Toastmold
Here's a 16 minute interview between Chris Sigaty and Dustin Browder conducted by a Swede and a Germ in front of a sedate mob of thirty people. There are no earth shattering new information but there are some interesting facts about single player. Something seemed a little unusual with the interview. I can't quite put my finger on it though.

Gavimandius
They totally spoiled single player! With the revelation that you will be surfing a super nova they've completely destroyed the plot of Starcraft 2. I'm not even sure if I can justify the purchase anymore.

Economicraft II: Wings of Puberty

In an effort to add depth to the economic side of Starcraft II Blizzard is planning on bestowing at least one ability per race that can boost their economy. Lets take a look at the units these abilities are being applied to.


Dark Pylon
- Powers nearby structures, has 3 abilities that require energy
- Costs 50 more minerals than a normal pylon (assuming their cost hasn't changed)
- Weaker shields than a normal Pylon
- Evil twin to the normal Pylon

#1 Proton Charge: Area of effect ability that temporarily increases the amount of minerals that probes collect. Lasts for 30 seconds.

#2 Null Shield: Temporarily cloaks a friendly unit.

#3 Argus Link: Gives energy to nearby caster.

zkss5
The Dark Pylon seems a little clunky to use. I think it would be a better idea to just allow Pylons to upgrade into Dark Pylons. This way you don't have to worry about keeping space open for their eventual placement.

Proton Charge is easily my least favorite of the economic spells. You basically want this active all the time so it's this tedious "Oop, it's been 30 seconds, need to reactivate it, blarg" ordeal. A slightly stronger effect with a greater cost would be a more interesting decision and have more conflict with its other abilities.

I don't understand why Null Shield is apparently not getting a lot of use, other than the fact that its name doesn't make any sense. The more I think about cloaking my own units, the more useful it sounds. Cloaked scouts early in the game, cloaked Colossi tromping around the map, cloaked Warp Prism drops, cloaking Archons, etc etc. It really seems like it has a ton of potential. The only real concern I have with this is the duration - if it isn't long enough then that would certainly cut into its use. But Invisibility's duration in Warcraft 3 was pretty great, so hopefully this one's long enough to be useful too. My mouth is kind of starting to water at getting my hands on this...

Argus Link I hardly need to touch on - more energy for Templar = more Psi Storms = more viktories. 'nuff said.

Toastmold
I'm a little concerned that it seems that you can build multiple dark pylons per mineral group and permanently have Proton Charge active. I don't think the slightly increased mineral cost (50) and weaker shields are a big enough trade off when you consider that you will quickly make the money back, and they have two other useful abilities. Blizzard might want to consider limiting the amount of dark pylons you can make to one per nexus, or making them cost a bit of extra gas.

Null Shield looks like it won't have a large amount of uses, assuming it only lasts around 10 seconds (I have no idea). You could use it to save defenders, or hide motherships or maybe squeeze a scout out of an offensive blockade. Another tweak they could do is to increase the duration, but make the cloak fade when you attack.

Argus Link looks like it could be potent. In addition to disgusting amounts of psi-storm you could use it to help you make a larger hallucinated army with your Nullifiers. [Those are called Disruptors now, Toast. -zk]


Orbital Command
- No longer an add-on, it is an upgrade to the Command Centre
- Retains ability to lift off
- Mutually exclusive to the Planetary Fortress
- Picks up HBO

#1 Calldown Mule: Brings down a nomadic MULE that can mine minerals for a short time.

#2 Calldown Extra Supplies: Adds 2 permanent supply.

#3 Scanner Sweep: Works like in Starcraft 1, reveals map and cloaked units.

zkss5
I'm not sure why this thing is competitive with the Planetary Fortress. I don't exactly see how giving up the ability to lift off, be salvaged, use Scanner Sweep, call down MULEs and improve Supply Depots is really worth the attack of the Planetary Fortress, particularly on the race with Siege Tanks and Bunkers.

There's not much to say about Scanner Sweep; it was invaluable in Starcraft and I don't expect that to be changing. Ever.

MULEs are looking rather strong; the only thing keeping them mildly in check is that they compete with Scanner Sweep for energy. They mine more than an SCV and they can mine from a mineral patch at the same time as an SCV. These things make Proton Charge look silly. Oh yeah, but then we take into account they can also be used to block pathing and can be called down anywhere the Terran can see. So you can do things like dropping MULEs on enemy Siege Tanks and chuckle as they blow each other up. *sigh* I can't believe they could actually attack and repair earlier. I know it's alpha but come on. Hasn't blizz learned anything about summoned units by now?

Calldown Supplies seems like an ability they should be worried doesn't compete. Yes, okay two permanent additional supplies on an existing depot that costs you no resource other than energy seems rather nice on paper. But it's competing with Scanner Sweeps and MULEs for energy... and that's a losing fight right there. I wonder, can a depot only be upgraded like this once?

I'm also wondering if I'll seriously consider making extra Orbital Commands in place of some depots just to have MULEs and Sweeps coming out the wazoo, and then use Calldown Supplies somewhat to make up the cost.

Toastmold
Calldown MULE is a more interesting mechanic than Proton Charge. The fact that it brings down a physical unit leads it to a lot of other potential uses. I envision some last second blocking, or using it scout. I'm wondering how many you can produce from one Orbital Command though. In the last Battle Report the Terran player seems to be able to call a very large amount at a time.

Calldown Supplies seems like a boring ability. It is interesting in that it permanently augments a structure, but I don't really see myself using it that much.

Scanner Sweep will probably be the difference between victory and defeat at times in Starcraft II just as it was in it's predecessor. Except now if a Terran gets too greedy with MULEs he will have even less energy for revealing cloak. Also, everytime he uses it he is losing potential minerals, so it is an interesting dynamic there.


Zerg Queen
- Glue that holds the hive together
- Lost its ability to fly
- Important for spreading creep
- Zerg formed from her larva have large ears

#1 Build Creep Tumor: Placed on creep, produces additional creep, is burrowed.

#2 Spawn Larva: Generates four additional larva at a hatchery.

#3 Razor Plague: A controllable swarm of tiny units that damage units.

zkss5
She's neato, I love the direction they're going with her. She'll just be chillin' at hives going' "grar, get away from mah babies!" usin' her nifty abilities, and generally just making me smile.

Razor Swarm and Creep Tumors seem like pretty straight forward useful abilities that don't require further explanation.

Spawn Larva's where all the fun on her's at the moment. Although I'm also concerned it's currently overpowered. Once a Spawning Pool’s up, you can spend 150 minerals and wait 25 seconds for a Queen to pop out with 50 energy that can use Spawn Larva for 25 energy to immediately generate 4 larvae? Compared to the 300 minerals/100 seconds/Drone of a new Hatchery? That seems really, really good early in the game. Like crazy good. And I’m not even one of those number cruncher types who gives a crap about optimizing builds or stuff like that! Balance concerns aside, I love this ability though. And I’m not exactly sure why, ‘cause it’s just “now you have more larvae” but there’s just so many wonderful things you can do with them that makes me grin. :D

Toastmold
Queens are the most important out of these three caster units, but they are also probably the most vulnerable. The queen promotes base management, defense and most importantly unit production.

Build Creep Tumor is interesting because if you lack a Queen, you won't be able to expand your own base's creep cheaply. (Yes I know you can use Hatcheries or the Overlord's ability) Creep is also doubly important in Starcraft II because zerg ground units move substantially faster on creep.

Spawn Larva seems like it might be the most potent of the three economic abilities. While it doesn't boost your mineral income for 'free' you have the option to build extra drones with it, thus giving yourself permanent miners. Also, it is equally useful for making any other Zerg unit. This would particularly help mortal players like me who when finishing crucial tech structures, like the Spire for instance, find that they often don't have many larvae available right away. Spawn Larva would let you build a substantial extra amount of units at any given time. I suspect that Spawn Larva will need to be researched so it probably won't be usable right after making a spawning pool.

I think all the introduction of these units will add some strategic depth to Starcraft II, but some abilities need tweaking and it might be a while before the mechanics emerge from adolescence and mature to hit the right balance. Periodic raiding will probably also increase, at least versus Protoss and Zerg where their 'economic casters' can be relatively quickly eliminated to meaningfully disrupt their economy. An Orbital Command should be less vulnerable to this sort of attack, but will be more vulnerable to energy drain from cloaked harassment.

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, Immortals!

IMMORTAL
- Souped up versions of the old Dragoon
- Counters heavy hitting units
- Vulnerable to fast attacking units
- Has fancy looking shields

Toastmold
It is nice to see Blizzard mixing up the classic Dragoon unit. The main feature of the Immortal is its hardened shields. I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe it takes a maximum amount of damage from all attacks. So a battle cruiser that normally does around 30 damage, but the Immortal's heavy shields will reduce this to 9 damage. So as you can see this will make it very nice versus units with slow attack speeds and massive damage. On the flip side units like Marines and Zerglings will kill Immortals at normal speed. This should lead to some interesting micro choices. I suppose a broad way of thinking about the Immortal could be looking at its similarities to the Mountain Giant from Warcraft 3.

Gavimandius
The introduction of the Immortal should lead to more strategic options in a lot of circumstances. With its ability to counter units like Siege Tanks we won't see the same sort of stale match ups in high level play, particularly between Protoss and Terran. Another great use will be to send in the Immortals first to soak up initial damage so your real bruisers can get in and start throwing hay-makers. I especially look forward to using Immortals to break through pansies and their 'towered' up bases. Contrary to this sentiment from the official Immortal page, "But the loss of every immortal is keenly felt. These ancient warriors are a dying breed pledged to give their all in the end times of their people" I think that Immortals will be best used as cannon fodder. If your Immortals are the last things to die, you are probably having problems.

Cleopatra
In some Shakespearean play I said "Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have Immortal longings in me." As a result of this previous expertise in the subject, and the similarity to a line from the notorious BloodNinja cybering escapades, I have been asked to comment on the Immortal in Starcraft 2. I want to know, can this unit even hit air units? While reading the official page it seems like it might not. This will be a major deterrant to making more than a few of this unit at a time. Do the Protoss even have an specialized ground to air unit? (I'm not going to count Archons) I doubt that Stalkers will be beefy enough to counter air units too effectively. If they can't hit air, then their only job might end up being to fight tanks, and this might turn out to be too narrow to be ultimately useful.

Thor She Blows!

THOR
- Has undergone many changes (link is not up to date)
- Anti-air focused
- Has a 'second-life' mechanic, where it is immobile and can be repaired

Toastmold
It is too bad that they abandoned the original super-unit idea, where a single SCV would build it, but I can see where that would be tricky. The Thor now functions as a long range, tough anti-air unit. Its ability to have a 'second life' seems to lend itself more to defense which makes it sort of like a mobile super turret? It is hard for me to envision what the second life mechanic plays like so I guess I will have to wait and see. Maybe they can give it something to make it more interesting. Let's see.. Thor is a Germanic god associated with a hammer and lightning as demonstrated in this painting. Maybe it could have a Yamato Cannon-like, energy expensive, ability that would temporarily stun or disable a unit. Or perhaps it could do a Shockwave (a la Tauren Chieftain) that unleashes a barrage in front of him for a bit of damage. It's long cooldown, need for Thor to slowly rotate to aim (if it still does that) and propensity for friendly fire damage could make this an interesting ability.

Gavimandius
Thor? More like Bhor! No, no, more like Snhor! (Get it!?) This poor schizophrenic unit has been kicked around for a while. The Thor is like Blizzard's new son-in-law. He doesn't really fit in with the family business, but Blizzard needs to find a job for him somewhere so he doesn't let his daughter down, especially after he paid for that expensive wedding. (Uhm.. the wedding is all the effort and excitement that went into developing and promoting the Thor maybe?) He's a good learner Pa, I swear! [Oo A bit of a stretch don't you think? -T] In these tough economic times I'm sad to see Worf and his Goliath given the pink slip. If I was the King of Blizzard I'd give Worf his job back, and fire the Siege Tank instead. Let the Thor be the long range bombarding unit for Terran, as God intended, and take the Siege Tank out behind the barn to be retired, even though they look cool.


zkss5
I hardly know what I'd say that Toast's pink alter-ego didn't already. Except I wouldn't replace the Siege Tanks with the Thor, and I never thought the Thor even looked cool.
I'd tell the poor little son-in-law to look for work some place else.

Sometimes I really don't understand blizz, man. Their reasoning for turning the Goliath into the Viking was pretty spot on, and then they go and put a bigger, slower Goliath in. All this thing's going to do is waddle around slowly and shoot air units that get too close to it; it's just something to protect Siege Tanks from air units, and it's not even something interesting at that role. Given all of Cavez's blathering about being interesting I find it ridiculous that the Thor continues to exist; no plan for this unit has ever been anything other than lame.

Oh, I Thought You Died...

In video games, movies and television shows characters have a habit of not staying dead. The question today is, who is going to pull an 'Illidan.' By this I am referring to the events at the end of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne where he is apparently killed by Arthas, who I assume knows a thing or two about death, but I guess Illidan was holding his breath really well because he reappears in WoW. There are quite a few contenders that could potentially make a comeback in Starcraft II.


Tassadar
It has been recorded that this Protoss criminal died at the end of Starcraft trying to cowardly flee from Zerg. In my estimation his chance to come back would have been in Brood War, and since that didn't happen his window of returning is probably gone.


Alexei Stukov
This guy was one of the first characters to eat a bullet from Samir Duran. In the Nintendo 64 version of Starcraft there was apparently a level where you rescue and cure an infested Alexei Stukov. Whether or not this is considered canon I guess we will see but it's hard to go wrong with a Russian accent. This is a good example of how Blizzard could bring someone back from certain death though.


Aldaris
This noble High Templar was wrongly murdered by the vile Zeratul. During this mission Aldaris has convinced the lawful archons to his cause. I can see it being possible that his spirit managed to somehow progress into an archon form. With a heavy does of luck we may see this noble defender of Aiur again.


Edmund Duke
This guy had a great voice and character. I hope he somehow returns, despite being annihilated by Kerrigan's treachery. Perhaps he can come back as some kind of cyborg monstrousity that quips that it doesn't 'have all day.' Or perhaps his stacked battlecruiser simply had escape pods.


Fenix
This Protoss warrior has already come back from the dead once as a Dragoon. You could say that he is the Ultros or Mikhail of Starcraft. They probably threw his rotting corpse into a fridge so that they can just drop it into a Colossus.


Nova
While technically Nova didn't die, her game sure did. *Shakes fist* One of the initial Starcraft: Ghost videos got me so psyched that I bought a Gamecube to prepare the way for its arrival. Blizzard has spent so much money on sculpting perfect buttockses into life sized statues, surely they will want to integrate this character into the Starcraft 2 campaign to earn back their money.


Daggoth
Whatever happened to this guy anyways? I guess he probably became the second Overmind that eventually got enslaved by the UED, and later destroyed. Surely not all the cerebrates are dead though, the zerg campaign would be a little boring if there was no opposition to Kerrigan within all of Zergdom.

New Diablo III Classes

Who are the next two classes to be unveiled for Diablo III? So far we have the Barbarian who murderizes thing with weapons, the Witch Doctor who is a caster with some unorthodox summoning skills and lastly a Wizard who is a quintessential magical dynamo. So what do we have left? Well for one thing we know that no older classes are included in the final two.

Toastmold's Theories

Hunter
The first potential class that I can think of could be a Hunter that includes components of the Amazon, Druid and Assassin. The Hunter would be a primal fighter that relies on ranged attacks, animal related skills and a variety of traps. One example of an interesting animal skill would be something like the Druid's Raven spell. The Raven spell is more interesting than a fat bear that just walks around to get punched in the face. Yeah this class is inspired by the World of Warcraft Hunter, but it would end up being quite unique. Although this sounds like a lot to jam into one class, I think it could be feasible, and would lead to a wide variety of play styles and tactics.

Crusader
Surely at least one of the final two classes is going to be melee oriented. Which leads me to a potential replacement for the Paladin. The ‘Crusader’ would be a holy melee fighter that fills a similar role of the Paladin, but with some twists. Perhaps it would have fewer, more useful auras. One problem in Diablo II is that the Paladin often feel like a mobile aura that whaps on things with a wet noodle. So maybe auras will appear in a reworked manner. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them jazz up the melee component with something like the Assassin’s combo system. Perhaps they could even incorporate the spending of built up charges to trigger a short term aura, instead of just having a boring aura that you click to turn on permanently.

Jitan's Ravings

Inquisitor
Lore wise I think this class will be considered a Mage Hunter due to this quote: "Our list of ills seems never-ending: the state of our downtrodden and the slums they are forced to live in, our incompetent leadership, the reemergence of the intolerant Zakarum, and their quarrels with our mage class...I could go on for pages"

This figure from this link is what I think this class will look like.

Gameplay-wise I don't think his role will be limited specifically to Mage hunting. He probably will have a few anti-caster spells, like an anti-magic field, dispel, and silence, but I think his primary role will be single target dps and enemy debuffing. Since the Witch Doctor seems to be missing several Necromancer curses, it seems like it would be pretty neat if they converted them into offensive auras for the Inquisitor. He might not be decked out in plate like D2's Paladin, but I think he should have skills that will reduce certain kinds of damage for a very brief period of time or something. That way he can put up his defense and run straight at a specific target while only taking a minimal amount of damage from the other creatures.

Ranger
Probably pretty similar to the Amazon but I think she will take the role of party buffer. This will be done through the use of spirits similar to the druids but more interesting. I don't really see this class as a minion summoner because it would overlap too much with the Witch Doctor. Giving her single pet summons like the Necromancer's Golem could be interesting, but I think this would feel too much like the Hunter in WoW. Limiting her to a specific type of ranged weapon like the Amazon was with bows and javelins would be kinda blah so instead she should get a bunch of generalized ranged weapon buffs so she can use whatever she finds.

Shape Shifter

Another possibility is that they will add a shapeshifting class of some sort. In this interview, Jay Wilson makes an interesting comment about how they can't begin working on skills for the fifth class until it has a character model. This strikes me as odd because earlier he says that they've been using a placeholder model to create skills for the unannounced fourth class. It seems to me whatever this class is, it's skills are directly linked to its model. Might be something dull like a reworking of the shapechanging aspects of the Druid class or it's a huge shapeless chunk of goo that takes on random shapes.

More Bane For Your Buck?

BANELING
- A new morph option for zerglings
- Unit built only for aoe suicide damage
- Able to burrow
- A ready supply of Mountain Dew

Toastmold
Ok, first I have to say this unit is really cute. It waddles around with its acid-filled body bulging and swaying like an eager-to-please participant on The Biggest Loser. And when the player researches the speed upgrade it starts rolling around like a rogue tire at a NASCAR event. I think a lot of times this unit will either do nothing, or totally thrash an army. Banelings might be at their best when you ambush from a burrowed position. Ultimately there is a lot of potential kersplutination to be had with the Baneling. But like the Reaper, it might take a while to get the balance right.

Gavimandius
I will never, ever make a Baneling. Why you ask with that stupid incredulous look on your face? If ever a Zergling under my command dies, it will be on the field of battle, madly gnawing at my enemies, not commiting organismal suicide to make some obese piñata beast. Japanese Daimyo: Hey these samurai are awesome and all that, but lets drown them in this pool so roll their bloated corpses at our enemies. Bottom line, it just isn't right to ask a beast so pure and noble as the Zergling to subvert itself into becoming something else.

zkss5
I don't have a lot to say about the Baneling. I like them, though I'm also concerned about the line between doing too much and too little with all-or-nothing units like this. The way we've been seeing them demonstrated/used so far is probably skewing this somewhat though, since they can also just be thrown into normal melee group attacks for some extra bang, rather than the attempts to use them alone. They don't appear to be as easy to waste as Scourge, so they won't demand as much attention as those did, which is a great way to go about it, since they can still be very devastating if that attention is given.

Fear the Reaper?

REAPER
- New versatile infantry unit, touted as a raider.
- Excel in mobility thanks to having the ability to 'cliff jump.'
- Hit and run tactics are important, given that they can't take much damage.
- D-8 demolition packs that do terrible, terrible damage.
- Often accidentally called the "Raider" by senile coots like Toastmold.

Toastmold
The Reaper seems like it is an amazing unit. Could it even be too amazing? It looks like this fellow is made early in the game, can cliff jump into your base, throw down a bunch of time bombs while mowing down your workers, then giggle and zoom away before your defenders arrive on the scene. Who knows maybe it could even easily dispatch them too if the user was skilled enough with D-8 explosives. And when you throw in stimpacks and flying fridge-medics I'm a little worried that this unit will turn out to be tricky to balance.

Lucidorf
Good riddance to the Vulture. I applaud Blizzard for introducing a brand new unit that takes up the old role of the Vulture as harassment unit. At the same time I'm concerned with the Hellion, which looks to have a relatively overlapping role. Now, when it comes to balance, then I wager there will be a lot of outcry over this unit. Good players should be able to use it to its full effect, while novice players will have large problems to defend against it. However, as long as the bombs are researched higher up in the tech-tree, then I think it should be pretty balanced unit.

zkss5
I'm very concerned about this unit. Its speed seems awfully low for a unit that ought to do a fair amount of scouting and flanking. Its range is so short that its ability to cliff-jump seems a lot less useful than it ought to be - in the second battle report, the pack of Reapers couldn't attack the Zerglings trying to break through the rocks from the cliff; they had to jump down to their level. Putting D-8 mines aside for the moment, this unit seems like it's only useful in fighting things that can't fight back. Woo. Every unit is good at fighting stuff that can't fight back. These guys just aren't feeling nearly as versatile as they ought to to me.
And as for D-8 mines, I hate how they're shaping up. Fighting Stasis Trap wards in War3 was friggin' obnoxious, and these things are using the same mechanic. I think crap like this and the Nighthawk's Hunter Seeker Missiles (which are using the same design mechanic) need to be removed.
Overall, a unit whose sole use is to jump into a mineral patch, mow down some workers, then jump out is too narrow and uninteresting as far as I'm concerned.

Colossus

COLOSSUS
- The Colossus excels at countering masses of low hp units.
- Blizzard seems like they are still fiddling with their attack mechanics.
- Like the Raider, this unit transverses up and down cliffs.
- When attacked, this tall unit counts as both an air and ground unit.
- If caught while sleeping the Colossus can easily be tipped over.

Toastmold
Ah the Colossus! I look forward to tippy-toeing into unsuspecting enemy expansions with a couple Colossuses.. Colossi... Uhm... Colotsus and melting all their workers into pools of goop. This unit will deal out area damage a bit different than how Reavers did, and hey, you won't have to pay for each shot! It looks like it will be a bit more vulnerable than a Reaver and probably less able to instantly massacre an army and then run away. But hey, they look a bit like the the alien walkers from War of the Worlds. You can't go wrong with Tom Cruise right? He's America's sweetheart. Lastly, most units seem to have upgrades that are reflected graphically, marines get the shield, banelings start to roll with a speed upgrade. What could the Colossus get? Two words, roller skates.

Gavimandius
Hrm... I don't seem to remember the Reaver being able to crawl up cliffs. How would the Colossus be less able to blast the bejeepers out of something and then run away than a Reaver? They've retired Reavers because they are old technology. You see, the Protoss in this scenario is Mel Gibson, and the Reaver is his wife. Sure, they've been together a long time, and spawned many children/scarabs but she's getting old, and Mel Gibson/The Protoss needs something new and leggy. The Colossus is faster, can tap dance over cliffs, and still use shuttles! Under the control of one such as you, the Colossus might be more in line with the old Reaver in terms of power but in the hands of a good player they will be extremely annoying and pesky. [Hey, I'm awesome! -T] To sum up, you can't spell 'Colossus' without 'us'. [What does that have to do with anything!? -T]

Lucidorf
It's huge, it's a titan, it's actually a Colossus on the battlefield. [That's what she said -T] Pity that it is most likely a midget in terms of gameplay. By the sound of it, this unit is not an effective base destroyer. It lacks the range of the Siege Tank, the speed of the Reaper or the mobility of a Ghost. Why introduce a unit specialized in killing loads of small units, and then still keep the High Templar with Psionic Storm? It is time for a revolution, let's take away Psionic Storm from the High Templar and replace it with another ability, maybe a 'Psionic Cloud' that effects air only, and follows air around like a Hunter Seeker Missle of the Nighthawk.

zkss5
Like Toast, I'm looking forward to this unit; Reavers were always too unwieldy for my tastes, and the Colossus addresses the issues I had with Reavers: having to constantly build Scarabs, worry about wasting shots, and the necessity of having Shuttles to move them around. But I have a few concerns about the Colossus as it is. The first is its ultra-large unit status. This strikes me as being very similar to giants and giant slayers in war3's alpha, which I'm sure nobody else remembers at all. The Tauren Chieftain and the Abomination (when it was a hero) were the only giants I ever heard about, and the Mountain King was a giant slayer, which granted him bonus damage against giants. It seems to me they scrapped it partially because it was in the game so little, so what was the point? And this ultra-large thing seems to mirror that. There's basically nothing making use of it, so what good is it really? And from what I've seen of the Colossus so far, it doesn't pack enough of a punch to justify such a drawback. I'm hoping they'll take a close look at this before too long.

Also, I'm not happy with their current attack mechanic. There's just something about how static it is that I'm not feeling, and the first attack we were shown made a lot more sense to me. At the moment, I think if they sort of combined the first attack mechanic with the current one, they'd be on to something. I'm picturing it as the first attack graphic, sweeping like the current one, but sweeping freely from target to available target, instead of locked into just a small line at a 90 degree angle from where it's facing. The two beams dealing some amount of damage per second and also aoe damage around the target as well, and it just moves from target to target during each attack, probably capped by amount of time it can fire per attack cycle, which would give it a bunch of damage against one target (which would help it be a better base attacker, like Rince wants, if you controlled its placement well) and it would do a bunch of splash damage to clumps of enemy units, like it does now, just less awkwardly. Just a thought, but I really dislike how inflexible the current attack is.

Who is betraying me now?

The universe of Starcraft has a very flexible system of allegiance. James Raynor, in particular, has had a tumultuous past when it comes to loyalty. First he gets the shaft from the Confederacy of Man, then he joins the Sons of Korhol and ends up allied with his old nemesis, the late Edmund Duke. Later he watched his main squeeze Kerrigan get engulfed by the Zerg when she gets betrayed by Mengsk on Tarsonis. Then, long after that, somehow James finds himself allied with both Mengsk and Kerrigan to fight the UED and he gets another familiar taste of sweet, sweet betrayal at the hands of Kerrigan.

And as we approach the impending release of Starcraft II one question screams out to be answered. Who is going to stab poor old Jimmy in the back this time?

First we have to take a look at Jimmy's current situation. He is in command of the Hyperion, likes to hit the sauce and has a permanent sour puss on his face. He also may or may not have dedicated his entire life to shooting his ex-girlfriend. As a result his crew is getting a little persnickety, and there are whiffs of mutiny in the air.

Suspect #1 Tychus Findlay



This is Raynor's old smoking buddy from the Guild Wars. He has had a few run ins with the law and has been convicted of crimes including, but not limited to, murder, piracy, desertion and insider trading. Evidently Tychus' parents didn't seem to love him very much so he may have been nurtured to betray from a very young age. Watch for the heart-wrenching flashback that fleshes this out after the 5th mission. Having Mr. Findlay as one of his crew makes about as much sense as Barack Obama making Charles Manson his Secretary of Health and Human Services. As an insurance plan Raynor may want to consider swapping out Tychus' stimpaks with moderate levels of Prozac.

Suspect #2 Matt Horner



This guy's name sounds like he plays in the NFL. But maybe it his pair of mammothian shoulder pads that are making me think that. Ol' Horndog is second in command of the Hyperion and he seems like the sort of guy that does things by the book. He is probably destined to be a goody-two-shoes foil for Tychus Findlay's character. It could very well be that he will be the angel on Raynor's right shoulder and Tychus will be the devil on his left. For example, here are some lines of dialogue from the third mission that an inside source has fed me.

Matt Horner: That orphanage is about to be assailed by that disreputable looking band of Zerg. Surely we must intercede and save them!

Tychus Findlay: Hey we aren't done this poker game yet! What's an orphan ever done for you anyways? Lets just see how this plays out first...

The fact that Horner seems to be so incredibly good is a very bad indicator of his long term faithfulness. Surely this is just a cunning ruse that will entrap Raynor when he is at his most vulnerable. He also stands the most to gain from Raynor's fall. He will have control of the Hyperion all to himself and finally be able to retrofit it with bitch'n spoiler.

#3 Swan Colman? Engineer Guy



This monstrous individual is James Raynor's Geordi La Forge. This guy is much more hardcore than Geordi though, he sees his banana clip and raises him one abomination of a robot arm. I am very concerned about this shady looking fellow. Aside from everything else do you really want a guy running your ship who has a history of getting his limbs ripped off due to negligence? His position as chief engineer, in addition to his cyborg nature, gives him a lot of opportunity for sabotage and mechanical mutiny. Jimmy will have to watch his back while this American Chopper reject is lurking around the bowls of the Hyperion. And just to be safe, politely decline all offered handshakes.

#4 The Ship's Computer Lady



Oh God! What is that freaky thing! Oh.. it's relaying me pertinent information.. It looks like someone tore the face off a mannequin and glued it to a bowling ball. Surely you don't require much convincing about the risk of trusting this entity. History has countless examples of computers rebelling against humanity; The 1804 Cotton Gin Rebellion, Terminator 1-4, The Matrix, and of course the devastating pandemic of Y2K. From all appearances she is the only female on the Hyperion. You probably don't want the artificial intelligence with wildly fluctuating hormone levels to be in charge of life support. Jimmy, just make sure you have a full stock of EMP Shockwave Grenades.

#5 Zeratul



Lastly we take a look at Zeratul, satanic champion of the Protoss. Gee, I wonder why Jimmy has to worry about this demon? Well for starters this assassin has been personally responsible for the death of thousands. The most infamous tale of murder might be the annihilation of dozens of helpless, lovable cerebrates. He may have even hunted them to extinction, just so he could have one more rug. One also has to take into account his propensity for betraying his own kind. First of all he betrays and murders the noble Judicator Aldaris for opposing Kerrigan's plans, next he smothers the venerable Raszagal when her usefulness ran out. In addition to his well documented psychotic nature, his powers of stealth and deception, you have to look at the plain fact that he is of a different race. Do you think Jimmy and his new pet zergling 'Nom Nom' might have some conflict down the line? Of course they will. And besides, the Terran campaign will be pretty boring if you never get to fight Protoss. Jimmy, all I'm going to say is to make sure you keep 50 energy in your comsat station, just in case.