Cavez: We’re in the final stretch

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Posted 16th Feb 2009 07:06 PM by Freelancer

Dustin Browder (Cavez), Lead Developer of StarCraft 2, today made an effort to calm down the StarCraft 2 community. He talked about the upcoming StarCraft 2 beta, release date, battle reports and encouraged people to hang in there, saying that “we’re in the final stretch”!

Blizzard Quote: (Source)

I see lots of questions about timelines. Here is a little FAQ.

Question: “Why hasn’t Blizzard released the Beta?” or “WTF have they been working on, I played it at Blizzcon last year and I thought it was done!”

Answer: Solo campaign is under heavy construction as is Battlenet. When these things have enough work done that we know when our release date is going to be with strong confidence we will announce the Beta. Unless something crazy happens, the Beta is going to happen this year.

Question: “Why don’t you just give us your target dates if you don’t know the final date? We promise, we won’t get mad if Blizzard misses target dates.”

Answer: Let’s be realistic. Our target dates are not something we hit more than half the time. Putting those out there would be pretty close to lying to the fans. We are not going to do that. We want to be able to give good info, not info that we know is suspect. We’ll give target dates when we think it is very likely that we will hit them.

Question: When can we have the next Battle Report?

Answer: We were waiting on getting some improved graphics in (some of the new stuff looked REALLY rough). That was finished last week and we are now playing and looking for a good game. Once we get that game the process is reasonably quick to get it out. Once we go Beta, you guys can do these and put them up. When that happens I’m sure there will be a ton of them and I’m sure the quality of the games played and the announcing will go way up.

Question: “I notice that you haven’t actually given us any dates….”

Answer: Yeah. Sorry. We don’t want to lie about the Beta, and we don’t even want to lie about the next Battle Report. When we know a date (for anything) for certain, we’ll let you know.

Hang in there. We’re in the final stretch.

Cavez also answered a question on the protoss shield recharge mechanic and multiplayer (after the break):

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Do shields recharge in a <#SP/second> or <% of total SP/second> manner? Because if it's the former, I can see recharges still being slow on units such as Archons, which would ironically, benefit most from the improved shield recharge mechanic. Currently it's set to be a number of shield points recovered per second. Thus Archons do take longer to regain all their shields when compared to other units. Units the shield recharge is used for the most currently include: - Probes (recharge really helps them as scouts) - Stalkers - Flyers Obviously all units benefit to some degree, but these guys do the most hit-and-run style attacks. When we get into Beta we'll learn more about how this mechanic really works.

And on Starcraft 2 multiplayer:

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	Are we going to be able to search ladder for more than one game type simultaneously? We have talked about allowing multiple searches at once. We are currently saying "no" because you will always end up in the smallest template. For example, if you search 3v3 and 4v4 you will almost always end up in a 3v3 game since those will fill quicker. In that scenario the 4v4 template might very well die because people who want to play 4v4 are also searching in 3v3 and never get into a 4v4 game. Though again, Beta will be a good testing ground for any issues that will occur here. We have not done a lot of testing in FFA. You make good points. I will discuss them with the BNet team.

More info in the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Beta Center! Here are a few highlights:

Filed Under: Battle.net, Battle Reports & Replays, Beta, Blue Posts, Release Info, Rumours, Wings of Liberty, Dustin Browder

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Mizantrop

Posted 16, Feb 2009 07:27 PM

(0)

Oh Blizzard, has thou impact me so
I can’t confir
My seminar paper, due tommorow
Will be ready sometime this year!

Aft3r

Posted 16, Feb 2009 08:12 PM

(0)

The final stretch, me like the sound of that… but…(and I must emphasise the BUT…), “hell it’s about time” is getting way way way old, It was so long ago that I can not even remember when I first saw the bloody trailer… And I think it’s high time we got some dates… But… (again…) I also want the game to be perfect… Let’s just hope that the game of our lives comes out this year (Q3 would be very very very nice…). What more is there to say?
Run blizzard! Run!

kuangtu

Posted 17, Feb 2009 04:40 AM

(0)

now we should say "Hell it's about two years"......lol

Troglodyte

Posted 17, Feb 2009 11:15 AM

(0)

Well, although there’s no set date I guess this is better then nothing.

I particularly like the “Once we go Beta, you guys can do these and put them up” comment on the battle-reports. It’s almost like a sneak peak into how strict the NDA will be…

Leord

Posted 19, Feb 2009 05:18 PM

(0)

I think there is a set date. Check out that beta article about a date I made, and then the latest images item. It seems Xordiah was saying things right, and they likely have set a date.

Leord

Posted 17, Feb 2009 02:21 PM

(0)

I’m very positive about beta talk. It helps keep the spirits up…

“now we should say “Hell it’s about two years”......lol”

Indeed! 2 more months, and it’s 2 years…

If they could just start beta, even with a less than perfect polished game (heck, that’s what betas are for!), it would be so good for the community… Also a lot easier to give proper feedback to them on balance.