To be honest, Heart of the Swarm is exactly what I expected it to be. If you take a look back at what Brood War was, it only added a couple of units to each race, a few maps, and a little bit of bug fixing here or there. On a mechanics standpoint, Heart of the Swarm is VERY different. mainline strats tend to be heavily modified, terran for example, is now more likely to start mech with far more than 4-8 hellions off of the start (mainly due to the innate strength of Battle Hellions). When it comes to changing what options are available, you do not need o change large portions of the game.
Another example of this idea being VERY effective would be in Sins of a Solar Empire, and the Expandalone Rebellion. On a core gameplay standpoint, Sins of a Solar Empire is almost exactly the same as the base game with expansions. In fact, there is only really a few minor differences in the gameplay itself, namely the addition of the titan class of ship. The addition of some support ships and some allegence-specific researches also have some impact, but are generally overlooked. My point is, although there are very minor differences, the game feels very new and very different. I am now not likely to rush a starbase as a defense, instead I am now likely to rush everything for a titan, despite me being defenseless in the process.
I think that HOTS will be a good change for the game and the current meta that it is played in.
- Anthony 'IBurn36360' Diaz
