Okay, I really want to buy StarCraft II. 
 
I really do. 
 
And I know this is going to sound like a really stupid argument, but just hear me out. 
 
To be honest, I don't really want to buy this game unless the Zerg are fun to play as. I know that sounds incredibly stupid, but they are the only faction that really interests me in terms of multiplayer. I mean I'm interested in single player too, but I rarely go into games like this hoping to only get a good couple hours out of the single player. 
 
This is an investment god damn it. 
 
Okay so, here is my problem. I really want to play as the Zerg, but they look kind of like they suck. 
 
A lot. 
 
Don't fucking ask me why I don't want to play as the other factions. It has a lot to do with aesthetic and play style. I just like everything about the Zerg, and I'd really like to get a chance to learn how they play and dominate my opponents with their unique abilities. That just seems like it would be a genuinely interesting experience for me, and I tend to not have that sort of willingness to learn in games very often. I mean, I have a copy of Super Street Fighter IV that I pretty much gave up on because I just got to a point where I felt like it was impossible for me to get average.   
 
That's not a typo either. I could not even get to an average level of play.
 
But all that aside, the two other factions just don't interest me. I'm sure they are legitimately interesting in their own right, but i just don't really care.  
 
Let's get to the point. I've watched quite a few StarCraft II matches and I keep seeing the same thing happening over and over again. The Zerg appear to have no late game power at all. It's like their opponent just gets to a point where they can steam roll everything the Zerg may have built up with relative ease. I've seen matches where it seems like the Zerg player has the upper hand, but then he gets utterly demolished by a small army of powerful units. I mean is that just it? is it a waiting game? It just seems like one of those n00b lessons people learn before they start getting good. Shoot at your feet to rocket jump and turtle for fifteen minutes while the Zerg fail to kill you.
 
I am by no means a StarCraft expert, but there seems to be a pattern. I mean I can see that the Zerg is primarily an aggressive faction, but it seems like the match has been decided as soon as the other player gets an adequate defense up. I remember hearing quite a few times that the Zerg were rarely used during the Beta, but I've come to expect a lot from Blizzard in terms of balance. There are always a few kinks in a system, but not to a degree at which one of three factions is completely useless. 
 
Someone just fucking explain this game to me.

I'm not a zerg player online, but some people in the professional circles do say that zerg is the weakest of the 3 races.   Why this is said, I don't really know, but I am starting to hear that people are starting to use more crazy tactics such as queens and ultralisks as a late game push.
 
It is very possible to win games with tier 2 units though.  Hydras are really good.  Broodlords are good if you opponent isn't going air, or has ground units with weak anti air.

I don't see zerg as a "weaker" race in particular, but they do seem like a harder race to play well. Maybe I just don't understand them or something, but from the little I've tried them they seem.. confusing.   
That said, I have been beaten by zerg several times, so they are possible to play.

I can't imagine the game is going to stay in it's current state of balance.
 
Also, you should totally get it, and become known the world around for being the "Ultralisk Wrangler". Seriously I think I might have seen one replay with an ultralisk in it, but that was probably a dream.

I'd say buy it and get real good at Zerg. If there is a major balance flaw somewhere I'm sure Blizzard will snuff it out eventually. Zerg are deadly when in the right hands, for sure. They'd never let one race become "completely useless", as you say, so don't worry too much about it! You're missing out on one hell of a multiplayer experience =)

" I can't imagine the game is going to stay in it's current state of balance.  Also, you should totally get it, and become known the world around for being the "Ultralisk Wrangler". Seriously I think I might have seen one replay with an ultralisk in it, but that was probably a dream. "

They are my hardest race to play, but they are the race that I'm trying my hardest to be good at. I just love how fast they can react to whatever you opponent is doing. All I can say from my experience is that, if you thought scouting was important for SC 2, it is doubly so for Zerg. That makes them really fun for me.

The Zerg are fun and I've had a few consistent wins with them in the league matches, more than the other races. People may say they're the weakest, but they make units faster and have some real nasty abilities.

You really should not listen to the naysayers.  Remember when Justin Wong said Adon was the weakest of the new warriors in SSF4?  And then he LOST to one? 
 
I don't play anymore because I didn't like the Roach nerf, but they are still a very powerful race to play, they're just also a very HARD race to play.  You need to macro big time, with constant spawn larva and exspantions every moment you can.  Zerg players win by out massing their opponents in a swarm of units, and then building another army and ramming at their opponent again until they're all DEAD.

I hate all Zerg players. 
 
Anyway, you should definitely get StarCraft 2. Everything is balanced almost perfectly. It's addicting too, like crack.

Zerg is a great race to play, its really all I use, and if you have been seeing videos of people playing Zerg getting stomped, then they clearly were not matched well. The Zerg can be very powerful if you play them correctly, here's a link to a guy who has some very good and some interesting strats for Zerg. Starcraft2dude I hope this helps!

" Zerg isn't the hardest race, they are just the most different. Apart from some tiny differences, Terran and Protoss build their infrastructure in a very similar way. Whereas zerg is radically different in just about every way. The only bad thing about zerg, which I know from first hand experience in Brood War, is that it's alot harder to go back and learn how to play the other 2 races if zerg is the only race you've ever played extensively, for the reasons I previously mentioned.  That said, a Zerg player, Idra, just won what was probably the biggest SC2 tournament so far, so they definately aren't that bad. "

I play the zerg a lot, and here's the thing, the zerg are hard to play well.
The reason is twofold, one is more due to mechanics, the other one is due to the testing for the game.
As you may or may not know, the Koreans prefer playing as the zerg more than any other race. Because the zerg have so many units and because of the way zerg units spawn out of larva, the zerg are best for people with high APM. 
During beta testing the Koreans kept saying one thing: the zerg are op. And indeed, they were... if you were Korean. Their intense micro squeezed every last drop of potential out of the zerg and left other races whose apm capped out earlier (because there were simply not enough units to be clicking on) in the dust.
 
Of course, you and I are not korean, which means that without that incredible micro the zerg can appear very, very weak. Playing as zerg means you must be moving at a breakneck pace, constantly spending and clicking. Otherwise, even a silver league player can beat you.
 
So that's the short version of what you're getting into if you want to play zerg. They can be played very effectively, and at high levels they are on par if not better than the other races. But at lower levels they feel weaker than they should be.

I'm pretty sure that of the last 10 or so matches I've played, at least 5 or 6 have been against Zerg players.  That said, those matches do generally end in the first tier, whether I win or lose.

" @sixghost said:

" Zerg isn't the hardest race, they are just the most different. Apart from some tiny differences, Terran and Protoss build their infrastructure in a very similar way. Whereas zerg is radically different in just about every way. The only bad thing about zerg, which I know from first hand experience in Brood War, is that it's alot harder to go back and learn how to play the other 2 races if zerg is the only race you've ever played extensively, for the reasons I previously mentioned.  That said, a Zerg player, Idra, just won what was probably the biggest SC2 tournament so far, so they definately aren't that bad. "

They are the hardest race to win at, because none of their units are as powerful as the other races.  If a decently sized army of Zerg meet the same of a Terran or Toss player, they lose.  Zerg are forced to play aggressively the entire game against every other race.  Add that to the kind of annoying "Spawn Larva" mechanic that forces them to return to their bases to spawn it every few moments, which requires a higher APM then Mules or a Toss's Chrono boost, and it ends up being a lot harder to win with.  IF you can get all these things together though, they can dominate. "

You can see IdrA vs Tester, the finals of the King of the Beta tournament to see late game Zerg stomp over Protoss.

" You can see IdrA vs Tester, the finals of the King of the Beta tournament to see late game Zerg stomp over Protoss. "

" @SamDrugbringer said:

" @sixghost said:

" Zerg isn't the hardest race, they are just the most different. Apart from some tiny differences, Terran and Protoss build their infrastructure in a very similar way. Whereas zerg is radically different in just about every way. The only bad thing about zerg, which I know from first hand experience in Brood War, is that it's alot harder to go back and learn how to play the other 2 races if zerg is the only race you've ever played extensively, for the reasons I previously mentioned.  That said, a Zerg player, Idra, just won what was probably the biggest SC2 tournament so far, so they definately aren't that bad. "

They are the hardest race to win at, because none of their units are as powerful as the other races.  If a decently sized army of Zerg meet the same of a Terran or Toss player, they lose.  Zerg are forced to play aggressively the entire game against every other race.  Add that to the kind of annoying "Spawn Larva" mechanic that forces them to return to their bases to spawn it every few moments, which requires a higher APM then Mules or a Toss's Chrono boost, and it ends up being a lot harder to win with.  IF you can get all these things together though, they can dominate. "

That doesn't mean Zerg is harder to play with. It just means you can't employ the same type of strategies as Terran and Protoss. Zerg units are more mobile than the other 2 races for a reason, you have to learn to play hit & run to buy time for your expansions to get up. Also, ultralisks. "

"And then you can watch Masq stomp over Idra with little difficulty.

twice. "

"The Zerg appear to have no late game power at all. It's like their opponent just gets to a point where they can steam roll everything the Zerg may have built up with relative ease.  "

" @sixghost said:

" @SamDrugbringer said:

" @sixghost said:

" Zerg isn't the hardest race, they are just the most different. Apart from some tiny differences, Terran and Protoss build their infrastructure in a very similar way. Whereas zerg is radically different in just about every way. The only bad thing about zerg, which I know from first hand experience in Brood War, is that it's alot harder to go back and learn how to play the other 2 races if zerg is the only race you've ever played extensively, for the reasons I previously mentioned.  That said, a Zerg player, Idra, just won what was probably the biggest SC2 tournament so far, so they definately aren't that bad. "

They are the hardest race to win at, because none of their units are as powerful as the other races.  If a decently sized army of Zerg meet the same of a Terran or Toss player, they lose.  Zerg are forced to play aggressively the entire game against every other race.  Add that to the kind of annoying "Spawn Larva" mechanic that forces them to return to their bases to spawn it every few moments, which requires a higher APM then Mules or a Toss's Chrono boost, and it ends up being a lot harder to win with.  IF you can get all these things together though, they can dominate. "

That doesn't mean Zerg is harder to play with. It just means you can't employ the same type of strategies as Terran and Protoss. Zerg units are more mobile than the other 2 races for a reason, you have to learn to play hit & run to buy time for your expansions to get up. Also, ultralisks. "

It is exactly what it means.  I'm not saying the Zerg don't have the tools to win.  They do.  It's just harder for them to win then a Terran player who can pretty much just take his natural expand, and roll over players with a Bio ball with some Siege tank support. "