History YMMV / StarCraftII

** The Mothership since Day One. Players hated the initial concept on arrival, since it reminded too much of ''Warcraft III's'' focus on hero units instead of armies. After release, the only thing it was liked for was the Archon Toilet[[note]]make a lot of Archons, have the Mothership use Vortex on the enemy army, and send the Archons into it; the enemy units will emerge all clumped up and be crushed by the splash damage of the Archons[[/note]], which was nerfed heavily after ''Wings of Liberty''. Otherwise they take far too long to tech up to, cost a lot of resources, move slowly, don't do much damage, are easily focused down and killed, and need a long time to build up energy reserved to use their abilities. The result is they virtually never see play. The Mothership Core was added in ''Heart of the Swarm'' as a stepping stone to the Mothership to make them more appealing, but it actually made them even less appealing since the Mothership Core has the same abilities at a much more manageable cost and much lower tech requirement, and it builds and moves much faster making it easier to replace. The Mothership Core was ultimately removed two years after the release of Legacy of the Void, with a similar recall ability added to the Nexus instead.

** The Mothership since Day One. Players hated the initial concept on arrival, since it reminded too much of ''Warcraft III's'' focus on hero units instead of armies. After release, the only thing it was liked for was the Archon Toilet[[note]]make a lot of Archons, have the Mothership use Vortex on the enemy army, and send the Archons into it; the enemy units will emerge all clumped up and be crushed by the splash damage of the Archons[[/note]], which was nerfed heavily after ''Wings of Liberty''. Otherwise they take far too long to tech up to, cost a lot of resources, move slowly, don't do much damage, are easily focused down and killed, and need a long time to build up energy reserved to use their abilities. The result is they virtually never see play. The Mothership Core was added in ''Heart of the Swarm'' as a stepping stone to the Mothership to make them more appealing, but it actually made them even less appealing since the Mothership Core has the same abilities at a much more manageable cost and much lower tech requirement, and it builds and moves much faster making it easier to replace.

* VindicatedByHistory: The trilogy was rather divisive upon release and completion, citing poor writing as one of the narrative's primary flaws. In the years to follow, the absolute ''trainwreck'' of story and game releases for Blizzard's other works like ''Diablo'' and ''World of Warcraft'', many players were just glad that the ''Starcraft'' series was able to give itself a decisive conclusion and quit while it was still ahead instead of being run to the ground.

* PlayTheGameSkipTheStory: Wiki/TVTropes is probably the most you'll ever hear about the actual ''story'' of ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft II}}''. A huge number of people picked up the game and went straight to the multiplayer.

** While ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' had praise for its solid CompetitiveBalance, one of the quirks the game had was that it had powerful spells, abilities and units that could render some units almost obsolete. This was most noticeable with Terrans infantry compositions which were considered too weak to stand up against opposing Protoss and Terran armies at the professional level. Terran players could use Siege Tanks and Spider Mines to quickly eliminate infantry while the Protoss had Reavers and Psionic Storms that made infantry a joke. ''Starcraft II'' re-balanced a lot of spells and abilities while keeping them still crucial to playing well, and reworked Terran infantry into a viable force that is no longer only useful for fighting against Zerg opponents. Now Terran players don't have to deal with un-dodgeable bursts splash damage rendering infantry uneconomical and can choose between Infantry and Factory-Mech builds more flexibly, making the Terran faction more unpredictable and dynamic. Many spells are now balanced around reaction time, with skillful micromanagement being rewarded with taking reduced or no damage.

*** The overall storytelling outright ignores any impact that the [=UED=] invasion may have had on the Koprulu Sector to the point that everyone acts like said invasion never happened. The only time the UED is even mentioned in ''Wings of Liberty'' is in the description for the Spartan Company Goliath mercenaries, which is something that can be easily missed.

** The Swarm Host is the source of many arguments. Some players consider them overpowered, as when used properly their locusts can deal a surprising amount of damage and be used to snipe bases and ambush armies with little risk to the Swarm Host itself. And because locusts cost nothing but time to produce, every battle fought using locusts is economically favorable to the Swarm Host player. On the other side, players point out that Swarm Hosts cost a lot of resources, time, and supply, their locusts don't last very long compared to the cooldown to spawn them, and the Swarm Host is not very maneuverable and needs a Nydus Network to be effective, which all means they require a substantial investment and the player must sacrifice the size and sustainability of their army, leaving them more vulnerable to counterplay when their Swarm Hosts are out of position or on cooldown.

** While ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' had praise for its solid CompetitiveBalance, one of the quirks the game had was that it had powerful spells, abilities and units that could render some units almost obsolete. This was most noticeable with Terrans infantry compositions which were considered too weak to stand up against opposing Protoss and Terran armies at the professional level. Terran players could use Siege Tanks and Spider Mines to quickly eliminate infantry while the Protoss had Reavers and Psionic Storms that made infantry a joke. ''Starcraft II'' re-balanced a lot of spells and abilities while keeping them still crucial to playing well, and reworked Terran infantry into a viable force that is no longer only useful for fighting against Zerg opponents. Now Terran players don't have to deal with un-dodgeable bursts splash damage rendering infantry uneconomical and can choose between Infantry and Factory-Mech builds more flexibly, making the Terran faction more unpredictable and dynamic.

** Supporting fliers like the Corsair, Devourer, and Valkyrie wern't useless, just very situational with the Corsair seeing the most use but its Disruption Web requiring the costly fleet beacon to unlock and still being a niche ability. These were respectively replaced by the Phoenix, Corruptor, and Viking, and had some way to engage ground units. The Phoenix is able to lift up all but colossal units so that other Phoenix units may attack them, the Corruptor is able to attack structures or morph into Brood Lords to attack any ground units, and the Viking is able to land to attack ground forces.

* Supporting fliers like the Corsair, Devourer, and Valkyrie wern't useless, just very situational with the Corsair seeing the most use but its Disruption Web requiring the costly fleet beacon to unlock. These were respectively replaced by the Phoenix, Corruptor, and Viking, and had some way to engage ground units. The Phoenix is able to lift up all but colossal units so that other Phoenix units may attack them, the Corruptor is able to attack structures or morph into Brood Lords to attack any ground units, and the Viking is able to land to attack ground forces.

** I have played[insert SC2 campaign here] for nothing![Explanation:/] As the plot of "Heart Of The Swarm" moves on,[[spoiler: Kerrigan had turn herself into a primal zerg again and become identical to queen of blades. Players scream in Raynor's perspective that They had played "Wing of Liberty" for nothing.]] At the end of "Legacy of the void" campaign, they switched the game name to [[spoiler:"Heart of the swarm", as the majority of protoss campaign is fought WITHOUT Kerrigan's assistance.]]

*** Raynor reaching his breaking point with Kerrigan after her betrayal on Korhal to the point of killing Fenix is completely ignored. Instead of his desire to kill her, he's shown to be sad that he lost her as if she was the love of his life.
*** Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion is basically left as a rotting corpse at the end of ''Brood War'' after being absolutely devastated by both the UED invasion and Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm. This could have set up an interesting EvilPowerVacuum dilemma where being the ruler of the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector was up for grabs due to the Terran Dominion being in a weakened state. Yet other than General Duke being replaced with General Warfield, ''Wings of Liberty'' just straight up ignores the beatdown that the Terran Dominion took in ''Brood War''. Not only does it turn out that Arcturus and his Terran Dominion were somehow able to retain their power completely, they're now apparently stronger than ever.
*** The overall storytelling outright ignores any impact that the UED invasion may have had on the Koprulu Sector to the point that everyone acts like said invasion never happened. The only time the UED is even mentioned in ''Wings of Liberty'' is in the description for the Spartan Company Goliath mercenaries, which is something that can be easily missed.

** Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion is basically left as a rotting corpse at the end of ''Brood War'' after being absolutely devastated by both the UED invasion and Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm. This could have set up an interesting EvilPowerVacuum dilemma where being the ruler of the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector was up for grabs due to the Terran Dominion being in a weakened state. Yet other than General Duke being replaced with General Warfield, ''Wings of Liberty'' just straight up ignores the beatdown that the Terran Dominion took in ''Brood War''. Not only does it turn out that Arcturus and his Terran Dominion were somehow able to retain their power completely, they're now apparently stronger than ever.
** The overall storytelling of ''Starcraft II'' outright ignores any impact that the UED invasion may have had on the Koprulu Sector to the point that everyone acts like said invasion never happened. The only time the UED is even mentioned in ''Wings of Liberty'' is in the description for the Spartan Company Goliath mercenaries, which is something that can be easily missed.

** The overall storytelling of ''Starcraft II'' outright ignores any impact that the UED invasion may have had on the Koprulu Sector to the point that everyone acts like the invasion never happened. The only time the UED is even mentioned is in the description for the Spartan Company Goliath mercenaries for ''Wings of Liberty'', which is something that can be easily missed.

** Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion is basically left as a rotting corpse at the end of ''Brood War'' after being absolutely devastated by both the UED invasion and Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm. This could have set up an interesting dilemma where being the ruler of the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector was up for grabs due to the Terran Dominion being in a weakened state. Yet other than General Duke being replaced with General Warfield, ''Wings of Liberty'' just straight up ignores the beatdown that the Terran Dominion took in ''Brood War''. Not only does it turn out that Arcturus and his Terran Dominion were somehow able to retain their power completely, they're now apparently stronger than ever.

** Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion is basically left as a rotting corpse at the end of ''Brood War'' after being absolutely devastated by both the UED invasion and Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm. This could have set up an interesting dilemma where being the ruler of the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector was up for grabs due to the Terran Dominion being in a weakened state. Yet other than General Duke being replaced with General Warfield, ''Wings of Liberty'' not only shows that Arcturus and his Terran Dominion were somehow able to retain their power completely, they're now apparently stronger than ever.

** Arcturus Mengsk's Terran Dominion is basically left as a rotting corpse at the end of ''Brood War'' after being absolutely devastated by both the UED invasion and Kerrigan's Zerg Swarm. This could have set up an interesting dilemma where being the ruler of the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector was up for grabs due to the Terran Dominion being in a weakened state. Yet other than General Duke got replaced with General Warfield, ''Wings of Liberty'' not only shows that Arcturus and his Terran Dominion were somehow able to retain their power completely, they're now apparently stronger than ever.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Unlike previous RTS games from ''Creator/BlizzardEntertainment'', there's no definitive villain campaign for ''Starcraft II''. This plays a huge part as to why [[BigBad Amon]] and his Hybrids are some of the least interesting and underdeveloped characters seen in the franchise as you never get to truly see their EvilPlan unfold from the villain's point-of-view.

** Gone are the days when the player used to have to fight through multiple factions [[note]]Like the infamous Kel-Morian-Combine mission from Brood War that sets the player up against ''six'' enemy Terran factions[[/note]]. A vast majority of the missions tend to pit the player against a single enemy.
*** This can largely be explained away as a case of TechnologyMarchesOn. Due to various restrictions in the game code, most notably the ArbritaryHeadcountLimit and the need to populate the entire map, Starcraft I enemy was divided into multiple allied AIs each with their own 200-supply headcount. As Starcraft II no longer had this restriction, and relied less on "wipe out the map" missions, such an approach was no longer necessary.

** While ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' had praise for its solid CompetitiveBalance, one of the quirks the game had was that it had powerful spells, abilities and units that could render some units almost obsolete. This was most noticeable with Terrans infantry compositions which were considered too weak to stand up against opposing Protoss and Terran armies at the professional level. Terran players could use Siege Tanks and Spider Mines to quickly eliminate infantry while the Protoss had Reavers and Psionic Storms that made infantry a joke. ''Starcraft II'' re-balanced a lot of spells and abilities while making them still crucial to playing well, and reworked Terran infantry into a viable force that is no longer only useful for fighting against Zerg opponents. Now Terran players don't have to deal with undodgeable bursts splash damage rendering infantry uneconomical and can choose between Infantry and Factory-Mech builds more flexibly, making the Terran faction more unpredictable and dynamic.

** While ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' had praise for its solid CompetitiveBalance, one of the quirks the game had was that it had powerful spells, abilities and units that could render some units almost obsolete. This was most noticeable with Terrans infantry compositions which were considered too weak to stand up against opposing Protoss and Terran armies at the professional level. Terran players could use Siege Tanks and Spider Mines to quickly eliminate infantry while the Protoss had Reavers and Psionic Storms that made infantry a joke. ''Starcraft II'' re-balanced a lot of spells and abilities while making them still crucial to playing well, and reworked Terran infantry into a viable force that is no longer only useful for fighting against Zerg opponents. Now Terran players don't have to deal with undodgeable bursts splash damage making infantry uneconomical and can choose between Infantry and Factory-Mech builds more flexibly, making the Terran faction more unpredictable and dynamic.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A criticism of the ''Wings of Liberty'' campaign was that the developers included too many units, with every single mission dedicated to a unit. This not only created a massive tech tree (almost two dozen units in total), but some of the units weren't that good, even in the missions that focused on them -- on the other hand, there was criticism over many missions being ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman, being tailored to the strengths of its spotlight unit and coming off as gimmicky and easy. ''Heart of the Swarm'' dialed back on the unit count heavily, had several levels that didn't focus on one unit, and the levels that did focus on a new unit did so in ways that felt more organic and didn't try to shoehorn the unit into things. ''Legacy of the Void'' technically had more units than even ''Wings of Liberty'', but many of them were variants of existing units and existed to add variety to the player's army, not to be used heavily in a single spotlight mission.

** The release of ''Legacy of the Void'' broke the base in a similar manner on the Terrans. The Marauder nerf, along with addition of the Adept and Disruptor to the Protoss, and the Lurker and Viper's Parasitic Bomb to the Zerg, makes the Terran's bread and butter strategy, MMM (Marines, Marauders, and Medivacs) ''much'' weaker. Some Terran players are complaining now that this makes them the weakest race since Terrans have a harder time doing a tech switch to transition into later-game Factory and Starport-based armies, while Protoss and Zerg players are mocking the Terrans for relying on the MMM strategy since ''Wings of Liberty'' and are now just upset they "have to learn how to ''really'' play" after using the same strategy for five years. Eventual balance tweaks largely mitigated these complaints.

** The Swarm Host is source of many arguments. Some players consider them overpowered since, when used properly, their locusts can deal a surprising amount of damage and be used to snipe bases and ambush armies with no risk to the Swarm Host. Further, because locusts cost nothing to produce but time, every trade with locusts is economically favorable to the Swarm Host player. On the other side, players point out that Swarm Hosts cost a fair investment of resources, time, and supply, and their locusts last a rather short time compared to the very long cooldown to spawn them, so the player who is using Swarm Hosts is sacrificing the potential size and sustainability of their army, leaving them more vulnerable to counterplay.

** Rich resources is very seldomly used throughout the campaigns. Only a select few missions have the gold mineral fields, and the rich gas geysers don't appear ''at all''.