LOTV: The Epic Conclusion to the StarCraft 2 Series

LOTV ImageFor StarCraft (SC2) gamers around the world, November 2015 brings closure to a story 17 years in the making. On November 10th, Blizzard Entertainment released "Legacy of the Void", commonly known as LOTV, the second expansion pack to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a military science fiction RTS game.

The saga began with the release of StarCraft in 1998 as gamers were introduced to three powerful races — Terran, Protoss, and Zerg — battling for dominance in a distant part of the galaxy. The story continued with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (WOL) in July 2010, which was then followed by SC2's first expansion pack, "Heart of the Swarm" (HOTS), in March 2013. Now, Legacy of the Void brings the third and final installment to the SC2 trilogy.

While the previous two expansion packs of SC2 focused on Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan, Legacy of the Void places you in the role of Hierarch Artanis, the leader of the Protoss race. In this expansion pack you're tasked with reuniting the Protoss factions to defeat Amon, the primary antagonist, and reclaim your homeworld Aiur from the Zerg Swarm.

Legacy of the Void revolves around Artanis, but also includes the Zeratul, Rohana, Karax, Vorazun, Sarah Kerrigan, and Jim Raynor characters. The expansion pack also provides new multiplayer units to enhance gameplay. Some of the units include the Protoss "Adept" ranged specialist armed with a Glaive Cannon, the Terran "Cyclone" mobile assault drone armed with twin Typhoon Missile Pods, and the "Lurker", a Zerg anti-ground ambusher.

LOTV introduces several new multiplayer features to SC2. Gamers can compete against others in automated tournaments on Battle.net that run once per day at specific times. The new Archon mode allows teams of two players to share control of a single base. Players can also take on objective-driven missions with a friend and play as Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis in LOTV's co-op missions.

If you're an RTS enthusiast you most likely had the LOTV release date marked on your calendar. And for good reason — the StarCraft series has become an important part of video game pop culture. It has also created a robust collection of slang terms. While Legacy of the Void provides an epic conclusion to the Zerg-Protoss-Terran conflict, it may not be the last we will see of the StarCraft universe. Here's hoping to more remarkable adventures.