In a week of developers updating decade-old games — CD Projekt Red recently announced a major expansion for The Witcher 3 , set for release next year — Blizzard has released a major patch for its 16-year-old RTS Starcraft 2 .
It's been over ten years since Starcraft 2's last major balance update, so Blizzard's sudden interest in the game is surprising, but welcome. The update is set to fundamentally change the current meta of StarCraft 2, which still boasts a dedicated player base a decade and a half later.
Starcraft 2 changes are huge
“We've focused this PTR on expanding the early- and mid-game experience, allowing players to stay competitive on bases one through three for longer. We've made changes to make the non-warped gateway a more viable path, increasing overall tactical diversity across all three races,” read Starcraft 2's RealPTR (public not test patch).
They weren't kidding, as the first change read, “Starting workers reduced from 12 to 8.” If this change goes through, it would represent a major shake-up of Starcraft 2's early game. Reducing the number of starting workers disrupts the player and forces them to prioritize which was not necessary when the number of starting workers was higher, as it is now.
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There have also been some tweaks to the mineral counts in the bases, which are sure to have a big knock-on effect on how players approach the game. In a game where strategies have been hyper-optimized over the course of 16 years, any change will have a huge impact on how people approach the game as people scramble to find new skills.
There are also race-specific balance changes, along with several major changes aimed at Protoss players. The movement of Warpgate research tech from Gateway to Cybernetics changes how quickly players can access the technology, but this is compensated by the warp-in time going from a variable rate to a flat 3 seconds.
For a full list of updates, make sure to check out the Starcraft 2 5.0.16 PTR patch notes.
Starcraft 2
- issued
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July 27, 2010
- ESRB
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T For Teens: Blood and gore, language, suggestive themes, alcohol and tobacco use, violence
- Engine
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Havoc
- Multiplayer
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Online multiplayer
