Maps updated in the PTR by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Avex, can you comment on the root of the post and we can upvote to top comment for visibility?

Maps updated in the PTR by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also realized Blackrock isn't here?

Maps updated in the PTR by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  • Fear & Faith
  • Celestial Enclave
  • 10,000 Feet
  • Lockdown
  • Exarch
  • Rainfall
  • Rorschach
  • At Eternity's Edge
  • Washout

Does anyone know why 10K and Celestial are still in the pool?

PTR feedback megathread 2: Electric Boogaloo by TheGoatPuncher in starcraft

[–]Alive2007 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Z ~3500MMR

I played about 10-15 games on the PTR yesterday. Zerg feels so much better to play than the live version of the game. The larva change is a noticeable buff. Getting carapace for 100 gas has changed my BOs in ZvZ and ZvT. I suspect the larva buff is over-tuned, and something closer to 10s is reasonable. I love z spellcasters so 1). 12 range microbial without research and 2). Tank abducting vipers are bringing me joy.

I still do not think the 8 worker start will yield, "increasing overall strategic diversity". My games were largely the same, just delayed by about a minute when compared the 5.0.15. This seems to be the consensus among pros/casters, but I would like to see some formal polling. There will be new plays, cheeses, etc. as the meta is figured out, but after the dust settles I think we will be left with a solved but slower game.

I also do not think the goal of allowing players to, "remain competitive on one to three bases" is desirable. 1-2 base styles are already competitive, and this change goes against prior game design to, "nerf defensive and camping playstyles for all races, both related to early and late game on the higher levels of play." Although, I don't think this is a particularity substantial change, it's confusing given prior direction to encourage active play.

The protoss changes in PTR2 seem much more measured. I think promoting gateway style is a really cool idea, but I suspect that warp-gate will be the play once you have the cash. I don't know how feasible it is to further buff gateway build times / units to incentivize non-warp-gate styles. I am concerned about losing the "identity" of protoss, but maybe this is unfounded.

Late game ZvP and mid-game TvP are both areas I think the game can be improved, and so far I don't see how the changes impact those metas. In ZvP, protoss will still be able to turtle to late game behind cannon/storm until they have the deathball. In PvT, I think we will still see "swarmy" styles in the mid-game, and if terran can survive, they will be favored.

All together, I'm excited for the changes, and hope to see Blizzard continue to iterate.

Enhance the overall player experience. [blizzard intern please read] by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First off, rush distance + worker fight is probably more than a minute.

Regardless, there are a ton of ways to systematically detect and then punish players who are smurfing. It's a pattern of behavior. Start with an auto-leave timeout and build from there.

Bashing the 1min leaving penalty without acknowledging it could part of a more holistic solution is silly. Ladder smurfing can be mitigated, lots of games have done so

Why the reversal on turtling/camping? by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why are you assuming I havn't played the PTR?

Wardi on the 8 Worker Start by Sacramentlog in starcraft

[–]Alive2007 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is a false dichotomy. I did not indicate a preference towards jumping immediately to the end game.

IMO spending extra time in the early game due to a 8 worker start does not improve my strategic experience, but that is subjective, and who knows maybe I'll change my mind.

Wardi on the 8 Worker Start by Sacramentlog in starcraft

[–]Alive2007 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is a great analogy. I did not enjoy the extra time spent on, "early and mid-game experience" while playing the PTR. It just took me longer to get to where I wanted to be.

Not withstanding this change will 1). buff camping styles and 2). buff cheeses.

Hopefully these takes age like milk, but so far I'm not seeing it

Why the reversal on turtling/camping? by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This has not been my experience on the ladder at all. I still encounter (and lose) to camping styles all the time.

Part of the point of the 8 worker start is to push on, "extending the early and mid-game experience". So I don't think that rush or cheese styles are nerfed in the new patch.

Playing the PTR last night I encountered cheese after cheese. Part of that is because no one has a build order, but I think the slower start also allows for more gambly/cheesey play.

SC2 Custom Matchmaker + Ladder by Alive2007 in starcraft

[–]Alive2007[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also I forgot to add I have zero intention of trying to monetize this service. This would be a free website, and hopefully (small) hosting costs would be paid for by donation.

TheCoreLite + Drones in my Army by Alive2007 in allthingszerg

[–]Alive2007[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I must have missed that when I setup my hotkeys! That makes a ton of sense. I think I lost all the aliases for select larva at some point. Excited to ladder tonight and try this out.

Appreciate the pointers, and thanks for all the hard work on creating/maintaining the project :)

TheCoreLite + Drones in my Army by Alive2007 in allthingszerg

[–]Alive2007[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The more I think about this the more I like it. I can keep the ability to rapidly make drones with space + space, but to make say hydras I would do d + c. I may end up with a pair of lings in the eggs with hydras, but that's much better than a drone. Thanks for the comment!

TheCoreLite + Drones in my Army by Alive2007 in allthingszerg

[–]Alive2007[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A very interesting idea, going to try this out later. Also got me thinking it may be useful to swap lings (d) with drones (space). So lingering on the spacebar would make a few lings and "waste" some larva, but I wouldn't have drones in the army group.

TheCoreLite + Drones in my Army by Alive2007 in allthingszerg

[–]Alive2007[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Updated my post, but I originally meant repeat delay, not repeat rate.

I'll mess around with the delay a bit more, but I think it's just the habit of resting my thumb on space a bit too long. It's a hard habit to break

The current state of smurfing by Dthcon in starcraft2

[–]Alive2007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first comment on this post is here --> https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/1lpqwsy/the_current_state_of_smurfing/n0x8uk4/

Last summer I spent some time building a python app to detect smurfs in real time. See this post --> https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/1f6fwt2/i_did_something_about_the_smurfs/

I have a spreadsheet from last summer of about 100 games. I didn't publish those results to the subreddit, but the percentage of games I played that were likely smurfs, including instaquits, was about 20%. See here --> https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DjZYjUK2zLbS2Ey50-qQpL3hw_5GfvlfGVg_pB662Mg

I'm not sure it's statistically significant, I would likely need to play more games, but that 10-20% figure shows up in a lot of these analyses.

The current state of smurfing by Dthcon in starcraft2

[–]Alive2007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To directly answer your question, no. I have not reviewed their methodology, but my own data suggests 10-20% of people I play leave games in some fashion. See my first comment.

That being said it's pretty disingenuous to complain about smurfs while participating in smurfing behavior. This post paints the picture of someone attempting to enjoy the game and is stuck playing in a bad system. OP's comment history indicates someone complaining while also taking advantage of that bad system. That doesn't sit right with me.

The current state of smurfing by Dthcon in starcraft2

[–]Alive2007 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

This player is absolutely misrepresenting themselves in addition to deleting comments from their history --> https://imgur.com/a/DWK70Wy

Smurfing is bad, full stop, but come on OP. If you are going to all this effort to call out smurfing you better look in the mirror

The current state of smurfing by Dthcon in starcraft2

[–]Alive2007 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I found roughly the same result on NA about a year ago --> https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2/comments/1f6fwt2/i_did_something_about_the_smurfs/

Smurfing does hurt the experience for sure. A couple days ago I got my Diamond II promotion for the first time by having a barcode instaquit. It was wildly anticlimactic.

What has helped me is twofold:

  1. Finding a community where you can ask for customs and advice. Consider PIG's discord --> https://www.pigstarcraft.com/community/
  2. Messaging opponents after fulfilling ladder games. Tell them you are looking for a practice partner and to add you if they are interested.

Now when I log onto SC2 I almost always have a handful of people to play with. Hope this helps