14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the number of changes that the Heart of the Swarm expansion will introduce the development team at Blizzard is looking to keep as much of the balance elements introduced in Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty as possible.
David Kim, who is the game balance designer working on the game, has told Millenium TV that, “We’ve changed a few units. We added a hydralisk speed upgrade. Ultralisk’s have a burrow charge up ability right now. And the battle cruiser is buffed a little bit in terms of damage. Oh yeah and the reaper changed. Those four things are the only things that changed.”
He added, “Some rules that we like to stick to for changing Wings of Liberty units is we want to mostly go for units that aren’t being used much or that are a little difficult to use for different players, and we’re looking to upgrade those things. We’re not really looking to nerf anything until we go into the beta and realize that some unit, due to how new units work, become a little more overpowered.”
Heart of the Swarm, as the name implies, will focus on Kerrigan and on the Zerg and Blizzard plans to attract fans of the series by extending the story that was initiated in Wings of Liberty and by setting up Legacy of the Void.
The single player will be narratively driven, but it will also serve as preparation for the multiplayer side of the game, which has always played a big part in the success of the series.
Blizzard has not said exactly when Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm is launched, but given that the company is releasing the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft on September 25, it is unlikely that we will see the expansion this year.