Legacy of the Void

        For any and all who were paying attention to Blizzard a few weeks ago may know there was a very big announcement for starcraft 2. Starcraft 2 legacy of the void has finally released a trailer and the new units. In Legacy of the Void players will play as Heirarch Artanis leader of the Golden Armada of the Protoss. Unfortunately not much has been revealed about the campaign of this standalone game/expansion other than this will be the conclusion to this well known trilogy, it is practically the end of days, the Xel'naga are returning, and you will probably have to work with Sarah Kerrigan, but you're the Protoss so this is no shock to you. 

       While everyone loves the story of Starcraft it will have to have some good gameplay especially since this is such an important E-sport. To start off I'd like to talk about the overall changes to the gameplay. Since this is game requires a lot of skill to play professionally as well as a lot of micromanagement the game Devs. have decided to make it have even more skill and micromanagement as well as a lot more harass. personally I'm not  a big fan of these changes, but I'm usually a turtler so that's to be expected. I feel like this change will make the learning curve even greater, but it will also make it a much more exciting E-sport. 

       Like Heart of the Swarm Legacy of the void will be adding and changing units as well as bringing one back from the original starcraft. The Terran's will be given a new bio unit called the Herc that deals short range blast damage and also has a grappling hook to get in close. The Terran's are also getting a unit called the cyclone which is a fast moving unit that can lock onto a target and shoot while moving. The siege tank has been changed so it can be moved by a medivac while in siege mode, the Thor had its "high impact payload" ability replaced with "emergency repair" which will allow it to heal but it can't move or shoot, the banshee can now outrun all mobile detection units and now has a longer range, and the battlecruiser now has the "tactical jump ability which allows it to teleport to any location on the map even if there is no sight. Personally I think these changes are rediculus, I understand encouraging harassment but allowing banshees to move even faster and shoot farther makes them almost uncounterable.
         Now, the zerg units now have the Lurker which may sound familiar because it was a unit from brood war, and is an upgrade for the Hydrolisk, it can't attack unless burrowed, but it can attack in a line if it is. The Ravager is an upgrade for the roach which will give it the ability "corrosive bile" which is a mortar style attack that damages both ground and air units as well as its ability to destroy forcefields. The corrupters corrupt ability has been replaced with caustic spay which is a channeled damage ability, the swarmhost can now spawn locusts while unburrowed but it is now an active ability, and the Nydus-worm can no longer be killed while tunneling. I really like that they are bringing back the lurker and besides the fact that it can destroy forcefields I also like the Ravager, But the new Nydus-worm may be a bit annoying.
        Unfortunately the only new Protoss unit is the Disruptor which has no attack, but has the ability "Purification Nova" which gives a massive speed boost and invulnerability, but after a few seconds a massive AOE blast originating from the disruptor will go off and it will lose all buffs. Unfortunately for the Protoss Units being warped in are now much more vulnerable, but warp prisms can now pick up units from a distance, immortals "hardened shield ability was replaced with "barrier" which will give it a 200 HP shield, the oracles Revelation and envision ability has been merged together and now has a new ability called "stasis Ward" which will put a mine on the ground that will trap any enemy that touches it in stasis for 30 seconds, the Tempests movement speed has been increased but can not only fire on ground units and has the ability called "disintegrate" which will cause 500 damage over 50 seconds on a single unit, and the carrier can now launch all interceptors at a great distance for 60 seconds but all of the interceptors will die. Honestly I don't like the changes to the Protoss and  I feel like a lot of these are nerfs. I also really don't like that in the Protoss expansion  the Protoss got the least new units, the most nerfs, and the other races got a bunch of units to counter the Protoss, such as the ravager, and the new Nydus upgrade. While a lot of these changes just strengthen the other units in general I think the Protoss are getting the short end of the stick here. These are not set in stone though and much of this is subject to change, so we can only hope Blizzard will do the right thing.

 More Info can be found here: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/16654945/legacy-of-the-void-multiplayer-preview-11-8-2014

STARCRAFT

          By Nathan O'Neill

             Starcraft and Starcraft 2 were originally the most popular E sport in south Korea before league of legends. Starcraft is an RTS(real time strategy) that has you play one of 3 races. You can play as the Terran's, a race of U.S southerners who ventured to the koprulu sector(The part of the galaxy that the series takes place in.) and are now ruled by their horrible emperor Arcturus Mengsk. this race use power suit wearing marines as their primary unit and a large amount of tanks and other mechs. The second race and my personal favorite is the Protoss, a  race of blue(and sometimes grey) skinned aliens who are much taller and more psionically powerful race who are very devout following of their religion and the worship of "The Kala". This race mostly use robots and Protoss warriors called zealots as their primary unit. These are only one part of their race though, as there are others known as the Nerazim who are outcasts among the Protoss for not wanting to follow the Kala. The last race are known as the Zerg and they are horrifying. The Zerg are a collection of alien races that have all been assimilated into the have mind and only have one goal  "Find, Consume, and Evolve". The Zerg are headed by a central overmind in the first starcraft and in the second *SPOILER ALERT* they are lead by Sarah kerrigan a former Terran who was assimilated into the zerg for her psionic pottential to command the zerg. The zerg have a large number and assortment of units, but the primary unit is the zergling.

                 Personally I love Starcraft 2 as an E-Sport and as a casual game, but it can be hard for some players to get into Starcraft 2 since there is such a high learning curb and the choice between 3 different races to play as even though you can switch and playing a race never binds you to that race. Visually the game is gorgeous and the story is incredible, but it is an incredibly stressful and difficult game. There are also a number of very cheap tactics such as cannon rushes and proxy bases/ barracks but if you are careful and deny any attempts than you will get many more victories and have a very fun time.

More information about  starcraft 2 can be found here: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/guide/whats-sc2



I'm sorry there isn't a zerg photo, but  Blogger likes to glitch out every time I try to put up a picture and gets worse the more I put.