When Blizzard put in the new mobility changes to Starcraft II it was announced that there would be drop pods for terran (sporadic mobility boost for a small count of units), warp in for protoss (steady mobility boost for a medium count of units), and nydus worm for zerg (steady mobility boost for a large count of units). These design changes overall would have kept the mobility heirarchy of zerg > protoss > terran while improving upon all three.

Don't get me wrong, I feel like the nydus worm and drop pod weren't necessary so I'm glad they're out. but protoss is now the only race with this mechanic left, making them a very mobile and durable race. Recall was taken out which hinders their mobility a good amount in the late game, but warp in comes into play much earlier than recall ever could, and even though it's easier to defend against than recall late game, I can foresee warp in needing some balancing in beta. So now that the backstory is over here's my ideas to start on if this turns out to be a balance problem as predicted. Use your experience with recall to make this new warp in mechanic a balanced improvement from SC1:

-move warp in slightly higher on the tech tree (subject to balance, but i'd suggest unlockable with null circuit so warp in can come out around the same time as "fast arbitors" though probably with less investment)
-make gateways cost minerals and gas to "morph" into warpgates. arbitors used to take an investment for their mobility boost to kick in. keep that in
-(if truly necessary) remove it, only newbs will care. honestly the warpgate takes away a lot of the danger that comes with proxying as protoss, encouraging 'cheese' tactics.

and to fix the other mobility factor for protoss (stalkers):

-make razor swarm have a slight ensnaring effect in its area, and make ensnare spells grey out the Blink cooldown for stalkers. this will give both terran and zerg a way to hinder stalkers early game with a little micro and tactics. as well as opening up delay strategies for zerg.
-(if truly necessary) make the blink cooldown longer.

So those are my ideas, don't get your panties in a bunch if you don't like them, but feel free to show your support or add your own input. Positioning is a crucial part of Brood War, and I'd like to see it important in SC2 as well. Mobility should cost, and result in seeing fewer troops on the ground. I feel that having protoss troops warping around from the start or having Blink impossible to hinder is less interesting because it removes some dynamics from the game. Thanks for reading.

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Q u o t e:
When Blizzard put in the new mobility changes to Starcraft II it was announced that there would be drop pods for terran (sporadic mobility boost for a small count of units), warp in for protoss (steady mobility boost for a medium count of units), and nydus worm for zerg (steady mobility boost for a large count of units). These design changes overall would have kept the mobility heirarchy of zerg > protoss > terran while improving upon all three.

Don't get me wrong, I feel like the nydus worm and drop pod weren't necessary so I'm glad they're out. but protoss is now the only race with this mechanic left, making them a very mobile and durable race. Recall was taken out which hinders their mobility a good amount in the late game, but warp in comes into play much earlier than recall ever could, and even though it's easier to defend against than recall late game, I can foresee warp in needing some balancing in beta. So now that the backstory is over here's my ideas to start on if this turns out to be a balance problem as predicted. Use your experience with recall to make this new warp in mechanic a balanced improvement from SC1:

-move warp in slightly higher on the tech tree (subject to balance, but i'd suggest unlockable with null circuit so warp in can come out around the same time as "fast arbitors" though probably with less investment)
-make gateways cost minerals and gas to "morph" into warpgates. arbitors used to take an investment for their mobility boost to kick in. keep that in
-(if truly necessary) remove it, only newbs will care. honestly the warpgate takes away a lot of the danger that comes with proxying as protoss, encouraging 'cheese' tactics.

and to fix the other mobility factor for protoss (stalkers):

-make razor swarm have a slight ensnaring effect in its area, and make ensnare spells grey out the Blink cooldown for stalkers. this will give both terran and zerg a way to hinder stalkers early game with a little micro and tactics. as well as opening up delay strategies for zerg.
-(if truly necessary) make the blink cooldown longer.

So those are my ideas, don't get your panties in a bunch if you don't like them, but feel free to show your support or add your own input. Positioning is a crucial part of Brood War, and I'd like to see it important in SC2 as well. Mobility should cost, and result in seeing fewer troops on the ground. I feel that having protoss troops warping around from the start or having Blink impossible to hinder is less interesting because it removes some dynamics from the game. Thanks for reading.

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While it is true that Protoss do have extra mobility from warp-in, the Zerg do still have Nydus Worm in additional to traditional the Overlord transport mechanic (which is still an upgrade). Thus, Zerg have two very viable ways to move around their units, as well as receiving a 30% speed increase for all ground units (minus drones) on creep. Terran on the other hand have Medivacs, which are Dropships that heal. While this unit doesn't actually increase the mobility compared to the original StarCraft, there is added incentive to build these units as they double up as a Dropship and a Medic. Additionally, they can also be double-queued from a single Starport with a Reactor add-on, making it that much easier to mass several Medivacs for massive drops upon the enemy.

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Q u o t e:


Aha. Do starports still have that ability to produce units while floating in the air? That was such a cool ability!

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Nope they won't be able to do that- I did enjoy that for a bit too, though I'm sure someone will make some fun carrier like maps with the map editor.