StarCraft II’s 5.0.17 patch is now on the public test realm, reversing most of the balance changes from this year’s 5.0.16 overhaul and returning those parts of the game to their 5.0.15 state. Blizzard plans to move the patch to the live game after a few days of PTR bug testing.
The 5.0.16 changes arrived in late May and altered the game’s opening economy, starting workers and match pacing. The worker count fell from 12 to 8, and later adjustments included changes to the cost of expanding to another base. For players who build strategies around the opening minutes, that was a far-reaching change, not a minor numbers tweak.
Blizzard says it collected and reviewed player feedback after the major patch. In its 5.0.17 PTR notes, the developer said it wanted to give the meta time to develop before assessing feedback on the worker changes. The rollback addresses critical feedback, though Blizzard’s wording says it covers most balance changes rather than every change introduced in 5.0.16.
That leaves the status of some other additions unclear. The 5.0.16 changes also included phantom weapons to help with unit movement, revised mineral patch counts, and allowing Vipers to abduct Siege Tanks after they had been planted. The PTR announcement does not establish whether each of those adjustments will remain in the live game.
Blizzard is not presenting the rollback as the end of its balance work. In a Reddit reply, Blizzard employee Blizz_Elliott said the next PTR is already being worked on, but the team has not shared when it will go live. The next patch after 5.0.17 will focus on new changes.
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