Starcraft II Tech Trees

Tech trees from Starcraft II have been posted up over at giant bomb, allowing for players to start getting ready for the beta that is supposedly coming out soon (Kotaku does the math here). Hit the link for how I feel about the trees and why studying them may not be worth it.

I remember an awesome strategy I had involving Hypogryphs in the WarCraft III beta. Then they balanced things quite a bit and changed the tech trees a bit. Beta testing tends to put a whole new perspective on a game's mechanics, and things are guaranteed to change drastically.

On the other hand, it really seems that Blizzard is trying to keep these tech trees relatively close to the ones found in the original Starcraft. This just echoes how much Blizzard really has decided to not try and do anything too different with SC II, as changing it around too much would likely ruin the reputation that the first game established.

The success that Starcraft has seen over the years was almost completely accidental. When I purchased my copy of Starcraft, I never would have imagined that the game would become such a huge international gaming phenomena. Basically, Blizzard has the first major E-Sport on its hands, and is wise to be careful about trying to re-invent the wheel.

Just think about how some game sequels are. Often times, they feel like completely different games. Now imagine if the next season of Football (Soccer) was rolled out with a bunch of new game mechanics, instead of a few rules changed to keep the sport balanced and maintained. Football fans everywhere would be outraged and the players would be put in odd positions, as they would have to completely change the way they played.

Starcraft is basically the football of the E-Sports world. Blizzard is the official organization that decides what the rule sets will be for each chapter of the sport's evolution, and if Blizzard makes things too drastically different, you can bet that the sequel will be kicked around and spit upon, not even coming close to living up to the original in glory.

So, Starcraft II is on its way, and its tech trees, as they currently stand, are available. Just don't take them too seriously, you'll get along just fine with what you already know.