To put everyone on the same page, let’s take a look at what Blizzard has changed during the patch of 1.2.

PROTOSS
Buildings
-Nexus life and shields increased from 750/750 to 1000/1000.

Void Ray
-Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored).
-Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored).
-Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703.

TERRAN

Buildings

-Barracks requirement changed from Command Center to Supply Depot.
-Supply Depot life increased from 350 to 400.

Medivac
-Acceleration reduced from 2.315 to 2.25.
-Speed reduced from 2.75 to 2.5.

Reaper
-Nitro Packs speed upgrade now has a Factory Requirement.

Thor
-Energy bar removed.
-250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown available (useable immediately after upgrade is researched).

ZERG
Buildings
-Hatchery life increased from 1250 to 1500.
-Lair life increased from 1800 to 2000.
-Spawning Pool life increased from 750 to 1000.
-Spire life increased from 600 to 850.
-Ultralisk Cavern life increased from 600 to 850.

Corruptor
-Energy bar removed.
-Corruption is now cooldown-based on a 45-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown expired (must wait for full 45-second cycle before usable).

Infestor
-Fungal Growth now prevents Blink.

Roach
-Range increased from 3 to 4.

Bug Fixes

-Fixed an issue where players could not cast the Feedback spell on Point Defense Drones.
-Fixed an issue where the Phoenix would continue to channel Graviton Beam after the target died.
-Fixed an issue that would cause Larvae to spawn and be hidden behind Zerg eggs.
-Fixed an issue where players were unable to navigate to the Single Player page or watch replays after canceling map downloads from the queue.
-Fixed a desync that could occur on user-created maps with custom mod dependencies.

The Health buff to the buildings is made to make it more difficult for a few units to do building snipes such as Marauders, Void Rays and Thors. Zerg especially was very fragile with their very low health for construction time. That is an acceptable change

Void Rays took a nerf in overall attack power while getting a slight buff in initial uncharged attack power. It makes them less gimmicky and it certainly helps Terrans against a strong build of 3 Gateway Stargate opening. Still, they aren’t cheap and take time to build. They certainly aren’t as damage crazy in its charged mode but now not as useless when it isn’t. Is this change good or bad? I can’t truly say, I leave that to the Starcraft mathematicians to confirm it. The Speed upgrade has been nerfed as well. This is primarily due to team games such as 3v3s and 4v4s where one Protoss has the potential to mass void rays. It doesn’t happen so in 1v1s or 2v2s. As a non regular Protoss, I don’t have a say on how it will affect 2v2 since in 1v1, void rays are very difficult to mass without dying in the process.

Medivacs being slower is something I can live with. It’ll help players detect drops easier and also it allows medivacs to stay apace easier with the Terran bio army instead of flying too fast far ahead and get shot. Now, the Terran vs Zerg matchup has taken a major hit for Terran. Terran Reaper speed upgrade is now at factory tech. This completely nullifies the 3 Rax Reaper opening since Reaper speed is essential. Speedlings previously can fight against reapers quite decently provided they are at small numbers. Now with this, Reapers get killed, bad. Zerg now has no worries about reapers.

Bye Bye to Reapers

Zerg also has taken a large number of buffs. Roach range is increased by one, making both Terrans and Protoss openings a lot more difficult. A Forge Fast Expand opening by Protoss and Terran’s Reactor Hellion opening can be tossed into the garbage bin. Roaches can now target cannons hiding behind buildings and Hellions can no longer use their range advantage to micro about against roaches. Roaches now perform better in the midgame due to better concave of attack which leads to higher army damage. Worst of all is one change.

Reactor Hellions are now not very efficient

Zerg has a stronger man, uhh i mean roach

Terran has now lost its teeth for early aggression. The supply depot is now a requirement before building a barracks. This is what’s really causing the rage among players of all races. Terran now has no aggressive openings to keep a player honest. In Terran vs Zerg, Zerg can free expand without worries of a proxy Barracks Reaper. Terran in SC1 has been lacking a non all in aggressive option in early game. Hence, Zergs and sometimes Protoss can fast expand and still defend relatively fine. Now, Terran has to stick to standard openings and non early aggression builds. Terran will be as of their predecessor, dependent on timing attacks.

What about Thors and Corruptors? I suppose they’re a buff and make them a bit less hazardous against Protoss’s Feedback ability. It is now up to the player’s desire and capability of using those un-energized abilities cost efficiently that will bring victory or defeat.

Blizzard had stated that their emphasis for this patch is for team game balance. That alone creates a problem. Team games are very difficult to balance. Three races can already create a myriad of possibilities that it is extremely difficult to balance for all cases. It was noted that a Reaper, Bunker rush and combined proxy of players is totally un-defendable. One player can never take on more than one player especially in the early game, let alone three. It would depend on other teammates to force them back or to exert retribution to the other players with their own forces.

What Blizzard needs to do is to be more careful with so many changes. The Supply Depot requirement really puts Terran back in terms of early game aggressive capability. Everyone hated it and it certainly kills a style of lethal aggressive proxy play that is important for mind games especially in a best of series.