The NEW StarCraft 2 Update is LIVE!

[@MauroDraco]

EMP would fit awesomely in the raven, both thematically andas a homage to the SC1 science vessel. All the while aiding protoss in a very simple and direct way

[@happydoggie369]

I support this idea

[@sashasemennikov157]

And it would make raven appear more often

[@brianfhunter]

EMP+Turret would be brutal against protoss... mass ravens would be the main strategy on TvP matches... I think they should remove the turret hability from the raven... free units is always a problem on limited resources games...

[@STEMolDay]

I have the solution for the lack of Zerg anti-air... Simply bring back everyone's favourite unit. The infested Terran. Purple rockets for everyone!

[@akatosh6299]

You cant tell me that there are seriously pro terran players that complains about the Ghost nerf when that cursed unit literally removes half HP of protoss army with one skill and almost oneshot everything the Zerg has plus having good tanking and damage. Now that i think about it i shouldnt even be that suprised after all Terrans are the same one that think that orbital comand mule and uncounterable scout is fine.

[@tuck295q]

It is called game faction nationalism. It happened in Red Alert 2-3, it happens in Generals, it will happen in SC2. The theory is which faction is the most Murrika the most then the brats will whine for their faction.

[@datonkallandor8687]

Professional players should never have input on balance - they have a monetary incentive to keep their race overpowered. They literally make money off imbalance.

[@Dylan13Nessman]

I will agree with most of what you said except the mule part. Without mules, Terran eco, especially early game would be terrible. Zero produce drones much faster than other races and protons build probes faster than terran (chrono boost) as well as not losing mining time during building. Mule is designed to help offset that, but late game when you have so many orbitals it start to become a problem.

[@TacynMegan]

Another year of zerg A-moving to victory

[@quarantinezone2844]

As a Zerg fan, Terran shouldn't have ranged units, that's cowardly.

[@Kenjin536]

Lowko my boi, the masses want to see you grow your mustache out

[@theanti-hypemonitor9079]

the """"concerns"""" about terran lategame with the ghost """"nerf"""" are fucking hillarious. its completely laughable that a unit with THAT MUCH utility, versatility and LACK of clear weaknesses has been 2 supply for over a decade.

[@TacynMegan]

For a moment I thought you meant the Queen

[@theanti-hypemonitor9079]

terran can win without ghosts, zerg cant win without queens :)

[@sawtoothgrind1981]

@@theanti-hypemonitor9079 also off creep queens are much worse.

[@theanti-hypemonitor9079]

@@sawtoothgrind1981 naturally

[@shinzoux5912]

The balance council are a fucking joke lol

[@OnigoroshiZero]

The increased supply for the Ghost should not even count as a nerf, it's a fix. Ghost is by FAR the most absurdly broken unit in the game, it should had 3 (if not 4) supply cost from the very start. Nerfs should come on top of that fix. As a game designer myself, I laugh every time I see the unit and how stupid it is with all its OP abilities and survivability for its almost non-existent cost. Now, about the ZvT and ZvP balance. Zerg is the weakest race at this point, but as it is also the hardest to play, it has pushed the top players to heights that the rest can't even fathom (with the exception of Clem and MaxPax). Serral will continue to dominate. Dark, Reynor, and Rogue will continue to win a lot of tournaments. And Terran kids will continue to cry about balance. The fact is that these Zerg players are much, MUCH better at the game skill-wise than the top Terrans and Protoss (with the 2 exceptions mentioned previously, maybe along with herO).

[@matiashamalainen7965]

The hydra change was a straight up nerf. They nerfed a lair tech that is up 100% of the time after research to add a semi useless hive research.

[@glenmcgillivray4707]

Maybe the Corruptor needs a upgrade. To get an anti ground ability. Corrupt some mechanical units and slow their attack speed and cooldown rate. To make corruptors a credible threat when air units are out of the equation and brood lords aren't useful against a mobile opponent. Protoss death ball will dislike having Corruptors overhead, and terran mech will need to shoot up too.

[@MentalFracture158]

just swap emp with interference matrix so raven would get picked more often to counter shield and energy

[@brianfhunter]

I Think you should remove the turret spell then.... i think raven with both spells would be insanely powerful on tvp But i like the idea

[@Xyonon]

9:02 ... oh you :'D

[@quarantinezone2844]

I want flying banelings.

[@reeddragon5250]

you mean Scourge?

[@chrisdaignault9845]

So... scourge?

[@brianfhunter]

@@reeddragon5250 - its a joke... A lot of people didnt play SC1 and people who did, explain to SC2 players that the scourge is as a flying baneling.

[@tackion5371]

If only there was a unit like that 🤔

[@Mikivericks]

Thank you Lowko for always keeping us updated with everything Starcraft. And yes, I thank your past, current, and future version of you. ❤

[@tuck295q]

If only microbial shroud affects air units too….100% would use it.

[@joeludlow8837]

Already liked! I'm just happy they kept the much needed ghost nerf. I look forward to seeing how this patch plays out.

[@matthewclark7955]

"Terran pros upset their overpowered race wont be as overpowered"

[@joshuakim5240]

What baffles me is how impactful the Ghost nerf ended up being despite seeming like the most do-nothing change imaginable. "Lol 3 supply instead of 2? Pfffft, as if that will do anything" --> *has 50% fewer Ghosts* --> "Holy crap the +1 supply nerf is actually doing a lot for balance!" In hindsight, it was always mind-boggling that such an absurdly powerful unit has always been a measly 2 supply, considering how it neutered if not outright defeated units tripled its supply and over doubled its cost.

[@pointynives]

@@joshuakim5240 it's not even 50% less. you have 12 supply for ghosts, you used to get 6 and now you get 4. That's a 33% decrease

[@tomas539]

I still think that disruptors and widow mines need to go. They are boring units that generate randomness and punish even slight mistakes too much. (I play protoss)

[@phongminh2588]

It can be made to "unable" to target itself or another Nexus. 60s global cooldown really makes the thing obsolete in the late game, where one or two spellcasters arent much. Should be individual cooldown, like the Command Center

[@colinlee2904]

id rather orbital commands get global cooldowns on scan

[@happydoggie369]

It should have extra charges for every 2 Nexus, for example 3 charges max with 6 Nexus and it gets one charge every 60s

[@Larunes-r1g]

the sensor tower range going down from 27 to 22 is a lot more than it seams yes its "just" 5 range, a decreaseof around 18% , when the someone is going in a straight line but its an area decrease of around 33%

[@leonardol8158]

Guys, 12:30 about Ghost nerf, what you think about this idea? One way for Protoss deal with the EMP would be to have Sentry in the army and its shield would provide the following effect "units under the Sentry shield will receive 50% less shield damage from the EMP".

[@pascalshopify]

Blizzard should make Ghost a light unit to make it less OP. - In TvP, it would make Colossus specifically stronger against this unit and give Protoss players a counter to Ghosts through this unit, which is currently a bit weak and easily killable. - In TvZ, Ghosts is very strong against all Zerg lategame units: Lurkers, Vipers, Broodlords and Ultralisks. Banelings got nerfed very hard -5 attack/ - 5HP, so making Ghosts a light unit would make Banelings stronger against them, and give Zerg players a counter against Ghosts. This, in addition to the 3 supply added lately (but which only nerfs Ghosts during the lategame), would help the balance overall IMO. (Also, lorewise, makes it more correct to label Ghost as a light unit.) Despite this nerf, Ghosts would still have a higher survivability than most Zerg or Protoss units, thanks to Medivacs (heal + transport & dash to move them away from a fight) Another simpler idea would be to simply nerf Ghosts in auto attack / HP because, in addition to their insane capacities, they are both very strong and tanky as a unit, in comparison with High Templars or Infestors (but IMO, this nerf would be less elegant than the first one, as it's "just" playing with maths). Or, also, make EMP an upgrade. Lurkers are initially weak until they get their 2 upgrades, so Ghosts would need 2 upgrades as well (cloack + EMP) to get their full strength. Also, this upgrade would compensate for the recent decreased cost of Armory.

[@joshuakim5240]

It's always been weird how a spandex jumpsuit somehow protected someone better than a suit of power armor of mechanized metal plating weighing a literal ton against fire and lasers.

[@happydoggie369]

@@joshuakim5240this game light units tank better than mechanical units 😆

[@shinzoux5912]

The ghost nerf is too great In the late game, instead of 30 OP units, we can only have 20 OP units😢

[@LukasLLM]

I wonder how it would feel if they took the Thor balance proposal and put it onto EMP. Basically giving EMP falloff damage. So while you could hit an entire protos army, only the very center of the EMP would take full damage

[@schippes24]

give it a target cap. every target beyond 5 targets doesnt get affected, easy.

[@LukasLLM]

@@schippes24 Or make it a softcap rather than a hardcap. 1 target hit = 100 damage. 5 targets hit = 500 damage. 6 targets hit = 500 damage, split evenly. 20 targets hit = 500 damage, split evenly.

[@DekayVods]

@@LukasLLM This seems reasonable, but I feel like what this means is you need more emp's and we're already going to see fewer ghosts with them being 3 supply. We'll have to see how this current patch shakes out first.

[@AndreVonHirsch]

I think the problem of ZvP late game could be addressed by giving a broodlord change, so that if after zerg makes corruptors they would more easily be able to morph into broodlords so that the corruptor commitment is not as committing

[@rakshar6299]

on paper, the mothership to me behaves like a super heavy tank from company of heroes 2 (say king tiger, is2, etc). a very expensive late game unit both in resources and supply that theoretically is incapable of losing a straight up engagement against smaller tanks that dont outnumber it. however, unless micro'd well by the player that thing is gonna die just as fast at it came

[@alexbernat5952]

For the protoss v. zerg balance you're talking about, it seems to me like it might be a symptom of trying to fit the protoss to a theme of having fewer but more powerful units as opposed to zerg being more "swarmy". Basically it means zerg has an arguably higher skill ceiling but needs more micro, while protoss has higher base power even with less micro, but aside from select units like stalkers, warp prisms, and sentries, there's a lower opportunity for top protoss players to find skill-based strategies that are much more optimal than just a-moving. It might be hard to lower protoss base power without losing some of its thematic identity, but I get curious if it's possible to still do that a bit then lean more into skill and strategy based units with a bit more of a "mystic alien" theme than a "big thing hits hard" theme, which I think we already see with sentries and oracles, as examples. Just some curious thoughts!

[@razorback9999able]

Does Microsoft care about the players of StarCraft II? I think no.

[@boadroad]

How common is the situation, when you look away and your mutas dispatched by a group of sneaky thors? I mean i don't remember the time when mineral lines were guarded by turrets and thors from those pirate flying bands?! Or maybe mutas now go againts the main lines on battlefield, toe to toe with thors, bss' and the rest

[@renemay954]

Microbial Shroud for each attack would buff the Hydralisk and make it reasonable to use against Mothership

[@glenmcgillivray4707]

On Maps. We could run two map pools. offical maps, and Community maps. Take the top 3-6 maps from every interesting event, mix them with other mapping contest winners, toss a shuffle on the list and push out 9 maps as an official Community Map Pool every 3 months slowly grinding through the ever growing list. should you ever hit the end of the list, add any new maps, shuffle the deck again, and start over as we slowly keep adding more contest winners over time. This way there is always going to be a published list of what maps will be added to the community pool a year in advance, a published list you can practice your skills on prior to offical adoption, and yet also there is always new, fresh maps you haven't played competitively on showing up in your client every 3 months, celebrating the creativity and accomplishments of contest winners of both and old. I imagine it goes to the balance council to declare certain maps to be removed from that shuffled deck of maps should extreme balance bias problems be revealed on some community maps, otherwise each map offers it's creator fame and immortality in a way.

[@chrisdaignault9845]

I definitely agree that EMP needs a more impressive visual effect.

[@mikestmp]

Make protoss shield upgrade give ~25% reduced effectiveness of emp per upgrade. Solves issues and creates incentives to upgrade.

[@sashasemennikov157]

Lambo had a very good breakdown on why Protoss loose at a high level (mostly top Zerg and Terrans are just better players)

[@PhantomHarlock78]

Protoss now rushing Stalkers all-in in the metal leagues bc can´t hide anymore behind overcharge.

[@relagob8380]

I don't even play SC2 competitively but come on, Ghosts are the only unit that have an FU button against Zerg for high damage and Protoss to delete half their total Health Pool.

[@MauroDraco]

34:14 let zerglings build crawlers! Hidralisk at lair tech and bring the upgrades for the roaches, hidras and lurkers one level down as well should have been done AGES ago!

[@GreenT_LoR]

idk I feel like if you need to invest into about 20-30 Corruptors just for one Mothership, the Protoss already won. They can just transition to a heavy ground army and now you're stuck sitting there with your empty supply of Corruptors. You COULD make them Broodlords, but that's even MORE resources committed just to try to get your opponent to free up your supply...It's doomed.

[@macanudo6206]

hello, i am a scrub terran gold player and i have a balance proposition. Please destroy my terrible take (i do not have twitter, i want to feel what balance discussion looks like) : -Brood lords are now "merged" from 2 corruptors but now cost only 50 gas -New research at the greater spire "enzymatic dissolution" 100 M / 100 G, some time long (idk), allows the brood lord to split back into two coruptors, the animation for that is about twice the time of a brood lord to "merge" -Greater spire cost reduced by 25 gaz (idk, maybe to compensate for BL costing twice their cost in larvas, i mean armory got the buff from nowhere)

[@Straga_Severa]

Y tho

[@macanudo6206]

@@Straga_Severa solve the "hey i got 50 suply of corruptors that doesnt do anything, but if i get rid of them the opponent can just go air again"

[@ChaineRubis]

Totally agree with your for the maps !!!! I just loooooove to play on new maps !!! I don't care if the map pool is wide of 35 Maps :D Change the map pool more ^^

[@LDSG_A_Team]

Idea: Zerg gains new ability to sacrifice a Hive to summon like 8 to 10 scourge. Scourges are super squishy, but deal like 100 to 150 damage on impact. Would give Zerg a mothership counter, albeit a very committed and/or time-consuming one. Zergs basically never have a reason to upgrade more than one hatchery, either, which I think is a shame. This would give them a reason. Scourge would also be really strong against Libs, but they'd get absolutely ripped to shreds by even a small group of marines. So the ability would be a really high commitment and require excellent positioning and timing by the Zerg player.

[@trollerox7276]

Ok hear me out. MASSIVE units (Ultralisk, Archon and Thor) should be able to push or not be blocked by other units.

[@Mikalent]

I will agree with Lowko on the Mothership side, and I am a former (I don't play SC2 anymore) Protoss player. The main concern I see is PVZ, and that's because we have seen a number of games where just the existence of the Mothership forces an ungodly amount of Corruptors out from the Zerg player, even though the Protoss player is going almost pure ground. Leaving Zerg with a good amount of supply tied up in a group of units that become all but useless after the Mothership dies. IDK how they would balance it, maybe it doesn't need balance and the pro games are just suffering from "new thing confusion" but it is a concern there. As for terrans.... Ghosts should be four supply.

[@xitaris5981]

I don't really care about the changes. I was just feeling nostalgic and missing Simon, so I let this play while I work.

[@baberto10]

ah Lowko always bias towards zerg... or terran...

[@marus3953]

I think pro players are so good if they can't win with their own race. They can simply use the overpowered race.

[@michaelbooser2316]

Would the right call for PvZ be reducing the gas cost of the corrupter? You'll still have to make a bunch, but it would be easier to transition to corruptors when behind? Maybe corrupter is 25 gas cheaper, but broodlord is 25 gas more expensive (Keeps massing broods about the same)? Or give broods a buff too and just reduce the corruptor cost.

[@happydoggie369]

The problem is that Corruptor is very effective against air army and it’s not useful doing anything else, reducing the gas cost will just make it even more effective against air army and does not help the actual problem

[@francescob.3019]

fixing the ghost is easy: it must be “light” or have 20 less hp. Emp should do maybe 75% the energy/shield it drains now and snipe must do slightly less damage, it can stay at 2 supply. easy as that, nobody would say it’s a weak unit. There’s spellcasters with way less impactful spells which don’t even have an auto attack. This won’t be enough. You got 5/10 ghosts, which is plenty, and you sacrifice what, 5/10 marines when your army is capped? Wow big nerf. i don’t understand what’s so hard about this. ah yes, balance council plays terran…

[@keichinger]

Are there any updates on upcoming esports/tournaments announcements yet? I think you mentioned this is one of your casts that there still isn't any public announcement or roadmap for 2025, if I recall correctly.

[@amiaoghg9562]

hi lowko

[@ballerbf]

That mothership change is disrespectful…

[@shinzoux5912]

Fat

[@shinzoux5912]

These Immortal and Queen nerfs are buillshit. Esp when Ghost is basically left untouched. This council is definitely biased, evident by the fact that they initially planned ON IGNORING THE GHOST ENTIRELY. They target PvZ or PvP and keep getting away with it.

[@premchanddevaraj4776]

Can it be possible if the Oversear can contaminate the mothership that prevents all its abilities since vipers can't abduct.

[@Fishbro]

Can we just acknowledge that protoss completely suck? Like Lowko said, oracles are the only half decent unit, everything else has been nerfed into the ground, going from underpowered to useless. Its no wonder toss cant win tournaments.

[@timothyyambing6160]

Lurker nerf removed?

Teenage mamaship has now all grown up in the live update. Ok, I'll show myself out.

[@leonardol8158]

If I was billionaire, i would buy StarCraft rights and build a development team for StarCraft 3 and another development team for maintaining StarCraft 2 while 3 is not ready.

[@Straga_Severa]

Pitch this to Elon Musk. He is already a fan of another blizzard game ;-)

[@leonardol8158]

@Straga_Severa do you want to destroy StarCraft? Because that would be the end for it.

[@rzrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrzrz]

I miss parting

[@PV-pw8bf]

its not nexi, nexus isnt greek. its latin

[@BaronVonCarrot]

I don't want to play zvz. I don't want to play vs skytoss. I don't want to play vs mech. I guess I don't want to play this game

[@MemoriaChan]

Thanks Blizzard, for taking an hour of your time to poorly implement the patch

[@macanudo6206]

why poorly ?

[@bhilly812]

Because it came out bugged. Its not a comment on the content of the patch, it's about the rollout of the patch.

[@macanudo6206]

@@bhilly812 oh ok i didn't played it rn, was that today ?

[@tallestGirafffe]

Lowko commenters won't be happy until the Terran race is deleted 😂😂😂

[@Jabawalk]

Carefully monitor: (v) a way to say one can not care less but don’t want to be accused of no doing anything

[@عليالعراقي-ع2ت3ي]

علي موحان💕💟💛💕💟💛💟💛💟💟💛💕💛💕💕💛💕💕💛💟💛💕🧡💕💟💛💟💟💟🧡💟🧡💟💟🧡💟🧡💟🧡💟🧡💟💟🧡💟🧡🧡💕💕💕💛💕💛💕💕💛💕💛💕💛💕💛💛

[@ivanmaidanavelasquez6585]

I love how lowko stop complaining about the baneling nerf, and now will complain about the queen nerf 😂😂😂

[@MạcHuyLâmâm]

J'ai accidentellement flashé le livreur quand j'ai ouvert la porte avec ma serviette. Il n'a pas semblé s'en préoccuper. Maintenant, je me demande si je ne devrais pas donner un pourboire supplémentaire pour ce spectacle involontaire🐱

[@DươngHữuHoàngng-h2y]

Ich bin immer wieder erstaunt über die Fülle an Wissen, die in diesem Thread gezeigt wird. Es ist, als hätte man Zugriff auf eine virtuelle Enzyklopädie.🍒

[@jamyorday]

AYYYEEOOPOOOOOOOOO WHATSSUUUUP

[@JavierMartinez-oe3qk]

😶‍🌫️

[@bomnitoperro9422]

They keep making peotos garbage i see. Players are stupid

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

Nooo my ultras :(((