Gamestop giving away Starcraft 2 beta keys with pre-order

[The Fatman]

I don't know how long this is going to continue... but right now if you pre-order Starcraft 2 from any Gamestop (online or retail) you get a beta key to begin playing immediately.

Just thought I'd pass this along for any interested parties...

http://www.gamestop.com/browse/ProductMerch.aspx?groupid=829&loc=homeflash

 

[The Fatman]

echo...?

The deal is valid and still going on. I got my key about a day after placing the preorder.

I won't review the game itself too much since I'm sure anyone who's interested has read all the reviews (my short take: **SQUEE!!**). One thing I will say is I have been unprepared for the level of competition online. I have played 5 "novice" matches so far and have gotten my ass handed to me. Hard.

I thought I was a pretty decent SC1 player even though I didn't play online... and I have been proven very, very wrong. In one of the matches, I had someone with multiple terran Thors in my base before I even had my Protoss Robotics Bay warped in.

 

[darthraidr]

i suck at multi-player, but am looking forward to the single player quite a bit.

 

[Rii]

Yeah, I got a beta key a while back. Checked out the new units and such, drooled over the shiny, got roflstomped online and haven't been back since. I'll wait on the actual release, got the ridiculously overpriced CE preordered already.

 

[Kelthaz]

I thought I was a pretty decent SC1 player even though I didn't play online...

Heh, that's your problem. Online and Offline Starcraft are as different as night and day. You might as well be playing two entirely different games. Strats used to beat the computer absolutely will not work on a human player. If anything, playing computers makes you worse at the game.

I suck too though, so you're not alone. Online can be scary.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

I thought I was a pretty decent SC1 player even though I didn't play online...

Heh, that's your problem. Online and Offline Starcraft are as different as night and day. You might as well be playing two entirely different games. Strats used to beat the computer absolutely will not work on a human player. If anything, playing computers makes you worse at the game.

I suck too though, so you're not alone. Online can be scary.

This. SC vs AI or campaigns is pac man compared to playing a skilled player online. I'm going through the learning process in beta right now, having been one of those players who were "good" at beating computers in sc1.

 

[Yoda]

Ahh, I remember back in the day when some of my high school friends thought they were tough shit at Warcraft and Command & Conquer. Apparently they had played a lot of single player, and a little bit of modem-to-modem in their small group. They challenged me, and needless to say it was a slaughter (I was playing these games over Kali at the time, this was pre-Battle.net and the like).

It was ridiculous. They demanded fog of war be disabled... after I rushed one out of existence I was told that I had cheated by attacking early, etc... All the slackass shit you pull in an RTS single-player just doesn't work online. You learn to have an efficient build order and decent micro skills quick, or you may as well just quit.

 

[LunarYoma]

i got SC2 beta up & running yesterday, little bit i saw looks good. going to start playing tonight.

 

[LunarYoma]

played each race on a quick trial run. so far i am likeing it. zerg got a roach, protoss got collosus, & terrans got a unit called thor

you can hotkey upto 24 units per key

 

[The Fatman]

I finally decided to focus on Protoss and stop playing random... and I finally won my first match against a similarly ranked player (I'd won some 2v2 and fluke matches before).

I really, really suck at micro... but my macro is getting better. It's hard for me to manage individual units skills, but it's a learning curve.

colossus + void ray + zealot swarm = win... at least once.

 

[LunarYoma]

what i did was creat my own game 1 vs 1 & my oponent is the AI/comp set on easy. did this for each race to learn all the new stuff

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

played each race on a quick trial run. so far i am likeing it. zerg got a roach, protoss got collosus, & terrans got a unit called thor

you can hotkey upto 24 units per key

Much more than that actually. It shows 24 on the bottom but there can be many panels of 24 up to I believe 5, meaning 120 units.

Races got more than 1 new unit each too, they have a half dozen or so new ones each, most of which are similar to but different than old ones that were replaced. Though some were just outright taken out with nothing similar in it's place, and a few were added that are completely new.

Zerg

Devourer --> Corruptor
Guardian --> Brood Lord
Defiler --> Infestor
Infested Terran --> Baneling
Sunken/Spore Colony --> Spine/Spore Crawler

Remaining: Drone, Zergling, Hydralisk, Mutalisk, Ultralisk, Overlord
Gone totally: Lurker, Scourge, old Queen
Brand new: Roach, new Queen


Terran

Firebat/Vulture --> Helion
Medic/Dropship --> Medevac
Goliath --> Thor (supersized)
Valkyrie --> Viking
Science Vessel --> Raven

Remaining: SCV, Marine, Ghost, Siege Tank, Battlecruiser
Gone totally: Wraith
Brand New: Marauder, Reaper, Banshee


Protoss

Dragoon --> Stalker
Corsair --> Phoenix
Reaver --> Colossus
Shuttle --> Warp Prism

Remaining: Probe, Zealot, High Templar, Dark Templar, Archon, Observer, Carrier
Gone totally: Scout, Dark Archon
Brand New: Sentry, Void Ray, Mothership, Immortal

 

[Venardhi]

Anyone else notice that a very fast Zealot rush simply cannot be countered? I got taken to the cleaners a couple times by it and decided to test it out myself and in 4 games no one even put up enough fight to push the game past 6 minutes or so. Can get them out and to the other guy's base before there are any marines or zerglings there to fight back.

 

[Mooch]

I got a beta code from amazon, too.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

Anyone else notice that a very fast Zealot rush simply cannot be countered? I got taken to the cleaners a couple times by it and decided to test it out myself and in 4 games no one even put up enough fight to push the game past 6 minutes or so. Can get them out and to the other guy's base before there are any marines or zerglings there to fight back.

As zerg you need to get a few spine crawlers and tech quick to Roaches, once you have roaches zealots are toast and it doesn't take long.

As terran wall off your ramp with a few marines and get marauders with the concussion upgrade asap.

As protoss all you have to do is keep pace and you will be fine since he is the one crossing the map. Get to stalkers when possible and its no prob.

Now, if they proxy the gateways, it gets a bit more difficult, but the same stuff applies.

 

[Lindley]

I played a few games versus the computer and won far too easily. Didn't really learn anything. Played against two human opponents and lost quickly.

Didn't actually take it all the way to the end.....when they wipe out the force you've been building up in about 20 seconds, there's just nothing to do but surrender.

I'm a bit annoyed by the way that each unit has a specific counter and nothing else is very effective against it. That makes mixed-composition forces very ineffective, rather than the strength they are in most other games; you have to target everything against its specific adversary rather than just telling them all to attack.

 

[darthraidr]

Launch date of July 27.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/03/starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty-zerg-rushing-retail-july-27/

 

[The Fatman]

Launch date of July 27.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/03/starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty-zerg-rushing-retail-july-27/

I'd be impressed and happy if they hit that date

As far as the game itself, I am doing a bit better. I am still Copper, but I'm flirting with Bronze. I have had some success with Protoss using the "Proxy Gateway" strategy - where you build a pylon and two gateways outside of the enemy base ASAP. It's definitely tricky to recover and win if that fails, however.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

I played a few games versus the computer and won far too easily. Didn't really learn anything. Played against two human opponents and lost quickly.

Didn't actually take it all the way to the end.....when they wipe out the force you've been building up in about 20 seconds, there's just nothing to do but surrender.

I'm a bit annoyed by the way that each unit has a specific counter and nothing else is very effective against it. That makes mixed-composition forces very ineffective, rather than the strength they are in most other games; you have to target everything against its specific adversary rather than just telling them all to attack.

They have toned down the hard counters alot.. the only ones that really still exist are the immortal and the helion (other than ground/air that can't shoot ground/air)

What you say about mixed forces is completely wrong though. You need a good mix or they can simply counter the 1 thing you are massing and auto win. Yes, you sometimes have to micro different units around but that's where the skill comes in... it would be pretty simple if you just attack moved your army into theirs and saw who won.

Either way, having a mix helps even in that situation, as it forces your opponent to micro target and even if you don't, you're still gonna have the right ones targeting the right enemies some of the time by chance, as opposed to if you went say, pure Roaches and your opponent just got 4 immortals and slaughtered them.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

Launch date of July 27.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/03/starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty-zerg-rushing-retail-july-27/

I'd be impressed and happy if they hit that date

As far as the game itself, I am doing a bit better. I am still Copper, but I'm flirting with Bronze. I have had some success with Protoss using the "Proxy Gateway" strategy - where you build a pylon and two gateways outside of the enemy base ASAP. It's definitely tricky to recover and win if that fails, however.

Yeah be careful, if it doesn't work you're toast, and it's not going to work against anyone of a certain skill level (say, silver+) unless you execute it perfectly.