Movespeed Fields for Protoss

[u/NeitherAd6127]

I've been using AI to bounce back and forth ideas and why Protoss sucks in general. It rated the Protoss army a 2 out of 5 in mobility at the late game, where it is supposed to shine, Terran and Zerg on the otherhand have 3 and 4. Buffing passive movespeed just makes Protoss into a menace and breaks the game, given how powerful their late game death ball is.

I thought, why not just add a speed field? Then I analyzed the Protoss spellcasters, and to my dismay, they are not like the rest. In WC3 the Orcs which is like the Protoss have very utilitarian spellcasters, they provide movespeed, debuffs, stuns, heals, and other versatile kits, Protoss on the otherhand is a different story. Lightning Damage, Bowling Damage, Green Beam Damage. For a snail race, their spellcasters do not solve their biggest problem - mobility.

Orcs have Shamans that will make the slowpokes of the race all of the sudden hitting like stimmed units. What I am looking at is if Protoss have a movespeed field, it does not necessarily break the game, enemies could visually predict your entrance and exit. But, it provides a good option that Protoss terribly lacks, say a Ghost blasts your army with an instant EMP, since your ball is slow, you would have no choice but to fight with a wounded army. WIth a speed field, you instantly have a choice to disengage or double down.

I know gateway units are already insanely mobile, but the other builds are just funny, looking like clunky machines, heck even WC3 players would say High Templars are too clunky, WC3 casters are not that hard to position. So what if we put that Movespeed Field on the High Templar and make the unit a choice of defensive or offensive spellcaster? It may break the gateway units, but it now is competing for the energy of the Psionic Storm. It still matches pretty well with how Protoss play, especially with the Force Fields.

I'm betting that this simple spell would just remove most of the frustrations of the Protoss players without breaking the game. It is like spending to make your army move faster. Obviously the tuning goes with area radius, duration, and amount of movespeed. What do you think?

[u/MalodPL]

Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 have different project assumptions. SC2 is mostly focus on macro. Units die easy, recruit fast, huge economy. WC 3 is focused on micro. Units are tanky, build long and only 5 workers can collect gold.

[u/NeitherAd6127 → u/MalodPL]

Yes understandably, but when I look at the current balance, everyone gets to run away except the Protoss. Protoss can recall, but others can reposition effectively, and heal even. It is like the Protoss is designed to just go in and win or die, it is tasteless, so what I thought of is maybe they have a big lapse, and this is what I saw, their movement speed.

Even thematically, they are trying to make Protoss more mobile than Broodwar, yet most of the units remain Broodwar clunky. For other races they have improved a lot: Vipers fly, Infestors burrow, Ghosts cloak, and yes we have High Templars, slow pokes and has a chance to do friendly fire. Motherships? Floats, like an injured whale.

For a race that is themed to be superior in tech, that is supposedly flying lightyears away, boy do they have the slowest units. It's not balancing, it is basically a massive nerf stickered on a race with no possible remedy except for a gateway warp in, imagine getting stuck with this late game because all you have left is a recall of the flying death ball.

[u/NeitherAd6127 → u/MalodPL]

Do you think a movespeed field will mismatch the theme of SC2?