Starcraft 2 Patch 1.1.2

How does the new patch affect the game? What made them increase the hitpoints for the buildings? How did the patch change the void rays? Less cheeze from terran with the new building rules? New Roach range, what advantages do you get? Are there changes to regular strategies because of the new changes?

Patch notes: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/936928#blog

Solution 1:

So there is no way to know for sure what these changes will mean, but here are a few facts that some high level players are pointing out:

Zerg Changes

Roach Range

While this is a nice buff to Zerg its not nearly as nice for Zerg as the Terran changes. However, the extra range increase will make Roaches more effective against Marauders, as well as Hellion/Reaper Harass, and even allow Roaches to pick off Gateways with Photon Cannons behind them (before they couldn't attack the Gateway without being in range of the Cannon).

Barracks after Supply

This is the biggest buff for Zerg. This essentially sets Terran back 2 Marines or 1 Bunker on early rushes. As a result its much harder for Terran to stop a fast expanding Zerg. I would not be surprised if 14 Hatch or 13 Pool/15 Hatch became standard play in ZvT. This, combined with the Reaper change has a very pronounced affect on Zerg openings.

Reaper Speed

As Reapers have been "solved" in ZvT and PvT, I think this change makes less sense. However, this basically puts a nail in the coffin for any sort of early Mass Reaper. Without Reaper Speed and with the Roach range increase its going to become harder (if not impossible) for Reapers to force early Roach speed, and really throw Zerg off his game. Previously the strength of Mass Reaper was how it affected Zerg play by forcing him into heavy Roaches (or losing). A number of Zerg have gotten better about this by going earlier Roaches, an additional cost that will be less necessary without Reaper Speed coming early.

Protoss Changes

Void Rays

To quote incontrol

Void Rays are only used in specific situations, on specific maps, against specific players... I cannot see this change affecting that.

Drop Ship Speed

While the Zerg response to Drop Ships tends to be more "ground" or Mutalisk based, the Protoss answer as always been Stalker/HT. This change will really effect that match up. Not only are Drop Ships losing 10% of their speed but also 15% of their Acceleration. This will make it more easy to catch Drop Ships with Stalkers and dynamically change that match up, for players like QXC (who has heavy Drop Ship play). I cannot count the number of time I've seen a Drop Ship escape with a hand full of hit points.

Thor going away from Energy

Using HT against Thors is always been a secondary option. Since many players prefer Immortals (for obvious reasons) this won't have far reaching repercussions (same goes for Corruptors but that's even rarer).

Terran Changes

Zerg and Protoss Building Hit Points

How many changes do you think that Blizzard is going to make that effects Marauders without actually changing Marauders? As buildings are all Armored, this has a larger effect on Marauders. As many players use Stimmed Marauders to "snipe" buildings, they are going to find that sort of player less effective...

TvT

TvT isn't going to change much, but the effects of TvZ and TvP have already been documented. If nothing else these changes will reduce the Proxy Reaper play in 4v4 and 3v3 and bring those match ups more in line with standard play.

Ultimately its hard to predict what will happen to Terran and without any hard facts I'd rather not speculate.

Solution 2:

You're really asking a number of questions, but here goes for a few answers:

What made them increase the hitpoints for the buildings?

New Roach range, what advantages do you get?

Both of these issues were discussed in the last Developer's Corner. Blizzard is concerned that the Zerg are underrepresented and want to shore up some of their perceived weak areas. Specifically:

We're increasing roach range. This will allow roaches to be more effective in large groups, giving the zerg more options in the mid to end game.

and

We're making a number of increases to the health of zerg buildings, which will make the very vulnerable zerg technology structures more resistant to raids. We don't expect these hit point changes to have a super significant impact on the game, but the current numbers felt way too low.

Less cheese from Terran with the new building rules?

This was also mentioned in the Developer's Corner. The changes specifically target Reaper cheese builds that got early Reapers by starting a Barracks before a Depot, and should not affect other builds much.

How did the patch change the void rays?

Void rays level-1-charge damage is increased, level-2-charge damage is decreased, and upgraded speed is decreased. I am not a Protoss expert, but this should make Void Rays less of a joke when they have no charge, but decrease how quickly they just melt opposing units once charged.They also will be less able to chase enemy units or retreat quickly.

Are there changes to regular strategies because of the new changes?

Only time will tell, but in my (noobish) opinion all the changes Blizzard has thus far made seem to be to the edge cases - to units and builds that are too strong or too weak. If all goes well, you should simply expect to see more variety in the builds you face, and see some OP builds dominate less ridiculously. You may start to see more Zerg opponents as Blizzard rounds them out.