If you got onboard early with StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm and pre-ordered the game before December 18th, you will have access to test out the beta version of the game. Amazon will be sending out promotional beta key codes with actual physical pre-orders. That’s a pretty sweet deal. Blizzard Entertainment will be releasing StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm will launch 3-12-2012. You can get more information about the upcoming expansion from our earlier post here.
Update: PCGamesN.
There’s a lot going on behind the doors at Blizzard Entertainment and StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm is the main focus as the company gets closer to the game’s launch date of 3/12/2013. During a conversation with PCgamesN, Mike Morhaime mentioned that they are working on a “training area” that will allow players to get better by playing out scenarios against the computer that will teach you how to create and use a few basic builds. The computer will also offer up tips that will help you improve your gameplay. The difficulty will slowly increase as you progress in this new “training mode”.
There are some concerns from the gaming community surrounding the lack of in-game support for learning how to play in multiplayer matches. Often, players new to playing against real “human” opponents will struggle early on and this has caused many players to become discouraged and to give up playing online altogether. This is obviously not something Blizzard wants happening. Although there has been some improvement with the addition of unranked gameplay, it looks like we will see even further support for the community by introducing this new training mode.
If you fall into this category of new players and you really love the game, don’t give up! There are already a ton of resources out there to help you become a better StarCraft player. One great place to start is by heading to Day[9]TV, a website created by Sean Plott, a professional StarCraft player. He offers up a TON of advice and honestly I can’t think of a better place to get started.
I am always looking for ways to become a better StarCraft player and even if you have a bit of experience already, it would still be nice to run through some type of “training mode”, you never know what you might learn.
It’s official, StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™ will be released to the masses on March 12, 2013, but you don’t have to wait to buy it. You can pre-purchase the new Starcraft expansion now by logging into battle.net. The expansion will cost $39.99.
Heart of the Swarm is the first expansion set to Blizzard Entertainment’s sci-fi real-time strategy game StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™. Heart of the Swarm continues the epic story from Wings of Liberty with an all-new campaign that focuses on Kerrigan, the former Queen of Blades. This expansion will feature 20 new campaign missions, new gameplay mechanics, new multiplayer maps, new units, and new pre-rendered cinematics.
Multiplayer Unit Rundown
Shredder
The Shredder is a new unit built from the Factory that allows the terran player to control the battlefield. In its mobile form, the Shredder has no attack — but when set to stationary mode, it channels area-effect damage to both the air and ground. If a friendly unit enters the range of the Shredder, the weapon shuts off.
Warhound
The Warhound is a small, walking ground mech that wields an effective anti-air weapon with splash damage, much like the Thor from Wings of Liberty. The difference is that the Warhound is smaller and much more nimble, though it gives up some range on its anti-air missiles in exchange for this mobility. The Warhound also wields a small ground attack weapon that does additional damage to mechanical units, making it particularly well suited to taking out enemy Siege Tanks — though it’s not particularly effective against non-mechanical units.
Viper
The Viper is a new flying unit with three unique abilities. Blinding Cloud temporarily reduces the attack range of all ground units inside the cloud to melee range, and prevents energy-based abilities from being used. Abduct allows the Viper to physically pull a unit to the Viper’s location. Finally, the Viper has a one-time ability called Ocular Parasite, which allows it to detach its eye stalk and meld it onto any friendly, non-massive unit, turning that unit into a detector.
Swarm Host
The Swarm Host is a slow-moving ground unit that has no standard attack. When burrowed, the Swarm Host spawns a continuous stream of slow-moving melee units called Locusts that can be used to lay siege and pressure entrenched enemy positions.
Tempest
The tempest is a new capital ship that deals massive area-of-effect damage to air units. It also has a standard ground attack, but its chief role is to help gain air superiority.
Oracle
The Oracle is a psionic warship, built from a Stargate, that uses several unique abilities to raid and harass the enemy. The first is Entomb, which can temporarily block mineral fields from being harvested. Another ability, Preordain, grants vision of a targeted enemy building, allowing the protoss to see which units or technologies are being researched. Rounding out its kit is Phase Shift, which phases a target building, preventing it from being attacked, using its abilities, or granting technology. Not only can structures like missile turrets be prevented from attacking, but using this ability on a zerg Spire would block the production of Mutalisks, Corruptors, and air upgrades.
Replicant
Replicants have one ability: to transform itself into any non-massive unit. They’re expensive, so cloning a Zergling would not be very cost effective, but transforming into a specialized unit like a Raven, Infestor, or Siege Tank could open up interesting strategic options for the protoss.
New Multiplayer Maps
New Multiplayer Units
