Starcraft 2 beta - new patch notes - patch 6

StarCraft II Beta - Patch 6 (version 0.8.0.14593)

StarCraft II Beta – Patch 6 (version 0.8.0.14593)

General

• You can now report misconduct or block communication with a player after completion of a game by right-clicking on the offending player's name in the score screen and choosing Report Abuse or Block Communication.
• You can now view any player's profile after completion of a game by right-clicking on their name in the score screen and choosing View Profile.
• Updated unit and ability tooltips to be accurate in all regions.
• Improved the visibility of units on zerg creep.
• Improved the visibility of team colors for protoss units using warp-in to help distinguish between multiple protoss players.
• Improved the system that handles promotion and relegation between Leagues.
• Improved the Favored functionality to more accurately portray Even matches and display properly in the score screen.
• Improved 2v2 arranged team matchmaking so games are found more quickly.
• Improved replay functionality so missing maps will be downloaded from Battle.net when you view a replay.
• Korea: Improved the logic for the age gate functionality.

Balance Changes

 
• GENERAL
  • Pathing has been improved so units can now properly block ramps and choke points.
  • Made a change to how zerg creep affects doodads, such as trees, to prevent players from seeing the starting location of zerg players through the fog of war.

   

   

 
• TERRAN
  • Viking
    • Cost changed from 125 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 75 Vespene Gas.
  • Ghost
    • Cost changed from 100 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas.
    • EMP Round radius decreased from 3 to 2.
  • Factory
    • Cost decreased from 200 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas to 150 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.
  • Tech Lab
    • Cost decreased from 50 Minerals and 50 Vespene Gas to 50 Minerals and 25 Vespene Gas.
  • Reactor
    • Build time increased from 25 seconds to 50 seconds.
  • SCV
    • Life decreased from 60 to 45.
  • Bunker
    • Build time decreased from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
  • Marine
    • Build time increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds.

   

   

 
• PROTOSS
  • Colossus
    • Thermal Lances damage decreased from 23 to 20.
  • Observer
    • Cost increased from 25 Minerals and 75 Vespene Gas to 50 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.
    • Build time increased from 33 seconds to 40 seconds.
  • Stalker
    • Particle Disruptors damage increased from 8 (+6 Armored) to 10 (+4 Armored).
    • Weapon upgrade damage decreased from +1 (+1 Armored) to +1 (+0 Armored).
  • Dark Templar
    • Armor type changed from Biological-Psionic to Biological-Psionic-Light.
  • High Templar
    • Armor type changed from Biological-Psionic to Biological-Psionic-Light.
  • Dark Shrine
    • Build time increased from 80 seconds to 100 seconds.
    • Cost increased from 100 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas to 100 Minerals and 250 Vespene Gas.

   

   

 
• ZERG
  • Baneling
    • Volatile Burst damage increased from 15 (+20 Light) to 20 (+15 Light).
  • Roach
    • Burrowed regeneration rate decreased from 10 to 5.
    • Upgraded burrowed regeneration bonus decreased from +20 to +10.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue affecting the incorrect assignment of arranged teams to certain Leagues.
• Fixed an issue affecting random teams that caused no points being awarded on wins and too many points being removed on losses in certain situations.
• Fixed an issue involving the Bonus Pool display on the Quick Match and Leagues & Ladders pages.
• Korean client: Fixed an issue affecting the ability for Korean players to properly view profiles. They can now see their League ranking on their profile page.
• Fixed an intermittent UI crash on game shutdown.
• Polish client: Fixed a crash which would happen any time a "Player is no longer being revealed!" message was displayed. 

NOTE: They also reset the whole Ladder, friends lists, player profiles and statistics. So we all have to play our 10 League Placement matches again ;)

Terran:

• Serious nerf to mass Marines production. I think this was a necessary evil, Terran games revolved way too much around Marines with upgrades + Medivacs. Now it's still viable, but it will take a lot longer to build a significant marine force, thus encouraging the use of other units. However, maybe they nerfed a little too hard the build time for reactors. In any case, this makes the fast Hellion strategy from CowGoMoo even more viable now (build reactor on your first barrack, then swap it with your factory to give it instant reactor production).
• Small nerf to EMP Round. This was also necessary for the sake of Terran vs Protoss balance. It's a very small nerf though, so EMP Round is still very powerful vs Protoss, just not as much. You can see two top players discuss EMP Round and how imba it was before this patch on this replay. Time will tell if this nerf is enough.
• Also interesting is the reduced build time for bunkers. Will we see more offensive bunker strategies from now on?

Protoss: Some of these changes baffle me, aside from the Colossus nerf, which is justified, cause colossus were just too imba vs ground units. And they will still be, but to a lesser extent.

• Stalkers. While the damage change is good, because it makes Stalkers better against light units, it still doesn't change the fact that stalkers remain a rather weak unit overall in my opinion, so why nerf the bonus from weapon upgrades? Plus blink is still more of a "fun" and "flashy" ability than it is useful. My suggestion: Remove the bonus vs armored units, make stalkers do 14 damage against any armor type, with no bonus. This will make them better vs cheese Banshee / Mass muta strategies.
• Dark Shrine: This is the change I understand the least. Dark Templars are already so underused as it is. Why this change?

Zerg: 

• Not sure what to think of the changes. Banelings seemed pretty decent as they were already, but I guess experienced players were already countering them too well (all you had to do is place an armored unit in the way to soak a lot of banelings). This makes them even more dangerous now. We'll see how this translates in terms of balance.
• Big nerf to the Roach regeneration speed. However, you rarely see games where roaches actually get to burrow and regenerate in peace. Either they don't have the burrow upgrade, or the opponent brings detectors and burrowing becomes less interesting. However, it's true that in its current state, the regeneration was so huge that it was ridiculous. I think this is a good change.

What do YOU think of these changes? Give us your opinion.

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