I think your confused. If your not playing on a pvp server, people can't gank you in contested areas. People can only attack you if you flag yourself as pvp.

I'm not sure how that related to the point either way though. You don't need to read that much to be good at pvp just like you don't need to read that much to be good at raiding You just need to take a few minutes every few months to read up on basic strategies. And no amount of reading will save you if your on a pvp server and your level 1 gets ganked by a level 80.

fair enough, you are right that a PvE server does not force you to PvP, my bad.

But the issue remains that if you want to play with or against other players (you know, multiplayer) you need to study. If all you do is play alone then why have it online at all?

For single player games you never have to study. Also for simple online games, or very well balanced online games. I never, ever ever had to scout for unreal tournament and quake. But for those so called "modern games" you do.

MMOs are a bit of a different animal in general. Some of them require a lot of research, mostly some of the aged ones, because the in-game support, information is bare and all of it is online. Some of the newer games are a lot better. Naturally, the manuals are pretty much useless due to the nature of the game.  EQ 1 required a lot, a lot more research compared to EQ 2, for example. I spent hours just looking up things in EQ 1 while EQ 2 has things like built in recipe books. I don't play WoW, so I can't comment directly on that one.

QQ

This. This is why I don't play Starcraft II any more.

Then play as toss and build sentrys.......Problem solved. Also, get into platinum or diamond where the real strategy is. Or you can do as you say and just not play it anymore. Its a shame cause its a damn good game.

What?!? Seriously? While I agree with your multiplayer statement, the above is as far from true as possible. I'll leave out the tirade of why I was monumentally disappointed with SC2's campaign since it's off topic, but really? Really? It deserves some recognition, but nowhere near the level that it has because of it's predecessor's success.

The multiplayer is fun if you're playing someone you know, or luck out and find someone who enjoys actually playing the same "style" as you do. Since that is so unlikely, most multiplayer games are entirely unenjoyable for me. I would be much happier if they took away the scoreboards and let the players leave feedback for eachother post-game. That way we could all easily avoid the players with 100 feedback remarks of "12-year old who was raised poorly and rage quits at the 1st sign of possible defeat."

This is sadly also the reason why I do not multi at all any more only with a few I have knowed since c&c start  now I do not multi play or mmo anymore I just do not have any fun with the games...

I for one do not care if I am rank 0 or something like that I only play for fun which with a good game of shall we say GCII where the game can last for more then an afternoon an you do what you can to survive and defeat you enemy... even if you loss you have enjoyed yourself and that is was I feel is lacking very much especially with starcraft

World of Tanks beta has hit a chord for me in that it's both PvP competitive (AKA smart, evenly-matched [When matchmaking likes you] human players against stupid or cheating AI) and fun. It's like the Demigod Beta before it became overrun by the, "OMG you were half second slow" (Actual quote) crowd. It's not perfect by any means, but it's one of the most fun games I've played in a long, long time.

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Well, in fairness it's not really a ragequit if your all-in strategy failed.  That doesn't make 5 minute games fun for anybody of course, but if someone has clearly lost then I would rather they surrender instead of dragging things out.  Or worse, the kiddies who pull their network cable in games where there is no disconnect penalty.

Still, sometimes the problem DOES lie with the game.  If there is one 'unit' or strategy what is clearly better than everything else, you can hardly blame players for using it.  And it's not just video games, it's anything.  Anyone who played Magic the Gathering during the Mirrodin days can tell you about the Affinity deck.  The deck was so strong in the standard tournament environment that it frequently curb-stomped decks filled with cards that were supposed to counter it.  It eventually went away.  Because people learned how to fight it?  No, because they finally banned some cards.  It's not always a player problem.

I have honestly lost some of the hope I had for Blizzard.  I played Warcraft 1 when I was 3, and I was instantly hooked.  I had no idea what I was doing, but I was hooked.  I've played most of the games they came out with before World of Warcraft (with my historic computer gaming addiction, I'm not touching that with a ten-foot pole), and all of them were excellent, sparking the imagination.

That being said, I have been keeping up with the reading and conversations on Starcraft 2 (I got it for my brother for Christmas), and I'm sadly disappointed by what I've been hearing.  For one, Blizzard has done what other companies have done in making their games "secure," i.e. forcing you to have a log-in online before you can even play it.  For two, my brother read through the fine print of Starcraft 2, which said that they reserve the right to begin charging money on a per-month basis to play in the future.  For three, I've heard that their customer service has fallen below the standards of actually caring for their customers.

Which...that is one of the hopes that I have for Stardock.  Despite the problems with Elemental: War of Magic, the ordeal did prove to me A) that Stardock is humble and is willing to admit that they were wrong, that they care about quality games, and C) that they care about their customers.  I haven't purchased War of Magic yet - I'll probably wait until Fallen Enchantress comes out - but I did want Stardock to know that I am supportive of any company that considers their customers and their products worthwhile enough to deliberately cut into the profit margins as an act of good faith.

As for Fallen Enchantress...man if it takes until 2013 to make the game sparkle, I'm willing to wait that long.  In a computer game market that's been flooded by mediocre games as well as great games released by companies that do not respect their customers, I would like to see Stardock continue to succeed in the industry.  Keep it up!

Yes it is. People, a big part of this game is learning how to scout and counter/defend cheeses and all ins. There is no build in SCII that flat out cannot be defended there are only situations in which they can't be defended. Getting better at Starcraft does take a bit of "homework" if you will, studying build orders, strategies and learning the mechanics of the game. Part of it is learning the standard builds and whats "hot" but its more important to be able to skillfully transition out of those opening builds to effectively counter your opponents strategy and unit composition in the mid/late game. If you're constantly losing to cheeses and all ins then you need to examine and work on your early game, not complain about the builds that you're losing to.

Studying for Starcraft II ladder as though it were an exam is what sets the serious players apart from the casual ones, neither is right or wrong in their approach to playing the game but there's a huge distinction to be made, especially in the RTS genre.

I play sins because it has excellent balance and multiple ways of playing with shades of grey.  I have won more unique ways playing this RTS game then any other.  I want more games with this level of excellence, with even larger budgets. The more I play and the less I complain, the more the beauty of the game's balance comes into focus.  This game is designed to expand in a meaningful way, so in a way a game can mitigate its own shortcomings in the long term if the developers have enough foresight to implement it.

I too have lost faith in blizzard.  I have regained faith in one group of developers since then.  Ironclad.

Sins developers need to make a real space MMORTS.  They have the magic that blizzard lost.