5.0.13 Balance Update PTR

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Previous Patch Comments

  • Patch 5.0.12 was a big effort from the community balance council working on it, and we would like to thank everyone for providing their feedback and to apologize for us not being able to communicate proactively
  • While we believe that some of the previous patch goals were successfully achieved, other goals, e.g. related to the Protoss versus Terran matchup, are yet to be accomplished
  • Certain changes originally received mixed feedback from the community and also led to unintentional consequences, particularly in the case of Cyclones, so we might need to revisit those
  • With the upcoming patch we would like to take a more careful approach and focus on fewer goals to improve the current state of the game
  • The progamers involved in the balance council feel that the state of Terran versus Zerg and Protoss versus Zerg doesn't require any major balance changes

Upcoming Patch Goals

  • Improve the state of Protoss versus Terran matchup at the professional level
    • (Mainly accomplished by changes to Terran units)
  • Address the community concerns about the most oppressive openings like Cyclone all-ins and Widow Mine drops
  • Implement QoL improvements and the small changes proposed by the map making community to give more freedom in the competitive map design

StarCraft II Community Balance Council


Versus

TERRAN

Liberator

  • Advanced Ballistics range bonus reduced from 3 to 2

Protoss struggle in dealing with late-game Liberator + Ghost + Bio armies after Terran amass a large number of Liberators with +2 weapons upgrade and Advanced Ballistics.

This change also helps reduce uninteractive scenarios where there is often no way for ground units to get in range of a Liberator sieged behind mineral lines, and allowing slightly more freedom for mapmakers in base design for the first 3 bases

Widow Mine

  • Invisibility while reloading now requires Drilling Claws upgrade instead of a constructed Armory
  • Splash damage radius reduced from 1.75 to 1.5
  • Now gives an attack alert to the enemy when burrowing in range of enemy units
    • (Alert is not given for already burrowed Widow Mines when enemies enter range)
  • Increased visibility of targeting line and targeted unit

Address longstanding community feedback about the strength of Widow Mines at all levels of gameplay. We would like to:

  • Reduce maximum impact of shots by reducing the radius (has a greater impact towards shots in Mineral lines due to how units clump)
  • Reduce game ending moments when Armory-cloaked Widow Mines are dropped throughout multiple Protoss bases in the midgame
  • Give more opportunity for counterplay through the changes to visuals and alerts.

New visuals

Widow mine targeting line

Armory

  • Cost reduced from 150/100 to 150/50

Engineering Bay

  • Infantry weapons/armor upgrades cost reduced from 100/175/250 to 100/150/200

Changes to slightly smoothen out the transition for Terran into mid-game upgrades. Partially offset nerfs to other Terran units, as the other changes are expected to have a greater impact in TvP than TvZ

Cyclone

  • Weapon cooldown increased from 0.48 to 0.58
  • Lock On cooldown increased from 0 to 2.86
  • Weapon now has turret tracking, damage point reduced from 0.119 to 0.036
  • Health increased from 110 to 130

After the Cyclone rework in the last patch, the Cyclone has caused problems for Protoss players at the professional level as a follow up to Engineering Bay Block strategies (blocking the Protoss natural expansion causing them to have to expand to a further base), as Hellion drop and Cyclone pressure are now both difficult strategies to deal with while appearing similar from a scouting perspective. Cyclones also have been difficult to deal with in early game TvT, causing games to often end up in mass Cyclone vs Cyclone early games, and in various all-ins at lower levels of play

These changes are intended to make the unit less oppressive in the early game by giving counter play to Lock On as well as reducing their damage output; while making them a better frontline mech unit due to their increased HP. In case these changes still don't improve the state of Cyclone, the option to revert it to the previous state will also be considered.

Raven

  • Interference Matrix can no longer target units already targeted or affected by Interference Matrix

Allows for Interference Matrix to be used with 'rapid fire', at the cost of being able to continuously Interference Matrix the same target

PROTOSS

Sentry

  • Damage increased from 6 to 6 (+4 vs Shields)
  • Light attribute tag removed

This is a change targeted at the Protoss vs Protoss matchup to slightly stabilize the early game, encouraging Sentry openings by reducing the fragility of Sentries vs Adepts and Oracles, as well as slightly increasing their damage output

Pylon

  • Sight range increased from 9 to 10

Observer

  • Build time reduced from 21.4 to 17.9 seconds
  • Health/Shields increased from 40/20 to 40/30
  • Model size increased by 10% / Surveillance Mode animation speed increased by 75%

These changes are aimed to improve Protoss general scouting and map vision, particularly in early game PvT

The Shield increase allows for Observers to survive the splash damage of a single Widow Mine shot

(The animation speed refers to how much the Observer is visually moving while in Surveillance Mode, not how long it takes to enter/exit the mode)

ZERG

Hatchery/Lair/Hive

  • Creep spread radius increased from 12 to 13

This change was requested by mapmakers to allow for more freedom in designing the natural base layout without causing issues with Zerg wall offs in the Zerg vs Zerg matchup

Infestor

  • Fungal Growth range increased from 9 to 10
  • Vision range while burrowed reduced from 10 to 8
  • Unburrow time increased from 0.357 - 0.714 seconds to 0.625 - 0.714 seconds
    • (Range relates to random delay)
  • Increased size of moving burrowed Infestor visuals effects

Infestors visually can be hard to see while moving with the current visual effects, as it is smaller than the effect of moving burrowed roaches, and they are generally used individually unlike burrowed roaches. Terrans have struggled in dealing with burrowed Infestors as the time to react to Infestors unburrowing and casting Fungal Growth could be very short depending on a random factor

These changes are aimed at moving some of the strength of burrowed Infestors to unburrowed Infestors, reverting the range nerf to Fungal Growth from the previous patch

Overlord

  • Transport Overlord morph time increased from 12.14 to 15 seconds
  • Transport Overlord move speed increased from 1.10 to 1.28 (2.83 to 3.00 with Pneumatized Carapace)

The changes to Transport Overlords in the previous patch did not create a significant effect on the utility of the unit, and we would like to bring back a little bit of the strength of harassment lost from the previous Baneling nerfs

GENERAL

  • Worker attack range increased from 0.1 to 0.2

Reduces the frequency of Workers losing their targets when attacking SCVs which are constructing structures

  • Worker inner radius (collision with terrain / structures) reduced from 0.375 to 0.3125
    • Adjusted footprint size of Vespene Geysers (maintain previous interactions with Workers and Geysers)

Allows mapmakers to create 'Worker only Paths'

Worker only path

  • 'Zerg Rocks' (DestructibleExpeditionGate6x6) now lose hp off creep

Allows mapmakers to create rocks which lose HP over time, naturally opening up pathways on maps

Zerg Rocks

  • Mineral Fields can now be destroyed by collapsible rock towers

Destructible Mineral Fields

Bug Fixes / QOL

  • Siege Tank (Unsieged) Turret now tracks previously attacked unit
  • Fixed an issue where Siege Tank attack animation would sometimes not play
  • Fixed an issue with Reaper's KD8 Charge Animation
  • Fixed an issue with Ghost's Snipe tooltip not showing bonus damage vs psionic
  • Fixed an issue where Banelings could deal additional damage on ramps
  • Activating Generate Creep on overlords now activates for all selected Overlord types (Drop / Default)
  • Lurker subgroup priority increased (Now has higher priority than Ravager)
  • Fixed an issue where Immortals would not fire while surrounded by units or partially covered by Forcefields
  • Immortal Turret now tracks previously attacked unit
  • Fix tooltip on Mothership Cloak Field buff
  • Fixed various issues with Recall
    • No longer includes units already being Recalled
    • All Recall abilities now cancel Adept Psionic Transfer and Disruptor Purification Nova
  • Tempest Tectonic Destabilizers upgrade now also applies to attacks targeting flying buildings
  • Fixed an issue where Guardian Shield would not apply to units on a different cliff level than the Sentry
  • Fixed an issue where certain Vespene Geysers would not update visually when Depleted
  • Fixed various issues with Rocks appearance on the minimap
  • Fixed various issues with Healing Shrines
  • Fixed an issue where Cyclone Lock On could activate on a hidden unit (Bug where Lock On would never end)
  • Fixed an issue where Shield Battery's Recharge impact model was visible through the fog
  • Fixed an issue where Shield Battery could not be ordered to stop recharging a structure while auto-cast was enabled
  • Fixed an issue where Disruptors were treated differently when being dropped by a transporter that was not a Warp Prism
  • Fixed an issue where Acceleration and Inhibitor Zones affected structures on the ground

Changelog

2024/03/20

Infestor

  • Unburrow time further increased from 0.536 - 0.714 seconds to 0.625 - 0.714 seconds (random ranges)
    • Pre-patch values were 0.357 - 0.714 seconds

High Templar

  • Feedback change removed

Cyclone

  • Change to damage upgrade scaling removed
  • Damage point increased to 0.036
  • "Hurricane Thrusters" upgrade renamed to "Hurricane Engines" / Icon updated
    • (The Cyclone doesn't have thrusters)
Edit
Pub: 04 Mar 2024 23:12 UTC
Edit: 22 Mar 2024 04:39 UTC
Views: 12532