Et si Blizzard ralentissait les parties de bas niveau sur le ladder ?
Après quelques jours de repos, David Kim nous revient avec son habituel rapport hebdomadaire dédié à l'état actuel de StarCraft II. L'équipe a bien entendu surveillé le ladder pendant ce temps, mais également les tournois. Elle s'est rendue compte que les avantages/désavantages changeaient assez drastiquement d'une partie à l'autre selon le match up.
Pour les devs, la raison est simple : Legacy of the Void est encore très jeune et les changements apportés depuis Heart of the Swarm sont tellement nombreux que les joueurs cherchent encore leurs marques, même au très haut niveau. Les avis des joueurs pros divergent d'ailleurs beaucoup au sujet de l'équilibrage de LotV, au point qu'à une même question, les réponses sont complètement différentes, comme quand on leur demande qui a l'avantage en fin de partie lorsque le match oppose les Terrans aux Zergs. Selon Blizzard, c'est simplement dû au fait que les joueurs ne maîtrisent pas encore toutes les finesses du jeu.
David Kim propose ci-dessous plusieurs pistes de réflexion sur les changements qui pourraient avoir lieu dans les semaines à venir, et tient notamment compte des progamers coréens qui estiment, comme vous pouvez le lire en fin d'article, que les parties devaient être plus lentes pour les joueurs de bas niveau sur le ladder, comme c'est le cas dans les missions coopératives.
Overview of the past ~2 weeks
During the break, our SC2 Multiplayer team has been keeping up with all the major tournaments going on, as well as gathering feedback from the highest end of players. From the tournament games, we were seeing the advantages and disadvantages per matchup still swinging quite drastically in some cases, and the main strategies/timings being used seem to still be changing. We wonder if this is because Legacy of the Void is such a different game than Heart of the Swarm that even the highest skilled players are still in the process of figuring the game out.
From the top-end pro players we’ve consulted with so far, we’re seeing a variety of feedback. Getting mixed feedback on opposing viewpoints on a topic is something that is normal, but what was not normal was how different the viewpoints were even among the same races. For example, when the question was something like "who has the advantage in the late game in TvZ in an even game," the feedback among one race would range from Terran having no chance due to Ultra/Brood/Viper combo to Zerg having no chance due to Liberator/Ghost combo. Again, we wondered if the such varied feedback from pro players is due to the highest skilled players out there are still trying to master and figure out the game.
Due to these factors, we wanted to ask for feedback on a couple possible courses of action before committing. We currently wonder whether it's best to quickly turn around a balance patch with changes that feel necessary (maybe a patch consisting of the 2-3 most important’ changes), or if it's best to wait and give a chance for players to discover new solutions and strategies. So far, the majority of the top-pro players we've pinged seemed to prefer waiting for the moment, and our team is also slightly leaning towards keeping a close eye on how the game develops while focusing more on balance test maps. Nevertheless, we wanted to hear your thoughts in this area.
Now let's talk a bit more about the specifics of some potential issues that we could address.
Photon Overcharge Energy Cost Increase
This is a change that seems correct right now, because we want to promote a more action packed game, and it's really difficult to go on the offense at certain stages against Photon Overcharge, especially on maps where Protoss just needs to defend a single area. The main thing to figure out here is how well or badly Protoss is doing in the other matchups to tweak the race as a whole accordingly. We also agreed with your assessment of Protoss in that they looked to be the weakest race initially with the launch of Legacy of the Void, then they looked to be on the stronger side towards the end of last year, and we're not quite certain where they stand today.
Adept
We wonder if over time, Adept strength won't be as big of an issue. There are two reasons why we think this. First is that we have seen time and time again that it takes much more time to learn how to defend against attacks using new or changed units compared to the time it takes to learn how to execute the attacks. Second is while Adepts still look very powerful in games, they seem to be weaker than when Legacy of the Void first launched. We intend to keep a close eye on this unit in the coming weeks, and we think it would be best to not be too quick to judge on whether they're OP or not. While it could be the case that Adepts should receive a nerf, waiting to see how things play out could allow for better decisions. Please give us your thoughts in this area.
Roach/Ravager Combo
We do agree with you and think that in the long run, if the Roach/Ravager combo remains powerful, it may be problematic due to Zerg players mostly focusing on utilizing this combo in most of their matchups. Here, the main thing to figure out is where Zerg strength really lies. We completely agreed with you in that Zerg looked to be the strongest race at the start of Legacy of the Void. However, after pinging many of the highest level players during the break, we wonder if this is changing due to players adapting to the new Zerg strengths.
For example, if Zerg turns out to be weaker vs. Terran and solid vs. Protoss, instead of focusing on a Ravager nerf like we are currently, we can potentially look at other things such as an increase to Baneling movement speed to combat the new Terran tools against them such as Tier 1 Reaper grenades or Tier 2 Siege Tank medivac pick up. Of course, this is just one example and depending on how things turn out, we would obviously need to come up with the right solution accordingly.
Parasitic Bomb Nerf
Parasitic bomb is another area that could most likely use a nerf, and we can definitely continue testing the change to see if the fix is correct.
Multiplayer Game Speed
We also wanted to bring up a new idea for your feedback. We have received multiple pieces of feedback from Korean pro players who believe it would be nice if lower-level players had a slower game speed on ladder, similar to how it is in co-op missions mode.
If we are to consider something like this, we could imagine an approach like this: platinum and above players would play on the current speed (fastest), whereas gold and below would play one notch slower on fast speed. There are some feasibility issues we’d have to overcome, but we’d like to at least get your feedback on this.
We see both advantages and disadvantages to a change like this. Similar to why co-op missions uses different game speeds, StarCraft II is one of the most difficult games to master, and it may be both helpful and enjoyable for players of certain skill levels to be given extra time to think and act during their games. At the same time however, this would mean that the game wouldn’t feel the same for everyone, and it could also just feel “wrong” to make a change such as this since the game has been working a certain way for so long.
Obviously there are other pros and cons of making a change like this, and we have much time to consider the idea. We would love to hear your thoughts on this concept.
Summary
Other issues that we've previously worked on don't seem as necessary, but we don't want to brush them off until you have had your chance to provide your input, so please point out other issues that you think is problematic, and we'll definitely go over them within our design team and discuss those issues with pro players as well.
Whether we do a quick turn around on a balance patch or not, there looks to be many things we need to keep a look out for and many topics to discuss/figure out. Let's get discussions going as soon as possible to start off this year and continue working towards what the best moves are for the game. Happy new year!
During the break, our SC2 Multiplayer team has been keeping up with all the major tournaments going on, as well as gathering feedback from the highest end of players. From the tournament games, we were seeing the advantages and disadvantages per matchup still swinging quite drastically in some cases, and the main strategies/timings being used seem to still be changing. We wonder if this is because Legacy of the Void is such a different game than Heart of the Swarm that even the highest skilled players are still in the process of figuring the game out.
From the top-end pro players we’ve consulted with so far, we’re seeing a variety of feedback. Getting mixed feedback on opposing viewpoints on a topic is something that is normal, but what was not normal was how different the viewpoints were even among the same races. For example, when the question was something like "who has the advantage in the late game in TvZ in an even game," the feedback among one race would range from Terran having no chance due to Ultra/Brood/Viper combo to Zerg having no chance due to Liberator/Ghost combo. Again, we wondered if the such varied feedback from pro players is due to the highest skilled players out there are still trying to master and figure out the game.
Due to these factors, we wanted to ask for feedback on a couple possible courses of action before committing. We currently wonder whether it's best to quickly turn around a balance patch with changes that feel necessary (maybe a patch consisting of the 2-3 most important’ changes), or if it's best to wait and give a chance for players to discover new solutions and strategies. So far, the majority of the top-pro players we've pinged seemed to prefer waiting for the moment, and our team is also slightly leaning towards keeping a close eye on how the game develops while focusing more on balance test maps. Nevertheless, we wanted to hear your thoughts in this area.
Now let's talk a bit more about the specifics of some potential issues that we could address.
Photon Overcharge Energy Cost Increase
This is a change that seems correct right now, because we want to promote a more action packed game, and it's really difficult to go on the offense at certain stages against Photon Overcharge, especially on maps where Protoss just needs to defend a single area. The main thing to figure out here is how well or badly Protoss is doing in the other matchups to tweak the race as a whole accordingly. We also agreed with your assessment of Protoss in that they looked to be the weakest race initially with the launch of Legacy of the Void, then they looked to be on the stronger side towards the end of last year, and we're not quite certain where they stand today.
Adept
We wonder if over time, Adept strength won't be as big of an issue. There are two reasons why we think this. First is that we have seen time and time again that it takes much more time to learn how to defend against attacks using new or changed units compared to the time it takes to learn how to execute the attacks. Second is while Adepts still look very powerful in games, they seem to be weaker than when Legacy of the Void first launched. We intend to keep a close eye on this unit in the coming weeks, and we think it would be best to not be too quick to judge on whether they're OP or not. While it could be the case that Adepts should receive a nerf, waiting to see how things play out could allow for better decisions. Please give us your thoughts in this area.
Roach/Ravager Combo
We do agree with you and think that in the long run, if the Roach/Ravager combo remains powerful, it may be problematic due to Zerg players mostly focusing on utilizing this combo in most of their matchups. Here, the main thing to figure out is where Zerg strength really lies. We completely agreed with you in that Zerg looked to be the strongest race at the start of Legacy of the Void. However, after pinging many of the highest level players during the break, we wonder if this is changing due to players adapting to the new Zerg strengths.
For example, if Zerg turns out to be weaker vs. Terran and solid vs. Protoss, instead of focusing on a Ravager nerf like we are currently, we can potentially look at other things such as an increase to Baneling movement speed to combat the new Terran tools against them such as Tier 1 Reaper grenades or Tier 2 Siege Tank medivac pick up. Of course, this is just one example and depending on how things turn out, we would obviously need to come up with the right solution accordingly.
Parasitic Bomb Nerf
Parasitic bomb is another area that could most likely use a nerf, and we can definitely continue testing the change to see if the fix is correct.
Multiplayer Game Speed
We also wanted to bring up a new idea for your feedback. We have received multiple pieces of feedback from Korean pro players who believe it would be nice if lower-level players had a slower game speed on ladder, similar to how it is in co-op missions mode.
If we are to consider something like this, we could imagine an approach like this: platinum and above players would play on the current speed (fastest), whereas gold and below would play one notch slower on fast speed. There are some feasibility issues we’d have to overcome, but we’d like to at least get your feedback on this.
We see both advantages and disadvantages to a change like this. Similar to why co-op missions uses different game speeds, StarCraft II is one of the most difficult games to master, and it may be both helpful and enjoyable for players of certain skill levels to be given extra time to think and act during their games. At the same time however, this would mean that the game wouldn’t feel the same for everyone, and it could also just feel “wrong” to make a change such as this since the game has been working a certain way for so long.
Obviously there are other pros and cons of making a change like this, and we have much time to consider the idea. We would love to hear your thoughts on this concept.
Summary
Other issues that we've previously worked on don't seem as necessary, but we don't want to brush them off until you have had your chance to provide your input, so please point out other issues that you think is problematic, and we'll definitely go over them within our design team and discuss those issues with pro players as well.
Whether we do a quick turn around on a balance patch or not, there looks to be many things we need to keep a look out for and many topics to discuss/figure out. Let's get discussions going as soon as possible to start off this year and continue working towards what the best moves are for the game. Happy new year!
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