- WHERE: http://twitch.tv/mlg_live
- WHEN: Friday, July 20, 1:30PM PDT
- Saturday, July 21, 9AM PDT
- Sunday, July 22, 9AM PDT
The Battle.net World Championship
which will take place later this year, will be the culmination of more than 30 eSports events run by Blizzard and tournament organizers.
Upcoming Changes to Matchmaking
The Matchmaking system is undergoing new changes for better player experience.
BarCraft
Join with other StarCraft enthusiasts in with beer, food and StarCraft 2 ! Click here for locations!
Fear MarineKing in Las Vegas
MKP got off to a good start at IPL4, defeating both White-Ra and Stephano in his group. Meanwhile, Nestea lived up to his reputation by defeating both TAiLS and aLive.
Friday, July 20, 2012
MLG Summer Starcraft II Arena begins today.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Season 8: New map changes!
Season 8, which begins the week of June 11, will bring with it some changes to the 1v1 and 2v2 map pools. In season 7, we experimented with a larger 1v1 map pool. After reviewing player feedback, we’ll be returning to a pool of 8 maps. We will continue to maintain a heavy focus on tournament viable 1v1 maps, and that thought process has influenced our decisions regarding which maps will be removed from the ladder for Season 8.
The new maps are playable now! You can experience them via the custom game interface now, and they’ll join the ladder when the new season starts next week.
1v1 map pool
Map being added:
(4) Condemned Ridge
We’ve received feedback from our higher levels players that rotationally symmetric macro maps can be difficult to deal with for certain races when they spawn at certain points. On the other hand, non-rotationally symmetric maps are not common on the tournament circuits. To add variety, we’re introducing a new symmetric, potentially tournament viable map, suitable for macro style play.
The map hasn’t been finalized yet, and we would like to hear your opinions about how it plays before the Season 8 begins. Your feedback is appreciated!
Update 12/06/2012: We have decided to remove rocks from Condemned Ridge. Thank you for your feedback.
Maps being removed:
This season, tournament viability was our primary criteria regarding whether a map remained on the ladder or not, though map balance is also always a consideration.
(4) Metalopolis
Metalopolis simply isn’t being used in tournaments anymore, and this map has some balance issues as well. (4)Metropolis LE is an improved version of this map that will see use in a future ladder season.
(4) Korhal Compound LE
This map was one of the winners of the Team Liquid Map Contest. While we were pleased to make this addition to the ladder, unfortunately, Korhal Compound hasn’t gained traction in the tournament scene. In addition, this version of Korhal Compound also has some balance issues.
We'll continue to watch Korhal Compound Tournament Edition, and if it gains traction in tournaments then that version of the map may come back to the ladder in the future.
2v2 map pool
The 2v2 map pool will continue to feature maps with close spawn positions. Main difference in this format is we’re not aiming for a 100% fortress style maps only, and including a semi fortress map also. In team games, we try to make the gameplay and layout of maps relatively simple to ease coordination between teammates. The maps should mostly be self-explanatory using the screenshots. Like Condemned Ridge these maps aren’t final, and we welcome your feedback.
Maps being added:
(4) Molten Crater
This map is a semi fortress style map.
(4) Desolate Stronghold
This map is a fortress style map lacking easy expansion within the fortress area.
Maps being removed:
(4) Discord IV
(4) High Orbit
While we did not feel that the feel that the existing 2v2 map pool suffered from any significant issues, we wanted to breathe some new life into the ladder pool. Since we wanted to stay with an 8 map pool in this bracket, it became necessary to remove a pair of the older maps.
We plan to both introduce new maps to the 2v2 pool on occasion as well as potentially cycle old map back into rotation, so even though these two maps are gone for now, they could return in future seasons.
Source: http://eu.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/5057847/Season_8_Map_Pool_Update-08_06_2012
New map changes are now in place for Season 8! Stronghold and Molten Core are now part of the map pooling for the match-make.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
New Heart Of The Swarm Updates!
Hey guys I'm back! Sorry for not posting any updates in the past four days due to school starting up again after the break. Anyways let's get on back on-topic. Recently Blizzard has released new information on StarCraft II's expansion, Heart of The Swarm. You can read it over at Battle.net or you can stick around and the direct quotation here. All credit to Dustin Browder @ Battle.Net
Zerg
Zerg are the most stable and largely unchanged since BlizzCon. The swarm host is still serving well as a zerg siege unit that can burrow and pressure the enemy from a distance (in a very zergy way), but the viper has some slightly different new abilities. In addition to Abduct, the viper also has the ability to blind biological units in an area of effect. Blinded units have their range reduced to 1. This is obviously effective against terran infantry as well as zerg roach and hydra armies. The viper can also regain energy by feeding off of minerals. This locks up the mineral patch and prevents it from being harvested, so you want to use this ability away from your base.
We have decided to keep the overseer and make the viper a pure caster. We will be taking a look at the overseer to see what we can do to make his abilities more interesting.
We are also trying some additional abilities on the nydus network to allow you to spawn different types of nydus worms. The most interesting worms have been a worm that can spew creep across several screens to create a zerg assault highway, as well as a worm that attacks only enemy buildings, meant to be used as a ground-based zerg base raider.
We have some more work to do before we’re ready to begin beta testing Heart of the Swarm. We know that everybody wants a date for when they can play, and we know how important it is to get this out in front of the community as soon as possible. We’re working on it.
Protoss
Protoss have gone through some changes since BlizzCon as well. The oracle is still in and functioning as a protoss raider (as intended) that can give the protoss some reach in the mid-game to disrupt enemy plans. The replicant has been cut. He was causing enemy players to not build certain unit types and was actually removing diversity from the game instead of adding diversity.
The tempest was a powerful splash anti-air capital ship at BlizzCon. With the addition of the range upgrade on phoenix in Wings of Liberty we no longer feel like a splash anti-air weapon is necessary on the protoss, but we would still like to give the protoss some additional firepower in the air. The tempest is currently a very long-ranged aerial siege weapon that can strike both air and ground targets. This gives the protoss army some real reach to force an engagement on their terms in the end-game.
We’re also experimenting with some nexus abilities. One example is a mass recall that allows the protoss to be more aggressive. They can move out onto the map with their slower sentry/zealot force and, if things don’t work out, recall the force back to their base if and when things go wrong.
Terran
Terrans have undergone significant changes since we talked about them at BlizzCon. We have not kept the shredder, and even the warhound is in contention. The shredder was very confusing for players as well as being something that was easily used to kill a large number of workers with little to no warning. It was rarely used for its intended role of map control. The warhound still feels a little too much like a small thor, which is just not new enough to give terran players new strategies. We are still experimenting with a wide range of units, particularly from the factory, which we think is a little light on options. We have had a great deal of trouble with the terrans largely because they are such a flexible and effective race in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. We want to provide terran players with new strategies, however, so we will continue to work on them.
If we keep the Thor, we are currently experimenting with an anti-air spider mine that would give the terrans a way to get some factory-built anti-air into small places that a Thor has trouble reaching (like near your minerals). Whether this is meaningful, considering terrans have marines, is still in question. We are also experimenting with an extremely long-ranged terran missile launcher that can be used to break siege tank lines to make terran-vs.-terran factory-basedgames more dynamic.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Destiny in a Nutshell.
Again, another video describing a famous StarCraft 2 player in a short six-minute video. I promise you this guy is nothing like IdrA even though he's a Zerg player! He's more lively and probably less of a d***-bag than IdrA. I mean seriously, watching this guy's live stream hell'a fun and you won't regret every second of it. I mean who else could make a analogy with banelings and rape? No one, but Destiny. Not only that, Destiny is a Pokemon master. IdrA got nothing on him.
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| Destiny, The Pokemon master. |
Saturday, April 7, 2012
IdrA doing what he does best.
Oh Idra. You never cease to amaze me. This video is all you need to sum up IdrA's personality and his attitude in-game. For those who don't know how IdrA is, I'll just give you a short-short description of him.
IdrA hates everyone. EVERYONE. No matter who you are, play anything other than Zerg, you end up on his 'Hate-List'. He's well known to BM (Bad Manner) after losing a match and keeping a bit of a grudge.
Here's a picture of the chat after winning a match to a Terran player.
Also let's not forget his time during his Brood War career!
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| Click to enlarge |
Friday, April 6, 2012
Easy builds to learn in a minute!
In a rush to win a game but don't have the time to learn a new build or strat due to work, school, or any other lame excuse you have? Well I have the solution for you! Here I present you three videos (located at the top of blog post) the fastest and easiest way to "cheese" your way to the top of the ladder! Best thing about these video is that they are roughly around ONE minute long each! That means you can learn up to three builds while brushing your teeth! Enjoy these video cause I definitely did. GLHF readers!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
StarCraft Music Parodies!
These are only two out of the hundreds of parodies that fans around the world have created. I would've added more but there was no way I would've fitted them in without making the webpage five kilometers long. (Yes there's that many!) So just sit back and enjoy what the StarCraft community has produced.
