StarCraft II Beta -- Patch 14 (version 0.16.0.15580)

The latest patch notes can always be found on the StarCraft II Beta General Discussion forum.

Balance Changes

* PROTOSS
o Archon
+ Build time decreased from 17 to 12.

* TERRAN
o Viking
+ Ground damage decreased from 14 to 12.

* ZERG
o Corruptor
+ Corruption energy cost decreased from 100 to 75.

o Infestor
+ Burrowed move speed increased from 1 to 2.
+ Peristalsis upgrade removed.

o Overlord/Overseer
+ Pneumatized Carapace cost increased from 50/50 to 100/100.

o Overseer
+ Infested Terran energy cost decreased from 125 to 100.

o Roach
+ Organic Carapace upgrade removed.
+ Tunneling Claws now also increases burrowed regeneration rate from 5 to 10.

o Ultralisk
+ Anabolic Synthesis upgrade removed.
+ Health increased from 450 to 500.
+ Speed increased from 2.25 to 2.9531.


Bug Fixes


* Map Publishing: the default Battle.net host now points to the correct server.
* Time Expiration notices that were added for testing of the Guest Pass functionality have been removed.
* Fixed a crash when trying to open an old replay by double-clicking it in Explorer.

On June 02 2010 15:02 wwiv wrote:
This is for the SC2 global community.
A week ago I posted this thread “Summary of SC 2 prices” on the discussion forums. To summarize, the region's prices are high.

Yesterday Blizzard (Blizzard Entertainment) invited a couple of regular posters on a popular Singaporean gaming forum for a dinner talk on the issue of high prices on the region. Their intentions: to get some community feedback on the SG (Singapore) community with regards to SC2 and wanted feedback on the directions in which they could help develop the gaming community in the region. Attendees included Kevin Yu, Blizzard RTS communtiy manager, Ryan, PR, Blizzard and the head of advertising + Chief Operations Officer of IAH, the regional distributor of SC2 in SE Asia. (Who's names I think no one in TL cares about yes?)

One of the attendees posted a summary of the discussion which quantifies the high price to 3 main points.

- Game longevity



- Local competitive / non-competitive event support



- Better latency



Firstly, I have to bring up the whole absurdity of the situation. A developing market is being taxed by a firm specifically for its own long term development. I am a little flabbergasted by the whole point because anyone who has been playing computer games would know theres a reason why its illegal to re-sell games bought SE-Asian countries in America / Europe. They are priced lower precisely to entice the lower income population in the region and have lower production costs that compromise on manuals / box art etc. And yet you are telling me this region is ripe for competitive gaming all of a sudden?

I will not discuss the first point because it fails to address why the region is paying extra but I guess it tries to make the case why the game is more expensive then other games.

We have been given the impression that Blizzard wishes to be involved in the long term development of SC 2 competitive gaming in the region yet there has been no concrete announcements of any major partnerships except promise of a tech support office in Singapore. There has been no official announcement by the company itself or any semblance of a framework. In fact, it feels like the rabbit was randomly pulled from the hat. In essence, the region is paying Blizzard to commit to something it has failed to do everywhere in the world except Korea. (And even Blizzard support for competitive gaming in Korea is dubious at best)

I would really like some alternative view points on this, as an Economics student, I cant help but feel that this is all a smokescreen to distract from the truth that Blizzard and the regional distributor are simply out to recoup their initial investment costs (specifically the investments in servers / offices) in the region asap rather then having a true long term framework for the development of pro-gaming in SE Asia.

I argue that if they truly have an agenda for SC 2 as a competitive e-sport, why would they specifically admit to having higher costs for a region? instead of quantifying the price of SC 2 globally?.

Sources
IAHGames, regional distributor
Tech support
Topic started by attendee

Source from: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessag...topic_id=128926