[syfChadMann]

You should all check out http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/co...rding_the_may/

basically outlines what effect the buffs will have for Zerg..
looks like Scouting ZvT is ez pz now.. big changes to ZvT - more than I was expecting tbh..

+ [The changes for those too lazy to click the link] +

Useful facts about Overlord Speed Increase (yes I tested this)
ZvT Ohana: Now will barely be safe to send 1st overlord directly to the safe spot behind opponent's natural geysers.
ZvT Korhal Compound: Not only will you now safely reach the cliff above enemy's natural expo, but you can also first quickly peek at their wall-off above their ramp before retreating to safety
ZvT Daybreak: You will now be safe to send your 1st overlord to the space (or those high up, blue box things that also hide your overlord) behind opponent's natural geysers.
ZvT Cloud Kingdom: Now more than enough time to safely reach the cliff above their natural. If you wanted, you can also send it straight behind their main (that large area behind their gases). The only reason I guess is to either check their gas timings or suicide into main to spot build (suiciding now scouts more too).
ZvT Metalopolis: You can send your first overlord to check if he spawned close by air, then if he's not there, you can send it cross-spawn, in that large airspace behind their main and still be safe.
ZvZ Antiga Shipyard: Sending your 1st overlord to either of the close mains, if you found him you can now spot if they went an early pool before you place your 15 hatch down. Then just plant a pool instead and you're ahead. Also FYI sending a drone right at 9 supply to the other 2 locations, as long as you go only halfway up the ramp for the first base you scout (to peak if there is creep), even if they were cross spawn your drone should scout an early pool just before you place a 15 hatch.
ZvT Antiga Shipyard: Send your first overlord cross spawn directly to the space behind the natural minerals and it'll arrive barely in time to be safe, while also glimpsing their wall-off. This is mostly useful for tourney versions where they're cross only, but it's nice on ladder too because it also scouts the center for any proxy raxes, and it feels cool. Also you can send your 2nd overlord to the clockwise spawn if you think they're there, to the same spot behind natural and it'll be safe. Unless you want the 2nd to always scout your own natural for bunkers.
ZvT Shakuras Plateau: Send OL close-by-air, if you see him there, keep going floating over his base, check his wall-off above his ramp, then go to the airspace on the other side safely (so you can check his natural later easily).
Where Queen Range 5 will be most useful:
All matchups:
Queens will sit further behind your army when defending attacks, in a safer area. It will be noticeably easier to keep them alive.
1 queen will be able to kill a scouting worker than runs right by the queen now! (if the scout tries to skirt around the queen it should survive, provided it's not at a choke) Also of course it will be harder to fully scout for what buildings zerg's made.
Players may sometimes deem it worthwhile to get a couple more queens than normal for defensive purposes. Why? 1 Queen does more dps than a stalker (provided that unit has 0 armor. Armor is twice as effective vs the queen's 2xAttack, and queens attack fairly quickly), and with 5 range + the ability to tranfuse and spread creep, players may want to get a couple extra before they really get their army production going. Just note that since kiting with queens is pointless and they're molasses off creep, and their dps drops quickly vs anything with Armor, they're not going to really be a great fighter unit in your army comp, and since they pose almost no threat for an attack, units will often be the preferred choice. Unless you nydus into their base
(probably not worth reading The unique situations where you built many queens to defend vs air, and you didn't take much damage, and then decide to counterattack because they're vulnerable (often they are depending on their air units to keep them temporarily alive, which is where your queens come in). Well now if you attack with army + queens, queens will probably hit ground stuff now too.
ZvT:
Queens will be quite a bit better at pushing back a hellion 'contain' (so you can safely spread tumors)
Will help defend bunker rushes (attacking scvs building bunkers, marines).
Hellions (range 5), marines (5), and reapers (4.5), will no longer kite queens without taking hits. They will just generally be better at dealing with most terran units as they are no longer outranged by most of them.
ZvP:
Stalkers (range 6) harassing queens will be slightly easier on the zerg
Defending zealot harass slightly better
Very situationally help vs cannon rushes (particularly the 3 pylon wall below ramp can be safely hit now by a queen. It takes exactly 1 ingame minute for a queen to kill 1 pylon.)
Just generally be a little more useful at fending off early rushes or small attacks.
ZvZ:
When you've 2 queens blocking ramp while lings attack your spine/s, now your queen can often attack back while standing there.
Better at denying baneling run-bys
A bit better at dealing with ling harassment
Hatch-first builds in particular will be slightly easier to do/better than it is now.
Situationally vs roaches (queens will outrange them), like when they're on hold position behind your mineral line when they went around your spines.
Some zvz timings involve roaches/queens/infestors (usually vs muta builds) so they may be marginally more useful there (though they're mostly for antiair and transfuse still).
Did you know?
Queens do 8 damage to ground, but it's split into 2 Attacks of 4 damage each, so Armor is twice as effective vs queens. But more importantly, the attack animation to do both attacks is so long that there's essentially no time to move in between attacks. If you try, you'll just end up delaying the next attack and doing less dps. So basically, don't try to kite (move in-between attacks) with queens, range 5 or not, doesn't matter. (technically you could kite a zealot but it's not worth it.)
HOWEVER when Blizzard changes the look of the attack animation like they said they would, this might change. But logically, assuming they just make the tentacles look longer, it would either stay the same or be even slower (worse!).

Quick Comments

	mGGDaedalus:	helping out lazy people like me :)
	Rythos:

[iM MaFia]

thanks so much chad haha

[SLCN.Kez]

keneest marine out there, nice work

[KFCrumpet]

has anyone actually tried this out on the map its being tested on?

[Pox]

Gave it a brief test with dano... I massed queens and didn't win, clearly we need more buffs.

But seriously, the queen range helped a little with shooing hellions. The overlords are now fast enough that I *think* you can get your first one to pretty much any position on most maps safely - e.g. the natural cliff on Korhal or behind the natural on Ohana..The test map is just antiga (and I'm not sure if it's even cross spawns forced or not) so can't comment there.

I think the overlord speed is definitely going to help for scouting in terms of sacrificed. I don't think either of the changes is necessary (is there really a balance issue in ZvT?), but they don't seem game-breaking.

[mGGDaedalus]

RIP reaper

Quick Comments

FsDronesInJail:

[syfSoundwave]

Good shit.

[dippa]

i love how the range buff has now made reapers worthwhile for the 1.5 seconds you have them before a queen comes out

thanks blizzard -_-;;

[eniram]

So basically this makes reapers useless?

Quick Comments

Junho:

You just have to hope the zerg doesn't get a queen ;)

[mopy]

I barely see any terrans use reapers neway. Dont helions do the same job better.

[Pox]

Reapers are (were?) still good for very early harassment and (to some extent) map control - you can get a reaper out much faster than a hellion. Before this patch, they didn't usually accomplish much in the way of damage once the first two queens were out (unless the zerg was sloppy); this change just makes it even easier for the zerg to defend.

[SLCN.NXZ]

Originally Posted by eniram

So basically this makes reapers useless?

In all honesty the queen change doesn't change much, bane all ins in zvz will be slightly weaker, queens as a unit are stronger, reapers require less skill to defend but will still do equal amounts of damage vs good players and maybe 2 gate zealot builds are weaker.

Other than that theres not much of a change, zerg still cant rly take a third until speed is done vs hellions (4queen opener, no roaches). Basically the hellions can't infinity kite anymore BUT 6 hellions are actually surprisingly good at killing queens without support so speedlings and spines are still required. I'd say biggest difference here is that maybe zerg will definitely need only 1 spine to spread creep out vs hellions relatively safely. Basically it makes everything a queen did before a little better but I don't believe enough to be game changing (I think this is what they were going for?). I like the change so far.

Overlords are like on speedhacks now, ITS CRAZY THOSE BUGGERS RUN LIKE SOOOOOOOOO FAST. I like this change a lot, the more zerg can scout the better (as long as it means the other races can still conceal some parts of their tech if they place it correctly.

Observer build time seems like its encouraging players to build more observers with their army, whilst still remaining the same army value as before. it might just make players get bigger armies though so who knows

My thoughts^

[ROOT`iaguz]

**** me these new overlords/queens are retardedly strong

Just the thing to see after top 8 ACL all zerg eh?

[syfCabracan]

I wonder which particular changes from that list they had in mind. I'd guess the zerg ones were to try and improve 15 hatch vs zerg but that's just my guess.

[KFCrumpet]

Overlord speed is really nice, really really nice, but the change to queen range seems like it would have been more relevant maybe 12 months ago. Most cheese that was thrown my way was a lot easier to counter, but didn't feel needed. As for reapers, I personally don't see many people if at all use them. Anytime i play as terran i use them for scouting, they're awesome at it. My 2c

[Tshu]

making 2 early zealots to harass the zerg isn't as effective anymore which is good for since they can macro better and not make those earlier lings. Really curious to see how it affects the hellion play from Terran though.

[gandalf5000]

Artosis makes a pretty good point about some of the changes in the patch here ( http://scdojo.tumblr.com/post/228385...patch-is-smart ), especially about the reaper (@everyone who is saying "goodbye reaper" etc, etc)

Quick Comments

TcaTX:

Good Link thanks!