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.