‘StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void’ – New Story, Unit, & Beta Details
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The wait between Starcraft II campaigns has been excruciating for fans of Blizzard’s strategy series.
campaigns has been excruciating for fans of Blizzard’s strategy series. The developer made the decision to split Starcraft II’s story of galactic warfare into three separate parts, and players had a long wait for the second part of the Starcraft II trilogy, 2013’s Zerg-centric Heart of the Swarm . The expansion pack continued the quality of the first game, and StarCraft players were left wondering exactly what the title’s final expansion would bring – and when they would be able to see it.
At the end of last year, it looked as though Blizzard was able to unveil further information on the finale of the StarCraft II trilogy, titled Legacy of the Void and set to focus on the inscrutable Protoss. The developer released several cryptic audio clipson the official StarCraft II Soundcloud page, hinting at further details on the title. The audio clips were followed up by the release of a trailer and multiplayer update videos.
Now, the developer has spoken out once more, this time focusing on Legacy of the Void’s role in the StarCraft story. In an interview with IGN , Blizzard has dropped the news that Legacy of the Void will not only conclude the StarCraft II trilogy, but the franchise’s overarching story as a whole. “The storyline that was setup in StarCraft I and continued in StarCraft II will resolve in Legacy of the Void ,” said a Blizzard representative. “All of those main characters will reach a nice satisfying conclusion.” However, Blizzard plans to revisit the StarCraft universe again in the future.
The plan for the Starcraft universe to live on is an intriguing one, and brings up a number of questions about just where Blizzard can take the setting. A move to a StarCraft MMO is little too obvious, and with World of Warcraft topping 10 million subscribersthanks to the recent Warlords of Draenor expansion it seems there’s life in the old dog yet. Perhaps Blizzard’s upcoming title Overwatch will give the developer a taste for gunplay. Who knows, those disappointed to never see StarCraft: Ghost release could one day play a spiritual successor – after all, the game has never officially been cancelled.
The developer has also been able to share details on the new units that will launch with Legacy of the Void . One example is the Protoss Adept, a core gateway unit with a Psionic Transfer ability. This allows the Adept to create a copy of itself that is controlled independently, but cannot attack or be attacked itself. The unit has a ground-only ranged attack and has a normal movement speed.
Blizzard has also revealed its plans for the Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void closed beta. The beta will begin on March 31, with Blizzardinviting an initial group of players for the beta testing process. The developer has stated that the Legacy of the Void beta will run for a “longer period than usual,” as well as warning players that things will feel “rough” at the start of the testing process. This is likely due to the beta’s focus on nailing down the mechanics of units. Full details of the beta changes can be found at Battle.net .
Sources: IGN, Battle.net