Talking Balance with David Kim
Based on our internal data, tournament results, as well as the feedback we receive from pro-players and the community at large we believe that the balance between the StarCraft II races is in a good place. Still, we’re going keep a close eye on things to make sure that gameplay remains fun and balanced even as we prepare for the exciting changes that will come with Heart of the Swarm and beyond. In today’s report, we’re going to look at some recent shifts that might merit further investigation, where we are in terms of balance over all, as well as how things look in the pro scene.
We’re currently looking into a couple of potential issues. Zerg has recently shifted from making a very strong showing in tournaments, to having slightly weaker representation only at the highest levels of professional play. We’re also continuing to see a slight advantage for terran in terms of opening flexibility and scouting denial. In response, we’re considering offering zerg better scouting options in the early game.
I think that it’s worth pointing out that these are actually relatively minor concerns in the face of the statistics we’re seeing. Assuming nothing drastic changes in the meta game that would shift the win rates further out of balance, there’s a strong likelihood that it won’t be necessary to make balance changes until Heart of the Swarm arrives. Still, if a significant issue arises that is beyond the reach of metagame changes to resolve, then we will react as quickly as possible to make the adjustments necessary to restore balance.
Adjusted ratings
Here’s the latest global adjusted ratings data:
| All leagues | North America | Europe | Korea |
|---|---|---|---|
| PvT | 54% | 56% | 50% |
| PvZ | 54% | 53% | 50% |
| TvZ | 50% | 50% | 52% |
Please note that the way we do this calculation factors out player skill. These numbers are also constantly in flux. For the purposes of interpreting this chart, a 45-55% win rate suggests that there is no sign of imbalance. Also, because these numbers change from week to week and day to day, it’s not uncommon for a race that shows a 54% win rate this week to show 46% next week. Overall, we have been seeing win rates in the 45-55% range in every matchup and in every region for a while now.
We do have a new method of calculating player skill more precisely. The different races tend to be slightly stronger or weaker at different league levels , and since most players only ever play one race all the time, racial strength was an influence on their hidden rating. For example, if terran is slightly weaker at the gold level, the player would have a lower hidden rating than if he were to play a different race at that level. When using this method of calculation, we are seeing good balance at the highest levels of the ladder - race balance is good enough at those levels to have a negligible influence on player performance.
We’re checking all of these numbers on a frequent basis in order to react quickly if something big happens.
Tournaments
My earlier comments about zerg notwithstanding, overall, we are seeing good win ratios and stats from tournaments.
One interesting thing to note is that there still is a skill gap even at the pro level. This is what we’re seeing:
- Protoss has good representation in terms of the number of protoss tournament qualifiers at the general professional level, but has the lowest representation at the very highest professional level.
- Zerg has the lowest representation at the general pro level, but has been showing the best standings at the highest tournament levels until very recently.
- Terran has good representation over all.
We are concerned that protoss players seem to be having a slower start compared to zerg or terran players. For quite some time after StarCraft II was released, especially at the highest levels of professional play, protoss players were primarily only focusing on 1 base or 2 base warp gate all-ins. It was only after we toned down these builds that protoss players really started exploring their various tech options in the same way that the other two races have been doing for a long time.
Terran representation remains strong even after recent nerfs. We think that the adjustments we’ve made over time have kept pace well with meta game shifts, and that overall terran is in a good place.
Again, we’re closely watching every major tournament, and working with various tournament organizations around the world in order to keep close tabs on both specific games and overall tournament data.
Maps
In our current map pool, we’re seeing that not every map we’ve added to our pool is balanced for every matchup. For example, our data shows a 70% PvT win ratio on Cloud Kingdom, a 62% win ratio in PvZ on Korhal Compound, and a 37% win ratio on Metalopolis for TvZ. It’s worth noting that these represent the heaviest imbalances in the maps on our ladder, but that this also isn’t necessarily a problem.
Our current stance on this is we believe slight imbalances in maps actually make the game more interesting, as long as the imbalances aren’t too great. Various new meta games and strategies develop depending on the map, and it’s interesting to see the game play out in different ways as players exploit their own strengths and weaknesses from map to map. We believe a lot of the fun comes from this as well. On top of that, we have our veto system on the ladder and tournaments have their own player map veto systems that also deal with this issue.
That said, if a map pushes the limit too much and a matchup becomes significantly imbalanced, we will definitely take steps to adjust the map pool accordingly.
Community Feedback
The pro player and caster feedback regarding which races are overpowered or underpowered is very evenly distributed among the three races, which is a very good sign.
The feedback from you all in the player community has been very interesting too. A lot of the feedback we used to see on the forums was often related to perceived imbalances in units or strategies at the pro level. These days, it seems that we’re seeing more conversations that focus on what’s happening at the league level directly - which we think could be related to a more visibly balanced pro scene. That’s good for us because, while we like seeing very solid results at the pro level, we are also always working towards a balanced experience across all skill levels. We will continue to pay close attention to both high level players and discussions within the community in order to continue pursuing this goal.
At this moment, it feels like we’re in a good spot when we look at the current state of the game from various angles. However, we are always on the look-out for new issues that could arise, checking our data, and gathering new feedback on a regular basis, and we’ll make adjustments to the game as needed.
Update: After reading the responses to this article, we’ve seen that a lot of players wanted us to elaborate on the current state of the terran versus protoss late game. Please join in the discussion on our forums.
Thank you for your continued support and valuable feedback!
Comments (206)
Going with a 50/50 is just wrong. Look at the games instead.
1. All the races are OP.
2. David Kim is a retard.
Man come on, if it's so boring working with SC2 balance, let some other artist have the job...
Most maps in SC2 are favored for terran. However, this does not mean there is something wrong with terran. Its simply the maps.
YES! the win ratio is pretty well balanced across all 3 races. But if a map is favored to one side, the win-ratio in the lower leagues gets all screwed up. Because players with minimal experience, cant think their way out of bad positions/situations. Grand masters usually think their way out of this, and therfor reaches an equilibrium, where the map no longer feels favored to one side.
Zerg = Likes open maps where they can spread out and get a sorround
Protos = Likes choke points where they can roll in their A-move deathball
Terran = Likes maps with ramps, choke points and easy dropable locations (they are pretty good in most situations)
And if you look at the map design of most maps. They all have lots of ramps, plateues/high positions, room for drops in bases. Which all comes into the terrans favor in the lower leagues. Because lower league players doesn't know how to take precautions to these mechanics.
Other problems in low leagues are as follows:
1. Micromanagement
2. Macro
3. Scouting
4. Expanding
5. Harassing
Most of these lower league players lose to inferior micro and macro. The only way to fix this, is to make micro and macro easier. Which also makes the game more fluent. However, this also ruins the fun of clicking obsessively like we've been doing since 98...
To make this easier for inexperienced players, you need GUI or HUD mechanics like you have in dota-like games. Games like DOTA2, HoN, LoL.
You need all your abilities/spells on one hand, instead of having to choose the unit with which you want to cast a spell, choose the spell and then click it on the ground.
This would probably ruin the uniqe feel that starcraft has had since 98. Spamming hotkeys, control groups, micro, macro... No other game can be played this way. And it would also ruin the skill cap for the game. However, games might also be alot more dynamic and entertaining, with this fluent motion.
I personally feel the difference is so small no race stands out as "OP" but if I was forced to say gun to my head I would say Terran and that's just because Marines are so dynamic and Siege are so powerful.
I also find it interesting that a lot of pros have different opinions, Stephano for example claims Protoss are easy to beat.
You'll all likely disagree and bring my rank into the argument but I was high platinum last season and I follow the scene heavily.
I hope one day we're going to see how this Kim guys plays because I am quite sure he can't win one little game, because he just can't understand how to play this game anyway.
Also, ur calling him bronze player, yet ur silver in 4v4. Team games are joke, no skill required. I'm just high plat in 1v1, yet masters in 2v2. Ur silver in 4v4 which is even easier. Ur probably even worse than bronze.
2. There is so many wrong, I don't know what to begin with.
Oh really, terran race has some upgrades like stim and can tech up to medivacs? IMBA!! It isnt fair to races like protoss, who have colossi or charge zelots or archons or even at least ONE single ht, who can destroy half of ur army with ONE single storm. Yeah and how can a terran player dare to build marines! Thats not fair, cause there are absolutely no counter units like infestors, banes, colossi or lets see... HTs! Yeah and mareuders rlly have dps like hell - or not?? Its not like zealots have no dps right? But at least their gas cost is balanced...
yeah and that scvs can repair buildings - come on, thats just ridiculous. Like Toss has no shields or zerg units dont heal themselves. And Pleeeeaaase tell me which terran can drop 100 MULES at a time. U rlly never seemed tp play this race... Yeah and last point: raven spells. There are massively upgrades and gas neccessary to do any damage with em - so the only oppurtunity to use them is in late game. And now its ur turn to tell me, what imbalanced units terra has in store for late game or is it just that every terran has to go with t1 units till the end??
P.S. im not telling terran is too weak - but its the most micro intensivest race when ur about to deal with imba units like hts etc.
in conclusion: terra is op cause just skilled people can play it ;)
There is one unit which comes out of the Factory and it is called '' The Thor '', try it in massive numbers (late game) then think then write a comment.
All the things you said, prove that you don't have a Diamond player knowledge about the game. And btw only a Bronze Terran would loose half of his army to a single Storm, prolly you confused it's DPS and Range with BroodWar.
Oh sorry I was confused, didnt think of a complete tech switch to thors against a race which just laughs about mech. But if u have a concept how to survive until late game doing this tech plz tell me. Btw has any toss the counter units instantly by the hand, cause everones playin chargelots, have at least 2 or more robos at this point of game and hts for feedback anyway. This just shows u really never played terra i guess...
And i didnt say I loose half of my army to one ht but when the protoss death ball arrives u rlly cant do much about it, unless u calles MKP with a 1000 apm. Only thing to do is destroying his eco while loosing ur army and hope that u can crush him with reinforcements so he cant rebuild himself. Believe me - every terran want things ending in mid game.
End of the discussion with Silver and Bronze Master Terran players.
*p.s. Just remember to hit '' L '' to lift your CC when chargelots are fighting against you or even to lift one of your other builtings during a battle to bug the opponent's units AI (showing zero self respect or respect about your opponent or the game).
Conclusion: everone who wants to talk about balancing this game has to be at least gm to have any idea whats going on. OR why is it, that there are still games in which terrans are losing to protoss players or are losing to zerg players when they are so op.
This game is balanced, end of discussion!