There’s this expectation that every game needs to be some ever-living cash cow, with an endless stream of massive new expansions and updates.īut StarCraft II isn’t an MMORPG, and if you compare it to its actual competitors - single-player games with multiplayer elements - it has enjoyed a massive, almost unprecedented amount of ongoing support. There’s also the fact that World of Warcraft redefined success for all online games, especially Blizzard’s. It’s well known that the StarCraft franchise is extremely popular in Korea, and while its popularity in the West is also very strong - as evidenced by the fact the North American servers are still well-populated to this day - it’s possible that its greatest fanbase simply lies outside the English-speaking world. So I imagine there are lots of Blizzard fans who don’t know play SC2 and don’t know anyone who does, and therefore assume it must be unpopular or forgotten. RTS is kind of of its own thing, and fairly niche in this day and age. Even Overwatch is much closer to Blizzard’s RPGs than SC2 is. MMOs and ARPGs are close enough that if you’re a fan of World of Warcraft, the odds of your also being at least somewhat interested in Diablo III are pretty high. I suspect there is very little overlap between the fanbases of StarCraft and Blizzard’s other games. I’m not sure why that is, but I have some theories. It’s seen as a disappointment or even a failure. The funny thing is there seems to be this pervasive perception - especially from people who don’t play it - that StarCraft II is somehow neglected or abandoned, or the red-headed stepchild of the Blizzard family. Obviously World of Warcraft is the greatest financial success, but money isn’t everything. The game may well be its greatest achievement since Warcraft III, at least from a player’s perspective. I’ve talked before about how much I love StarCraft II‘s co-op, but for a while now I’ve been meaning to talk more broadly about what an amazing job Blizzard has done with SC2 generally. But I also believe in giving credit where it’s due, and the company still does some things that are worthy of respect. We probably don't have to say it, but the difference between Build 1 of StarCraft 2 and the presumed Build 20,000 is only going to get more ridiculous.While I do think the studio’s actions at BlizzCon are encouraging, it still feels weird heaping praise on Blizzard right now. Units killed by a large force now literally fly back, and will fall down ramps and stairs when blown away if near that kind of environmental hazard - adding a dynamic of pandemonium in those hectic Full Resource Army battles we all love. The graphical aspect of the new expansion's engine is also getting some improvements, with a big force-dependent physics upgrade. Many of the current units and build times are expected to get some modifications to their stats in Heart of the Swarm to make adjustments for new StarCraft 2 units affecting build orders and combat mechanics. The removal of fan-favorite units was questioned at first, but new replacements arose to fill their shoes. While dragoons and firebats may no longer be multiplayer game material like they were in the old engines, it's nice to see that at one point they were able to, uh, die in combat, before they were removed from newer versions.
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