Updated StarCraft 2 Beta Impressions

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The StarCraft II beta has been running for a little over one month and I've played around 100 games in the 1v1 ladder. I'm currently in the Silver League and holding around #22 in my division. My win ratio is around 50%.

One of the best things about playing RTS games as they are "released" is getting to see how the meta-game evolves. This is the ever-evolving game within the game as tactics get countered, morph into new ones, and players seek the winning formula for their race. High-level players come up with strategies that trickle down to the rest of the community via replays, streams, and forum posts.

A strategy that seems like it has no counter could be countered by a top player. That counter also trickles down and the game continues to evolve. Sure, balance patches help with this, but the game will continue to evolve as players get more and more familiar with the new title.

I'm still learning new things about the game. Today, I learned that Zerg Creep Tumors, spawned by the Queen to extend the range of Creep, can spawn another Tumor. This allows players to leap-frog Tumors and expand Creep without having to use more of the Queen's energy, which could be used for additional larvae.

Even more interesting is that most people are finding competitive matches, regardless of what league they are in. As I mentioned, I'm winning around 50% of my ladder matches, which is exactly what is supposed to happen with a matchmaking system.

I think the main differences between the league levels is which races are dominant. At lower levels, I find the Terran a bit easier to be successful with, relying on massive amounts of marauders and marines. At higher levels, Terran seem to be under represented with Zerg and Protoss dominating.

There was no balance patch last week and Blizzard will be wiping the the beta stats, characters, and ladders soon. I'm curious to see what will be getting boosted and nerfed. As a Protoss player, I hope Protoss anti-air gets a buff. I would also love a bit of a nerf to Terran Reactors after Protoss Warp Gates were nerfed. I still find myself getting rolled by a lot of marines early. Also, nerf Mutalisks!

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