StarCraft 2 PTR tweaks balance but keeps contested eight-worker start

Blizzard pushed a surprise StarCraft 2 update late last month that overhauled the RTS and has now released a public test patch aimed at addressing balance concerns. The new release remedies some requests from players but does not undo the change many have complained about since late May.

The initial update focused on "extending the early and mid-game experience, allowing players to remain competitive on one to three bases for longer," and reduced starting workers from 12 to eight. The PTR, 5.0.16, brings "adjustments based on your feedback"—changes to spawn rates, mineral costs, speeds, plus a couple of bug fixes and quality-of-life tweaks—yet the starting worker number remains at eight.

Reddit discussion is focused on that choice. One top reply says Blizzard is "moving in the right direction," "excluding [the] worker start number," while another comments, "Literally nobody wants eight starting workers." As one user put it, "They really seem to be fixed on the eight-worker change.

starcraft 2, blizzard, ptr, patch 5.0.16, starting workers, eight workers, spawn rates, mineral costs, bug fixes, reddit discussion