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Hearth of the Stone E: ah right they did that joke too Zomborgon fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Feb 12, 2024 |
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Feb 12, 2024 21:52
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unfortunately blizzard is occasionally capable of being funny
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Feb 12, 2024 22:10
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Sometimes even on purpose! 
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Feb 12, 2024 22:35
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Kith posted:unfortunately blizzard is occasionally capable of being funny I actually chuckled when they did a "critically acclaimed expansion" joke during one of Dragonflight sales.
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Feb 12, 2024 22:36
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Zomborgon posted:Hearth of the Stone lol Szarrukin posted:I actually chuckled when they did a "critically acclaimed expansion" joke during one of Dragonflight sales. it's a pretty good one
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Feb 12, 2024 23:00
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Kith posted:unfortunately blizzard is occasionally capable of being funny Unfortunately, far too often what's written as a joke is either (1) an accurate reflection of the flaws of the game which are then ignored by the developers or (2) weirdly prescient about future gently caress-ups by the developers.
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Feb 13, 2024 02:19
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the best april fools' jokes they ever did were: the goblin tinker, because that eventually became an actual hero in wc3 the two-headed ogre race in wow, because that eventually became cho'gall in HOTS Kith fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Feb 13, 2024 |
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Feb 13, 2024 02:34
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I thought the best AF joke was when they mentioned putting everything on the global cooldown in WoW Then did it for real in Shadowlands
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Feb 13, 2024 02:48
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The Pandaren were also an April Fool's thing during the run up to the release of Warcraft 3.
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Feb 13, 2024 08:37
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Do we ever find out what happened to that one Queen we sent to infest the protoss ship?
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Feb 13, 2024 22:20
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Szarrukin posted:Do we ever find out what happened to that one Queen we sent to infest the protoss ship? Not in-game. She shows up in comics that take place after Legacy of the Void.
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Feb 13, 2024 22:27
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I would gladly trade Nova Covert Ops for adventures of Niadra (I even checked out her name this time!) and her special brood of infected Protoss.
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Feb 13, 2024 22:30
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It does look like the memories are there since looking at Abathur gets her to almost remember and she recognised Zeratul right away so pretty sure the memories are there just buried by a combo of not wanting to think about it, the sudden forced shift to mostly human, as well as the lose of her mental powers since I assume she lost that power when she was dezerged. Which if she went out of her way to have a second storage for her she clearly had more than even the queen of blades could handle let alone Sarah can Also to really go into just how strong her Pisoinc power was they had to redefine the scale and place her at the newly redefined 10 and then she became the Zerg queen of blades as class 12 and now she is even stronger than that. The story is decent if you don’t think about it and have no connection to SC1 and brood war, any thinking and it kind of falls apart because they could have made a good story even with the same basic plot but you know would require the writers to talk to each other and read what came before so is clearly an impossible task. Also put in at least some effort to connect things up since there is the whole disjointed mission structure(was a mistake even if this is somewhat better because you can more easily set some okay this will have happened by this point)
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Feb 13, 2024 23:25
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Szarrukin posted:I would gladly trade Nova Covert Ops for adventures of Niadra (I even checked out her name this time!) and her special brood of infected Protoss. We'll get there, but Covert Ops was fun, and is largely what convinced me to play Nova in co-op. But holy poo poo was the narrative dogwater. I know, shocker.
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Feb 14, 2024 02:18
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Zerus 3: Supreme Video: Supreme  In total, Zerus nets Kerrigan 23 levels, over a full third of the level cap.  Char will not be difficult after this.   Yagdra, if you'll recall, was the primal attacking us last mission.     I- wait. Zerus is all about constantly fighting and might makes right, but all primal zerg on the planet are controlled by three people? And they're all just here?     I will deal with the pack leaders myself. The final mission on Zerus is more of a way for Kerrigan to show off her new primal powers. Note how her energy cap has been cut from 200 to 100. She also gains another full set of voice lines, bringing her total up to three. Four if we count her Queen of Blades form from Wings. She's picked up such lovely lines like "I am beyond death," "The Swarm conquers all," "Death awaits you," and "Mengsk will suffer."  Up first is a Primal Hydralisk across a small gap.  Kerrigan's Q has been swapped from Kinetic Blast to Leaping Strike, trading sheer damage and anti-air capability for extra mobility. It also reduces the range on her normal attack while boosting damage, encouraging her to leap into the fray and start blasting. As it stands, she's dealing 42 damage a shot, more than a deployed Siege Tank in skirmish!  While Kerrigan's max energy has been dropped, her energy regeneration has skyrocketed. While Kerrigan had long stretches where all she could do was zap people before, now you can pop an ability pretty much whenever you want.  Immediately after is the replacement for Crushing Grip.  Psionic Shift is a dash attack that hits everything along the way, as well as boosting Kerrigan's movement speed.   Also we have Obligatory Xel'Naga poo poo to collect. Did Amon leave it behind, I wonder?    We get our first glimpse of friendly primal zerg.  Essence Count: 41 Kerrigan's new paint job also extends to her faction color, changing from orange to purple. Because these aren't Swarm zerg, they get a few small stat buffs over whatever evolution you picked. I'd honestly prefer a few Vile Roaches.  But that doesn't matter, because we got Mend! Where Swarm Queens have gradual heals, Kerrigan comes in with an instant 50 health followed by another 25 for everyone around her, while healing herself for 225. That's nearly half her health every 8 seconds and it has a reduced energy cost compared to her offensive moves! Mend is a button you hit every time it comes off cooldown without fail.   Now we're out of Tutorial Land and can actually fight stuff.  Another important thing about Leaping Strike is that it has no cooldown. If you have 100 energy you can slam someone twice for 300 damage. Combined with the massive regen boost, the only real difference between it and Kinetic Blast is the ability to hit air.  The second bonus is up in this corner.  Hop over.  Dash.  Hop back.  A horde of Primal Zerglings randomly pop up over here.  Psionic Dash lol.  And one last fight before Yagdra.   The strangest thing is that a few of my Roaches automatically attacked a neutral creep after this batched spawned in.       This mission brings back telegraphed AOEs, last seen during Back in the Saddle.   Yagdra comes in with 3.5K life and 1 armor. He has no normal attack, instead doing all his damage via abilities.  He mostly uses the targeted fireball we just saw in the cutscene.  A lot of them.   He'll also periodically burrow and relocate, leaving a few eggs behind that'll hatch into more enemies. Psionic Shift takes out the small ones instantly, while the large one is weakened enough that the Roaches can deal with it.       Oh come on, I didn't even get to hit you that time!  Stop it!  At close to half health Yagdra starts using the lava stream seen in the opening cutscene, turning to try and catch my units.    Could you please stop doing that?  And of course one of his combat lines is 'stay still.'  There.   And then Yagdra's head loving explodes.  And Kerrigan straight up eats the  Whenever a section is finished, the map seemlessly shifts to a new area.  To the south are more friendly units.  The funny thing is that the primals still get Roaches and Hydralisks, even if you haven't done Kaldir yet and there's no way for them to learn about those breeds.  Now we get a repeat of the caves in Belly of the Beast. The eggs will hatch after a few seconds, with the small ones spawning Zerglings or Hydralisks and the big ones spawning Ultralisks.  Leaping Strike instantly kills the big eggs, so I send Kerrigan ahead and let the rest deal with the small eggs.  I screw up and let a bunch of the eggs hatch, but there's a secret to this mission:  The Primals have no form of Detection, so there's nothing stopping me from popping Mend and ducking down while I wait for it to come off cooldown.  The third bonus is in plain sight, guarded by four Ultralisk eggs.  Just have to deal with a quick fight first.   Past that a few primals pour out of these caves.  An Ultralisk bursts out of some rock.  And I get a top up on my army size. You can see one of my Hydralisks getting hijacked to go attack a creep.  And now for Kraith.    Kraith has 4500 life and a whopping 5 armor, and his main attack is a big AOE directly in front of him that slowly turns towards my army.  His second attack is a telegraphed charge.   He'll slam into a wall, which then knocks down some Primal Zerglings.  That's the entire fight. Dodge attacks and deal with minions when they pop up.  I end up losing my entire army, but it isn't that big of a deal. The fights are balanced around Kerrigan on her own, with the rest of her army just shaving off time needed to kill each pack leader.  Case in point: all the Zerglings honing in on Kerrigan rather than spreading out means I can let them clump up and kill all of them in 1-2 Psionic Shifts.    And then Kerrigan eats Kraith's  More reinforcements.   The funny thing here is that Primal Ultralisks are actually a bit weaker than the real deal we'll be getting later. Regular Ultras have 500 life and more armor.   Creepers are just Banelings that take a few seconds to explode when they get close to an enemy, and deal 30 (+10 vs Psionic) damage.  The last bonus is past this gap.  It's guarded by a bunch of these Ravasaurs.  The acid they shoot have a long travel time, so all Kerrigan has to do is stay on the move.    Ravasaurs are also in the rest of the segment.  Even the plants in Zerus want you dead.  I send Kerrigan ahead on her own for a bit.  Since there are a bunch of Ravasaurs on cliffs that could take potshots at my army.   But beyond that there's just a bunch of Creepers having a relaxing dip.  Also some primals at the end.  And all that's left is Slivan.     Slivan has 3500 life and 1 armor, and her plan can be split into two parts: Part 1: Spawn Creepers.  Part 2: Vomit.  This leaves an acid puddle on the floor that slows me down and deals damage.  Part 2.5: Ravasaurs stroll in from the bushes.  I end up losing my entire army again.  But the fight's still balanced around Kerrigan.      drat, I wonder why I got a checkpoint.    The pack leaders are slain, their packs join your Swarm, and here you stand. Complete. You are zerg. Your essence overflows with power.Essence Count: 42  The screen starts to shake.     No allegiance but to self. Kill or be killed. You know this. Of course. One will be consumed and become something greater than either! This is the heritage of the zerg! And the final trial before we can put Zerus in our rear view mirror is the guy who sent us to the pool in the first place.  7.5K life, zero armor, and his main attack is smacking the arena with his tentacles.  Believe it or not, I don't lose my entire army this time! I only lose some!  He also has the most  way of summoning mooks, by puking them onto the battlefield.  After a bit he starts using two sets of slams.  At critical health Zurvan stands up.   At which point he uses a beam.  The beam leaves behind damaging spots on the ground, but he has so little health left it doesn't matter.   Who knew all it took to completely dominate an entire planet was a really angry woman?    And then Kerrigan blasts Zurvan so hard his head explodes.    Izsha, prepare the leviathan. It's time the Swarm returned to the Koprulu sector.But you know what the strangest thing is?  That was the last Big Epic Boss Fight of the game, and we're not even halfway done with Heart.  Supreme - Complete the "Supreme" mission in the Heart of the Swarm campaign. Endangered Species - Kill 300 enemy units with Kerrigan in the “Supreme” mission. Queen of the Jungle - Complete the “Supreme” mission without letting Kerrigan drop below 100 life on Normal difficulty. Whose Queen Reigns Supreme? - Complete the “Supreme” mission in less than 12 minutes on Hard difficulty. Sudden Extinction - Kill every Primal Zerg leader, including Zurvan, in less than 150 seconds each in the "Supreme" mission on Normal difficulty.
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Feb 17, 2024 05:20
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BisbyWorl posted:
oh yeah that's definitely what it is BisbyWorl posted:
100% genuine xel'naga poo poo BisbyWorl posted:
Fun Fact: This visual is a placeholder! He's supposed to use a big terrifying energy beam that exists fully implemented in the editor and looks way better than some orange lightning canoodling around the targeted area, but for some reason was not used because  also: BisbyWorl posted:Who knew all it took to completely dominate an entire planet was a really angry woman? Kith fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Feb 17, 2024 |
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Feb 17, 2024 06:10
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Mend really contributes to the entire "just get a batch of hydras and queens and A-move across the map" kind of strategy. (Assuming you don't want to do the micro to solo things with Kerrigan.)
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Feb 17, 2024 06:17
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Frankly, I’m surprised they resisted the urge to make the obvious Firefly reference with Zurvan turning on Kerrigan.
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Feb 17, 2024 06:25
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Regalingualius posted:Frankly, I’m surprised they resisted the urge to make the obvious Firefly reference with Zurvan turning on Kerrigan. Kerrigan is too edgy to say the line. Jim could pull it off, but Kerrigan? Nah.
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Feb 17, 2024 06:32
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Warmachine posted:Kerrigan is too edgy to say the line. Jim could pull it off, but Kerrigan? Nah. poo poo, I was just thinking “not even anything in the achievement names”
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Feb 17, 2024 07:31
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BisbyWorl posted:
I see what you did there, Blizzard. Very fitting, given that we're eating so much today.
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Feb 17, 2024 07:51
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TheOneAndOnlyT posted:I feel like I'm already having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of a world where might makes right and the only law is consuming others to absorb them into yourself and thereby grow stronger... but also (judging from the mission preview) it just so happens to have a designated Proving Grounds for the anticipated Chosen One to be Tested to gain the true power of the planet. This is gonna be really stupid, isn't it? And here we have the answer to this question: Zurvan was (probably) lying to make Kerrigan strong enough to be worth eating and vastly underestimated the power boost, at which point, well, Primal Zerging didn't raise no quitter. How stupid this is? Ehh. Zurvan, unlike most people in this position, is clearly the big fish in this pond until Kerrigan shows up, and to boot he's not exactly up on current events. The three pack leaders weren't capable of satiating hunger alone, and if a stranger strong enough to match them shows up babbling about being the Chosen One, you might just decide that letting them get a free power boost and fighting the pack leaders will result in someone strong enough to be worth absorbing. That's the Primal Way. EDIT: That being said, keep this in mind, because it makes certain later things pretty funny. Torchlighter fucked around with this message at 08:17 on Feb 17, 2024 |
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Feb 17, 2024 08:15
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TheOneAndOnlyT posted:it just so happens to have a designated Proving Grounds for the anticipated Chosen One to be Tested to gain the true power of the planet. The way I see it, it's less a designated Proving Grounds and more a place of actual psionic and Essence-al power* that the Primals warred over constantly until Kerrigan managed to hold it for the time necessary for her chrysalis. *Why? Because. My personal explanation is that this is where the Overmind originally resided** but that's because I'm already clear on why I consider the Primals losers and this would further twist the knife. **Can't actually be ot herwise new Kerrigan would be controllable by Amon still but if never thinks for more than 2 seconds about their plots I don't see why should I about my headcanon
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Feb 17, 2024 09:08
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There's a small hidden thing right before the Kraith fight:
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Feb 17, 2024 09:55
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There were more than three pack leaders weren't there? -the ultralisk -the worm -the rhino -the swarm host -the big ancient one -the essence babbler
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Feb 17, 2024 10:35
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I kind of miss the Swarm having Cerebrates. They added some flavour and sass to proceedings.
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Feb 17, 2024 11:52
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PurpleXVI posted:I kind of miss the Swarm having Cerebrates. They added some flavour and sass to proceedings. I, for one, am glad that the giant throbbing worms of brain-meat did not survive the transition to a much higher-definition game, because they were disgusting enough in SC1. However, more non-Abathur characters were definitely needed, especially anybody willing to talk back to Kerrigan.
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Feb 17, 2024 12:02
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BisbyWorl posted:Zerus 3: Supreme optimistic given this thread's voting record
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Feb 17, 2024 12:36
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IIRC it is the only choice available after this.
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Feb 17, 2024 12:50
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PurpleXVI posted:I kind of miss the Swarm having Cerebrates. They added some flavour and sass to proceedings. Flavor and *Zasz*
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Feb 17, 2024 13:08
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This mission is where I started having issues with Swarm. Zerg always felt like it was supposed to be the macro, build-a-giant-army-of-sacrificial-units race, and here we are with an insanely overpowered hero unit capable of soloing the entire game. I deliberately picked mostly passives on her despite them being (comparatively) bad and she'd still be over half my damage in any given fight. And she just doesn't die.
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Feb 17, 2024 15:11
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Xarn posted:IIRC it is the only choice available after this. This is correct. Heart of the Swarm is divided into a couple of different "sections". All three of these first planets, Char, Kaldir, and Zerus, MUST be completed before we can move on to the rest of the game. Also: Zurvan totally isn't a re-hash of the Belial fight in Diablo 3, not at all!
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Feb 17, 2024 15:16
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JackSplater posted:This mission is where I started having issues with Swarm. Zerg always felt like it was supposed to be the macro, build-a-giant-army-of-sacrificial-units race, and here we are with an insanely overpowered hero unit capable of soloing the entire game. I deliberately picked mostly passives on her despite them being (comparatively) bad and she'd still be over half my damage in any given fight. And she just doesn't die. I think Kerrigan's power as a unit doesn't eliminate that being the playstyle. You definitely are expected to F2, a-move onto the objective, and not micro with anyone but her. Anyways I've only ever done the game with Char before Zerus so I'm actually interested to see if the re-zergification changes some of the conversations. It should, based on how I remember them.
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Feb 17, 2024 15:41
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It really hurts the campaign to have the missions clustered in 3 at every planet. If you go to Char first you're stuck for so long with such boring units (your only ranged and support are queens). But going to pretend-Zerus is such a power boost that you kinda really want to after doing Kaldir. At least in WoL you had some more freedom in how you unlocked stuff as you weren't utterly locked into the mission chains when you started them. Easily solved by moving missions to different planets, in most cases it would still work in systems or only require a little rework. It also doesn't help that practically all mission maps are structured in such boring linear corridor-like ways. Also along with map mobility it feels like unit variety has dropped significantly.
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Feb 17, 2024 17:50
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I think part of my disdain comes from doing Char->Zerus->Kaldir the first time. I've said you can just A-move across the map the second you get Roach Hydra on Brutal, but part of that might have just been because I was already so bored by the time I got there with just having lings and mutas.
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Feb 17, 2024 18:14
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We're spot on for my essence count guess, for this brief moment. At least if we had 'no going over' rules I'd be safe from elimination.
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Feb 18, 2024 00:46
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So what's the deal with Creepers? Why are Primal Zerg survival of the fittesting into Banelings? Is it something they ate? I mean Zerglings and Ultras and Hydras were already enough of a stretch, but gas sacks whose only means of defense is to self-destruct?
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Feb 18, 2024 02:14
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To be fair, they're like that because Slivan evolved specifically to have them born that way. Which is incredibly hosed up, and also raises even more questions.
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Feb 18, 2024 02:16
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Intermission 7  Essence Count: 43  On top of getting me enough levels to hit two new tiers, going primal opens up a third option in every tier! Tier 1 gets gets Leaping Strike and Psionic Shift, which we saw last time. Tier 2 gets Automated Extractors. Tier 3 has Mend as well as Wild Mutation (50 energy, units in target area gain +200 max life and +100% attack speed for 10 seconds, does not affect Heroic units) and Spawn Banelings (50 energy, creates 6 Banelings with timed life). Tier 4 is a second set of passives, with Twin Drones (Drones now morph two at a time for no extra minerals or supply), Malignant Creep (units gain increased regen and +30% attack speed when on creep. Creep Tumors now spread creep farther and gain a longer range on Spawn Creep Tumor), and Vespene Efficiency (Gas is now harvested 5 at a time instead of 4).  This is my new loadout. Kinetic Blast lets me keep a hefty nuke when dealing with flying units, Psionic Shift makes Kerrigan a fair bit faster, Automated Extractors is a no-brainer, Mend gives burst healing to go with the Swarm Queen's over-time heal, and Twin Drones lets me saturate a base at lightning speed.  >Talk to Izsha.   We have changed. And now, other worlds await.Instead they'll be pawns of you, who just wants to murder the poo poo out of Mengsk. >Talk to Dehaka.   Essence Count: 44 And you didn't try to warn me. He was zerg. You are zerg. One dies and one grows strong. You know. I think I am starting to understand you, Dehaka.Unlike Lasarra, Dehaka actually sticks around for the rest of the game. His conversations for Kaldir consist of: Kaldir arrival posted:
Post-Harvest of Screams posted:
Post-Shoot the Messenger posted:
Post-Enemy Within posted:
Essence Count: 52  >Talk to Abathur.    Eat flesh, splinter bone. Inside me, can touch it. Weave it. Spin it. Make it great. But not perfect? Never perfect. Perfection goal that changes. Never stops moving. Can chase, cannot catch.Abathur's still the best. You certainly have your uses.  Essence Count: 53 They had to wait until now for the Hydralisk evolution because otherwise the Swarm Host would be even more useless in its introductory mission.        We need to move fast.  Essence Count: 54   Essence Count: 55   Get some Hydras.   Dodge the red circles.  The zerg base does its own thing.  The Impaler Colony two shots a Hydralisk, so you have a bit of leeway.    And now there's two.    Essence Count: 56   You have to wait a few seconds for the Hydralisks to turn into Impaler strain, then wait another few seconds to actually morph into Impalers.   Impalers trade the signature spike line of the Lurker for long range, high damage anti-Armor.       And then some kindly Marauders clear the path for me.  Suckers.  The zerg base will now send out small attack waves to help. The Zerglings will eat shots and let the Impalers move forward without getting attacked, while the Overlord will try to act as a spotter.         Alternative hydralisk morph possible. Surviving lurker dens discovered.     Key transformation sequences missing. Requires lurker den. Essence Count: 57   Lurkers are Lurkers.      Essence Count: 58 Keep the name Kilysa in mind for the future.    Deal with some zerg from one side.   Then the other.   And done.   Essence Count: 59    Essence Count: 60 Impaler for single target anti-Armor.  Essence Count: 61 Or Lurker for AOE anti-Light.  Unfortunately for the Lurker, anti-Armored is a more potent niche when going up against terran, and the massive range difference (Impalers have over three times the effective area!) makes the Impaler the easy winner today.  We may not be able to leave the primals behind, but at least we never have to see Zerus again.   Zerg and terran factions vie for control of the planet. To reunite the Swarm, you will need to reconquer Char. Your first opponent will be the renegade broodmother Zagara. She will not surrender her brood to you without a fight.You have to complete the two starting planets and Zerus to progress the story, so Char is mandatory here. Also it's extremely funny if you go Char -> Zerus, because then Zeratul gives Kerrigan a massive power boost and the first thing she does with it is effortlessly slaughter the Kaldir colonists. Guess what the canon planet order is. BisbyWorl fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Feb 18, 2024 |
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Feb 18, 2024 04:12
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Lurkers would be way better if they had more range. 6 is really, really short. They'd also be better if there was more ZvZ in the campaign, since they're actually okay against zerglings.
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Feb 18, 2024 05:09
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