With the new patch 1.4, there have been many changes to the game, from bug fixes to the changes in interface and balance of the game. The cleaner interface is only an accompaniment to the major balance changes, which try to ensure longer, more macro oriented games. Overall, Protoss was buffed, with an increase of range to their immortals, which allows them the same range as the stalker, and a faster mothership, and Zerg was nerfed. The arguably “best unit” of the zerg armada, the infestor, had both of its abilities weakened, from the slightly less damage of its fungal growth to the shorter range of the neural parasite, which no longer allows the infestor to neural the many powerful units such as the colossi. Only time can tell what this will do to the game, and I am excited to see how this patch changes the play style of the pros.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Patch 1.4.0
Table of Contents
- A new Career page displaying placement in past seasons has been added to the League & Ladders section of the Profile.
- A new “View Ladder” button has been added to the league display at the bottom of the Quick Match screen. Clicking this button will take you directly to your ladder page.
- The post-game score screen for ranked ladder games will now show icons next to each player’s name indicating his or her league.
- The upload timeout period for publishing custom maps has been increased significantly.
- SLI performance has been improved.
- When file corruption is detected in un-repairable files (replays, saved games, or downloaded maps), a prompt to run the Repair Tool will no longer occur.
- Game Options
- Added three privacy settings to the Options menu under the Battle.net section.
- Only allow friends to send me invites.
- Only allow friends to send me chat messages.
- Set status to Busy when playing a game.
- Added the FPS Toggle hotkey to the hotkey dialog.
- Added Display Game Tooltips setting to the Options under Gameplay that can be turned off to prevent tooltips from appearing when playing a game.
- Added a new setting to the Options under Controls which allows a player to enable or disable the ability to adjust in-game mouse sensitivity.
- Added three privacy settings to the Options menu under the Battle.net section.
- UI and Display
- A Launch PTR button will now appear on the login screen when the PTR is available. Clicking this button will close the retail client and launch the PTR client.
- Improved error messages when a unit is required but none is targeted to provide required target information.
- UI Frame used in .SC2Layout files has more anchoring flexibility.
- Loading an old saved game will now give an option to restart the mission in the new version of StarCraft II instead of loading it in the old version without access to achievements.
- Player names in the Name Panel in observer or replay mode will now be based off the player’s locations on the minimap. For example the player closer to the left side of the minimap will appear on the left side of the name panel.
- When a building is canceled or salvaged the minerals returned will be displayed at the building location for the owner, for enemy players a floating text will be displayed.
- Toggle Team Colors in 1v1 and Free-for-All when observing and during a replay will not change player colors.
- Sound
- An error notification sound is now played if a placement location cannot be found when unit training completes.
- Most existing alert sounds are now reduced in volume when a new alert sound plays.
- Transmissions without a valid sound file will now display a subtitle during cinematics even if the player has turned off subtitles.
- Added a new Alert Fade option to control how much existing alert sounds fade when new alert sounds are played.
- General
- Unit vision up ramps has been reduced by 1.
- PROTOSS
- Immortal
- Attack range increased from 5 to 6.
- Mothership
- Acceleration increased from 0.3 to 1.375.
- The Mothership’s Cloaking Field no longer cloaks all units instantaneously, but rather adds units to the cloak field over time (maximum of 25 per second). This should alleviate “Mothership Lag” issue when a Mothership comes online.
- Stalker
- Blink research time increased from 110 to 140.
- Warp Prism
- Shields increased from 40 to 100.
- Immortal
- TERRAN
- Barracks
- Build time increased from 60 to 65.
- Hellion
- Infernal Pre-Igniter damage upgrade decreased from 10 to 5.
- Raven
- Seeker missile movement speed increased from 2.5 to 2.953.
- Barracks
- ZERG
- Infestor
- Fungal Growth damage changed from 36 (+30% armored) to 30 (40 vs Armored).
- Neural Parasite range decreased from 9 to 7.
- Overseer
- Morph cost decreased from 50/100 to 50/50.
- Contaminate energy cost increased from 75 to 125.
- Ultralisk
- Build time decreased from 70 to 55.
- Infestor
StarCraft II Editor Improvements
- General
- Custom maps with dependencies containing trigger libraries will now load significantly faster in the editor.
- Map Status and Publish dialogs indicate if the lighting map is out of date or not.
- Syntax highlighting for galaxy script and XML data can now be disabled.
- Actor cheats are now available to map creators when testing their map from the editor.
- Actor dump messages are now available to map creators. Includes AliasDump, AnimDumpDB, AttachDump, HostedPropDump, HostedPropDumpAll, RefDump, RefTableDump, TextureDumpDB, TextureDump.
- Portrait Frames now have their own desc to use in .SC2Layout files. Currently supported fields are: BackgroundImage, BorderImage, MovieFrame, ModelLink, UseTransition.
- Creating Cycles in UI frame anchoring will no longer crash the game, instead it will output an error message.
- Added alignment option when using the IMG tag in text. Values are top, bottom, middle, absolute middle.
- Added Disable Observers map option, which prevents players from becoming observers in the game lobby.
- Added two fields to MovieFrame Descs : Loop, LockAspectRatio.
- Data Editor
- Data Editor UI has been reorganized for a better workflow.
- Complex fields in the Data Editor can now be expanded by double clicking on the plus sign.
- Increased maximum number of unit command card buttons per card from 32 to 64.
- If a teleport effect’s range is greater than 500, it will now ignore placement.
- Revive orders can now automatically choose the hero to revive based on the command selected and the order they were created.
- Map creators can now set time scale on bracket anims.
- An attack can now be specified to cause no shield flash at all via the ‘None’ Shield Flash Type value on CActorAction.
- Actor now makes a distinction between actors that are created via the ActorCopy message and through all the other creation mechanisms.
- Actors that are copied now get an ActorCopy message upon construction rather than an ActorCreation message, so that client data can distinguish between the two scenarios.
- Added raw XML editing mode to Data Editor.
- Added default parents for new objects in the Data Editor.
- Added a “Transient” flag to the Arm Magazine, Learn, Research, Revive, Specialize, and Train abilities to indicate that the orders should not be added to either the unit’s main order queue or to a queue ability. These orders will complete immediately.
- Added a “Use Unit Order Queue” flag to the Arm Magazine, Learn, Research, Revive, Specialize, and Train abilities to indicate that the unit’s main order queue rather than a queue ability should be used for those orders.
- Added support for Unit Weapon Validators to check any weapon on the unit if no weapon is specified.
- Added a flag to units called “Built On Optional” to indicate units can now be built on the terrain if they are not placed on another unit.
- Added a “Turn Button Highlight On/Off” trigger to highlight buttons by button link. This will support highlighting buttons regardless of how the button is used (i.e. Select Larva, Select Worker, and Submenus).
- Added support for items with abilities to display AoE cursors, show progress, and use the minimap for targeting.
- Added support for the Revive ability to issue targeted commands.
- Added support for persistent effects to attach revealers to units.
- Added AnimSetTimeScaleAbsolute message for forcing animation time scale to a particular value, regardless of prior scales.
- Added boosted cliff level support for units and doodads. Placed objects can specify the boosted cliff level amount. Units and doodads will then boost the cliff level of any cells in their footprints that are marked to ‘Boost Cliff’.
- Terrain Editor
- Added view setting for displaying terrain object names.
- Trigger Editor
- Timer Expires events can now match Any Timer.
- Trigger Dialogs can now be attached to a unit.
- Attempting to create or hookup a trigger dialog of the wrong type will now result in an error message.
- Dialog Items of type Image can now have their image property set as an entry into the Assets.txt file in addition to a raw file name.
- Added De-saturated and Desaturation Color properties to Dialog Items.
- Added Mouse Enter and Mouse Exit Event Types for the Dialog Item is Used event.
- Added Handle of Player trigger to query a player’s Battle.net handle.
- Added “Unit Learn Progress” and “Unit Revive Progress” triggers to get the progress of Learn and Revive abilities.
- Added a “Lock Unit Status Bar Display” and ‘Unlock Unit Status Bar Display’ triggers. These are intended to replace the “Set Unit Status Bar State” trigger.
- Added a “Show/Hide Alert Type” trigger to turn on/off specific alerts for a player group.
- Added a “Enable/Disable Command Type” trigger to allow/disallow submenus, select larva, and select worker commands.
- Added a “Pause Sound” trigger to pause/unpause a sound.
- Added an “XP Gain Disabled” option usable with the “Player Melee Option” and “Enable/Disable Melee Option For Player” triggers. This option defaults to on.
- Gameplay
- Hitting Escape when using the Options menu while playing a game will now properly revert any changes made.
- Loading a saved game with a game speed different than the minimum game speed now works correctly.
- Failing to load a saved game from a previous build will now show the proper error message.
- Reduced Violence no longer prevents custom death models from working.
- Repeated control group and selection commands will no longer count as unique actions for APM calculation purposes.
- In the Load Game Panel it is no longer possible to delete a saved game while playing it.
- In the Load Game Panel, choosing to keep\save an unsaved file in the Recent Tab now properly saves the file.
- Switching between a control group hotkey and selecting a unit no longer registers as a double-click.
- The Base Camera and Jump to Location hotkeys can no longer be used while the game is paused.
- Escape and F12 can no longer be used for custom grid hotkey profiles.
- Default key display will not show up when Custom Observer hotkey has been set.
- The range for structures hitting other structures is now consistent with non-structure units.
- Units with movement suppressed can now issue an order to board a transport instead of just follow it.
- A full refund will now be issued for any training requests that cannot complete because unit placement fails.
- Commands that have no charges left will display a 0 instead of just hiding the number.
- Resources spent repairing are now reported as resources lost when the repaired unit dies.
- Fixed an issue with the Camera Follow mode not turning off when scrolling away from a unit being followed.
- Fixed an issue with cycling chat recipients while in a party and watching a replay.
- Fixed an issue in the Load Game Panel that sometimes caused the wrong map preview image to display.
- Fixed an issue where the Hotkey dialog sometimes displayed inaccurate unit commands.
- Fixed an issue where units would seem to pop when travelling along cliffs.
- Fixed an issue where flyers may not decelerate in some cases.
- Fixed issues displaying some hotkeys for non-US keyboard layouts.
- Fixed issues with cursors when using NVidia 3DVision.
- Fixed issues where an ally unit’s command card was visible without shared control enabled.
- Fixed some issues with DVORAK keyboards not working correctly with Grid hotkey profiles.
- Fixed several issues with the Units Lost tab not tracking resources correctly.
- Fixed erroneous hotkey conflict detections with some observer commands.
- Fixed an issue where voice chat audio may have repeatedly played if voice chat was disabled while someone was chatting with you.
- Protoss
- Sentry Guardian Shield now correctly reduces damage from Hellion, Void ray, and Colossus attacks as well as the Siege Tank’s sieged attack.
- Fixed an issue where Colossus thermal lance beams would track a unit much further than the range of the weapon.
- Fixed an issue where workers would not path around Force Field while harvesting.
- Terran
- The Command Center Load SCV command will now only ask to load as many SCVs as it can contain.
- SCVs will now always face the building when resuming construction.
- SCVs can no longer repair themselves while inside a Bunker or Medivac.
- Fixed an issue where the Reaper could get stuck in some cases.
- Zerg
- Overseer & Brood Lord cocoons can now display waypoint lines when issuing queued patrol orders.
- Baneling’s Attack Structure ability is now a toggle to Enable/Disable Attack Structure. The toggle will determine whether structures are valid targets for auto-attack. This change fixes an issue which caused Banelings to prioritize buildings over hostile units.
- Burrowed units are no longer cloaked by the Mothership, as this is redundant.
- Attack upgrades are now retained by units controlled by Neural Parasite.
- If a unit provides power, that power is temporarily transferred to a player using Neural Parasite.
- Canceling more than one of the same structure at the same time as Zerg will add all Drones to the selection.
- Improved Larva placement when the bottom edge of a hatchery is on a cliff edge to prevent Larva from getting killed.
- Spore Crawlers and Spine Crawlers now disable their Stop button when rooting.
- Fixed an issue where Drone attacks could be more easily dodged than SCV or Probes.
- Fixed an issue where Broodlords on the high ground were not revealed when attacking enemy units on the low ground.
- Custom Map
- Alliance tests for the status bars and the info panel now use the passive and defeat alliance states to determine allies rather than vision and control.
- Force effects now preserve existing unit velocity.
- Units with an interact ability now clear the interacting state when killed.
- Items that cannot be dropped can now be moved in the inventory.
- Banks are now marked as verified when saved.
- The Unit Attachment Point trigger now reports the correct height.
- If more than one unit is selected with the Select Unit Group trigger after units have been deselected by means besides the Clear Unit Selection trigger, the newly selected units will now show up in the info panel.
- Range indicators are now updated when an upgrade is applied.
- Alerts will now use the Text field for a name if no Name is defined.
- Newly created units that gain a weapon via an upgrade will now have that weapon enabled when created.
- A unit’s height will now be changed immediately via triggers if the duration requested is 0.
- Quitting out of a map will now cause the player leave trigger event to be dispatched before the player actually exits which will give triggers a chance to change the victory/defeat state.
- The Enable/Disable Command Type trigger now disables minimap clicks properly.
- Actors shown or hidden via triggers should now show immediately instead of being delayed by a game loop.
- The Unit Selection trigger no longer resets the selected submenu if the selection isn’t actually changed.
- Alerts with the “Self” flag cleared will no longer show the alert to the issuing player.
- If a unit has a custom revive type configured, it will now use that when reviving via triggers.
- The maximum value for the real version of the effect amount trigger now reports values correctly.
- Persistent effects with a period of 0 can now execute at most once per game loop.
- Revive abilities that only have a per-level cost will now work correctly.
- The Gain Level trigger event will now dispatch multiple times if the amount of XP gained results in multiple levels being awarded.
- Filters now work properly for range actors.
- Issue order effects can now accept a point as a valid target.
- The requirement validator now also checks shown requirements.
- The Unit Has Behavior Flag trigger function now allows checking all flags properly.
- Yaw can now be get/set properly via Camera trigger functions.
- The Player Effect Used Unit Owner trigger function can now use all expected parameters properly.
- Abstract data types cannot be used for non-default data.
- The used number of charges is now clamped properly when modified via triggers.
- Charges with a fractional used amount are now handled properly.
- Changing the Kill XP unit property now results in a unit granting a custom amount of XP when killed.
- Missiles now impact properly when the target filters of the ability or weapon that launched them are upgraded.
- Behaviors granted by an ability are now replaced when that ability is leveled up.
- Items with carry or equip behaviors now manage behavior stack counts properly.
- Item abilities configured as transient will no longer interrupt existing orders.
- Learn abilities can no longer learn themselves.
- Behaviors which disable turning no longer disable movement.
- Units with negative life armor no longer take damage if shields or behaviors absorb damage.
- Objectives will no longer play sounds for players who cannot see them.
- If a unit is killed while morphing, it will revert the morph before reviving.
- Units may be created as “Under Construction” as long as an ability is configured to create it. Previously a unit needed to be able to produce it.
- Creating and destroying objectives should no longer cause a crash.
- Added a flag to Warp Train abilities to disable warp-in on ramps.
- Added checks to prevent circular effect, loot, tactical, and validator data.
- Fixed an issue where a targeted ability configured to use a teleport effect would fail to enter targeting mode.
- Fixed an issue using the Set Unit Progress action on Zerg units.
- Fixed an issue with clicking on an inventory slot while in targeting mode while using an item.
- Fixed an issue where a force effect location would use a parent effect location instead of its own.
- Fixed an issue with reviving a unit multiple times.
- Fixed some issues with life change trigger events being dispatched from behaviors that modify life.
- Fixed damage display on the hero info panel when the Collapse Buffed option is set.
- Fixed some lockups during loading due to complicated custom data relationships.
- Data Editor
- Duplicating a unit with a missile attack now properly duplicates the related actor data.
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- Terrain Editor
- Terrain paste operations will now fail with a warning if pasted textures do not exist in the map texture set.
- Assimilators, Extractors and Refineries now properly handle resource amounts defined in the properties dialog.
- Editor minimap now correctly updates after placing water.
- Invalid preplaced objects no longer prevent object groups from being initialized and using their patrol data.
- Terrain objects are now properly snapped to cliff cells during placement and movement.
- Fixed an issue with copying cameras that have custom colors applied.
- Fixed an issue with previewing world relative sounds in the editor while the Terrain Editor is open.
- Fixed an issue where closing the editor while the previewer is recording would crash the Editor.
- Trigger Editor
- The source column will correctly display Local for local elements within libraries.
- Triggering Player/Unit Property Change event responses now returns the total amount of change if multiple changes occurred.
- Fixed a potential crash issue that could occur when repeatedly clicking the Array checkbox for variables.
- Fixed script editor slowdowns related to syntax highlighting.
- Publishing
- Fixed an issue that could cause team settings to be reset in the Game Variants in some cases.
- Fixed a crash when attempting to publish a map with no neutral players defined.
- Fixed a crash when attempting to publish a map with over 500 custom units or upgrades.
- Terrain Editor
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