Why don't we have the option to play invisible?

[Alvito]

I would like it so they would give you a Bnet option to only show up for people playing the same game as you.

[Possimpible]

IIRC, Blizzard posted that there were too many technical hurdles to implement this feature and threw it on the back-burner so most of you will have to deal with it. Just learn to say no or don't sign up for raid schedules that you may not be able to handle.

[Sprinky]

If you don't want to talk to others just don't talk to them!

[Sencha]

Looks like MMOs are not for you.

[Kithelle]

Because it's an MMO

I used to play a mmo where you could /(forgot the command) and go anonymous.

[lolpve]

Blizzard abhors privacy in any form. Every moment you spend on battlenet must be broadcasted to anyone you had any interest playing with on any game.

There's a good solution though, vote with your wallet and don't buy Legion.

[kary]

ITT autists with autistic guild members/friends that don't understand "no thanks"

You can have alone time without being antisocial, lol.

Infracted

[Zoneseek]

Looks like MMOs are not for you.

Since when is broadcasting what you're doing to anyone with a battle.net client part of a mmo?

First mmo I played, only communication could be done with players actually on the same screen as you. If you didn't actually run into someone, you had no way to communicate with them.

Was still a mmo, and still worked fine.

[Tziva]

I like my friends. I like playing MMOs (of course, I also play several b.net games that aren't MMOs anyway). 99% of the time, I like social interaction.

My issues with wrangling whispers that is even replying with "I'm busy atm can we talk later" to a bunch of whispers adds up time-wise and gets a little obnoxious after the third or fourth one. And sometimes I'm not in a position to where I can easily type a reply, depending on what I'm doing at that time. If I don't reply at all, I often get people leaving me really long "messages" to read when I'm "back." On top of that, when they see I'm doing things like changing zones or starting a match, that occasionally results in additional whispers of "are you back now?" or "did you get my message earlier?" They are not trying to be rude, and I'm sure if I took the time to explain that I was in the middle of something or multitasking or not really up for social time, they would understand. But the point is that I don't always have or want to spend the time or energy to do that; it defeats the whole point of being asocial. You know what would be a simpler solution? An invisible mode.

Yeah, it's a niche situation and yes, most of the situations where an offline mode would be advantageous have other workarounds, but they are typically less convenient or have downsides and more importantly: having multiple options is never harmful. Many online games, gaming clients, and even social media has a similar feature. Even if a particular individual won't use that option, I can't really think of a reason why it would be a bad idea to give the option to the people that would.

[Zarc]

They pay, you don't. They are the customers, you aren't. Simple as that.

At one point I was paying too. Yet Blizzard went the other way and lost me as a customer. So no it's not as simple as that. It is as simple as the likes of them are more than the likes of me. Doesn't mean I have to approve of it. This game simply grew too popular that it attracted players that wasn't really part of the MMO-demographic but rather joined it due to it being a massive pop-culture phenomenon. Shit happens.

Anyways I clearly didn't read enough of this thread since I honestly thought the OP was talking about being actually invisible to other players in the world, not just invisible on the friends-list. LOL. The latter I would totally approve of. Leveling up without any of my old friend's being online for the most part on Nostalrius I made lots of new in-game friends as I had to group up with randoms to defend myself in PvP or do group quests and stuff, so there's no contradiction between being invisible in the friend's list and playing an MMO. Lots of different nationalities as well, was really fun. Americans, a Russian, a Chinese dude, an Arab. Lots of fun. >.<

[Shadow Fox]

I remember them saying they where "trying" to add a "Offline" option in Battle.Net client; but they had some internal problems with the client that prevented them from including it, or fixing it at the time... That was a few years ago, I think. Like mid-Mists of Pandaria?

[Syero]

I liked what age of conan did.

You can play the game offline and just quest, then when you log in, it updated your character for online. It was perfect whenever I travelled or had bad internet connection

[swaggers]

ITT: People so use to being ignored or told "Please don't talk to me" "I'm going to stand over there now" that they think it's a normal social interaction.

[Deleted]

If somebody is bothering you enough on Battle.net, you can always ask them not to talk to you because you're busy or not in the mood to chat. If they continue to be a nuisance or don't respect your desire to be left alone, you can remove them. It's not that difficult.

But Blizzard will never add an "appear offline" feature. Hell, at one point they wanted us to post on their forums with our real names. It was only after a massive backlash from the community that they stepped down. It still amazes me that they even got to the decision of making us use our real names without considering the potential ramifications.

[I Push Buttons]

I like my friends. I like playing MMOs (of course, I also play several b.net games that aren't MMOs anyway). 99% of the time, I like social interaction.

My issues with wrangling whispers that is even replying with "I'm busy atm can we talk later" to a bunch of whispers adds up time-wise and gets a little obnoxious after the third or fourth one. And sometimes I'm not in a position to where I can easily type a reply, depending on what I'm doing at that time. If I don't reply at all, I often get people leaving me really long "messages" to read when I'm "back." On top of that, when they see I'm doing things like changing zones or starting a match, that occasionally results in additional whispers of "are you back now?" or "did you get my message earlier?" They are not trying to be rude, and I'm sure if I took the time to explain that I was in the middle of something or multitasking or not really up for social time, they would understand. But the point is that I don't always have or want to spend the time or energy to do that; it defeats the whole point of being asocial. You know what would be a simpler solution? An invisible mode.

Yeah, it's a niche situation and yes, most of the situations where an offline mode would be advantageous have other workarounds, but they are typically less convenient or have downsides and more importantly: having multiple options is never harmful. Many online games, gaming clients, and even social media has a similar feature. Even if a particular individual won't use that option, I can't really think of a reason why it would be a bad idea to give the option to the people that would.

Nah dude didn't you read the thread? All of us who wants some alone time are antisocial weirdos who are afraid of social interaction... So afraid in fact that we have a friends lists full of people we are afraid to talk to.

And if they can't respect our boundaries? Just delete them off our friends lists, because obviously only fickle new friends that mean nothing to us can be a nuisance when we want to just play in peace. People we have known and played with for years can never be a bother... And if they are... Just delete them too because obviously that is the normal thing to do and we are just weirdos.

[Koochulu]

Technical hurdles my ass. Everquest did it back before WoW was even thought of.

[Mazaxist]

Pretty sure you are in invisible mode by default. When i login nobody talks to me

[dev'olution]

Pretty sure you are in invisible mode by default. When i login nobody talks to me

Until you get

[GenericNoob] whispers: Hi there! We're a levelling guild that loves to have fun in both PvE and PvP. We love to help people, if you want to join <Generic Crap Guild> simply click accept invitation! or message me back!

[tj119]

Here's a tip: Don't play a genre based on achieving goals with team work.

[Tziva]

Technical hurdles my ass. Everquest did it back before WoW was even thought of.

To be fair, EQ was a standalone game. WoW's chat system is linked across six other games and a launcher/client. Battle.net is more akin to Steam, but even Steam chat is exclusively through the client itself and far more simple while the former has to deal with complex situations like simultaneous instances of the same game, or multiple different games.

That's not to say that Blizzard can't do it. I think they can, it's just pretty obvious that it requires a little bit of work that they don't feel is a priority to do.