Next Patch

When is the next chess patch coming out? I think it's a really interesting turn based game and has quite a bit of depth to it, but it can also feel a little dull to me. Having both sides play the exact same pieces every single game means that variation is somewhat limitted. I suspect that after enough time, people will find some optimal first moves that will be played over and over and memorized - again, making the game dull. Adding a new race or two could add some interesting tactical reactions and would mix up the dull meta-game it's in right now.

Also, while I'm not a fan of a ton of RNG, I think chess could use some. RNG doesn't mean a game has no skill - look at hearthstone for example - it just gives viewers and players a little more excitment, as it's impossible to know what's going to happen next. This could be done by adding dice to determine the number of squares a piece can move, adding hp to pieces that is slowly depleted every time they would've been "captured" etc... the possibilities are endless.

Finally, there are clearly some balance issues. White, going first and having the same army, is clearly over-powered. While it's not too big of a deal at the low levels, I imagine higher level players would better be able to take advantage of this. Winrates between players playing black and white are probably really different for the pro players. Are the chess developers planning on adressing this/these problems? Again, I think chess has a lot of potential, I'm just listing some of my thoughts.

Slow day on the SC forum?

This is why we need gaming history
Because chess is what HS wants to be
And it's free, with no need for GOM TV stealing builds
Then ladder climbing like king of the hill
See chess variations are named after nations
And played by everyone from Moroccans to Haitians
Top decking and RNG, you kidding me?
Try variations too big for a library
And our games last for hours just to map it out
While balance whiners are on forums feeling down and out