The Beta has been out for about almost four weeks and I think now is a good time to voice my opinions on the gameplay, balance and
StarCraft 2's future within our blooming industry of E-Sports.
Firstly, I am going to give you the low down on my current ranking on the
StarCraft 2 Battle.net ladder system. I am Terran user, currently ranked 4th in the Platinum league with a positive record of 114/89 with an elo rating of 1905 which puts me amongst the top 100 in Europe according to a recent top 350 EU player. Now, on with the serious business.
I believe that
StarCraft 2 is by far the best RTS game ever made, hands down. Even though the game is still in the closed Beta, it has fast and fluid gameplay with astonishing balance for its current time in development. All of this before I've mentioned the mouth watering graphics which are sure to please the casual gamer, and faithful sponsors of E-Sports which promise a great competitive future. The game has everything a classic RTS should have, and goes past the definition of the genre. Since I finished with
Command and Conquer in 2009, I have been looking for a new game to call my own. After surfing back and forth through different titles, picking up scraps from newly released games, and finally resorting to online poker to own noobs and torture minds; the wait is over,
StarCraft 2 is on the horizon.
The current meta-game is changing daily so its hard to pin anything down for longer than a few hours but I'll attempt to look at some of the matchups that I have been playing as a Terran user to give you an insight into how the game is played out.
Terran vs Protoss:
Terran vs Protoss, is in my opinion a well balanced matchup for both players without any unit striking out as imbalanced and without any gamebreaking issues. The standard army composition for this matchup will revolve around a bio army consisting of marines/marauders/ghosts with support from air such as vikings/banchees/medivacs. On the other side, we will see a heavy tech army from Protoss consisting of Zealots/Stalkers/Sentrys/Immortals/Colossus/HighTemplar. The matchup has become very back and forth, heavily relying on accurate timings and precise micro, making this battle and extremely fun and tense to play in.
Terran vs Zerg:
This matchup slightly favours the Zerg user, I feel that the recent patch changes meant to help balance this matchup didn't really hit the right spots, I still believe that roaches are extremely cost effective for tanking damage and Broodlords slightly annoying. Obviously the matchup isn't entirely one sided, and with correct Terran play with deadly timing pushes in the few windows of opportunity, Terran can easily come out victorious. Even though I feel the matchup favours Zerg slightly, I believe that the game is very much like
StarCraft 1 where all units are important and versatile and any mistake can instantly lose you the game which puts pressure on you controlling your units well and keeping yourself on form and alert. The biggest problem I feel within the matchup is that Banelings are extremely effective at keeping Terran from attempting any kind of timing push and allows Zerg to control the map with good macro, which from a Terran perspective is a hard situation to overcome.
Terran vs Terran:
Terran mirrors are heavily based around infantry with support from Siege tanks and Vikings/Medivacs. The playstyle is very counter orientated as you need to understand and react to exactly what your enemy is trying to achieve and deploy and correct counter from a selection of units and positions. I don't think there any set opening build orders but its really dependant on how you scout your opponent and instantly recognise what's happening.
Conclusion
Overall the game is fantastic, addictive and most of all fun! I believe that the game is going to soar into E-Sports, small communities are already hosting weekly tournaments for players to enjoy over the weekend. It is incredible to have an average of 300 competitors turning out each time, its still a closed Beta! Wait until the blood thirsty gamers who aren't currently invited to play get involved, it's going to explode.
Major League Gaming have also shown interest in the game as they are hosting King of the Hill events with recorded commentary broadcasted to the mass. The recent launch of Purepwnge hit the mainstream via Showcase television, and is bringing gaming into the spotlight, there is just so much more happening for
StarCraft 2 than any other game I have seen been before.
I hope you enjoyed the read and the FPvods of the wonderful game Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty!
