History VIdeoGame / StarcraftII

* GeoEffects: [[MeatMoss creep]] provides a movespeed bonus to Zerg units. The fact that players can now control and direct the spread of creep, via Queen-spawned Creep Tumors, Nydus Worm eruptions and Overlord [[FanNickname Diarrhea]], makes this a significant strategic consideration rather than just a home-court-advantage afterthought.

* ObviousRulePatch: The {{Nerf}} to Motherships in Patch 1.3, which made units that escape a Vortex spell invincible for several seconds and almost completely destroyed the [[FanNickname Archon Toilet]] tactic that took advantage of SplashDamage against the clustered units. Only the slowest units unable to take advantage of the invincibility time to flee are obliterated, now.

* HumansAreSpecial: Subverted. The central story is about the relationship between the Zerg and the Protoss, and the Xel'Naga's plans for them. While the stories of these two species are part of the overall Myth Arc, humanity's story is more tangential, focusing more on the personal relationship between Raynor and Kerrigan and the internal politics involving Mengsk.

* WorldOfHam: The units come in three flavors -- hammy, snarky, and hammy and snarky.

** Prior to [[{{Nerf}} nerfs]], the Swarm Host was defenseless above ground, but could burrow and [[MookMaker spawn temporary Locusts]], which were slow, fragile, had short range, and a rather dull-looking attack. However, Locusts did tremendous damage, and there was an upgrade that let them survive long enough to travel great distances. Locusts cost nothing to make and can be spawned, two at a time, just 25 seconds after the first pair expired. Swarm Hosts were strong enough to synergize with almost any unit, and were excellent as both StoneWall defenses and GradualGrinder attackers. Due to many boring, hours-long games involving mass Swarm Host armies, [[{{Nerf}} nerfs]] came in and not only made the Swarm Host useless and impractical, but fundamentally different in philosophy.

* DecoyProtagonist: Zeratul is almost the only Protoss character until Legacy of the Void, even having his own mini-campaigns in Both Wings of Liberty and the prologue of Legacy of the Void, but Artanis ends up being the protagonist of Legacy of the Void.

* FrickinLaserBeams:
** The Protoss take this trope and turn it UpToEleven. The Stalkers and the Phoenix fire short laser bursts; the Sentries, the Void Rays, and the Mothership fire continuous energy beams directly at the target; and the colossi and campaign-exclusive enemy stone guardians fire sweeping lasers along the ground. Even the probe uses an energy ray to gather minerals. In any diverse protoss army, expect to see quite the BeamSpam. On the Terran side, there's the Battlecruiser, and the campaign-exclusive Wraith (though only for air-to-ground attacks), back from the original game. Technically, the Diamondback tank uses a rail gun, but it looks like a continuous laser. Oh, and there's that ''Drakken'' laser drill in "The Dig".
** Lampshaded and referred to by name with the song ''Terran Up The Night'', with the line "The sound of '''friggin' laser beams''' and gatling guns..."
** In Co-Op, certain commanders are going to be blasting the field with lasers as they go across the field. Swann has the aforementioned laser drill on the field that targets a single unit and doesn't stop firing until it is dead or leaves the player's vision, Raynor will be blasting the ground with huge laser blasts with the Hyperion Yamato Cannon, and Dehaka can eat air units and gain a continuous fire beam ability for a limited time. There's also the Protoss Commanders who have your typical Protoss units (Artanis, Vorazun, Fenix, Alarak, and Karax), but Karax has some of the best ones with the Solar Lance and Solar Bombardment and extensive use of defensive structures. Alarak's Photon Overcharge allows him to make any allied structure begin firing beams at any nearby opponents, but with the right mastery levels it is possible for a ''pylon'' to eradicate an incoming enemy attack with laser blasts.

** This is perhaps {{justified|Trope}} because they shoot FrickinLaserBeams, but Stalker attacks have ''really'' odd terrain-following properties. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkSVQz-iQnc&t=07m33s Observe]], as {{lampshaded}} by Creator/HuskyStarcraft.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: The game comes with four difficulty levels, compared to the single (and NintendoHard) difficulty in the previous game. The removal/tweaking of some frustrating mechanics (such as ArtificialStupidity and the unit selection cap) and the addition of more user-friendly ones (such as the ability to tab through each type of selected unit for abilities and descriptions for said abilities) augment this more so.

After the release of ''Legacy'', Blizzard has announced their intention to continue the story line with [=DLC=] mission packs. The first such campaign to be released focuses on [[VideoGame/StarCraftIINovaCovertOps Nova]], and the first set of missions was released on March 29, 2016.

* HitScan: Many attacks, like the Marine's and the Tank Mode Siege Tank's, have no physically simulated projectile model or tracer and hit instantly. Some others, like the Stalker's PainfullySlowProjectile, show up graphically but cannot miss unless [[PowerNullifier blocked by the Raven's Point Defense Drone]]. They end up [[HomingBoulders curving up and down cliffs and hitting targets who have already moved out of the weapon's range.]]

* CipherScything: This happens to the player characters from the original and Brood War campaigns; the unnamed Commander/Executor/Cerebrate being retconned away.

* ArmorIsUseless: By way of CutsceneIncompetence. To elaborate:
** [[AllThereInTheManual According to the first game's manual]], marines' CMC combat armor was designed to stop standard firearms and shrapnel--and their C-14 Impaler rifles were designed to penetrate CMC armor. In the cutscenes, however, the marine armor appears to be easily pierced by hydralisk spikes and Gauss rifles alike. As it ''is'' PowerArmor it provides boosts to strength and speed and protection from the environment and the like ([[AllThereInTheManual or so the novelizations tell us]]), but as a defense against enemy projectiles you might as well be wearing a cotton robe.
*** However, nearly every instance where the marine's armor was pierced was done at point-blank range (always a factor in armor penetration) or through [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak points in the armor like the visor]].
*** Hydralisk spines are supersonically projected bodkin arrows made of keratin with a hydroxyapatite core and tip. The're 'natural' sabot rounds.
** Averted in the last cutscene when Raynor blocks Findlay's rifle shot with his armoured shoulder and doesn't suffer any negative effects whatsoever. Could be CutScenePowerToTheMax, [[LawOfChromaticSuperiority his armour's better,]] or Jim was smart enough to use the armor's shape to deflect the slug.
*** There's a reason Jim has 200 hitpoints in-game, not 50 and it's not that's he's made of iron.
** The point is in-universe, average marines are very much considered cannon/tentacle/psipower fodder, what with most being conscripted convicted criminals. Most other Terran weaponry is generally much more effective and terrifying, such as the siege tanks, spider mines, wraiths and so on.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Wings of Liberty'' had several oddities in how its campaign mechanics functioned compared to ''Heart of the Swarm'' and ''Legacy of the Void''.
** The player's tech options are permanent and not all of them can be acquired in the same playthrough, while the other two games let the player change up tech choices between missions and most options were accessible, save for ''Heart of the Swarm's'' evolved Zerg strains.
** The player is free to do missions in any order with only story continuity linking them, ''Heart of the Swarm'' would make each mission (with one exception) part of a three-mission chain, and ''Legacy of the Void'' scaled it back to two-mission chains, sometimes with a lone follow-up mission later. ''Wings of Liberty'' also has branching mission paths, which the other two games didn't.
** The player's research in the Lab culminated in powerful tech advances that were just part of the arsenal, while ''Heart of the Swarm'' and ''Legacy of the Void'' gave Kerrigan and the Spear of Adun powerful screen-wiping attacks unlocked at the top of their advancement.
** The Mercenaries mechanic, which let the player call in a small number of EliteMook units each mission, has no equivalent mechanic at all in the other two installments.

-->'''Dr. Hanson''': "Those are innocent people! What are you doing!?
-->'''Dr. Hanson'''(second time): "You're killing more of my people! You monster!"

* MoreDakka: A possible strategy to use in many situations, but is particularly useful in Co-op or the Campaign (where your build order is significantly less important as completing the objectives). Having a hard time clearing a map in Co-op with Raynor? Simply build *more* marines. Tychus not firing fast enough with his Gatling Gun? Research the ability to cut his attack cooldown (which is already starting at 0.3). Kerrigan needs backup, you *could* build a couple bulky Ultralisk, or just coat the sky in Hydralisk needles. As well, there are few situations Karax has where a couple Photon Cannons and Khaydarin Monolith's cannot solve by simply having *more of them* and upgrading them to fire *faster*.

** IN Co-Op, certain commanders are going to be blasting the field with lasers as they go across the field. Swann has the aforementioned laser drill on the field that targets a single unit and doesn't stop firing until it is dead or leaves the player's vision, Raynor will be blasting the ground with huge laser blasts with the Hyperion Yamato Cannon, and Dehaka can eat air units and gain a continuous fire beam ability for a limited time. There's also the Protoss Commanders who have your typical Protoss units (Artanis, Vorazun, Fenix, Alarak, and Karax), but Karax has some of the best ones with the Solar Lance and Solar Bombardment and extensive use of defensive structures. Alarak's Photon Overcharge allows him to make any allied structure begin firing beams at any nearby opponents, but with the right mastery levels it is possible for a ''pylon'' to eradicate an incoming enemy attack with laser blasts.

* BagOfSpilling:
** Due to TechnologyMarchesOn, many of the old units are either upgraded with new abilities or replaced outright with new units. Doesn't explain why some perfectly good old abilities like Lockdown, Dark Swarm and Plague are no longer in use. Plague and Dark Swarm have equivalent new abilities, but otherwise...
** The Science Vessel. In the lore it's been replaced by the Raven, who deploys automated drones to fight or defend, but in the campaign you get the choice between the Raven or the Science Vessel. The Science Vessel is ''far'' more useful due to the new Nano-Repair ability, which basically makes it a Medivac for mechanical units, ground ''and'' air.