Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

[Dark Holy Elf]

I don't think you'd want to go pure physical, but mix-sets seem fine, and free you up to Draco Meteor indiscriminantly.  In addition to Outrage there's Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw, and Stone Edge, all of which have proven useable before.  Consider: would you think of this as an impressive possibly Uber pokemon if it was 600 BST with 70 atk instead of 130?  My gut instinct is "probably; that's borderline."

Funnilly enough, I first read it as 600 BST, then got confused when you were calling it tanky (130/130/95 wouldn't leave much room for tank stats on a 600, but I digress...). And I was thinking "yep, can't see that as uber, this is like Garchomp with an important 7 less speed (as well as taking 4x the SR damage in exchange for dropping the W4), and without the awesome self-buff, random evade hax, and with a terrible hole in its offensive game (Focus Blast's hit rate is psyduck and it doesn't even hit weakness on Skarmory, Metagross, or Bronzong)." Of course, reading more closely it has durability on Garchomp, too, but that's still not enough to close the gap on everything else I just listed.

Now, with 130 Atk instead of 70 and the sets that opens up... that might be what it needs to climb into ubers. Maybe. It really does struggle with the aforementioned steel tanks, among others. It's... honestly impressing me less than Salamence or Garchomp or Latias at the moment, certainly (though yes, none of those are OU any more either...). It probably has a leg up on Dragonite (+15 speed and better durability is a big deal, and while it lacks Dragonite's flamethrower and Earthquake options, it does do the hit-either-defence thing better otherwise) though so it's certainly quite good. I could also be underestimating its worth as a tank, since I tend not to think of dragons that way intuitively except for obvious cases.

[metroid composite]

It's... honestly impressing me less than Salamence or Garchomp or Latias at the moment, certainly (though yes, none of those are OU any more either...). It probably has a leg up on Dragonite (+15 speed and better durability is a big deal, and while it lacks Dragonite's flamethrower and Earthquake options, it does do the hit-either-defence thing better otherwise) though so it's certainly quite good. I could also be underestimating its worth as a tank, since I tend not to think of dragons that way intuitively except for obvious cases.

Hm, yeah, may have dismissed this one to ubers too quickly (I was kind-of of the mindset of "660 BST--ehh...I'll write a sentence or two and move on.")  Probably should have given it deeper thought.

First off, let's place the tankiness:

Typeage defencively:
Not weak to: Ice or Fire.  Important, as these are two of the most common coverage moves.  People will often arm their dragon counter with Ice.
Is weak to: Fighting, Rock, Dragon, Steel.  All relatively important (actually, steel in particular, as Meteor Mash and Bullet Punch are definitely hanging around on a lot of likely switch-ins).

Defencive stats:
First a quick note: if you check back to page 2 of this topic, you'll note that the defencive stats want to be weighted more towards HP...which Ice Dragon does excellently at an almost perfect ratio.  It's not the tankiest pokemon ever (only 305 total in defencive stats).  Stats-wise this still puts it defencively above Celebi/Jirachi/Shaymin, Swampert, Heatran, Bronzong, Dusknoir.  Physically similar to Umbreon (obviously Umbreon wins special).  Oh, and it's also relatively close to Deoxys-D in durability (like...surprisingly within 1% or something silly like that.  Oh Deo-D...).  There are tankier balanced defence pokemon in OU (Suicune by about 10%, and obviously Cress by lots) but not too many.

So...yeah.  It's not an impenetrable wall or anything, but durability stats-wise is a notable step above Salamence/Garchomp.  (Obviously both had defencive abilities, though).

[hinode]

Gamefreak is quite blatantly holding back with Pyurem, as it's ticketed to be the star of version 3. There's about a 99% chance that it'll get a new form like Giratina, with stats pumped up to Reshiram/Zekrom level, plus these two moves:

[M553]: Freeze Bolt
Ice Physical Power: 140 / Accuracy: 90 / 5 PP
Charge-up turn, may cause paralysis (20%)

[M554]: Cold Flare
Ice Special Power: 140 / Accuracy: 90 / 5 PP
Charge-up turn, may cause a burn (20%)

EDIT: Veekun claims that the random status is 30% for these moves, not 20%. Doublechecking my original sources right now.

EDIT2: Apparantly the original translations missed that these are charge-up moves like Sky-Attack. Bah.

They're in the code currently but nothing gets them yet, it's not hard to guess what they're being saved for. They're also blatantly based off Zekrom/Reshiram's signature attacks.

[metroid composite]

makes sense.  Forms get tiered individually, though.



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/641.shtml

580 BST Flying with mischevous heart.

Whoo, pure flying.  But nearly identical to the electric flying: a strictly better typing.

VERDICT BL or lower.



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/640.shtml

580 BST Grass Fighting with Heart of Justice

108 speed...and lots of special defence, without the recovery moves to be a serious wall.  Swords Dance but 90 attack stat.  Not much type coverage (walled by poison).

VERDICT...OU or lower.



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/639.shtml

580 BST Rock Fighting with Heart of Justice.

108 speed.  129 Attack.   Swords Dance.  Rock Polish.  Has Earthquake, and good STAB moves.  And...not much else, but that's enough.

Scary, but stoppable, I think.  Water, fighting, and steel all have super effective priority moves, and it can't hit weakness on water or fighting.  The premiere physicl wall, Hippowdon, also can't be hit super effective, and can fire back with a SE STAB Earthquake.

VERDICT...OU and scary




http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/638.shtml

580 BST Steel fighting with Heart of Justice

108 speed, lots of defence.  Swords Dance.  Not much type coverage.  No good recovery moves to make it a particularly problematic tank.  Steels are often a dragon counter, but many dragons are mixed, and bad SDef means Draco Meteor still hurts.  Still, though: an excellent reason to not use Outrage blindly.

VERDICT...OU or below.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Ciato is demanding politely requesting analyses of the smug snake new starters.

[hinode]

Smuglord Jaroda's most intriguing option competitively will be its Dream World ability, assuming that gets released eventually. Contrarian reverses all stat modifiers applied to you, which means it can spam Leaf Storm and get +2 SpAtk each time it connects. The downside is that its special movepool is pretty barren otherwise, so you're probably looking at Leaf Storm, Hidden Power of choice, Leech Seed, Substitute or Specs with two filler moves as your only viable movepool options.

For non-Dream World options, Sub + Leech Seed + Torment got some hype on Smogon, and looks kinda interesting on paper. Coil (+1 Attack/Defense/Accuracy) is interesting and it has Leaf Blade for STAB, but again Jaroda's type coverage is limited. Dragon Tail (60 power, negative priority, randomly phazes) might work out if the phazing occurs at a high enough rate.

In summary, Jaroda has high speed and really good buffs but poor coverage, which is a problem when Grass is resisted by so many types; it could benefit a lot from move tutors. If Jaroda were hypothetically translated to the gen 4 metagame with Contrarian, it'd probably make OU since gen 4 standard has become relatively Grass-friendly ever since Latias/Salamence were banned - Shaymin just made the OU list for the first time ever in September, for instance. The gen 5 metagame is looking like it'll be significantly more powerful, though, so I'm guessing it falls to UU, which will be even stronger than the current Milotic/Venusaur/Arcanine/Registeel model.

Ganon Emboar has a buttload of good coverage moves (Head Smash, Boiling Water, Wild Bolt, Grass Knot, just to name a few) but is cursed with 65 speed and has to compete with Speed Boost Blaziken (assuming that's released) and Infernape. I've seen people on Smogon talk about using Nitro Charge to boost speed, but I'm not convinced +1 speed is enough with 65 base, especially since it still needs to run a stronger Fire move like Flare Blitz or Fire Blast alongside it as 50 power isn't enough. I can't see it making headway in OU play. UU might be more promising... but there's a non-negligible chance Infernape falls to UU this gen, which would be rough competition for Emboar.

I've looked over Daikenki several times and can't see what is going to make it stand out compared to the hojillion existing Water types we have. Swords Dance+Megahorn is cute, but 70 base speed sucks and it's not really very tanky.

[Luther Lansfeld]

Sweeeeeeet.

[metroid composite]

Heh, working backwards has its flaws.  Guess Hinode's covered the starters, though.  Oh, something I read on B8: apparently dream world abilities are breedable, so...yes.



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/637.shtml

550 BST Bug fire with flame body

Oh look, a moth/butterfly in pokemon.  This should be over quick...right?

Nope.  100 speed, 135 SpA.  Fire Dance (80 power, ups your SpA).  Butterfly dance (ups speed, SpA, SpD).  Healing through morning sun.  Good STAB moves.  Coverage...ehh the flying version of Focus Blast, Psychic, Solar beam...so...poor coverage.

Tyranitar seems safe, but boosted HP Fighting threatens. Heatran would also be wary of HP fighting.  Gyardos covers bug, fire, fighting, I guess, and has SpD.   Works...outside of HP electric.  Snorlax with thick fat also should tank long enough to kill thanks to SpD and HP.

VERDICT: OU


http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/635.shtml


600 BST Dragon Dark with Levitate

Oh boy.  This series does not have a good track record.

125 SpA, 98 Speed, 105 Atk.  Stat boosting is...Cheer Up.  Worse than Garchomp or Salamence, but good for mixed.  Coverage is...

Spec...Draco Meteor, Dragon Pulse, Dark Pulse, Earth Power, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Surf, Charge Beam, Focus Blast.

Phys...Head Smash(!!!), Outrage, Crunch, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Dragon Tail (60 power, causes switch out), U-Turn, Fire/Thunder/Ice Fang.

You know, the speed is merely 98, plus Cheer Up is the best booster it has, so that's not great compared to previous bans, but...damn, what do you switch in on this?  Wasn't Salamence problematic for combining Dragon, Earth, and Fire?  This has those three (at 90-140 power off the special stat).  Head Smash means it's not walled by Blissey, either.  (Well...Outrage too).  Only just noticed the Dragon Tail move...exceptional move; slower pokemon can not counter dragons now, I guess?  So...to safely beat, you death fodder into something like Weaville...except without a W4 this time.

VERDICT...Uber.  If we're going by the measure where Salamence is uber, then this likely is too.  Better Draco Meteor, better Flamethrower, slightly worse Earth.

[hinode]

Dragon Tail has negative priority, same as Roar/Whirlwind.

[metroid composite]

Dragon Tail has negative priority, same as Roar/Whirlwind.

Sense made.  Still good if you expect switching.


http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/632.shtml

484 BST Bug Steel with Swarm or Hustle or TRUANT

109 109 Attack and speed may save it.  Few high power moves, though: more or less cap out at 80 averge output, from stone edge to X-scissor.

VERDICT...UU or NU



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/632.shtml

484 BST fire with flash fire

terrible stat distro.  Slow, frail, mixed attacker.

VERDICT...NU



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/630.shtml

510 BST Dark Flying with an ability that makes it not get hurt from weather effects.

TANK.  110 105 95 defencive stats, 80 speedd, roost, whirlwind, taunt, torment, mean look.

VERDICT...OU, UU, somewhere in there.



http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/628.shtml

510 BST Normal Flying with encourage or competitive spirit.

123 atk  80 speed.  Not as frail as you might expect.  I want to know how those abilities work with superpower.  Does Encourage drop the downside?  Does competitive spirit increase your attack overall when you superpower?

Walled to hell and outsped by Rotom regardless.

Verdict: maybe BL if the abilities do cool things with superpower.  UU otherwise.

[metroid composite]

So...I've been roped into playing SC2 late most nights, so naturally it's at the forefront of my mind.  Which brings me to...

wtf Banshees

Let me preface this by going over some RtS math.  If unit A costs twice what unit B does, assuming they are similar in all aspects except for damage and HP, how should their damage and HP differ to make them balanced?  Note that damage and HP kinda combine into just one relative stat here--what's the ratio between the percentage of damage we deal to each other?  I'll call this ratio power.  Obviously, if unit A is 2x the power of unit B, that's not enough--unit B will do a 2-on-1, and unit A will be dead around the time the first of unit B dies.  On the flip side, obviously if unit A is 4x of unit B, that's too much.  When the first B dies, unit A is at half health and then wins from there.  The answer (assuming everyone can shoot at everyone else simultaneously) is triangle math.

for 1x the cost, you need 1 times the power
for 2x the cost, you need 3 (a.k.a. 2+1) times the power
for 3x the cost, you need 6 (a.k.a. 3+2+1) times the power
for 4x the cost, you need 10 (a.k.a. 4+3+2+1) times the power

Or in abstraction:

for Nx the cost, you need (n+1)*n/2 times the power

And no, it's not quite this clean in-game (the smaller unit needs a perfect concave to hit this theoretical value) but let's work with this.

So...anyway,

Banshee: cost: 250, DPS: 19.2, HP: 140
Stalker: cost: 175, DPS: 6.94 (vs light), HP: 160 (+1 def for half of that)
Hydralisk: cost: 150, DPS: 14.46, HP: 80

Power ratio of Banshee to Stalker: 2.319
Power ratio of Banshee to Hydralisk: 2.325

Expected power ratio based on cost ratio for Stalkers: (((10 / 7) + 1) * (10 / 7)) / 2 = 1.73469388
Expected power ratio based on cost ratio for Hydralisks: (((10 / 6) + 1) * (10 / 6)) / 2 = 2.22222222
Expected power ratio based on cost if we also factor in Pylons/Overlords for Stalkers: (((11.5 / 8) + 1) * (11.5 / 8)) / 2 = 1.75195312
Expected power ratio based on cost if we also factor in Pylons/Overlords for Hydralisks: (((11.5 / 7) + 1) * (11.5 / 7)) / 2 = 2.17091837

Which is to say, if your opponent is building nothing but Hydralisks/Stalkers, it is cost effective to be building Banshees as a unit that (mildly) counters them.


I mean, nevermind that Banshees are a high-tech unit, requiring a starport and a tech lab, and so you can't just mass them at the start of the game.  Stop and think about this for a moment--the strong anti-air ground units are actually mildly countered by Banshees cost-wise.


This is before considering the significant advantages Banshees have.  Air units so they can attack anywhere and just beat certain common units like Marauders, Zerglings, Zealots, Roaches, Immortals, Colossi, Tanks.  Cloak so they can sometimes just win.  (And unlike other cloak units, you can't just put a cannon at your ramp and stop them from sneaking into your base).  Hell, comparing them to Dark Templar, DTs out-DPS them 26.6 to 19.2, but DTs are melee ground units with less HP (for basically the same cost).


I mean sure, Banshees can be handled by air units like Mutalisks and Phoenixes, and are held in-check by being late on the tech tree so it's hard to mass them early.  But... seriously... wtf is up with those stats?

[Laggy]

They're basically only held in check because mass producing banshees is hard, yes, as opposed to warping in stalkers or morphing in hydras. Banshees are amazing for their cost.

[metroid composite]

Patch out of nowhere.  The one that really bothers me is supply depot required for Barracks.  That just feels so...arbitrarily restrictive.

Balance


PROTOSS
Buildings
Nexus life and shields increased from 750/750 to 1000/1000.
Void Ray
Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored).
Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored).
Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703.


TERRAN
Buildings
Barracks requirement changed from Command Center to Supply Depot.
Supply Depot life increased from 350 to 400.
Medivac
Acceleration reduced from 2.315 to 2.25.
Speed reduced from 2.75 to 2.5.
Reaper
Nitro Packs speed upgrade now has a Factory Requirement.
Thor
Energy bar removed.
250mm Strike Cannons is now cooldown-based on a 50-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown available (useable immediately after upgrade is researched).


ZERG
Buildings
Hatchery life increased from 1250 to 1500.
Lair life increased from 1800 to 2000.
Spawning Pool life increased from 750 to 1000.
Spire life increased from 600 to 850.
Ultralisk Cavern life increased from 600 to 850.
Corruptor
Energy bar removed.
Corruption is now cooldown-based on a 45-second cooldown. Ability starts with cooldown expired (must wait for full 45-second cycle before usable).
Infestor
Fungal Growth now prevents Blink.
Roach
Range increased from 3 to 4.

[OblivionKnight]

...

I JUST MADE THE STAT TOPIC GODDAMNIT BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates...made buildings harder to destroy, modified the Void Ray damage and speed...a bit slower with the upgrade, level 2 damage is down a bit, level 1 damage up a bit...eh.  The focus is still juggling it at level 3.

Supply Depot being required doesn't...change too much from what I understand.  Just basically forces less rushing, effectively, and nerfs Reaper Rush especially?  Basically delays that rush by an extra...however long it takes to build a Depot!

Nitro Pack requiring Factory is weird...really doesn't make sense to me style-wise, and honestly, upping the cost feels more effective...it's 50/50?  Maybe up it to 75/75 or 100/100 or something like that.  Hell, the above change nerfs Reapers a bit anyway...this feels like they won't be used...granted, maybe they'll be worked in to the actual armies now?

Cooldown for Strike Cannons I like - makes more sense than being energy-based.  Might actually get researched and used now!

...Corruption starting out not available?  Should really be the other way around, and honestly...it's not particularly great, I've found - 20% more damage isn't amazing, unless I am off on calculations - 24 damage un-upgraded Brood Lord shots, 3 more damage on Roach un-upgraded attacks, and it's single-target.  Dropping armour by 2 kind of like Devourers worked in SC1 might be more helpful, honestly.  Granted, still think the Cooldown is better than energy, but it should start usable.  Either way, ST...it's not seeing much use - it will be helpful for big units like Colossi...so I guess that's where Corruptors will be - cements their use more as  Colossus/BATTLECRUISER killer.  Still would like to see the skill made more useful overall.

ROACH RANGE UPGRADE HOLY SHIT.




Granted, just my thoughts...I need to actually play them a bit.

[Ranmilia]

The Thor and Corruptor changes are actually just removing their weakness to Feedback - the abilities themselves are mostly unchanged, it's an indirect Templar nerf.  Big things in this patch are roach range up and terran earlygame being nerfed into the ground.  (These play into each other, hellions are probably no longer viable vs zerg since they don't outrange roaches now)

[OblivionKnight]

I hadn't seen much Feedback vs. Thors and Corruptors...granted, usually that's because the Protoss have went Colossi and skipped High Templars.  Almost seems like less of an effective use of their energy, since Psionic Storm will hit a group and maybe make them move, can get Vikings and other stuff, etc.    

Corruption still strikes me as kind of crappy...Strike Cannons are kind of decent in theory, but the ability itself, you're right, is never researched...it looks good on paper, at least.

The Roach Range is huge - Reapers can't really kite them anymore.  Hellions still outrange them by 1, IIRC...but yeah, stop to shoot, get hit...man, Roaches are looking like a staple in the Zerg forces now...hopefully not as broken as in the beta.  Seems like Stalkers especially will have more difficulty fighting them.

EDIT: Oh hell, I mis-read the Void Ray change (they use a level 0-1-2, I always thought of it as 1-2-3).  So it looks like...you might use them with your main army now?  So the 2nd charge level, before the final one, is stronger, while the last one is weaker? Seems like people will need to use less micro now, since level 2 comes faster than level 3, and it does decent enough damage...still overall nerf, but more back-ended than front-ended.

[metroid composite]

I really like the VR change.  I play Protoss, and...you can build nothing but stalkers, have them at home, and just die to fully charged VRs on attack move.  I actually won a 1v1 like that: four VRs that charged on a pylon I built, then moved in on the main which had mostly stalkers, some sentries, some Zealots, and a cannon or two.  Whole base and army died.  Stupid stalkers being armoured, and thus destroyed by fully charged VRs.

Now it looks like charged VRs aren't brutally efficient vs stalkers.  Maybe about even efficiency-wise.

Also happy the Void Ray armor specialty exists below full charge.  Just felt weird before.  "These are really good against Armor...oh, wait, never got fully charged.  But they would have been good against your armoured units!!!"

EDIT: Oh hell, I mis-read the Void Ray change (they use a level 0-1-2, I always thought of it as 1-2-3).  So it looks like...you might use them with your main army now?  So the 2nd charge level, before the final one, is stronger, while the last one is weaker? Seems like people will need to use less micro now, since level 2 comes faster than level 3, and it does decent enough damage...still overall nerf, but more back-ended than front-ended.

I think they mean "level 1-2" when they say level 1.  Didn't test that, however.

EDIT: Tested this.  Yes, it's

level 1-2: 6 (+4)
Level 3: 8 (+8)

[Carthrat]

I think a void ray does slightly more DPS than a stalker vs. armored before hitting level 2 charge, but they're pretty eh to me right now. I used to want to integrate them into PvP because they take down colossi quickly during large fights, but now I don't really want to build them at all. It's like, I could get a stargate and a voidray for 400/300, or... three more stalkers with some leftover gas. Voidrays no longer have killing power that I can fear and respect, so it's no contest.

Buildings simultaneously got tougher, too, so you have even less chance of sniping a town hall or whatever.

[metroid composite]

I think a void ray does slightly more DPS than a stalker vs. armored before hitting level 2 charge

Correct.  Current DPS values are...

DPS VS Armoured
Stalker: 9.7 DPS
Voidray (uncharged): 16.7 DPS
Voidray (fully charged): 26.7 DPS

DPS VS Light
Stalker: 6.9 DPS
Voidray (uncharged): 10 DPS
Voidray (fully charged): 13.3 DPS

Which is to say, straight up HP and Damage wise Stalkers are more efficient than uncharged voidrays (due to being half the cost).  Stalkers are also slightly less efficient than fully charged Void Rays (just not by an enormous margin anymore).






Other changes: happy about the Nexus HP boost.  I've certainly lost to "Zerglings focus fire my Nexus and my army can't kill them fast enough."

Supply Depot: my reaction is still WTF, but I do have some perspective.  My initial reaction was "no other race is forced to do it in that order", which of course is wrong (Protoss needs a pylon to build a Gateway...although I suppose a Warp Prism would work?  I kinda want to try that now >_>).  The second one is that...let's say you cheeze the hell out of your opponent and go early rax.  This also lets you get an early Orbital Command, and therefore doesn't hurt you as much economically as cheezing with other races.  Still...WTF.

Medivac nerf is probably for high level TvZ--high level Korean games where Terrans were dropping on three Zerg bases at the same time, and zergs were just autolosing.

Reaper--they keep nerfing this unit, and I'm not sure why at this point.  It's not like they've given people any reason to incorporate Reapers into their main army--reapers are only really an earlygame play.  I'd understand if they were making Reapers appealing in some other way, but no, they're just reducing the reasons anyone would ever go reaper.  Obviously they should add a range upgrade that has a starport prerequisite >_>

Thor, Corrupter--yeah, HT nerf.

Fungal Growth--You could blink while under that? >_>

Roach--obviously a Zerg buff more than anything (Zergs were already building roaches to tank for their other units, but as previously discussed in this topic Roaches aren't great, just what Zerg has in the area of tanking).

[OblivionKnight]

Nah, what Reapers REALLY need is a HP upgrade that requires Fusion Core.  THEN THEY WILL BE DURABLE ENOUGH TO BE USED IN THE MAIN ARMY!!!!!!!! 

Honestly, I love Reapers as a concept, but I've only seen...2 games that incorporated them into the actual army?  They have lots of theoretical uses, but really, they are (before the patch) a raider, and now...mmm...still a Raider, but the combined Barracks + Nitro Pack nerf (seriously, WTF at the Factory requirement...Engineering Bay would make more sense to me) makes me think we won't be seeing much early Terran play like we have before.  Granted, I've been randoming in Custom Games and getting Protoss/Zerg and haven't played Terran since before Siege Tanks got nerfed, so maybe this isn't as impactful as it looks. 

The building HP boosts are overall ok, though the Zerg tech structures...mmm...is ok.  The Nexus/Command Centre/Hatchery should be durable, but tech structures should be less.  They still die faster, but are now a bit more durable, so one might actually save things from a Marauder snipe drop (which...with slower Medivacs, helps!).

Medivacs, now...you have to be careful with stimpack movement, as you will outrun them badly.  They stay with your army a bit better if you're using a mass control-group-move, which seems like a benefit to me.  Definitely feels like a drop nerf to me...which...eh.  Good and bad - as long as it doesn't completely rape the strategy potential, ok.  It shouldn't although, again, I will have to see.

Roach range I still think is going to be HUGE...and GSL 2 starts soon, doesn't it?  Man, Korean Roach openings will be interesting to see.  Probably more effective overall than giving them 2 armour or more durability.  This lets more of them get in range, and probably makes force fields a little less effective against them...can they fire over the destructible rocks now on some of the maps (like...Blistering Sands)?  Might help hold off someone smashing your rocks from behind if Roaches can fire over that now.

Still think Corruption is kind of crappy...make it a small AoE (like...1 range diametre or something), and it suddenly might mean people use Corruptors for more than killing Colossi.

Otherwise...still waiting on making Carriers usable >_> 

[metroid composite]

Probably won't get too verbose as this risks not getting copied to the next forum but...

Dreamhack happened, and Terrans used Tanks against Protoss.  Like...every game.  (For their part, Protoss seemed to almost all go Storm, which is also a meta shift).

For a while, there seemed to be some impression that Tanks are bad in SC2, and I'm not sure where this comes from.  Unsieged Tanks are certainly much improved, with a cooldown comparable to stimmed Marauders (in fact, 6 pop of unsieged tanks does about the same damage as 6 pop of stimmed Marauders; slightly less against armoured).  In fact: fun fact--if you're just trying to clear out buildings quickly, don't siege (the opposite of SC1, where siege mode had more DPS).  Siege Mode...has a slightly faster firing rate than SC1.  This makes it better against small units than SC1 (against whom it deals 35 in both games) and fractionally worse against armoured due to 50 per hit rather than 70 per hit.  (And of course Siege Tanks are a little more expensive between 25 more gas and 3 supply.  Not enough to stop their midgame use, although yes, the maxed army of nothing but 3/3 Siege Tanks is no longer a good idea the way it was in SC1)

The big downside of Siege Tanks in SC2 has always been army mobility compared to MMM, but on the other hand, as was the case in SC1: if you get siege tanks to your opponent's natural, you win.  Naama (the guy who won Dreamhack) set this up in the following way: cloaked Banshees.  Cloaked Banshees force the opponent to huddle inside his or her base, which allows Tanks to siege up outside of the opponent's natural.  And...that's pretty much GG.

[Laggy]

Probably won't get too verbose as this risks not getting copied to the next forum but...

Dreamhack happened, and Terrans used Tanks against Protoss.  Like...every game.  (For their part, Protoss seemed to almost all go Storm, which is also a meta shift).

For a while, there seemed to be some impression that Tanks are bad in SC2, and I'm not sure where this comes from.  Unsieged Tanks are certainly much improved, with a cooldown comparable to stimmed Marauders (in fact, 6 pop of unsieged tanks does about the same damage as 6 pop of stimmed Marauders; slightly less against armoured).  In fact: fun fact--if you're just trying to clear out buildings quickly, don't siege (the opposite of SC1, where siege mode had more DPS).  Siege Mode...has a slightly faster firing rate than SC1.  This makes it better against small units than SC1 (against whom it deals 35 in both games) and fractionally worse against armoured due to 50 per hit rather than 70 per hit.  (And of course Siege Tanks are a little more expensive between 25 more gas and 3 supply.  Not enough to stop their midgame use, although yes, the maxed army of nothing but 3/3 Siege Tanks is no longer a good idea the way it was in SC1)

The big downside of Siege Tanks in SC2 has always been army mobility compared to MMM, but on the other hand, as was the case in SC1: if you get siege tanks to your opponent's natural, you win.  Naama (the guy who won Dreamhack) set this up in the following way: cloaked Banshees.  Cloaked Banshees force the opponent to huddle inside his or her base, which allows Tanks to siege up outside of the opponent's natural.  And...that's pretty much GG.

Month late, but that was before Protoss players realized that the phoenix was useful. (already natural counter to banshees and wrecks tank play as well, plus vikings don't counter them very well.)

Don't get me wrong, banshees are good - perhaps criminally good - but tanks have so many issues vs P (twilight council upgraded gateway units don't do badly against them at all, phoenix gets them, immortals hard counter them, colossi actually fight them just FINE despite hype for splash damage, etc.) that it's hard to call them good in that matchup. It's more like "They can be used in certain situations".

Tanks don't nearly have the dominance in SC2 they have in SC1 because battles end in a blink of an eye in comparison, which means your immobility and your crucial windows of being vulnerable are that much more glaring, on top of the other issues stated. They're still pivotal in TvT and see enough use in TvZ that I'd retract earlier statements where I thought they were pretty trashy, but I'd heavily approve of a tank buff and a marine/rauder nerf as far as game design goes. Vs P though... they just don't really work out that well.

[metroid composite]

Battles being over in a blink of an eye would make them better than in SC1, in theory.  Range 13 is still a huge selling point of Tanks.  It means that in large enough numbers, Tanks beat everything on the ground, including Immortals.

Not really relevant for earlygame pushes, sure, but in those cases, Tanks are usually supported by Bio, and Marines chew through Immortals fine.

Phoenixes in response to Banshees...the problem there is that if the initial Banshee is followed up by a big bio push, then a poenix player is in a lot of trouble.  Now, planning to go Phoenix is a little different: you can compensate for the smaller army with cannons, etc.  But I'm skeptical about reacting "hey look, a banshee.  I guess I ought to build a starport now."

On Phoenixes as a Tank counter...we're talking about a 150/100 cost unit disabling a 150/125 cost unit.  Helpful, sure, but the rest of your army had better beat the rest of their army, so you can't have just gateway units and phoenixes, as gateway units will lose to Bio of similar numbers.  Phoenixes in combination with Colossus or High Templar, though, sure.

Colossus vs Tanks...you're right that their comparative damage numbers aren't bad; one Colo might actually beat two Tanks if the Tanks were bunched up wrong.  And massive units will naturally do fine vs splash.  To me it seems like more of a range issue.  Colo doesn't like getting hit on the way in, or on the way out if it has to retreat.

While we're at it, I've heard of motherships used as a Tank response too.  Breaks the contain, and cloak can negate range advantages sometimes.

On general rebalancing, yes, Terran Bio should probably be nerfed, in exchange for more of an endgame.  I certainly have heard it argued that once you have MMM, your army is as strong as it's going to get.  I would look less to Tanks to fix this (themselves a midgame unit) and more to the far ends of the tech tree.  Ravens, Battlecruisers, Ghosts.  They get used from time to time, sure, but they don't have the same impact as high templar, say.  I'm thinking like a Hunter Seeker Missile buff or Yamato buff.  AoE Yamato could be pretty funny, actually.

[metroid composite]

Speaking of endgames...wtf Zerg endgame.

Creep spread will often cover much of the map by endgame.  A big bonus to movement, vision, etc.
Larva inject lets you store up to 19 larva per hatchery, letting you rebuild your entire army instantly if you have, say, four hatcheries.
You can do a lot on 0 food, like mobile spinecrawler armies, Overseers, Nydus Worms.
Brood Lords and Ultralisks are good units.

Thing is, a lot of this stuff is just inherent to the design.  That's just how creep tumors, larva inject, spine crawlers, changelings, Nydus worms, and so on work. Sure, you can nerf Broodlords and Ultras (already happened a few times) but this doesn't change the core design.

The one real weakness I see is unspectacular anti-air.  (Apparently Void Rays are used against Zerg in the lategame; cost effective vs Corruptors, and neither Hydras nor Mutas are great lategame).

[Laggy]

Battles being over in a blink of an eye means that if you're caught even remotely out of position with your tanks, you're basically guaranteed to lose them (unless your army is strong enough that you can engage the enemy unsieged with your bioball and come out, in which case quite frankly you should've just went for more marauders and made that even more decisive). Unlike in SC1 where you can move out and quasi-react with siege and not lose your entire army, the same situation isn't really true in SC2. Distances are closed and units just plain die a lot faster. If your tanks weren't already taking advantage of the 13 range from the get-go, they're in serious trouble.

(For the PvT matchup in particular and more SC1 comparisons - the other big thing is that without mines, Terran mid-field scouting ability is significantly hindered, so knowing where to siege up and how to move out is a more difficult job now, since a big part of their role was that you'd see where P's units were and be able to react accordingly. That in combination with the above just really rams the point down.)

Colossus are just plain durable enough that they don't care all that much about getting shot by tanks, and their main purpose is to kill the bio in front of them, a job at which they still do relatively unfettered (unless you have a LOT of tanks. But you're hyping the tank as a midgame unit here). The usual scenario that happens there is that all of the bio dies (because colossi kill them way faster than tanks kill protoss infantry), and even suffering significant gateway unit losses, toss can still 1. warp more in instantly and 2. tanks by themselves die badly to just about anything.

EDIT: Basically, the reason vikings are considered the counter to colossi is that they can engage them from a different angle than your bioball, and thus be able to force retreats or get kills without letting the things get within frying range of your ground army. Tanks have no such luck - they must be escorted/covered by the bioball or risk being picked off, and losing your expensive tanks hurts like crazy, much more than losing the mass reactor-produced less-gas-intensive vikings.

Ravens are a joke for endgame viability (PDD gets relatively worse, not better, and Feedback rapes both it and the raven itself - with templar being the popular option at endgame this is bad). Ghosts are practically a necessity, not a late option (why the hell they aren't used more is beyond me), and in fact they are at their strongest early on when you can get a lot done with just one or two Ghosts, as opposed to lategame where you can only build them so fast while Protoss has Amulet-warp in storm-ready HT at their fingertips (not to mention getting in position to use EMP effectively against lategame formations is far harder than getting off a couple of incredibly damaging storms).

BCs, um, die to void rays. Not much to say there (if VRs didn't exist it'd be less of a concern). If we're talking large critical mass things (where BCs are at their best) then.... yeah, mass VRs is pretty much scarier and also handles vikings pretty well to boot. The lack of good T endgame options (particularly vs P) is something I've been wrangling with Rat for a while now and BCs definitely came up as probably the only quasi-realistic option at the moment, but I don't think they really cut it. AoE Yamato would be GREAT - any form of strong AoE (whether an improved HSM or tanks just flat out being better) in return for an MMM nerf would be pretty swell in my eyes.

On Z: Yes they're stupidly good at endgame. This is often touted as their biggest strength. Z is the most defensive, macro-oriented race in the game.