Well patch 5 is upon us, because Blizzard doesn’t like to make my job easy I have all kinds of exciting things to talk about! You know, I have literally seen grown men cry over WoW patches, and I am glad that we, the mature SC2 Community, would never do that…..right? So check this out:

The latest patch notes can always be found at:
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316&sid=5000

Cybernetics Core

Hatchery/Lair/Hive

Nydus Network

Hydralisk

Infestor

Fixed an issue with High graphics settings that could cause particles not to render.

Whoa Zerg, you’re winning too many matches out there, time to reel you in. I’d be curious to see the numbers on that actually. So first off the Protoss staple warp gate will now take a bit longer to research. It seems like the nerf to Zealot shields in Patch 3 wasn’t enough to stop the toss from owning you early on, so they’ve gone all “80 second time out” on your favorite Auir lovers.

Basically the Protoss have been too quick on the draw and this should help even the odds. Without a warp gate to instantly warp in Zealot after Zealot early on, the Protoss won’t be knocking on your base’s door quite as quickly anymore. It should be noted that that Spawning Pool build time is 65 seconds, the time to make a queen: 25 seconds, the time it takes for her to spawn larvae is 40 seconds, so in 130 seconds the Zerg are ready for a mad increase in population, it takes the Toss 250 seconds to get in the same position. Now this is all mitigated by resources and supply but you get the idea – moving on!

We’ve been wrong all along though. It appears as if the Zerg were the real threats to balance in the StarCraft universe. Hydralisks have been shooting too fast. I’m sure Blizzard has done all the math on this, but I hope to God they don’t change the sound they make since they’ll be shooting slower. It sounds pretty awesome if you ask me.

Infesters (read: defilers) have been hit hard by the nerf and buff hammer at the same time. The question is, do you care? Do you use Infesters? You should, because they can amass a pretty big temporary army in seconds, and now they can dominate your will. Yeah that’s right. They can now control your units forever as long as they are ground units. Keep an eye on your Thors is all I’m saying. Infesters are also slower underground, can’t see as well anymore, and are easier to kill. Give a little get a ton. Let’s just be happy they don’t look like this anymore ammirite?

Finally the Nydus worm is having a tougher time cracking the surface of planets now. The time it takes for them to roar triumphantly out of the ground and into your enemies worst nightmares, as they do so nicely, is now doubled. Better believe when I see a worm starting to crack the surface that’s the first thing I take down, so Zerg players will need to make their worms pop up a little further from the battles now for safety sake.

The worm is still a pretty awesome unit though, I want to point out. They’re a permanent portal to wherever you want, provided you can see that place when you initiate them. I think we’re lucky they haven’t nerfed it more yet.

That’s it for this patch, looking to the future Blizzard has promised a “content patch” towards the end of the beta introducing all kinds of fun stuff. Possibilities include changes to match making, a simpler interface when it comes to adding people you have played, a fourth playable race*, and (we can hope) downloadable maps via “Blizztunes”*.