New Social Features Now in Beta in the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App
It took a little over five years, but Soon™ has finally arrived for Appear Offline! Join the MMO-Champion group by entering the code "N4O3FKWM" on the social tab.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Introducing new social features now available in the beta version of the Blizzard Battle.net® desktop app: the new Social tab, Blizzard Groups, profiles, avatars, and the ability to appear offline! To help get these into as many players’ hands as possible, starting today the beta version of the app is open to you and your friends—no invitation required.

To switch to the beta version of the Blizzard Battle.net app, simply open your app settings, click on the Beta tab, and then click Switch to Beta Version.

These features are designed to give Blizzard players even more ways to stay connected, and we’re looking forward to continuing to evolve the app and build even more ways for you to stay in touch and join forces for your next adventure.

Social Tab
Our new Social tab is your one-stop-shop for managing all your various social interactions. Whether you’re chatting with a friend or engaged in our new Blizzard Groups, you’ll easily be able to pick up where you left off in all of your conversations.

Blizzard Groups
Blizzard Groups are a new way for you to connect with your friends and plan your next mission. Players can create and join Groups based on their common interests. There, they can keep in touch, share strategies, and catch up on conversations they might have missed while offline.

Each Group can have multiple text and voice chat channels, and Group administrators have a variety of tools to help manage membership, send out invitation links, and more.

The Groups beta is available now in the Americas region. Head to the new Social tab to get the party started!


Profiles
Let the Blizzard world know a little bit more about you by customizing your profile!

Your profile will allow you to select an avatar, share what’s on your mind with an About message, add links to where people can find you on social media, and more! You can also view profiles of other players if you’re curious about a pending friend request or what games a friend plays.

Players using the beta in the Americas region can customize their profile through the View Profile button in the app header and Friends List drop-downs.


Appear Offline
Appear offline allows you to set your status to show you as “offline” to your Blizzard friends while remaining connected to Battle.net. This means you can launch the app and game away without distraction.

Appearing offline will show you as offline to everyone in your Blizzard friends list. Once you have joined a game, the experience of appearing offline might be slightly different depending on which game you are playing. In the case of World of Warcraft, your guildmates will see your character come online and enter WoW’s in-game chat channels, and anyone who has you as a character-level friend will see you online on their friends list. Everyone outside of the same game as you will not see you online or playing any games.

Do you see a friend who’s offline but you really want to send them a message while it’s on your mind? You can now send offline friends messages and they will receive them the next time they come online! While appearing offline you can still send and receive messages in the app, but it is up to you when you want to respond.

We know a lot of you have been looking forward to big updates like this, and we’re excited to roll them out and get your feedback. Thanks for helping us out!
This article was originally published in forum thread: New Social Features Now in Beta in the Blizzard Battle.net Desktop App started by chaud View original post
Comments 122 Comments
  1. TheEaterofSouls's Avatar
    Do these group chats work in-game? or do you have to keep tabbing out to respond to people in the group youre focused on?
  1. Tyrathius's Avatar
    In the case of World of Warcraft, your guildmates will see your character come online and enter WoW’s in-game chat channels, and anyone who has you as a character-level friend will see you online on their friends list. Everyone outside of the same game as you will not see you online or playing any games.
    Well, that's utterly worthless.
  1. Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrathius View Post
    Well, that's utterly worthless.
    Pretty much what I was thinking.
  1. Easo's Avatar
    Finally... I am sure this has nothing to do with Destiny 2... xD
  1. phriah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrathius View Post
    Well, that's utterly worthless.
    what did you expect, the wow social/friends system existed prior to battle nets current one, its always been separate.
  1. Alopex Major's Avatar
    Remember when they were going to update the social tools in-game, like guild finder? Good times.
  1. Redblade's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Regalbeast View Post
    Wait, is Discord a new idea? a messaging/chat room app? lol.....
    Not new as such but they were first with combining IRC and Teamspeak in to a successful platform as far as I know. And this by the looks of it is nothing but a pale (blue) copy of Discord for Blizzard games only. Which kinda makes it redundant.
  1. qactuar's Avatar
    It's not like Discord did it first.
  1. Sett's Avatar
    No thanks. Don't care for Blizzard reading all my chats outside of their games.

    Offline mode is all I want from this.
  1. Explicit Teemo Nudes's Avatar
    Wasn't the whole point of offline mode that no one, not even guilds on friends in-game would not be able to see you online?
  1. Ealyssa's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Fynzie View Post
    Nice blue discord you have there.
    Pretty much what I tought. My guild gonna certainly switch to it as it's directly integrated to bnet.

    Smart move indeed. Just need it to launch in EU now
  1. Kathranis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sett View Post
    Don't care for Blizzard reading all my chats outside of their games.
    That's a real shame. I know everyone was clamoring to find out what you talk about in your free time with complete strangers, because, let's face it, you're just a super interesting person.
  1. alabaster jones's Avatar
    Finally appear offline! Best news I've heard in years.
  1. mmoc25fb373f9a's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Explicit Teemo Nudes View Post
    Wasn't the whole point of offline mode that no one, not even guilds on friends in-game would not be able to see you online?
    No, people who cried that appearing offline feature always used the argument that they have shitty bnet-friends whom they cant tell that they want to play alone and therefore needed the offline modus.
  1. Magistrate's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alopex Major View Post
    Remember when they were going to update the social tools in-game, like guild finder? Good times.
    They said it would happen, but likely not this expac. That was during BlizzCon last year, I think. I would assume this came first because it applies to all of their games. I would imagine there's also the possibility this will somehow work with existing social systems in WoW once they're updated at some point, maybe next expansion or in one of the couple promised minor patches before this xpac ends. Maybe seeing cross-server guild options or multi-guilding or something.

    In-game social UI also needs to be updated to allow us to on-click voice chat from the friends list without having to minimize for the battle.net ui.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Sett View Post
    No thanks. Don't care for Blizzard reading all my chats outside of their games.

    Offline mode is all I want from this.
    So, all of the other companies hosting your chat services, texts, etc., are all somehow better and don't fit into your conspiracy theory that Blizzard employees are personally reading your chat history out of millions of players globally since they have no other work to do? Huh. Neat.
  1. Cathbadh's Avatar
    Very cool! I'll be able to use these new features to connect with friends and then get them to sign on Discord so we can chat.
  1. Megitsune's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tyrathius View Post
    Well, that's utterly worthless.
    Agreed, but I have a feeling since they actually took the step to implement it into b.net, they'll eventually fully implement it into WoW too. It would make sense, they're way behind in adding that feature anyway.
  1. Enan1981's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Nozuka View Post
    Yay! Can't wait to make some friends, so i can appear offline to someone!
    Ha ha ha, honestly though im all for it... But this appear offline just seems passive aggressive lol. But then again back in AIM days, we would often make ourselves 'invisible' so people wont see us online.
  1. The Penguin's Avatar
    Did anyone else laugh that Arcturus Mengsk was a Frog ala Pepe the Frog?

    Well played Blizzard, well played.
  1. DesoPL's Avatar
    Yeah why making your block / friends list bigger, when you can make tons of useless shit to your app. Otherwise... Why put your games on steam which is supperior app, when you can make your own app and don't give a fuck?

Site Navigation