First StarCraft II patch goes live

By Oli Welsh Published 22 September, 2010

Balance changes! 3D! Game clock!

Blizzard has released the first patch for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, predominantly focusing on some changes to the game balance, but also including a few new interface features, nVidia 3D Vision support, and improvements to the game's editor.

The balance changes rein in units in each race which Blizzard felt to be overpowered: the Protoss Zealot, Terran Battlecruiser and Siege Tank and Zerg Ultralisk are all targeted for nerfs. Blizzard explained the changes some time ago in its pre-patch Situation Report.

As well as support for nVidia's 3D standard, Blizzard has added a quick save option, a game clock and a system panel (which shows local time, FPS, battery and wi-fi signal strength) to the game's UI.

Finally, there's the usual raft of bug fixes, and a significant number of improvements to the game's editor. Read about it all in detail in the patch notes for patch 1.1.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (27) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Goodfella #1 2 years ago

    Installed. B.Net offline. Great.

  • rivuzu #2 2 years ago

    Cool and Groovy.
    That reminds me, I need to get on SC2 more.

    Baneling Burrow Swarm is just too much fun to pass up.

  • abigsmurf #3 2 years ago

    I don't see how protoss are supposed to defend against zerg rushes after this patch.

    I'm not a great player but I've optimised the hell out of my build order and I still only beat ling rushes by the skin of my teeth. Adding 15 seconds on to how long it takes to get enough zealots to defend against a reasonable rush it going to make things very hard.

  • Goodfella #4 2 years ago

    @abigsmurf

    I know, it doesn't seem balanced to me. I'm lucky if I get 2 zealots out by the time zerglings storm my base as it is.

  • darkmorgado #5 2 years ago

    I don't see how protoss are supposed to defend against zerg rushes after this patch.

    Quit the QQ. Zealots were hugely overpowered in PvT matches in particular. Zealot rush was a f*cking joke. Now they just need to link cannons to supply (perhaps with an upgrade later to prevent that link) and Protoss cheese ability will be effectively silenced.
    Edited by darkmorgado at 22/09/10 @ 09:45

  • rivuzu #6 2 years ago

    Yet two Zealots can take out Six Zerglings.
    'Toss are still overkill in my opinion.

  • darkmorgado #7 2 years ago

    'Toss are still overkill in my opinion.

    I agree, and I don't know anyone IRL (so ignoring online messageboards) that thinks any different. Every single person I know considers Protoss to be grossly overpowered (including protoss players).

    Don't get me started on fast-tech to void ray.

  • Goodfella #8 2 years ago

    Well, everyone I know thinks Terran are grossly overpowered.

    See what I did there.

  • butler` #9 2 years ago

    @abigsmurf

    It's simple: build yourself in or lose.

    It pisses me off that playing PvZ means you're forced to play a certain way, but hey. :\

  • rivuzu #10 2 years ago

    Ray Swarm w/ Mothership is the biggest whore tactic ever. I feel your pain, dark.
    As a Zerg player, unless I do get in a cheeky early rush, it's an uphill struggle - especially against those odd Alien bastards.

  • darkmorgado #11 2 years ago

    @Goodfella

    I agree that Marauders are perhaps a little OP. Other than that, I don't accept terrans as a whole are imbalanced and that we are actually at a disadvantage - particularly when it comes to crowd control. I mean, where is the sense in nerfing Siege Tank to the point where it actually outputs LESS damage in siege mode than it doe in normal mode (and yes, people have done the calcs and this is the outcome of the nerf). It's f*cking stupid.

  • rivuzu #12 2 years ago

    @Dark
    Don't they have greater range in Siege form though? I'm a bit hazy on Terran tech. If so, then there's your purpose in deploying.

    Honestly, Siege Tank Defences are fun to smash though. Shame less people will rely on it now

  • Goodfella #13 2 years ago

    I agree the seige tank nerf was not needed, I rarely see mass tanks on a huge scale which is the only situation where they are too overpowered.

    Marine rush (as I have proved with a friend in 2v2) using 2 barracks each with reactor, 16 marines each, is virtually unstoppable.

  • rivuzu #14 2 years ago

    @Goodfella
    You've never heard of Banelings. Try taking out a grouping of roughly thirty marines with six Banelings acting as landmines. ;D

  • Goodfella #15 2 years ago

    I said 'virtually'.

  • darkmorgado #16 2 years ago

    @Goodfella

    Haven't they increased Marine build time to try and mitigate this? I'm sure I read that somewhere (though admittedly it has been a while since I read the patch notes).

  • rivuzu #17 2 years ago

    They're virtual units D8

  • Goodfella #18 2 years ago

    No they just increased reaper build time from 40 to 45 seconds.

    http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/842870

  • darkmorgado #19 2 years ago

    Oooh. Just noticed in the patch notes that there is now support for left-handed hotkey configs.

    YAY!

  • abigsmurf #20 2 years ago

    rivuzu: Motherships are slow and probably behind the core of their rays.

    Focus all fire on the mothership first, send in your AA round the back and take it out. Stimpacked marines should then chew through the Void Rays. Make sure you're scouting so you can tell he's massing VRs. Scouting is one of Terran's strengths

    I've found a deadly combination as Protoss is Mothership + 3 carriers + 3 colossuses + a bunch of stalkers. The vast majority of player don't know how to cope with this. Does take a massive amount of time and resources though, a good player shouldn't let you build up a force that size.

  • Rajin #21 2 years ago

    Oh well i guess this once again stimulates the use of defense buildings as protoss(outside the fact that you can block zerg out, i never ever died of a zerg rush, after the first wave i just run and gun with stalkers while i am preparing a air force

  • rivuzu #22 2 years ago

    @abigsmurf

    Ah, but the problem herein lies that I'm a pure Zerg player. Though it's still perfectly doable with twenty Mutalisks, twenty Hydralisks and an Overseer. Mothership crushaz.

  • levitate #23 2 years ago

    I'm so looking forward to try this out once I come back from work!

  • Canyarion #24 2 years ago

    Argh! Why is Battle.net still down? And worse than that, why can't I play offline?

  • kar #25 2 years ago

    2 zealots can take out 6 zerglings haha. Right let's be clear, 2 zealots = 200 minerals, 6 zerglings = 150. Please get a clue before posting nonsense like this.

    Zealots 'op', well they are if you don't know how to defend against proxy or early Zealot pushes (here's a tip, 9/10 if you scout the proxy, or hold the early pressure, you're going to win). If you're zerg, speedlings + 2-3 spines will stop it. If you're Terran, just start laughting. Concussive shell and a heartbeat will stop it. Now, straight up, no Terran should complain about anything balance related. Odds are you're a hopeless RTS player if you do. Because Terran right now are utterly ridiculous in terms of OP.

    Now Zergies, they can complain. They are hard done by. It's true if you play Zerg you need to realise Blizzard doesn't like you. Dustin Browder fucking HATES you. Once you get over that, and realise you're always going to be fighting an uphill battle you can being to make progress.

    ZvP is for the most part balanced. The problem is the 2 gate pressure into 4 gate expand. Now yeah I can accept in this context there is an issue with the Zealot. Problem is, once you get past the 8 minute mark, protoss become much less scary. Zerg can macro like all hell and hydras dominate the game until colossi come out. By which time zerg have corruptors and control of half the map. There will be a big battle and everything will die, zerg, protoss alike.

    Only difference is protoss can't just rebuild 100 supply of units in 1 minute. Zerg can. And so in the mid to late game Zerg are really tough to play against (once they survive the 2 gate pressure).

    Now PvT is silly, Zealots getting you down? Well build a bunker and research concussive shell. Void rays proving a pain? Well build some Marines and they switch your starport to a reactor. If you're like most noob terrans and simply don't scout, use that other advantage Terran has, fricken comsat.

    6 marauders + stim will drop a nexus quicker than a protoss army can move from its ramp to its nexus to kill the marauders.

    Banshees are like flying dark templars, their DPS is off the richter scale.

    Siege tanks make any head on assault against a Terran army impossible, and concussive shell makes running away suicidal too.

    Anyway, anyone winging about balance had damn well better not play Terran.

    Edited by kar at 22/09/10 @ 17:26

  • Moz #26 2 years ago

    As a protoss player i'm surprised there weren't more nerfs. Given that I can on a good day get at least 4 zealots out by the time a zergling rush hits having that reduced to 2 or 3 isn't going to be a problem.

    And if you struggle doing that then go for tower defence instead before you start building your own troops.

    Void rays on the other hand could do with a longer build time, but then again good players can defend against a void rush.

  • Gambit1977 #27 2 years ago

    I feel like I've stumbled in to a Russian site! All this is completely foreign to me!