video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF1fsPrfhwk

Not going to spoil the result, but it was absurd to watch.

From 15 minutes onwards his SCV lines got crushed. From 20 minutes to 26 minutes he like 20 SCV's.

In the last 5 minutes of the game he had 10 SCV's, all on gas.

In the last 2 minutes of the game he had 1 SCV.

He built a total of 26 CC's, of which 19 were orbitals.

Utterly comical.

It is sad to me how many revert to the usual balance squabble and change their views on this patch depending if it favors their race or not.

The problem with this patch is not balance, balance can be tweaked and fixed. The problem with this patch is that it made a fundamental change to the game (8 worker start) that delivered none of the promises it made and left us with only the downsides of it.

Everything else so far has been changes to try to fix a 8 worker start that the game didn’t need.

What needs to happen is for the 12 worker start to make a comeback and make wild changes with a start we know it works instead of wasting time trying to make the 8 worker start work.

Please stop balance wars for 2 seconds and think what’s best for the game for once.

Terran - 300 CC + 150 Orbital ( 13 supply) = 450 Minerals.

Protoss - 400 Nexus (13 Supply) = 400 Minerals.

Zerg - Hatchery (4 supply) + Drone + Queen + Overlord (12 total supply) = 725

Make it make sense intern.

Blazzard intern here. We've been monitoring the situation, looking at data, and reading reddit, and now we're bringing you the 5.0.16.X hotfix

Protoss:

* Warp Gate research unit build time change improved from -50% to -60%

* Robotics Facility can be transformed into Warp Robotics Facility for 25/25.

* Stargate can be transformed into Warp Stargate for 25/25.

* Mothership Core added.

* Disruptor phantom attack range reduced to melee.

* Recall now costs 50 energy, no cooldown.

* Nexus cost reduced from 4pp to 300 minerals

* Mothership ability "Archon Toilet" added

Terran:

* Command Center cost reduced from 300 to 200 minerals

* Command Centers are now salvageable.

* Warhound added.

* MULEs can mine gas.

* Ghost supply reduced from 2 to 1.

* Engineering Bays can lift off.

* Medivacs can pick up sieged tanks (but only one at a time)

* Stim can be autocast

* Reaper damage modifier per attack upgrade increased from 1 to 2.

Zerg:

* larva spawn rate reduced from 9.7 to 4

* Devourer added

All in good fun. Just wanted to have a laugh. Even though some of the stuff coming out of patches lately is crazy, other stuff has been really fun. Sometimes it seems like they throw whatever against the wall and see what sticks. It certainly makes things interesting

The title honestly says it all but I am very curious, I'm not really a great player (3k protoss) but I can't seem to figure out how to beat 8 pools. And I'd honestly really appreciate some other peoples opinions on it please.

I don't know if it's relevant but I usually play this build:

12) Pylon
14) Gateway
16) Nexus
16) Assimilator
16) Core
17) Assimilator
18) Pylon
20) Adept
23) Warp gate
23) Adept

I read that I had to go to round 40 on practice difficulty to be upgraded from rookie to beginner. I did that, I am still rookie😭😭. What do I do.?

Hello again, Patches here! Next Wednesday the Patch Clash open cup returns for its 9th edition!

As usual, it will be played on the PatchesSC Versus Mod, a custom version of melee balance based on the 12 worker start. Details for the event are below!

Patch Clash #9

Date: Wednesday, July 29 at 11:00 AM Central Time
Extension Mod: PatchesSC Versus Mod
Registration: https://challonge.com/patches_pc9

Streams:

• RotterdaM08
• Delthus

Base Prize Pool: $600 USD

• 1st: 42.5% ($255)
• 2nd: 20% ($120)
• 3rd: 12.5% ($75)
• 4th: 7.5% ($45)
• Best Use of Mod Changes: %12.5 ($75)
• Best Performing <5600 MMR: 5% ($30)

Eligibility:

• No restrictions

Support The Event: https://matcherino.com/t/patches_pc9
Support Future Events: https://ko-fi.com/patchessc

Big shoutout to Delthus for once again making this event possible! Thanks for reading and I hope to see y'all on Wednesday :D

Just randomly thinking of ways Blizzard could potentially monetize this game. Maybe a 2/3/4/5 dollar a month subscription that gives you access to all content and bundles (skins/commentators etc). Then hopefully could pump that money back into the game. Who knows I’d pay for it. Wondering if you guys would too.

We’ve been playing with 8 workers start for a while. I was bouncing between 4.5 and 4.6 in the 12 worker era and I reached 4.8 recently. So I’ll say by build is pretty effective.

I’ve found the following opening viable in all three matchups: pylon - gate - nexus - gas - core - pylon - gas. For PvZ I scout after gate and the other two matchup I scout after nexus.

In PvT I will open twilight take a third and pump zealots out of two gateways and then transition to colossi. In PvP I one gate expand and defend. If it goes into macro game I also do zealots into colossi although this seems bad against adept immortal. PvZ I just Skytoss coz I got no more brain left to figure out builds for a third matchup

Just wanted to give perspective from a someone with a girly and emotional lens, surrounded by a logical environment.

I talk about starcraft all the time to random people and constantly draw parallels about how it helped me live life as time went by. This is a crazy take, but I think I just realized that living life is like playing starcraft. (I know you guys have felt this at least once in your life.)

If not for starcraft, I think I would’ve been a manic pixie girl. A manic pixie girl is a trope characterized by “her quirky, vivacious, and free spirited nature, existing solely to teach brooding, introverted male protagonists how to embrace life—eccentric fashion, high energy, and a lack of agency, serving as a plot device, rather than a fully developed person.”

Dude, I always wanted a close group of girl friends, but I felt misunderstood because I wasn’t into girly things but was still girly. I was born in ‘91, so a lot of stuff that’s common for women to be in now was not common back then. I just want to add that I was always into some male-dominated stuff growing up, like I was into video games, like rpgs, starcraft, cs. I went to school in the comp sci/tech route. My career is in tech. I’m also into this niche genre of music that only guys seem to like. It’s hard to make girl friends, but when they exist, they’re either mean with a lot of competitive, masculine energy or soft with a lot of feminine energy. (The latter is my favorite. I met one of my closest girl friends on the ladder and another from DotA 2, and we’ve been friends for over a decade. They are apples of my eyes.) The reason why I bring this up is because when you have feminine energy, it’s hard to maintain in these fields.

I felt like guys would have crushes on me just because of supply and demand, not because of who I was as an individual. They preferred the surface level version of me vs. the parts that made me overanalytical. But because I played StarCraft, I knew how to micro myself out so I’d get the macro result that I wanted. I have goals! I want to achieve them! I pretty much avoided guys’ attention and focused on how I liked to play the game. I used to stream for my friends, and it would be such a close game that when the other person was about to lose and said, “gg”, I’d reply with “gg” and leave the game before they could fully concede. Back in brood war, when I played teams games, I’d encourage my friends and be the drama. Then I’d convince us to all ally end so that we could all win LOL. I don’t care much to be competitive in a game that’s supposed to be fun. The way you play is so different from the way I play. (However, I do admit that when I didn’t have to work for a few months, I did invest time in climbing the 1s ladder.)

MAYBE. POSSIBLY. I could’ve been a manic pixie girl, but I think StarCraft saved me from myself (but also, I’m not bipolar). Some see me impulsive and someone who disappears from their lives after showing interest in them. It fits the description, but I see it so differently. I think I would consider myself as more spontaneous because I factor in so many different things before I make decisions and commit. People have confronted me that I played with their feelings by eventually getting them to open up about who they are, when in my own reality, I would blatantly tell people from the getgo that I wasn’t available and was interested in who they were as a person without attaching romantic feelings, and if they think I caught feelings, I distance myself with boundaries. StarCraft taught me discipline and boundaries on my sense of self. I also want to add that as women, this is just what we do normally to support one another. If you know a bunch of girls in your life or have a girlfriend/wife who is the peace for your vulnerability, you know what I mean. Some guys feel special because someone was able to break their discipline and have them realize their locked potential and sense of self, but girls use the knowledge to hype each other up (some do the opposite ngl).

A lot of people describe me as bubbly, generous, quirky, and optimistic. The fucked up part about having this type of personality is that I don’t think that’s who I am. Some say I’m a fairy, but they see my persona. Under the surface, I’m just using them for my own gain, and it just happens to benefit others. My favorite thing to do is talk to people who have deep interests in something and listen to them to figure out who they are. Then I do something to thank them for giving me their time. Give them compliments, gifts, massages. I have this weird backwards empathy, where when the other person feels good, I feel good. When they do something for me, like give me the gift of quality time by entertaining me and allowing me overanalyze them, I get this weird high. Especially if they let me openly ask questions and then answer them passionately. UGH, it’s euphoric, like you don’t even know. StarCraft players were always the best too because they play the same game of overanalyzing as me. They’re also the worst because some of them are secretive for no reason, but their personality is locked behind a wall of pure logic. Generally, the person under the logic is some sort of creative.

I have a lot of hobbies. I’ll take random classes or make friends who have hobbies that seem interesting to me and ask them if they can teach me how to do it. Not ever enough to get super deep into it but deep enough to be pretty decent and a jack of all trades who’s slightly more mastered than most. This probably led me to be really independent and having high standards, but is this not changing races or getting the upgrades? I feel like my objective here is to be self-sufficient and win at my own game in life.

I see starcraft everywhere. I’ll go to Disney, see a popcorn stand, scan the amount of people in line, and mentally calculate how much popcorn they sell a day at $8 a cup. It’s just something “fun” I do when I walk by. One of the quirks my friends love about me is that I’ll go over to their houses and arrange things to make whatever they’re doing more efficient. I also give them financial advice and sit down with them or hours helping them with their budgets. Because I do so many different things, I end up problem solving with whatever resources I have. I’m kind of scrappy because I have random life experiences.

I overdo it a lot. I had a control phase that I might even be in it still. I pushed myself to be the best at a lot of things, which burnt me out and made me feel lonely a lot. At work, people would see me as someone who has a high tolerance to work under extreme pressure, could perform higher than others outside of my role, and honestly, probably used my want for efficiency against me because of my craving for perfection. The hours were so long, sigh. Sometimes, I was so burnt out that I’d have periods of depression, where I spent too much time trying to be efficient that I forgot to express feelings and emotions.

These are actually pretty normal human interactions. It just sounds weird because I’m drawing parallels of how my life is related to StarCraft. I could just be normal and describe myself as someone who likes to make friends with passionate people, have a lot of hobbies, and has pride in the work of my career. Being able to micro myself in the game of life, surrounded me with amazing people, be well-balanced in different skills, and finance my lifestyle.

Lmao. I just love this game a lot. It has allowed me to work towards a fairy tale life.

Thanks StarCraft!

Another patch another horrible take... I just had to go back in time to see how much this happens and it is almost like he does it on purpose...

EDIT FOR THE BRAINDEAD: duh this is an AI summary, nobody is trying to hide that fact, you are not Sherlock Holmes making some great discovery.

You are completely right to call out that specific Psi Storm change—it is one of the most infamous examples of a disconnect between Harstem's initial analysis and how the patch actually functioned in high-level play. [1]

When Patch 5.0.15 overhauled Psionic Storm (reducing its tick rate, stretching the damage over a lengthy 6 seconds, but increasing the radius to 2), Harstem famously analyzed it on his channel as a "sidegrade or potential buff" due to the massive zoning coverage. The community quickly proved that in execution, stretching out the DPS meant Terran players could effortlessly walk their units out of the storm while barely taking damage, making it a massive net nerf. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Critics routinely bring up a handful of other clear-cut examples where his predictions were entirely wrong:

1. The Baneling HP Nerf (Late 2023)

• His Take: When a major balance patch targeted Zerg by removing the +5 HP upgrade from Banelings, Harstem argued that the change wouldn't heavily impact the Zerg vs. Protoss (ZVP) mid-game meta. He claimed top Zergs would adjust easily.
• The Reality: He completely underestimated the math. The loss of that HP meant Banelings suddenly died in one fewer immortal shot and melted way too fast to Archon/Storm compositions. It drastically crippled Zerg mid-game aggression for months, forcing a massive, unexpected shift in how Zerg had to play the matchup.

1. The Disruptor Purification Nova Radius Nerf

• His Take: When the Balance Council reduced the splash radius of the Disruptor's energy ball, Harstem downplayed the severity of the nerf. He argued that as long as Protoss players had good control and placement, the unit would still serve its core role of zoning Terran bio armies.
• The Reality: It essentially gutted the unit at the professional level. The slightly smaller radius meant Terran players with high APM could split their Marines and Marauders with minimal losses. Protoss pros almost entirely stopped relying on Disruptors in PvT, exposing how wrong his optimistic take was.

1. The Raven Interference Matrix Energy Cost Update

• His Take: Harstem heavily insisted that increasing the energy cost or slightly tweaking the range of the Terran Raven's Interference Matrix would finally stop Terran from completely shutting down Protoss Colossi and Stalkers in early-to-mid-game pushes.
• The Reality: Terran players barely felt the change. They adapted by simply building an extra Raven or pulling back slightly to pool energy. The "fix" Harstem praised did absolutely nothing to change the fact that Interference Matrix continued to dictate and stifle aggressive Protoss playstyles.

1. The Carrier Interceptor Target Priority Buff

• His Take: Early on, when changes were introduced to make Interceptors slightly harder for anti-air units to immediately target down, Harstem hyped it up as a massive buff that would make late-game Protoss deathballs incredibly difficult for Zerg to break.
• The Reality: Zerg players quickly figured out that it didn't matter. They simply optimized their Viper pulls (Abduct) and Corruptor micro to ignore the Interceptors entirely and snipe the Carriers outright, rendering his prediction about a dominant Protoss late-game completely irrelevant.