Patch 1.1 was released one week ago to a mixed response from the esports community. While the balance overhaul people expected never came, some of the bugs were ironed out in a smaller 1.1.1 update this week. The biggest of those changes is the removal of the ultralisk bug, which caused the zerg unit's AoE attack to have a much larger splash when attacking large targets.

But in an interview with PCGamer, the game's lead producer, Chris Sagaty, announced that they have 1.2 pencilled in as the first real "esport patch." "There will be bugfixes, balance changes and tweaks," he told the magazine. More important to tournament organisers, he also alluded to the inclusion of chat rooms but without any specific detail.

The issue of player response to patch 1.1 was also brought up, giving Sagaty the chance to respond publicly to the idea that zerg is still weak. "We’re being very cautious about making large swinging changes right now," he said.



That may seem strange after the recent comments from top players like Idra and Fruitdealer. Moreover, esports fans are unlikely to be excited by the apparent need to balance 2v2. But Sagaty also spoke directly on the perceived zerg problems. "We have fewer Zerg players overall. I avoid playing Zerg as much as possible because I find them to be just more complex in general." The Blizzard man also admitted that we shouldn't expect perfect balance, even after 1.2: "Balance is an ongoing process that, honestly, will take a year of longer to do."

PCGamer via Team Liquid