StarCraft 2 is getting a new update for November 2024

Key things

• StarCraft 2 gets a community driven update every 9 months and has maintained a competitive scene for 14 years.
• The new update focuses on multiplayer balancing, addressing changes to all three races to improve gameplay.

Play a real-time strategy game StarCraft 2 received a new update, almost 9 months after the last set of changes. StarCraft 2 has received constant support from its community and developer Blizzard for nearly 14 years, since the game was first released in 2010.

With an active scene dating back to the original 1998 title, StarCraft is probably one of the longest running major competitive gaming communities ever. StarCraftThe game's community has endured several re-releases over the years, becoming one of the creators of the competitive gaming eSports scene in the process. Meanwhile, support for StarCraft 2 it is the 14th year since then StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty launched in July 2010. Although developer Blizzard has officially ceased development of the content of the day StarCraft 2 in 2020, the game received regular balance tweaks and bug fixes, led in part by a community board dedicated to maintaining the health of the game's ongoing competitive scene.

The Community Balance Council just released a new patch for the game. Finished after several weeks of testing via public test servers, latest patch notes StarCraft 2 detailed changes for the game when upgrading to version 5.0.14. Aimed solely at multiplayer and not affecting anything to do with the story campaign or StarCraft 2 custom campaigns, the patch notes cover adjustments that affect all three playable factions of the game.

The new StarCraft 2 update makes changes to all 3 races

New StarCraft 2 The 5.0.14 patch notes discuss a number of balance-related changes. The changes affect units in all three StarCraft playable races that potentially change the quality of various matches. Of particular concern is the competitiveness of the popular StarCraft 2 Zerg units against Protoss that received an overall buff. However, the board noted that the “extensive testing” needed to fully evaluate the impact of the changes on Protoss would significantly delay the release of the patch. As a result, the Council decided not to proceed with “experimental” changes to the Zerg, and instead would watch Zerg vs. Protoss matches for the future.

Other changes are more divisive, most notably the increase in cost to supply Terran Ghosts, iconic StarCraft special forces unit. According to the patch notes, members of the Balance Council were not “in full agreement” about the change, but because the change was “requested by the community” it would move forward despite complaints from professional Terran players. Terran versus Zerg and Protoss battles will then be closely watched in the competitive environment after 5.0.14.

It's encouraging to see long-term and community-driven support for such an old game StarCraft 2. In an age where games with a live service component can shut down months or even weeks after launch, it's refreshing to know that developers and community members can dedicate themselves to keeping a title thriving for more than a decade. Support is also a good sign StarCraft 2potential future prospects, especially in light of rumors of new StarCraft shooter is in development.

StarCraft 2 Update 5.0.14 patch notes

Early game in Protoss versus Terran

Community Council Comment: We believe the Energy Recharge ability has found its place in Protoss builds and has been very helpful for scouting and defense in a variety of scenarios. With a few minor tweaks below, we feel that the current set of Protoss and Terran changes is an overall improvement in early game Protoss stability compared to the previous patch.

Nexus

• Shield Battery range increased from 10 to 12 (maximum distance to nearest Nexus device) when starting at full power.
• The range for the energy recharge ability is increased from 10 to 12 (the maximum distance to the nearest Nexus device).

Community Council Comment: The increased range will allow Protoss players to be more flexible in placing Shield Batteries to defend their bases and expand into new locations without increasing the offensive capabilities of Shield Batteries.

Other changes

Mother ship

• Model size reverted (increased) to Patch 5.0.11 values.

Ultralisk

• Model size reverted (increased) to Patch 5.0.10 values.

Community Council Comment: We'd like to continue to monitor community feedback regarding the identity of these powerful units. The mothership is back to its original performance level, and increasing its size back to 5.0.11 matches this change perfectly. This adjustment may also help slightly when focusing fire on a unit in a Zerg vs. Protoss matchup where Abduct is no longer a counter. For Ultralisk, the original idea behind reducing its size was to minimize the instances where it would get stuck behind other allied units, a problem that has now been fixed with the push priority change included in this patch.

Removed changes

• Thor Explosive Payload weapon changes removed.

Community Council Comment: We received feedback from both Terran players and players of other races indicating that they were not positive about this change, as it did not unlock any new playstyles and negatively affected existing ones. While we still see potential in Thor's mod, this unit will remain unchanged from 5.0.13 in the upcoming patch.

Lategame concerns

Nerf Spirit

Community Council Comment: We've heard a lot of concern from several professional Terran players about the Ghost nerf, and there hasn't been complete consensus among the Balance Council members about this change. However, we also believe that the community wanted this change to continue, so we'd like to move forward with the Ghost supply nerf for 5.0.14 while continuing to closely monitor its effects in Terran vs. Zerg and Terran vs. Protoss fights. .

Zerg vs Protoss

Community Council Comment: With the Mothership no longer able to be hijacked and the overall late game Protoss army being stronger after the Tempest change, we are concerned about the potential late game state of Zerg versus Protoss at various levels of the game. We received suggestions for some experimental changes that would address this matchup, but would require extensive testing, which would significantly delay the release of the patch. Therefore, we will not proceed with any experimental changes for the time being and will closely monitor the state of this matchup.

Fully updated changelog

The Protoss

Nexus

• Maximum range for Shield Battery starting at full energy increased from 10 to 12.
• Battery overcharge removed.
• New Ability: Energy Recharge (50 energy / 60 second cooldown)
• Recharges 100 energy to any unit or structure within 12 Nexus range.

Shield battery

• Shields/HP increased from 150/150 to 200/200.

Stalker

• Train time from Gateway reduced from 30 to 27 seconds.

Colossus

• Shields/HP changed from 150/200 to 100/250.

Storm

• Delivery cost reduced from 5 to 4.
• vs aerial attack range reduced from 14 to 13.

Immortal

• Cost reduced from 275/100 to 250/100.
• Weapon cooldown increased from 1.04 to 1.14.

Disruptor

• Purification Nova radius increased from 1.375 to 1.5.
• Purification Nova damage reduced from 145 (200 vs shields) to 100 (200 vs shields).

Mother ship

• Price increased from 300/300 to 400/400.
• Delivery cost increased from 6 to 8.
• The mothership can now no longer be targeted for hijacking.
• Damage increased from 6×6 to 6x4x4 (36 damage vs 1 target to 24 damage vs 4 targets each).
• Model size reverted (increased) to Patch 5.0.11 values.

Terran

Cyclone

• Reverted to patch 5.0.11 Cyclone.

Save

• Damage now cancels the save process.
• The save timer is now visible to enemies.

Planetary Fortress

• Armor reduced from 3 to 2.

Sensor tower

• Price reduced from 125/100 to 100/50.
• Radar range reduced from 27 to 22.
• Can be saved now.

Orbital Command

• Calldown: Extra Supplies increases the current/max health of the target supply depot to 500.

Spirit

• Delivery price increased from 2 to 3.

The Zerg

Queen

• Price increased from 150/0 to 175/0.

Incubator

• Cost reduced from 300/0 to 275/0.

Spore Crawler

• Damage increased from 15 to 20.
• Health reduced from 400 to 300.

Hydralisk

• Muscle augment creep speed bonus reduced from 1.03 to 0.74.
• New Research: Nanomuscular Swell (researches new lunge ability)
• Price: 100/100, 64 seconds. Requires Hive.
• Dash ability (formerly called Dash) increases movement speed by 100% for 0.71 seconds.

Infestor

• Microbial Shroud now lasts 3.6 seconds on units leaving the Shroud.

Ultralisk

• Increased priority of ally push from 0 to 1 (now pushes back allied units while moving).
• Anabolic Synthesis movement speed bonus reduced from 0.82 to 0.57.
• Model size reverted (increased) to Patch 5.0.10 values.

Bug fixes and quality of life changes

• The Sweep Orbital Command Scanner visual now uses the team color.
• Command Center, Nexus, and Hatchery now automatically collect on mineral fields.
• Workers waiting for a Refinery, Extractor, or Assimilator to complete do not count as idle.
• Random SCV delay between building movement adjusted from 3.57-7.14 to 4.64-6.07 (same average).
• Added icon to command card for Infestor, Hellion, Hellbat showing non-upgraded passive powerups.
• The Siege Tank and Immortal tracking change from the previous patch was reverted due to an inadvertent redirection.
• Fixed an issue where the blinding cloud was causing certain melee attacks to be canceled more easily.
• Fixed an issue where a blinding cloud could cause Planetaries to not attack melee units at certain angles.
• Fixed an issue with issuing commands to certain rock types in fog.
• Fixed Changeling zealot movement animation speed issue.
• Improved Hydralisk movement animation speed to match actual movement speed.
• Fixed an issue where Gravaton Beam could be canceled within 0.04 seconds of casting with teleport/transport abilities.
• Fixed an issue where the Lurker's attack could be canceled when the target leaves range/dies and no other unit is in attack range.
• Fixed issue with Cyclone's maximum lock range.