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Before you read on, I would like to say I do not care if yo agree with my points or not, or if you would like to help with my cause. This is strictly personal, although any of you are certainly welcome to join me.
Lets start from where I received my beta key. I was pretty excited when my friend sent me a friend invite for beta key (even though my specs were terribly bad), and I started to play the beta that night. The first thing that got to me was how difficult it was to talk to people online. Since most of my team moved to SC2, I had to individually find their contacts on our team website. Although it was an inconvenience, it was a minor inconvenience seeing that I only had to do this process once. It sure was different compared to BW where all I had to do was press /f a *name*, but what started to bother me alot was actually talking to people. I, like most of you guys, have gotten used to using /f m or w.e to quickly communicate with people, especially when you are in game. But with SC2, the process of talking to people online seems more difficult (with the tabbing or w.e, I only got the beta about 5 days ago). It seems to me that compared to BW, it is a lot harder to maintain a team atmosphere on SC2. This brings me to my next point, lack of chat rooms.
Let me list negative aspects of BW channels.
1) You sometimes receive so many spam messages that you cannot concentrate on the preson you are trying to have a conversation with.
2) You get "unwanted" guests (just to put it in polite terms) intruding into your channel and spamming.
3) *If anyone can actually think of another downside of channels, please post*
Now, let me list the benefits of having channels.
1) You get to meet new people, especially recruits if you are part of a team.
2) You get a sense of belonging and pride for being in a team channel with the tag on (ok maybe, maybe not, but you get the point)
3) It is easy to coordinate clan wars by having every player in a mutual channel (maybe Blizzard could have each team be on either side of the screen or something like that)
So, my main issue is the sense of community in SC2, or rather, the lack thereof. Of course, it is possible to meet new people on SC2 (ie. my current 2v2 partner is some random I met when playing a ladder game), but the point is SC2 should be a progressive game that builds upon the foundations of BW. That is not to say that SC2 should be the exact same game, but the fundamental features that made BW great should be kept. One of these features just so happens to be the connectiveness (I don't actually have a word for that) of the community through chat channels. Just going back to about 2 years ago, I remember watching Teamliquid Attack and being part of the mob that tried to crash into the new channel. With this new system, I just do not see that great of a community as we have seen in BW. I have been closely following Teamliquid for about 3-4 years now, and have noticed a lot of discontent amongst the users (particularly about Blizzard integrating Facebook to SC2). So, in order for Blizzard to understand that THEIR game is only as great as the players make it, I am personally going to boycott buying SC2. Its not that I dislike the game mechanics, which I find inferior to BW, because games with bad mechanics can still gain major popularity (ie. Halo 3, SSBB: Ironically, I just listed two examples where the predecessors of those games are reputedly better). Rather, I am fearing that the lack of chat channels may slowly turn gamers, particularly new ones, away from potentially one of the largest gaming communities in the world.
 
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So... you have any idea on what Blizzard is working on? The "better improved" chat channels that they are promising to release some time after retail is live?
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As valid as your points are and noble your cause may be, I think you're losing out more by not playing.
You're just one man; you can't hold back the coming storm. I would rather play SC 2 and wait for Blizzard to figure out how to improve SC by bringing back crucial features such as LAN.
But props to you for having the balls / tenacity to boycott the most popular game of the year =)
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Well I'm pretty sure blizzard is mainly using the beta for game balancing. Chat channels or something equivalent (along with group replay watching) is such an integral part of a casual gamer's experience (as well as the serious ones) that it would take a really clueless and stupid company to ignore it.
I mean even if you imagine Blizzard as a dirty money grubbing slimefactory, it's still in their interest to provide these features.
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@lolaloc: yes I realize that its beta and that Blizzard has plans on channels. However, judging from what I've seen so far with what Blizzard is doing, I'll have my skepticisms until they actually release it. If circumstances change in the future, so will my opinions and stance on this issue change.
@xstatic: well, I may be one man, but remember, a cup water starts with the first drop.
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As far as I know, Blizzard is actually working on this issue, even though it's some stupid idea by Dustin Browder, but it's such an easy thing to change, I don't think they wouldn't listen to the community after seeing their system failing.
On May 09 2010 11:47 Xstatic wrote:
As valid as your points are and noble your cause may be, I think you're losing out more by not playing.
You're just one man; you can't hold back the coming storm. I would rather play SC 2 and wait for Blizzard to figure out how to improve SC by bringing back crucial features such as LAN.
But props to you for having the balls / tenacity to boycott the most popular game of the year =)
Can't really give him props to that, because that seems to happen every year. There's always someone who's not happy and will tell everyone they're boycotting the game. Even though most end up buying it anyway. I'd like it if OP avoided making some sort of mass gathering, I don't really want SC2 to be another L4D2. It's just very annoying.
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What happened with L4D2? Fumi?
I used to play it often so I'm curious.
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I'm not really worried, the best thing about blizzard imo isn't that they never have stupid ideas. It's that they realise the ideas are stupid after they test them and fix it.... eh. Let's just wait and see what they have in plan before we go boycotting an awesome game ok?
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On May 09 2010 12:08 ShaperofDreams wrote:
What happened with L4D2? Fumi?
I used to play it often so I'm curious.
When people saw what L4D2 was about, they were like "Ewww it's the same game with better graphics, won't pay full price for that!". So they decided to boycott it, and thousands and thousands of people gathered for that. In that case it's kinda understandable, because Valve didn't give the players a lot of stuff they promised for L4D1, and then they suddenly make a new game. But still, despite plaguing the whole internet with this boycott thing, in the end almost everyone bought it, and the game was still top seller. Even the people who organized the boycott decided to give in and buy it.
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@Fumi: while I understand your concerns, notice the very first thing I said
"Before you read on, I would like to say I do not care if yo agree with my points or not, or if you would like to help with my cause. This is strictly personal, although any of you are certainly welcome to join me."
I'm not trying to rally Teamliquid against Blizzard, I'm simply saying that by doing this, I'm sending a message to Blizzard that they need to get onto this ASAP. This, amongst other things, should have been a major priority for Blizzard, and I am shocked that I haven't heard about Blizzard asking the communities on insights about chat channels, and amongst other things. If I am alone in this cause, thats fine. If people agree with my views and also would like to send Blizzard a strong message, thats fine. I just wanted to have my opinions expressed to the most of my extent
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: I believe Blizzard will get it right eventually 
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I'ld rather boycott it for giving not enough room for micro. Actually, I didn't stop playing it completely because I slowly start rediscovering a bit of it but I partially switched to broodwar already although I never played it before, but SC2 made me liking starcraft 
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Well, I feel like there are alot of issues Blizzard needs to solve, but those are mostly in-game mechanics. micro stuff will come with time
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Calgary25991 Posts
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I'm going to boycott SC2 because I think that blizzard is not the right company to deliver a spiritual successor to Brood War. BW was made what it is today primarily by the awesome player community and the hackers like MasterOfChaos and the bnetd / PvPGn developers who gave us anti-hack and lan latency, people who worked for free in their spare time because they loved the game so much. Blizzard is not that community and cannot do what we did to make BW great, because they are a for profit venture, all they care about is that the game sells, so yeah they will listen to us to some extent because they want us to like it and buy it, but they are going total crazy over money and disregarding what people want, with the exclusion of lan play, putting the legal hammer on all the sc2 bnet emulator hackers and the korean BW pro scene. I don't think they should destroy their own community just because their business school textbook tells them it will make them more money. Its greedy and despicable whatever the case.
You'd think they'd have enough money considering how many lives they've taken over with WoW, but no, they want MORE.
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So you think that they were trying to raise esports to new heights with SC1 and Brood War?
Give it up already. You don't need all these theories about Blizzard's motives, it's either good or it's bad. If I eat a McDonalds burger I don't start all these monologues about how McDonalds doesn't care about my personal tastes, I just don't eat at McDonalds. It's like you guys have some sort of vendetta against Blizzard that goes beyond Starcraft 2, and now you have this OCD where everything it does is attacking you.
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United Kingdom1704 Posts
As a fellow member on Lighswarm's team, I have already decided to boycott SC2 as well. It was ridiculously easy for me- the last thing I want, and dumbed down to the point where it does most of the difficult gameplay itself. It has no right to kill off the spectacular BroodWar, and I for one won't be a part in letting that happen.
SC2 (the name of which is a joke for a start, because it barely resembles BW at all in fact) is certainly identifying a lot of sellout "celebrities" in the scene, who have switched over instantly, their love of the HUGELY better BroodWar mysteriously forgotten in favour of something which can briefly make them a little more famous/look like better RTS players than they really are...
2 years down the line, you'll all be regretting the decision to sellout to Blizzard, and I hope for your sake that us faithful people who have our heads screwed on and can differentiate true greatness from hype and marketing, can keep BW alive for you to come crawling back to, when SC2 fails to deliver.
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On May 09 2010 21:24 ImbaTosS wrote:
As a fellow member on Lighswarm's team, I have already decided to boycott SC2 as well. It was ridiculously easy for me- the last thing I want, and dumbed down to the point where it does most of the difficult gameplay itself. It has no right to kill off the spectacular BroodWar, and I for one won't be a part in letting that happen.
SC2 (the name of which is a joke for a start, because it barely resembles BW at all in fact) is certainly identifying a lot of sellout "celebrities" in the scene, who have switched over instantly, their love of the HUGELY better BroodWar mysteriously forgotten in favour of something which can briefly make them a little more famous/look like better RTS players than they really are...
2 years down the line, you'll all be regretting the decision to sellout to Blizzard, and I hope for your sake that us faithful people who have our heads screwed on and can differentiate true greatness from hype and marketing, can keep BW alive for you to come crawling back to, when SC2 fails to deliver.
Sellout? Sorry, this is ridiculous. You're making your friend look bad. Also SC2 is a joke name? Now you're just trolling. But whatever.
First of all, "HUGELY better BroodWar" is your opinion. Some people share this opinion and it's understandable, as long as you keep in mind this game is a beta. Starcraft and Warcraft 3's betas were much, much worse than this. People seem to forget that their loved game is 12 years old, and some don't know how bad it was before BroodWar. I don't enjoy SC2 as much as BW yet, but for a game that's still in beta, that's pretty good and it's got a lot of potential. I'm worried about a few things they're doing, but I'd rather watch closely and see how things develop over time. The game wasn't released yet and there's 2 (was that it?) expansions to come out also.
About "celebrities who sellout", really, that makes you look like an idiot. Let me tell you a secret:
+ Show Spoiler +SC2 and BW are two different games. You can have both games in your computer. And me, a lot of people on TL and the celebrities you're talking about, are capable of playing both games. It also makes you look like an idiot if you think every single person suddenly decided to trash BW and switch over.
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well im boycotting too
not really, im just not interested in it
i want only diablo 3, so im playing only dragon age for now
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EPT
