StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Message Board older than one year ago

Under most circumstances, 99 percent is a milestone worthy of popped champagne corks and impromptu trips to Disney World. I mean, you’re basically done. Who cares if you cut a corner on the victory lap? As with every rule, however, this one has its exceptions. And in the whole of human history, Blizzard may well be the greatest. Observe.

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Brad grills Heart of the Swarm's designers about the slimy, purple innards of StarCraft's latest expansion.

#starcraft StarCraft II's next expansion doesn't have an official release date yet, but its creators say it's almost crossed the finish line. More »

I’ll admit that I haven’t played StarCraft II in a while, so it’s been easy for me to slip into thinking “Gosh, how could an expansion that only adds some new units and missions take so long?” Then I watched this video of Heart of the Swarm’s shiny (and, in some cases, slimy) new toys, and goodness, Blizzard does know that it’s, like, destroying everything, right? Again, I’m no expert, but almost everything here looks like a game-changer in some way or another. I mean, the Protoss Oracle will probably be the new linchpin in my patented “I know I’m going to lose, so I’ll attempt to annoy my opponent to death” strategy by entombing enemy supplies and turning my buildings invisible. And then there’s the Zerg Swarm Host, which belches out “endless” free minions until either it or you die of natural/totally-not-natural causes. That’s only the beginning of the absurdity. Check out the rest after the break.

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Fast hydras don't sound like much of a good time for anyone.

Lots of things change dramatically prior to beta. Here's where Blizzard is at as of early June.

#starcraft Today, Blizzard detailed the many new units that will show up in Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Rather than just describing a bunch of abilities and units, they decided to also show them in action in this Protoss vs. Zerg match. More »

When Heart of the Swarm is released at some point in the future, Blizzard is planning on not only adding a new story campaign and multiplayer units, but additional battle.net functionality. According to an update from production director Chris Sigaty, this will include multiplayer replay viewing, unranked matchmaking, Global Play, multilanguage support, a clan system and multiplayer resume from replay...

#starcraft Say your StarCraft II match ends prematurely, either by crash or lightning strike or murder or whatever. Right now, your only option is to suck it up and start a new game. But when Blizzard releases the expansion pack Heart of the Swarm, you'll be able to recover a crashed match by loading up the replay and jumping back in. More »

#starcraft In an update on the game's official site, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm developers Blizzard have outlined some changes that have been made to the sequel/expansion during the process of testing. More »

Changes to something like StarCraft II's online game need to be very carefully considered because of the fragile balance between the Zerg, Protoss and Terran armies. Even the slightest change to damage totals, build times and resource costs could give one side a huge advantage. It's like if the NBA added springs into one teams' shoes or bumped a particular court's rims up an inch any potential change has big implications for gameplay and competitive advantage...

#blizzard BlizzCon, the annual fan celebration of all things Blizzard-related gets a little less annual this year. The company has decided to hold the next convention in 2013 to focus on finishing Diablo III, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and the 2012 Battle.net World Championship. More »

In StarCraft II, the fan faire for individual players is enormous. Fans have been known to make artistic portraits for their favorite players, make clever catch phrases, and above all cheer them on during every one of their games. The lengths that some fans go to show their admiration, and the creat...

Blizzard gets in on the Black Friday mania this year with a special $29.99 sale price on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm at the Blizzard online store. Prices are only good til Monday, so act fast! More »

#starcraft StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm will introduce a few new units to game's tried and tested roster. Normally you'd have to wait for the actual game/expansion for this, but why wait when there are mods? More »

#starcraft The huge multiplayer update coming to StarCraft II with the second installment, Heart of the Swarm, gives Blizzard an excellent opportunity to balance the three races and take advantage of missed opportunities. Let's see what holes the new multiplayer units plug. More »

There was something else that Blizzard were talking about at Blizzcon this weekend, which was the next instalment of Starcraft II. The beta for Heart Of The Swarm is apparently “months” away, so it looks like we can expect the next game before the end of next year. Anyway, the trailer (below) shows a bunch of CG and in-game scenes, basically telling the story of Kerrigan’s lust for revenge, as well as teasing a bunch of the stuff that’s going to happen (and the units that are going to appear) in the new campaign.(more…)

Blizzard was teasing the new multiplayer features prior to BlizzCon 2011, but now that the show is underway, a lot of detail was made available. Protoss, Zerg and Terran factions will all be getting new units and upgrades, and some familiar units will no longer appear on the battlefield. The Pro...

BlizzCon starts up on October 21, and at the show you can expect a whole bunch of details about the new multiplayer additions coming to StarCraft II. The new content will be included with Heart of the Swarm, the second installment of the three-part StarCraft II saga...

#starcraft Having teased one of the new Terran units due in the next instalment of StarCraft II, Heart of the Swarm, developers Blizzard are now showing the outline of a new Zerg unit. More »

The second installment of StarCraft II, called Heart of the Swarm, will feature an entirely new single-player campaign focusing on the Zerg faction. Blizzard talked about how that will work previously, but to date hasn't revealed much about how the multiplayer part of the game will be changing. We can expect concrete details at BlizzCon 2011 later this October, but in the meantime, Blizzard is sending out teaser images for some of the new units...

#starcraft Changes are coming to the multiplayer side of StarCraft II when the game's next expansion, the Zerg-focused Heart of the Swarm, arrives sometime next year. Today, Blizzard offers us our first, unclear look at one of those changes—a new multiplayer unit. More »

Blizzard already revealed how the single-player campaign for Heart of the Swarm, the next installment of StarCraft II, will work. To date the developer has been reticent to divulge multiplayer details, but prior to BlizzCon 2011 is teasing what's eventually to be shown...

Folks headed to BlizzCon 2011 this fall are in for a treat, since Blizzard has announced that two major StarCraft II eSports competitions will held live at the convention this year. Both the Global Battle.net Invitational and the GSL October Final will take place during BlizzCon in October, giving attendees an opportunity to watch the pros dish out some serious competitive StarCraft II schooling in-person...

With a rabid fanbase dedicated to obsessively analyzing and testing unit matchups and strategies online, the new units to be included in Blizzard's Heart of the Swarm are going to have major implications for those active in StarCraft II's competitive scene. Introducing new units, as is the plan, wil...

#gallery In addition to releasing dozens of new screen shots for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard's second chapter in the real-time strategy trilogy, the developer also offered us a look at some early, Zerg-centric concept art. More »

Explore the Zerg as never before with gameplay and background on the story of Heart of the Swarm.

Looks like we were too sleepy to pick up on the leaked Starcraft II: Heart Of The Swarm teaser last week, but I’ve posted it below, belatedly. We were also rudely not invited to go and play it WHICH IS FINE, BECAUSE STARCRAFT IS RUBBISH ANYWAY AND WE WERE BUSY TALKING TO GIRLS AND OTHER COOL, CREDIBLE STUFF OKAY.

Eurogamer have a preview though, which is packed full of details, and delivers this conclusion: “Heart of the Swarm is still evolution rather than revolution, of course, but it’s a crucial step for StarCraft II as a whole. That’s because, while it may be the modern king of the competitive RTS, its rank as a single-player experience is less clear. By letting you talk to the monsters, and control them as the biggest monster of all, Heart of the Swarm doesn’t just promise change – it gives the silent majority their very own god of war.” Gosh!(more…)

#gallery New in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is the option to choose a "Battle Focus" for Kerrigan, the hero character of the campaign. Up to four Battle Focuses, each with five special abilities and attributes, will be available. Only two, Spec Ops and Corruption, were playable during a recent hands-on preview event. More »