After playing ~60 games I ended 2nd place in Silver League. 
 
 though i think the verdict is still out on how the pro scene is going to adopt to it, i think its a big step in the right direction for iccup players below B.  after that, balance issues and the lack of some of the finer details of base micro management will be more prevalent, at least for the first year or two.

many aspects of base management have been simplified which allows you to concentrate more on unit compositon, strategies, tactics, etc.  there have been numerous changes to the ai which make the game less frustrating and less babysitter sim. the game handles armies getting through chokes and also makes improvements to battle ai as well.  for example, zealot bombs are less effective on tanks because there is no overkill.  in sc1, if one zealot is dropped among tanks, ALL tanks fire at it, thus doing enough dmg to obliterate any tanks that are nearby.  in sc2, tanks only do enough dmg to kill the zealot.

it feels like strategies have calmed down a bit which allows more things to be viable.  medics are gone, but bio healing is now done by the dropship which is more expensive and a significantly higher tech.  makes you think a bit about using stim when you've got no support.  there are clearer counters to carriers.  scan energy is now shared with an ability which adds a significant resource boost.  and there are simply a lot more choices to make.  for example in sc1 tvp, theres always going to be some combination of tanks, vultures, and possibly gols.  a lot of the strategy depends on what build you open with, ie 14 cc or 1 base 2 fact. bio is not really an option.  in sc2 there are a few bio units that are very useful and in some cases neccessary.  some of the casters have bigger rolls and terran has two viable air options outside of drops!
 
strangely, a few abilities have seemed to switch races! as mentioned, the zealot bombs are gone, but now zerg has baneling bombs.  revers are gone, but raven's have the seeker missile which has the same high splash damage.  a welcome mix-up in addition to keeping the game familiar yet fresh.

i also feel like things are decent balance wise. i haven't noticed any clear inbalances, especially at a non-pro skill level.  its also easy on the system, and i feel like it may even run on most computers. 
 
a few notes on battle.net 2.0.  there have been a ton of complaints about no chat rooms and no cross-realm play.  personally, chat rooms are not going to be missed by me.  i play sc with a few friends and then randomly on iccup or bnet.  i'm not a member of a clan and normally don't add people i play online to my friends list.  i don't expect to be hindered by bnet 2.0, and am excited by the matchmaking system.  For the beta, most games were competitive.  i also believe blizzard when they say they will add chatrooms for groups and clans later, which will hopefully be able to fill the need that most people are asking for.  i think not adding cross-realm play is a mistake.  blizzard says its because of lag, and thats great and all, but there should be a way to change it.  i'm fine if it was hidden from the casual user, but there should be a way to edit the registry or a file to enable it.  blizzard has quite a special game on their hands in the way it appeals to many different cultures with different skill levels.  its a shame for those who take the game a bit more seriously than i do to not be able to compete on an international level.  i think theres a lot more to gain and a little bit of lag is a justifiable loss.

After playing ~60 games I ended 2nd place in Silver League. 
 
 though i think the verdict is still out on how the pro scene is going to adopt to it, i think its a big step in the right direction for iccup players below B.  after that, balance issues and the lack of some of the finer details of base micro management will be more prevalent, at least for the first year or two.

many aspects of base management have been simplified which allows you to concentrate more on unit compositon, strategies, tactics, etc.  there have been numerous changes to the ai which make the game less frustrating and less babysitter sim. the game handles armies getting through chokes and also makes improvements to battle ai as well.  for example, zealot bombs are less effective on tanks because there is no overkill.  in sc1, if one zealot is dropped among tanks, ALL tanks fire at it, thus doing enough dmg to obliterate any tanks that are nearby.  in sc2, tanks only do enough dmg to kill the zealot.

it feels like strategies have calmed down a bit which allows more things to be viable.  medics are gone, but bio healing is now done by the dropship which is more expensive and a significantly higher tech.  makes you think a bit about using stim when you've got no support.  there are clearer counters to carriers.  scan energy is now shared with an ability which adds a significant resource boost.  and there are simply a lot more choices to make.  for example in sc1 tvp, theres always going to be some combination of tanks, vultures, and possibly gols.  a lot of the strategy depends on what build you open with, ie 14 cc or 1 base 2 fact. bio is not really an option.  in sc2 there are a few bio units that are very useful and in some cases neccessary.  some of the casters have bigger rolls and terran has two viable air options outside of drops!
 
strangely, a few abilities have seemed to switch races! as mentioned, the zealot bombs are gone, but now zerg has baneling bombs.  revers are gone, but raven's have the seeker missile which has the same high splash damage.  a welcome mix-up in addition to keeping the game familiar yet fresh.

i also feel like things are decent balance wise. i haven't noticed any clear inbalances, especially at a non-pro skill level.  its also easy on the system, and i feel like it may even run on most computers. 
 
a few notes on battle.net 2.0.  there have been a ton of complaints about no chat rooms and no cross-realm play.  personally, chat rooms are not going to be missed by me.  i play sc with a few friends and then randomly on iccup or bnet.  i'm not a member of a clan and normally don't add people i play online to my friends list.  i don't expect to be hindered by bnet 2.0, and am excited by the matchmaking system.  For the beta, most games were competitive.  i also believe blizzard when they say they will add chatrooms for groups and clans later, which will hopefully be able to fill the need that most people are asking for.  i think not adding cross-realm play is a mistake.  blizzard says its because of lag, and thats great and all, but there should be a way to change it.  i'm fine if it was hidden from the casual user, but there should be a way to edit the registry or a file to enable it.  blizzard has quite a special game on their hands in the way it appeals to many different cultures with different skill levels.  its a shame for those who take the game a bit more seriously than i do to not be able to compete on an international level.  i think theres a lot more to gain and a little bit of lag is a justifiable loss.

I only briefly played it as I only got into the beta quite late.  However, my impressions of it were really positive.  I had never played starcraft 1 but am familiar with the blizzard rts style having played tons of WC3 so learning was difficult but I think the matchmaking system really helped me learn to play by putting me against other new players.  This beta has definitely convinced me to buy the full game come july

its only a question of when. starcraft 2 is the next big game for competitive gaming. there's no doubt about that.

Not buying. Region locking mulitplayer is about as low as anyone can get. Fuck SC2.