Chapter 295: Dust Settled (7th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 295: Dust Settled (7th Update, Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chen Xu's live stream room, along with a commentator's stream room on Shark TV, were both extremely lively.

Before this, no one could have imagined such a scenario would actually happen.

Especially under a food disadvantage, they were instead more dominant than when having higher supply.

After all, generally speaking, in RTS games, the more food you have, the stronger you are.

Who could have predicted that under food disadvantage, a complete Cyclone strategy would be executed?

"Brother Sun!" Huang Donglai from the official commentary seat turned to Sun Yixie beside him.

"Brother Huang, I've messed up again," Sun Yixie rubbed his head.

Why did he have to run his mouth again?

In that instant, memories flooded back to a game that once made him short of breath.

Meanwhile, in the RTS Group Chat, a group of pro gamers and high-level elite players felt as if a new door had been opened for them.

"So Night Elf can actually be played like this? I'm truly enlightened—completely helpless against it!"

"Let me make a hindsight comment: the main issue was that Guadi didn't know this playstyle. He shouldn't have picked Far Seer first; at the very least, second pick should've been Tauren, and he should've upgraded Tauren Totem early instead of waiting until the opponent's Raptor Druids were fully formed, only then building two Spirit Breakers."

"Also, the map items were crucial. Unaware of how strong this strategy was, Guadi didn't purchase the Potion of Invulnerability. Otherwise, combined with a fully geared Blademaster who consumed an Invincibility potion, he could've at least cut down two enemies before being blown into the air."

"But speaking of which, Mr. Chen played four matches tonight, showcasing characteristics for each race. Wait—he didn't showcase Orcs at all!"

"Now that you mention it, I remember too! Why are we Orc players always the ones getting hurt?"

Both ordinary players and top-tier RTS experts were engaged in intense discussions.

Particularly noteworthy were the game designers who had been closely monitoring this balance crisis in Warcraft, who were now completely silent.

Especially in the office of Hero Entertainment, Zhou Qi looked utterly ashen.

How could you even compete with Chen Xu?

Their game had balance issues, so they cautiously adjusted numerical values bit by bit, terrified of triggering player backlash.

But Chen Xu? When balance values were problematic:

"You guys keep saying Orcs are overpowered? Fine, I'll stream a match to prove it—and not only prove it, I'll utterly crush the top Orc pro players."

Now tell me: is this a problem with your skills and game understanding, or with the game's balance?

Of course, this was somewhat of a sophistry.

Because players' understanding inevitably conflicts with the game's initial design, creating the illusion of a balance crisis.

In such situations, designers typically only had two choices.

The first: directly nerf hero stats or even completely rework skills based on current player understanding.

Then, when the player base's understanding deepens later, revert the changes—giving players the feeling of constant flip-flopping.

But in reality, this was feedback from designers responding to the collective player understanding.

The second approach was simple nerfing: if players felt a certain race was too strong, just cut it down directly, or simply buff the other three weaker races.

But this could easily lead to a situation where, as players delve deeper into the game, heroes once considered overpowered would plummet straight into the sewers.

But now?

Chen Xu directly demonstrated through his performance that he truly understood Warcraft.

Naturally, this earned players' trust.

At least, if your skill hasn't reached Chen Xu's level, do you really have the nerve to criticize Warcraft's balance as garbage?

And what's more, this was something other designers couldn't possibly imitate.

After the game ended, seeing the barrage of bullet comments overwhelmingly demanding he play two more matches, Chen Xu stretched lazily and responded:

"Let's skip the extra matches. That's enough for today. I'm not a professional streamer or pro player anyway. Also, Warcraft will soon receive a rather special update that should interest most players. Alright, that's all for today," Chen Xu said.

Hearing Chen Xu's words, countless players were taken aback.

Not a professional streamer or pro player?

But you just crushed the pro players!

After their initial speechlessness, many players focused instead on another point in Chen Xu's statement.

A new version of Warcraft!?

But what the hell was this "special update"?

Could it be a new race? The Naga from the previous campaign?

Or perhaps the Warcraft campaign storyline?

Countless players sent bullet comments asking.

However, the next second, something bewildering happened to everyone.

The screen of the live stream went black.

A large line of text appeared in the center:

'Your followed streamer has ended broadcast!'

Countless players stared with question marks on their faces.

Seriously? The Monster Hunter: World demo had a cliffhanger, the Warcraft trial version also cut off, and now after showing them balance mechanics, you're ending with another cliffhanger?

Is there no humanity left!

…………………

The next day, Chen Xu's Warcraft livestream became the day's hot topic.

Clearly, this was a massive hot topic.

Accompanying it were photos of two well-known professional commentators' bald heads.

Many players who originally didn't know about this incident were stunned upon seeing gaming media reports.

Meanwhile, across the entire Warcraft ladder, countless players simultaneously chose the Night Elf, Undead, and Human race.

What else could they do? Chen Xu had only played these three races during his stream.

Just like how most people, after watching an exciting highlight video, feel an itch to jump into the game and try things out themselves.

All players who watched Chen Xu's stream felt the same way.

And after selecting their races, these players followed remarkably similar scripts.

Night Elf players picked Beastmaster first and rushed into the enemy base to harass—only to suffer pig death and hero death.

They used Ancient of War to level at neutral creep camps, but failed to manage aggro and health properly. With insufficient Huntresses, the Ancient of War was simply A-moved to death.

They spawned Firelord and rushed a group of Peasants to build Guard Towers inside the enemy base, but each tower collapsed as soon as it was built, and none of the accompanying Peasants survived.

However, for many RTS veteran players, Chen Xu's various playstyles were immensely enlightening. They began seriously studying units and unit types they had previously overlooked.

They now fully understood: Warcraft couldn't be comprehended using conventional RTS game experience.

Because even the same tactic could produce entirely different results depending on map layout and spawn points.

Moreover, Chen Xu's playstyles weren't universally effective if blindly copied.

The Cyclone strategy worked exceptionally well against Orcs on small maps, because harassment and scouting were convenient, and it specifically countered the Wolf Rider.

But on large, open maps, the Orcs' Wolf Rider tactic could achieve a complete reversal.

Using the Wolf Riders' mobility to continuously harass and control, the Cyclone strategy couldn't execute its strongest early to mid-game all-in push at around 50 supply, ultimately ending in defeat.

The same applied to the multi-expansion strategy and Fire-Demon Tower—both had strengths and weaknesses, requiring careful, situational choices.

And this was precisely the charm of Warcraft.

During this time, no one complained about any race being too weak or too strong.

Because all players understood that each race had its own unique characteristics.

Chen Xu had already proven it with his actions.

There were no Invincible races—only the strongest players who could adapt the right tactics to different situations.

Although few discussed Warcraft's balance anymore,

another matter became a major point of discussion among players:

The upcoming new version update Chen Xu mentioned during yesterday's stream.

Players still actively playing WAR3 are truly impressive. I've specifically tested Fire-Demon Tower, Cyclone strategy, Frost Armor Spider, and multi-expansion in actual gameplay on the Warcraft platform. I experienced Fire-Demon Tower from the victim's perspective, while the other three crushed me before I could even form my army... [Of course, it's absolutely not because I'm too weak—it's because these tactics are too outdated for the current version!]

(End of Chapter) <>