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Game Review: First Impressions of Diablo 3

By
Adam Shaftoe
– April 25, 2012Posted in: Game Reviews, Reviews

First Impression: I like the look of it, but I can’t help but wonder if Blizzard has perhaps drawn too heavily on elements of World of Warcraft in producing Diablo 3.

Note: This post is based upon my experiences with the Diablo 3 open beta.

The experience of playing Diablo 3 was like reconnecting with an old girlfriend. In an instant I remembered all late nights, the skived off term papers, and all the friends who I ignored in exchange for a little more time with Diablo 2. Then, just like during those allegedly friendly dates with old flings, the initial euphoria wore off. Before long, all I could notice was the ways in which she had changed. So as much as I want her to be the same, Diablo 3 isn’t the girl I used to know.

NB: I don’t think Diablo is a girl. Feel free to change pronouns within the analogy to suit your gender / sexual orientation.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m probably still going to have a relationship with Diablo 3. I just wonder how much I’m going to be comparing her to more popular and not quite as smart cousin, World of Warcraft.

NB: I don’t think World of Warcraft is stupid per se, simply that it is less smart than Diablo 2.

Graphics

Diablo 3 is a very pretty game. Even on my mid-range system I could max out textures and shadows without any noticeable lag. I’m hesitant to carp on the odd graphical hiccup and frame rate drop as this was a stress test weekend. This next bit may go without saying, but do make sure your video card drivers are up to date. Mine were only two months old, yet they produced some serious ugliness in the animations.

Characters

Part of the “fun” of this weekend was not being able to log into Blizzard’s Diablo servers. As such, I only managed one complete play through. During that time I was a Demon Hunter named Phnogbar. Once I unlocked the rapid fire skill and paired that with an uncommon frost buffed cross bow, I felt like a god damn terminator. Nothing stood in my way. Yet, I didn’t particularly love the fact that the Demon Hunter seemed limited to ranged weapons. I was hoping for a bit of one-handed cross bow and knife action. Perhaps it will be unlocked in the main game.

Also, and I know this is a complaint late to the internet, how craptastic is it that there’s a Barbarian class but no Paladin? I liked being the Paladin.

Audio

Sound, music, and voice acting are essential parts in building not only the Diablo mythos, but also an overall game play atmosphere. Like any good Diablo player, I started my beta playthrough at 11pm, finishing sometime before 4am. During that time I sat in near darkness and ran the sound through my Sanheiser headphones. Between audio logs that build the game’s lore, and the squishy sound of worms exploding out of a bloated demon’s chest, the game’s sound quality is almost perfect.

Gameplay

This is where the nostalgia starts wearing a bit thin. Perhaps my gamer skills have developed a bit since I last courted Diablo 2, but the beta makes the game seem very easy. How easy? I only died once during my run through the campaign, and that was because I was mucking about in the inventory. I know, I can play the game on harder difficulties upon each subsequent run through, but the baseline game feels easier.

Even the interface feels safer. Rather having to switch between a variety of skills hot keyed from 1 to 9, Diablo now limits players to right and left mouse click for primary and secondary attack (Think Skyrim here) and four character defined skills on keys 1 to 4. Again, these are decisions that seem to make the game easier (or in the common parlance, more accessible). Call me a sadist if you will, but frantic skill switching and looming player death are what made Diablo 2 an edge-of-the-seat affair.

As was the case in World of Warcraft the equipment vendors generally cease to be useful after the game’s first half hour. The notable exception is that the blacksmith can now make uber equipment at the cost of loot found within the game. So when my Demon Hunter found a (useless) epic sword of epicness, I could break it down into elemental parts whereby the smithie would make things suitable to my character. So that’s something I’m looking forward to playing with in the release build.

As well, the follower system seems improved from Diablo 2. Though the beta only offers a templar (aka PALADIN) companion, his brawling skills perfectly complement my ranged attacks.

Finally combat effects (knockback, elemental damage, environment destruction) are much improved from Diablo 2. Seriously, I shouldn’t enjoy dropping a chandelier on a bunch of goons as much as I do.

Skill Trees / Leveling Up

I won’t lie, I don’t like what Blizzard is doing with this.

First, Diablo 3 manages stat bonuses upon leveling without any input from the player. Next, the once complex and layered skill trees from Diablo 2, a feature that allowed a player to customize their character class even further, have been streamlined into a series of level unlocks. To anybody who has ever played World of Warcraft, the system will be instantly familiar. Once again, this is an attempt on the part of Blizzard to make Diablo a more “accessible” game. But in making the tile more “accessible” they’ve made it more linear, and more importantly, taken away the capacity for a player to make mistakes.

Protip: Mistakes are essential parts of learning. Take away the ability to learn, and something, anything, becomes stagnant. Stagnant RPG’s that flirt with MMO status don’t make money.

Granted most RPGers worth their salt would never pour strength points into a wizard. Nor would they burden a barbarian with an excess of intelligence. But most RPGs trust players with the capacity to make that decision on their own. Diablo 3’s decision to do it for me evokes thoughts of a gaming nanny state, or Mass Effect 2. Take your pick.

Overall Impression

Diablo 2 was my obsession. She was the girl who I brought home to meet my parents, and my parents did not approve. Naturally, that made me want her even more. After spending a few hours with Diablo 3, she seems to have the makings of a very good mistress. She’s pretty, she’s fun, but I don’t see how she will intrude into my daily life. And if she can’t distract me from my work or make me sacrifice sleep for her attention, I doubt Diablo 3 will be able to enthrall me as did her predecessors.


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The Daily Shaft: Six Video Game Representations of Hell

By
Adam Shaftoe
– April 10, 2012Posted in: The Daily Shaft, Video Games

As a man of no particular religious affiliation, I’ve always found Hell to be an interesting concept. Even as a child, I found something inescapably alluring about a place that contains all the horrors and ironic punishments that man is capable of imagining. I suppose Clive Barker is somewhat to blame as Hellrasier and Hellraiser II are among my most memorable childhood movies, much to my parents chagrin. Still, as a gamer, I’ve retained a quiet interest in titles that try to capture a certain vision of the pit. Though interest in the underworld seems to have ebbed since the late 90s and early 2000s, I thought it would be fun to take a quick walk through gaming Hell.

#1 – Diablo by Blizzard Entertainment

Hellish inspiration: Old School Christianity

The Diablo series appropriates all the fun parts of the Old Testament as well as borrowing from some Babylonian and Sumerian nomenclature. In short, it’s about a war between Heaven, as represented by the Council of Archangels, and Hell, whose front men are the three Prime Evils, Diablo, Lord of Terror, Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, and Baal, Lord of Destruction. Of course, the fate of humanity hangs in the balance of this conflict.

#2 – Dante’s Inferno by Visceral Games

Hellish inspiration: Dante’s Divine Comedy

Dante’s Inferno sees Dante re-imagined as a crusader knight of questionable moral standing who enters Hell to save the soul of his wife from Lucifer. Level design within the game closely mirrors the nine circle structure of Hell as found within the first book of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem. Even the level bosses within the game are creative takes on the denizens of Hell that literary Dante encountered on his trip through the pit.

#3 – DOOM by id Software

Hellish inspiration: Mars / Cyberpunk Christianity

No list of games about Hell would be complete without mentioning the masterpiece of carnage that is DOOM. Notwithstanding DOOM 3, the story behind DOOM has always been an afterthought. Yet amid the ultra violence, this much is clear: Hell has risen on Mars. Pig demons, fire breathing imps, floating eye monsters, zombie marines, and cybernetic man-goats are among the many horrors that populate the Union Aerospace Corporation’s labyrinthine Martian holdings. Even when employing the aptly named God mode, DOOM remained a near impossible puzzle where salvation, in the form of moving to the next level, required countless hours of seeming blind faith that a solution was to be found.

#4 – Clive Barker’s Jericho by MercurySteam and Codemasters

Hellish inspiration: Catholicism with a dash of Chthonic “Old One” mythos

Clive Barker’s Jericho might not be one of the best games out there, but it does boast of an interesting vision of hell. Before God created humanity, he created a being in his own image. The “Firstborn” was god-like in its power, enigmatic, and amoral. So god quickly cast the Firstborn into an abyss and sealed it inside a box. The Firstborn broke out of his prison on seven different occasions. Each time he was beaten back, but dragged a piece of the Earthly plane with him. So Hell is box that contains a twisted mishmash of our world throughout human history.

#5 – Ninja Gaiden by Temco and Team Ninja

Hellish inspiration: Shinto’s Yomi

Okay, I’m not even going to try and broach the complex canon versus retcon history that is Ninja Gaiden’s back story. In short, it’s about a ninja named Ryu Hayabusa who fights demons. Most of the games, both Nintendo/Famicom classics and contemporary reboots, feature a story that begins in the mortal realm and ends with Ryu descending into an underworld that abounds with demonic forces and abject misery. Similar to the Shinto vision of Yomi, the underworlds of Ninja Gaiden appear as a place of death and decay where all souls go when they die. Of course jiggle boob physics in the new games kind of take away from the illusion.

#6 – God of War by Sony Computer Entertainment Santa Monica

Hellish inspiration: Greek mythology

I was content to end today’s list with five titles, but it felt wrong to ignore God of War. Taking its inspiration from Greek myth, the franchise sees a Spartan named Kratos making war against the gods of Olympus whereby he eventually assumes Ares’ war god mantle. During the third game, Kratos descends into the underworld to do battle with Hades. The aforementioned death god looks like a cross between a Cenobite from Hellraiser and one of those helmet monsters from Infinity Blade. Despite using a generic looking Tatarus and River Styx as passing locales, the freaked out looking Hades bludgeoned God of War into my list.


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Game Review: World of Warcraft – A Trip Through Some Cataclysm

By
Matt Leaver
– April 7, 2011Posted in: Game Reviews

Overview:  The Cataclysm expansion makes some good and bad impressions upon this World of Warcraft veteran.

World of Warcraft and I have a long history.  I began a two-and-a-half year adventure a couple of months after the game’s release, taking a small break post-Burning Crusade and finally quitting after about 4 months of playing Wrath of the Lich King.  On that day, I swore off playing “War-crack” but curiosity got the better of me.  Recently, I tried a ten-day free trial of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.  Having been there and back, I figured that I would share my findings with PoR readers.  I want to share what Blizz is doing right and wrong and ask if after six years WoW, is still worth your hard-earned cash?

First the good:  Nicely paced leveling should help new players find the learning curve easy to follow.  The new dungeon queue is also very efficient for low-level adventurers.  Experienced players will likely find the leveling easy but the new game mechanics should be robust enough to keep them interested.  There’s also the fact that new quests are modified from many of the old ones.  For example, a five man Gnomer isn’t suicide.  The parodies and pop culture references within the quests remain a consistent source of chuckles. Visually, I liked the way that Darkshore, Ashenvale and Stonetalon Mountains are re-done.  As making gold is so easy now, players should be able to make enough cash to do whatever they want in game.  Oh, and getting a mount at level twenty makes travel much easier.

Now the bad.  Worgen and Goblins?  Really?  With goblins being a neutral race in the game, it feels like Blizzard is tapped creatively.  Worgen with the Alliance?  Are the haters still complaining that the Alliance has all the pretty races?  I had no interest in trying out the new starting area for Goblins, but I figured it would be cool to try out the Werewolves…er..Worgen.  Sadly, I found their story to be bland and devoid of inspiration.  Werewolves make natural shape-shifters, but I just can’t swallow their tale of why they can take a druid class.  Even worse is the alchemy solution to creating “rational” Worgen.  For the next expansion we will be able to play as a satyr on the Alliance because a deus ex machina potion will cured them of their evils?

Although “the bad” really comes down to overly esoteric storytelling, the question remains if this WoW expansion is worth the money and monthly subscription.  For me, a $39.99 price-tag and a $14.99/month subscription fee is not worth the privilege of level grinding.  Having completed my 10-day free trial, I can’t imagine playing enough hours to justify the price, nor do I think the fun will be sustainable.  I think WoW should move to free monthly subscription or else it will likely isolate newcomers to the game.  At $39.99 for the core game bundled with the first expansion and $39.99 for each of the other two expansions, starting up in WoW now costs about $120.00 before taxes and subscription fees.  Not the best deal when all the free to play MMO’s are increasing in quality.

While World of Warcraft remains a great game, the value of paying is now questionable.  After 6 years, does Blizzard still deserve our money?  I don’t think so.  Feel free to leave your perspective in the comments below!

Overall Score: The game is an easy +4 but after all these years the subscription feels like a -2


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Game Review: Starcraft 2 Beta — Battle Journals part 3

By
Adam Shaftoe
– May 11, 2010Posted in: Game Reviews

There are four types of narrative in the world: man versus man, man versus nature, man versus self and man versus NERD.

Battle Journal: Match 14 – 5:35pm May 4 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Zerg

-         I took a few games off ladder competition to practice my technique against some bots.  Even though the AIs didn’t present a serious challenge, it was useful to play with the Terran build order.  Since there are so many ways to play the Terrans, I have yet to develop a style of my own.  Sufficed to say, I won’t be getting bored with multiplayer as Terrans.  In this match, I thought I would go for the technique that had been used against me a few times, the Viking attack.  I sent in about ten Vikings only to have them summarily destroyed by Zerg Roaches.  Today’s lesson is that Vikings need ground support to absorb the damage while they blow the fuck out of things.  Also, given the fact that the Zerg Overlords can’t act as detectors until they have evolved to Overseers – a tier two unit – Ghosts and cloaked Gunships would give a huge advantage in a first strike.  Strategy aside, I got my ass handed to me.

Battle Journal: Match 15 – 6:03pm May 4 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Terrans

-         This one was a race.  Which one of us would get our Starport turning out Medevacs before the other?  If Starcraft teaches us anything, it is that a good defence is sometimes the best offense.  Terrans players seem to love the cheap win with Medevacs and Marines; it is the closest thing the Terrans will get to a rush manoeuvre, especially when playing against other Terrans.  My mistake was racing this player to a fast win.  Class, the professor is in:

Anti-air defences spaced around the SCVs and Command Centre will not only protect your ability to harvest resources, but they would deprive your inscrutable foe of their air and ground units. Thus opening the door to a swift counter-attack from your forces. Of course, this is a moot point if you get radar scanned.  But even then, this tactic buys you time as your opponent, unless he or she is profoundly stupid, will have to change tactics.

Battle Journal: Match 16 – 6:28pm May 4 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Protoss

-         Ten minutes into the game my foe dropped the match.  I was not impressed.  Even a loss would have been something because I’ve yet to really see the Protoss in action.  I’m told that they have fun air units that take your name as they kick your ass.  Technically the match was a win.

Battle Journal: Match 17 – 7:00pm May 4 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Random

-        Right, so the Protoss have this unit called the Void Ray.  It’s essentially a floating gun of pwnage.  Turns out that Void Rays really kick the crap out of unarmed Medevacs, whose healing ability is the only thing that keeps infantry units in the fight against Protoss Zealots that now have they ability to move really really fast.  As my siege tanks were summarily destroyed by Protoss units that look like walking penises, but penises that have the ability to teleport across the map, I could practically hear the Starcraft Gods laughing at me.  Ender Wiggin, I am not.  Alright, get it together Adam, you’re better than this.

Battle Journal: Match 18 – 7:22pm May 4 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Terrans

-       After having my ass handed to me so many times and with such expert precision, I feared that I was starting to enjoy it.  Clearly battle.net was to blame for the exponential rise of S&M in the late 90s.  However, this was an opportunity for me to test my new build order in a mirror match.  Although it cost me in the short term, I built three anti-aircraft batteries before being scanned by my opponent.  I imagine he was thrown for a loop when he found out that his plan for the medevac sneak would be wholly ineffective.  In the interum I built a sizeable force of Reapers and Marauders, supported by Vikings in the air.  My plan was to do a version of the Medevac sneak, only smarter.  I deployed Reapers, which can use their jet-packs to jump over any obstacle on the map, into the back of my opponent’s base.  When he sent in his Marines to take care of my Reapers, I sent in two Medevacs loaded with Marauders.  It took only moments for his Medevacs, no doubt loaded to the gunwales with ground forces, to come into sight.  They were easy fodder for my Vikings.  Once his Medevacs were toasted I transformed the Vikings into ground battle mode and started roasting his base.  My oh-so-classy-foe, uttered a racial epithet and then quit the match.  It’s a special kind of win when a person plays the race card because you’ve beaten them.

Feeling like a champion, I saved the replay for future enjoyment and decided that I would switch over to playing as the Zerg for a while.  In the next battle journal I’ll detail my time spent among the space bugs.  Cheerio for now.

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Game Reviews: Starcraft 2 Beta – Battle Journals part 2

By
Adam Shaftoe
– May 4, 2010Posted in: Game Reviews

Greetings Commander; Adjutant online.

Welcome back.  This is the second part of the Starcraft II Beta battle journals.  For your reading pleasure, I will be presenting battles six through ten of my experience with the SC II beta.  So enough foreplay, let’s get right into the pain.

Battle Journal: Match 6 – 11:08am May 1 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Random, turned out to be Terrans

-          In my experience, there are only two types of people that play on random: absolute noobs who suck so hard it wouldn’t matter which race they played, or South Korean Master Jedi players who could beat me with their off-hand on the mouse and no keyboard shortcuts.  This player was the latter – or so I told myself while wallowing in shame.  The match lasted about fourteen minutes.  During that time I was able to get a second base functioning, before it was summarily destroyed by my insidious foe.  This match was also my first experience with a Terran unit called the Viking.  The Viking reminds me of a VF-1S Valkyrie from Macross, or for North Americans the Veritech fighter from Robotech.  The Viking is a transformable Air-to-Air fighter that converts into a bipedal robot for Ground-to-Ground combat.  Its weakness is that during the transformation period it can’t attack anything .  I held off two waves of Viking attacks until my enemy unleashed some Battle Cruisers and leveled my base.  On a positive note, I didn’t lose a lot of ladder points as he was rated as “favoured” to win the match.  You’ve got to love fatalism.

Battle Journal: Match 7 – 11:31am May 1 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Protoss

-          This match started on a promising note.  A wall of Supply Depots were blocking entry into my base; Marines were on the way.  My mistake was taking the time to build a Reactor add-on to my only Barracks.  As I mentioned in battle journal 1, the Reactor allows the Barracks to produce two Marines at once while forfeiting access to second tier units.  By the time I got to producing the aforementioned duo of Marines, four Zealots were hacking their way through my wall.  Two Marines have never and will never be much of a match against four Zealots intent on carnage.  In short, I got spanked.

Battle Journal: Match 8 – 11:40am May 1 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Terrans

-          There can be little doubt that this match left my ass sore from yet another merciless paddling.  Those Medevac units that I mentioned in the last battle journal are an awesome unit, more so when you’re not on the receiving end of their tactics. Things went to hell for me in the following fashion:

  • 1 – An SCV scouted my base.
  • 2 – My base got radar scanned, offering my opponent the exact details of where my SCVs were working.  He also got to see that I didn’t have any anti-air defense.
  • 3 – Thirty seconds after the scan finished, four Medevacs flew into the back of my base, offloaded a bunch of Marauders and Marines and killed my SCVs.
  • 4 – My Vikings died shortly thereafter because I was not yet aware of their weakness while transforming.  Where’s Roy Fokker when I need him?

Battle Journal: Match 9 – 12:02pm May 1 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Protoss

-          I was hungry for a win.  The wall went up.  One Barracks pumped out Marines while the other built its Reactor.  I might be the Starcraft equivalent of a punching bag, but at least I learn from the abuse.  As I was churning out Marauders and Reavers, the Protoss player managed to sneak a Probe into my base.  He built a Pylon, what looked like a Photon Cannon and some building that let him teleport other units into my base, however it didn’t look like a Protoss Gateway.  If he would have consolidated his forces a bit longer, he may have taken me out.  But, like the fifteen year old he probably was, he went off prematurely.  I slaughtered his little firebase and then loaded my ground units into some Medevacs.  The douche didn’t even let me torch his buildings before he offered up a “GG” and surrendered.  Score one for the Heretic.

Battle Journal: Match 10 – 12:22pm May 1 2010 Terrans (me) vs. Zerg

-           I felt good about myself as I went through my opening build.  This feeling was short lived.  I have no idea how my opponent got a swarm of Zerglings into play before I got my first Marine out of the Barracks.  Seriously, how the hell do you build that fast?  The wall is a great defence, so long as there are men behind the wall shooting the ill-tempered space bugs that want in.  Thus, I died.

Well, one win out of five isn’t bad.  Actually, yes it is; I feel like such a noob.  The next post will detail a losing streak that culminates in my most satisfying win to date.  I may have got downgraded to the Copper league, but by the time I get around to writing the next battle journal, I expect to be back in Bronze.

More to come.  I think I might try my hand at the Zerg while I am playing in the Starcraft equivalent of a high school girls’ field hockey league.  Actually, cancel that.  Field hockey girls are both tough and mean.  I would have to improve my game to play at their level.  Balls.

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Game Review: Starcraft 2 Beta — Battle Journals part 1

By
Adam Shaftoe
– May 2, 2010Posted in: Game Reviews

On April 30th 2010, I did something that I’ve been looking forward to for thirteen years.  I pressed play on the beta for Starcraft II.  How did I come to press this gilded button of wonder?  The good people at gamestop.ca gave me a free beta key because I am a twitter ninja.  Once again, thank you gamestop.ca, you’re my favourite website that isn’t my own.

As Starcraft II is still in beta, I don’t think it is fair to “review” the game.  Since its release, the game’s multiplayer has been patched ten times.  Clearly, Blizzard is actually listening to its beta testers.  Instead of reviewing, I’m going to talk about the multiplayer beta generally as well as offer you some of my battle journals.

Starcraft II’s beta currently offers 1v1 and 2v2 ladder matches, as well as the ability to join some custom games.  Furthermore, the tenth patch released a map editor.  It won’t be long until people can enjoy a classic round of Big Game Hunters with bottomless resources. To ensure that players are matched against competitors of their skill level, the ladder matches allow players five matches to showcase their skills before they are placed in a league befitting their talents.  For my 1v1 placement, I opted to go with my strongest Starcraft I race, the Terrans.

Battle Journal: Match 1 – 8:35pm April 30th 2010.  Terrans (me) vs. Terrans

-          My first match in Starcraft II was a disappointment.  Forty-five seconds into the match, my opponent dropped.  I was credited with a victory for building two SCVs and harvesting some crystal.  Note to Blizzard: games like this must be counted as a draw, not a win.  People are going to move up the ladder based on bad internet connections, not talent.

-          First impressions of the game:  The Terran background music reminded me of Firefly, which is an epic win in of itself.  Starcraft I’s classic keyboard commands have carried over into the new iteration.  There’s not much more to report on this battle as nothing really happened.  I should mention that the post-game screen has become something more useful than a scoreboard.  In addition to automatically recording the game for your review, SC II’s post-game will show all players’ build orders.  Hey South Korean players, all those top secret build orders that you use to beat me like a red headed step-child won’t be secret for long.

Battle Journal: Match 2 – 8:39pm April 30th 2010.  Terrans (me) vs. Zerg

-          Great the Zerg.  I prepared for the inevitable Zergling rush by blocking the choke point to my base with a Bunker and some Supply Depots.  Terran Supply Depots have become uniquely strategic in Starcraft II.  Depots now have the capacity to drop down, allowing other units to pass over them.  No longer will I need to shoot my way through my turtle shell.  Of course, I was too busy looking at all the new building options to manage my budget properly.  So when fifteen Zerglings came, they were met with a lowly four Marines sans bunker.  My demise was swift.  I don’t remember the Zerg being able to build that quickly.

Battle Journal: Match 3 – 8:47pm April 30th 2010.  Terrans (me) vs. Zerg, again.

-          Another fucking Zergling rush and subsequent crushing defeat.  I remember when I used to pwn at this game.  Only too late did I discover that the Terran Barracks has an option that allows for the production of two Marines at a time.  The trade off is that if you opt for speed then the Barracks can’t produce any of the higher tier units.  The Terrans were always the most versatile race in Starcraft; it’s clear that they have only grown stronger in that respect.  I am a little disappointed to see that the Firebats are gone.  The Marauders and Reavers, which remind me a lot the mobile infantry from Starship Troopers – the novel not the movie – more than make up for their absence.

Battle Journal: Match 4 – 8:55pm April 30th 2010.  Terrans (me) vs. Terrans

-          The coward dropped after he caught sight of my Marines and Marauders.  My rat-bastard of a foe didn’t even give me a “GG”.  Rather than run to the post-game screen, I took the time to find his base and burn it to the ground.  It felt great.  During this match, I took some time to experiment, using a Barracks add-on to equip my Marines with combat shields and my Marauders with extra explosive shots.  Note to self: must remember to expand to a second base early.  Also, what happened to the medics?

Battle Journal: Match 5 – 9:10pm April 30th 2010.  Terrans (me) vs. Zerg

-          This was my last placement match.  Additionally, at seventeen minutes in duration, it was the longest of my first five matches.  I still lost, but it was close.  After resisting two waves of Zergling rushes, I managed to build a spaceport.  Since my foe didn’t bring anything against me except for Zerglings, I figured all I needed to do was build some wraiths and descend upon his Overlords.  After clicking on my spaceport my thoughts went something like this, “Wow four air units to choose from.  Wait a minute, where the fuck are my Wraiths?  I don’t know how to play Terrans without Wraiths.  Oh god, why have you forsaken me?  What’s this thing that looks like a Protoss Arbiter?  Let’s click on it to see what happens.”  It was actually the Starcraft II version of a science vessel; I sent it in to attack a Zerg base.  Things went downhill from there.  I managed to take out most of his ground units before he unleashed his swarm of Mutalisks on my base.  On a positive note, I learned that the Medics and Dropships of Starcraft I have been merged into a new unit called the Medevac.  Very cool.  With my placement match complete, Battle.net assessed me at a Bronze level and plopped me into 1v1 division #160.  At present, I’m ranked 48 out of 100 in said division.

In the next post, I’ll detail my first five official ladder matches.  In the interum, if you care for a match I’m ArchHeretic.prime on Bnet.  Come get some.

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