Hell yes! There goes another 10 years of my life!
Apparently it’s been in development since 2003. Rumor has it that it’ll ship before the holiday season. We’ll see!
I never understood what people found so interesting in these games.I played Warcraft III for 10 mins the other day only to put it aside for another day.
That’s like saying you don’t understand why people play chess. Obviously you don’t have to like it but it’s not hard to see what people find in it. Starcraft is one of the most played games online even all these years after its release for good reasons (fine tuned gameplay mechanics and perfect balance among other things). A sequel has been well overdue and despite the many recent and upcoming high profile RTS releases the name alone can probably stand out.
As for Warcraft III, well, I wouldn’t consider it an example of Blizzard’s expertise with the genre but any game with the word strategy somewhere in its description will require more than 10 minutes to get the best of it. Moreover, multiplayer is the real deal as single player modes are just for learning and practicing with the stories being a nice bonus if they happen to be well made like Blizzard’s usually are.
So, yeah, “these games”, when well crafted, are about the competitive clash of wit and skill between the serious war gamers (or them and strong AI). I’m not much of a RTS player myself and I tend to enjoy single player more when a good story is provided but it’s not hard to understand why people play these and why only a handful of the countless releases earn a legendary status and keep being played for years after their release.
By “these games” I meant Warcraft/Starcraft not RTS’s.If anything I was hoping you would elaborate on the “fine tuned gameplay mechanics and perfect balance among other things” part.
Well I hoped 10 minutes would at least be enough to be introduced to the original elements of the franchise but like I said before I “put it aside for another day”.
[quote=“Gehpnaet”]By “these games” I meant Warcraft/Starcraft not RTS’s.If anything I was hoping you would elaborate on the “fine tuned gameplay mechanics and perfect balance among other things” part.
Well I hoped 10 minutes would at least be enough to be introduced to the original elements of the franchise but like I said before I “put it aside for another day”.[/quote]
Starcraft and Warcraft aren’t even REMOTELY similiar. For one, Starcraft doesn’t have gay ass Hero units, nor does it have a bloody 30 man limit to your army (SC’s population limit is 200). Plus, the story and setting in Starcraft is WAY more interesting than the crap called Warcraft - thank goodness they didn’t ruin that by making it a stupid MMO.
amen.
What exactly did they ruin by making it a MMO anyway? The development of WoW didn’t stop Warcraft 3 from getting released did it? A spin off based on a given universe, no matter how major a title it is, doesn’t mean they’ve given up on the series’ trademarks. Stupid fears people have these days, meh. Oh well, at least Blizzard sorta proved wrong everyone who was all “zomg blizz suq they’ll make sc a mmo 2” prior to the official announcement of this title.
Well, for one, MMO’s have very little or no storylines - the goal in a MMO is basically to increase your stats as best as you can, and get the best items. That’s it. And that’s pretty stupid.
Warcraft III was a joke, so I won’t even waste my breathe talking about that drivel.
Oh, and those fears people have these days is well warranted, considering companies like Sega have totally butchered beloved trademarks: Shining Force and Phantasy Star.
Change can be a good thing…within reason. If change moves beyond those boundaries, however, it becomes a very bad thing.
It was still incredibly silly to believe Blizzard would release another MMO at this time and even if they did it would be even sillier to believe it is the end of the RTS part of the franschise therefor rendering it “ruined” as described. Simple facts.
I didn’t say anything about Warcraft 3 being a great game (in fact, I said the opposite in a previous reply) however it’s still a valid example showing Blizzard making different genres within a franschise doesn’t mean they give up on its roots for good as WoW was already well under development when WC3 was released, even though we didn’t know of it.
Blizzard is a pretty huge company that can work on several projects at once and for all you know they are working on a Starcraft MMO aimed for release sometime in the next 3 years, or Diablo 3, or both plus more, but that obviously didn’t affect their progress with older fan needs/favorites as SC2 shows.
So, yeah.
Regardless of your feelings on their games, I think it’s admirable that Blizzard is one of the few remaining companies that really considers what their players want and makes their games accordingly.
Fixed it for ya 
Well it was awesome until the main hero turned evil. Then we were forced to endure too many elf campaigns.
Then Blizz killed off all the paladins for some inexplicable reason.
No one wanted to step into the shoes of the girly man prince Kaelthas in The Frozen Throne Alliance campaign. We all wanted to play as another paladin and reclaim Lordaeron.
But you can’t stop those elf lovers at Blizz.
There is a 99% probability that the main character of the next Alliance campaign in WC4 will be a paladin. I assume the mere thought of it will put you off for life.
You know: defenders of all that is good are actually the enemies of free thought. ZOMG!
Now I am going to try to lead my WoW guild to Magtheridon as a holy warrior who has been turned into a cloth wearing gimp, even though I remember killing him in WC3.
The main problem with WoW is that Blizz created too much content for only a minority of their players to enjoy. They catered to their hardcore loyalists above all else. You cannot tell me you aren’t at all impressed by the art direction and lore behind C-Thun. Inspired of the eye of Sauron of course.
What I don’t get is: Starcraft didn’t really sell well in the states at first, but it sold out of control in Korea, while it was the total opposite for Warcraft III (selling the most in the states and Europe).
Given how strong the Warcraft brand is, I’m surprised Vivendi haven’t piled on the pressure to make Warcraft 4 already. I know Blizz were under amazing pressure to release the WoW expansion. So much so that it was released unfinished (don’t get me started).
Yes, I am overjoyed about SC2. I loved the story of the original and the countless online tactics.
So will Raynor exact revenge on his former love? Will we discover that humanity was another one of the Xel Naga’s pet projects to create the perfect race?
I remember how underrated SC was when it came out. Then it sold millions in South Korea and suddenly people changed their minds. Yeah, whatever. I can’t wait to see how the story evolves.
I almost regret having forged so many ties with others in WoW because it makes it so hard to let go. Maybe it’s unhealthy? I’ll probably be addicted to Blizzard’s games for a long time. The love of the lore is something we cannot escape.
Actually, humanity is not a part of the Xel’Naga experiment - which is clearly evident if you’ve read the Starcraft books. The Xel’Naga are surprised, actually, by the bonding between the Zerg and the humans (i.e. Kerrigan) and are watching very closely to that experiment which was not originally their own. If you remember in the original Starcraft, even the cerebrate who created Kerrigan was surprised that he had found ‘the perfect species’ to combine with.
Also, I’ve been told that, even though Multiplayer will consist of of the 3 main races, the hybrid race will make an appearance in the Single Player mode. I’m pretty sure that when it does come time for an expansion to the game, we will see the hybrid race as the 4th race. But considering they haven’t even been properly introduced yet, it only makes sense that they are not in multiplayer at this time. Remember, in the original Starcraft…you could not use medics, dark templar, lurkers, corsairs, valkyries, and defilers, either – until the Broodwar expansion came out.
Ok Kada, question: do you think Duran actively helped in killing the new Overmind because he saw it as the only real threat to the Xel Naga? He conveniently disappears after until you see him in the hidden mission.
“This hybrid is the completion of a cycle. It’s role in the cosmic order was pre-ordained when the stars were young. Behold the culmination of your history”. He seems to imply that this was what they planned all along. The only problem is, the original Overmind’s goal wasn’t any different from the Xel’Naga. It wanted to create the perfect race by merging with the Protoss too.
In the map editor you have a Tassadar/Zeratul Arkon which I assume Blizz originally planned for the two characters but changed later as well.
Oh yeah, and why the hell didn’t the Protoss incinerate Tarsonis when it was invaded by the Zerg? The whole swarm in one place…
One thing that bugs me about SC’s balance is that the Protoss should be vastly more advanced than the Terans, but just fewer in numbers. In the story, they were just overwhelmed in the end.
I admit, I need to re-read up on the lore. I used to ****ing love these games. The whole sci-fi angle is much more thought-provoking than the recycled ying-yang-light-cannot-exist-without-darkness garbage approach.
Duran definitely had a hand in the Overmind’s demise - why? Because the creation of Kerrigan was pretty much forbidden - the Xel’Naga were not expecting the Zerg Overmind to become more clever than themselves.
Kerrigan is a threat to the Xel’Naga and their agenda, but at this point, she’s underestimated.
Great! Now what about Diablo 3? I’m still waiting for the fixes for those balance issues in Diablo 2.
So… there’s people that expect new Blizzard games to be somehow better balanced? Interesting…