 or 2 pheonix... oh well... we'll have to see how it plays out

Quick Comments

TAEdgE:

[Champi]

. Existing options to cope with massed mutalisks were costly and not always effective. This range upgrade should help even the odds by giving protoss players the option to reactively build phoenixes in smaller numbers, and with some micro, allow them to more efficiently defend against mutalisk swarms. Upgraded phoenixes should also offer protoss players the potential for better map control in the PvZ match up.



^ THIS !!!!

Quick Comments

	TAEdgE:	Look at the weirdo agreeing with himself
	Bash:

[simon]

19 snipes? brb necking myself

Quick Comments

breadfan:

[Theend]

2 nerf to terran and 1 buff for protoss =)

[ToRSpartaz]

When they implementing this?

[TARane]

i want dat nydus buff

[ToR.Arnor]

Time to learn Protoss ^_^

Quick Comments

	TcaTX:	Funny.. i thought the same thing
	ToRSmotPokingFish:	yea they just killing terran
	dKiWi:

[Dox]

Yeah just to throw some numbers in the thread, Phoenixes will now have 6 range (up from 4) with the upgrade. That's the difference between a Roach and a Marauder.

And you now require 10 snipes (up from 5) to kill a Brood Lord.
Or 19 Snipes to reduce an Ultralisk to 5 HP (up from 11).

This changes the game tremendously.

[ROOTPetraeus]

Originally Posted by Dox

And you now require 10 snipes (up from 5) to kill a Brood Lord.
Or 19 Snipes to reduce an Ultralisk to 5 HP (up from 11).

Wow... that is ******* huge.

[NvPinder]

One thing to note, assuming the range upgrade costs at least 100/100, that's effectively a range upgrade that costs 400/300 (since you'll be building a fleet beacon which is more or less useless till much much later in the game), TBH I think it'll be an upgrade rarely, if ever, purchased. The threat of it being in the game will be enough to deter zergs from going mass, mass muta, and getting the upgrade for small amounts of harassing muta (<12), would be a complete waist 400/300.

That's not to say I'm not happy with the change because it gives us a way better way of dealing with mutas, but it's just interesting they put it at the fleet beacon without lowering the fleet beacons cost a little.

Quick Comments

ProAnnn:

(Y)

[Seij]

I'm waiting for Nydus to be like super heavy duty armored while morphing with 10000 hp personally. (In all seriousness buff Nydus please)

[HuT]

Oh man oh man oh man...

Ghost nerf ftl

Quick Comments

Eldrid:

yeaaaaaaaaaah!! :D

[TcaTX]

Good patch. interesting protoss air styles are forthcoming

Oh wait did I say interesting? I mean't annoying!

[Volition]

No matter what i say here this is going to come off as a Terran QQ. But here goes anyway.

Ghost nerf
Didn't blizzard say that terran were under-performing in all leagues under masters? That is, that a player with the same apm and macro would effectively do worse than a protoss who builds and army and 1-a's, or a zerg who has mastered the inject mechanic?

In the hands of the Code S players, ghosts are ridiculously exploitive. ridiculously - you see the snipes and there is nothing the poor zerg can do. But those times aren't that relative for us lowbies. We havent built ghosts in advance (and i do disagree with blizz's comment that ghost energy isnt something us terran players need to consider). When i am building ghosts, i need them right now - and their damage has dropped by approx 45%. hrmm i wonder how this will affect the matchup - but i suppose blizzard has stats etc for that

I find that in my TvZ, there comes a time in the game where you scout Hive is being morphed. At that time, you have to make a decision - do i need to be massively viking heavy or get more tanks or marauders. the wrong decision is GG - and the ghost fit nicely into this middle category where they wouldnt be as perfect as the other units, but still were safe against both.

So now, when we scout the hive coming but have no idea which tech route it will be, what do I do?

It seems a strange choice given that they have admitted us lowbie terrans are underperforming. damn you korean pros for exploiting everything and making my race harder!

Mules:
Completely agree, should have been changed ages ago.

Quick Comments

breadfan:

[Strafe]

Terrible. Fix late game TvP instead

Quick Comments

	MooZfY:	^
	dKiWi:

[Daboo]

Looks like HOTS will not be coming out this year after all,those are pretty massive changes.

Edit: oh lol,the poor apm counter..dont know why I laughed when I saw that.

[|Erasmus|]

cause Terran desperately needed MORE nerfs... ****.

Quick Comments

Kringe:

It is what all Protoss are saying

[QEDjuslai]

yes goodbye muta ling!!! thank you blizzard