Starcraft II

[Cthulhu]

I guess they know they're not going to attract much new players, and whoever's still playing SC2 will get the expansion right away, therefore, no ads needed, . Plenty of coverage on gaming news sites too, I think.

 

[Interslicery]

This is the first I've seen of it since back when 2 came out. Maybe I'm just horribly out of the loop but this came up out of nowhere for me.

 

[Hisako]

tbf they didn't really go as public with this expansion pack as they did for WoL.

They made gigantic waves with the announcements and then besides the SC2 site/forums and closed-beta testing they pretty much kept people in the dark.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Spoiler: Cinematics compilation movie for anyone interested (spoilers, obviously)

X

 

[Hisako]

WELL I'D SAY THE THUMBNAIL IS A PRETTY BIG FUCKIN SPOILER GOSH

 

[Interslicery]

Sooo is it possible to buy just the expansion on blizzards website?
I signed into my account and apparently none of my blizzard games are linked to my account anymore (wut?) and the codes wont work since they've already been used the first time. So it won't let me purchase it without buying SC2 as well.

 

[Dana Scully]

AFAIK you can't buy HotS without owning WoL. I would talk to Blizzard support to figure out why all your games are no longer linked.

Also, started the campaign:

Spoiler: minor spoilers/gameplay stuff

oh my god the dialogue is so melodramatic lmao. It seems like Blizzard has just decided fuck it and cranked up the drama dial to 11. It would almost be cringeworthy if it didn't feel so intentional - instead it's just amusing.

Spoiler: major early plot spoiler

I do like how Kerrigan completely lost her shit when Mengsk announced Raynor's death (which I'm betting is fake). Like wow Mengsk great idea like she didn't have enough reason to hate you already.

Also, Terran never seem to learn that locking up zerg in holding pens never works out LIKE SERIOUSLY GUYS WHEN WILL YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS A BAD IDEA.

Anyways, as for the gameplay: I'm only a few missions in but Kerrigan makes for an appropriately powerful hero character. Also most of the missions so far have ended with you steamrolling everything with an absolutely gigantic army of zerg, which is exactly how it should be - you really feel like you're commanding a swarm, rather than an army.

The mutations/upgrades is nice because you have a choice of 3 mutations for each unit and you can change the mutation at any time at no cost (not during a mission obvs but in between), so it's really easy to experiment with different styles of play. Kerrigan's leveling is identical in nature to the zerg/protoss research from the 1st game, with a choice of 2 abilities with every 5 or so levels.

so yeah enjoying it so far will poast more thoughts on the plot and characters once I get farther in.

 

[Hisako]

It's a shame the writing got really cheesy, mayhaps not just for HotS but for WoL as well. The original game had some incredibly snappy, clever dialogue but in II everyone just hams it up >:

 

[Cthulhu]

I honestly did not consider SC2 to be particularly memorable in terms of story, :/. SC 1 and its expansion were both epic games, story-wise, but SC2... went back to 'Hey, I'm a mercenary, and I'm filling up 3/4th of the game with random one-off missions with no story'. It only became somewhat like the original game in terms of story with Zeratul's side-story (iirc).

 

[Hisako]

I think what made the originals so special is that they had a habit of misleading the player along what was seemingly a stereotypical hero's journey but then they veer off course so hard that all players can do is stop and go "what the fuck, wait what"



There's a liiiiittle bit of that in WoL what with Valerian Mengsk and Zeratul's prophecy but even those twists were kind of contrived by today's standards.

 

[Hisako]

Blizzard changes upcoming expansion campaign, Legacy of the Void to Herald of the Stars

Long-time Blizzard Head of Trend Studies Jack Sterling said,

“At Blizzard, we constantly strive for optimization. Over the last few years, through deep market analysis, ethnographic study, and highly advanced acoustic research, we have come to scientifically prove that the player community prefers games with titles that form the following acronym: HotS. We were amazed. It’s quite unexpected. For some reason, people just synergize with the acronym HotS. In one study, 87% of respondents choose the HotS acronym over another random video game acronym. People seem to like how easy it is to say, how attractive they feel when saying it, and the sudden rise in body temperature associated with such an impactful acronym. Other than that, it’s baffling, but it’s awesome at the same time!”

Senior Game Designer David Kim also voiced his excitement about the new name.

“From a design perspective, we want to create new and exciting experiences for our players, while making it as easy as possible for new or returning players to try the game out. HotS is a well-known name at this point with lots of awareness in the gaming community. Switching over to an entirely new acronym for our next expansion creates an entry-barrier that just felt unnecessary. When players upgrade from HotS to HotS, that transition will be as smooth as possible!”

Senior Game Producer Hony Tsu had this to say about HotS:

“Developing the StarCraft II franchise puts a lot of responsibility on us at Blizzard. There were many creative hurdles between Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void, and we just love the acronym HotS. We’ve spent so many hours of time searching for names in the past. In fact, more than half of the time we spend in development is on hair-brained, outlandish, theory-crafted suggestions from random co-workers. With Herald of the Stars, our team saves not only frustration and time, but we get to hold on to superior acronyms. It’s hard, on the spot data that can’t be contested. HotS is like a … hug of the soul. HotS will hugely overhaul the sacred naming conventions of our games. I just realized that thanks to my name – Hony Tsu – my e-mail address is [email protected]. That just makes heaps of total sense.”

Check out our new Herald of the Stars website here, and perhaps you, too, will come to hope our triumphant success in naming leads to great things.

Spoiler: .

Happy April Fool's y'all XD

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Blizzard changes upcoming expansion campaign, Legacy of the Void to Herald of the Stars

Spoiler: .

Happy April Fool's y'all XD

If you inspect the HTML elements on the main web page, and check the body of the page, they actually state that they're hiring, and have a link to apply.




X

 

[X-SOLDIER]

When all else fails...

...never forget that you MUST construct additional Pylons.




X

 

[Hisako]

THEY DID THE THING

THEN THEY SAID THE THING

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I'll readily admit that seeing the Archon Warp & hearing, "POWER OVERWHELMING" totally made me geek out. I really wanna know who the new Zealot with the missing eye is, because he's a badass Khala Protoss - which we've been missing since Fenix (no offense to Artanis).

Also, it'd be rad if Teredal was the Zealot leading the charge.




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