Blizzard is rolling out a new patch for the StarCraft II beta and, like most Blizzard patches, it takes a jackhammer to various skills, in some cases removing entire entire skills from units considered overpowered. Changelog below:

Balance Changes:Terran:

• Viking:
  • The armor value for this unit in Fighter Mode has decreased from 1 to 0.
  • The damage done by this unit in Fighter Mode has changed from 6 (+8 armored) to 10 (+4 armored).
• Reaper:
  • The damage done from D-8 Charges has decreased from 40 to 30.
  • The delay between attacks for D-8 Charges has decreased from 2.5 to 1.8.
• Orbital Command:
  • The build time for this upgrade has decreased from 50 to 35.

Protoss:

• Observer:
  • Gravitic Boosters: The cost of this research has decreased from 150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas to 100 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas.
• High Templar:
  • Phase Shift: This ability has been removed from the game.
  • Feedback: New Ability. Drains all energy from the target unit and causes damage equal to the amount of energy drained.
• Colossus:
  • The building pathing radius for this unit has decreased from .75 to .5625.
• Mothership:
  • Vortex: The energy cost of this ability has increased from 75 to 100.
  • Vortex: The target radius of this ability has decreased from 3.0 to 2.5.
  • Temporal Rift: This ability has been removed from the game.
  • Wormhole Transit: This ability has been removed from the game.
  • Mass Recall: New Ability. Teleports all of the player’s units in the target area to the Mothership.
• Gateway:
  • The build time of this building has increased from 50 to 65.

Zerg:

• Infestor:
  • Fungal Growth: The damage done by this ability has decreased from 48 to 36.
  • Fungal Growth: This ability now prevents affected units from burrowing.
  • Neural Parasite: Functionality changed. The Infestor now channels this spell, which lasts 10 seconds or until the Infestor is destroyed. You can now target all units with this ability.
  • Terran Infestation: The ability’s energy cost has reduced from 50 to 25 and Infested Terrans now spawn 1 at a time.

Bug Fixes:

• Addressed an issue causing people to receive an “Internal Battle.net Error” message with their game client.
• Muting your microphone will no longer cause your microphone to be turned off in the operating system once the program has exited.
  • Please note that the voice chat functionality has only partially been implemented. There are many known issues with voice chat that we expect to address in a future patch.
• The “Medium” graphical settings were reconfigured to work better on appropriate machines. The video settings “auto-detect” functionality has been reset as a result.
• Added a frame rate limiter to the game menus to prevent some graphics cards from running at higher frame rates than necessary.
• Added GRB rating tags to the login menu for the Korean version of the Beta client.

If Command & Conquer is still a part of your RTS life or you need something to play while you wait for Starcraft 2, then you’ll be pleased to know that the next installment of the classic franchise will hit store shelves on March 16.

Here’s some hyperbole in the form of PR speak:

Welcome to the beginning of the end! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that gamers worldwide will experience an all-new way to play RTS games when Command & Conquer(TM)4 Tiberian Twilighthits store shelves beginning March 16^th. Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight brings the 15 year-long fan-beloved Tiberium saga to an epic and stunning conclusion and offers players innovative and compelling strategic depth through its new class-based gameplay, mobile bases and experience system throughout all game modes. EA also announced the first pre-order incentives for Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight. Fans who pre-order the game now will receive early access to the upcoming beta program, the game’s official soundtrack and an exclusive prequel bonus mission.**

“Finally, fans will learn what happens to Kane, Nod, GDI, Earth and Tiberium when Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight hits store shelves March 16^th,” said Mike Glosecki, Lead Producer of Command & Conquer 4Tiberian Twilight at EA Los Angeles. “We can’t wait for fans to experience the trademark C&C action with the new level of strategic depth we have added, especially with our new experience system.”

Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight throws players into the epic battles between the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod with its enigmatic leader Kane. With its new experience and class-based systems that are persistent across all game modes, Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight sticks to the action-packed gameplay fans have come to love while offering them entirely new ways to play Command & Conquer. Whether conquering alone, in co-op mode or in an all-new 5v5 objective-based multiplayer mode, Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight delivers an innovative social real-time-strategy experience never seen before in a Command & Conquer game.

Pre-orders are now available at http://www.commandandconquer.com/preorder and include early access into the multiplayer beta program, the official soundtrack of Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight as well as an additional bonus mission.

Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight is being developed for the PC at EA Los Angeles and will be available in North America on March 16^th 2010 and in Europe on March 19^th. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI. For more information about the game, please visit www.commandandconquer.com or follow the community and development team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ea_apoc. Gametrailers TV on Spike TV will reveal the very first gameplay trailer for Command & Conquer Tiberian Twilight in tonight’s episode and on www.gametrailers.com.

Some considerable talent is on display in this fan-made trailer for Blizzard’s StarCraft. Either those responsible for this effort are looking for work at Blizzard or they just really, really love StarCraft.