official StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

[Lyric]

RELEASE DATE: N/A

Blizzard's Official HoTS Website

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm is the second product in the StarCraft II trilogy featuring the zerg campaign and episode.

It will be released separately from the other two games, and is expected to be priced as an expansion. It follows StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty chronologically and storywise.

Heart of the Swarm is a sequel to Wings of Liberty. It focuses on Sarah Kerrigan and the development of a zerg empire. More will be seen of the Kel-Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate. It will also have a separate ladder from Wings of Liberty.[/center]

[obiwong]

Q&A session with Blizzard

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Looks like you beat me to it. :p

TeamLiquid Preview: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=228212

[_neutrino Veteran]

been waiting for more news on this. Saw Kotaku had posted a few videos and found the leaked trailer last week. Cannot wait. too bad we have to wait till next year :(

[Amarok]

Can't wait for this. :woot:

[lalalawawawa]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot! :woot:

[Lyric]

updated the first post, a commentator got invited to blizzard headquarters apparently and recorded some real live game footage, much more detailed than the 2nd video I had up earlier.

It's up top, as well as here:

[Teebor]

I don't like playing Zerg, however I suspect that I will still be buying this expansion

[furyshinobi]

Can't wait for this ^_^ I was a little worried to see how would Blizzard going to fit Kerrigan's story after WoL but it seems they managed to pull it off.

[Zodiarck]

I just don' understand one thing .. if in WoL

kerrigan is turned human, why do the Zerg still follow her ?? And what happened to JImmy ??

I just hope they show us what the hell happened :whistle:

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

The official Blizzard preview page is up: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/

updated the first post, a commentator got invited to blizzard headquarters apparently and recorded some real live game footage, much more detailed than the 2nd video I had up earlier.

It's up top, as well as here:

Awesome. Thanks for posting that video. (Y)

I just don' understand one thing .. if in WoL

kerrigan is turned human, why do the Zerg still follow her ?? And what happened to JImmy ??

I just hope they show us what the hell happened :whistle:

I edited your post to add spoiler tags, just to be safe.

To answer your question...

If I understand it correctly, the Zerg Overmind (created by the Xel'Naga) knew about the coming darkness that will wipe out the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg. You get to play that mission in the Wings of Liberty campaign ("In Utter Darkness"). Anyway, the Zerg Overmind knew about this darkness before Zeratul and what it did was create the Queen of Blades so that the Zerg may stand a chance against it. Obviously, the events of WoL changed things because Kerrigan was restored to her human form. Of course, that doesn't help things which explains the Heart of the Swarm campaign. You play as Kerrigan and work your way to becoming the Queen of Blades once again.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Very excited to see

Nova

in this. I am hoping they will incorporate

the story elements they had planned for Starcraft Ghost

into this:D

[LOC Veteran]

The official Blizzard preview page is up: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game/heart-of-the-swarm-preview/

Awesome. Thanks for posting that video. (Y)

I edited your post to add spoiler tags, just to be safe.

To answer your question...

If I understand it correctly, the Zerg Overmind (created by the Xel'Naga) knew about the coming darkness that will wipe out the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg. You get to play that mission in the Wings of Liberty campaign ("In Utter Darkness"). Anyway, the Zerg Overmind knew about this darkness before Zeratul and what it did was create the Queen of Blades so that the Zerg may stand a chance against it. Obviously, the events of WoL changed things because Kerrigan was restored to her human form. Of course, that doesn't help things which explains the Heart of the Swarm campaign. You play as Kerrigan and work your way to becoming the Queen of Blades once again.

From what one of the devs said in an interview yesterday or the day before, Kerrigan isn't going to become a Zerg again and that she's responsible for billions of deaths and would be horrified of that obviously. I don't know why she's trying to control the Zerg again, but she is certainly trying to control some portions of them, and she is obviously able to get certain psionic powers (among others) back again during the HotS campaign. Don't ask me how though lol

[phendrome]

The official Heart of the Swarm site of Blizzard, can be found here.

Other related links with a lot of information regarding the expansion:

• http://wellplayed.org/forum/114/thread/3805016/show
  
• http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/ho25s/back_from_blizzard_ama_about_heart_of_the_swarm/
  

Enjoy.

[Lyric]

The official Heart of the Swarm site of Blizzard, can be found here.

Other related links with a lot of information regarding the expansion:

• http://wellplayed.org/forum/114/thread/3805016/show
  
• http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/ho25s/back_from_blizzard_ama_about_heart_of_the_swarm/
  

Enjoy.

awesome information, added blizzards official website up top as well.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Zerg is my least favourite race and despite that, I'm still looking forward to this expansion. I'm sure the campaign will be fun but to me, the real fun is on Battle.net. I can't wait to see the changes they make to the MP side.

[LOC Veteran]

I'm curious as to how they are going to include a Protoss mission or Terran mission this go round (they said they will *probably* include them, but haven't guaranteed it) and make it actually make sense.

[qdave]

I don't like playing Zerg, however I suspect that I will still be buying this expansion

yeah it might be worth for the story :p

[Zaic]

So will they force people to buy it?

I guess they will.

"For those that only play multi-player, they only need to buy one of the three games." 2009 or 2010 talk

from Heart of the Swarm FAQ 2011

Will Heart of the Swarm require ownership of Wings of Liberty?

For the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, yes, Wings of Liberty will be required in order to play Heart of the Swarm.

fcuk blizzard they are going to the dark side

[DukeEsquire]

So will they force people to buy it?

I guess they will.

"For those that only play multi-player, they only need to buy one of the three games." 2009 or 2010 talk

from Heart of the Swarm FAQ 2011

Will Heart of the Swarm require ownership of Wings of Liberty?

For the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, yes, Wings of Liberty will be required in order to play Heart of the Swarm.

fcuk blizzard they are going to the dark side

I'm pretty sure that was never confirmed. I remember they were very wishy washy regarding whether the expansion packs would include new units or not.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Will Heart of the Swarm require ownership of Wings of Liberty?

For the regions that have a standard box business model such as North America and Europe, yes, Wings of Liberty will be required in order to play Heart of the Swarm.

fcuk blizzard they are going to the dark side

It is an EXPANSION SET not a sequel game. keep that in mind. It is logical that it would require you to have the Base game to install the EXPANSION onto.

[PGHammer]

I'm curious as to how they are going to include a Protoss mission or Terran mission this go round (they said they will *probably* include them, but haven't guaranteed it) and make it actually make sense.

They included a whole Protoss sub-campaign in WoL, so I fully expect either a Protoss or Terran subcampaign in HotS (if not both).

Also, I've noticed some changes to the FX for the Protoss units - will the changes introduced in HotS be pushed into WoL? (It's already known tha HotS will *not* require WoL, though it can be added onto it.)

There are some serious changes to playing as the Zerg - also, the BattleFocus option for Kerrigan is a game-changer. But will the change be too much?

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Coming Soon: Starcraft II 2.0.4

In a few days, we?ll begin patching StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty to version 2.0.4, which will bring a number of new features to the game?features that all players can then immediately begin enjoying together.

Wings of Liberty 2.0.4 includes:

An all-new user interface with new menu screens.

The launch of in-game Clans and Groups.

New Replay features, such as Watch with Others and Take Command.

A multitude of Editor improvements.

New matchmaking options: Training Mode, Vs. AI Mode, and Unranked Play.

All-new AI Options, including AI Communication.

Players Near You, so you can find other StarCraft II players on your local network.

New customizable Observer UI.

Other enhancements coming with patch 2.0.4 include a revised help section, new game privacy options, new group sounds, and language selection (in some regions).

All of the above improvements will also be included in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. When the expansion is released on March 12, players who upgrade will be among the first to experience the new campaign, new multiplayer units, enhancements to existing units, the new leveling system, new multiplayer maps, new tilesets, and new rewards such as skins, dances, portraits, and decals.

The background download for Wings of Liberty patch 2.0.4 was activated on February 9. We strongly encourage all players to leave the launcher running for an extended period of time at some point over the next few days to ensure that you?re ready to play when the patch goes live.

[YounGMessiah]

Nice I was hoping they would implement the new system into WoL... I would hope they introduce it in before HoS for us who want to buy it, but want to get a feel of the new system!!!

MARCH IS ALMOST HERE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Good. I would've been disappointed if they made those features exclusive to HotS.