Starcraft 2 Armory

2012 Battle.net World Championship

stebo88 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:53:36 -0800

This year for Blizzard & eSports will be of epic proportions as they will be providing major competitive events for World of Warcraft and Starcraft 2. This of course means that there will be no BlizzCon 2012. This will allow Blizzard have more time squeezing out their three current games in development.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world. Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year’s StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory.

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

More details about the 2012 Battle.net World Championship and BlizzCon 2013, including specific dates and locations, will be coming in the months ahead.

Source: Battle.net

David Kim discusses balance

gearvOsh — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:41:21 -0800

David Kim recently spent some time answering some gameplay and balance questions after the G-Star event in Korea. Some of the Q&A pertains to HOTS while others are current balance problems. The following questions were answered:

Mass Mutalisks vs. Protoss
Protoss Win Rate is Too Low in Tournaments
Carrier Removal in Heart of the Swarm
Terran Can’t Beat Protoss
Ghost EMP is Too Weak
Forge Fast Expand is Difficult to Stop as Zerg
Nydus Worm is Too Inconsistent -- Make It More Like the Overlord Transport

Jump over to the blog to read more.

Source: Battle.net

Protest PIPA and SOPA

gearvOsh — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:54:05 -0800

In response to the two bills in congress, H.R.3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" and S.968 "PROTECT IP", we here at the Armory would like to raise awareness. These bills would destroy the internet as we know it, allowing ISPs to blacklist domains, enforce copyright that would restrict user-generated content and new innovative ideas. Unlike the Armory, other major internet giants have gone dark in protest of these bills. Please give your support to Reddit.com, Wikipedia.org, Google.com, Wordpress.org, Mozilla.org and many others by contacting your representatives and letting them know how terrible these bills are.

For more information on these bills:

Armory Chat

gearvOsh — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:37:43 -0800

Spent a little time this weekend implementing a IRC chat system into the website. The chat is currently hooked up to the QuakeNet IRC servers and will auto-join the #armory and #teamliquid channels. As of now, the chat is using an embedded QuakeNet iframe chat but I am open to test alternative systems.

If you have any suggestions on another system to use, or features that you would like, be sure to send your feedback to this thread.

Come chat with us! It would be nice to get all of you to idle and talk in here!

StarCraft 2 Best Paying eSport 2011

Ender2010 — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:35:04 -0800

We all know 2011 was a record breaking year for eSports but how much money was actually paid out in prizes? Over 5 million USD from the top 3 best paying eSports of 2011.

#1 StarCraft 2 – $2,525,775

The best paying eSport of 2011 goes to StarCraft 2 with over 2.5 million USD in tournaments an average of $200,000 prizes per month. This is 1.7 million more in prizes than the 2010 total of $800,000.

In 2011 StarCraft 2 not only had the largest prize pool but 130 tournaments each with a $1,000 or more prize pool in 2011. The year before StarCraft 2 had only about 30 tournaments with $1,000 or more in prizes an increase of 100 tournaments.

What makes StarCraft so special is that Blizzard does not sponsor many of these events. StarCraft 2 has past the two million dollar threshold because of fans. With live streaming individual gamers, teams and small organizations have the chance to appear on the world stage. With such easy access to content fans are now able to support pro gamers like never before.

With the success of smaller organizations larger organizers are now getting in on the action. Across America you have the MLG, IPL, NASL and ESEA. In Europe you have the ESL, DreamHack and INSOMNIA . In Asia there is the GSL.

Now that every major online competitive title is being released with a 1,000,000 or more prize pool (Call of Duty XP, DotA 2 International and soon Battlefield 3 World Conquest) StarCraft 2 has more competition than ever.

StarCraft 2, it missed being the first tournament to have a $1,000,000 prize pool but with Blizzard and their near endless funds maybe it will be the first game to host a $10,000,0000 prize pool in 2012. Heading into 2012 and regardless of what happens next StarCraft 2 has made esports mainstream.

#2 DotA 2 – $1,698,500

The second best paying eSport of 2011 is DotA 2 with over 1,600,000 USD in prizes. DotA 2 also held the largest single prize tournament of 1.6 million - 'The International'.

The one tournament may account for the majority of 2011 prizes but this game is still in Beta. What is remarkable is the number of organizations starting up or adding DotA 2 tournaments. We are certain DotA 2 will compete with StarCraft 2 tournament for tournament and dollar for dollar once released. DotA 2 is a hit before launch, StarCraft 2 better watch out because this is the competition we mentioned.

#3 Call of Duty MW3 - $1,010,000

Played on the XBOX360 CoD MW3 has done the impossible. It has created an eSport franchise that can be both short lived and popular with pro gamers. Although we may be talking about Call of Duty MW4 in 2012 if it is released with million or more prize pool who cares! Yes, this is a money grab. Instead of releasing updates they have you buy a new game. The answer they thought of was to give some of the money back in the form of tournaments. This concept may not be popular with everyone but it has shown to be successful in 2011 bringing many top gamers to compete in the million dollar Call of Duty XP tournament.

As mentioned above we don't know how long this eSport will last until replaced by a new version or a competing title (Battlefield 3) and it has not shown many self start tournaments.

Thanks for reading the 2011 eSport year end review.

For those interested on how we calculated the year end totals they are individual tournaments manually researched by us - PGT. Each of these tournaments have their own page with the prize pool and other related information including the source. These tournament pages can be found on our site www.progamingtours.net

The Great Purge 2011

gearvOsh — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:31:12 -0800

It has been almost 5 years (yes 5) since I launched this site, so I decided to do some cleanup. For both SC2A and D3A, I deleted all topics, posts and polls older than 1.5 years. There were no exceptions to the deletion as it would of been so granular and complicated, so sorry if I deleted something on accident. Here's some quick stats on how much was deleted:

Topics - 16,000
Posts - 300,000
Polls - 1,000
Poll Votes - 40,000
Poll Questions - 5,000

As you can see, we have posted quite a bit for being such a small community. A new system will be set in place to automatically delete any old posts every 24 hours.

On top of the deletion, I have cleaned up the forum categories. Below is a list of changes:

SC2A
- All the modding forums have been merged into 1 forum and supports the tag system
- Polls have been placed under General Discussion
- Any SC2 related forum is now contained under the Starcraft 2 section
- Articles have been removed

D3A
- All the class forums have been merged into 1 forum and supports tags
- Any D3 related forum is now contained under the Diablo 3 section
- Editorials have been removed

Both
- The Content Hub section is now available on both sites instead of just SC2
- Fan Fiction has moved to the Content Hub section

These changes have been made in preparation for the new site design, the Diablo 3 release and the upcoming HOTS and DOTA content. Enjoy!

Armory moving off GoDaddy; Possible downtime

gearvOsh — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:00:33 -0800

In the recent events regarding SOPA, it has come to the communities attention that GoDaddy is a huge supporter. Since the Armory hosts its domains at GoDaddy, and with the recent boycott, I have decided to move my domains away from GoDaddy. More information about the boycott can be found here.

You may expect some downtime while the domains transfer ownership. Sorry for the inconvenience

More information on SOPA. Do yourself a favor and read it.

2 Maps are being replaced in Season 5

XxXxX — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:42:41 -0800

Source:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/4103100/Season_5_Ladder_Map_Pool_Update-12_14_2011#blog

Beginning with Season 4, we experimented with prioritizing tournament-style maps on the StarCraft II ladder. This has been working out very well not only because it’s allowed pro players better opportunities to practice on the ladder, but also because players across all skill levels can now experience the tournament feel when playing on Battle.net. Given the success of these changes, we’re removing the last two maps in the current map pool that aren’t tournament-viable, and will be replacing them with new, tournament-ready maps.

Season 5 brings with it the following changes to the existing map pool, which begins the week of December 19:

These maps will be removed:

(4)Abyssal Caverns
(4)Nerazim Crypt
These maps will be added in their place:

(2)Arid Plateau

The rush distance on this map is comparable to Shakuras Plateau or the longest distance on Metalopolis. We tried to go for a slightly more exposed natural expansion, followed up by a greater choice of which third expansion to take. The high-yield expansion offers better resource acquisition, but is also the most difficult to defend, while the corner expansion is similar to expansions found on Metalopolis or Shattered Temple. The base closest to your main is open, but remains easy to defend because of short travel time from the natural expansion. We wanted to go for a more open center with very powerful Watch Tower placements.

(4)Entombed Valley

We’ve seen that rotationally symmetric four-player tournament maps can provide an advantage depending on where you start compared to your opponent and which races are involved in the match-up. This is feedback that we received from the community as well.

Our goal with this map was to address that issue. Whether you start horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, the game should be almost completely symmetric for both players. Also, no matter where you start, we were focused on minimizing features which tend to favor a specific race such as certain races experiencing challenges expanding beyond two bases, air-to-air distances which are too short between starting locations, the center path being the only viable attack route, or too many choke points.

TL Open

On the subject of new maps, TeamLiquid.net recently hosted a map contest to offer map makers a chance to show off their skills. This past weekend, the top contenders in the TL Open battled it out on the top maps that emerged from that contest. The TL Open tournament has now concluded, but you can still see these new maps in action by checking out the replays and VoDs. We’re carefully reviewing the maps that were featured in the tournament, and those which meet our standards have a chance to be included in future ladder seasons.

We’re very much looking forward to your feedback, so please let us know what you think about Arid Plateau and Entombed Valley, as well as the maps that were featured in the TL Open!

Season 4 To Close Soon

magello — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:28:08 -0800

Season 4 is coming to a close soon, and Season 5 will be coming in a few weeks. It's time for everyone to get their MMRs up.

Season 4 is drawing to a close, and that means that all ladders will be locked soon.

Season 4 Lock

What does this mean for you? During the Season 4 lock, you can no longer be promoted or demoted out of your current league or division, and your bonus pool will stop growing. Once locked to a league and division, you'll still be able to play out your remaining bonus pool and compete for standing within your division until the end of the season, so it's a great time to enjoy yourself and maybe even push for a better milestone. If you're pursuing a league promotion, there's no time like the present! The Season 4 lock will go into effect on Tuesday, December 13 at 4:30 AM PST.

Please note that the hidden ratings used to determine promotions and demotions will continue to update during the Season 4 lock and be used for matchmaking purposes. This means that if you play significantly better or worse than your assigned league at the time of the lock, your league may change when Season 5 begins and you play your first placement match. If you go on a major winning streak during the lock, for example, you may end up promoted next season. Conversely, if you happen to lose a lot more than usual, you may end up demoted. Your games during the lock still count!

Season 5 Start Date

The Season 4 lock also means that Season 5 is right around the corner. During the week of December 20, Season 4 will end and Season 5 will begin. Season milestone rewards will be locked in at this time, and bonus pools will start over. Hidden skill ratings used for matchmaking and league placement will carry over from the previous season, so if you've completed placement matches in a previous season you will only need to play one new placement match after Season 5 starts.

Blizzard Dessert Contest 2011

Omega — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:34:47 -0800

This years holiday contest is out form blizzard for those who are both insane fans of their games, and creative culinary mad scientists.

Not sure how many of you guys care, but might as well post the upcoming contest. If you guys are interested I can post winners when they come out.

Most people enjoy the holiday tradition of sharing a meal with family and friends -- and delicious desserts are a big part of the reason why. This year, we're hungry to see you spread holiday joy from your kitchen by cooking up sweet culinary creations -- and finishing them off with a Blizzard touch.

Simply prepare and decorate a Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo-themed dessert. Take a picture of your creative confection and submit it, and you might just find something special under your tree from Greatfather Winter!

We will handpick three of the most inventive, hearth-warming, or funny entries to win awesome prizes:

First Place
- Wilton Ultimate Decorating Set
- Marauder StarCraft II Gaming Keyboard
- Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset
- Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse

Second Place
- Marauder StarCraft II Gaming Keyboard
- Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset
- Spectre StarCraft II Gaming Mouse

Third Place
- StarCraft II Zerg Edition Messenger Bag

We're waiting to see what delightful, dazzling, and delicious submissions you whip up. The contest begins on November 29th. If you're ready to put on your apron and get cooking, you can find the contest rules here.

Source: Battle.net

KASL 2 Launched!

stebo88 — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:55:44 -0800

Present by DarkLord

Interested in showing off your skills? Sc2armory is now hosting its second King of the Armory tournament that will be featuring MLG and GSL maps. The tournament will last several weeks and will test your strategies and passion against other skilled opponents from the community. To sign up, follow the link below.

Source: [KASL2] Signups

Patch 1.4.2 - Nov 8th

Stroidenfifer — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:23:18 -0800

The 1.4.2 patch has finally been released and with it comes a wide range of Protoss buffs. How will these changes affect the e-sports scene? Should be exciting.

General
- “Alert Fade” under Sound Options has been renamed to Game Volume During Alerts. Its tooltips have also been changed for clarification.
- The fade-in for game sound during alerts changed from .5 seconds to 2 seconds.
- Play-Time Schedule under Parental Controls now applies World of Warcraft settings to StarCraft II

Bug Fixes
- Fixed a truncation on specific resolution if the current and maximum supplies are 3 digits.
- Fixed an issue which prevented footprints from being edited in the Footprint Editor.
- Fixed an issue that caused the game to have missing icons and images on low end graphics cards.

Balance

PROTOSS
Forge
- The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 1 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 200/200
- The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 2 has been decreased to 225/225, down from 300/300
- The cost of Upgrade Shields Level 3 has been decreased to 300/300, down from 400/400
- The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175
- The cost of Upgrade Ground Weapons Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250
- The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 2 has been decreased to 150/150, down from 175/175
- The cost of Upgrade Ground Armor Level 3 has been decreased to 200/200, down from 250/250

TERRAN
Ghost
- EMP radius has been decreased from 2 to 1.5

Play Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Now [Repost from Infgaming]

amich45 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:50:27 -0700

Reddit member XenoX101 has used the SC2 Editor to build a pre-beta edition of Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm. Play this expansion even before most of Blizzard can. Includes all new units with current metagame. Still a work in progress though.

4 Maps Available

Play With Infgaming

Jump on SC2 Chat Channel 'Clan Infinity' to set up games with members of our community. Test out new units in friendly games. Or use your knew knowledge to crush some of the clan leaders. Either way grab some buddies and jump into our chat channel and lets have some fun.

New Unit Stats

Source: Reddit.com

Do you prefer the website with light text on a dark background, or dark text on a light background?

gearvOsh — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:17:21 -0700

In preparation for the HOTS release next year, I want to ship out the new design of the website. The new design will be more wowhead-ish in that I will fit more content into the page with the removal of specific design elements. The outer frame of the site will be pretty design heavy however.

So before I begin on this, I would like to see what type of design you guys prefer!

Season 4 has begun!

p33p — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:41:39 -0700

The fourth ladder season is upon us, featuring the return of Metalopolis, the removal of close spawn locations and reduced season lengths.

Season 4 has arrived! Season 3 milestone rewards will be locked in at this time and bonus pools will reset. Hidden skill ratings used for matchmaking and league placement will carry over from the previous season, so players who have completed placement matches in a previous season will only need to play one new placement match. Don’t forget to review the map changes which are coming in Season 4 as well.

Beginning with Season 4, two changes are coming to future ladder seasons:

• Each season will now last for approximately two months.
• Grandmaster league placement time will be reduced to one week (from two weeks) to account for the reduced season length.

Good luck, have fun!

Source: Battle.net