The day was November 23, 2004, I was home from my Sophomore year at college for Thanksgiving break, Bush was president, Maroon 5′s “This Love” was just starting to get extremely annoying, and the Star Wars prequel series had yet to end. My brother, a die-hard Warcraft series fan was only talking about one thing, the debut of a massively multiplayer game based in the Warcraft universe, the game was called World of Warcraft and little did I know, it would become a huge part of my life for the next six years.

At the time, I was deep into a game called Star Wars Galaxies, playing consistently every day and because of this I was reluctant to get into WoW. After-all, I was a Jedi in Star Wars Galaxies… a Jedi! How could I leave that behind!?! Looking back on it, Star Wars Galaxies wasn’t that great of a game, I just have a huge affinity for everything Star Wars (see my rant on Star Wars for proof) and the night he bought it, I created a human mage character in World of Warcraft. I named my character Wilow (after the movie Willow, even on the first night the correct spelling was taken) and basically from the second the music started, I knew this was going to be my new game obsession.

The way I always justified the monthly cost to play WoW was that if I played it, I wouldn’t purchase as many $60 games and for the most part this worked. During its best days, Blizzard kept the game extremely fresh and the utter size and complexity of the game made me feel like I still had so much left to do and see. It would be beating a dead gnome for me to talk about the quality of what WoW became through the years.

Finally Hitting Level 80!

As I moved through college, I kept playing. WoW just sort of felt like an extension of life for me, but I swear I never really got to that stereotypical gamer state that so many of you may be thinking. I played very very casually, only hitting the current top level once. It wasn’t really about “winning” or “beating” the game. It was just a nice diversion to pass those quieter times between homework, classes, meals, and going out. It also was a great way to stay connected to my friends from home, and the others at school that also played. Using free trials, I got a number of my friends to play and in its best days, I had over a dozen “real life” friends playing at one time. It was like an exclusive chat room for my friends with a game on top of it.

The largest factor to me staying with World of Warcraft was I got to play with my friends. I can tell you, there was something absolutely addictive to teaming up with 4 other friends and beating a dungeon while joking around and talking about our lives over voice chat. It wasn’t just playing with them that made the game enjoyable, but the bond that was built from us all having one thing in common. Similar to how when the conversation runs dry, “guys” default to sports or “gals” default “shopping”, us nerds always had WoW to talk about. We can tell stories about things that happened in the game like real-life events.

Few games can get to WoW during Christmas level of fun.

Even though Blizzard continues to add new content to the game (in fact, they are revamping the entire world soon), I think it is time I move on and say goodbye to the world of Azeroth and Wilow. Who knows, this may not be forever, but I have not once stopped my subscription in over half a decade. The deciding factor was that since I left school, the people on my friend’s list in game has been dropping and now is vacant. Why? I think we have moved on… and not just to new games. We have moved on into adult jobs, different social circles, some even marriages. Although I know some of us still play, it just will never be what it was.

It is like the end of Toy Story 3, for Andy to move on with his life, he had to let go of his toys. That is WoW for me right now. Believe me, if you read this site you know I still play a lot of video games, but holding on to one with a subscription for pure nostalgia is just silly.

Goodbye Wilow and for perhaps the final time, For the Alliance!

With 12 years of  heated multiplayer competition under its belt, the StarCraft community is one of the most dedicated groups of online gamers around, and these gamers have developed countless winning strategies.  Luckily for you, the opening moves to each of these strategies is nearly identical.  Without a strong first minute, it doesn’t matter what tactic you employ, so let’s start out “How to Not Suck at Starcraft” with an introductory lesson on resource collection and basic built orders.

Before I go any further, let me clarify that I will explain all of these instructions from the Terran point of view as a reference.  The Terran race is no less powerful than any other when in the hands of a professional player, but it is widely accepted as the most easy to grasp by new players.

Step 1:  Keyboard Hotkeys are Your Friend

Think about this.  If the opening moves for each strategy are mostly the same, then wouldn’t the player who is able to execute them fastest get the advantage?  The biggest waste of time is moving your cursor around the screen.  You should immediately learn the keyboard shortcuts for producing the most basic units and structures.  For the Terran player, you will want to know that the “S” key will instruct your command center to produce an SCV, and that the “A” key produces a marine from the barracks.  It’s also useful to know some basic unit instructions.  When controlling an SCV, key the letter “B” to enter the build sub-menu, and press “S” for a supply depot, “B” for a barracks, and “R” for a reactor.

Shortcuts are not limited to just the keyboard, though.  Certain actions require that you use the mouse, such as telling your initial group of gatherers (SCVs) to begin harvesting from minerals.  Rather than selecting the group of SCVs, clicking gather, and then clicking the mineral patch, simply select the group of SCVs and right click the minerals.  Right clicking in StarCraft 2 will automatically perform the most common action for that unit.  It also sets rally points for buildings.  When controlling a building, right-clicking open space will tell all future units produced by it to report there.  You can rally units directly onto other objects though.  If you take control of the command center and right click a mineral patch, all future SCVs will immediately start gathering minerals.

Step 2:  Build a Wall to Fight Off Rushes (a Basic Build Order)

Basic build orders use the supply count as a guide to tell you when to move onto the next step.  For a basic Terran build, immediately build 1 SCV at the start of the game, and continue building SCVs every time you reach 50 minerals, until your supply counter increases to 9.  Your 9th SCV will be used to build a supply depot.  Since supply depots can lower themselves into the ground, it’s suggested to put these at the chokepoint to your base and form a wall, preventing enemies from entering.  If you ever need to get out, simply click the supply depots and hit the “R” key to lower/raise them.

Your 11th unit should immediately build a barracks, and your 12th should build a gas refinery.  Remember, while you have these buildings going up, to make sure the next SCV is being trained.  Also, once the barracks completes, start building 2-3 marines.  Your 14th unit should be responsible for building a second supply depot.  Hopefully, this will form a complete wall, but if you are playing on a map with a large choke point, make sure to build your barracks there as well to form a larger wall (just make sure to rally your marines to the correct side of the wall!).

You now have 14 units, 1 supply depot, 1 barracks, and 1 refinery.  Your second supply depot is on its way, and you are pumping out both marines and SCVs as soon as the minerals come in.  This should give you enough juice to fight off any early rushes, and allow you to at least play out a complete game.

The Terran Wall in Full Effect:

Step 3: Keep Producing Gatherers!

The more resources you gather, the more you can produce.  If you don’t have enough minerals or gas, you can’t produce new units.  On the other hand, if you ever have more than 300 of one resource, you aren’t spending fast enough.  A perfect player constantly be spending their resources as they come in, resulting in the largest possible army. Every mineral patch or gas vent can handle three gatherers each!  That’s a lot of units collecting resources, so don’t feel as though you should stop when you see it getting crowded in there.

Your old friend, the keyboard, can help you continue to produce units as the game progresses, even when you may be distracted by combat.  Select your command center and hold the control key, then press a number.  Yes, you can assign buildings to hotkey groups as well.  Whenever you press that number, no matter where you are, you will then be controlling that building.  If you are looking inside an enemy base while waging an attack, but notice your resources are stacking up, that means you probably aren’t building anything.  Simply press the number you assigned to the command center, then press “S” a few times to keep if producing units.  As an added benefit, if you ever need to quickly look back into your base, tape the number you assigned twice, and the camera will center over that building from wherever it is on the map.

Strategies vary wildly from here out, and we’ll cover them in more detail in the future, but in the meantime go have fun and get off to a strong start in your matches!

Also read: Zerg Units – Impressions & Strategy

Terran Units – Impressions & Strategy

If you’re familiar with the original Starcraft and its Protoss units, you already know that this race has expensive units, which take a long time to build.  However, you do get your money’s worth, as the Protoss units tend to pack a serious punch.  There are several new units, but the Protoss structures are more or less unchanged.  That is not to say the winning strategies for  this race haven’t changed, though.  Let’s take a look at the tech tree though to get a peek at what is new.  Give it a click to view a full-size version:

In the single player story of Starcraft 1, the game concluded with the destruction of the Protoss homeworld, Aiur.  For this reason, many of the new units are styled around the Dark Templar tribe, and their surviving home world of Shakuras.

Units returning from Starcraft 1 are:

• Probe
• Zealot
• High Templar
• Dark Templar
• Observer
• Carrier
• Archon

Unlike the other races in Starcraft 2, these returning units have had very little changes made to them.  The Zealots have a new “Charge” upgrade, giving them a quick speed burst when they need to close the gap between themselves and enemy units.  This is useful for taking down retreating units, as the Zealots can charge forward and catch up with fleeing enemies.  The only other notable change is to Carriers, as they can now auto-cast the creation of Interceptors.

New Units:

• Sentry:
  • A support unit, the Sentry is available early in the game, and comes with two abilities.  The first is “Force Field”, which lasts for 15 seconds, and completely blocks movements through the area where it is placed.  This can be used to create false choke points.  The second is “Guardian Shield”, which is a large, 15-second, +2 shield against ranged attacks.  The shield is quite large, and two should cover every unit in most armies.  The final ability is “Hallucination”, and much be researched separately.  This allows the Sentry to create false copies of units to distract their opponents.  These copies last 60 seconds.

• Stalker:
  • Also available early in the game, the Stalker is a Dark Templar influenced version of the Dragoon from Starcraft I.  They essentially work the same way, providing ranged attacks versus both ground and air.  Where the Stalker really differs, though, is when the “Blink” ability is researched.  Blink allows Stalkers to teleport a short distance once every 10 seconds.  If the player has sight, Blink can even be used to teleport up onto cliffs, which is a very useful tactic to enter an enemy’s base without facing their choke point defenses.  Take a look at these Stalkers in mid-teleport over a cliff and past a Terran Supply Depot wall:

• Immortal:
  • With Stalkers now serving the role of Dragoons, it is explained in the Starcraft II story that all remaining Dragoons where upgraded to Immortals.  The Immortal is an advanced unit produced by the Robotics Facility, and can only attack ground units.  However, it will do so with force.  Immortals are the perfect counter to heavy-hitter units such as the Terran’s Siege Tanks, as their hardened shields reduce all heavy damage attacks by a whopping 10 points.  The catch is that an Immortal’s shields will not activate for lesser attacks, allowing a Zergling or Marine to pass right through the shields and destroy an Immortal fairly quickly.  For this reason, Immortals must be used in conjunction with an escort of Zealots and/or Stalkers.

• Warp Prism:
  • The Warp Prism serves the same role as the old Protoss Shuttle, allowing players to transport ground units via air.  There is a twist to this unit though, as the Warp Prism can transform into an air-based Pylon when not transporting units.  In the Protoss strategy section below, the usefulness of such remote Pylons will be further explained.

• Phoenix:
  • The Protoss air-to-air superiority machine, a group of Phoenix units can devastate any lightly armored enemy air units.  To make up for their lack of a ground attack, the Phoenix may use its Graviton Beam ability to lift an enemy ground unit into the air for 10 seconds.  A few Phoenix units can support a ground assault by temporarily taking the enemy’s best units out of the fight.

• Void Ray:
  • A companion to the Phoenix, the Void Ray can attack both air and ground units, and is also strongest against heavily armored units.  Void Rays attack by focusing a beam of Dark Templar energy onto an enemy.  This attack starts out fairly weak, but grows in damage as the beam stays focused on its target.  Coupled with a bonus against heavy armor, Void Rays are perfect for taking down structures, or big units such as Battlecruisers or Carriers.

• Colossus:
  • The most advanced ground unit in the Protoss arsenal, the Colossus is a four-legged walker reminiscent of the Tripod walkers in “War of the Worlds”.  These units use their high legs to ignore all terrain, allowing them to climb right into enemy bases.  They are also tall enough that enemy air units can attack them!  The Colossus attacks with incredibly powerful dual-lasers, which burn everything in their path.  The range of this unit can also be upgraded by 50%, allowing it to take out enemy defenses from a safe distance.

• Mothership:
  • The most intimidating of all the new units in Starcraft 2 is most definitely the Protoss Mothership.  Expensive, and only available late in the game, there can only be one Mothership at a time for each Protoss player.  This unit is produced from the Nexus, so it does not tie up any of your Stargates during its construction.  The Mothership is just about as powerful as a Carrier, but it can do so much more.  Every unit and structure underneath the Mothership’s wide footprint is automatically cloaked.  It also possesses two special abilities, the first of which is the “Vortex”, which when cast, disables all units in the casting area for a full thirty seconds.  This can easily cut an enemy’s force in half.  The second ability, “Mass Recall”, allows the Protoss player to teleport a large number of units directly under the Mothership’s cloaking field, from anywhere on the map.

Protoss Strategy:

With all of these powerful, yet expensive and slow units, putting together a large Protoss army may seem to be a daunting challenge.  However, there are two abilities that allow the Protoss player to overcome this handicap.  The first is the “Chrono Boost” ability of the Nexus building, which costs a low 25 energy.  This can be used on any Protoss building to speed up its production by 50%, for a period of time.  This is useful early in the game to pump out Probes at a quick pace, allowing you to out-resource your opponents, and negate the fact that your units cost more.  It is also useful late in the game when producing Carriers or a Mothership, which usually would take two minutes or more to build.

The second ability must be researched, and it is the upgrade from Gateway to Warp Gate.  This upgraded structure allows units produced from a Gateway to be warped in anywhere on the map where there is a Pylon present. This is where the added ability of a Warp Prism comes in.  After unloading troops into an enemy base, a Protoss player can transform their Warp Prisms into air-based Pylons, opening up a steady flow of reinforcements.

The Warp Gate also allows any unit to be produced in 5 seconds!  This means those reinforcements will be coming in fast.  However, a cool-down period must be waited out before new units can be produced that is equal to the units normal build time minus 10 seconds.  Still, if a Protoss player is good at micro-managing their Warp Gates, they can cut the build time of every subsequent unit by 5 seconds.  The downside it that you cannot queue units for production in a Warp Gate, but players are notified of any idle Warp Gates by a small icon in their corner of the screen.  This allows the player to select them and start a unit without actually having to scroll back to their home base.

Overall, the Protoss race varies most from the Terran and Zerg in that the strong micro-management skills required to excel at Starcraft are needed more for the production of units, rather than for the timing of offensive maneuvers.

Two more weeks into the Starcraft II beta, and we have learned the Zerg race in and out.

Also read: Protoss Units – Impressions & Strategy

Terran Units – Impressions & Strategy

What makes this new Zerg race so distinct from it’s Starcraft I counterpart, though, is that unlike the new Terran race, the new Zerg do not have many new stand-alone units.  Most of the changes to the Zerg come in the form of evolutions, upgrades, and new abilities to existing units.

This is in line with how the Zerg have always played.  They are weak yet cheap units that are notoriously easy to mass-produce.  In order to make a truly strong Zerg army, you must evolve these units, and there are no shortage of such choices in Starcraft 2.  Let’s start with a peek at the Zerg tech tree.  Click the image to your right for a full view.

As you can see from the tech tree,  two-thirds of the Zerg units from Starcraft 1 have returned.  They are:

• Drone
• Zergling
• Overlord
• Hydralisk
• Mutalisk
• Queen
• Ultralisk
• Broodling
• Infested Terran

That’s not to say there aren’t big changes in mind for some of these, though, so let’s get to a full breakdown of each unit, both old and new.

New Units:

• Baneling
  • You may remember the Scourge unit from Starcraft 1, with it’s self-destructing air attack.  This type of kamikaze manuever has been moved down to the ground now in the form of the Baneling, a unit evolved from the basic Zergling, and available fairly early in the game.  One thing to note is that an exploding Baneling will not cause its neighboring Banelings to explode as well, so the only way to prevent an army of Banelings marching in and blowing up your base is to take advantage of chokepoints.  These units are built to provide a great defense against early Protoss Zealots, but with good micro-management, a stream of banelings can blow the door off of the most well-defended bases.

• Queen
  • I know this is listed above as a returning unit, but it seems that the Queen is practically returning in name only.  In Starcraft I, the  Queen was a late-in-the-game flying unit that could not attack.  It was simply a support unit with some useful but overprices abilities, and was therefore not used all that often.  In Starcraft 2, EVERY Zerg player needs a Queen.  The new Queens can attack, have a tank-like 175 health, and are the ultimate defensive unit.  Queens are unique in that they are produced straight from the Hatchery building themselves, without the use of Larvae, and are yet another unique designed to provide Zerg with enough early defense to get over the rush hump.  The Queen’s abilities are also extremely useful.  When not owning early rushers, the Queen can cause your Hatchery to produce extra larvae, expand your creep, or restore 125 to any unit or structure in order to get back on your feet before wave #2 hits.

• Roach
  • This is one of the most popular new units in Starcraft 2 and I can understand why.  Roaches can be built early, have good armor, lots of life, and most importantly:  they can be upgraded to move while burrowed.  Even better, with another upgrade, they can regenerate extremely fast while burrowed, making them a fantastic unit to harass your opponent with, only to retreat before death.  Your roach squad will be back up at full health before they get back on their feet!

• Overseer
  • This unit is a new evolution of the Overlord.  Unlike Starcraft 1, Overlords cannot detect cloaked unit, so the Zerg player must now dedicate time and resources into advancing to Overseer upgrades if they feel the threat of cloaked units is high.  Just pray you get them out in time!

• Infestor
  • Another unit capable of moving while burrowed, the Infestor acts in a support role similar to the Defiler of Starcraft 1.  It cannot attack on its own, but the Infestor’s abilities allow it to control individual enemy units, trap and damage large groups of enemy units, or spawn several Infested Terran eggs.  These eggs quickly hatch to produce Zerg-controlled Marines that act just like regular Marines, guns and all, until they self-destruct after 20 seconds.

• Corruptor
  • An air-to-air unit, the Corruptor also has some added abilities.  The corruption ability disables a building for thirty seconds by covering it in slime.  A few Corruptors can can cover up a sparse enemy defense, allowing you a free shot at their base.  The true power of the Corruptor is when it evolves into the final unit we are covering, the Brood Lord.

• Brood Lord
  • An evolution of the Corruptor, the Brood Lord is similar to the Guardian from Starcraft 1 in that is is a strictly an air-to-ground attacker.  The difference, though, is that the Brood Lord shoots Broodlings.  These small Zerg units last 180 seconds and can continue to attack ground units after they are shot.  In the long run, this makes the Brood Lord more versatile than it’s predecessor, the Guardian.

New Structures:

There are not many new structures, but the biggest change is that the Zerg defensive structures, the Spine Crawler and Spore Crawler, can now uproot themselves and replant themselves anywhere along the creep.  They can even be moves across the map, although they will travel significantly slower off of the creep.

This may not seem very important, but it really is.  As a Zerg player, it is crucial to expand, as the number of Hatcheries you have strictly limits the number of units you can produce.  The ability to re-position defensive structures gives Zerg players the ability to quickly defend new expansions.

That’s all we’ve got for now, but be sure to check back next week for our Protoss roundup!

One week in and we’ve been playing the Starcraft 2 Beta every chance we get!  Read on for our full recap of what is new with the Terran race.

Also read: Protoss Units – Impressions & Strategy

Zerg Units – Impressions & Strategy

The best way to demonstrate how much the Terran race has changed is to list the units returning from Starcaft 1:

• SCV
• Marine
• Seige Tank
• Ghost
• Battlecruiser

That’s it.  Just five units are returning, and everything else is brand new.  Most of these five units work exactly the same as in the past, but the Ghost has seen some significant changes.  While Ghosts can still cloak and launch nukes, they no longer possess the lockdown ability.  This has been replaced with a new ability, the sniper shot, which allows each Ghost to immediately deal 45 damage in a single bullet to any organic unit.  A ghost with maximum energy can perform 8 of these shots without recharging.  The Ghost can also shoot an EMP round which works just like the EMP attack previously assigned to Starcraft 1′s Science Vessel.

Before we get into detail on each new unit, let’s take a look at the Terran technology tree:

Click to View Full Size

New Units:

• Marauders
  
  • The first new unit to come out of the Barracks is a heavy Marine, which deals extra damage to armored unit.  These units are incredibly effective at taking out defensive structures.  They are also larger than the  Marine, and therefore take up two slots in ships or bunkers.  Combine the two, however, and you have yourself a very versatile attack force.
• Reapers
  • The alternative to Marauders, Reapers deal bonus damage to light units.  Versus armored units, they are actually worse than a basic Marine, but they make up for this with their Jet Packs, which allows them to ignore the height of terrain.  Reapers can use the Jet Pack ability to jump over cliffs, and can be produced fairly early in a match, making them very effective at circumventing defenses and going right for an opponent’s workers.
• Hellions
  • This unit seems to be a combination of Starcraft 1′s Firebat and Vulture, providing a fast scout vehicle with a large flamethrower.  This unit is produced from the Factory, and is the perfect counter for an opponent who is taking a quantity over quality approach to building their army, as the flamethrower’s range allows it to burn several smaller units at once.
• Thor
  • When picturing a Thor, just think of a Goliath on steroid.  They are massive and simply tower over everything around them.  They slow but strong, and pack a serious punch with their Thor’s Hammer ability.  Each Thor can deploy a 6 second volley from it’s 250mm Strike Cannons, dealing a total of 500 damage.  Two to three Thors can take down any structure in the game.
• Vikings
  • The Terran’s base aircraft, the Viking, is a very unique unit.  In it’s natural state, it can only attack air-to-air.  However, it can land and transform into a ground unit at any time.  This transformation costs no energy or resources, but takes a full three second, which can be a lifetime in the crucial moments of a firefight.  The Viking is extremely effective in both of it’s forms, but the player runs the risk of being caught with their pants down.  You had better do consistent scouting, because once the enemy shows up and you are in the wrong mode, it’s already over.
• Medivac
  • There are not longer Medics or Dropships in Starcraft II.  Instead, they are combined into the Medivac.  This unit can be set to auto-heal any units in it’s immediate area, and will do so with a healing beam from above.
• Banshee
  • A strict air-to-ground unit, the Banshee overcomes this limited capability through the use of Cloak.  This makes them an excellent tier 2 option for enemy harassment.  Retreat for repair once your Cloak is exposed and you can keep poking at the enemy all day.
• Raven
  • While the Raven has no base attack capability, it is an excellent support ship with a lot more punch than the old Science Vessel.  The Raven detects cloaked units, and has the ability to deploy two different types of temporary defenses, both which time out after 3 minutes.  They are the Point Defense Drone, which stays in the sky to shoot down enemy missiles, and the Automated Turret, which is an auto-gun structure.  The Raven can also launch a Seeker Missile for 125 energy, which deals 100 splash damage upon detonation.  These are all dominating abilities in the hands of an expert player, as they are only as effective as how well they are used by the player.

New Structures:

• Command Center Add-Ons
  • Additions to your Command Center are now built directly on top of the structure, in stead of on the side.  This means that if you have to fly your Command Center to a new expansion, it can bring it’s addition along for the ride.  You can also load up your SCVs and take them with you.
  • Orbital Command: The ComSat Station addition has been renamed, and given two new awesome abilities.  The first allows you to spent 50 energy to double a Supply Depot from 8 units to 16.  This is a lifesaver if you have mis-managed your supply count.  The other ability is to spend 50 energy to call down a MULE, which is basically a super-SCV that harvests minerals at a rapid pace, until it shuts down after 90 seconds.
  • Planetary Fortress: The easiest way to start defending your expansions is to throw a giant cannon on top of your Command Center.  This addition deals 40 damage with every shot, and opens up some upgrades to increase the range and capacity of all your defense structures.
• Supply Depot
  • These basic structures do their job just like they used to, except now they have the ability to flatten into the ground and pop back up on command.  Terrans are very vulnerable to the rush, as Zerglings and Zealots can chew up Maines.  The quick fix is to throw your supply depots up at your base’s chokepoint, allowing them to act as a drawbridge.  Put some Bunkers and Siege Tanks behind and the enemy force will be decimated before they get through the Supply Depot meat shield, then drop the Depots down and roll out a force of your own!
• Sensor Towers
  • An inexpensive unit that reveals any enemy movement within a large area of map.  The Sensor Tower does not have any offensive capability, nor can it detect cloaked units.  Also, it’s detection range is outlined on the map for every player to see.  While this is of detriment to the Terran player in most situations, crafty players can use this as a decoy.
• Ghost Academy and Fusion Core
  • Since there is no longer a Science Facility, the former functions of its Physics Lab and Covert Ops additions (enabling Ghosts units and Cloaking & Yamato Cannon upgrades) are replaced respectively by the Ghost Academy and Fusion Core.  The Ghost Academy also acts as a nuclear missile silo, so a nuke can be built as soon as the Academy is ready.
• Reactors
  • These serve as additions to either Barracks, Factories, or Starports, and allow you to produce the most basic units of each structure two-at-a-time.  These are perfect if you intend to simply overwhelm your opponent with a never-ending wave of grunts.

It’s a lot to take in but after about 20 matches playing as the Terran race, I can confidently say that this list is full of improvements.  In the games I’ve played so far, Terrans have had the best defensive capabilities.  If you can put your defensive advantage to work and repel an enemy force, you can likely counter-attack to victory using Medivacs (loaded with whatever you’ve got) and Jet-Pack laden Reapers to skirt past your opponents defenses.

Here’s a screen shot from our last match, showing a strong early Terran defense, with two Bunkers beginning to pump out an army of Marines and Marauders.

Click to View Full Size

So what units are you mos excited to use once Starcraft 2 is released?  Leave a comment below, and be sure to check back next week for our impressions on the Zerg race!

Today marked the official launch of the Starcraft II closed beta testing period, and we here at Modern Day Pirates just got our key.  Matt will be testing the game out for the next few days and you can look forward to a series of impressions, videos, and recaps to follow.

After a series of delays, Starcraft was rumored to be in a beta-ready state as early as Fall of 2009.  However, pending upgrades to the Battle.net online multiplayer framework prevented Blizzard from opening up the beta testing until they were complete.  Blizzard made an announcement back on February 10th that these updates were ready to launch, and with the Beta announcement coming quickly on it’s heels, we take that as confirmation of the rumors that StarCraft II has been in testing for quite some time.  Hopefully, this will help solidify the 2010 release date, and lead to a well-balanced game.

In the period prior to beta, Blizzard had provided fans with a series of battle reports and videos, showing matches between members of the development team, which we highly recommend viewing.    We also hope that the needed upgrades to Battle.net will grant some smooth sailing to the launch of Diablo III, the forthcoming entry to Blizzard’s famous dungeon-crawling action RPG, slated to be released sometime in 2011.