New Changes to Battle.net!

[AngelCakes]

Battle.net Update
Blizzard reveals the big changes coming to its online service.
by Steve Butts

February 10, 2010 - Battle.net's been going strong for 14 years now and is currently being used by more than 12 million gamers. But, never being ones to leave well enough alone, Blizzard is preparing to launch the largest update the service has ever seen. Details on how the service is changing were just revealed on starcraft2.com last night.

In a video interview on the site Greg Canessa, project director for the new Battle.net, explains that the company is trying to change the service in order to create "a world class online game service for all Blizzard games." Since the service is being designed specifically for Blizzard's games, Canessa promises it will be better integrated than those "other" online gaming services.

The new service is built on three key pillars:

1. Always Connected
The new Battle.net will require a constant connection, even in the single player campaign. It will allow players to make use of one persistent character account that tracks the various achievements and unlockables, including the portraits and decals that will be offered in Starcraft 2. Players can log onto their Battle.net account to see which achievements they or their friends have obtained, and even see the criteria for unlocking the achievements they haven't yet earned.

Battle.net will also allow players to synch their campaign progress on the server, which should be a big help to people when reformatting hard drives, reinstalling the game, or merely playing from another computer. It's not yet clear whether those saves will still exist on the client side, but it sounds like the online synching is merely an option and not a requirement.

The constant connection also means that Blizzard can now use Battle.net to deliver content updates, game news and service alerts to everyone who owns their games.

2. Competitive Arena for Everyone
With the current Battle.net setup, it's sometimes been hard for newcomers to fight their way through the initial matches against veteran players to become truly competitive. The new service offers a much smoother entry to the games by including casual modes, practice matches and cooperative play against AI opponents. The system, Canessa says is "one of the most sophisticated in the industry," will learn your skill level as you play to better rank you when you move to the competitive arenas.

Players in the competitive arena will now be automatically matched to opponents of the appropriate skill level. The new system will even allow groups of players of varying skill levels to be matched against an equivalent group where possible.

3. Connecting Community
The whole point of connection would be lost without a significant social networking component, so the new Battle.net will feature all the regular features of other popular gaming services. Players will have the option to create friends lists and use text and voice chat both inside and outside of the games. More significantly, the new service allows for communication across different games, so you can chat with your friends in World of Warcraft even while you're playing Starcraft 2.

 

[chapp]

I think it will be good thing.

However, it's funny that Blizzard is marketing all this "fluff" to make it seem that this service was created to give the players a better online experience when in reality, it's simply a system to stop piracy and control content.

 

[Sexy Beast]

1. Always Connected
The new Battle.net will require a constant connection, even in the single player campaign. It will allow players to make use of one persistent character account that tracks the various achievements and unlockables, including the portraits and decals that will be offered in Starcraft 2. Players can log onto their Battle.net account to see which achievements they or their friends have obtained, and even see the criteria for unlocking the achievements they haven't yet earned.

?Qu??

 

[AngelCakes]

beast i think they mean you need to have internet even while youre playing singleplayer....sort of like company of heroes

 

[OSVG]

boo singleplayer 10boos,
otherwise I dont care. Maybe they mean that to play single player and still gain progress towards achievements and custom bnet stuff you have to be connected?

 

[Sexy Beast]

beast i think they mean you need to have internet even while youre playing singleplayer....sort of like company of heroes

No I know what they were saying and no, you don't have to be online to play Company of Heroes singleplayer. That game usually gets me through internet outages.

I was more of asking why? Why would they do that other than the obvious anti-piracy measures.

 

[Carmine]

Also you have to pay to access extra features for battlenet! woo!

 

[Sexy Beast]

Also you have to pay to access extra features for battlenet! woo!

From what I see they're going for more a Steam or Impulse kind of system. Though I can't exactly find where it says you will have to pay for any of the features. Other than a market place feature which allows map makers to sell their maps.

 

[Carmine]

From what I see they're going for more a Steam or Impulse kind of system. Though I can't exactly find where it says you will have to pay for any of the features. Other than a market place feature which allows map makers to sell their maps.

"We are looking to monetize Battle.Net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features," said Wilson. "We kind of have to." He went on to say that they do recognize that everyone loves having it as a free service, and that they don't have a strong desire to make a subscription-based game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/11/blizzards-wilson-some-battle-net-features-to-be-monetized/

 

[Sexy Beast]

"We are looking to monetize Battle.Net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features," said Wilson. "We kind of have to." He went on to say that they do recognize that everyone loves having it as a free service, and that they don't have a strong desire to make a subscription-based game.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/11/blizzards-wilson-some-battle-net-features-to-be-monetized/

Well that article came from a year and a half ago. So far there hasn't been any new news on a payment system. They could have axed that, though it's pretty doubtful.

 

[Toasteddude]

Ubisoft is taking the persistent internet connection route as well with AC2. Looks (unfortunetely) like a new trend being adopted. If it fights piracy, fine, almost never am I without a connection. But there are people who would rather not have to be connected to the internet for their singleplayer gaming. Also, I'd be surprised if this prevented a game from being pirated.

 

[The Yeti]

Doesn't sound like it has anything that steam doesn't all ready. What's setting it apart from the industry?

 

[Sexy Beast]

Doesn't sound like it has anything that steam doesn't all ready. What's setting it apart from the industry?

It sounds like a content distribution system with a build in community feature. Blizzard will probably be digitally sell their games via Battle.net. Not to mention that they are basically Activision, it's not that much of a stretch to imagine that more games would be released through this system. The Call of Duty catalog for example.

So it's not that much different from Impulse or Steam

 

[labowsky]

well when D3 comes out i wont be on singleplayer at all so doesn't matter to me : )
oh yeah and D3 wont be P2P so thats good too haha.

 

[The Yeti]

Ever since War3TFT blizzard has been disappointing me. Maybe this will be a step in the right direction. However, I think an "offline" mode should be added like on steam.