Patch 1.2: Upcoming Zerg Changes

So it seems Blizzard has not forgotten about the ravenous horde of Zerg players entirely. Dustin Browder(lead designer of Starcraft II) posted some changes he intends to make next patch, along with some interesting numbers that go a long way to show how deep Blizzard is looking into balance issues.

The balance changes in our next patch will primarily focus on improving the zerg. 

 I won't lie. As soon as I read this line, my heart skipped a beat and everything became dead quiet. I glanced to my Zerg of the Month calendar, praying I hadn't missed several months and this was some sort of April Fool's prank. Luckily, I'm not a bear and I don't hibernate.

•    We're increasing roach range. This will allow roaches to be more effective in large groups, giving the zerg more options in the mid to end game.

 This has always been a thorn in my side when playing with Roaches: You get a bunch(the technical term of a group of Roaches, like grapes) and off they go to wreak havoc amongst the squishy Terrans. However, there are so many of these little bug-tanks that not all of them can attack at once unless you're in a completely open field. Defeats the purpose of out-massing your opponent, I think.

I don't see Blizzard increasing the range of Roaches all that drastically, however. I'd wager they'll settle on a range of 4, since they don't want them to simply be armored Hydralisks(range of 5). Even so, a range of 4 would allow that many more Roaches to come to bear at once which is always a good thing.

•    Fungal Growth will now prevent Blink, which will give zerg a way to stop endlessly Blinking stalkers which can be very challenging to deal with in large numbers.

This was also a problem that irked me. Not often, but whenever I have Broodlords out, I usually have a few infestors there to keep units from runnings right underneath them and shooting holes in my giant slime-kites. The one unit that was immune to this was a Stalker with blink. Actually, when is there ever just one Stalker? I meant a murder(another technical term) of Stalkers with blink.

Not only will this give my Broodlords a fighting chance, but it will make it more difficult for Protoss to blink-kite you into an early grave. Fungal growth coupled with blink's cooldown will mean a sizable amount of blinking stalkers will be stuck there on that cliff edge watching your forces close in and blinking their eyes really, really hard.

•    The Barracks are going to require a Supply Depot, which will impact a lot of early terran reaper pushes.

•    The reaper speed upgrade will require the Factory, which is meant to weaken a lot of the early terran reaper attacks that dominate so many matches, especially in team games.

 When I saw these two changes together, I enjoyed a good, long chuckle. I could actually hear the screams from the Terran forums all the way from my house in the woods. In 1.1 Blizzard decided Reapers were too quickly built, so they increased their build time by 5 seconds. Awesome. Apparently we have some clandestine Zerg supporters in Blizzard, as it seems that change wasn't enough.

Not only are Reapers now slower to build, but they will be slower to upgrade and by requiring a Supply Depot to build a Barracks, Terrans can no longer get that ultra-fast Reaper that hits your base right around the time you're placing your first Pool.

•    We're making a number of increases to the health of zerg buildings, which will make the very vulnerable zerg technology structures more resistant to raids.  We don't expect these hit point changes to have a super significant impact on the game, but the current numbers felt way too low.

I can see what Blizzard is doing here, with the building health and with the above Reaper changes. If given a decent start, Zerg can quite easily get to a position where they're on equal footing with the other races. The problem, however, is ensuring that decent start. More than Terran or Protoss, Zerg are extremely vulnerable to early aggression, especially due to the Idra-inspired macro play that seems like the only viable way to play at the moment.

By increasing building health and stopping Terrans from being able to super-fast Reaper harass with almost no hit to their economy(even without MULES), Blizzard is giving us that decent start. Is it perfect? No. Is it a step in the right direction? Absolutely.

What do you all think of these changes?  How do you Terran and Protoss readers think these changes will affect your own play style? Let me know in a comment below.