Patch 1.1 thoughts

Patch 1.1 brings many important changes to the game and metagame. Our thoughts:

Desert Oasis change:
I can't disagree with this change. Expanding quickly in Desert Oasis, although safe by run distance, was also very risky due to how open the expansion is to attack, and how far the natural is from the main.


Protoss Zealot build time increased by 5 seconds, and warpgate cooldown for zealots increased by 5 seconds:

I've heard from a lot of top level Zerg players that 2 gate aggression from Toss is somewhat impossible to deal with properly, as it forces you to make too few drones, and you lose in the midgame. The build time change for Zealots from Gateways seems reasonable.

However, late game zealots will suffer, which is totally uncalled for. Zealots are a very important late-game unit, and were certainly not too powerful in the mid and late game. A more appropriate change, it seems, would have been to increase the build time from gateways, but not increase the cooldown on warp gates.

Perhaps this lategame nerf to zealots is due to the dps nerf to tanks. Because of the damage change for tanks, zealots will be far, far more effective against them.


Terran Reaper build time increased by 5 seconds:

This is the real needed change of the patch, a nerf to the effectiveness of reapers against Zerg. However, it's questionable if build time is really what needed to be changed. An increase in cost, particularly in mineral cost, might have been more fitting. Mass reapers in the early game allow a Terran to safely expand with the excess minerals saved up, and reducing this somewhat may have been a better change.


Terran bunker build time increased by 5 seconds:

This is questionable. Offensive bunkers probably weren't too powerful in any situation, as a good player will usually scout it and be able to destroy the building SCV before it is completed.

Defensive bunkers will now be even more difficult to construct in time to prepare for an incoming attack, which is bad.


Terran siege mode damage nerfed from 50 to 35 (50 to armored):

This is a very fitting change. I remarked just yesterday that siege tanks are a weird unit. Weird simply because of how incredibly (and disproportionately) effective they are for their cost vs. every ground unit in the game. This damage reduction vs. non-armored units will make engaging a Terran army a lot more doable. However, I wonder if their reduced effectiveness against Hydralisks will end poorly for balance.


Terran Battlecruiser ground damage nerfed from 10 to 8:

This is a very odd change. BCs certainly didn't come off as too powerful in any situation to anyone I've talked to. The change isn't necessarily a bad one, as it's true that there is no ground unit which can effectively take down a BC. However, they should have also increased the anti-air damage of BCs somewhat to make up for it.


Ultralisk damage reduced from 15 (40 vs. armored) to 15 (35 vs. armored):

This is a bizarre nerf. Consider what the Ultralisk is strong against: Armored units. Now consider what units are strong against Ultralisks: marauders, tanks, immortals, stalkers, etc. These are all armored units. Essentially, ultras are strong against units which are strong against it. Now, with this change, they will be weaker against those same units. Ultralisks were never too powerful, so this change really makes no sense at all. Zerg seemed to already be at a disadvantage against a late game Terran, especially if the Terran is turtling behind armored structures and units. Now Zerg will have a harder time handling this.


Ultralisk building attack removed:

They say this won't really reduce an ultralisk's dps vs. buildings, and will actually increase the dps against clumps of buildings. Perhaps that's true. I doubt ultralisks will be able to take down planetary fortresses like they used to be able to, though, which is bad.


Overall impressions:

Overall, they had the right idea, but didn't seem to think their changes through very much. The Zealot change is evidence of that: Sure, zealots may have been too strong vs. Zerg early-game, but they were not too strong mid or late game, and yet the change will affect the mid and late game as well.

Not to mention, PvT balance, especially in the early game, could be thrown out of whack with the nerf to zealots.

The nerf to ultras (and maybe BCs as well) also seemed arbitrary and unthoughtful.

Read more for the full patch notes:

Balance Changes

We have several balance changes in store. One general change we're making is that friendly units will no longer provide vision after being killed. Enemy units previously revealed will no longer be targetable. Now let's break down the additional balance changes we're implementing.

Maps

We're going to be adding destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. In addition, the center map watchtower area is being narrowed.

Protoss

We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby "proxy" gateways. We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.

Terran

There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds. Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.

Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we're changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.

Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We're aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out. Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.

Zerg

Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground. The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.