Starcraft II Dev Tracker

The Halloween season has finally arrived, and we’re ready to cut straight to the heart of the holiday. If you're dying to pick up a knife and hack, slash, and jab at something, you’ll be excited to hear that Blizzard's 2018 Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest officially begins October 15! Unleash your magical axes, psi blades, sharpened claws, and other creative cutlery to carve up Blizzard-themed jack-o-lantern of impressive splendor. 

We’ll choose five of the grandest autumnal squash to each receive $60.00 (USD) Blizzard Balance. 

Pumpkin Submission Tips

• The winning entries will display high levels of originality, craftsmanship, and possibly humor.
• Your pumpkin must be lit up by a candle or other light source in your photo entry. You should include another photo of the pumpkin unlit.
• Pumpkins must be related to the Blizzard game universes.
• Try to take the best picture possible, as picture quality helps make a ...

We hope you had fun watching the GSL Super Tournament event—we certainly did! The matches were really exciting, and we’re that much closer to crowning a champion at the global finals at BlizzCon. That said, all this excitement hasn’t stopped us from paying attention to community feedback on the balance test map. We’re already planning to make some additional changes. Let’s dig in!

Terran

• Cyclone unit changed to 3.8 version.
  • Now requires a Tech Lab to be built at the Factory.
  • Health decreased from 180 to 120.
  • Movement speed increased from 4.13 to 4.73.
  • Supply cost increased from 3 to 4.
  • Unit armor set to 1.
  • Tornado Blaster weapon changed to the Typhoon Missile Pod weapon:
    • Damage changed from 3 (+2 vs Armored) to 18.
    • Can target air and ground units.
    • Attack rate changed from 0.1 to 0.71.
    • Range decreased from 6 to 5.
    • Weapon upgrades ...

The ultimate prize in professional StarCraft II is within reach for the 16 top players in the World Championship Series (WCS). Through the WCS Signature Series, fans can get up-close and personal with four of the competitors: Cho “Maru” Sung Choo, Juan Carlos “...

BlizzCon® season is upon us, and whether you’re attending the show in person or tuning in to the news and excitement online, we want you to have access to the full experience. Starting today, you can pre-purchase a BlizzCon Goody Bag through the Blizzard Gear Store and have it shipped directly to your home in time to celebrate the show. Claim yours while supplies last!

A limited number of Goody Bags are now available to pre-purchase in the Blizzard Gear Store for $55 USD (plus tax, shipping, and applicable fees). You don’t need a Virtual Ticket to order, but as a bonus, Virtual Ticket holders can pre-purchase the Goody Bag at an automatically discounted price of $45. Just log in to the Blizzard Gear Store on the Blizzard account you used to purchase your Virtual Ticket. Supplies are limited, so be sure to grab one while you have a chance!

• ...

Earlier this month we announced our post-Blizzcon design patch containing changes aimed at improving StarCraft II multiplayer. Around the same time, members of the balance team were in Montreal to solicit feedback from top players in the World Championship Series circuit. Based on the feedback we received from the community as well as pro players, we decided to expand the scope of our initial balance proposal. Below is a rundown.

Protoss

Shield Battery

• Health/shields decreased from 200/200 to 150/150.

We’ve been monitoring proxy Shield Battery strategies over the last few months and while we don’t believe they’re unbeatable, we would like to make this strategy slightly more risky. Reducing their total health pool targets weakening offensive usage whi...

BlizzCon 2018 is less than two months away—but the BlizzCon season begins today with the launch of the BlizzCon 2018 Virtual Ticket, available to order now!

[ORDER VIRTUAL TICKET]

The BlizzCon Virtual Ticket provides comprehensive access to the show whether you’re joining the fun from home on ...

BlizzCon Season begins today, and you can keep track of all the epic events, esports, panels, original programming, and more with the FREE BlizzCon Mobile app, available now for ...

Update – Additional changes to our original balance updates can be found here:

October 23, 2018

October 9, 2018

...

General

• A new commemorative bundle in honor of the Bain family is now available in the shop.
  • Learn more at our blog.
• The Balance Testing Queue is now active.
  • Each race is receiving significant balance changes.
  • To learn more about the changes and the thinking behind them, please read our ...

We on the StarCraft II team have always been grateful for the intense passion and support we receive from all of you in the community. We’re fortunate to serve a group of amazing players, many of whom have continued to play our game for eight years running. As many of you know, John “TotalBiscuit” Bain was one of StarCraft II’s strongest supporters. He and his wife Genna were early advocates for the game, and they created and managed the StarCraft II professional team Axiom. Their shared passion for StarCraft II and the StarCraft II community resulted in the organization of major professional tournaments, including World Championship Series events and SHOUTcraft Kings, along with countless talk show episodes and appearances dedicated to the game.

In appreciation for the contributions the Bain family have made to StarCraft II, we’ve created a collection of commemorative cosmetics for the game. 100% of the funds received from the sale of these items will go directly to Genna...

Two things are certain this weekend at WCS Montreal: Serral will, as he has all year, turn the event into a race for second place; and, the drama will grow every hour and after every result as more than a dozen players fight to secure the WCS points they’ll need to claim one of the six remaining spots at the WCS Global Finals. We’ll have more on the complexity of the situation in the WCS Circuit region later this week.

Serral’s dominance and remarkable haul of WCS points this season has literally left other Circuit players fighting for his leftovers. In winning every Circuit event in 2018, the Finnish superstar has taken so many points “out” of the system that he’s inflated the value of the points themselves and forced the logjam around the cutoff line to finish in the top eight. It’s rare to have an event at the scale of WCS Montreal where so many matches will have such significant ripple effects on the rest of the tournament and the season. Buckle up.

...

General

• New Co-op Commander and Announcer: Tychus
  • Control up to five Heroic units on the battlefield.
  • Select from eight different Outlaws with unique abilities and traits.
  • Customize your crew to deal with any enemy composition.
  • Learn more in our blog.
• New Co-op Master Bundle:
  • Includes the Tychus Co-op Commander, announcer, and 1-month Co-op XP Stimpack.
    • This Stimpack will stack with the War Chest Boost.
• New Announcer (French): O’Gaming.
  • "WaLLez !" France’s iconi...

For players who enjoy controlling powerful hero units on the battlefield, our newest Co-op Commander Tychus Findlay more than fits the bill.

Playstyle

Tychus controls a group of Outlaws that you recruit from Joey Ray’s Bar. In addition to Tychus, you can recruit four additional unique Outlaws from a total selection of eight. Who you choose to recruit should depend on the mission at hand—the map you’re playing on, the enemy unit composition, active mutators, and your ally’s Commander choice.

Since you don’t need to devote much time to building up your army, you can focus instead on controlling your relatively small, but no less deadly squad. Each of your Outlaws has one primary active ability, and to help you manage your army, you’ll be able to use all these abilities from a single command card whenever you select the Outlaws together.

In addition, you can upgrade your Outlaws’ gear from various facilities, like the Guns’ Hideout, the Muscle Ar...

Hoping to attend BlizzCon in person this year but didn’t manage to snag a ticket during the first two sales? You’re in luck—we’re thrilled to announce a third ticket sale, scheduled for Saturday, August 18 at 10 a.m. PDT.

GET TICKETS

This third ticket sale will once again be hosted by ...