No, he’s not currently on fire
Blizzard has released the eighth patch for the Starcraft II Beta, and with it come several nerfs, one for each race. How very proportionate of the nerf-gods at Blizzard.
For the non uber-geeks out there, the term “nerf” is used when something in a game is rendered less effective or deadly than a previous iteration. The term, not surprisingly, comes from the old line of Nerf products, which featured foam sticks, darts and balls.
Imagine a Protoss Zealot wielding two swords of purest sharpened crystal, but covered in foam and secured with duct tape. Yeah, you get the idea.
The first race to get the nerf hammer (which is surprisingly painful given its foam construction) were the Terrans. One common tactic for successful Terran players (see: not us) was to use a combination of Marines and Marauders for an early rush. Marines have the advantage of both ground and air attacks, and Marauders came equipped with a grenade launcher that did decent damage and slowed everything but massive units, allowing your ragtag band of rebels to catch up with a retreating foe.
Not anymore. Blizzard has decreed that the automatic inclusion of these slowing grenades was too powerful, and changed them to an upgrade which must be purchased at a barracks tech lab for a cost of 100 minerals, 100 Vespene. It will also take 80 seconds to complete.
While this leaves Marauders in the “still fun” category, it significantly reduces their usefulness as an opening rush gambit.
Next up were the Protoss. The didn’t get hit as hard as the other two races, but their mainstay air unit, the Void Ray, got a little bit of a tweak.
The Void Ray, famous for its multiple levels of charging, has been reduced from three levels of charge to two. The base damage of unit at level 1 has been increased, but the maximum damage at level 2 has been slightly decreased. The time it takes, overall, to get from the lowest to the highest setting remains unchanged.
This is…odd. It’s like Blizzard was swinging the nerf hammer at their little brother Protoss’ head when their mom walked in, so they changed the direction of their swing, glanced it off of his arm, and then called it an accident.
This change doesn’t really change the overall function of the Void Ray, it just means players are going to have to pay more attention than ever and make sure the units don’t lose their charge levels when changing targets in combat.
Last in line for the nerf hammer were the Zerg, likely because the hammer would have to be burned afterward.
The nerf here came to the Roach, similar in function to the Terran Marauder. Not only can Roaches deal ranged damage, but they can move while burrowed. Sure, they can’t attack, but they can move, which is great if you’re a Zerg and creepy as hell if you’re anything else.
While they’ll still be able to do both of these things, Blizzard has nerfed both their burrowed movement speed and their armor. Roaches will now move at a speed of 1.4 underground rather than 2, and will have and armor value of 1, down from 2.
This may not seem like much, because the numbers are so low, but from an early-game perspective, it’s a big deal. Slower, easier-to-kill Roaches means that they will likely lose prominence as the Zerg “go-to” rush unit, which appears to be what Blizzard intends, just as for the Marauders.
Overall, these changes seem intended to address rushing issues, which is a big part of getting the balance of the game right. Turning down the Roach speed from “blazing trail of fire” to “slowly burning candle” is a good idea overall, especially for those of us who aren’t in the Zerg fanclub.
In the immortal (and altered, and sanitized) words of the Bloodhound Gang – we don’t need no Creep – let the Zerlings burn.
