Blizzard Lets StarCraft II Fans Rock the Vote

Blizzard is giving its fans a chance to participate in the making of StarCraft II by holding a month-long election to decide which model of the Dark Templar unit will end up in the final game.

"The protoss dark templar has always been one of the StarCraft community's favorite units -- now, the community has a chance to participate directly in the dark templar design process for StarCraft II," Blizzard announced.

Fans can head here to see how the models look and animate and even take a look at their animated character portraits before casting their vote. Voting will be open until February 5th at 11:22 AM CET, but you'll need a Battle.net account to participate. The winner will only appear, it should be noted, in StarCraft II's multiplayer mode and not in the campaign.

The first option looks more similar to the Dark Templar model that appeared in the original StarCraft. It wields a single energy blade on its right arm, has its hair pulled back and wears a cloth shroud over its mouth. According to Blizzard, it "represents the Lenassa tribe of dark templar." My guess is that this'll be the fan favorite based on how much it looks like the original Dark Templar, and because shrouds are cool! The second option, which "represents the Zer'atai tribe of dark templar," wields two scythes and is clothed in heavy armor and the bones of slain Zerg. Its mouth is visible, revealing two fearsome-looking mandibles with fangs around its jaw. Finally, there's a third option: include both models in the game and have either one spawn randomly whenever you build a Dark Templar.

Of course, Blizzard fans being Blizzard fans, they'll probably be unhappy with either one, claiming one "looks too WoW" while the other is "for the gays." Of course, hundreds will still vote despite complaining about a privilege they never expected to get in the first place, and it seems that a good number have done so already, as my initial expedition to StarCraft2.com to cast my vote was met with a 404 error. Awesome.

[Via Shacknews]

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Why don't they let us vote for if we really want to buy the game in 3 parts?
The Dark Templar could look like Freddy The Fun Loving Dinosaur for all I care.

sturryz:
Why don't they let us vote for if we really want to buy the game in 3 parts?

Because that's a decision they made that fundamentally affects how they make the game, and not a purely cosmetic & aesthetic choice?

I'd like the second ones armour, with the first ones shroud over the face and weapon. As thats not on option I don't really mind which makes it.

Though having both in the game and maybe an option in the games preferences menu would be a better idea? This is assuming the choice is purely aesthetic which I'm not led to believe otherwise on their site.

If they need time to make the game, they should just say that instead of the stupid marketing ploy

CantFaketheFunk:

sturryz:
Why don't they let us vote for if we really want to buy the game in 3 parts?

Because that's a decision they made that fundamentally affects how they make the game, and not a purely cosmetic & aesthetic choice?

Whatever, i am buying Dow2 anyway... don't know why i put input on these things...

Ralackk:
I'd like the second ones armour, with the first ones shroud over the face and weapon. As thats not on option I don't really mind which makes it.

Though having both in the game and maybe an option in the games preferences menu would be a better idea? This is assuming the choice is purely asthetic which I'm not led to believe otherwise on their site.

Yeah, it's just a matter of which one you think looks cooler, nothing to do with the way the unit will function.

sturryz:
If they need time to make the game, they should just say that instead of the stupid marketing ploy

Whatever, i am buying Dow2 anyway... don't know why i put input on these things...

There were multiple reasons for the SC2 trilogy, sure.

Enjoy DoW2. First one was pretty good.

I would have to put my vote in for #2. The first one while a blast from the past just doesn't scream Protoss in their other tech upgrades over the years. Plus I like them having a unit that adorns themselves in the bones of their enemies :D

sturryz:
Why don't they let us vote for if we really want to buy the game in 3 parts?

Because fan communities will always try to vote themselves free lunches. Blizzard's making the game, and has a better grasp of the costs behind it than anyone in a fan forum could... besides, fans can already vote with their wallets if they don't like the price.

-- Steve

Third option. It adds just a little more variety to the units, so they don't all look like clones.

sturryz:

Whatever, i am buying Dow2 anyway... don't know why i put input on these things...

You can buy both, you know...

The link is not working for me

Personally, I think the second one looks much better, the armor and the fact that they wear the bones of their enemies is just badass. Badassery may or may not be the point of the DT, but he looks much better in option #2, so I voted for that.

Second portrait too much like predator.

Second unit model though is more interesting.

What's the deal with Blizzard's art direction though? Why, if their core fan base is getting older, is their art style for all their games appearing more G-rated?

Maruza:
Second portrait too much like predator.

Second unit model though is more interesting.

What's the deal with Blizzard's art direction though? Why, if their core fan base is getting older, is their art style for all their games appearing more G-rated?

It's because of WoW. Blame it all on WoW!!!!

Don't really see all that much of a difference in the unit models apart from the weapons. I do prefer the second portrait though.

Fightgarr:
I don't really like either option. It seems like they broke the Dark Templar; it was all about looking subtle, like a zealot with a cape. These seem like muscular fuckers who are ready to overtly massacre a village.

The Dark Templar are stealthy because of their psionic abilities. Why shouldn't they be muscular? For all you know Blizzard always intended them to be like this but were limited by technology.

I prefer the old style Dark Templar but it seems that "Both" will be the winner.

Ps. For the celebration of it, I got a Zeratul gif. : ) Though could somebody tell me how to enlarge it?

Oh come on! What is this, a Warcraft tie-in? I swear those look like gnomish rogues. For heavens sake, 11 years ago Blizzard refused to make a Warcraft-in-space when limited technology allowed them to pull it off and sell it with a straight face. Do NOT make a Warcraft-in-space now!

fyrh56:
Oh come on! What is this, a Warcraft tie-in? I swear those look like gnomish rogues. For heavens sake, 11 years ago Blizzard refused to make a Warcraft-in-space when limited technology allowed them to pull it off and sell it with a straight face. Do NOT make a Warcraft-in-space now!

What?

I wish the "classic" choice had a larger wristblade. In the original game the blades look like they are as long as the templars themselves. They don't look nearly as impressive here.

The scythe-design is just silly. Come on, Blizzard there's still a miligram of ambiguity of whether or not you've copied Warhammer 40k straigh up. There's a thin line between 'badass' and 'incredibly stupid' and the dual scythe crosses it :P

Keane Ng:

Maruza:
Second portrait too much like predator.

Second unit model though is more interesting.

What's the deal with Blizzard's art direction though? Why, if their core fan base is getting older, is their art style for all their games appearing more G-rated?

It's because of WoW. Blame it all on WoW!!!!

Personally I blame MTV

Anyways, the reason we're not allowed to make important decisions is american idol and the x factor, enough said. If the public were allowed to make real decisions, Starcraft 3 would have Vin Diesel, the Rock and some Pokemon in it. And it would come with a plastic guitar. And be rubbish (in case that subtlety slipped by anyone).

The whole dual-scythe, "look at me, I'm so badass, that I wear the bones of my enemies!" thing just doesn't seem fitting for a character that's constantly invisible under normal circumstances. Maybe if they had given that design to the Zealot, it would have been more fitting.

Keane Ng:
they'll probably be unhappy with either one, claiming one "looks too WoW" while the other is "for the gays."

ArKaiN123:
Anyway, looks like something gay out of WoW.

I see what you did there :P