So this game is coming out tomorrow and I just haven't seen the kind of marketing I expected behind it. In fact, it seems to be coming out very quietly. What is going on? Is it because it's an expansion?

Right here *zip*!

Also.

Nailed it.

I get the feeling (based on very little evidence) that I'm in the minority here. But I'm considering not even buying HotS, because I'm a single player Starcraft player and I could not have less interest as a single player campaign dedicated entirely to the zerg.

HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE!

IT'S COMING OUT TOMORROW?

That's funny because they did an unboxing on unprofessional Fridays and it didn't even click with me. I'm completely over Starcraft. Even though I've never really got into it other than finishing the single player campaign and doing a hand full of multiplayer games.

You're right, there's been no hype for it at all. I wonder if it has to do with people tiring of Blizzard (probably over analyzing it, but still...)

I'll play it. I can't say I'm too hyped about it though- I'm interested in the single player, but I've been interested in it for almost 3 years now, and hype just can't sustain itself for that long.

There is none or at least very little. We have some preorders at work, but nothing like say Wings of Liberty, Diablo 3 or even Cataclysm. Most of the time when people come in and talk about upcoming Blizzard stuff, it's self-loathing WoW players who keep buying their games because all their friends do. I have barely heard anyone talk about Heart of the Swarm until today, despite Blizzard doing their best to bombard us with marketing materials.

http://www.twitch.tv/

112k people watching HOTS. Also I guess lots of people got on early because of the global region. I've been playing campaign all morning.

*Mumble-mumble* Team-Brad.

The issue is that it took them over two and a half damn years to make this expansion. That's too damn long, when this seems to add about as many units and campaign missions as something like Brood War, yet is taking like triple the time that Brood War did to develop. I'm fine with Blizzard (and Valve) taking their time on new projects, but they're fucking awful at expansions/DLC, because by the time it comes out, all momentum is lost.

Just because you got bored of waiting doesn't mean everyone else has.

Are you really comparing game developing from 15 years ago to now?

Do we need hype though? I'm on board for it, hype or not.

the esports monster is eating up all the hype

and shitting out hype for league

@winternet said:

Sure, Brood War came out 6 months after launch of original Starcraft, and that sort of timeframe is not realistic for modern game development.

But the 2.666 years between Wings of Liberty, and Heart of the Swarm, a glorified expansion pack, is pretty fucking ridiculous. It should've been coming out this time (or summer) last year.

They are marketing but I imagine it's relatively small scale and extremely targeted. The people that care about SC already know about HOTS, they only need to know when it's out and what to expect.

What do you suppose they were doing with that extra time, spinning their wheels? Do you really think the Blizzard dev process is so full of bloat that it artificially protracted development for an extra year? Or are you saying that they should have compromised on balance and design and just shoved whatever they had complete a year ago out the door?

@bisonhero: Blizzard took their time on HoTS because they didn't want it to be a shitty product. At this time last year, Wings of Liberty was just peaking, in terms of E-sports/multiplayer. I agree with you from a standpoint of the campaign, but overall, it wouldn't make sense for blizzard to release an expansion when E-Sports was already so big in WoL, especially because of the kespa players were making the switch last year as well. Basically they took their time because 1. Taking longer on a game = (in general) better game 2. No reason for blizzard to rush production

Took too long and unless they reneged you don't actually have to buy it to impact multiplayer at all. They also effectively killed the best two characters in one cutscene at the end of WoL (though they're obviously retreading on at least one of them quite a bit; I'm assuming Tychus will be infested and then somehow become a protoss for the third campaign in 2016 to retread on the other). For multiplayer it's just a big patch, for single player it could well be awesome or it could be only pretty good; don't really see it falling far below that but they'd have to do quite a lot to retrieve the original intrigue of the actual plot.

Everyone who was hyped is playing it right now. :D

Multiplayer... just a big patch lol. Do you even play the multi player?

@bisonhero: You have to realize that the team didn't just went to work on HOTS after shipping Starcraft II. Some of that team had to work on WOL pretty much until a couple of months ago. So it's not like they spent 2 and a half years just working on HOTS. Also, launching HOTS basically means WOL numbers drop like crazy, so it makes sense they don't want to put that game under the bus just like that.

I dunno. I'm still pretty hyped for the full box set, all expansions, with an offline and LAN mode. I figure 2025 or so I'll get into some starcraft again. Patience.

And that battlechest will still be selling reasonably well in stores in 2045.

I don't quite understand your point.

I'm stoked now. Like Brad I didn't get excited until about last week and have spent the majority of that time replaying SC2. I like the campaign even if its ridiculously stupid. Also I don't give a crap about the multiplayer so more single player SC is fine by me. Now if only that protoss expansion could come a little faster so that I can finally play my favorite race as the true heroes of the galaxy.

@haffy: I mean in the sense that you don't have to purchase it, at least as initially advertised. There's certainly no unit as huge as medics and lurkers if you want an old comparison. I was Diamond within a few days of the launch of SC2, got bored. Won a few 3v3 matches 1v3 though, that was kind of fun.

@fredchuckdave: If you play it pretty regularly it's a must. The new units add a lot of different timings and options to harass and defend. Detection is much more needed than in WoL for all races. Old units roles changed and combined with the new ones, it just feels completely different. Also not to mention every tournament will be playing HOTS now. I think for anyone that keeps up with the game it kind of is a must have, not just some throw away expansion.

@haffy: Ah, the way it was initially advertised you could buy any of the three games/expansions and play current multiplayer with all of the new units at any point thereafter, I'm guessing they did away with that at some point (which makes sense, but it was a nice PR thing originally).

@fredchuckdave: I don't recall Blizzard ever saying that -- it would be a foolish business move. Quotes please.

@dahnosaur: It was 3-4 years ago at this point, reasonably easy for that to disappear (maybe one of the Blizzcon's). It wasn't particularly obscure information. I thought it was a dumb business decision at the time as well, but it was kind of nice albeit I'm much more interested in the singleplayer until Panzer-Kavalier and the like quit their jobs, refuse indy games, and are forced to go through the shitty popularity system to get their maps recognized; yeah that ain't happening.

Edit: From a brief browse I gather it was Blizzcon 2008; go look through those videos if you like.

I have one friend who only place SCII and League and the etc, and he basically yawned when I asked about HoS, so, I dunno. As an outsider looking in it seems to be very "ladder players only everyone else GTFO!".

Oh well, back to DII!

@dahnosaur said:

Originally, they definitely touted the three SC2 parts as standalone things of equal value, as if there was some theoretical player who just wouldn't buy Wings of Liberty because they aren't interested in playing the Terran campaign and would instead only buy the Zerg and Protoss games. Of course, even at the time, that sounded like pie-in-the-sky nonsense, and they just stopped saying it after a while.

I have to imagine part of it is the whole "it's cool to hate Blizzard club" thing that's all the rage nowadays.

I've been excited for this since finishing the Wings of Liberty campaign (I'm not into multiplayer). It's too bad some people seem to dislike the story and general campaign stuff. Their loss I guess, and my loss for not being into the multiplayer.

Anyway, fingers crossed for a campaign at least as good as the WoL one, if not better. This being an expansion, I'm worried it won't be as good for whatever reason.

I think there's a ton of hype, but it's targeted at existing SC2 players, seeing as it is an expansion and all. If you still follow SC2 pretty closely, then there are events everywhere. It's just been pretty focused marketing.

Also like kishinfoulux said, if you want to be cool hipster gamer these days, you have to hate Blizzard for no real reason.

Seems like people were disappointed with the balance in the beta for some reason so that could also be a part of it.

I'll get it eventually.

Better then the humans, they have always been the least interesting of the 3 imo. Still, shitty choice imo to break the game into solo campaigns.

guise i picked up a sixer of hype on the way home so i figured we could share it as we wait this last half hour.

I pre-ordered. I wouldn't say I'm hyped, but I'm going to play it and enjoy it. It's Starcraft.

I'm fucking hyped to put Brood Lord + Infestor behind us. Seriously... Fuck WoL Zerg over the past year. What a huge bore that was.

i should have posted this before, but it's still appropriate while we wait. johnny is OG.

HYPE

@john1912: I always prefer to play humans because I can relate to them, but Blizzard always opens with humans in their campaigns because they always get shafted.

This whole day was 24 hours of pure hype. I really enjoyed the live stream of events all around the world, and I'm very excited to see more of the impact that Heart of the Swarm will have. It's an exciting time for any StarCraft fan! :)