[IceFire]

So my brother got into the beta (we both signed up at the same time) and when he got the extra invite he gave that one to me.

First off... LOVED the original game but I played mostly single player.  I did play some games online and I even did decently well in some matched team games where we would use a mix of playbook strategies that each of us would focus on.  Ended that after a while.

So...StarCraft 2 is pretty much StarCraft with new units, revised tech tree, and gooey gobs of polish.  Blizzard always polishes their games but this is just so well put together right now most companies would have released it already.  Kudos to working towards perfection.  There are a few bugs that I've run in to but things are really spectacular.  Online play is generally so smooth you forget that you're playing online.  That is seriously impressive in my mind.

The stats show a fairly even number of players winning at each of the three races but things are still early and no doubt some tweaks will be coming down the pipeline.  I've played mostly Terran and a bit of Protoss so far.  No Zerg yet but they really aren't my style so I will probably check them out later.  All three sides play roughly like their did before but there are some really interesting twists to each.  For instance the Ghost returns but it's now available much earlier than before and the Nuke is reasonably accessible now.

I'm mostly getting my ass kicked online but there are some times when I manage to pull through and win the day. It's quite a bit of fun and I'm looking forward to the huge single player campaign when that arrives.

[Deka1184]

I made the mistake of doing too well in the placement matches. 

[Khaze]

I'm borrowing a friends key. My ingame name is SiShenDao. If i'm playing Protoss, its probably me.

Just a friendly warning. Blizzard is extremely vigilant about their terms of service, and account sharing is strictly against that. Careful, or you might get your friend's beta access suspended.

[Droid803]

A lot of people share accounts, they don't care from the looks of it (in any case they don't really have much of a way of telling).

[IceFire]

Well now I'm just getting my ass kicked every game I play. At some point everyone else figured out how to play the game and I didn't get the message.  Not sure what is happening but I'm always being out resourced and out produced.  They somehow manage to send in a ton of units that I haven't even built the buildings for yet.

I think I'm looking more forward to single player...

[Thaeris]

...Yeah...

That would happen to me on regular StarCraft and WarCraft 2 as well, despite the fact that I really liked those games. Thus said, my favorite thing to do was team up with other people and try to stomp Brood War's EVIL AI when online. Amazing that I could do that with a dial-up connection...

[Scotty]

The one thing StarCraft needed more than anything was a frakking difficulty selector.

[General Battuta]

Well now I'm just getting my ass kicked every game I play. At some point everyone else figured out how to play the game and I didn't get the message.  Not sure what is happening but I'm always being out resourced and out produced.  They somehow manage to send in a ton of units that I haven't even built the buildings for yet.

I think I'm looking more forward to single player...

'Craft is extraordinarily competitive, and if you don't get your early-game macro and worker builds set up right, you'll be swamped.

These people work out optimal builds very rapidly.

[IceFire]

Well now I'm just getting my ass kicked every game I play. At some point everyone else figured out how to play the game and I didn't get the message.  Not sure what is happening but I'm always being out resourced and out produced.  They somehow manage to send in a ton of units that I haven't even built the buildings for yet.

I think I'm looking more forward to single player...

'Craft is extraordinarily competitive, and if you don't get your early-game macro and worker builds set up right, you'll be swamped.

These people work out optimal builds very rapidly.

No kidding. I've watched some replays (very handy) and use the compare features (also very handy) to see what their resource amounts were versus mine.  Turns out I was severely under building probes/SCV/drones.  I'm doing a little better now.  I'm in the bronze league which is about right for my level of play. I get how the game is played but I'm not a super star... no doubt the higher leagues will be filled with the super folks.

[Fury]

So SC2 is now in shelves and probably sold out already. However, I have one copy reserved for me which I have not yet paid for. I'm wondering if SC2 is worth buying if I'm not big into multi?

[Scotty]

I would have sworn that it launched ~2 and a half days or so from now.

[Droid803]

I would have sworn that it launched ~2 and a half days or so from now.

This?

Well, I have it pre-ordered. Did that to get my key, if it saves me a lineup as well, then yay!

So SC2 is now in shelves and probably sold out already. However, I have one copy reserved for me which I have not yet paid for. I'm wondering if SC2 is worth buying if I'm not big into multi?

Well, the single player campaign would still definitely be good, but uh, most people that just want that *cough*.

[starbug]

Play.com have just told me that my pre-order of the collectors edition has been dispatched, i thought the release was the 27th, so says the awesome ghosts of the past trailer. Watching that you would think SC2 was a film!

[General Battuta]

I'm worried about the writing. The trailer had some awful lines, nowhere near Starcraft 1's caliber.

[Dark RevenantX]

I'm worried about the writing. The trailer had some awful lines, nowhere near Starcraft 1's caliber.

You try picking out 10+ lines from a game that satisfy all of these qualities:
1. They don't spoil major plot events/twists
2. They sound awesome
3. They make sense when out of context

The writing quality did degrade somewhat, but it's still a whole lot better than most other modern games out there, major exceptions including the Bioware lineup.

[General Battuta]

Well what I did was watch the trailer and then go watch a random cutscene from Starcraft.

You can pick any random cutscene and it'll probably have immortal dialogue. "It's a Zerglin', Les..."  "...and from that throne, I shall watch over you..." "...are you ready to go all the way with this, Alexei?" "...in time I shall test their resolve and their strength..."

Starcraft 1 was just so damn well-written.

[Nuke]

The one thing StarCraft needed more than anything was a frakking difficulty selector.

it had one, the game is easier if you turn down the game speed. i had to turn it down for a few missions in brood war which are just unbeatable on anything higher than normal, but i usually play a notch behind fastest.

So SC2 is now in shelves and probably sold out already. However, I have one copy reserved for me which I have not yet paid for. I'm wondering if SC2 is worth buying if I'm not big into multi?

im mostly getting it for single player. seems they are using some kind of crippled, internet dependent, multiplayer support. the fact that i cant just play this on the lan with a bunch of spawned copies like you were able to do with sc1, seems to me like bad design. i think blizzard is too spoiled from their pay to play wow mentality to realize how badass lan games were in the past. back then the problem was that nobody had access to a lan. we had to violate every rule in our school computer labs just to play quake or starcraft on their lans. now that everyone actually has some form of lan, it doesn't make any sense at all to pull lan support from modern games. still, i liked the story and and the gameplay of the original and would like to see a continuation.

[Scotty]

it had one, the game is easier if you turn down the game speed. i had to turn it down for a few missions in brood war which are just unbeatable on anything higher than normal, but i usually play a notch behind fastest.

Wat.

[Nuke]

turning down the game speed makes the game easier. it gives you more time to think about strategy, manage your workers, and to organize your units into an effective fighting force.

[Droid803]

it had one, the game is easier if you turn down the game speed. i had to turn it down for a few missions in brood war which are just unbeatable on anything higher than normal, but i usually play a notch behind fastest.

Wat.

Yes, turning down speed makes a hell of a lot easier, cause it basically jacks up your APM (by lengthening the minutes).
You end up getting a lot more time to do what you want to do.

Well what I did was watch the trailer and then go watch a random cutscene from Starcraft.

You can pick any random cutscene and it'll probably have immortal dialogue. "It's a Zerglin', Les..."  "...and from that throne, I shall watch over you..." "...are you ready to go all the way with this, Alexei?" "...in time I shall test their resolve and their strength..."

Starcraft 1 was just so damn well-written.

The SC2 trailer looks like its pulled from some action movie...so I could understand why it doesn't sound as well written as SC/SCBW's cutscenes.
But they had to pick lines that made sense taken out of context of the game and not spoil anything...so it might not be indicative of the rest of the writing, though it probably is...