The only comment I have here to what you are saying is about EMP being the same as WOL. Thats true but what from the toss side is the same. So maybe peel back some of the nerfs a little on certain units
Zealots are stronger compared to WoL, Stalkers are stronger, Archons are the same, Carriers are the same, as are Phoenix, Void Rays are stronger as well. DTs and Warp Prisms are massively stronger than they used to be in WoL. Tempests werenāt in WoL, nor were Oracles, Disruptors or Adepts.
Colossus is weaker, Iāll give you that. High Templar Feedback was nerfed, but Storm is the same, and Templar also donāt derp themselves into the enemy anymore. Immortal got completely reworked and the Mothership, despite losing Vortex, is arguably better than it used to be thanks to the improved time-warp and cheaper cost - though weāll say itās about the same given it also has temporary cloak.
Of all of these nerfs, the only one that really matters to the ghost specifically is the Templar and maybe the colossus; Iāve already suggested reverting the feedback nerf, and Terranic suggested a partial reversion to .75 instead of the current .5 damage per 1 energy.
The irony of this statement is that every time Iāve seen it used since players stopped doing it, the Protoss player won.
Despite every protoss player seeming to complain about how impossible PvT is, statistically speaking itās actually in their favour.
Side note, itās around that same 6 year mark that all the Protoss players stopped doing a lot of those same skills they used to value.
Iām not suggesting I could coach them to victory - far from it. But itās insane not to notice the trend that when they stopped doing the things that won them games, they started to decline.
A short list of things they stopped doing:
Oracle retention - the number of times weāve seen Protoss players - especially pro protoss players - throw one or multiple oracles away for one more drone, instead of retaining the oracle for scouting, map control through stasis wards, or just general damage that would be helpful in dealing with a timing or counter-attack is utterly absurd. The trade off is literally never worth it. HerO in particular is notorious for throwing them away, despite being one of the best protoss players in the world heās also notorious for making some of the absolute dumbest possible decisions in any given game.
Warp Prism - As a whole, Protoss players genuinely used to be much better with warp prisms. Keeping them alive, sneaking them into bases, microing warp prisms, but most importantly, retaining them during a timing attack or all in. The number of times weāve seen a Protoss put themselves in a literally game-winning position only to literally throw the backbone of their push into the enemy army/defensive line, lose it immediately, and subsequently have the all-in held and lose the game as a direct result is astounding.
Templar control - Paring it with warp prisms now is a lost art. You say itās bad, but the success that have been had every time itās used says otherwise. We rarely see flanking Templar either, nor do we see Templar feedbacks being used anywhere nearly as often as we used to - thatās partially due to the nerf (which Iāve suggested reverting before), but even so, itās yet another thing to add to the list.
Blink DT runbys - Particularly for late-game this was, for a while, one of the most dangerous things a protoss player could do. Granted, it was expensive, but the ability to blink in and effectively 1-2 shot hatcheries, PFs or OCs was massive. In part, players got a little better at defending this, but even so, there was literally no reason to stop. There wasnāt even a nerf that hit this particular style to reduce its feasibility once late-game was reached.
Multi-pronged attacks - This still happens sometimes, but itās not as common for most Protoss players that arenāt MaxPax (and sometimes HerO). In part tied to the lack of Prism play, but also just a general downturn of this aspect from Protoss pros.
General creativity - Not that many creative Protoss or Protoss builds going around these days outside of HerO himself. I can understand that a big part of this was simply many of the old builds getting nerfed, but getting nerfed doesnāt mean itās not viable either - particularly in a best-of series that goes longer than a couple games, having multiple play-styles and builds in your pocket is so, so key for every player, but Protoss players in particular seem to have significantly less build diversity now than they used to - again, nerfs and buffs and meta changes do impact that, but that doesnāt mean it canāt and shouldnāt be done. Meta is meta because itās solid, standard play, but sometimes playing Off-Meta builds, or evolving off-meta builds for use in Best-Of series in particular, is just as impactful, if not more so, because opponents arenāt used to playing against that style.
Again, Iām not suggesting I know better than all pro players; Iām just someone who has noticed a few coinciding trends.
And yes, I know, I know; coincidence does not equal causality. But consider this for a moment:
Protoss players didnāt win anything for years. HerO comes back - with a new style of play, as was often his MO - directly resulted in him winning tournaments and shooting to the very top of the Protoss scene.
Prior to his military service, HerO was known as the guy who was often the innovator; he was the player who picked up the slack to change the meta, until people adapted to it and until stronger, better Protoss players could incorporate the new meta it into their playstyle and win as a direct result.
Consider everything else; we spent almost three years playing in a meta where Protoss players refused to do anything other than skytoss or die trying. Many of the best players during this time also went to military service and the pool of skill decreased as a direct result since they were often the meta-makers the ones that directed the Protoss meta. When players donāt practice those important skills I listed above (and more Iām missing, Iām sure), then those skills wane. Itās a common thing that happens in any sport, and sc2 - any eSport really - is no different.
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Real reason for this thread: Another protoss platinum player trying to sympathize with zerg to try and garner more support to nerf another aspect of a different race they themselves canāt beat due to 100% a lack of skill.
cool alt
touch grass