Starcraft 2 Beta Watch: Part 3

Blizzard has released the tech trees for each race in the game which means they feels it’s been solidified enough for players to start studying this stuff. Dustin Browder himself said in a recent interview with G4TV that the main thing stopping the beta from launching right now is that the server infrastructure for 30k-40k players to be online at the same time doesn’t exist yet. With these releases I’m sure we’ll be getting the beta in the next few days(?) maybe weeks at most (funny I called the beta for July back at Blizzcon last year).

Looking closely at the tech trees you’ll notice that the Lurkers and the Dark Templar have been bumped up to a T3 unit so they won’t be so immediately available but still remain really powerful for the mid-game and late-game. There was a press event (I mentioned) a short time ago that basically was a bunch of fansites and such under a very STRICT NDA playing the game with the developers. Now the NDA has been lifted and several attendees have published extensive write-ups, the most notable one being TeamLiquid’s summary of the visit. A few highlights from TL’s own and others’ impressions:

• With Overlords no longer having detection capabilities, the lack of Zerg detection coverage makes the Protoss Phoenix + Dark  Templar a powerful combo in the current build – even more so than the equivalent Corsair + Dark Templar build of the original game.
• Banelings can explode while burrowed.
• The upgraded Zerg Hydralisk movement speed is on par with that of Cracklings (speed-upgraded Zerglings).
• The Terran ability to salvage 100% of the resources invested in a building proves a fertile ground for offensive bunkering, cliffing and early-game harassment.
• Reactor add-on cross-building compatibility allows the Terran to crank out key units such as the Medivac Dropship two at a time immediately as a Starport becomes available.
• The Protoss High Templar Psi Storm is even more powerful than in StarCraft 1, with a larger radius, shorter duration and more total damage.
• Ultralisks are no longer a late-game screw-you unit, but hands down the most powerful and effective physical ground unit in the game.
• Merging different Protoss Templars together still produces the exact same Archon.
• Cliff-walking Colossi and burrowing Infestors are not able to traverse destructible rocks.

Here’s that Dustin Browder interview I told you about earlier. I really like this guy, I mean hands down he’s entertaining to listen to during the Battle Reports and you can tell he obviously has a lot of passion and respect for the work he does and that my friends is an admirable trait you don’t see much first hand. WATCH IT.