Blizzcon 2008 - Team Liquid Gameplay and Interview

In the StarCraft 2 gameplay area at Blizzcon, we had a chance to meet Jack and Kevin from TeamLiquid.net.  Jack allowed us to record some of his Zerg gameplay and also met with us after his defeat to discuss the current state of StarCraft 2 multiplayer gameplay.

In this matchup, it was Zerg pitted against Terran. Jack, playing Zerg, decided to go Hydra-Lings with a failed attempt to add Lurkers into gameplay. While the Terran player, Kevin, focused on massing Mariens with other supporting Barrack units. Using Multiple Building Selection (MBS) to his advantage, Kevin built numerous Barracks in order to overwhelm the Zerg with ground forces that seemed to always replenish with little delay. Without lurkers, Kevin really had no chance and was forced into a ‘GG’.

After the game, we spoke with both players on their gameplay and discussed various gameplay dynamics, including MBS. For Terran, the general concensus was that their macro handling was too easy and difficult for a Zerg player to keep pace with. Kevin suggested that MBS should be removed altogether in order to maintain an equal difficulty between macro and micro gameplay dynamics.

We also discussed some of the newer units and features they were most interested in, including the Zerg Infestor and the new Marien HP upgrade. With the Zerg Infestor, Jack made the statement that the unit seemed to be a mix between the Queen and the Defilier due the Infestor’s ability to cast infestation on units from an AOE distance, similiar to the Defilier’s spells. With Terran, Kevin made the argument that teching to higher units is almost unecessary against a Zerg player.

Altogether, some interesting details were revealed about the gameplay demo that was available at this year’s Blizzcon. As Blizzard continues to further tweak StarCraft 2, it will be interesting to follow the fate of MBS and Terran’s tech strategy.

Thanks to Kevin and Jack from TeamLiquid.net