#119 – StarCast: “The Tickle Cannon” w/ Sasquatch

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“The Tickle Cannon” w/ Sasquatch– Episode #119

This Episode:

• coL.Sasquatch interview
• HotS Beta Patch
• Season 8 Lock and Ladder Chagnes
• GSL Code S
• Stephano Signs with EG
• Illusion plays with an eye tracker on
• Feedback

Hosts: Garrett and Kyle

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• Starcrossed: Volume 1 available for pre-order now onIndiegogo.com. It is the first collection of comics by friend of the show and cartoonist Joel Duggan. With over 80 pages of comics and content the book is a must have for Starcrossed readers and comic fans.

For more information visitindiegogo.com/starcrossedvolume1

Sasquatch Interview

WoL and HotS
Can you tell us what does being a "non-roster" player for compLexity mean? What is the CompLexity Academy?

As you understand it, what is your role with compLexity? Do you have day-to-day responsibilities? Do you have a "boss"?

Now the HotS beta has started, how do you split your time between the WoL and HotS?

Do you think there will be a time where the skill difference between players will seem a lot smaller than currently in WoL? For example, might we see more creative people, like CatZ, win a bit more with their creativity, or will the mechanically more skilled players continue to dominate even though a new metagame has to be found out?

Personal Life
How does your family feel about you pursuing a career in pro-gaming?

How has the growing popularity of esports changed your life?

How much do you feel you need to play, in general, to improve? Of course this differs per person, but on average?

As a gamer, peer into your crystal ball for a moment and tell us, what do you see yourself playing in 2 years?

Who’s the toughest player (Korean or Foreigner) you’ve ever gone against?

What is your favorite opening in ZvT, and what is the endgame unit composition you like best in that matchup?

Who is the best player besides yourself obviously, in the coL.Academy?

What’s your opinion on all of the lower tier (high masters / gm) teams falling apart. Do you think players leaving for other teams is good for esports? Do you think smaller teams have a chance to step up as a big name when players constantly cycle out? How important do you think player loyalty is to teams and how should teams try to keep players loyal.

Response to IdrA’s statements here?
Achilles – Then you lost to Sasquatch, Losira, and asd. What went wrong there?

IdrA – Sasquatch literally does not know how to play, he’d attack when an upgrade was 3/4ths of the way done or build an Infestation Pit and upgrade Pathogen Glands and then attack without infestors. It’s incredibly easy to lose to a player like that in ZvZ because you can’t really read what they’re doing because they don’t know what they’re doing; you never know when an attack could come.

Off Topic
Does Jason Lake (Complexity CEO) always wear a red tie?

What country, other than Korea, would you like to go to at some point in your life?

What was your favorite toy you never had as a child?

News

HotS Beta Patch
– Warhound Weapon attack delay has increased from 1.3 to 1.7.
– Swarm host locust attack damage has decreased from 16 to 14.
– Viper Consume can no longer be used on creep tumors.
– Oracle Preordain duration has decreased from 2 min to 1 min.
– Viper Blinding Cloud now hits everything, but the radius of effect has reduced from 2.5 to 1.5.
– Widow mines will no longer damage each other with their splash damage.
– The bug affecting the Overlord speed upgrade has been fixed. Upgraded Overlords will now travel at the expected speed of 1.88.

Summary of HotS Changes
Thanks to Robert for sending this our way, even if he was the one that wrote it.
General Gameplay

• Destructible rock push units unburrowed units away, even on the hold command, but they deal burrowed units and buildings 500 damage [verified]
• Worker counts on gas buildings and CC of respective race
• scan area now shows boundary limitation [verifiedwithimage] (discussion on it here)
• queued buildings match the color of their race (e.g., purple for zerg)
• A-move command on the groundappearsred [verified with video]

Options

• sound menu option for Group Sounds. Balls of troops make new sounds (Marine marches, Mech ground-shaking, etc).

Menu Changes

• Unranked Ladder play – There is a checkbox on the quick match screen that says "Use Ranking". If its checked, you gain and lose points and your MMR\league can change. If it isn’t, your MMR, league, and points are unaffected by playing but it still tries to find someone who matches your skill level. [reported]
• Switch Battle.net skin between Zerg and Terran. Currently, this just changed the background from the plant and BC to char. [reported]

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Season 8 Lock and Ladder changes
Season 8 (or 2012 Season 3) is now locked and Blizzard has announced the changes incoming to 2012 Season 4.

The destructible rocks at the third in Tal’Darim Altar will be removed.

Ladder Tier removal
"Currently not all divisions within a League are created equal. Individual divisions are actually assigned to different “tiers”, and players are assigned to tiers based on skill. This system hasn’t been very transparent, making it difficult to determine your next promotion. For example, if you’re in a lower tiered Diamond division, just getting to Rank 1 doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see a promotion soon.

With the goal of increasing transparency for ladder players, we’re removing tiers from the ladder with the commencement of 2012 Season 4. The removal of tiers from all leagues will allow players to better gauge exactly where they’re at on the ladder and how far away they are from the next league.

After this change, climbing to (for example) Rank 2 Diamond will mean that you are in the top 2% of all Diamond players, and you are very close to moving into the Master League. Similarly, Rank 50 Platinum is in the top 50% in the Platinum league, and so forth."
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GSL Code S Groups
LG-IM_Happy and KeSPA’s Rain advance
Curious and MKP advance
Symbol and Hero advance

• GSLSeason 4 onLiquipedia
• GroupCPreview/BRecap
• GroupDPreview/CRecap
• GroupDRecap
• GroupGPreview/ERecap

Group E
Winners: TaeJa & Mvp
Liquid_TaeJa (T) vs Mouz_MaNa (P)
Notes

• TaeJa’s shit-eating grin after Game 1 was quite the highlight.
• TaeJa completely rocked MaNa in game one.  Great multi-pronged attacks.  Getting such a large lead in fact that he started building mass-Planetary Fortresses outside MaNa’s main.
• MaNa came back HARD in Game 2.

Slayers_MMA (T) vs LG-IM_Mvp (T)
Notes

• If you need to kill some time Game 1 is for you.  Just an epic,long TvT.  Both players looked like they could take the game at any moment.  Stellar play!
• Mvp fell behind to MMA’s Bio play fairly early in Game 2.  He was definitely struggling to keep up with his Mech play for the rest of the game.  Some really entertaining defensive Nuke play by MMA but he never really got any good kills.  Mvp eventually reached critical mass and took Game 2.

Group F
Winners: Squirtle & Heart

Group G
Winners: Life & JYP
14 year old Life

Group H
Winners: DRG & Polt
Shaky start for DRG, but pulls out of the group with early wins.

GSTL Season 3
Started last Friday, kicking off with NSH vs IM
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OSL Ro16
TLDay 5 Preview [great explanation of what games were important. Spoiler alert: ONLY ONE OF THEM WAS!]
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Stephano Signs with EG
ESFI reported on Friday that Stephano has signed a contract with EG and will debut as an EG player on Tuesday during the IPL Team League season opener.  According to their unnamed source, the contract is worth $8K a month, although EG management would not confirm.
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For Fun
Illusionplayswithaneyetrackeron
Dustin Browder’sforumportrait is collapsible rocks.
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Feedback
Send your emails to StarCastShow@gmail.com

Merlian
Dear Garrett and Kyle
Hi I’ve been playing SC2 zerg for almost a year now and i am having trouble getting out of the bronze league and was wondering if you guys could give any advice? I have been watching Day 9 alot in hopes that it will "Make me a better gamer" and it has but it dose not seem to help me get out of the hellish place they call the bronze league.

thanks for the advice and love the show.
-Merlian
P.S.
What do you two think of the swarm host being better than brood lords (like there minion (things that spawn) are more powerful) in HoTS?

iTunes Thanks

1. Barak Wacha
2. MrElephant
3. Corevin