Then Never To Have Lol’d et al
COBRA!!
You’d think this would be a post about how we get pwned all the time, how we’re learning, blah, blah, blah. Often, you’d be right. Enjoy your virtual-cookie and/or gold star – whatever floats your nerd boat.
Instead of talking about how heroically long losing streak, however, we’re going to take a moment to remember those that the Beta has lost.
Old friends that Blizz removed before they had time to shine. Old enemies that we were glad to see go.
And units that just flat-out sucked. Yeah, you know who you are.
As with any Beta, there were bound to be changes to the multiplayer load-out for each race. It had always been known that certain units – like a massive Terran transport that can carry 50 Marines – would never be a part of the multiplayer experience. Sure, they’d make an appearance in the single player, but they would just unbalance the multiplayer game too much to be included.
But along with such notable “not here’s”, there were a few units that either made it into the Beta and got turfed or saw their dreams of becoming bright Beta stars quashed just as they reached their full potential. Is the game better for it? We’ll never know.
First up is the Protoss Purifier. This unit was originally known as the Soul Hunter and featured a beam-shooting Protoss riding atop a flying disc a la Back to the Future. The deal was that it could pewpew at ground or air targets, and received a bonus against light biological units, but initially started off fairly weak. As it killed squishy biologicals, it gained the ability to shoot more death beams, up to three in total. The Purifier was cancelled as it was too difficult to tell when it was fully powered up, especially in all-out battles, and also because it seemed intended to specifically target the low-HP units of the Zerg.
Really, what’s wrong with that? Who doesn’t want to kill Zerg?
Next is the Terran Cobra. Aside from calling up our memories of GI Joe and an episode of Robot Chicken – “Well, I’d totally do what Frank said… with the basket and all, but I’d also yell, “Cobra!” – the Cobra was actually a cool little unit.
Again, it was a hovering ground unit, but it fired an electrical beam which slowed enemies. It gained a bonus against armoured targets and could fire on the move, and was comparable in cost to the Terran Thor. It was removed from multiplayer partly because the moving attack was hard to micro and because in Terran vs Terran matches, Thors had trouble tracking the Cobra attacks, making it too powerful. Apparently, the unit will show up in the single player campaign.
Last and least, the Zerg.
While there were other removed Zerg units, we found this one the most interesting, so you get to hear about it. Congrats.
Originally conceived of as a balance to the Infested Terran, the Infested Protoss was spawned from an Infested building. From the moment of its inception the unit ran into problems, as the Infested Terran could do a ranged attack right away, but the Infested Protoss needed to close to melee distance, making balancing difficult. In addition, lore nerds got all up in its face. According to Chris Metzen, god of Starcraft II, Protoss are immune to Zerg infection due to the protection of the Khala.
Based on the balancing issues and the Word of Metzen, the unit was removed prior to the Beta.
It’s a sad thing to consider the awesomeness that might have been with hordes of Infreted Protoss clashing with their own hovering Purifiers, all the while being violently electrocuted by the Terran Cobra.
But really, we can’t complain. The Beta has given us our share of Lols and falls, WTFs and OMGs, and we’re happy with the way the current build sits.
God help you if you take away Protoss Carriers, though.
We love those guys.
You’d think this would be a post about how we get pwned all the time, how we’re learning, blah, blah, blah. Often, you’d be right. Enjoy your virtual-cookie and/or gold star – whatever floats your nerd boat.
Instead of talking about how heroically long losing streak, however, we’re going to take a moment to remember those that the Beta has lost.
Old friends that Blizz removed before they had time to shine. Old enemies that we were glad to see go.
And units that just flat-out sucked. Yeah, you know who you are.
As with any Beta, there were bound to be changes to the multiplayer load-out for each race. It had always been known that certain units – like a massive Terran transport that can carry 50 Marines – would never be a part of the multiplayer experience. Sure, they’d make an appearance in the single player, but they would just unbalance the multiplayer game too much to be included.
But along with such notable “not here’s”, there were a few units that either made it into the Beta and got turfed or saw their dreams of becoming bright Beta stars quashed just as they reached their full potential. Is the game better for it? We’ll never know.
First up is the Protoss Purifier. This unit was originally known as the Soul Hunter and featured a beam-shooting Protoss riding atop a flying disc a la Back to the Future. The deal was that it could pewpew at ground or air targets, and received a bonus against light biological units, but initially started off fairly weak. As it killed squishy biologicals, it gained the ability to shoot more death beams, up to three in total. The Purifier was cancelled as it was too difficult to tell when it was fully powered up, especially in all-out battles, and also because it seemed intended to specifically target the low-HP units of the Zerg.
Really, what’s wrong with that? Who doesn’t want to kill Zerg?
Next is the Terran Cobra. Aside from calling up our memories of GI Joe and an episode of Robot Chicken – “Well, I’d totally do what Frank said… with the basket and all, but I’d also yell, “Cobra!” – the Cobra was actually a cool little unit.
Again, it was a hovering ground unit, but it fired an electrical beam which slowed enemies. It gained a bonus against armoured targets and could fire on the move, and was comparable in cost to the Terran Thor. It was removed from multiplayer partly because the moving attack was hard to micro and because in Terran vs Terran matches, Thors had trouble tracking the Cobra attacks, making it too powerful. Apparently, the unit will show up in the single player campaign.
Last and least, the Zerg.
While there were other removed Zerg units, we found this one the most interesting, so you get to hear about it. Congrats.
Originally conceived of as a balance to the Infested Terran, the Infested Protoss was spawned from an Infested building. From the moment of its inception the unit ran into problems, as the Infested Terran could do a ranged attack right away, but the Infested Protoss needed to close to melee distance, making balancing difficult. In addition, lore nerds got all up in its face. According to Chris Metzen, god of Starcraft II, Protoss are immune to Zerg infection due to the protection of the Khala.
Based on the balancing issues and the Word of Metzen, the unit was removed prior to the Beta.
It’s a sad thing to consider the awesomeness that might have been with hordes of Infreted Protoss clashing with their own hovering Purifiers, all the while being violently electrocuted by the Terran Cobra.
But really, we can’t complain. The Beta has given us our share of Lols and falls, WTFs and OMGs, and we’re happy with the way the current build sits.
God help you if you take away Protoss Carriers, though.
We love those guys.
