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Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

#1

Terrik

Terrik

So. Next Tuesday. Anyone? I was really excited about a year ago but now I really feel kinda 'meh'. Still...it seems kind of wrong not to buy a new Starcraft. I've always been an avid Zerg player and maybe this expansion will deliver the goodies.


#2

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

A year or so ago, I would have been all over this. I was HUNGRY.

Now? Eh... no.


#3

Frank

Frank

No interest other than to see how the single player campaign turns out.

I'll wait for it to be cheap.


#4

Bowielee

Bowielee

Already pre-ordered. It's just about the same time as it was between the original Starcraft and Brood War. My god, gamers have grown impatient.


#5

Frank

Frank

Bowielee said:
Already pre-ordered. It's just about the same time as it was between the original Starcraft and Brood War. My god, gamers have grown impatient.
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What?

Starcraft release date: March 31, 1998
Starcraft: Brood War release date: November 30, 1998

8 months between them.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty release date: July 27, 2010
Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm release date: March 12, 2013

4 months shy of 3 years.


#6

Terrik

Terrik

Yep, and honestly, I think I've simply moved on. I'll probably end up getting it, though Im not nearly as excited as I was for the original SCII release.


#7

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Holy crap it's really almost been three years? Time needs to slow down.

Already got my CE pre-ordered. I love me some hot RTS action.


#8

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Frank said:
What?

Starcraft release date: March 31, 1998
Starcraft: Brood War release date: November 30, 1998

8 months between them.

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty release date: July 27, 2010
Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm release date: March 12, 2013

4 months shy of 3 years.
Click to expand...
Don't forget that Starcraft 1 had 3 full campaigns. Brood War was a true expansion with 3 more campaigns.

Starcraft 2 was just part 1 with one campaign.


#9

Terrik

Terrik

I'm worried that the 3 year wait won't end up paying off.

Although, if they still added tunneling ultralisks...


#10

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Don't get me wrong, I'll probably get it eventually.

But enough time has passed since Starcraft 2 that I just don't care anymore.


#11

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Ravenpoe said:
Don't forget that Starcraft 1 had 3 full campaigns. Brood War was a true expansion with 3 more campaigns.
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Okay this always kind of bothers me. It depends so much on what you consider a "full campaign".

StarCraft 1 has three medium sized campaigns, with each one focused on a certain race. At most each race has 10 missions each, equaling 30 missions total.

StarCraft 2 WoL had one long campaign, but it focused pretty much entirely on the Terran with some Protoss sprinkled in for good measure. All in all, the whole campaign had 30 missions and dozens of cutscenes sprinkled between them. I would call that a full campaign.

Personally, I loved the focus SC2 had on characters, it allowed me to get to know them better, rather then having to introduce a whole new set of racial heroes in the first two missions of the race campaign while all the others fall off the map. Remember how Raynor only appear twice after the Terran Campaign? Remember how Kerrigan just entirely disappeared and didn't do anything in the final battle?

Really, I think what is killing SC2 when it comes to release speed is the extra focus on character cutscenes and action. It was a lot easier to throw together a dozen missions when all you had to do was have a sprite on the screen and a little "monitor" with a face going "wah wah wah wah wah".



Now they have to make all the crap that is in this trailer, 75% of which is all using the in-game engine.



#12

Bowielee

Bowielee

I honestly thought it was only a year... holy shit.

Still, I loved SC2 and continue to play it, so I will continue to get the expansions until they dissapoint me.


#13

Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Three years, goddamn. I thought those releases were supposed to be annual.

Didn't buy WoL, not buying this. I think Blizzard might by overestimating people's love of StarCraft lore.


#14

ncts_dodge_man

ncts_dodge_man

I'm personally holding out on getting them until they release all 3 before I purchase them. Preferably in a get all 3 in one package deal.


#15

Terrik

Terrik

I saw some trailers and bought the dumb thing. I like zerg too much not too.


#16

Bowielee

Bowielee

Quotemander Prime said:
Three years, goddamn. I thought those releases were supposed to be annual.

Didn't buy WoL, not buying this. I think Blizzard might by overestimating people's love of StarCraft lore.
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Not in my case, I've been biting at the reins to see what happens with Kerrigan.


#17

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Bowielee said:
Not in my case, I've been biting at the reins to see what happens with Kerrigan.
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Me too. Then again I am a sucker for all of Blizzard's stories since I grew up with them.


#18

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

I haven't even picked up WoL yet, meant to but the whole unemployment thing put a damper on that. Maybe they'll start up some sale down the line to get both for like 50-60 bucks once I have money again. Never cared much for SC multiplayer but I love the single player.


#19

Azurephoenix

Azurephoenix

I'm only interested in the single player campaign. I have many other much better RTS games to play multiplayer with.


#20

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Azurephoenix said:
I'm only interested in the single player campaign. I have many other much better RTS games to play multiplayer with.
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Yeah, like Brood War :p


#21

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

The only thing I really liked about SC1's multiplayer was the custom maps, like the ones that were RPGs and you leveled up and such. I even made a few at one point, they were a lot of fun.


#22

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

CynicismKills said:
The only thing I really liked about SC1's multiplayer was the custom maps, like the ones that were RPGs and you leveled up and such. I even made a few at one point, they were a lot of fun.
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You mean like Defense of the Ancients, which eventually spun off into its own genre and became League of Legends?

(play LoL with me)


#23

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

So the cinematics were leaked.


#24

Timmus

Timmus

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3tbkht/


#25

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

CynicismKills said:
So the cinematics were leaked.
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Broke down and watched. No idea where they plan to take the Protoss story from here. Don't worry, not posting any spoilers.


#26

Terrik

Terrik

And we're live! I liked how the game opened up. Going to do a run through on Brutal. The opening cinematic does kind of get you pumped. Ultralisks are bad ass.


#27

Bowielee

Bowielee

Played as much as I dare for now. Luckily, spring break is next week, so I can actually sit down and play through the entire campaign.


#28

Dei

Dei

I'm going to wait to see if it has any major network errors during primetime before I decide to buy it. I will buy it eventually, just busy right now.


#29

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

CynicismKills said:
So the cinematics were leaked.
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The ending for HotS was actually leaked not long after WoL came out. I ended up watching it and spoiling it, but I figure now that I know what will happen I might as well enjoy the game from this point forward without spoiling it further.


#30

CynicismKills

CynicismKills

ScytheRexx said:
The ending for HotS was actually leaked not long after WoL came out. I ended up watching it and spoiling it, but I figure now that I know what will happen I might as well enjoy the game from this point forward without spoiling it further.
Click to expand...
Yeah I saw that when it came out too. They've changed it a little, though.


#31

Bubble181

Bubble181

I really do want to play this, but considering my huge backlog of games, I really can't justify buying it at full price. I considered pre-order, but I think I'll wait for summer sales or some such. I'm interested, but I simply don't have the game time available to warrant a $50 expense. At that, I'd probably save it for a new pc, then buy SC2HotS.


#32

Dei

Dei

I realized that I never beat the last mission of WoL... I kept getting to 60% or so then failing, and finally just stopped playing it. Maybe I should do that...


#33

Terrik

Terrik

After my initial skepticism and apathy, this game has me hooked. I especially like some of the campaign zerg unit upgrades. I'm curious how long the campaign actually is.


#34

Bowielee

Bowielee

Around 20 missions is what I've heard.


#35

Vrii

Vrii

Just finished the campaign on hard. 27 missions I believe, decent amount of time, plus achievements and the higher difficulty which I haven't touched yet.


#36

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Just beat the game myself, it's around 20 story missions plus smaller evolution missions, which allow you to "spec" out key units with special abilities. As for the game itself I can't wait for the third one. Now for some story spoilers.


First, HOLY SHIT IT'S STUKOV!

Kind of annoyed they didn't acknowledge Narud = Duran at all during any point of the missions involving him. Duran played a pretty big role in Brood War, and while it was nice having him back, neither Stukov nor Kerrigan had a "Oh it's Duran!" revelation, not even after his death. While the connection is so obvious a preschooler would have noticed it, I still would have liked some in-story clarification during that stories climax.

Not sure how I feel about the "Primal Zerg", on the one hand they are fucking awesome when you see how they work, just eating eachother and growing stronger and stronger like alien highlanders. On the other hand, I feel they kind of take away a bit of the heart behind the Zerg. The revelation is that the Xel'Naga never originally intended for the Zerg to be a hive mind, instead being individuals that undergo hyper evolution when devouring other lifeform essence. It was the influence of an evil member of the Xel'Naga that lead to the creation of the Overmind, which took over and mutated what Zerg it could collect into the first Swarm. This had the side effect of preventing personal mutation, meaning only mutation controlled by the hive could take place, thus the purpose of Abathur. All the purple covering Kerrigan in recent art is of her in a new Primal Zerg mutation.

Lastly, biggest issue, not enough Jimmy.


#37

Timmus

Timmus

Duran basically pulled one of these:
and Kerrigan and Stukov either bought it or played along


#38

Terrik

Terrik

Just finished on Brutal. Really enjoyed the campaign.

I assume everyone is going to get together in the third act, give each other high-fives and take on this god in an epic 4-way showdown. Hope it doesn't take another three years.

What unit upgrades did you go for? I went for swarm zerglings, split banelings, the swarm host that can launch flying locusts, the new muta upgrade that isn't the broodlord, the Resurrection ultras, the vile roaches, and the anti-armor lurkers. I'm torn over whether I liked the spit banelings or the vile roaches more. Both were invaluable in my army. Plus, it made Kerrigan's "spawn banelings" all the more useful. I was torn over the swarm lings over the other, but I figured having a "oh crap, my base is under attack" panic button would be useful.


#39

Bowielee

Bowielee

Spring break next week, gonna play through then.


#40

Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

Can't wait til payday...


#41

AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Chad Sexington said:
Can't wait til payday...
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Nether can I. The first was so good...


#42

Eriol

Eriol

ScytheRexx, remember that Blizzard has no problem altering their own lore. How much has the WarCraft lore been altered across games (and I'm not even counting what they've done in/for WoW) ? Assume this is what has occurred here with the discrepancies between the SC1 manual story for the creation of the Zerg, and the in-game lore for them.

Overall, I liked it, but a bit too short, and I didn't like that it was more linear than WoL. In WoL you could jump back and forth between storylines/planets until right near the end, but in HotS, once you were on a planet, you were THERE and must finish before having a choice of planets again. It definitely gave it a different feel than WoL, but I liked the system in WoL better, as you can get tired of any one storyline IMO and want to do something else. Here you don't have that option. All of them were executed well, no doubt, but I prefer the flexibility. Personal preference maybe.

Also a little gripe here, I wish that they showed you the mission achievements on the screen where you "launch" the mission. I completed more than one mission and at the end seeing what I missed, going, "I could have done that! EASILY!" but unless you want to dive through the achievements window and record stuff down, it's not as easy as it could be, like the post-mission display is.


#43

Frank

Frank

Fuckin' nothing from Blizzard still about getting my authenticator removed. I called them and was put into a massive wait queue. I don't have time for that shit.

I want to buy your game Blizzard.

LET ME.


#44

Bowielee

Bowielee

Eriol said:
ScytheRexx, remember that Blizzard has no problem altering their own lore. How much has the WarCraft lore been altered across games (and I'm not even counting what they've done in/for WoW) ? Assume this is what has occurred here with the discrepancies between the SC1 manual story for the creation of the Zerg, and the in-game lore for them.

Overall, I liked it, but a bit too short, and I didn't like that it was more linear than WoL. In WoL you could jump back and forth between storylines/planets until right near the end, but in HotS, once you were on a planet, you were THERE and must finish before having a choice of planets again. It definitely gave it a different feel than WoL, but I liked the system in WoL better, as you can get tired of any one storyline IMO and want to do something else. Here you don't have that option. All of them were executed well, no doubt, but I prefer the flexibility. Personal preference maybe.

Also a little gripe here, I wish that they showed you the mission achievements on the screen where you "launch" the mission. I completed more than one mission and at the end seeing what I missed, going, "I could have done that! EASILY!" but unless you want to dive through the achievements window and record stuff down, it's not as easy as it could be, like the post-mission display is.
Click to expand...
Please keep all story related discussions in spoiler tags, please.


#45

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

So, I got this.

It's pretty good.

I can't wait to suck at multiplayer


#46

Shakey

Shakey

Frank said:
Fuckin' nothing from Blizzard still about getting my authenticator removed. I called them and was put into a massive wait queue. I don't have time for that shit.

I want to buy your game Blizzard.

LET ME.
Click to expand...
Good luck. The quickest way is to spend an hour or two on hold, just make sure you have a scanned copy of your drivers license ready. That's what I did when I had to remove mine. Otherwise it'll probably take at least a day with an online support ticket.


#47

Bowielee

Bowielee

I can't really see how it's Blizzard's fault that the authenticator is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.


#48

Frank

Frank

Bowielee said:
I can't really see how it's Blizzard's fault that the authenticator is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
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I sent a request to them with my scanned license and such almost a week ago now. I'm not mad that the authenticator is doing it's job. I'm not even mad that it's taking so long to get it removed, just annoyed.


#49

Shakey

Shakey

Bowielee said:
I can't really see how it's Blizzard's fault that the authenticator is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
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I don't think anyone's blaming them for that. Just that support response time is pretty slow.


#50

Bowielee

Bowielee

Unfortunately, that's going to be the case when it's a company that's dealing with consumer issues for a few million customers.


#51

Frank

Frank

Probably wouldn't be such an issue if they hadn't laid off like 600 support staff last year.

Activision!


#52

Bowielee

Bowielee

Even before that, response times were huge. Nature of the beast and all that.


#53

Shakey

Shakey

I don't care how big you are or how many customers you have. Having to wait more than two days for a response to a support ticket is way too long. That said, most of the time they are pretty good. If you're willing to waste the time waiting on the phone, they usually fix it right away. There's something messed up with how they handle online tickets though. Sometimes it can be fixed the same day, and sometimes it can take a week with no word.


#54

Eriol

Eriol

Bowielee said:
Please keep all story related discussions in spoiler tags, please.
Click to expand...
I was very careful. I mention something about Zerg lore is different from the SC1 manual, and that you go to *gasp* different planets throughout the campaign! Not exactly world-shattering spoilers there. I was really careful not to mention how/why or whatever else happens outside spoiler tags.

That being said...

Duran! C'mon! How can they not mention that they're almost certainly the same damned guy? Did they just not want to animate a Duran face for that shapeshifter? It would have wrapped up his story, which would be a good thing.

Also, I predict a WC3-like ending to the 3rd part of the saga, where you control the protoss, and Raynor has a base there, as well as Kerrigan has some Zerg there. With hero units (hybrids) attacking all of your stuff, until some hero unit/macguffin does its thing on a countdown timer. So ya, pretty much exactly like the final mission of WC3 is what I expect.


#55

Frank

Frank

Ugh, so it's been almost 2 weeks since I submitted to Blizzard to get my authenticator removed from my account. Nothing. Can't even call them, just get told the hold queue is full and they're not taking further calls. This shit is ridiculous.


#56

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Frank said:
Ugh, so it's been almost 2 weeks since I submitted to Blizzard to get my authenticator removed from my account. Nothing. Can't even call them, just get told the hold queue is full and they're not taking further calls. This shit is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Try using this form? It's the US version, so I have no idea if it works for canadians (it may even be what you already used)
https://us.battle.net/account/support/find-account.html?requestType=REMOVE_AUTHENTICATOR


#57

Frank

Frank

That's the form I submitted weeks ago.


#58

Shakey

Shakey

But they're a big company! Just put in a crap ton of tickets until someone fixes it.


#59

Eriol

Eriol

The weird part about it is I submitted something to them a few weeks ago, and the service was under 30 minutes. Really. It was a ticket to change some of my personal information, and they needed the drivers license and everything. Took me longer to assemble everything I needed than for them to respond. And yes, I'm in Canada too.

One thing you may have missed: did you actually put your account name into the support request? One thing you may have missed is that their support page doesn't require you to login, so you actually need your account name in the request itself, not just from clicking through FROM your account. Given it's for an authenticator, I'm guessing you weren't logged in, but still. Triple-check that you had everything. Beyond that, I dunno.


#60

Frank

Frank

Yeah, they require your account email in order to fill out the actual form.


#61

Frank

Frank

And I guess all I had to do was whine about it. Got the email today.


#62

Frank

Frank

After playing through it, all I can say is that Raynor is kind of a selfish douche.

Also, none of the Zerg ingame music is as ass kicking, balls to the wall, heart pumping, getting your engine revved as the Terran's. Heaven's Devils is fucking awesome.


#63

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Hey he came in at the final hour to help.

I mean, how would you like it if the woman you spend an entire game attempting to save, sending thousands to their deaths, and even shooting your best friend in the face to protect, turns around and just becomes like what she used to be?

I mean did they even get to sleep together? Because those parts down there are probably pretty scary now. :awesome:


#64

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

ScytheRexx said:
Hey he came in at the final hour to help.
I mean, how would you like it if the woman you spend an entire game attempting to save, sending thousands to their deaths, and even shooting your best friend in the face to protect, turns around and just becomes like what she used to be?
I mean did they even get to sleep together? Because those parts down there are probably pretty scary now. :awesome:
Click to expand...
She became that to save his ass from the death prison, though.

And I'd still stick it in her nydus canal.


#65

Frank

Frank

I mean throughout the whole of Starcraft. How many thousands of people died so he could get his girlfriend back?[DOUBLEPOST=1364759253][/DOUBLEPOST]"Why are we doing this?"

"It's personal."

"Yeah, tell that to the 20 wraith pilots that got shot down and eaten in that last mission."[DOUBLEPOST=1364759317][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hell, he knew that Kerrigan needed to remain in control of the Zerg, thanks to Zeratul and he was still a baby about it.

Blizzard main characters are always such whiny man-babies about the responsibility put on them without any real understanding of how every other person in the universe exists only to support them.


#66

Timmus

Timmus

Saving the world/universe is harrrrddd you guyyyysssssss


#67

Bowielee

Bowielee

Maybe want to put the Raynor stuff into spoilers seeing as the entire first portion of the game is motivated by his apparent death. So, openly stating that he's still alive is a pretty big spoiler.


#68

Frank

Frank

Bowielee said:
Maybe want to put the Raynor stuff into spoilers seeing as the entire first portion of the game is motivated by his apparent death. So, openly stating that he's still alive is a pretty big spoiler.
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I didn't know I alluded to any of that.....and then I figured you may be talking to Scythe.


#69

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
Maybe want to put the Raynor stuff into spoilers seeing as the entire first portion of the game is motivated by his apparent death. So, openly stating that he's still alive is a pretty big spoiler.
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To be fair, no one playing actually thought Raynor was dead.


#70

ScytheRexx

ScytheRexx

Ravenpoe said:
To be fair, no one playing actually thought Raynor was dead.
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Pretty much, it's not that shocking when it's so obvious he was alive. People raged and bitched about Decard Cain being killed, but at least he made it to the end of the First Act and had an on-screen death. Can you imagine if they gave Raynor an off screen death during the very first non-tutorial mission? Still, I edited the post to be polite.


#71

Bubble181

Bubble181

I've been totally spoiled now. I have the game butn ot played it yet and now you tell me
Twenty wraith pilots died?!
Come on guys! I didn't see that one coming at all!

Considering I rarely if ever use Wraiths :p


#72

Chad Sexington

Chad Sexington

I'm still finishing the campaign, but I just came here to say, I love wraiths so please don't massacre them.

Also i would like a pet zergling.


#73

Dei

Dei

So in my email today, Blizzard said they added a spawn mode for multiplayer, a la the original. :aaah:


#74

Eriol

Eriol

Dei said:
So in my email today, Blizzard said they added a spawn mode for multiplayer, a la the original. :aaah:
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Maybe I'm missing what you're meaning? Spawn mode? Huh? You mean giving a multiplayer-with-you-only copy to a friend, like SC1 had?


#75

Dei

Dei

Yes.


#76

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Eriol said:
Maybe I'm missing what you're meaning? Spawn mode? Huh? You mean giving a multiplayer-with-you-only copy to a friend, like SC1 had?
Click to expand...

Basically, they already have a free multiplayer mode, SC2 Starter Edition. Now, if you are on the starter pack (or just regular wings of liberty) and you want to play a heart of the swarm game, all you have to do is party with someone that has the game.


#77

Timmus

Timmus

Yo any forum peeps interested in playing this on the regular?


#78

Terrik

Terrik

Play any of the custom maps? I regularly play HOTS Desert Strike


#79

Timmus

Timmus

haven't done any customs. Id give it a shot though


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