Battle.net 2.0 Concerns moving Forward.

[ManOluck]

Ever since battle.net "upgraded" from 1.0 to 2.0 the social aspect of blizzard games has reduced to a fraction of what I was used to.


Battle.net 1.0 and Social Dynamics

In Battle.net 1.0 people in a "GROUP" setting could chat with each other across all blizzard games
SC,Warcraft 2,Warcraft 3, Diablo, Diablo 2. If I played Diablo 1 I could still join a Chat Channel with people from all blizzard games and carry a conversation even if, for example, they played Warcraft 3.

Move along to Battle.net 2.0. What games have been incorporated into the new system? Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft and Diablo 3. One fundamental difference between Battle.net 1 and 2 and I feel the developers do not understand this, is we CANNOT, in a group setting talk with people from other games. All conversations are 1 on 1 thus isolating the community from eachother.

The expectations of Battle.net 2.0

People assumed Battle.net would be an upgrade from the previous service adding enhanced gaming and socialability across all Battle.net platforms in the future. When I first saw the demo of Battle.net 2.0 I assumed we would be able to form Channels with different people in all new blizzard games. I looked forward to chatting with my guild in WOW while logged into SC2. This was my expectation, an upgrade from the previous.

I figured , if people could join from all blizzard games and come together as a community, in a set location (Chat Channel), this would obviously have to be included in an upgrade.

Eg. If I made a private channel friends from wow,SC2 and D3 could join and carry on a conversation, similar to a guild in WOW by comparison, only logged in on different platforms.

The Current State of Socialization in Battle.net 2.0

- Users can no longer talk, in a group setting, with others from different games

- Battle.net , at launch, included no Chat Channels thus inhibiting a community to thrive on release day. To go from a platform with such robust social elements to completely removing them, in favor of better match making, users no longer could compare themselves to others or see how others were enjoying the game. This gave the the community a sense of separation and isolation from each other.

- Users must always play online, developers encourage users to do so because "they want to bring the community together" more so then battle.net one(we are told this in numerious developer panels at blizzcon/interviews)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9KXxXzD72A

(lead designer of battle.net 2.0 discussing design philosophy and Pillers to reach)


Yet they remove standard socialization features? Something does not make sense here.

- Diablo 3 is lacking Private channels , to chat among your friends in a group setting

- The Chat box is very similar in design to AOL messenger (Battle.net 1 should have been upgraded in this regard with 2.0)


Diablo 3 Repeating the same mistakes as SC2

Right now, Diablo 3 is headed for success, unfortunately the game is lacking in very basic components that creates longevity. A thriving community. The game in its very basic form is about trading/loot and min/maxing your character and building the perfect skill set that defines YOU among a population.

Diablo 2 had it right when it incorporated the Avatar system into its design philosophy. It created a sense of community. It made you feel like your character actually held weight in a population. It gave the game an MMO quality that so many seem to forget.

Think of WOW players, how they all hang out together in stormwind/orgrimmar. Chat Channels, whether private or public, with avatars, was very similar to hanging out in these mentioned Cities.


My experience in the D3 Beta, a social view

I log in, my character is taking up 3/4 of my screen. I join a game. I try to talk about the game but within seconds I am bombarded with Game text pushing my text out of the way. Almost like everything about this game is telling me. DO NOT SOCIALIZE , YOU CAN DO IT, BUT WE WILL MAKE IT THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE EXPERIENCE IF YOU EVEN TRY.

This design bleeds into the currently implimented chat channels.

- The text is pure white , not seperated by different coloured text makign it very difficult to differentiate who is saying what.

- No flood control making it near impossible to carry on a conversation

- No ignore

- When the channel is being flooded with spammers users can no longer join a private channel to avoid it.


EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CURRENT CHAT TELLS ME WE DON'T WANT YOU TALKING TO EACH OTHER.


Anyway, I really hope blizzard cleans up there act in regards to inhibiting social community and going back to there roots ala Battle.net 1.0. Right now every new game blizzard pumps out feels very alone among millions of players.

[Dhurn]

I was just talking to my friend about this a couple days ago actually, positive social interaction has seemingly moved to the bottom of the barrel in terms of priorities for Blizzard games nowadays. There's a lot I could say but you covered most if not all of it. I made a fair few friends in the days of D2/WC3 through chat channels and especially clans, now if I join a pub game in Beta I'm lucky to get a "hi" out of someone before we take the Waypoint. I have a feeling the full game is not going to be much different. As you're clearing the dungeon it not like people will be talking much, since you can't really kill effectively and type at the same time. Add in the constant RP text and it's not even worth trying.

D3 will be a great game in terms of gameplay and story, but I think as you said the community will suffer greatly because of the tools Blizzard has provided (or rather, not provided). The AH, lack of effective chat channels, as well as non-customizable game names will squash out any sort of player to player trading that could occur. Non-existant freeform PvP will be a detriment as well. I mean cmon, I get why hostility wasn't popular among some (I like it but w/e), but they could at least include some form of casual PvP you can do outside arenas to test your power against your allies.

I'm still going to play but I have my doubts about it having nearly as much longevity as D2 does. It seems like the spirit of what made the series so great has been ripped out tbh.

[NeutralGuy]

I suspected this to be one big whine post but after reading it you're so right. Why is Blizzard being so shortsighted? What do they hope to gain from it?

[Deleted]

One question; have you also posted this on the official forums? Because nothing will change if Blizzard don't get a large amount of constructive and well thought out feedback from the players, so if you haven't, make sure you do It's great to just discuss things with people here but if it's genuine feedback about a system that you want to change in the future... it needs to be seen - and supported by players - on the official forums.

[Dhurn]

If you do move it to the Blizzard forums OP let us know I'd want to see where it goes. Honestly though I feel a post like that is liable to get locked and deleted very quickly on the official forums. Too many good points.