Positive and Negative Notes

The good side:

1. Fun factor; Despite my constant whining about Starcraft II it's still a very fun game to play. The game is young so build orders and unit compositions are not necessarily set in stone yet, which leaves a lot of flexible play. It's fun trying to make up your own unique rushes or build orders. With the amount of units available at your disposal the fun never ends. This was something that was essentially taken away with Broodwar, you absolutely had to play a certain way or you would get steamrolled. I'm sure the game will be a lot different in a year from now though. But for now... just enjoy the game in its youth.


2. The community; I actually don't mind if not "like" the Starcraft II community. When compared with games like CS:S, HoN, or Dota the SC community is godly. Most of the time it's people trying to help people. Granted the community still has it's turds like Idra for example, overall though the level of manner is much higher. People who play Sc2 generally want to better themselves at the game instead of sitting around yelling at everyone else for their own downfalls. I find games like Dota the absolute worst for this. I swear those games attract the most immature 13 year old kids out there. I've only come across a handful of bad mannered players.

Another thing I like is sometimes after you win a person will message you and ask you for tips on how to beat your specific strategy. I actually enjoy sharing my knowledge of the game with others and helping people out. I sometimes do the same myself, and as of yet I haven't had anyone tell me to "Beat it newb" or anything of the sort. People are always just glad to help. So if you're really looking for ways to get better just keep your cool and ask the community for help if you need it.


The bad side:

1. You don't learn much from ladder play; I feel this is really a huge problem with the current game. You absolutely need practice partners to actually get better. Ladder play isn't that great for multiple reasons.

You never play the same people. You think this would be a good thing, but it really isn't. You go into a game with no knowledge on your opponent, and he has no knowledge on you. It causes a lot of players to not play normally because of the uncertainties that are potentially in-store. The player pool is also very diverse, one game you go from playing a legitimately good player, to a very poor player. This happens to me ALL the time, it's quite annoying really.

Another issue with ladder play is people generally play to win. I mean sure we all play to win, but some people will do whatever is necessary to get an easy win. They're called cheesers. I've encountered a lot of them during my journey through the ranks. Majority of the time they fail and just leave the game. Both of you end up learning almost nothing other than to defend against cheese, and this creates a problem. You eventually find yourself with the ability to fight cheese, and once you play a good player. You just don't know what to do and end up losing.

There really isn't any way to avoid these problems if you want to play ladder though, so I guess complaining about them is pointless.





2. Ladder ranks need to be more diverse; Despite my previous whining about the ladder system I really feel that it's lacking. There just isn't enough leagues. Being a high diamond doesn't mean much really. I think there should be at least 1 lower league, and two higher ones added. Really separate the elite from the beginners. Make it so when someone says their in X league it actually means something. I think this would motivate people to try harder.


3. Minor note; I think there should be more unlockables and achievements. I personally don't really care about the achievements but there should be more options available to unlock. I won't really take this one into great detail because I'm not sure what else could be added without clustering things up too badly.


Overall:

Sc2 is still a really great game to play, I enjoy playing it even though I've been taking a semi-break lately to focus on other things. I still have a lot of fun playing it and learning new things. It's just a constant learning experience and self-challenging game. I would really recommend everyone to play it.



Buy it if you don't have it yet.