Ok queen buff was too big, terran needs buff/zerg nerf. You are definitely exaggerating though. If the terran outplays the zerg by an kind of sizeable margin, the terran still wins.
Ok I agree but why should the Terran have to outplay the Zerg? Before the Queen buff it was always very even and definitely made some of the most interesting games because it wasn't an uphill battle for either.
Please tell me where zerg has been ripping apart Protoss? Protoss can get good tech earlier and can cope with a maxed out zerg just fine with a way smaller army until zerg catches up in tech. To me, it seems that Protoss are doing really well against zerg.
Just look at any tournament from the past 5-6months. If the Protoss isn't MC then they get ripped to shreds by either one of the good Terrans who can micro or a Zerg. If that's not enough for you then go and ask any Pro Protoss player on twitter.
It's also probably the most boring matchup to watch.
You do know, a marine (which costs 1/3 a queen) does the same DPS as a stalker? A queen does marginally more DPS than a marine. But anyway, I concede that the queen buff seems to be either overkill or unnecessary.
It's not even worth considering marine DPS without stim as any Terran will tell you they're useless before stim. The only reason early marine attacks work is because of numbers.
Ok ok but you are saying that balance should be even at all levels. How about silver-platinum where cannon rushes are way easier to execute than defend? Or marine SCV all-ins will beat most players without needing exceptional decision making/micro/scouting/multitasking etc? How can Blizzard balance every level of skill of the game for 3 completely different races?
And you can add EMP to the list of things that change engagements with 1 click...
Because defeating a cannon rush doesn't require micro, it just requires the know-how. 3/4 workers destroy a building cannon/pylon.
Marine/SCV all-ins are pretty easy to hold unless you are caught off guard. The way to make it balanced is to make micro micro-able units, not these stupid A-move units they've introduced in HotS. That way the game becomes about skill and not "I've got so much AoE trollolololol"
You seem quite happy with the idea that you have to do damage to zerg (your complaint being that it has become too difficult), yet it's unfair that you have to do damage to Protoss? If the Protoss player is playing a long-term style, there will be windows when you are able to do damage to Protoss at some point somehow - if there aren't, maybe the Protoss player just played better than you... A faultless defense in a long term game up til the point you have the perfect army is a skill in itself.
The thing is though in TvZ since the patch it's become popular to use the extra map control to get a quick third on most maps that allow it.
The problem is that you can't put a time in TvP where it's safe to put on pressure because you can't scout effectively with scans but he's got observers which are cheap as chips and now build significantly faster with chrono so it's easier for him to keep track of what I'm doing. Scans don't cut it for repeatedly scanning to kill them and Ravens are too gas heavy.
One fix IMO for TvP is to revert the Ghost Snipe change and change them back to being gas heavy like all the other casters in the game while nerfing the Ghost DPS slightly seeing as other casters don't have a primary attack.
The map control has also allowed this all-in tactic that Zergs do to become popular again, The Baneling and Roach or Ling all-in. I've not played a ladder game or seen a streamed ladder game from a Pro where a Zerg hasn't tried this. It's not even an all-in anymore because after it's done they just make 15drones and take the worker lead. You can blind counter it with siege tanks but then you're way behind if he doesn't come and he'll definitely deny your expansion if you have one and if you don't he'll do damage in your main.
Firstly, you are saying that all the pro zerg players are making significant mistakes whenever they lose. However, at masters level, the zergs you face don't make mistakes, or very very few? This again is what I said before - professional zergs are losing to terran all the time, yet you are implying that the zergs at your level are too good to make many mistakes for you to exploit?
Secondly, I've conceded that TvZ isn't perfectly (or very near perfectly) balanced at the moment. However, I haven't seen a game recently where a terran significantly outplayed the zerg and lost. Please feel free to show me examples. (There should be loads if terran is being completely raped in every tournament by zerg while playing to a far higher standard). I think the imbalance is far far more subtle though.
I never said they're making significant mistakes. I asked for you to point me to a pro game (Korean only) where the Zerg lost but didn't make any real mistakes because I know the few times in the GSTL/GSL I've seen Zerg lose in the past few weeks it's been due to a mistake that even the casters notice.
How can you exploit a mistake when it costs you about 300minerals to scan and actually look for this mistake? While at the 16/17mins in a ladder match his creep has spread to the middle of the map with no effective way of getting rid of it without suiciding a few units and even then theres usually so much that it takes them like 5mins to get rid of it all.
It's impossible to put on pressure in general TvZ now past the point where he gets his 4 or 6 queens out due to the map control he gets which allows him to play greedy and in turn has started the trend of 15minute Greater Spire. I can't see how anyone could not see that that's ridiculous.
I can't recall a single game due to watching too many but if you can find the VODs for the recent TSL4 qualifiers (There's been 3 of them) then go watch them. A-team Korean Terrans getting raped by B-teamers.
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Stephano has good chances, but there's still some decent opponents there... Hero, Taeja, Sase, Naniwa all have a decent chance of beating Stephano (although stephano's looking good so far).
Please tell me where terrans are dying left right and centre? Other than in the GSTL soon after the patch where zergs kept making good runs, Terran have been doing just fine.
I would say there's definitely a chance for an upset but I'm doubting it. The way Hero has been playing you can rule that out. Sase played very well at MLG but sucked in the IPL TAC3. Taeja and Naniwa I doubt will do anything tbh.
Stephano may even be out due to his terrible ZvZ.
Btw about 18% of Terrans made it to the Ro32. While I disagree you can see imbalance from the racial distributions it definitely shows a trend of how the Terrans at Dreamhack are being over-run.
To be honest, from watching dreamhack all weekend pretty much and from what I see normally. It all seems quite balanced.
Then you haven't been watching hard enough. TBH though there aren't any good Zergs at Dreamhack par Nerchio and Stephano.
TvP eh?
This has to be the worst matchup at the moment. At pro level and everywhere else too.
I see Puma subscribing to the same opinion as me. Either one base all in or die.
I wouldn't say that Protoss is that bad where you have to 1-base all-in. More like 2base all-in/timing.