Starcraft II Dev Tracker

Hey all,

With the recent celebration of the 10^th anniversary of our beloved game, the conclusion of Dreamhack Masters Summer, and the imminent finale of GSL Season 2, we’d like to take this time to update you all on our thoughts on the state of the game since our last balance patch. As we haven’t seen many changes in TvT and ZvZ, we’ll be focusing on talking about the other matchups.

TvZ

Though we had some concerns regarding the matchup going into the current patch, the changes to Zerg seem to have been offset by changes in the map pool. Currently, we feel TvZ is very diverse and dynamic with possibly the highest number of strategies being employed from both sides in the matchup ever. Specifically, we’d like to call out the rise in popularity of Mech, transitions from Battlecruisers into Bio, and general Lurker play. Overall, we’re excited to see how this matchup develops.

TvP

A lot of trends we’ve noticed and m...

VERSUS (BALANCE TEST MOD ONLY!)

• Zerg
  • Baneling
    • Weapon damage changed from 18(+17 vs light) to 15(+20 vs light).
• Protoss
  • Oracle
    • Revelation duration increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
  • Void Ray
    • Cost decreased from 250/150 to 200/150.
    • Void Ray build time decreased from 43 to 37 seconds.
    • Movement speed increased from 3.5 to 3.85.
    • Flux Vanes movement speed increased from 4.65 to 5.11.
  • Carrier
    • Interceptors belonging to a Carrier that has been Neural Parasited will no longer draw aggression from units belonging to the Carrier’s original owner.
  • Tempest
    • New upgrade found on the Fleet Beacon: Tecto...

Defeated and captured by a formidable opponent, Ghost operative Stone must fight to escape a prison created by his own mind. Check out this excerpt, then download Waking Dreams by E.C. Myers, second in a new series of StarCraft II short stories to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary.

Stone knows who is on the other side of the door before it opens.

He’s heard the explosions and gunfire, the panicked reports from Defenders of Man troopers that a ghost has infiltrated General Carolina Davis’s compound, the deafening silence on the comms as they fell in battle. The Dominion agent can have only one target, and Stone is the general’s last line of defense.

General Davis and the Defenders of Man are humanity’s best hope against...

Part I: Wings of Liberty | Part II: Heart of the Swarm | Part III: Legacy of the Void

Part I: Wings of Liberty | Part II: Heart of the Swarm | Part III: Legacy of the Void

In our last article, we went through the best competitive games of the formative years of StarCraft II. As gameplay advanced and mechanics were honed, StarCraft II’s first expansion, Heart of the Swarm, loomed. With the addition of now-iconic units such as Widow Mines, Vipers, and Oracles, StarCraft was about to get a lot more dynamic. Here are our picks for the best games from this era.

2013

INnoVati...

Part 1: Wings of Liberty | Part II: Heart of the Swarm | Part III: Legacy of the Void

Everyone remembers the first time they saw the StarCraft II announcement trailer. For some of us at Blizzard, it was during an internal Show & Tell session when the cinematics team revealed what they were working on. For others, it was May 19, 2007, when the cinematic debuted onstage at a StarCraft tournament in South Korea. Either way, we all saw the same thing. Tychus Findlay stepped into that now-famous gunmetal chamber and was outfitted with complex mechanical armor. The cigar moved around in his mouth.

“Hell, it’s about time,” he said (in Korean, for those of us watching the tournament).

From that primordial moment, StarCraft II would go on to hold a position of prominence within the storied arc of Blizzard esports. The competitive scene took off when the game entered beta in 2010; ten years later, it’s still going strong.

As StarCraf...

Investigating a strange death among the protoss, High Executor Selendis must face a difficult truth about her people in order to stop an unexpected enemy. Check out this excerpt, then download One People, One Purpose, first in a new series of StarCraft II short stories to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary.

“High Executor, there has been a death.”

Selendis considered the protoss who had spoken, sunk to one knee on the newly replaced stones of the temple square. He wore light armor that looked new in manufacture but old in design, the sort of Golden Age style that had recently come into fashion among some of the Templar—or rather, former Templar. She did not approve of such backward-looking styles; her own armor was just as new,...