Battle.net - English Forums -> Post BlizzCon: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ

Karune

Blizzard Poster

0. StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/14/2008 05:28:03 PM PDT

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What is the StarCraft II Trilogy?
The StarCraft II Trilogy consists of the base StarCraft II game and two subsequent expansion sets. StarCraft II is subtitled Wings of Liberty (working title) and will include a lengthy single-player campaign that focuses on the terrans and puts players in the role of Jim Raynor, one of the series’ main heroes. The first expansion set, Heart of the Swarm (working title), will follow later and include a single-player campaign focusing on the zerg and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. The second expansion set, Legacy of the Void (working title), will continue the story experience with a single-player campaign centered on the protoss.

Will we still be able to play multiplayer matches of StarCraft II with all three races?
Yes! From the beginning, StarCraft II will be a fully featured multiplayer game, and all three races will be available for competitive play.

How will the expansion sets impact multiplayer gameplay?
The expansion sets will add new content to each race for use in multiplayer matches. This could include additions such as new units, abilities, and structures, along with new maps and Battle.net updates.

If I buy StarCraft II but don’t buy any of the expansion sets, will I still be able to play online?
Yes. This will work similarly to Warcraft III and the original StarCraft, which maintained separate online gaming lobbies and ladders for expansion set players and players with the base Warcraft III or StarCraft.

How long is each of the campaigns?
StarCraft II’s terran campaign will consist of approximately 26 to 30 missions, and each expansion set will include a similar number of missions. This means that the complete StarCraft II Trilogy will include as many as 90 single-player missions. This allows us to create a truly epic story experience with a great variety of unique missions and gameplay types.

Why did you decide to release each race’s campaign separately?
We’re aiming to push the boundaries of storytelling and character development in RTS games through the unique single-player campaign design of StarCraft II. Players will be able to choose their mission path and technology upgrades for their army as they advance through the campaign. In order to make these choices meaningful while creating an epic story and well-developed characters for each faction, we needed to focus on a single race for a large number of missions.
The Trilogy also allows us to create more in-game and prerendered cinematics to tell the story in between missions. There will be more interactive sets and elements for players to explore during each campaign, along with other interesting design elements to differentiate the single-player game from multiplayer matches. For example, the technology choices within the terran single-player campaign will include special upgrades and unit types that are unique to the single-player game. These could include the ability to purchase classic units such as the wraith or firebat to add to Jim Raynor’s army.

Are these three separate games? How much will all of these games cost?
The StarCraft II Trilogy will consist of the base StarCraft II game and two expansion sets. Pricing on these games hasn’t been determined at this early stage; however, we’ve always charged an appropriate price for the content the player receives, and we will continue to release high-quality games that offer great value.

How long will it take to ship each expansion set in the Trilogy?
We’re still focused on developing the base StarCraft II game, and all the content associated with the terran campaign, including the missions, cinematic cutscenes, and interactive sets. It’s too early to provide an estimate on how long it will take to develop each of the expansion sets in the trilogy, but as always, we will take as much time as is needed to create the best possible gaming experience with each expansion set.

[ Post edited by Karune ]

Webnet

USEast

2. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/14/2008 06:25:43 PM PDT

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Thanks for the Q&A Karune, the community has been in an uproar about this since it was announced. To assist with educating the community we've written up a bit of a down to earth article about the Trilogy: http://www.starcraft-source.com/index.php?cmd=article&sec=news&act=view&id=30#comments

Googlefun

Level: 1

< TKoK >

Gateway: Lordaeron

5. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 03:17:08 AM PDT

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WOOT!! Ah, nice to know.

ALL HAIL STARCRAFT 2!!

Darthvidu

Level: 1

Gateway: Northrend

6. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 05:32:49 AM PDT

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This idea is truly genius. I can't wait!!!!

Zergh

Europe

7. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 05:41:44 AM PDT

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Thanks, it's a cool thread but you posted this unfortunately too late :/

Lurkers ftw!!!!♥

Norfindel

USEast

8. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 06:11:38 AM PDT

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Good to have the official word on this. Thanks, Karune!

Voligne

USEast

9. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 06:28:44 AM PDT

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I will be waiting for the zerg campaign though...FOR THE SWARM!

Godfail

Level: 13 Random Team

Gateway: Azeroth

10. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 07:21:09 AM PDT

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I think it's pretty clear that you will need to buy the Terran campaign to play the Zerg one, so why would you wait?

69wolves

USEast

12. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 08:35:08 AM PDT

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I think this trilogy thing might be a pretty good idea. I was always worried that the story might not be as epic as it should be. But with this trilogy idea they can put tons of story in it and we can chose what parts we want to focus on, hopefully. I like it. I just hope it won't be too expensive in the long run. And I know some people might say hey you want something extremely epic then don't complain about paying up. Well I can get the most epic fictional/fantasy story there is for less then $10 a book (4 books soon to be 5) "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin.

I'm not saying they should make the games really cheap, but they should be inexpensive. Even if they made each game $10 and sold 1 million copies each, they would make 30 million (but it will be a lot more then 1 million people buying each game) plus all that money they make at Blizzcons and world wide invitationals. Blizzard has no (and will have no) lack of money. Overall I just hope this game won't be too expensive. That's the only thing that concerns me about this trilogy idea. The story sounds like its gonna be truly great.

Shaolin_bboy

USEast

13. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 08:49:51 AM PDT

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how many new units will we get for each expansion?

Epsilon_one

USWest

14. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 09:53:29 AM PDT

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Q u o t e:

If I buy StarCraft II but don’t buy any of the expansion sets, will I still be able to play online?
Yes. This will work similarly to Warcraft III and the original StarCraft, which maintained separate online gaming lobbies and ladders for expansion set players and players with the base Warcraft III or StarCraft.

this is my main problem. what about people with the original and only the third? That would make it 4 separate communities. I really think one should aim for less communities to increase competition and convenience of playing with friends. With SC and WC3, most people grabbed the expansions because they knew everyone would be playing there. Now I really don't know if most people are willing to go the extra step and buy ANOTHER expansion. Cost comes into play here. There's just too much separation of people.

Please consider maybe merging two of the campaigns so there's only one expansion. Or simply just add the new features that come with an expansion to the previous games so there would be no need for separation. Having 3 or 4 communities is way too much.

[ Post edited by Epsilon_one ]

Sushisalad

USEast

16. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 10:53:16 AM PDT

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Q u o t e:
Are these three separate games? How much will all of these games cost?
The StarCraft II Trilogy will consist of the base StarCraft II game and two expansion sets. Pricing on these games hasn’t been determined at this early stage; however, we’ve always charged an appropriate price for the content the player receives, and we will continue to release high-quality games that offer great value.

Translation: Damage control. The fanbase hasn't reacted positively to Blizzard's trilogy idea so telling them right now that Blizzard is going to expect us all to pay $50+$50+$50 for all three "expansions" is a terrible idea. Considering how Blizzard is pushing how much each game will be an "EPIC SINGLE PLAYER EXPERIENCE", you're all fools if you think they'll charge less than $50 for each game.

Q u o t e:
How long will it take to ship each expansion set in the Trilogy?
We’re still focused on developing the base StarCraft II game, and all the content associated with the terran campaign, including the missions, cinematic cutscenes, and interactive sets. It’s too early to provide an estimate on how long it will take to develop each of the expansion sets in the trilogy, but as always, we will take as much time as is needed to create the best possible gaming experience with each expansion set.

Translation: More damage control. SC2 has been in development for years now, and now that the game has been split into a trilogy, this no longer means that it's taken this long for Blizzard to make the entire game, but that it's taken them this long to make 1/3 of the whole game. What this essentially means is that if by some miracle the first SC2 game (The Terran campaign) gets released next year (2009), I wouldn't be at all surprised if we didn't see the final game(The Protoss campaign) until 2012. If Valve is any indication with their HL2 episodes, we can realistically expect a year to a year and a half wait between each installment. Again this comes back to the fan base's negative response to the trilogy concept. If we already hate it now, telling us that we won't be playing the Protoss campaign for another 3 years is a bad idea.

Thanks for everything, Blizzard! Now that WoW has given you all a taste of the good life, we can kiss the old Blizzard that had a soul good-bye!

Jsm3050

USWest

18. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 11:04:37 AM PDT

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Q u o t e:
this is my main problem. what about people with the original and only the third? That would make it 4 separate communities. I really think one should aim for less communities to increase competition and convenience of playing with friends. With SC and WC3, most people grabbed the expansions because they knew everyone would be playing there. Now I really don't know if most people are willing to go the extra step and buy ANOTHER expansion. Cost comes into play here. There's just too much separation of people.

Please consider maybe merging two of the campaigns so there's only one expansion. Or simply just add the new features that come with an expansion to the previous games so there would be no need for separation. Having 3 or 4 communities is way too much.

I have to agree with Epsilon_one on this and I don't even play multiplayer except over LANs. I seem to remember a presentation where Blizzard was talking about "too many buckets" and the picture associated with it had a bunch of Tychus Findley's crammed in illustrated buckets labeled things like "2v2", "UMS", and "Free-for-all". I believe the presentation was being given by Blizzard to show other companies "how it's done" and the gist of it was not to give players too many options.

And this was just assuming one game with various multiplayer settings. With the trilogy, you'll have to multiply that by the following list:

Terran only
Zerg only
Protoss only
Terran + Zerg only
Terran + Protoss only
Zerg + Protoss only

With six communities divided by game types, will there be enough players in each community to keep multiplayer fun? I expect StarCraft II will be popular but the setup described above will stretch the community pretty thin.

[ Post edited by Jsm3050 ]

"The name's Jim Raynor, pal. And I won't be talked down to by anybody. Not even a Protoss."

Sushisalad

USEast

19. Re: StarCraft II Trilogy FAQ 10/15/2008 11:09:22 AM PDT

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Q u o t e:

I like all the assumptions you are making.

Assumptions or not they're backed by common sense.

With as much as Blizzard is pushing how epic and standalone each expansion will be do you honestly expect them to charge less than full game price for each? You've got to be kidding me! You're probably in denial so you keep telling yourself that they'll charge $30-$40, but it won't happen. Mark my words, in a couple of years when the Zerg campaign comes out you can expect Blizzard to say something along the lines of "Introducing the next chapter in the StarCraft II saga - The Zerg campaign! With a hefty 30 missions that you can pick and choose your own path to explore through, this will be a complete single player experience in itself! On top of that we're adding new units to each of the races! Coming this summer for only $49.99." That's how Blizzard will see it. A "complete" 30 mission single player with new units will be worth a $50 price tag

Likewise with the time to develop them. A year in game development isn't really that long. I can already hear you saying "But, the engine and units are already made. Now comes the easy part!". Not likely. Again I direct you towards the HL2 expansions. Despite the engine, textures, and models being done it still took 1 year+ to ship out the episodes. Why? Development time (Making missions, story, sound, etc.)+ tweaks to the existing engine/models/textures to make it look just a little better = about a year. If you expect Blizz to churn them out less than a year from one another, you're out of your mind as well.

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