Hey guys, I’m excited to tell you I got into the Patch 1.5.0 testing. They sent me a key and I’m going to download the client soon and use it to update my maps. For those who do not know, 1.5.0 is going to be aimed mostly at the map making community and custom games. The Arcade system Blizzard has been talking about is the forefront of that, making custom games more accessible for new players

If you have any questions about anything just ask. Here is the info from an email I received on what you have to look forward to:

Major changes are coming to StarCraft II with patch 1.5.0. The menu screen will be split into two distinct areas, and each will be focused on a distinct experience. The StarCraft II section will be where players go for head to head ladder competition, as well as custom games focused on traditional StarCraft II gameplay, such as melee maps and micro trainers. Meanwhile, the new Arcade section will the place where the community can find and play the vast array of custom games that explore the many possibilities of the StarCraft II editor. From tower defense to RPGs and beyond, the Arcade will bring your creations to players around the world.

We want the Arcade to offer the best experience possible, so we’re making changes to improve everything from the interface to the editor itself. Your input can help us refine it even further. Here are some of the improvements we already have planned:

Global Changes

Added StarCraft II & Arcade as game Types

- Creators define which basic type best fits the game that they have created. Each game will only appear in either StarCraft II or the Arcade.

Game Genres

- We’ve used community feedback and the existing game list to create a comprehensive menu of genres for creators to choose from. Now players will have tools to more easily find the games they are looking for, which in turn gives creators an easy way to find their audience.

Arcade

Game Presentation

Browsing

- Browsing for games is a totally new experience. Players can search for games based on genre, over all popularity, star rating, newness, and recent spikes in popularity.

Game Icons

- The game icon contains a large game image (provided by the creator), the game’s name, and star rating. Hovering over the icon displays the game description.

Game Info page

- Clicking on a game icon brings players into the Game Info page, a section devoted entirely to showing off what a game is all about, providing play instructions, and revealing other important information about the game.

- All the content in Game Info is under control of the game creator, except for reviews.

- Joining public matches and creating private games is done from the Game Info page. This will be the portal players return to again and again to play the game.

Game Info contains these sections:

- Overview: This will contain the game description, as well as screenshots that show off the action.

- How to Play: This is where players will find the Basic Instructions, How to Win, and Advanced Instructions sections. This is also useful space for additional images to help players understand how to enjoy your creation.

- Patch Notes: You’re able to update patch notes as often as you like, so players can see how the game is growing and improving.

- Reviews: After playing, players can give your game a star rating and enter a text review. Once enough ratings are provided, your game gets an Average Star Rating. Players can also mark each other’s reviews as “Helpful” which will ensure that the best reviews rise to the top.

Tutorial support

- Creators can now publish tutorials. This is a powerful way to introduce new players and give them a place to learn the ropes before they dive in.

- A “Play Tutorial” button appears on the Game Info page if a tutorial exists. Clicking the Play Tutorial button launches players directly into the tutorial game.

Game exclusive chat channels

- There is now a “Join Chat” button on the Game Info page that allows players to join a channel named after your game, which makes connecting with other players and creating a community around your game easier than ever before.

StarCraft II Platform

StarCraft II is now a streaming game.

- It will only be necessary to download a fraction of game data to get into the action. We expect to bring even more players into StarCraft II worldwide by making access to the game both easy and fast.

Editor

- Added UI XML Editor for adding and modifying SC2Layout files

- Editor updated to use Visual Styles in Editor

- Added high resolution minimap support

- Font Style editing added to Text Editor

- Added Data Editor horizontal auto-layout to better utilize available screen space

- User-defined data system, accessed through the new User type in the Data module as well as the corresponding functions in the trigger library.

Cinematic Editor

- New editor module with powerful tools for creating in-game cinematic sequences.

AI Editor

- New editor module for user friendly management of AI wave timing and composition.

Galaxy

- Trigger Debug Window support for breakpoints, stepping through functions, and variable inspection

- Galaxy script code memory limit increased; 4x -10x more memory can be utilized depending on how scripts are being used.

- Added support for passing structure, array, and function references as function parameters

- Improved Galaxy error message output

Actor

- Camera Actor added for controlling camera through actor events

- Scene Actor added for controlling global actor settings (Halo settings, Power visual hiding)

- Light Actor added for creating lights in the world

- Terrain Actor added for physics impact FX support

- Creep Actor added for higher performance creep effects including creep engulfment

- Ragdoll deaths and support for combat driven physics impulses

- Added support for water ripples and physics collision based water splashes

- Terrain squib support for tileset specific dust or snow clouds FX

- Line and Arc targeting cursor support

- Added ActorInfoDisplay cheat for live actor debugging

Game Engine

- Max selection size increased from 255 to 500.

- Added trigger event for Behavior apply/remove

- New Stunned flag for Behaviors that allows queuing commands

Graphics Engine

- Added support to define lighting regions in the game world

- Lighting can now be set per player

- Added unit specific Halo support for pre-targeting

- Anti-aliasing support

User Interface

- Custom unit status bar support added

- Added new in-game pathing display that shows the path a unit will take on the minimap

- Added self-cast hotkey support

- Added Font Glow support

- Added powerful control over frames, portraits, status bars, text, trigger dialogs and more. Full details, tips, and tutorials are being created to help creators take full advantage of these tools.

StarTools

We’re making our internal art tools available to the public.

StarTools is a set of plugins for Discreet®’s 3ds max®, these tools allow advanced users to create, modify, and quickly preview models and animations, including particle and ribbon effects, that can be used in StarCraft II custom maps.

Updating Your Game for Patch 1.5
All game types
Set up your Type and Genre

- Games published prior to Patch 1.5 will still be available on the service when the patch goes live. All user created games will default to appearing in Arcade, under the “Other” genre.

- Creators will need to re-save their game in the 1.5.0 client version and select the Type and Genre where they want to their game to appear.

Arcade game types

Add a Game Icon Image

- The icon image is the first thing players see. It’s a great opportunity to make a first impression on potential players – check out existing app-stores for inspiration.

Game Icon Images are added through the StarCraft II Editor.

Add Game Info

- Game Info is where players learn about your game and see what cool experiences it has to offer. At a minimum, you’ll want to provide a complete Description, easy to understand How to Play Instructions, and some screenshots that make your game look awesome.

- Going a step further and creating customized images (e.g. a diagram of game controls, or a simple guide map of the play area) for Game Info will really help you stand out. The old saying about “show not tell” should be your motto here!

Game Info is added through the StarCraft II Editor

Set up a default mode

- From the Game Info page, there’s a big “PLAY” button that most players will use to get into your game. This creates or joins a public lobby, of the default mode you define for your game.

- This means you likely want to set the default to what you consider your “core” game experience.

- Alternatively, some games have players set up gameplay parameters after they load into the match. This is fine, but it’s recommended to make the setup process as streamlined and user friendly as possible so new players aren’t scared off right when they start the game.

Build a Tutorial

- Tutorials are a powerful way to introduce new players.

- Ideally you’ll give players a smooth introduction to game mechanics in a fail-safe environment, teaching them everything they need to have fun before they start playing your main game mode.

- Tutorials can also be built and used as a practice mode for players to experiment in a sandbox type environment.

- To use the Tutorial feature, first publish the tutorial map to Battle.net. Then you can configure your main game to point to the tutorial.

Greetings fellow StarCraft II players! The past couple weeks have been amazing for the StarCraft II community. At the Dreamhack Open we saw the Swedish "Spoon Terran," Thorzain, triumph over GSL champion Polt in front of a hometown crowd in an amazing series. That same weekend, the Major League Gaming Spring Arena finals went to best of 7 games to see DongRaeGu victorious against MarineKing, avenging a loss in the Winter Championship. Looking ahead, Team Liquid StarLeague 4 was just announced here and is already getting a lot of excitement from the community. And finally, we have exciting news coming out of Korea as KeSPA and OnGameNet commit to all-new StarCraft II leagues, joining GomTV's GSL and GSTL to create an all-new StarCraft II eSports landscape. Add all of that to the 2012 Blizzard World Championship Series, and the StarCraft II community is already off to an epic 2012 in what could be the most exciting eSports year yet.

In the midst of all this great community news, we want to announce some of the exciting things we’re working on this year for StarCraft II. Here's a list of some of the features we are planning to release at or around the launch of Heart of the Swarm:

Multiplayer resume from replay
Global Play
Multilanguage support
Clan/group system
Unranked matchmaking
Multiplayer replay viewing
Let's go into more detail on each of these, starting with multiplayer resume functionality. We know how important eSports is for the StarCraft II community, and it’s important to us too. For some time now we have been discussing ways to improve StarCraft II to ensure that tournaments both large and small run as smoothly as possible. While we are discussing many different improvements, we've heard your feedback and are creating a way that games can be continued if they are ended prematurely during an eSports event. We have been investigating solutions to this issue for some time, but we expect to offer the ability to resume play from a replay at or around the launch of Heart of the Swarm.

Some of you may have read details about Diablo III Global Play, which will allow Diablo III players to create characters in different regions from their home region so they can play with friends in other parts of the world. We know this is something StarCraft II players have been asking for, and we’re working hard to make it available along with multilanguage support, at or around the release of Heart of the Swarm. We’ll have information as we get closer to Heart of the Swarm’s release.

We continue to read your passionate requests for clan support. We can confirm that we are building a clan/group system that will be released with Heart of the Swarm. We also intend to have our first version of unranked play so you will have the ability to match-make against like-skilled players without having to affect your ladder ranking while you practice off-race or experiment with a new build order.

We'll also be offering a beta sneak peek of Heart of the Swarm to attendees of the MLG Spring Championship on June 8–10 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Additionally, we will be releasing news in the next few weeks about how your participation in the upcoming Arcade (1.5) beta can win you chances to get into the upcoming Heart of the Swarm multiplayer beta test.

It’s shaping up to be an amazing year for StarCraft II. Can you believe that Flash will soon be competing in StarCraft II? Before we sign off, we wanted to call attention to a newly created StarCraft II magazine, GLHF magazine, created by a passionate group of StarCraft players. The first issue features some high production quality in our opinion and is well worth checking out. See you online!

The StarCraft II Team

Globally, all matchups below pro-level are pretty balanced.
-We aren’t currently seeing any problems with non-pro-level matchups, but as always, we’re watching them very carefully on a weekly basis.
-We want changes we're making to balance at this time to be small, strategic adjustments that will only affect pro-level play.

Zerg at the pro-level are struggling a bit to scout effectively in the early game.
-This is tricky to balance, because we do not want to hinder sneaky strategies or tactical early play vs. zerg.
-Our goal here is to improve zerg scouting, but not to the point where other races feel like they can’t or shouldn’t make any strategic early moves vs. zerg.

Zerg at the pro-level are slightly too susceptible to all-in rushes.
-We want to make creep spread a little bit easier to counter hellions in ZvT.
-We want to make the general zerg defense slightly stronger in the early game.

Protoss at the pro-level are doing well, but not at the very top of the pro-level.
-At this time, we’re keeping a very close eye on this, and preparing to make any necessary adjustments.

We are closely watching TvP to see if the offensive capabilities of terran in the early/mid game becomes too much, or if late game strength of protoss becomes too much.
-We aren’t making a change to affect this now, but it’s very near the top of our list of things we’re watching.

Overlord movement speed increased to 0.586, up from 0.4687.
Upgraded overlord movement speed unchanged.

Queen starting energy increased to 50, up from 25.

Observer build time decreased to 30, down from 40.

With the launch of the StarCraft II World Championship Series, we’ve added a new section to StarCraft2.com dedicated entirely to eSports. This will be where you’ll find all the latest information regarding the StarCraft II World Championship Series, including upcoming events, stream information, and general event coverage.

Once you’ve navigated over to the new eSports page, you’ll find a brief overview of this year’s SC2WCS and additional general eSports information.

So what are you waiting for? Check it out now!

April 27, 2012 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that it will offer a beta sneak peek of StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™ to attendees of Major League Gaming's (MLG) Pro Circuit Spring Championship event, June 8-10, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. A large number of public demo stations at the event will allow attendees to try out the latest multiplayer build of Heart of the Swarm in advance of the upcoming beta test. Spectator passes for the MLG Spring Championship are available here.

Top StarCraft II pro-gamers from around the world will battle for $76,000 in prize money at the Spring Championship, with the first place finisher taking home $25,000. In addition to the MLG competition and Heart of the Swarm demo stations, the Anaheim event will also feature the USA national finals for Blizzard Entertainment's StarCraft II World Championship Series. Participants in the USA Nationals will vie for $30,000 in prize money as well as invitations to the upcoming North America continental finals of the StarCraft II World Championship Series. The top finishers in that event will represent their countries in StarCraft II at the Battle.net® World Championship event taking place later this year in Asia.

With two major StarCraft II eSports tournaments and the opportunity to play Heart of the Swarm in advance of the beta test, eSports fans have plenty to look forward to at the MLG Spring Championship event in Anaheim. Those who can't make it in person can still catch all the action via live streams. Additional information about the event will be released in the coming weeks at www.majorleaguegaming.com.

One interesting thing to note is that there still is a skill gap even at the pro level. This is what we’re seeing:

1. Protoss has good representation in terms of the number of protoss tournament qualifiers at the general professional level, but has the lowest representation at the very highest professional level.
2. Zerg has the lowest representation at the general pro level, but has been showing the best standings at the highest tournament levels until very recently.
3. Terran has good representation over all.

our data shows a 70% PvT win ratio on Cloud Kingdom, a 62% win ratio in PvZ on Korhal Compound, and a 37% win ratio on Metalopolis for TvZ. It’s worth noting that these represent the heaviest imbalances in the maps on our ladder, but that this also isn’t necessarily a problem.