Benjamin 'DeMusliM' Baker has been a world class Warcraft III player for quite some time, however, Ben has moved onto a new love, Starcraft II. Cameron 'fams' Carson caught up with Ben to talk a little about the SC2 Beta, what Ben has been up to recently and much more!

When did you first get your beta key?

Along with the first wave, I just arrived back from America when they were sent out as I stayed at Shriek's house for almost a month so it was pretty great timing, was so happy I was among the first to play as I've been waiting a hella long time for it.

 Why were you at Shriek’s house, doing a Wc3 or  SC bootcamp?

 Well, me and Shriek are really good friends -  whenever we met up at LAN events there would  always be a barrel of laughs and special activities  along the way. We decided that I should go visit him for my birthday (January), so that's what I did :D.  Basically it was just an idea, then the months crept  up so fast - and finally I was in America. I had a  wicked time in his college house and met a lot of  great people - was the best break from competitive  gaming ever and I hope I can do something similar  again in the near future.

How much time have you spent playing the beta?

Too much? :) Nah on a serious note, I've played roughly 250 games so far and I've really enjoyed it. The difference from game to game is what I really missed with wc3, the refreshing vibe is back and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Every game, even if strategies are the same the difference is huge - I really love it.

Other top Wc3 players such as CHECK, have played many games (roughly 1000 the last time I checked).  Do you think players like CHECK who have the strict intention of becoming the best at the game will be able to achieve that goal easier than others (who have no background in professional gaming at a top level, but who also mass games, and wish to become pro)?

I'd like to think having a wc3 or BW background really does help, and I believe it does definitely give you a jump start. Practicing a lot of games often just helps with the mechanics aspect and if you play X strategy you counter with Y. Having a goal and aiming for it is the way to go, if you want to become pro, and that's what you've set out to do, there's nothing really stopping you from pursuing that goal. I personally think players who have seen BW run at a high level will know what it takes to become Top, players who haven't witnessed that yet, but assume they want to become pro will maybe have a tough time as they don't know what they are getting themselves in for.

As for Mass gaming being the way forward? I think everyone will need to mass games at the start just to get a feel for the game if their intention is to become pro, just like any game you need to almost become part of it and the next move you make needs to become instinct rather than a drawn out thought process. As for overall - the smarter and better players will eventually come out on top in the long run, which is the way it goes for most games.

What race do you play?

Terran.

What is your current ladder and rank on that ladder?

I'm in platinum division 4, and rank 1 so far. I had a pretty tough, drawn out battle with Draco for a long time and we were juggling around with the top spots, now Dimaga joined in on the fun ^^.

Do you think a system such as the WC3L should be adopted for SC2, or something more along the lines of the pro leagues in korea?

If you mean the old WC3L system, then possibly. Personally I feel the 1v1 system is a lot more entertaining in starcraft in general, and so when you have "team fights" I think leaving it down to either a few solo bo3s, or winner stays on is the most fun.

How much did you play SC:BW before this?  Do you like SC2 compared to SC:BW, if so why/why not?

I didn't play barely any SC:BW actually, I played ToD for money once which was a big mistake, and I played grubby one time also. Previous to that I played at a friend’s house when I was particularly young playing UMS. I did watch quite a few VODs though on youtube, some of my favourites being Boxer, Nada, Reach and more recently Effort.

I'll only talk about a spectators point of view, as I didn't play enough BW to really comment on the playing aspect. BW was incredibly entertaining, the speed it used to hit incredibly hard at high levels of play and really made the game have no Roof to hit, there was no limit of speed and so the faster you were - the better which was really, really impressive to witness. SC2 while it has much better graphics, I'm not sure the battles are quite as fun to see. The speed of the fights render them to lasting a mere few seconds before it's over. It's early days though - anything I say could change within the week. BUT, and this is a big but, certain things such as the auto surround mechanic definitely remove a "WOW" and "OooooOO" factor, now anyone, literally anyone can perform such tasks.

Blizzard is patching SC2 very quickly, what are your thoughts on balance so far?
Balance wise, it was surprisingly pretty darn good to start off with. Obviously there were little bits and bobs, but overall games were flowing smoothly with barely a bump, the balance already leaves wc3 in its tracks after only being in the beta phase.

I'm definitely happy with how Blizzard is treating the game so far. We're 2 weeks in and already received 4-5 patches which really shows you that any "flaws" thus far are being corrected within an instant.

Certain things though that I still believe need "altering" are:

Roachs - still too strong I think for such a low cost of 75/25/1

Hellions - although I really want to like hellions, and they do a hell of a lot of damage with the upgrade to light - I still believe their attack animation is what really lets them down.

Speedling bug - hopping through walls (I don't know if it's a bug, but popping through gaps that aren't there sure seems a bit dodgy! - similar to that of blade with Windwalk in wc3)

Larvae- A little too strong, needs fixing.

Banelings - Should do friendly fire damage to none baneling units - so they are used less wrecklessly and when they are used, they are equally as effective - and more used as a flanking unit or distraction, rather than a 1 group mash up as they are now.

What to you, makes SC2 appealing?

I really like the amount of units you can have in battles, I like the little skirmish missions all over the map, the macro aspect (it's a lot faster than that of wc3 making it much more demanding) but I also like the paths in which you can take strategically. There is no "right" thing to do at any one time, you always have options and choices. Choices are what really separate good players from everyone else, they always seem to make the right ones - and in sc2 there could be several right choices which really make the player imprint himself into the game making it all that much more important.

So to sum that up, I like the pace of game, but I also like how you can play to your strengths rather than having to copy the "main strategy" as while there will be main strategies eventually, Tech trees really allow you to play how you want to play, not how you have to play.

Do you think SC2 takes more from SC:BW or Wc3?

Well, as a sequel to SC2 and most of the game being virtually transferred, I believe it's derived mainly from BW. While the controls and 3D graphics are more related to WC3, I believe it's like a 80:20 ratio in favour of BW. If anything, the actual movement feels like neither game - and is very alike that of HoN.

Will you switch over to SC2 from Wc3?

Yes, I decided this a long time ago.

Do you think SC2 will kill off Wc3, or even BW?

I believe it will kill of wc3 relatively quickly, the top players who can make a living from the game will continue to play as long as it pays the bills, and spectators as long as they have a favourite player to cheer for will continue to cheer. Wc3 is on the edge right now, the game itself is not as balanced as it once was, and BNet is plagued with hackers - these problems weren't fixed until very recently, so the fact SC2 is coming out very soon means the casual gamers/fans of wc3 will immediately step onto the sc2 train.

If the fans no longer wish to see the same 10 players at every tournament, or they grow tired of the same results appearing - the sponsors of events will also recognize this and drop the game entirely - as the focal point will drastically sway towards the new rising: SC2. As for BW, I don't really know how the Korean scene works - everywhere else I believe SC2 will drown out BW - but in Korea, BW is so huge that the task of swallowing the game, I just can't imagine. In the near future, maybe in some years if the Kespa vs Blizz situation gets resolved.

How do you like the new battle.net so far?  Do any of the features stand out to you?

The new battle.net seems pretty good - to be honest I didn't really look into it before release, I was just interested in the game itself. Things that I really like are the observer/replay functions - allowing you to check anything you want to, even if you want to see it from a players perspective you can - which I think is truly awesome.

Little things that I still don't like are - you have to be on BNet when you watch replays.
I hope this changes, as I really dislike this - if I was on a plane to an event, or any form of transport I would like to observe replays/study opponents during this time.

I also believe they haven't resolved the latency issue correctly. BNet for wc3 was crippled with lag, I literally had 1 sec delay on good days, BNet 2.0 sure is a lot better, but it still can vary from day to day. This also makes me worry about there being no "LAN Screen" Blizzard wants you to play on BNet 2.0 even at LAN events etc. This given the latency issue could be really huge, and for countries with lesser internet such as China, I don't know what kinda problems could arise.

 - Also there are again little bugs like, getting alt tabbed despite not touching anything but your mouse - or replays lagging if you run them on 3x/6x speed, and Tabbing into the game taking a good 20 secs, these problems need to be fixed, as things like this can really aggravate a gamer. I really don't know what blizzard plan on doing, as it's only early days, I may sound critical - but I would just like the game to be as perfect as it's supposed to be. That's what the beta is for after all, to iron out all the problems.

How do you like the new units such as Thor or the mothership?

Actually, I'm really not sure yet. The original mothership was ridiculous and I'm glad they altered it as fast as they did. Thor is pretty funky looking, and hits like a rock - but I really don't know what to make of them, personally, while I like their functions - I believe they look too big and clumpy. Everything from BW -> SC2 was minimized, almost everything at least, except Thors, Certain aircraft and Ultralisks.
If they were maybe shrunk down a little bit and blended in more than they do now I might like them a bit more.

Do you think these models looking the way they do, will affect the spectator aspect of the game in a negative way?

I'm not sure, like don't get me wrong, they look pretty cool - but they just don't feel Starcraft cool right now.

What are the major differences other than the lack of heroes, from Wc3 to SC2?

Well, I'll talk from a human players perspective mainly - in wc3, you regularly only need 13 workers, 5 for gold 8 for wood for the whole game and you'd be more than fine. In sc2 - if you stop making workers you're doing it wrong, some games you can literally go up to 80 or so and it wouldn't be "wrong". That for me is the biggest change, even above heroes. Other than that - no upkeep - that's a biggy meaning you shouldn't really ever stop producing - and not producing if you have the resources is a sign of not being quick enough. If you have more than 2 production buildings selected at a time, in wc3 if they were the same building you just pressed "X" key and if you had the resources it would make 2+ units, one in each building. In SC2 if you have let’s say 10 barracks, and you want to make 10 marines - if you select them all, you have to press "A" 10x, not just selecting them all and pressing a once - that was a pretty big change!

The game is a lot faster, it feels similar within the first 5 minutes to wc3, but once you have 2 workers minimum on each mineral patch the game goes way faster than anything in wc3, and that's just off 1 base. I really enjoy the pace of play.

Do you think this fast-paced game play will benefit SC or Wc3 players more?

6 Months ago, I'd of told you that SC players would definitely be more adept at the switch, as the pace of game although it is faster from BW -> SC2, the game mechanics are definitely a lot more up to date, and you're actually able to deal with it a lot easier than you could with BW. But right now I'd probably say there isn't much difference in who it benefits more right now, the starcraft guys are still coming to terms with hotgrouping buildings, and the wc3 guys probably aren't used to spamming so many units all game long. So far though, both parties are definitely homing in on the faults and when the meeting of BW vs WC3 players happens, you'd have a hard time pointing out which player came from which game as they are both pretty similar right now in terms of ability and strategy.

I think the debate over SC or WC3 players prevailing is pretty much drawing to a close. Before everyone including myself assumed BW players would walk over everyone else, surprisingly though it didn't quite seem the case, yes the BW players definitely laid down the law climbing to the top of their ladders, but so did the WC3 guys.

I think people have to understand that, a lot of people who played/play WC3 didn't just play it because they "couldn't handle" BW, but because it was either more interesting to them, or the fact that most players who are say between 15-20 now adays were probably 8 or less at the time of starcrafts release. WC3 for me at least just came out at a more reasonable time for my age group and I found it fun so I stuck with it.


 

Do you think skill will transfer from Wc3, or is SC2 a different kind of RTS, as far as the types of skills you will need?

Actually, I think any really good RTS player can move around RTS games pretty comfortably. It's the switch in genre that is really hard for players to do - such as moving from FPS -> RTS or vice versa. People who were good at BW or WC3 may not be good sc2 players, or they could be amazing - and I think that's what adds to the freshness of the game.

Wc3 wasn't very demanding - at a top level, there was definitely things you could do in game that would help a hell of a lot, that was hard to do, but in general the game was mainly about not making mistakes, and making the right choice - creep or attack.

SC2 really put things in perspective for me, not only are you not meant to make mistakes, but speed and strategy are also very key points in the game, and like BW, I doubt anyone will truly be able to master the game any time soon.

Any last words for your fans and the E-Sports community?

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone involved, Blizzard for producing great games - MYM] Sponsors - PUMA, Chieftec and Razer - management and the fans/friends :D.
Cheers guys!