Blizzard dropped another patch for StarCraft 2 this week, and this time the Terran race got the spotlight with a change that is going to reshape the early game in significant ways. The Command Center, the backbone of Terran economy, has been reduced from 400 minerals to 300. That is a massive 25% price cut, and it fundamentally shifts how Terran players approach expansion timing.
To put this in perspective, the Zerg Hatchery already costs 300 minerals, but Zerg has to sacrifice a Drone and larva to build one. Terran Command Centers, on the other hand, grant 15 additional supply and can be upgraded into Orbital Commands or Planetary Fortresses. Dropping the price to 300 minerals makes fast expanding almost mandatory for competitive play.
The tradeoff is that Planetary Fortress upgrades now cost 250 minerals and 150 gas, up from 150 and 150 respectively. That prevents players from spamming fortress expansions as a cheese strategy. The Orbital Command upgrade remains unchanged, which keeps the economy-focused path accessible for standard macro play.
This is the latest in a series of bold balance adjustments that started in May when Blizzard reverted the starting worker count from 12 back to 8, effectively undoing one of the most iconic changes from the Legacy of the Void era. That initial patch turned the entire multiplayer economy on its head, and this new round of tweaks continues that momentum.
The Protoss side of things also received attention. Colossi damage was rebalanced from 10 base with +5 vs Light to 12 base with +3 vs Light, making them more consistent against armored units while slightly reducing their anti-infantry effectiveness. Adepts now receive double the attack upgrade bonus per level compared to before. Gateway unit training speed increased from 40% to 50% after Warpgate research, and the mode switch between Gateway and Warpgate now takes just four seconds in both directions.
Disruptor phantom weapon range was reduced, addressing a recent change that was pushing them too far behind during attack-move formations. Ghost supply cost dropped from 3 back to 2 again, continuing a pattern of yo-yo adjustments that suggests the design team is still iterating on the unit’s role in competitive play.
Blizzard also temporarily pulled the ability to load nearby units into transport vehicles. Players discovered it was grabbing units that should not be portable, like siege-mode Tanks and burrowed Widow Mines. The developer says it will return in a future patch once the edge cases are resolved.
The overall direction here is clear: Blizzard is actively maintaining StarCraft 2 rather than letting it sit in maintenance mode. Whether this level of attention translates into a healthier esports ecosystem or simply keeps the existing player base engaged remains to be seen. Either way, a game this old getting this kind of love is something worth celebrating.
Sarah Chen is a staff writer at SteamGamer.net, where she covers indie games, platform updates, and the quieter stories happening behind the scenes of game development. She is especially drawn to overlooked releases, small studios, and the kind of games that do not always dominate headlines but still leave a lasting impression. More often than not, she is the one finishing a strange little indie title nobody else has heard of and then convincing the team it deserves attention.
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