It's been a while since I've heard the community discuss Brood War balancing. I think the issue has been debated for decades and at this point is a dead horse beaten, buried, revived and beaten again. I think most Brood War fans/players/enthusiasts have very strong feelings about this topic, and we've heard and know the positions already:

1. Terran turrets should deal normal (not explosive) damage.
2. Zealots are too tanky and strong for an early-game first tier unit.
3. Dark Swarm is busted.
4. The game remains balanced through the ever-changing map pool.
5. The game is perfectly balanced and needs no change.

etc. etc. etc.

Here's my take:

If there is one thing that prevents Brood War from being flawless, it is the rigid fragility of ZvZ. This matchup is often described as a 'knife fight in a phone booth' and is arguably the most unforgiving matchup in all of RTS due to razor-thin margins and extremely low econ. The matchup almost never sees Hive tech, Defilers, or Ultralisks because the game ends on 1-2 base (max) and is always the same thing in 99.9% of matches: zerglings & mutas. As a zerg main I never thought this was right. No matchup (even if it is a mirror matchup) should be reduced to only 2 units. That's just silly.

I've given extensive thought over the years as to how the ZvZ matchup could be modified in such a way that game balance will remain intact, yet the option for many different strategies & build orders can be opened up (much like TvT -- how a real mirror matchup should be) and here's what I think could work💯

Slightly reduce the mutation time or mineral cost of spore colonies. Spores take forever to build (25 seconds) not to mention you have to morph the creep colony and then morph the spore which requires the player to pan the camera to said location 3 separate/total times over 25 seconds -- I don't need to remind you guys that Brood War is extremely mechanically / APM intensive and having to go back and issue a command 3 times just to get one defensive air structure (to me) is worse than the total 175 mineral cost (which is also way too high)

The Result: This would allow a Zerg player who is slightly behind to safely defend their base from mutas, thus breaking the binary "whoever has 2 more Mutas wins" meta. It would force ZvZ into longer, strategic macro games where players could actually tech up to Lurkers, Plagues, and Hive units, matching the epic scale of the other matchups and making for much more interesting & competitive games.

I know what you protoss/terran mains are thinking. "a zerg player complaining about spores needing a buff when zerg is already the most OP race with the 3 most OP units (ling/defiler/muta)" please understand that I'm not making a case that zerg needs a buff to be balanced, I do believe there is some merit to the 'zerg op' argument.

I'm simply trying to entertain a hypothetical of how zerg could be patched in such a way that the ZvZ matchup will be completely revolutionized while simultaneously ensuring the other 2 matchups remain unaffected and this is the best thing I can come up with.

• Here's an illustration to help provide you guys with a full understanding of the current game state's air defensive structures (the turret, cannon, spore):

What do you guys think? Is Brood War the most balanced RTS & best esport of all time or is the game in need of a balance patch??

If there's one thing that's always bugged you about BW that you feel could easily be fixed (about any of the 3 races) while maintaining the integrity of equal balance or perhaps even make the game more balanced than it already is what do you think it is?

Looking forward to your responses. I always love this debate!!

Is it normal to have people in F rank with like 700-800 MMR and 300 APM with good vultures micro etc.? 😅 Or those people just like destroying noobs?

I suck but sometimes it feels more fair to play vs E or D rank but some people from really low ELO were like..

impossible

It's a replay analytics tool. Helps greatly with ordering and finding old replays. I like that there is an AKA tool with a lot of nicknames and smurfs. I can add more and track overall stats vs. a given oppo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjFmLuU9tGs

And on the page of the tool, I found some super cool Korean reppacks - including games from the proleague. https://starkraftika.com/repalyzer#packs

Hey guys, a few things:

1. Last Chance Qualifiers are this weekend

BSL23 Last Chance Qualifier #1 - SIGN UP HERE
BSL23 Last Chance Qualifier #2 - SIGN UP HERE

Start 21:00 CEST | 15:00 EST | 12:00 PST

2. Sorry for my ADHD observing

When I'm casting, producing and observing at the same time, I use my mouse as a pointer to show what I'm talking about – and since English isn't my first language, I end up clicking random units while searching for words... I've watched some of the VODs and I can see how bad it looks, so I'll focus on not doing it. Apologizes and thank you for pointing that out. Fortunately, I'm only casting during the qualifying phase, which ends this weekend. After that I'll focus on producing and observing, which should improve the broadcast quality.

3. Weekly Report #3

ret & UltrA book Pro seats, Teutonica & Kik0 go into Jungsu, Nesh pulls off a 253-point upset on Azhi_Dahaki, and JDConan climbs +224 on the ladder.
For more exciting stats, check the new portal: https://bsl.baldogru.com/seasons/100bc3e7-adee-4917-b438-db5eb540c055?tab=weekly

P.S. Confirm your participation in BSL23
Please confirm your participation in the main season, even if you haven't met the min required number of games yet. https://bsl.baldogru.com/faq/confirm-seat