Heart of the Swarm: worth coming back to

There's a thread about the Heart of the Swarm opening cinematic, but now that it's out, I thought the expansion itself deserved a thread.

For everyone who wrote off SC2 after Wings of Liberty: COME BACK.

This isn't just a "more of the same" expansion. Instead, it responds precisely to everything that turned me off to SC2: WoL. This is the glimmer of hope that somewhere inside Blizzard, there are people who still just really love gaming. I've only spent an hour or so in it so far, but I'm BLOWN AWAY. The single-player campaign is light-years better. It's got gorgeous video clips (like the opening cinematic) between each mission. The George Lucas-y "kiddie-friendly" feel of WoL is gone. The story is a bit grittier, more sinister. No God of War, of course, but no Disney either. If Wings of Liberty was A New Hope, this is The Empire Strikes Back.

As for multiplayer, the addition of a training mode, which teaches build orders, limits the game in certain ways (only tier 1 units, slower gameplay speed, etc) and rewards you with experience points is a welcome change. It doesn't feel like I'm just being thrown to the grinder against a bunch of fourteen-year-old Koreans anymore.

I haven't actually played live players or sampled all the new units, so I can't comment on that yet.

But for everyone who wrote of SC2...this is everything I hoped Wings of Liberty would be. Come give it another chance.

 

"I haven't actually played live players " this is actually a thing rpg was designed for. i dont know much peoples who was completed single mode more then once...

 

I meant I hadn't played live players yet in HotS. Because I just got it tonight. I sank dozens of hours into multiplayer in WoL. Just to clarify.

 

the single player is great. I didn't have any issue with WoL campaign though.
the most fun part for me is actually talking to the other zerg creatures, especially Abathur.
Chat with Abathur 6 - YouTube
his voice is just amazing, I really wish there were more missions just so I could talk to him more.

Game was a bit short though and a bit too easy. But maybe it's because I was new in WoL and now I got the mechanics to play the campaign quite easily.

multiplayer right now is really good. Lots of action and the new units are all affecting the game by a lot, especially coupled with some changes to the old units like the reaper.

 

Meh, Protoss is still completely death Bally style that is not entertaining.

And balance may be a little suspect at the moment.

A slight improvement over wol if anything.

Still no where near as entertaining to play or to watch compared to brood war for Protoss, or other races for that matter.

And yeah lol, if the single player campaign is the highlight... I dare say sc games are not for you.

I sunk hundreds of hours in brood war and never touched the single player campaign. Same with sc 2 although relatively I have barely played it.

 

I enjoyed the campaigns of Starcraft, Brood War, Warcraft III, and The Frozen Throne. While multiplayer is the primary focus of Blizzard RTS's, Blizzard has always put energy into the campaign as well. I doubt I'm the only one who enjoys the single-player campaigns. WoL was the first time I didn't really enjoy a Blizzard RTS's campaign.

That's too bad because the BW campaign was amazing and was clearly the result of a massive labor of love.

 

I really got bored quickly with WoL. The improvements you mentioned have me interested. I like the SC universe (though not as much as Warcraft) but I felt like there was way too much of a learning curve considering I never played MP in the original SC (no internet connection on my PC back then).

 

I'm the same way; I played SC1 single-player only due to a lack of internet connection. First got into multiplayer with Warcraft III. I never progressed beyond Bronze League in Wings of Liberty, despite sinking a few dozen hours into it.

The training mode for HotS's multiplayer is really good. I didn't talk enough about it. Not only does it have a slower game speed and certain limitations (different limitations depending on whether it's level 1, level 2, or level 3 training), but it constantly posts hints about when you should build your spawning pool, when you should expand, etc. Obviously linking up with an experienced player who can watch your replays and coach you is even better, but how many casual players are going to be able to do that? This automated coach is a whole lot better than nothing.

Also, now hatcheries display the optimum number of drones for the resources nearby above them. So if you've got fifteen drones gathering minerals, the hatchery has (15/27) above it, because for that particular mineral patch, 27 drones is the most efficient. For a different mineral patch, the maximum might be 22 or 34. It takes a lot of the guess-work out of the economy of the game, which is the most critical but also the least fun aspect of multiplayer.

 

That's really cool. I guess I'll be picking it up once I'm done with Bioshock Infinite.

Thanks for posting about it, seriously. I honestly don't think I would have given SC2 a second look otherwise

 

I can't wait to buy this game. Then again, I won't be buying it until I purchase and receive my Alienware M18x r2.

Is the online a bit more fair in terms of gameplay? I remember starting off with WoL and getting completely creamed by everyone using Protoss. I never stood a chance in MP on WoL and I had many hours invested into SC and BW before this. It seemed t not help one bit.

Not that it matters obviously being a huge fan of the games. I'll buy it either way.

 

I don't think it's a question of "unfair" gameplay; I think it's more a question of not being able to take strategies from SC1 and implement them directly in SC2. There are enough differences in unit selections that SC1 strategies and build orders simply don't work anymore.

That said, there's now two separate ways of being matched with strangers for multiplayer: "unranked matches" and "ladder matches." It's the difference between playing a pick-up basketball game at the park and participating in an intramural league. In both ways, they automatically place you against opponents of similar skill level (it's not like it's a chatroom where you have to find someone you want to play or anything), but in my experience, the unranked matches are more relaxed and friendlier. You're more likely to encounter friendly banter in a 1v1, and if you win, you're more likely to get congratulated (a real "wow, nice job" instead of just a formal "gg") and less likely to get cussed at.

 

My thing about being unfair may have applied to whgen WoL first came out and the Protoss seemed overpowered before being updated. I mainly use zerg for preference and no matter the strategy I couldn't match up...