You can thank all the PC multiplayer hackers...

[Forsythe]

I remember the mp hackers claiming that their attempts at hacking games was an 'attempt' at making the game creators/producers patches and/or improve the quality and security of their games.

The result? PC multiplayer games are going down hill, and now gaming companies are focusing on the consoles.

Yes, of course the problem stems mostly from developer companies not wanting to have to deal with programming and troubleshooting the vast array of computers their game can be installed on. But things were pushed over the top, when the cheating became rampant, and ruined the game quality for their customers. Their fps games were being played with flying soldiers, invincible characters, and their RTS games were including 100 tank builds in 2mins and mapreveals!

As usual, these skill-less morons tried to hide their inability to compete at a high level fairly, and in their actions - failed to see the possibility of unintended consequences.

[Wildviking]

HAHA! Damn cheaters killing our pastime.

Blizzard is the only company with worthwhile PC games anymore. I wouldn't be surprised to find out even they can't prevent map hacks and stuff....like SCII I wonder what that'll be like.

[padnfain]

like al unicorn wrapped up in a soft taco.

[EJNelly]

Yeah the PC game market is definitely in the shitter.

Of course all these hackers now spend all their time on console games searching for glitches to get an advantage.

[GoAtankGo]

maphack is out on sc2 already though.. so.. good effort blizz

[Henl86]

It is? Do you have some sort of source?

I think I got washed today.. Got a message saying simply "Desync" and the game didn't count. This was after having a 100% sure win and my opponent going afk for a minute or two.

[Chrono69x]

How's everyone enjoying multiplayer? Forsy hit me up about getting some --BA-- games goin, at least north american side, but I haven't really tried multiplayer yet. Still intimidated by all these die hard SC2 guys lol

[Forsythe]

Just a brief, and perhaps overly simplistic summary of SC2 for RA2 players:

-Macro/Build Order/Base Construction/Unit Production: 4x Harder than RA2
-Using Secondary Abilities, Avoiding Enemy Secondary Abilities: 3x Harder than RA2
-Regenerative Shroud - Initial Scouting, Mid Scouting, Later Scouting: 2x Harder than RA2
-Maneuvering Units - Sorely lacking in SC2 players. Feels more like an mmo in that sense (when compared to the tank attacks/micro of ra2): The Same as RA2

-The players (who aren't korean) are intimidated by the shroud, rely a lot on their secondary abilities, and defending as one BIG group. They might have a second group that might do raids like phoenixes/vikings/reapers. But rarely will you see 3-4 strong groups hit and running over and over like in ra2. Just too much macro if you try that right now. Focus on macro, focus on keeping up the unit construction and base expansion, the rest will sort itself out in time.

[Issvar]

I played the beta, and decided not to buy the game based on that.

I found the multiplayer maps to be too similar too each other, there is very little variation in build order from map to map, RA2 had more strategy in that respect.

The battles play very different from RA2, in RA2 your tanks would point the barrel forward every time you gave them a move-order or after finishing an attack-order, giving orders in battles would make them fire fewer shots, so you had to decide how to maneuver the tanks in advance. In SC2 you can (should) give as many orders as you want, so it's more of a clickfest to see who wins.

My take on Forsythe's list is
Macro: equal difficulty
Using abilities: 2x harder, just because there are far more abilities to use
Scouting: 10x harder, in RA2 you couldn't really fail to scout a base, in SC2 scouting can be stopped, especially in early and middle game.
Battle: Not harder, but faster.

[Forsythe]

Originally Posted by Issvar

I played the beta, and decided not to buy the game based on that.

I found the multiplayer maps to be too similar too each other, there is very little variation in build order from map to map, RA2 had more strategy in that respect.

The battles play very different from RA2, in RA2 your tanks would point the barrel forward every time you gave them a move-order or after finishing an attack-order, giving orders in battles would make them fire fewer shots, so you had to decide how to maneuver the tanks in advance. In SC2 you can (should) give as many orders as you want, so it's more of a clickfest to see who wins.

My take on Forsythe's list is
Macro: equal difficulty
Using abilities: 2x harder, just because there are far more abilities to use
Scouting: 10x harder, in RA2 you couldn't really fail to scout a base, in SC2 scouting can be stopped, especially in early and middle game.
Battle: Not harder, but faster.

I have re-evaluated my time with SC2, and I have to agree with issvar on the much more difficult scouting, but I disagree with the macro - still way more difficult compared to RA2 (need way more APMs). Anyway updated list:
Macro - 3x
Abilities - 2x
Scouting - 4x
Battle - Same as RA2, I still don't see much more speed in clicking considering you can do Ctrl+A. I still feel that if I weren't burdened with the unnecessarily complicated macro, the unit micro skills could still match up with anyone's.