I started playing broodwar in 2005, I found battle.net to be this strange and great place with so much option for communication and meeting people, it made it so fun, it wasn't just the game at all there was a huge social element that kept me going back years after i stopped playing seriously.
I have met so many people on battle.net from all over the world, made some really good friends and even met my partner on there. I went from friend group to friend group because it was so easy to make new friends and just relax and chat.
Now battle.net 2 is this cold and empty place, even though i have friends in the beta i barely have any interest playing it, there is nothing to make me want to go online, nowhere to idle and just chat about w/e or meet new people. I don't want some random channels saying your are meant to talk about a particular thing or weird stuff like that, the system in the original battle.net was perfect I don't understand why blizzard would change it, or completely subtract it, I have always thought during the whole time, blizzard is a great company, they aren't blind, they know what made the game successful, they wouldn't remove such an integral part... would they?
The social aspect has been removed so completely, even watching replays online with friends is gone. The hours me and my friends would spend playing, then watching reps, or more experienced players explaining things with reps, or just when everyone wants to eat or take a break from playing... This is no longer there, to be completely honest because of not being able to watch replays online i never really got into warcraft 3 and left it even though i had friends there. It just removed such an important social aspect for me.
It really does concern me, the so far complete lack of channels and social atmosphere, since it makes me uninterested in the beta, should I really spend so much on the game? I don't see myself playing it for long or enjoying the cold and lifeless multiplayer.
Some of the changes are pretty neat, it's easier to have a private conversation i guess, but the whole msn style of things for all conversations doesn't work at all. I want a place to go to chat with the people I am playing with, A place with new interesting people that might join in the fun... I want to play starcraft and I want the socialness which was such an integral part of my continued interest and enjoyment while i played it.
I think you're being a little hasty with your assumptions that Blizzard is neglecting to integrate a social network into Starcraft, and Battle.Net 2.0. Because the game is in Beta, they want their testers to play the game, and not just sit around in idle chat rooms. I would expect Blizzard would add chat rooms by launch. On another note, I too am disappointed in the fact that I am unable to watch replays with friends. That was such an awesome feature in SCBW.
yeah, well you could just add as a friend that last guy you fought.. I've already added two people but it's just that we aren't talking to each other for practice...
sides, why they removed the social stuff like B.net's chat rooms? Cause there was a thread before concerning pro gamers being harassed by anti or fanboys. (well, that's my assumption)
hmm...u might not consider changes in b.net but i think the b.net2 will change once the game goes live and i believe your so loved chatrooms will find their way back. Now is not the time to say such things... do you think sc and b.net were awesome off the bat. U can probably tell blizz your thoughts once the REAL SC2 action starts and just pull through till everythings set. I think something like this cant be a reason to quit sc2..so.... complain when its about time and not beforehand
I hoppe as well as you that this comes into the final version of Starcraft 2 at some point. Since going from having a chat room with what 30-50? People sitting around discussing chatting etc, you can kind of feel a void of non-socialism being.
Would be great as poster above stated, to watch replay with your friends, was really helpuful/good method to help people with strategies and sometime's just to get a good laugh
i'm not all that fuzzed about the chat rooms. though i was never one that used those much. but it would be great to invite people to watch a replay with me.. would make it easier to show friends what i mean and stuff. for example when one of my more newb friends wanted to find a decent build i would have loved to just show him a replay where i played against a decent toss (in his case)
On May 19 2010 18:51 Drakonis wrote: I would expect Blizzard would add chat rooms by launch.
I believe they actually stated they won't have it ready by launch.
As for the OP, I completely agree with your post. Oftentimes after playing, I would go 'cool off' on bnet, often times meeting back up with people I had played with earlier that night, chatting, sometimes setting up new matches, etc. It was a good atmosphere (aside from the spambots, but those can be dealt with).
How hard is it for them to add a god damn chat box at the bottom instead of introducing all these separate windows for each conversation and whatnot. Seriously how freaking hard is it?
Chat channels are great but I can't believe you can't find anyone to talk to while playing sc2. I mean you're posting on a forum filled with people playing sc2. How is it that you can't see a solution to your problem of not knowing anyone who plays sc2? There must be some way of contacting other people who share your interest.
Without chatrooms, I wont buy this game, and recommend all other not to.
And please shut up about how SC1 was not perfect at the start - we are talking about a basic feature present in all decent online games, including SC1 - why go away from it? Please do not tell me you think it would have been such a terrible effort to include it in the beta.
Unless proven wrong, one has to assume Blizzard left this one out for a specific reason, and that it will not come except public opinion dictates it.
On May 19 2010 19:01 KwarK wrote: Chat channels are great but I can't believe you can't find anyone to talk to while playing sc2. I mean you're posting on a forum filled with people playing sc2. How is it that you can't see a solution to your problem of not knowing anyone who plays sc2? There must be some way of contacting other people who share your interest.
even though i have friends in the beta i barely have any interest playing it, there is nothing to make me want to go online, nowhere to idle and just chat about w/e or meet new people.
Furthermore, I've known Tabyling for a long time now (05 i think?). We met on bnet and are good friends. The sheer amount of time we spent repping/chatcrafting in random channels etc far out weighs the time we actually spent gaming. Perhaps we're just not much of the gaming type, but the social aspects of SC1 are desperately lacking in SC2.
To date, my only fond memory of SC2 is gaming with Manifesto otherwise I've been mostly bored out of my skull. A few interesting questions to ask yourself are - How many games of SC2 can I recall vividly? (compare w/ SC1) - How many memories have I made during SC2? (compare w/ SC1 and specifically, where those memories occurred).
I agree with you TabyLing. I miss so hard chats and clan channels from WC3. Now, it seems that those chans are beeing replaced by #IRC but it would be a lot nicer in game.
It's a beta... They want us to test the functionality of the game. Making friends would be nice, but if your posting here you have access to a bigger Starcraft 2 playing community than you would currently on bnet. If you want to complain about the social aspect, do so about how unfriendly or unsporting people are. No GL/HF at the begining and no GG when they lose. As much as I get tempered when I get cheesed I still gg, and watch the replay to learn from my defeat. I'll note it again; It's a BETA. They'll probably add at launch the chat rooms and unless they've said a definitive no to group replays they'll have that as well.
+1 , i feel the same way. how hard would it be to implement chatrooms and online replays? i mean come on, why do i have to be offline to watch a replay, i don't understand this in the slightest. is there a technical reason for it? or is it just arbitrary, in which case it's just stupid. how do i swap replays now? do i really have to use a third party for something that seems pretty easily done?
On May 19 2010 19:07 Crimson.Slayer wrote: It's a beta... They want us to test the functionality of the game. Making friends would be nice, but if your posting here you have access to a bigger Starcraft 2 playing community than you would currently on bnet. If you want to complain about the social aspect, do so about how unfriendly or unsporting people are. No GL/HF at the begining and no GG when they lose. As much as I get tempered when I get cheesed I still gg, and watch the replay to learn from my defeat. I'll note it again; It's a BETA. They'll probably add at launch the chat rooms and unless they've said a definitive no to group replays they'll have that as well.
.. it's a Beta with less than two weeks left. If the social aspects were considered a major issue by Blizzard they should have attended to them by now (imo). However, from their interview answers on the subject it appears that this is not going to be the case. Oh well, it's not like I've purchased/will purchase SC2 at this rate anyway.
I get far more enjoyment from watching SC2 than playing the beta. Blizzard have succeeded in creating a really entertaining and fun game. That's excellent. They just forgot all the social aspects which make good games legendary.
EPT
and not beforehand 
