Starcraft II Coop: The game inside the game.

[Thomas Cardew]

Without PvP being a factor I don't see how a class can be too strong. The need for balance is much lower, if you don't like a particular commander you just don't play that one.

It’s that there’s a finite amount of content. Certain commanders can clear most/ all of it way too fast leaving the other player nothing to do. Which feels horrible for that person. A speedrunning Dehaka can clear Void Thrashing in 11 minutes on one base against Protoss. A DT only Vorazun can do it solo in 12-14. Kerrigan on Rifts to Korhal is also absurdly fast. Even on slower maps like the Mist Opportunities a good Deheka or Zeratul can clear the map and kill all the waves in 2 different locations on spawn in.When I played a lot more, I’ve had games on Temple as H&H where I’ve cleared the whole map, done all three bonuses, killed every thresher on spawn, and killed half+ of my partner’s waves while taking no temple damage. For slower commanders/ ones without movement abilities/ newer players who don’t have spawn points/times memorized, you can literally be running in circles and never get to fight anything because it’s dead before your army gets there. Again, that feels horrible.

Swann has a fantastic AoE ground presence with just HercTank. He has plenty of power, the only problem is with how fast you're capable of getting a full 1 Herc / 8 Tank combo. He has good burst DPS when it matters and refineries are a direct synergy to particularly gas-hungry commanders like Vorazun. Laser Drill has two different map wipes and it can even snipe objectives down. Swann has a ton of power, he's just not much of a speedrunner, but even his vaunted slow ramp-up isn't that problematic if you can micro your first Herc well, also ARES helps him move out and contribute greatly. Also, Goliath / Vessel is very A-move friendly if you'd rather do that, although Goliath / Vessel is also really slow in comparison.

This. Swann has ton of power, it’s just dependent on both your micro and macro. Herc/Tank/Goliath is a pretty ridiculous combo. 1-3 Herc’s full of tanks wrecks most everything, and the ability to pick up and set down the tanks in siege mode means they shouldn’t be taking damage. Goliaths have ridiculous anti-objective DPS against Rifts/Threshers because once you get dual targeting they hit with both weapons on the same target.

Swann also has one of the fastest expansions on rock maps. I forget the optimal order but basically, 2 scvs at 13/14 to build your first supply depot, 4 scvs right after to make factory, same 4 scvs to build 2 antiarmor turrets to kill the rocks, same 4 scvs start command center pull 4 more from your main when it’s about half way, salvage the turrets at no cost when the rocks are dead. This gets your expansion up before Tychus has even spawned. If your ally was fast about their gas you can even have enough to immediately drop an armory to be able to upgrade your laser when it spawns, which means you’ll have your beam to clear certain hard waves at breakpoints.

On the other hand, if you aren’t great at micro and lose tanks early, or are slow on expanding and macro, or forgot to upgrade your drill, you can be behind a key moments and take more loses and just spiral down.

Thors are, for the most part, a subpar unit. They're decent anti-ground units, but you already have Tanks, so why bother? Missile Barrage doesn't work very well and Thors also take up so much space they reduce your army's overall DPS.

Yeah Thors are a niche unit, 2/4/6/8 can work well on certain maps/comps but that’s you really should never need more than 8 at the LATE game. 2-4 are nice to drop infest banshees on Miner Evac due to their range and anti-light air damage. 4-8 can be useful if the enemy comp is void rays and AMAZING if you have a Vorazun ally, black hole the enemy voids rays shoot 1-2 times and the whole wave is dead. Outside of those, targeted attacks with mass goliaths work better.

On DoN, if Tanks aren't working out for you (and they're really good there, IMO), try out Wraiths! Your minerals can all go into Betties as you build up Starports at home. With Pulse Amplifier upgrade and some care, you can keep hit'n'running buildings and avoid harm. You can also snipe annoyances like Spotters.

Mass Wraiths are a TON of fun IMO. You’ll want to keep microing them because they get a 300% boost while moving, so constantly re positioning them means you snipe buildings in 1 volley. 3 Starports with reactors is all you’ll need to burn your income though.

H&H had some significant problems with Horner's units and mag mines that were changed fairly early on, IIRC.
and yes, Stetmann was changed because he was literally rendering the game unplayable for many people.

Yeah, H&H got buffed SIGNIFICANTLY right after release. Here's the patch notes from about 2 weeks later. From memory, mines were really bad, the long arming timer and trigger timer meant you basically HAD to place them on a building to kill anything. Most early waves of zealots/zerglings/marines would be past the mines before they triggered and they'd miss completely. Han's units were made of thinner paper so you were basically always better off using reapers. (Hellbat HP basically doubled! from 135 to 235 in that patch) Most of Horner's units got a damage buff and supply increase. Strike fighters had to get a major speed buff because they were getting shot down.

I'm still annoyed at the whole Blizzard-China fiasco and have been somewhat adamant in not supporting their player numbers but the thread made me crave Starcraft more again so if you're on EU and need help with the current Brutation I will make an exception just for you because I love you. :v

Seconded. Because of the China thing, I’m basically done paying for anything Blizzard puts out at this point. So I’ll never buy Abathur/Nova/Zera’tul/Stetmann. But I’ll keep playing to enjoy the stuff I’ve already bought and drive down their effective monetization numbers. I'm NA though.