I didn't see this posted yet and it was just published today.
Topics covered in this interview include:
1. Shared Replay Viewing
2. Improving the Ladder experience for new users. Addressing Ladder Anxiety: Dustin Browder goes in depth to talk about some of the problems with SC2's WoL Ladder system and elaborates on a lot of the training modes being added for new users coming from the campaign.
3. New improvements to the UI editor to make it potentially easier to use.
4. New function for replay viewing to allow casters to customize what stats are displayed while viewing.
5. Resume from replay.
6. Clans/Groups for HOTS.
7. No plans for automated tournaments just yet for HOTS, but Dustin Browder says is an idea they "Definitely" want to add in for Legacy of the Void, has heard all of the enthusiasm people have had towards the idea.
Personally I think this is a really great interview. I'm very happy that Blizzard is so focused on improving the ladder experience for new users. I think it shows they are paying attention to a lot of the community based feedback we've been throwing at them about B.NET 2.0 over the past 2 years.
It's been really tough to try and get some of my friends to convert over to SC2 from other games for a lot of the reasons DB talked about.
The new training mode, ramped up AI difficulty and unranked play should do a TON to further this game for the casual fanbase.
The UI changes for HOTS have been great, I can't wait for them to unlock a lot of the new features DB talked about that we don't have access to on beta yet.
Shame that no automated tournaments are coming for HoTS. That was something I really loved about WC3's B.NET interface. Even if I only participated a few times it was a great thing to see happening always felt like there was something going on.
7. No plans for automated tournaments just yet for HOTS, but Dustin Browder says is an idea they "Definitely" want to add in for Legacy of the Void, has heard all of the enthusiasm people have had towards the idea.
Shame that no automated tournaments are coming for HoTS. That was something I really loved about WC3's B.NET interface. Even if I only participated a few times it was a great thing to see happening always felt like there was something going on.
I think I played like one 2v2 with my bro, and that felt pretty intimidating. If it were implemented in HoTs though I'd be pretty pumped
Shame that no automated tournaments are coming for HoTS. That was something I really loved about WC3's B.NET interface. Even if I only participated a few times it was a great thing to see happening always felt like there was something going on.
I think I played like one 2v2 with my bro, and that felt pretty intimidating. If it were implemented in HoTs though I'd be pretty pumped
What I would LOVE is if they did with automated tournaments what online poker sites do with tournaments vs cash games.
You could sign up for a tournament and the tournament is for only members of a particular league and the reward, in addition to wins towards special tournament portraits like they had in Warcraft 3, would be a boatload of ladder points based on where you placed in the tournament.
There'd be no points for losing obviously but I think that'd be a great option for players who want to play ranked play but don't particularly like the random Bo1's you face on ladder. This would give the same ladder reward but with a different structure for acquiring it.
I do not understand why they are so slow to implement these features.. Also, as usual, I find hilarious that some of these features CAME with wc3 and TFT yet, we have to beg and ask for them in SC2 and we will likely get them in years from now... lol-.-
On December 09 2012 07:58 WhiteSatin wrote: I do not understand why they are so slow to implement these features.. Also, as usual, I find hilarious that some of these features CAME with wc3 and TFT yet, we have to beg and ask for them in SC2 and we will likely get them in years from now... lol-.-
Maybe they have different people doing SC2 than WC3? I don't know what the code looks like, but what i have seen posts here, some people think that somewhere in the code there is a variable set to 1 for max one replay viewers and that Blizzard just need to change it to 2. In reality, depending how it was coded, they might need to rewrite whole replay watching stuff to allow multiple viewers.
On December 09 2012 07:58 WhiteSatin wrote: I do not understand why they are so slow to implement these features.. Also, as usual, I find hilarious that some of these features CAME with wc3 and TFT yet, we have to beg and ask for them in SC2 and we will likely get them in years from now... lol-.-
Maybe they have different people doing SC2 than WC3? I don't know what the code looks like, but what i have seen posts here, some people think that somewhere in the code there is a variable set to 1 for max one replay viewers and that Blizzard just need to change it to 2. In reality, depending how it was coded, they might need to rewrite whole replay watching stuff to allow multiple viewers.
When franchises such as Madden switched to the current generation of consoles there were a lot of features missing for like 3 years. I imagine this is for similar reasons, everything has to be built from scratch again.
What I found especially interesting is that there were some staffing additions after WoL shipped, and there may be a couple of skins that can be gained through the xp/leveling system.
On December 09 2012 07:09 Vindicare605 wrote: 7. No plans for automated tournaments just yet for HOTS, but Dustin Browder says is an idea they "Definitely" want to add in for Legacy of the Void, has heard all of the enthusiasm people have had towards the idea. .
This is sad... that all this feature are coming so late must be on purpose... i can't imagine that they are so slow. Sometimes i really blizzard for holding back this kinda stuff just so the expansions looking better, then again they are just a company... sigh
On December 09 2012 07:58 WhiteSatin wrote: I do not understand why they are so slow to implement these features.. Also, as usual, I find hilarious that some of these features CAME with wc3 and TFT yet, we have to beg and ask for them in SC2 and we will likely get them in years from now... lol-.-
Maybe they have different people doing SC2 than WC3? I don't know what the code looks like, but what i have seen posts here, some people think that somewhere in the code there is a variable set to 1 for max one replay viewers and that Blizzard just need to change it to 2. In reality, depending how it was coded, they might need to rewrite whole replay watching stuff to allow multiple viewers.
When franchises such as Madden switched to the current generation of consoles there were a lot of features missing for like 3 years. I imagine this is for similar reasons, everything has to be built from scratch again.
Everything from scratch is such a bitch, so much headaches >.<
Looks like they really want the bronze and silver players to learn how to play and improve without losing 20 games in a row before a win. I am pretty optimistic for the overall player base. Does not really affect me though...
EPT
