The first balance patch for LOTV has come out, with a buff to the Adept, Immortal, Tempest, and Lurker, while the Cyclone got a very slight nerf. Unfortunately, despite the changes Protoss players have essentially stopped playing LOTV, so it's going to be very difficult for Blizzard to figure out if things have improved or not (given the changes don't prevent early Terran and Zerg pushes, I suspect not).
Speaking of balance patches, only a week after the long awaited swarmhost nerf, Blizzard is already fretting over Zerg. This strikes me as bizarre, as in tournament play there's no sign of serious imbalance in the results--I can't recall a racial balance whine getting this kind of response before without data to back it up. Here are the results in WCS/GSL since the change:
GSL
ZvT 2-1 ZvP 0-1 (this result is believed to be a result of match-fixing, see below)
SSL
ZvT 1-0 PvZ 0-1
SEA (R16+)
ZvT 3-2 ZvP 3-7
NA (R16+)
ZvT 3-4 ZvP 6-7
EU (R16+)
ZvT 2-6 ZvP 12-11
China (R12+)
ZvT 2-0 ZvP 4-1
Taiwan (R8+)
ZvT 2-2 ZvP 3-0
Total
ZvT 15-15 ZvP 28-28
There's not a huge sample size from Korea, and a few regional results are skewed, but it's far too early to be alarmed (or to buff the unit). If we can wait two years to fix the swarmhost, I think we can give the current change more time. I've been enjoying the return to dynamic Zerg play, particularly now that tempests don't hard counter broodlords. It appears as though Blizzard has backed away from changing the unit for the moment.
Speaking of Zerg, there's a really interesting strategy flowchart for all match-ups via Zervas that's worth checking out, although keep in mind its from before the swarmhost change.
Although I discussed it previously, it's worth reiterating the odd exceptions that Blizzard made to allow Jaedong and StarDust to play the NA qualifiers from Korea (and without GM accounts for the latter). These exceptions go against the rulebook as laid out, but they are official exceptions (however against the spirit of the region lock they are). It's worth noting that PengWin is playing from Switzerland, but he also requested an exception long before the qualifier (unlike sWs, although he was allowed in once his exclusion was brought to light). The long and short of it is that WCS needs a true region lock, but at the moment this is the system we have (the topic was debated on Remax, btb).
There has been yet more betting drama in Korea, this time from a Code A match in the GSL as bets were cancelled for Creator's surprise win over Soulkey. The number of incidents is starting to get a bit ridiculous--I have to wonder how related they are to the low pay for Korean pros.
There's a very long treatise on the economy in SC2 which a number of pros have agreed with and promoted. I encourage reading the entire thing, but I do think the odds of Blizzard changing something already implemented into LOTV at this point is virtually zero. I believe the problems illustrated by the post will be addressed in other ways without changing the 12 worker start (my sentiments were echoed on Remax, incidentally--link above).
Rich Stanton at Eurogamer writes that as someone who road the early WOL-train, he's not someone who will follow LOTV because he (personally) will never be good enough at the game. He believes the high skill ceiling of the game will appeal to current SC2 fans, but will not attract new ones, implying LOTV would be more effective if the skill ceiling was lowered. It's an interesting perspective, but I think his assumption is hard to justify (not that he attempts to justify it). Rob Zacny at Rock, Paper, Shotgun makes a very similar argument, but believes Archon mode and the new economy might make it more newbie friendly. I have issues with their sentiments: I don't think other eSports are "easier"--certainly the pros in those scenes would disagree that they are (and if they were, players would much more successfully transition from eSport to eSport, but that's almost never the case unless they are related--ala RTS to RTS). To my mind, the issue for SC2 is that the game has a comprehension gap for casuals--by that I mean, it takes some time to understand what you are seeing. If you've played a MOBA, it doesn't matter which one you watch because they all function in a similar way so are mutually comprehensible. CS:GO also has an easy concept to follow, but that knowledge barrier for SC2 newbies makes it much harder to sell if you haven't played the game.
Speaking of viewership, Rifkin (from Basetradetv) has challenged the idea that European viewership is the be-all, end-all of the SC2 foreign scene (citing this to make his point; I believe his comments are from Remax, but it may have been from The Late Game, I can't recall). The idea isn't so much that the NA and EU scene have the same viewership, as clearly the latter has a bigger audience, but that the NA audience is still significant and shouldn't be ignored by tournament planners. His comments agree with my tiny slice of the scene, as NA fans form the slight majority of my audience (53%; followed by Europeans, particularly those from Germany, the UK, and Sweden).
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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