The matchmaking just went to hell for me... I was playing 4v4 with friends new to starcraft, we are in Bronze 4v4...

last 4 games in a row, got matched up against kids from diamond and platinum leagues and got slaughtered. Not fair. Not fun.

8/1/2010 11:16:00 PM

To answer my question from earlier: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/unit/

8/1/2010 11:18:19 PM

Still trying to beat a "Medium" computer in a single player skirmish; so far, impossible. Every army I build gets slaughtered because the AI apparently knows exactly what I'm building and therefore always has precisely the right response waiting.

Also tried my first 1v1 game with a friend, and discovered the biggest complaint I have so far: in SC1, the single player campaign served to teach you how to play, so that you were ready for multiplayer. In SC2, not so. The units are different between the two. This, in my opinion, is one of the dumbest design choices ever made in a video game - makes no sense, and really set me up for a big letdown when trying multiplayer.

Oh, and the overheating issue, but that's not really a game design error.

As it stands right now, I will finish the Campaign (which is excellent) and then be done with it until the Protoss content is ready. Single player is infinitely more fun.

8/1/2010 11:22:30 PM

holy shit i'm getting raped on the last mission in the campaign on hard. had to look up on youtube to figure it out. turns out that hiring those mercs really helps

8/2/2010 1:40:26 AM

for any of you that play nexus wars, make sure you let anyone who uses a carrier know they are a faggot

that game will get enough lag in the late game because of the number of units, it doesn't need more from carriers

8/2/2010 3:10:36 AM

So, I'm going to confess that I never played the original. I was big into Command & Conquer since its release and a lot of the games that stemmed from it, but never played Starcraft. I'm told I would like the game a lot, but is it worth buying on this premise alone?

I'm a pretty avid PC gaming enthusiast, so I feel like maybe it's not something I should be ignoring.

8/2/2010 3:23:33 AM

Quote :

"Also tried my first 1v1 game with a friend, and discovered the biggest complaint I have so far: in SC1, the single player campaign served to teach you how to play, so that you were ready for multiplayer. In SC2, not so. The units are different between the two. This, in my opinion, is one of the dumbest design choices ever made in a video game - makes no sense, and really set me up for a big letdown when trying multiplayer. As it stands right now, I will finish the Campaign (which is excellent) and then be done with it until the Protoss content is ready. Single player is infinitely more fun."

You can't have it both ways, you say you love the single player campaign setup yet if they set it up to just teach you how to play mutliplayer it wouldn't be nearly as fun. And anyone who just played SC1 campaigns then hopped online wasn't a great online player either... that is why when you log into the multiplayer they have the training thing that you can do or skip. Online play is infinitely more fun than single player, you just have to play more than 1 1v1 against some friend so you learn.

8/2/2010 7:00:18 AM

Blizzard sure knows how to release a polished product. I love this game.

8/2/2010 7:29:04 AM

Finished the campaign last night on Normal. Reflecting back on the research choices I made, I wish I had gotten the tower that slows zerg down instead of permanently mind controlling. Would have been a big help in that last mission. I also went with bringing down the Nydus worm tunnels, and I kinda wish I had done the other one. I feel like defending against tons of ground units would have been easier.

[Edited on August 2, 2010 at 7:42 AM. Reason : post 6969 giggity]

8/2/2010 7:38:21 AM

^9 (JCE2011) - This happens alot. I think it expects you to lose alot of those games, losing a few points. Then, occasionally you'll win some and gain a bunch of points.

^7 (Wyloch) - They have different units because balancing all the single player units in a multiplayer environment would be a nightmare and virtually impossible. In Blizzard's case, they balanced multiplayer FIRST, then made singleplayer different to make it more fun w/ different units. I can see how this would be frustrating if you switch back and forth between single and multi alot, but you'll get used to it quickly.

^4 (Netstorm) I've heard the biggest difference between C&C and SC is that SC is much better balanced and has a bigger community. If you were a semi-hardcore C&C player, you'll probably love SC and never go back!

8/2/2010 7:45:20 AM

Quote :

"Also tried my first 1v1 game with a friend, and discovered the biggest complaint I have so far: in SC1, the single player campaign served to teach you how to play, so that you were ready for multiplayer. In SC2, not so. The units are different between the two. This, in my opinion, is one of the dumbest design choices ever made in a video game - makes no sense, and really set me up for a big letdown when trying multiplayer."

It is actually one of the smartest design choices they could have made. They have their cake and they eat it too. They are not restricted on the narrative and can be as creative as they want. It gave them the ability to be extremely dynamic in objective designs, story archs, and role playing elements to tell their story.

Oh and they happened to develop a completely new way for you to test your skills and then place you with people on your level and give you the opportunity to improve and rise through ranks in the multiplayer arena. Far more friendly than SC1 was.

Not sure I see the poor game design there. I have heard, however, that the matchmaking doesn't always work that well. But I don't see Blizzard leaving that without improvements either.

As far as learning the multiplayer, try skirmishes with the AI on easy or very easy if you want to get your head around the tech tree and build orders.

[Edited on August 2, 2010 at 8:12 AM. Reason : *]

8/2/2010 8:11:53 AM

Quote :

"I wish I had gotten the tower that slows zerg down instead of permanently mind controlling. Would have been a big help in that last mission."

yep, it made it EXTREMELY easy.

Build siege tanks if you took out the air support option. I think i only had to use to the charge once (got the achieve when I did it) and my forces sat at 200/200 most of the time, 100 of those being seige tanks positioned correctly.

8/2/2010 8:13:42 AM

Quote :

"Still trying to beat a "Medium" computer in a single player skirmish; so far, impossible. Every army I build gets slaughtered because the AI apparently knows exactly what I'm building and therefore always has precisely the right response waiting. "

I played several of these last night to get the hang of multiplayer and found that is was too ridiculously easy on medium. I play terran mostly and all I really had to do was get a few banshees and cloak them into their base and it was game over as on medium they almost never built any detectors. Also its easy to just counter attack build up your army and wait on them to send a rush at you, defend that and then send yours right back.

8/2/2010 8:43:51 AM

The computer is really only good to practice your build order and to get familiar with units and what they can do.

The harder the computer, the more quickly and error-free you need to do this to be successful.

On Medium, you're pretty much golden if you take out their first offensive push.

8/2/2010 9:07:31 AM

If anyone is having trouble with getting Gold on the Infestation Challenge, use Neural Parasite on the Colossi and Siege Tanks, that's why they're next to large groups of infantry.

Also, I had to use this youtube video for help on the Psionic Assault Challenge, this guy is a SC genius.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjO_olQvHxM

8/2/2010 9:41:23 AM

Quote :

"Every army I build gets slaughtered because the AI apparently knows exactly what I'm building and therefore always has precisely the right response waiting."

as an FYI, on the collectors edition special features DVD, the AI guy specifically says this is the first game where the AI doesn't cheat. It only knows what it sees (scouts) and can only do a certain number of things at one time. It has to queue up its actions and cant just do everything at once.

8/2/2010 9:51:50 AM

pretty cool in the credits they gave a special thanks to elitist jerks

8/2/2010 9:52:04 AM

Quote :

"as an FYI, on the collectors edition special features DVD, the AI guy specifically says this is the first game where the AI doesn't cheat. It only knows what it sees (scouts) and can only do a certain number of things at one time. It has to queue up its actions and cant just do everything at once."

If you watch a replay with a computer player and check their APM it's like 400-something. But yeah if you deny the computer scouting you can catch them off guard or trick them into getting the wrong units.

8/2/2010 9:57:15 AM

[Edited on August 2, 2010 at 9:57 AM. Reason : double post]

8/2/2010 9:57:15 AM

If anyone has the full-size cover art SC2 poster which was given out on launch day, please let me know. I'd be interested in buying it. I missed out, and haven't seen one since.

8/2/2010 11:00:04 AM

Just finished the campaign, it was pretty awesome.

It was cliche, predictable, and had some plot holes. But it was long, entertaining, and epic. So I'm happy with it.

8/2/2010 3:35:16 PM

Anyone got a link to any good "Beginner (n00b) Guides"?

I'm probably half way through the Campaign and loving it and will soon try my hand on online play. However, I didn't play SC1, and I haven't really played any RTS games since WC3 (and I wasn't too great at that either).

8/2/2010 10:19:14 PM

I like that they put in 50 unranked practice games when you first get into multiplayer, because I'm very very not good at it

I'm doing well right now with a 4-6 warp gate rush

[Edited on August 2, 2010 at 10:30 PM. Reason : .]

8/2/2010 10:30:10 PM

Finally going through the campaign on hard. Not too far in. Who said it doesn't save your campaign progress when you switch computers? I have it installed on my desktop and laptop and it seemed to load my campaign progress when i switched to my laptop.

8/3/2010 10:44:58 AM

^ No one in here said that. I believe the comment was that it does not save your Campaign/Challenge progress when you play OFFLINE (or when b.net is down). Not on a different computer.

There was also discussion about it not saving your achievements in Campaign and Challenges when you play offline, but everyone understands that it saves your Campaign progress over multiple online computers.

8/3/2010 11:19:33 AM

i hate this game

8/3/2010 11:20:11 AM

^^gotcha. I had asked:

Quote :

"You can play on multiple computers right because you have to put in your account info? Want to install it on my laptop too. "

and the response was:

Quote :

"Yes, but your single player saved games don't transfer even though you have to log in."

I assumed he meant single player campaign games, but i'm glad they sync.

8/3/2010 11:37:34 AM

Oh, I see now. I think what you are saying is Campaign Progress, as in how far along in the story you are and what levels you have unlocked. And yes, that syncs.

That response you quoted above is saying that it doesn't transfer Campaign Saved Games, as in save states made halfway through a level. So if you play on another computer it will know that you have that level unlocked but you will have to start at the beginning instead of halfway through.

Or I could still be confused/wrong.

8/3/2010 12:14:40 PM

Ah got ya. Yeah no big deal. As long as I can switch back and forth in the campaign.

8/3/2010 12:31:48 PM

Went 5-0 last night in 2v2 and got into platinum, couple of the games all 3 other players were just terrible and my score was double the next closest.

Now that I've played a bit more.. I still don't like the ladder system or bnet 2.0 as I've already posted. Liked the War3 bnet much better, and the ladder system they used in that much better(or even original SC bnet). This system just feels disjointed and meaningless. So I'm 20th in Gold in 1v1, who gives a shit that doesn't even mean anything. I'm hoping it will eventually be streamlined into some sort of meaningful system that you actually know where you stand in the community, not just within 100 random players.

They need to get the chat rooms and social aspect patched up soon as well.

Some actual game play observations :
Surprised at the complete lack of use of caster units in games. This might just be because the game is new and people aren't taking advantage of them yet, but even in the replays I watched of the top players hardly used them as well. Templars were so valuable in SC1, don't think I've seen a psi storm in a game I've played yet.

Pretty sick of void rays already. Have no problem dealing with them, just getting old seeing every toss rush for them. Same with 2on2 when I ask my partner what he is doing and he goes "void ray rushing."

Been playing random, not sure what my favorite race is but zerg seems to be less dynamic than the other races. Find myself doing a lot of different builds and using a lot of different unit combination with the other races, and with zerg mostly just going old school, picking either hydras or mutas/ling and just mass up and go. With zerg it is more just about when I'm expanding that I have to decide. Toss seem to have settled into a warp gate/immortal type build, but I've done some different rushes and builds that have worked well. Terran I've yet to really do the same thing twice, won with mass barracks, factory quick, drops, banshees, vikings/tanks...

Anyway just some thoughts. Shoot me a PM if any interest in playing some 2v2. I'm not great, but don't suck either.

8/3/2010 2:55:34 PM

Quote :

"Yes, but your single player saved games don't transfer even though you have to log in"

Yes, that was my mistake and I also came back and corrected it by saying that it DOES indeed save your stuff in terms of progress but I am not sure about saved games.

[Edited on August 3, 2010 at 3:08 PM. Reason : ,]

8/3/2010 3:00:46 PM

^thanks! I'm glad to hear that.

^^i'll practice a little more first. I'm not eager to lose so fast just yet.

8/3/2010 3:01:57 PM

Reading through this page about the zerg slowing disruptor upgrade. How could I forget that on the last mission on Char? Aghhh...would've made my life SO much easier!!

8/3/2010 3:43:14 PM

Bronze league 1v1

Went 1-4. Seems no one is man enough to play something other than Zerg in the qualifying matches...except me.

Nowhere to go but up.

8/3/2010 4:49:10 PM

^^ Yep, those and the perdition turrets are the way to go in that mission. I think I used the artifact just once for the overlords

[Edited on August 3, 2010 at 4:53 PM. Reason : ^^]

8/3/2010 4:53:19 PM

^^ ouch. In my 5 games i went 1-1 vs Zerg and 3-0 vs toss/terran.


as Zerg

[Edited on August 3, 2010 at 5:23 PM. Reason : *]

8/3/2010 5:22:59 PM

Trying to nail down the void rush strat on very hard A.I. custom games. Not going so well.

8/3/2010 7:27:25 PM

dude i'm in love with blinking stalkers right now, so many players forget they can do that

[Edited on August 3, 2010 at 8:37 PM. Reason : s]

8/3/2010 8:36:59 PM

^ Nooooo!!! As a zerg player I have the hardest time trying to counter mass stalkers in the mid-early game. I curse you for using that strat!

8/3/2010 9:56:52 PM

got gold on the rush defense one, that was fun.

8/3/2010 10:46:30 PM

!!!!! Just promoted to #1 in the Diamond league wtf?

I've only ever beaten a diamond player like twice out of 4 times.

Previously I was stuck at #1 in Gold with a record of 24-15

8/4/2010 12:07:48 AM

So when I get this today, will someone beat my ass into the ground until I learn better?

I feel like I need that.

8/4/2010 11:10:12 AM

Quote :

"Trying to nail down the void rush strat on very hard A.I. custom games. Not going so well. "

Waste of time, strat that everyone is using and easily stopping/countering at the higher levels. Better off learning a good 4-6 gate build and then go from there. Not to mention by the time you get great at it they'll probably nerf void rays and then your stuck.

Actually at this point, I bet you'd be more successful with a strong banshee rush.

8/4/2010 11:20:11 AM

Woohoo! Finally scored a poster thanks to the gracious manager of Gamestop at North Hills. Gonna put that thing up in my classroom.

8/4/2010 1:57:04 PM

hah sweet. should have gotten a few extras and tried to $ell them

8/4/2010 2:09:40 PM

Yeah, prices on eBay are already averaging over $10. Won't be long before they really start climbing.

8/4/2010 5:28:21 PM

Quote :

"Actually at this point, I bet you'd be more successful with a strong banshee rush."

I've had great success at using banshee rushes in the early game against terran/protoss because a lot of people dont build detectors. the key to doing it right is building good enough ground defense so that when they retaliate against you you're not screwed

[Edited on August 4, 2010 at 6:17 PM. Reason : ]

8/4/2010 6:17:03 PM

^ That's been my favorite strat since beta. I like to opt for a reactor'd barracks making just marines. It can handle void rays well and most reaper rushes and does decent against mutas. I really need to get my infantry skills up, because doing that every game is getting old. I prefer getting 3 banshees as cloak finishes, then fly into the mineral line and start blasting. Then it's just a holdout. Works very well against protoss. Not as well vs. Zerg, and not well against terran since they should have scans available!

8/4/2010 6:56:26 PM

I did see the 4 gate strat in a video last night and have to say that I am taking a decent look at it. I did learn that I have not been training nearly enough probes.

8/4/2010 7:06:14 PM

I was trying out 2v2 last night, and kept getting matched up against 2 protoss opponents. Every pairing kept trying to void ray rush.. it's getting to the point where I'm surprised when I don't see void rays come out

teched up immortals are downright nasty, and are not used by nearly enough people

8/4/2010 9:04:14 PM