StarCraft II's "e-sport patch" this year

By Oli Welsh Published 27 September, 2010

Season rolling, balance changes, chat.

Blizzard has revealed that the second patch for StarCraft II will focus on e-sport features and further balance changes, and should be ready in 2010.

"We'd like ot out by the end of the year," lead producer Chris Sigaty told PC Gamer.

It's "largely our e-sport patch," he said, revealing that a major new feature would be "season rolling", allowing players to track their performance in past seasons. Chat will be added along with editor features and the usual bug fixes and balance changes.

Balance was the focus of the game's first patch, released last week. Sigaty refuted claims that the Zerg are underpowered, stating that the race simply has fewer players because it's more challenging to play. He feels that the game balance is "actually very strong" at high levels right now but warned that it could still take a long time to properly balance the game.

"[Balance] is an ongoing process that, honestly, will take a year or longer to do," he said.

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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.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • levitate #1 2 years ago

    Good stuff! We're all waiting for the chat feature.

  • InfiniteFury #2 2 years ago

    I am absolutely desperate for this chat function, how nice it would be for the EG-ers to join a "guild" (for want of a better word) chat channel and natter, organise games etc.

    I've been playing this less and less recently as I feel a bit like a sheep throwing himself at a pack of wolves. Would be nice to inject a bit less serious-business into the proceedings and lighten it up a bit.

  • kar #3 2 years ago

    Man, there's no problem with zerg being underpowered...just they are harder to play and therefore require a more skilled player to win with.

    Isn't that the definitely of underpowered then? Two equally skilled players should have an equal opportunity to win. That's like putting a bunch of 4 ft 5 basketballers vs some 7 ft giants.

    Sure, lil fellas, it's not that the other players ore overpowered it's just that it's more difficult to play when you're 4 ft 5.

    Chris Sigaty is a moron.

  • White_Waffle #4 2 years ago

    Yeah, of course a race can be underpowered in match ups played by people with lesser skills, while being on par in match ups with more skilled players. I don't know if there is some other reason but that statement doesn't make Sigaty a moron.

  • butler` #5 2 years ago

    No, that's not the definition of underpowered.

  • butler` #6 2 years ago

    They do? RTS tend to have the same races copy pasted, and reskinned...

  • White_Waffle #7 2 years ago

    by the way, i think zerg could use a boost anyway - the new patch seems to do that.
    And balancing will go on for a long time. Every addon will bring new units(i suppose) and that will also keep them balancing. This dynamic will keep it interesting for a long time too.
    Edited by White_Waffle at 27/09/10 @ 11:44

  • nuanimal #8 2 years ago

    I'll still be lame...

    :o(

  • 5h1nj1 #9 2 years ago

    Yes, when one race is significantly more "challenging" (understand as "hard";) to play than the others, it means, it's underpowered. He contradicts even himself.

    edit: typo
    Edited by 5h1nj1 at 27/09/10 @ 13:20

  • White_Waffle #10 2 years ago

    Zerg have quite fragile units in the early game and you cannot usually attack a ball of terran or protoss forces head on. It requires smart play and a lot of awareness. So if two weak players are battling it out, the zerg player will have a disadvantage, because building lots of units and Attack Move is not that effective. If two strong opponents are playing the zerg player is not at an disadvantage. That's what the blizzard dude is talking about. Now we will see how the newest patch will tilt the balance. Also different people are comfortable with different races.

    If the win ratio is quite off then i'm pretty sure they will change the balance. Since tactics are still evolving this is gonna be an ongoing process.

  • butler` #11 2 years ago

    It's pretty common to confuse skill required and relative power, but they are not mutually exclusive.

    Just because something is harder to play doesn't mean it is less powerful, even though it might seem that way to lesser skilled players.

  • abigsmurf #12 2 years ago

    I kinda dislike Blizzard's policy of balancing the game for the top end at the expense of less capable players.

    The game is full of cheesy tactics that are easy to pull off but require very careful planning to defend against, it's what makes the game so utterly inaccessible to new players. Yes you can and do learn to defend against them but only after a string of quick losses.

    It's actually something that's worst at the lowest level. Whereas skilled players will rarely overcommit by using cheese tactics, bronze players are far more willing to put their eggs in one basket by doing risky rushes.

    It shouldn't just be enough that you *can* counter against certain tactics, it should be that the ease of defending against them should be proportionate to the ease of defending against them.

  • White_Waffle #13 2 years ago

    I also think that cheesy tactics are very strong especially in 2v2. The new patch should reduce the pressure by increasing the build time of berserker and reaper if i remember correctly.

  • butler` #14 2 years ago

    abigsmurf

    You basically feel exactly the same as me. The zerg rush is a prime example (i.e. the amount of effort to defend one vs. the amount of effort to execute one).

    That said, if everything was proportionate, it would be an incredibly boring game -- which is in no one's interest. It's the disparity between the races and the naunces that arise because of this that makes the game (and WoW, for example) interesting and engaging.

    It also makes it impossible to 'balance' per se, but Blizzard do a damn fine job.

  • Canyarion #15 2 years ago

    You guys are saying that most tactics are easier to pull off than to defend. Have you actually tried those tactics yourself? Do you know how hard it is to pull off a good rush? How risky it is to go all air? How challenging to scout your enemy as much as possible?

    Because in my experience no tactic is harder to defend against than to pull off. It's just easy to say that. And if it makes you feel better about losing, that's ok I guess. :)

    Btw, I'm in no way a super SC2 player. I'm halfway in the gold league.

  • george1976 #16 2 years ago

    IF only they will resolve the terribad performance of the graphic engine. It stutters so damn much.

  • craziii #17 2 years ago

    if you can't macro, don't touch zerg.