Racial Identity Seems to be going down, heres why.

[pureWasted]

So far in the story we've met with two actual Ghost agents - Kerrigan and Nova. Both have the rank and authority to call in reinforcements. In fact, Kerrigan was practically Mengsk's second in command.

We have pretty good reason to assume that Ghosts have a lot of authority on the battlefield. You command Battlecruisers too, but they're practically flag-ships, each with their own high commanding officer.

[Watty]

this is not cnc... paradrop? scrap it... it will make the "train-ur-own-marines-load-into-dropship-unload-it-urself-to-ambush-enemy" tactic worthless. where is the skill?

u can call in reinforcements, but never airdrop, because we can already do this manually.

banshee needs a name change, seriously.

thor seems to take away my Siege Tank's role in doing Siege attacks... =(
(we will see games where players only constructing Thors, vikings and marines for late games... and abandoning the siege tanks at the early games thats all... ???)

ground turret is out of place! hope its just a testing thing... not cnc pls!..

[J1M]

Ok, first of all the whole debate about not giving a unit an ability because of lore is stupid.

Do you not realize that most of the lore revolving around an ability is generated AFTER? Nobody at Blizzard was sitting around deciding that in the story the UED would have medics and then a month later some other guy says "hey let's put that unit in the game, it has a really good background story". LOL

Second, I highly doubt Blizzard is going to suggest the Ghost is somehow authorizing a mission. It's more likely to be presented as you are the commander sending in the cavalry and the ghost is giving you a laser pinpoint of where the orbital insertion should land. Just like the marines 'painted' targets for air strikes in the Transformers movie and just like Ghosts currently paint targets for nukes.

Honestly, if you are going to use that ass-backward logic why aren't you arguing against nuke launches? OMG GHOST IS SPECIALIST CANNOT AUTHORIZE NUKE ONLY 2 PRESIDENTZ CAN DO THAT!!!11one

[J1M]

this is not cnc... paradrop? scrap it... it will make the "train-ur-own-marines-load-into-dropship-unload-it-urself-to-ambush-enemy" tactic worthless. where is the skill?

u can call in reinforcements, but never airdrop, because we can already do this manually.

banshee needs a name change, seriously.

thor seems to take away my Siege Tank's role in doing Siege attacks... =(
(we will see games where players only constructing Thors, vikings and marines for late games... and abandoning the siege tanks at the early games thats all... ???)

ground turret is out of place! hope its just a testing thing... not cnc pls!..

Fuck "airdrops", my ghosts target orbital insertions! There, I changed the name, now it is "unique" right? LOL

[daleadil]

Of course alot of this is speculation but here me out.

I have been keeping close observation of the game as of late and so far the game seems to be shaping up well. Although there are some aspects that bother me and I will list them as follows.


Terrans and there revamped racials/buildings :

Reactor Addon

From what we know the terran have a building/addon(reactor) that allows the user to build two units at a time from the same building. Dont get me wrong , this addon seems very cool but I feel it takes away from the zerg ability to mass produce basic units at will. How is this concept any different then the hatchery(producing 2 zerglings from 1 egg)? I dont really feel right about the reactor belonging to the terrans.



New Abilties from new units:

The Banshee

This unit is said to come with an AoE missle volley that deals with infanty. Wow this seems almost exactly like HT psychic storm but from air. I always felt terrans should be given abilities that were weak if used badly ( irradiate ) but deadly in the right hands (irradiate). Where Protoss have the generic power house, that is, Psychic storm (somewhat newb friendly).


Thor

Again this is all speculation but this obviously appears to be a very "powerful" unit. Last I checked the role belonged to the protoss. Not really fond of this unit but I will have to see it in action to make a more sound decision.


Ground turrets

We dont really know if this is a turret or not, but any educated guess can logically come to that assumption. Why would terran need another anti ground (automatic defense)?. Zerg have Sunken colonies (ground to ground) and terrans had bunkers/tanks. Again this led to the race being poor, in the wrong hands, but extremely powerful if well used. Im sorry if this offends anyone but I really feel this (ground turret) seems out of place and belongs in C&C.


Ghost abilitys:

The ability to (SUMMON) 6 marines is just a slap in the face imo. I hate to compare this to warcraft 3 but I have no choice. The ghosts are not necromancers and this ability feels very out of place. The ability to over take your enemy by sheer numbers ( bringing 6 marines to overpower the enemy) is an ability I can see the zerg having but not terrans...



Anyway these are some issues I have observed that seem to be taking away racial distinctiveness. Other then the points listen I really have no more issues and love the way the game is turning it. I only express these concerns because I want the best from SC2.

I have to disagree.

The reasons Blizzard is making marines easy to mass is because it has
traditionally been a unit that is effective in large numbers.
And, in fact, I would argue that weak, easy-to-mass,
infantry set Terrans very far apart from Protoss because
they end up highlighting how "powerful" the Protoss units are.
Case in point -- Twilight Archon Gameplay Footage.

I also debate the idea that the Reactor addon closes the gap between Terran and Zerg.
Nearly every time we've seen marines, they've been in large groups.
However, every time we've seen Zerg units, they've been in much larger groups.
This leads me to believe that even with the reactor, the Zerg race will still be
distinctively better at quickly building a massive amount of units.

I also cannot agree with the argument that the Thor unit closes the gap between
Terran and Protoss because its a "powerful" unit. By that argument the Ultralisk
of Starcraft 1 bridges the gap between Zerg and Protoss.
I can agree that Protoss have a reputation of being the most powerful of the three races,
but cannot agree that "power-house units" should not be exclusive to them.

I can also agree on the fact that a Ground Turret seems very out of place for Terrans,
but I disagree that it reduces the Terran's distinctiveness. The static defense
(not so static for Protoss anymore) of the three races are distinct in the way they
manage their hitpoints: Zerg regenerate HP over time,
Terran buildings burn down if not repaired,
and Protoss buildings regenerate sheilds only with no repair option.
Although, I may be mistaken because Starcraft 2 could amend this policy.

And I cannot, in any way see the merit in your comment about AoE damage,
and I must disagree. By that arguement, the Siege Tank and Nuclear Strike
also make Terran alot like Protoss (which isn't true because those things
do more to set Terrans apart from the other races.) Also, saying that an
abilities that are "weak if used badly but deadly in the right hands" should belong to Terran
makes no sense because ALL abilities fall under that category
(especially Psi Storm -- Think about how many noobs have cast it on their own units?).

I DO, however, 100% agree that the Ghost ability to summon marines feels like
it would be better suited for the Zerg.

[Watty]

well, "Orbital Insertions" or "AirDrop" are both the same. they still drop Marines...
Starcraft 1 has a nice uniqueness because it drops a Manufactured Nuke(which can be countered by killing the Ghost), instead of Marines.

Perhaps not to you gentleman, but to me, Dropping Marines as an ability takes away the need to build your own marines(unless they say you have to train it urself first before u can drop, then who knows?)

[J1M]

well, "Orbital Insertions" or "AirDrop" are both the same. they still drop Marines...
Starcraft 1 has a nice uniqueness because it drops a Manufactured Nuke(which can be countered by killing the Ghost), instead of Marines.

Perhaps not to you gentleman, but to me, Dropping Marines as an ability takes away the need to build your own marines(unless they say you have to train it urself first before u can drop, then who knows?)

Um, yeah, I think we all pretty much expect that you have to build the marines and target their drop location just like a nuke, lol. Do you like the ability now?

[Psi Warp]

I think they should preserve that "Marine Reinforments Summon" ability and change it into a Zerg caster spell. Like a Defiler, for example, can screech and instantly call up six Zerglings or so, which "unburrows" from around the Defiler and ready to either suicide or mutate into Banelings then suicide :p

I think they should give him a Psionic ability, like cause temporary/permanent madness in a target unit making it hostile to all units, buildings, or critters nearby.


-Psi

[warrior6]

im pretty sure the marines have to be bought for full price...still it does kinda take away the skill of infiltrating into enemy territory with a dropship full of marines and knowing that losing the ship means losing a lot of minerals and some gas

[pureWasted]

im pretty sure the marines have to be bought for full price...still it does kinda take away the skill of infiltrating into enemy territory with a dropship full of marines and knowing that losing the ship means losing a lot of minerals and some gas

For all we know right now, the ~300 minerals the ability would cost are entirely unrefundable should your Ghost die before he manages to signal them via beacon, or however it is he gets them to show up, so unless you get it with the first Ghost, or the second Ghost, or keep trying and trying, you just lose out on your investment.

But that's my point - we know absolutely nothing about how this ability works. And everybody always assumes the worst.

[SC2FanBoy]

The Reactor Core is going to be bad, I think.

Imagine this : A TvZ game and the T is going to go M&M.

He makes one Barracks with the Tech Center and a second Barracks with the Reactor Core.

He can now make Medics from the Tech Center and two Marines or a Marine and a Reaper at the same time at the Reactor Core. It's essentially three Barracks.

However, we don't know how far the tech tree you have to climb before you can use these add-ons, but you get my drift...

[Watty]

i miss the comsat stations hahaha

radar domes/sensor towers and all reminds me of CnC too LOL!

then again, we'll see how things turn out =\

[viperjo]

The Reactor Core is going to be bad, I think.

Imagine this : A TvZ game and the T is going to go M&M.

He makes one Barracks with the Tech Center and a second Barracks with the Reactor Core.

He can now make Medics from the Tech Center and two Marines or a Marine and a Reaper at the same time at the Reactor Core. It's essentially three Barracks.

However, we don't know how far the tech tree you have to climb before you can use these add-ons, but you get my drift...

I believe the reactor doubles the unit you've selected instead of being able to queue up two different units at the same time. But i see what you're going for with this. Remember that the add-ons can be mixed and matched as of right now so consider this for your basic vehicle, your basic air, your basic infantry. M&Ms are delicious yes but they can only get you so far in a battle. I fear the reactor being used for quick aerial dominance or producing a fast ground vehicle (cobra most likely) will give the terrans a true "rush" ability now.

[GRUNT]

I'm cool with the new add-on mechanics, but I agree with you on the Banshee and the Thor.

'Versatile' is another catchword that is used to describe the Terrans, and after seeing how specialised the Protoss are, I was pleasantly suprised to see how versatile a unit the Viking could be. However, the Banshee also seems quite specialised and its AoE ability, as you pointed out, might steal some thunder from Psi Storms, but we'll see.

As for the Thor, I'm fine with Terrans getting a powerful new siege unit, but I agree that it's treading a little too far into the 'few but elite' domain of the Protoss. It strikes me as being too much of a centerpiece for the Terran army...something that I think only the Protoss should have the rights to have.

[pureWasted]

The Reactor Core is going to be bad, I think.

Imagine this : A TvZ game and the T is going to go M&M.

He makes one Barracks with the Tech Center and a second Barracks with the Reactor Core.

He can now make Medics from the Tech Center and two Marines or a Marine and a Reaper at the same time at the Reactor Core. It's essentially three Barracks.

However, we don't know how far the tech tree you have to climb before you can use these add-ons, but you get my drift...

Right, but that's getting into the gameplay problems, which we'll never be able to judge without seeing the gameplay. This is all absolutely moot. What if the Reactor Core is very expensive? So you build a Rax for 150, then a Reactor Core for 200 more (I'm just saying it's possible), you're already anywhere between 20 and - if estimates of Zerg now spawning 3 or 4 Zerglings per egg, that count goes up astronomically - units behind. So what are you gonna do with your two marines at a time when you have 4 and he has 20 zerglings? Not so imbalanced now.

My only point is we know absolutely nothing about how it's balanced. I doubt it'll be that expensive, but if you take into account the cost, the time to construct, etc., it might not be so advantageous to get right away as you would think.