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The people that say it's not worth delaying the game for chat channels don't seem to understand that chat channels should have taken priority over many other features in the first place. It would be like if the game is missing a class and Blizzard was like "we'll just patch it in later because we don't want to delay the game with it!".
The simple truth is that Blizzard games used to be known for their community. We've already seen how awful Starcraft 2 (and Battle.net 2.0 in general) are due to their lack of social content. Chat channels are one of the main reasons Blizzard is where they are today as Battle.net is what set them apart from their competition so much and it's simply not enjoyable to play a game with millions of other players when it feels like a job trying to socialize with them.
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On February 27 2012 04:19 willoc wrote:Show nested quote +On February 26 2012 08:16 Gwypaas wrote:On February 26 2012 05:15 willoc wrote:On February 26 2012 05:00 Iwbhs wrote:Just about everything is set as it will be at release. There will certainly be tweaks here and there, and some small improvements, but no, we don't have any current plans to change the chat channel interface.
We understand the requests, and have seen some of the creative suggestions, but we're in the home stretch and aren't looking to delay the release of the game further. Honestly speaking only a small portion of players will care if the chat channels are like they are, or if they're more like the huge screen-dominating feature in D2. We have to apply value to the additional time it would take to address a small amount of requests for a change, and it just doesn't outweigh releasing the game. I think that fixing the social aspects of D3's UI is very very important. It might be the most important thing that Blizzard can do. I just don't understand their approach here. Why not design the interface around a good chat / guild system? You stress social interaction this way. Are they that afraid of spammers in a game that requires battle.net 2.0 and has a real money auction house? I'd rather them release it now and add clans later. Better chat channels are ok but I agree that only a small portion use them. Just like they did with SC2 right? Yes. SC2 is still good without them. I don't give a shit that it doesn't have clan support yet. Just a bunch of features that would be nice but are not needed. You gotta understand that while you (5% of the purchasers) really want this feature the rest of us couldn't give 2 shits about them.
lack of real chat is why i gave up on sc2
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On February 27 2012 15:52 LaSt)ChAnCe wrote:Show nested quote +On February 27 2012 04:19 willoc wrote:On February 26 2012 08:16 Gwypaas wrote:On February 26 2012 05:15 willoc wrote:On February 26 2012 05:00 Iwbhs wrote:Just about everything is set as it will be at release. There will certainly be tweaks here and there, and some small improvements, but no, we don't have any current plans to change the chat channel interface.
We understand the requests, and have seen some of the creative suggestions, but we're in the home stretch and aren't looking to delay the release of the game further. Honestly speaking only a small portion of players will care if the chat channels are like they are, or if they're more like the huge screen-dominating feature in D2. We have to apply value to the additional time it would take to address a small amount of requests for a change, and it just doesn't outweigh releasing the game. I think that fixing the social aspects of D3's UI is very very important. It might be the most important thing that Blizzard can do. I just don't understand their approach here. Why not design the interface around a good chat / guild system? You stress social interaction this way. Are they that afraid of spammers in a game that requires battle.net 2.0 and has a real money auction house? I'd rather them release it now and add clans later. Better chat channels are ok but I agree that only a small portion use them. Just like they did with SC2 right? Yes. SC2 is still good without them. I don't give a shit that it doesn't have clan support yet. Just a bunch of features that would be nice but are not needed. You gotta understand that while you (5% of the purchasers) really want this feature the rest of us couldn't give 2 shits about them. lack of real chat is why i gave up on sc2
It didn't stop many other people from playing though.
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On February 27 2012 20:02 kuresuti wrote:Show nested quote +On February 27 2012 15:52 LaSt)ChAnCe wrote:On February 27 2012 04:19 willoc wrote:On February 26 2012 08:16 Gwypaas wrote:On February 26 2012 05:15 willoc wrote:On February 26 2012 05:00 Iwbhs wrote:Just about everything is set as it will be at release. There will certainly be tweaks here and there, and some small improvements, but no, we don't have any current plans to change the chat channel interface.
We understand the requests, and have seen some of the creative suggestions, but we're in the home stretch and aren't looking to delay the release of the game further. Honestly speaking only a small portion of players will care if the chat channels are like they are, or if they're more like the huge screen-dominating feature in D2. We have to apply value to the additional time it would take to address a small amount of requests for a change, and it just doesn't outweigh releasing the game. I think that fixing the social aspects of D3's UI is very very important. It might be the most important thing that Blizzard can do. I just don't understand their approach here. Why not design the interface around a good chat / guild system? You stress social interaction this way. Are they that afraid of spammers in a game that requires battle.net 2.0 and has a real money auction house? I'd rather them release it now and add clans later. Better chat channels are ok but I agree that only a small portion use them. Just like they did with SC2 right? Yes. SC2 is still good without them. I don't give a shit that it doesn't have clan support yet. Just a bunch of features that would be nice but are not needed. You gotta understand that while you (5% of the purchasers) really want this feature the rest of us couldn't give 2 shits about them. lack of real chat is why i gave up on sc2 It didn't stop many other people from playing though.
maybe not, but the lack of supported communal options is a huge turnoff for a lot of people, even if it doesn't turn them away entirely
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On February 27 2012 20:02 kuresuti wrote:
It didn't stop many other people from playing though.
Have you played Starcraft 2 lately??
A lot of people have stopped playing melee/customs.
Most likely because of the way the custom game interface was built up with "most popular map played" list.
But I'm sure the poor chat interface didn't help the community to meet and play with new people. How are you supposed to meet new people when the latest social options implemented is "Accept message/invites from friends only" and where chat rooms limit the number of users to 100 in a terribly small interface.
No real chat channels in Diablo 3 means you wont be able to quickly see his character/banner, you wont know what class he is (because only the "account" shows and not the actual character), if he plays hardcore or where he stands in the game progression without having to browse trough his profile. Please don't be so narrow minded and understand that even if its a low % of players leaving.. it's still something that could be fixed and/or improved. Just because it doesn't increase your profit margin at the end of the year, its not a reason to skip developing the feature all together.
Gaming experience over profits? It seems like the better choice in the long run
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I think chat channels and all that lobby stuff are handled by Battle.net dev team - propably not actual Diablo 3 team. The problem I see, is that they made BN 2.0 in actual shape for some unknown reason ( who knows... maybe its all about Titan and his "social" stuff, or about creating multi-game platform filled with RMAHs and custom map markets, or even removing need of keyboard for future ports on consoles:/ ).
Chat channels should be essential in games like Diablo 3, period.
But, chat channes drags to BN a lot of complications. First, and I think biggest issue for Blizz is that they are unpredictable. You can try to filter bad language and spam, but its never giong to happen unless.. you remove ability to send messages to random players (preferably on big, open channels like USA-1). And this is the situation we have now. Blizzard wants clean and nice internet platform, similar to PS3 and XBox networks.
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EPT
