Wings of Liberty

Blinks of Liberty

Lings of Liberty

One might disagree with my own opinion & interpretation:Terran is the most played race in 14 out of 17 tournaments. It must be partially thanks to Terran favored balance during 2011, but I wonder how much is because of Korean Terran tradition ever since BoxeR in BW.GOMTvT is real. When one mirror match-up is played 3 times more than the other two and is the most played mirror in 16 out of 17 tournaments, it is safe to say that GOMTvT prevailed the scene not just for a short period in late 2011 but for almost the entire WoL period. We have to be glad that TvT is arguably the most enjoyable mirror match-up for spectators. Imagine having 3 times more ZvZ or PvP…SC2 e-sports would have died a long time ago.Winrate graph is very volatile in 2010~early 2011. No one knew how to play yet back then, and balance patches were coming frequently.Terran had been the OP race for a long time overall. Terran occasionally choked (July for example), but in 3-Tournament Average, it kept having 50%+ winrate from 2010 all the way up to mid-2012. When all is said and done, “Wings of Liberty” seems an appropriate name for this expansion which Terran dominated for so long.Zerg 3-T Ave. winrate oscillates like a cosine curve, alternating between good times and bad times. The last upward curve is dubbed, “ Lings of Liberty .” The graph shows that it’s a real phenomenon. Zerg is OP today. There is no doubt about it. Zerg “Vengeance” came a little too early.Protoss has been struggling. It is the least represented race with the lowest winrate. 2011 was especially bad year for Protoss. In early-mid 2012, Protoss enjoyed a short heyday, “Blinks of Liberty” if you will. Even so, it was a moderate dominance compared to Terran / Zerg at other times.Code A is Terran’s playground in PvT. 40.6%(59.4% Terran winrate) is such a disaster for Protoss.Both Terran and Zerg have over 50% winrate overall in Code S+A. Protoss is the only race that doesn’t. Although it’s still within 45%~55% “balanced” line, Protoss needs some more love. Not that Protoss should be OP in HotS because of this, though.Since exactly 50% each is nearly impossible, it would have been nice to have rock-paper-scissors relationship near 50% similar to BW’s T>Z>P>T record. SC2 WoL Code S+A ended with Z>T>P & Z>P. Poor Protoss.So-called “Queen Patch” was so powerful. On one hand, Terran had been favored before the patch in TvZ for more than 1.5 years. On the other hand, Zerg domination after the patch is as big of a problem if not bigger. Terran domination lasted longer, but Zerg domination today is more intense and even at a ridiculous level. Zerg buff itself was a reasonable move by Blizzard as ZvP was also bad for Zerg back then, but it was waaaaay too much. As a result, we have “Lings of Liberty” today. The patch is not the only reason for the current state, but it must be playing a big role considering the timely Zerg rise. Don’t name names, but “patchzerg” exists for sure just like “releaseterran” existed. Having “patch X race” is inevitable when X race is relatively OP.Having said all these, I would say that WoL SC2 is a game that is well-balanced enough if the entire WoL days are taken as one season. One concern is that Protoss has been having the hardest time, but every race and match-up is at least within 45%~55% line. 50% is the ultimate goal, and one might say that the acceptable line is 47%~53%(achieved) or even 49%~51%, but overall, WoL is not as terrible as one might think in terms of balance. Current balance as of March 2013 itself is not fine, but overall balance in “WoL Season” looks fine enough.In summary,2010 ~ early 2011 = volatile eramid-2011~ late 2011 = Terran OP “” eraearly 2012 ~ mid 2012 = Protoss OP “” eralate 2012 ~ 2013 = Zerg OP “” eraUltimate summary of WoL GSL:5, 10, 20 years from now, people won’t care or remember the difference between 2011 and 2012. Details don’t matter when memory is so distant. Then, what is the best way to describe WoL days in a concise manner? How would future history books talk about WoL GSL? Well, when you look at the big picture, there is no remarkable steady imbalance in WoL. No race has been dominant for the entirety. Therefore, I dare say that people will remember WoL GSL with something consistent throughout:“so many Terran players and their GOMTvTs.”