I got tired of just reading the list. Currently it seems to have so many features that I can fully understand why it takes so long to develop. However, I feel a little iffy about centralising everything. Though I won't be a top player in multiple games to worry about clutter and achievements and such, this whole universal b.net sounds far fetched, albeit imposing. I already have a dislike for Steam for being a complementary piece of software which embeds itself into everything and is needed for even the most trivial of things, and b.net is on its way to become the same thing. Of course my opinion will probably change once I get to know it and use it regularly, of which I'm quite sure. There are just too many handy features to miss out on.
How many of you could have lived without the Battlenet revamp? From what Blizzard has been telling us, it seems as if Battlenet 2.0 was the biggest hurdle for an '09 release. However, I don't see how it would have hurt if the system was implemented after the game shipped. I hardly believe the high learning curve of the game would turn away potential customers, since I would imagine most newbies are well aware that the game is host to a substantial amount of players with APMs in the triple digits (and given the well-known pedigree of Blizzard). In fact, the implementation of LAN probably would have made the game much more newbie friendly since it would allow intimate training of new players at their own pace with friends. Honestly, who finds this tremendously exciting? I mean, if I had gone to Blizzcon only to find out that most of their Starcraft II press release was dedicated to Bnet 2.0, I would have fallen asleep in my chair.
Agiel, Dustin and other blizz people have stated the singleplayer portition of the game was unlikely to be polished within 2009. I would've prefered more gameplay related infomation but all of these battle net changes are welcome. It also looks much better in reviews if you have finished a highly advanced multiplayer segment of your game. I doubt the kind of player who is a "newbie" at SC is the kind of player who would play it over LAN with their friends. I know alot of people over the years who have said a game sucks because they suck at it, rarely does it come into their mind to go the effort of organising a LAN with their friends purely to get better at the game. If you immediately tell someone who sucks at a game "don't worry we'll let you play against other people who suck" they will probably react better to it than restricting them to playing against a handful of friends until they either get bored or eventually become good enough to play online.
I'm loving the new Bnet. Then again, I love Steam....so I may be biased a bit. *EDIT* I wonder what the "Offline Guest Mode" will entail? Is that going to be just Single Player or...? I wonder if there will be an 'offline' form of bnet or something. I'm sure it's just going to be offline SP but I'm genuinely curious.
Lol Steam is great, but they don't have good customer service, I had a problem with a game cd key that couldn't get pass through Steam activation, even though a legitly bought it. It took 3 weeks for them to figure out what went wrong, during that 3 weeks I already replaced the game with a new copy... Lets hope BNET 2.0 has a great technical and service team behind.
Newbies probably aren't aware of players with high APMs nor do they likely even know what it stands for (hence the name newbie). Also, highly skilled players who don't care much for fancy battle.net features only make up a small portion of the overall player base. And while LAN games against friends would be easier for a beginner, I don't think the average person would want to haul their computer somewhere in order to play people their own experience level. It just makes more sense (for Blizzard that is) to have battle.net service with an interface and feature mostly geared to the average player that makes up a majority of the market.
Was it a Valve game or a game that a company struck a deal to allow activation through Steam? I know that has happened before, because the company hadn't given the correct key/algorithm to Valve and so there is a delay in when that specific key will get fixed. If it was a Valve game, I dunno, since every time I've done that, it's worked for me :shrug:
The game was Valve: L4D, the issue was that someone bought the game, installed it, and then sold it to best buy. That is their guess... However I think Bnet 2.0 will have a good technicall and support.
I feel that after reading the new Battle net information i'm finding that its not the OMFG BLIZZ HATES US AND IS TAKING AWAY LAN as loud people proclaim but is a practical endeavor towards a service that benefits the most of the community. As Kemps said this battle offers much more to the multiplayer experiences to people as there are various sorts or league; practice, copper,bronze, silver, gold, platinum and pro leagues offering a variety of leagues which will appeal to a lot of people wanting to practice and hone their skills. Though i am sadden by the loss of lan these features show that Blizz is working hard to bring a good game with a great multiplayer option. One thing i'm curious is how will the guest mode work... will it allow multiplayer games with other players or just allow comp fights and campaign stuff...
