That’s correct folks. The SC2 beta shall stay online until June 7th now, so make sure you take advantage of this because once the servers go down, they won’t be back up for at least a couple of weeks. For more information, check out this link:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=25135304348&sid=5000

Hey guys,

Patch 13 has been having issues since it came out. I haven’t been able to join or create games on Battle.net and so have some of my friends. It seems all the servers are being used up constantly.

Patch 13 enabled the publishing of StarCraft II Maps. This means you can have up to 20 MB worth of Maps and Mods you can upload to your SCII Account, and once published anyone can use your mod or play your map even when you’re not online. Pretty cool. Except it’s probably linked to why all the servers went haywire.

At any rate, this article here talks about the issues with publishing maps and how to get around it.

One last thing to mention if it was mentioned on here before. Blizzard announced a little while ago that the Beta will be having downtime on Battle.net for a few weeks starting May 31st. This means you can still play maps by loading them through the map editor, but you cannot play online until they have finished.

Patch 13 is now out for the SC2 beta and man, there are a  ton of changes, both to battle.net and the units.  Here’s what’s new/changed:

General

• Map Publishing is now enabled: Using the map editor, you can upload your custom maps to share with the Battle.net community.
• Facebook feature is integrated: Here’s a quick way to expand your social network by seeing who among your existing Facebook friends also has a Battle.net account.
• 3v3 and 4v4 formats are now enabled.
• Numerous updates have been made to the Leagues & Ladders system:
  • Removed Copper League and added Diamond League above Platinum League.
  • Player ratings start at 0, rather than 1000.
  • No longer displays loading screen odds in placement or practice league matches.
  • Matchmaking system logic updated.
• UDP is enabled to help improve game performance.
• Numerous performance and stability improvements.

Balance Changes

• PROTOSS
  • Sentry
    • Force Fields can now be destroyed by Massive ground units walking over them.
  • Void Ray
    • Range decreased from 7 to 6.
  • Warp Gate
    • Subgroup selection priority changed from 2 to 3 so that it takes priority over Gateways when selected.

• TERRAN
  • Marine
    • Stimpack research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.
    • Combat Shield research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.

• ZERG
  • Infestor
    • Infested Terran spell removed.
    • Frenzy spell added:
      • Costs 25 energy.
      • Targets a single biological unit which deals 25% more damage and is immune to snare, stuns, and mind control for 30 seconds.
  • Overseer
    • Contaminate spell added:
      • Costs 75 energy.
      • Targets a single enemy structure which cannot train units or research upgrades for 30 seconds.
    • Infested Terran spell added:
      • Costs 125 energy.
      • Infested Terrans have the same stats as those previously created by the Infestor and are placed directly under the Overseer when spawned.
  • Ultralisk
    • Life decreased from 600 to 450.
    • Damage changed from 25 to 15 (+25 Armored).
    • Damage versus structures increased from 60 to 75.

Hotkey Changes (English Only):

• Zerg Set Worker Rally Point changed from R to G.
• Zerg Spore Crawler changed from W to A to avoid conflict with the Select All Warp Gates hotkey.

Battle.net Interface

• Revamped summary pages for player Profiles and Leagues & Ladders.
• Added a Help system with tech trees and other tips and tricks.
• Removed identifier from the character naming process and added the ability to refer friends for invitation into your party or lobby.
• Updated the Battle.net user interface to consistently use a nested menu system.
• Added in-game blocking and player muting.

Out of all the changes that took place here, the infested terran ability being used by the overseer blows my mind the most.  I really don’t see the reason to remove it from the infestor, but at least it’ll make the overseer a bit more useful now.

For the Blizzard official patch notes, go here:  http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316&postId=250240003971&sid=5000#16

Not too many changes/updates in this patch, but at least they fixed the sc2 beta not exiting issue.  Now if only they could do something about those overpowered void rays……

Here are the notes:

Balance Changes

• PROTOSS
  • Forge
    • Build time increased from 35 to 45.
    • Life and shield values decreased from 550/550 to 400/400.
  • Mothership
    • Vortex now removes Force Fields within its area of effect.
• TERRAN
  • Thor
    • Radius decreased from 1.375 to 0.8125.
    • Model size reduced to match new radius.
• ZERG
  • Roach
    • Supply count increased from 1 to 2.

User Interface

• Several Hotkey changes have been made (German client only).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a crash which sometimes occurred when quitting the program.

As usual, you can find the latest patch info on blizzard’s site through this link:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316&postId=246999546978&sid=5000#14

Time for all the SC2 beta players to get their patch on again because Blizzard has just released their 11th patch! Let’s see what has changed in this patch….

Balance Changes

TERRAN

• Battlecruiser
  • The build time has been decreased from 110 to 90.
• Fusion Core
  • The build time has been decreased from 80 to 65.
• Hellion
  • The range has been increased from 5 to 6.
• Planetary Fortress
  • The splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.
• Raven
  • Seeker Missile range has been decreased from 9 to 6.
  • Seeker Missile splash radius has been decreased from 2.4 to 2.
  • Seeker Missile upgrade no longer requires Fusion Core.
• Siege Tank
  • Life increased from 150 to 160.
  • Siege Mode splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.
• Thor
  • Ground damage decreased from 45 to 30.
  • Ground rate of fire improved from 1.93 to 1.28.
  • Air damage changed from 8 (+4 Light) to 6 (+6 Light).
  • 250mm Strike Cannons are now an upgrade at the Factory Tech Lab.
  • 250mm Strike Cannons research now costs 150/150 and 110 seconds.
  • 250mm Strike Cannons energy cost increased from 100 to 150.
  • Anti-Air splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

PROTOSS

• Archon
  • The splash radius has been increased from 0.8 to 1.
  • Splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.
• Colossus
  • The damage has been decreased from 20 to 15.
  • The rate of fire has been improved from 2.2 to 1.65.
• Phoenix
  • Can now attack while moving.
• Sentry
  • The damage has been decreased from 8 to 6.

ZERG

• Brood Lord
  • Life has been decreased from 275 to 225.
  • Armor has been decreased from 2 to 1.
• Corruptor
  • Corruptor damage changed from 12 (+10 Massive) to 14 (+6 Massive).
  • Corruptor speed increased from 2.75 to 2.9531
  • Corruption ability redesigned:
    • Single target.
    • Increases damage taken by 20%.
    • Lasts 30 seconds.
    • Costs 100 energy.
    • Range 6.
    • Cannot target structures.
• Infestor
  • Neural Parasite is now an upgrade at the Infestation Pit.
  • Neural Parasite research costs 150/150 and 110 seconds.
  • Neural Parasite can now target Air units.
  • Neural Parasite energy cost increased from 50 to 100.
• Spine Crawler
  • The root time has been increased from 6 to 12.
• Spore Crawler
  • The root time has been increased from 6 to 12.
• Ultralisk
  • Damage has been increased from 18 to 25.

For the official patch notes, here’s the link:

http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=23094049316&sid=5000&pageNo=1#12