My Life For Aiur: Thoughts On The Legacy of The Void Blizzcon Reveal

I have to confess that I'm somewhat out of the loop when it comes to the current StarCraft II metagame.

You see, being a parent means that opportunities to disappear upstairs and hunch over a mouse and keyboard for hours on end are few and far between. Fresh from Blizzcon is news that Blizzard are adding 5 new units to the game's multiplayer for the upcoming final installment of the StarCraft II trilogy, Legacy of The Void, in addition to making a number of changes to existing ones. I don't really feel qualified to offer an opinion on whether or not these changes are necessary, but the promotion videos available here seem to offer sound reasoning for each, so I guess only time will tell. 

The original StarCraft and its expansion, Brood War, featured intricate and expertly penned yarns, but StarCraft 2's narrative thus far has been weighed down by predictability and an over-reliance on curdled Hollywoodisms. A cataclysmic final battle with Xel'Naga supervillain, Amon, is clearly going to be Legacy of The Void's ultimate crescendo, and the journey to it in line with what we saw in prior installments, Wings of Liberty and Heart of The Swarm. But there's a real sense of finality to this penultimate chapter in the StarCraft 2 triumvirate, which begs the question: where could Blizzard possibly take the series in the future, with universe-ending genocide successfully averted?

Simply put, I think they are intentionally drawing the single player side of StarCraft to a close, acutely aware that the franchise's primary draw is its multiplayer suite. If there's a StarCraft 3 in years to come, it will likely be free to play, multiplayer only and feature only a few lines of scant justification for a new round of interstellar fisticuffs in terms of plot.

Back in the here and now, though, two fundamental changes afoot for Legacy of The Void's multiplayer look set to alter the pace of competitive StarCraft 2 dramatically; doubling each player's starting workers from 6 to 12, and reducing the amount of resources that each mineral patch or Vespene geyser provides by about a third. The impetus for these changes is likely a desire to make the mid-game sweet spot easier to get to and maintain by increasing players' initial income and encouraging early and frequent expansion.  If they have the desired effect, they should make the two most common sources of newbie frustration; rushes and late-game stalemate, far less commonplace.

Overall, I'm pretty excited for Legacy of The Void. I'll update with some hands on impressions should I be invited to the upcoming beta, and, you know, actually get an opportunity to play it. Stay tuned.