Whenever StarCraft and WarCraft players come together, they are always bragging about one major difference between the two games – “Hero”.
The purpose of this article is to compare the concepts of “Hero” units in StarCraft: Brood War and WarCraft III. We won't be talking about Jim Raynor or Thrall either; this is purely mechanical, relevant to professional competitive multiplayer gameplay, rather than lore, storyline and all the “World of WarCraft/Starcraft” baggage that comes with both games.
At this point you may be thinking, that the author doesn't know what he's talking about or completely lost his mind in between StarCraft, WarCraft, Dota and the upcoming StarCraft II, don't be so sure.
Now for the big one: which units in Starcraft can be called heroes?
Terran’s first Vulture, first Tank or first Science Vessel easily can be categorized as heroes. All of them have a number of abilities, using which is essential to winning and/or simply staying in the game. All of those units can be used in a large number of different strategies, while losing the first of each automatically means a loss or a huge advantage gain for the opponent, just like a player losing a hero in WarCraft.
Terran are not the only ones who are in on this, Protoss have the first Dragoon, Shuttle, Corsair, Reaver, Dark Templar, possibly even Observer and Arbiter.
Zerg, being mass production oriented, have first group of lings, lurkers, Mutalisks and first Defiler(s). While Mutalisks may not have any special abilities, the unique way they are controlled and utilized can easily compensate for that.
Basic idea behind all this is, that while WarCraft has heroic units directly implemented in the game, certain units in StarCraft gain the "heroic" status Per-Ce, due to a unique strategical and timing position they are acquired for, as well as having that same set of special re-usable abilities.
One might argue, that the loss of first tank, for instance, can be compared to the loss of first grunt for an Orc player, this, however, is incorrect, as losing a grunt, even in a blunder, doesn't equal to an automatic loss to the first early push.
In both StarCraft and WarCraft, a heroic unit doesn't get all abilities at once,
they have to be developed and acquired over time, with, respectively, experience and upgrades.
Obviously, there are differences. First, being that StarCraft “heroic” units lose their unique status as the game progresses and units are being mass produced. This minor setback, however, can only be applied to certain units and certain strategies, as most professional games are ended very quickly or in mid-game.
Second difference is in the timing. A heroic unit in WarCraft remains heroic throughout the game, in StarCraft unit's importance can be lost due to changing strategies or, again, mass production.
There's no doubt, an element of randomness, connected with Heroes, exists in WarCraft – world drop items. Not only it's a feature unavailable in StarCraft, but creep drops can vary, creating an unpredictable variable, that can change the course of the game.
StarCraft, however, has an indirect answer to that – buildings. Yes, certain building can be lifesaving against different strategies, as well as used as offensive move or tactical feature. Good example here would be a Sat. Com. add-on for Terran’s Command center. Clearly a must have building for scouting, but also one of the means to defend versus early DTs, Lurkers or Wraiths. Bunkers also fit in this category. Protoss, obviously have offensive and tactical use of Pylons, either for blocking probes in early rush, blocking entrance to an expansion or hiding a production building to confuse the opponent.
This concludes our hypothetical comparison of “Hero” concepts in WarCraft and StarCraft. We hope that a "face-to-face" comparison of features can further advance not only player's understanding of the game, but the basis, founding principles and ideas Blizzard uses in developing their brilliant strategies. Please, feel free to comment on the issue and propose further interesting subject of comparison research.
