IEver since the marauder came out, the Starcraft fan base was very much like ,"what the hell?" and ,"where's my Firebat?!?". Still, there were some (including yours truly) that liked the idea of having a unit that could slow down incoming attackers. As time passed, people began to accept the Marauder (even more when the medic was cut =(... ) and believed that it would prove its use as long as it would slow down units with an AOE (area of affect) attack. There's one problem though... there isn't any AOE to the marauder's attack... Some argued that it wasn't a problem while others persisted that the lack of AOE should of been addressed. Only time would tell...

Recent news from the WWI build of SC 2 suggests that the marauder continues to attack without the effects of AOE. In order to compensate for this disability, Blizzard has dramatically risen the stats of the Marauder, now having as much HP as a siege tank (150) and an attack of 10 with a bonus of 14 attack against armored units (Grand total of 24 attack against armored). Unfortunately, higher stats also means higher economical value as the marauder in the WWI build costs the same amount as 3 marines (150 minerals) and 50 gas. This has many wondering if the marauder would even be worth the price or let alone the sacrifice of not having another barracks with a reactor attachment (Marauders require a tech lab attachment meaning that they can't be produced at the same double rate that marines can. This also disallows marines that are built from the same reactor to be quickly produced... leaving a single barracks specifically for marauders...)

Sadly, many people ,who've used the Terran in the WWI build, suggest that the Marauder is not worth its price even with the risen stats.

Critics state that ,"The Marauder is effective against small groups of units, but beyond that, the lack of AOE slow negates its concept. Slowing one of the ten Zealots attacking you does very little. Along with this, its large cost makes it undesirable." and "...at a normal level, this unit is largely ignored." (starcraft-source)

Another critic states ,"My view on the Marauder was that it was a pretty good unit,but knowing the stats of a unit and knowing how it plays are two entirely different things. True, the Marauder is powerful but it also gets targeted first, and since it's slow it's never a problem to take him out. Besides, you need a tech lab to build Marauders therefore you cannot mass them as easily. It is useful, but far from what you think it might be." (starcraft-source)

And just to get the point across ,"The problem here is that while the Marauder is not a terrible unit you must consider the alternatives... During my games, the normal chain of events was as such: 1) I would get a Barracks with a Reactor on it to mass Marines. 2) I would get a 2nd Barracks with a tech lab. 3) I now have two options, build Marauders which cost 3 times the Minerals of a Marine, plus 50 gas, or use those minerals to tech Combat Shields." (-starcraft source)

Obviously, the lack of a certain something (AOE!) makes the Marauder appear to be... somewhat left out and not considered a valuable alternative. Now for the big question...
Should the Marauders' slow ability be AOE?!? (area of affect)

Apparently, its one of the only solutions to the Marauder problem. Some argue that it would make the unit unbalanced (and may result in the marauder suffering the same fate as the soul hunter) and that AOE damage should be left to the siege tank and jackal. However there is a very simple way to fix this (It'd be nice If Blizzard would consider the following.)

SOLUTION:
Make a SINGLE target take the "10" damage from the concussion grenade and make the rest around it (in a small radius for balancing purposes) receive the affects of slow without the damage. (With the initial target that took the "10" damage being slowed down as well). In other words, it wouldn't be splash damage, just splash slow.

Thus, multiple unit damage is left to the jackal/siege tank, the marauder can continue to fulfill its role without overlapping that of others, It'll finally be worth its price and instead of being "largely ignored", it would be more of a necessity during the beginning of a game (perhaps as invaluable as the Medic in Brood War... and may even revive the term "M & M".) rather than a difficult option.

(and of course a downgrade of stats and COST if blizzard feels the need to balance the Marauder more, but that's not really a big problem) Other than that, AOE will either make or break the marauder.

(For those who are interested) references here:
http://www.starcraft-source.com/
and here:
http://www.starcraft-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3736&st=40
(review and answers from people who've been to the WWI)

And finally, here's a WWI Terran video with some clips of the marauder in action (courtesy of "Jsrz")
Marauder in action:
[6:41 - 6:48] (up close shots)
[8:31 - 8:37] (moving with marines)
[12:23 - 12:26] (moving with army)
[16:35 - 16:50] (epic fight to the death with the queen)
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzM1MDI2NzI=.html?full=true#full

Great post man i love the input and sources....
However, if the Maurader is to have an AOE attack, the attack should be less powerfull and the stun effect should be slightly decreased...perhaps something like a 10th of a second. In my opinion however, the marauder will be VERY important for the terran late game when they face the Ultralisk and the Collosus because the terran simply cant counter an ultralisk w/o HEAVY HEAVY support which will cost DOUBLE the maurader.
anyways, having a maurdader stun an Ultralisk is almost the perfect counter, because w/o that your leff with Marines that will get wiped out in a matter of seconds...
Have you seen some of the new footage? ONE ultralisk can decimate an entire army....Now if u mass Ultralisks you BETTER hope u have something to counter or else your entirely screwed.

Great post man i love the input and sources....
However, if the Maurader is to have an AOE attack, the attack should be less powerfull and the stun effect should be slightly decreased...perhaps something like a 10th of a second. In my opinion however, the marauder will be VERY important for the terran late game when they face the Ultralisk and the Collosus because the terran simply cant counter an ultralisk w/o HEAVY HEAVY support which will cost DOUBLE the maurader.
anyways, having a maurdader stun an Ultralisk is almost the perfect counter, because w/o that your leff with Marines that will get wiped out in a matter of seconds...
Have you seen some of the new footage? ONE ultralisk can decimate an entire army....Now if u mass Ultralisks you BETTER hope u have something to counter or else your entirely screwed.

I like your idea of marauders being an ultralisk counter late game. Combined with medivac dropships, the marauders could be the ultimate Terran meat shield.

As for your idea about nerfing the marauders slow ability... well, I beg to differ. In my third quote source I left out a couple sentences. (partly because they felt off topic) These were the sentences:

"...or use those minerals to tech Combat Shields. At this point in the game, nearly all of the decent Protoss players have Charge upgraded on their Zealots, meaning that even if I were to get Marauders, the Charge completely negates the slowing." and "I never once played against a Protoss or Zerg player that stopped making Zerglings or Zealots. They have become staples that are powerful and cheap, so its almost crazy not to get them." (starcraft source)

So not only does the slow appear to be nerfed, but the marauders still has to face against basic units late game (it appears that the marauder does worst against those when they're in large numbers... until they decide to bring in AOE!). and you would have to be crazy (or perhaps just d@m smart!) not to build zealots or zerglings.

Regardless, I need to see more videos or perhaps more WWI reviews to have a change of opinions. Hmmm...

1st gr8 post.
2nd what time in the video do u see marauders in action.
3rd.I think that ur exactly correct. Blizzard is trying to make every unit usable in every match up and the maruder is not living up to its expectations. An AoE will benefit hugely as long as (as u said) damage is only to one unit. Its stats need to be decreased significantly in order to bring balance though.

Nice post with the sources and how you compiled them to bring your explanation.

The marauder is one of my fave new units and its gonna be pretty sad to see it ignored. The resource requirement should be lessened to make it a more vital unit in early game (I mean that's why they cut the medic and firebat, right?) Initially, the marauder should have small single unit damage, aoe stun, and a cheap price. And then, maybe just add some upgrades at the tech lab (or maybe another tech building?) to increase its usefulness in mid and late game.

Nice post with the sources and how you compiled them to bring your explanation.

The marauder is one of my fave new units and its gonna be pretty sad to see it ignored. The resource requirement should be lessened to make it a more vital unit in early game (I mean that's why they cut the medic and firebat, right?) Initially, the marauder should have small single unit damage, aoe stun, and a cheap price. And then, maybe just add some upgrades at the tech lab (or maybe another tech building?) to increase its usefulness in mid and late game.

Actually, that's not a bad idea. The marauder needs to be weaker, cheap and affordable early game. In mid/late game, it could have upgrades that gives it the monster stats it has now.

That would solve the balancing problem, but as far as I know, balance really isn't a problem when it comes to Blizzard. They'll fix it one way or another.

Ok ive changed my mind.
The attack damage should still be the same for armored units. So it does 24 to tanks, unltraliks, ect. AND it should have a weak AOE damage but the AOE will stun more than injure. So what will happen is, say there is a platoon of a 1 tank and 5 marines coming towards you. Simply send out the Maurader to hit the tank, and doing so it will stun the nearby Marines protecting the tank...In this scenario your marauder is doing both its strenghts in one! and while the marines are stunned simply hit them or flank them witgh your own force.
Having mass Mauraders in that case could also do you well simply because later game, when the enemy has teched up to beefy units, the maurader will stun and damage them greatly, allowing your smaller units to 'easily' wipe out the vastly more expensive units. :D

Hmmm I don't quite understand the reason of this post. Are you suggesting that the Marauder's attack should be changed because other units already fulfill its role? Or are you telling us that the Marauder should get a bonus, leaving the main attack the same?

As far as I know, the Marauder is actually a large, bloated up version of the Marine. It costs more, has more HP, does more damage, but pretty much the same principle: good in groups vs more mass attackers, sucks vs buildings and small solitary targets. Yes, in the past it was somehow replaced by the Firebat, which in its turn was too replaced by Reapers. Right now it's more of a costy support unit than a specialized unit used for specific tasks, but I might be wrong again.

I've always had trouble finding place for the Marauder among Terran armies. I mean, is it a tier 2 support? Or is it a strain of its own? Or maybe it has to replace another unit, which was out. Because on the account of armies, you have everything you need:
Marines - basic cannon fodder, just throw them in and give them something to shoot =)
Reapers - base raiders
Jackals - small anti-pack unit, supporting packs itself
Viking - anti-vehicle/mech/air
Siege Tank - anti-base defense or base defense

I mean with a block like this, you can build any type of units. You just group them together, pretty much like in WC3, and you got a decent army good vs everything in a little way. Where would you put the Marauder? Or would you want to micro with it and create an army of specific units to micro them one by one depending on the enemy's army?

Btw, you don't have to actually quote people from the other sources. It's not like you're writing an essay on whether or not the Marauder should get slow AoE-ed, you know. You can just paste a couple of links and ask ppl to lurk for info. Just a friendly advice =)

Anyway, great post. Let's keep this thing discussed, I want to hear more.

Before I thought the Marauder was fine because it was cheap enough that it was still effective. It could do AoE damage and slow a single unit at a time so it basically took an enemy out for a bit and did damage to surrounding enemies. It was a good unit to have with Marines while they focused fired on the units getting hit by the splash but not being slowed then switched focus to the slowed ones after the ones getting through were taken care of.

That was before though. In it's current state I totally disagree about AoE slow on the Marauder. Right now the Marauder is just too expensive to be useful against really anything other than an Ultralisk. I mean it cost 150 minerals and 50 gas for a combined total of 200 resource. Compare that to 8 Zergling you can make for the same resources but the Marauder can only slow down ONE? That is not going to help for shit.

Most melee ground units are much cheaper than the Marauder making it pretty ineffective since it only is great against melee. Not only that, there are only a handful of melee units in the game so it's role is lessened EVEN MORE. Hell, you can even make 2 Zealots for the price of 1 Marauder but it can only effectively handle one and that's before they get Charge.

I think Blizzard needs to go back and totally re-work the whole Marauder concept. Here is what I would personally do. First make the Marauder have 80-120 hp MAX, 150 hp for an infantry makes no sense at all. Not when Siege Tanks have the same 150 hp and a Marauder isn't a vehicle covered in plate armor, it's simply a beefier Marine. Hell, it has more hp than most the Terran ships and vehicles, including the Jackal and Viking.

Next they should make the damage be something like 10-14 base, with no bonus to armored unit. It should have a small AoE slow, but not damage. Of course this could be toyed with so it does AoE damage and slow, just an AoE slow but single target damage, etc. I also kind of like mike's idea of having it keep bonus damage to armored units and slows to others. This would give it a much larger role to fill and not make it such a limited niche unit. Of course with all this said I think the price needs to be cut in half depending on the stats. It is WAY to expensive for a unit you supposedly get right after Marines.

Hmmm I don't quite understand the reason of this post. Are you suggesting that the Marauder's attack should be changed because other units already fulfill its role? Or are you telling us that the Marauder should get a bonus, leaving the main attack the same?

I'm saying that its possible for the marauder to receive a bonus (AoE) while keeping
relatively the same attack power (hence the splash slow not splash damage) without being unbalanced or cheap. (however, I'm beginning to think that the "10" should be reduced to something lower for obvious reasons.)

I'm not specifically saying that the marauder should change because there are other units with the same role, (I'm pretty sure nothing else in the Terran arsenal has the ability to slow units down like the marauder does) but that it would be another Pro to the "splash slow" idea as it WOULDN'T just make the marauder into another unit that does ground splash damage. In other words, "splash slow" would prevent the marauder from treading into the wannabe siege tank path (splash damage wise...HP wise is another story) and direct it into the path of its own role. (I'll go more into that in a bit)

I should of added this, but the fact that there were too many units with the ability to execute splash damage (specifically to ground targets) is probably one of the reasons why blizzard took ground splash damage off the banshee, the battle cruiser (plasma torpedoes) and the Thor (bombardment). Thankfully, splash damage and splash slow are two different things.

sorry if i didn't clear that up

As far as I know, the Marauder is actually a large, bloated up version of the Marine. It costs more, has more HP, does more damage, but pretty much the same principle: good in groups vs more mass attackers, sucks vs buildings and small solitary targets. Yes, in the past it was somehow replaced by the Firebat, which in its turn was too replaced by Reapers. Right now it's more of a costy support unit than a specialized unit used for specific tasks, but I might be wrong again.

I've always had trouble finding place for the Marauder among Terran armies. I mean, is it a tier 2 support? Or is it a strain of its own? Or maybe it has to replace another unit, which was out. Because on the account of armies, you have everything you need:
Marines - basic cannon fodder, just throw them in and give them something to shoot =)
Reapers - base raiders
Jackals - small anti-pack unit, supporting packs itself
Viking - anti-vehicle/mech/air
Siege Tank - anti-base defense or base defense

I mean with a block like this, you can build any type of units. You just group them together, pretty much like in WC3, and you got a decent army good vs everything in a little way. Where would you put the Marauder? Or would you want to micro with it and create an army of specific units to micro them one by one depending on the enemy's army?

The marauder is more of a tier 1.5 unit that has its own role, a very important one. Their role is to protect their smaller brethren with their slow ability or with their high HP to be used as meat shields. (Sure you can use marines as meat shields, but how long will they last early game? Remember Starcraft without the Broodwar? Marines only lasted so long without medics. Marauders would last much longer early game and even more when Medivacs are brought in mid game.) Blizzard probably implemented these traits, high HP and slow, so the marauder could extend the survival rate of their fellow marines. With the medic gone, the marauder has to be the next best thing early game... or if anything a d@m good replacement. Thus, the addition of AoE slow would greatly help the marauder fulfill that role...because right now it isn't making the cut. Splash slow would save the marauder concept as well as improve it.

(one last thing)
In order to further increase the usefulness of the marauder (and for the sake of balance), it would have to have weaker stats and be MUCH more affordable early game. The marauder could Instead obtain the WWI monster stats it has now through upgrades mid/late game.

Btw, you don't have to actually quote people from the other sources. It's not like you're writing an essay on whether or not the Marauder should get slow AoE-ed, you know. You can just paste a couple of links and ask ppl to lurk for info. Just a friendly advice =)

I'm a perfectionist... maybe next time I'll write it in MLA format... haha... yeah right >.> forget that ...

Let me give you the run down of the low down. Every time i write something I always keep in mind that the reader is lazy. So in order to make things easier, I simply spoon feed the information right to them. That way i can quickly get to the point, and my support will be there without the reader doing anything in their part. As for the all the sources, I prefer to add those in large posts to make them bulletproof. Otherwise, I don't really bother with those because, as you said, they aren't really necessary.

Anyway, great post. Let's keep this thing discussed, I want to hear more.

Right back at ya