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Russian Federation4295 Posts
As on Blizzcon it was announced that with patch 2.1 SC2: Starter Edition removes many restrictions like only Terran faction and only featured games at Arcade, and some other moments, that should be listed and compared here.
Lets look at current StarCraft 2: Starter Edition:- It gives access to the first three missions of Wings of Liberty plus either The Evacuation or Smash and Grab (player's choice)
- The first two challenges are available for free: Tactical Command and Covert Ops
- Access to Terrans in Single-Player vs AI and Custom Games in the following maps: Discord IV, High Orbit, The Shattered Temple, Xel'Naga Caverns and the custom map StarJeweled, Left 2 Die and Aiur Chef
- Access to featured games in Arcade
Lets remember what Spawning Feature is. When you invite your SE-friends into your party, they get access to many StarCraft 2 features:- Ranked/unranked 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 games, so no 1v1 ladder
- Entire Arcade with any UMS map
- Still restricted to only Terran faction
- Nothing changed regarding campaign and challenges
What gives patch 2.1 to Starter Edition players?
- Available to play for free as all three races - Terran, Zerg, Protoss
- Custom games as any race and on any map are free
- Any Arcade map is available to play for free
- Still no 1v1 ladder, but Spawning provides 2v2 / 3v3 / 4v4
- Still restricted to first 4 missions from WOL
In result, semi-F2P may solve question regarding LAN. Looks like now you can install StarCraft 2 in many PCs and do a tournament with just Starter Edition. Create custom game, choose your race and fight! There is no 1v1 ladder, but you still can train against AI and your friends. Just have Internet-connection, thats all you need now.
But this also have one bad side - as a SE-player, you can do anything in the Arcade realm. Under "anything" I mean also cheating in custom maps. Of course no one cares about that, because it's just custom game with no ladder or statistics, but it may ruin Arcade because of many SE-players that can do anything for no cost. If their account was banned, they can create a new character with another Starter Edition and do whatever they want again.
Probably thats a reason, why Blizzard keep 1v1 ladder from being free-2-play? Maybe thats a good compromise between F2P and boxed version of the game? What do you think about it?
tl;dr - in Starter Edition
◘ AVAILABLE - Some first missions of WOL campaign and intro trailer from HOTS campaign
◘ AVAILABLE - All 3 races: Terran, Zerg, Protoss and leveling (portraits, decals and skins) with all of them.
◘ AVAILABLE - Ranked & Unranked 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 - when Spawned (in party with player with a full SC2)
◘ AVAILABLE - Arcade (all UMS maps, not only featured) & Customs games (all maps, not only 4 SE-maps)
◘ AVAILABLE - Replays (watching, saving new ones, co-op replay observing)
◘ AVAILABLE - Only reading Chat Channels and observing Groups. You also can connect to player's game, if he is in the created game, by clicking on green button near his nickname in the user-list in chat channel.
◘ AVAILABLE - Very Easy and Easy A.I. You can still play against Medium or harder AIs, when you find predefined custom maps like "CO-OP vs AI Brutal"
◘ AVAILABLE - on the Matchmaking screen you can play Training Stages and Versus A.I.
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - 1v1 Ladder (Ranked / Unranked) and full WOL & HOTS Campaigns
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Groups & Clans creation. You also can't join to group in SE.
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Chat Channels usage (you can't write in Chat channels)
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Official forums posting (You need a SC2-character to post on official forums)
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Cow-Level Chat (click 10+ times on SC2 logo in the main menu)
Poll: Free Arcade, Customs and Team-ladder - good or bad?Good (499) 86% I don't care (54) 9% Bad (21) 4% Other answer in comment (4) 1% 578 total votes Your vote: Free Arcade, Customs and Team-ladder - good or bad? (Vote): Good
(Vote): Bad
(Vote): I don't care
(Vote): Other answer in comment
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Russian Federation40186 Posts
Let's be fair here guys, there is a very high possibility that SC2 already paid for itself in sales, and with f2p access to not-really-main-parts of the game aka 1v1 ladder and campaign Blizzard probably does not lose anything really important but gets a possibility to get itself a higher user base. So, from money point of view, Blizzard is absolutely fine with what they are doing.
On hax side of things: well, i am not particularly sure how map hax or whatever you mean under cheating can help you in Nexus Wars or whatever.
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It's quite silly that if someone is interested on multiplayer only, he needs to buy the whole game just to be able to play in 1v1 ladder.
However, as you said, it wouldn't be a wise choice to let free accounts play in 1v1 ladder with maphack usage so common.
I guess the best thing would be finally fixing the maphack problem, but if they didn't so far there's no reason to expect they will in the close future.
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This is unquestionably good.
I'm quite sure that Blizzard would love to make the Multiplayer of the game free as well, if they only could find a way to monetize that. There's simply no way in hell to compete with popular F2P multiplayer games if you are a traditional (yet still popular) multiplayer game, and Blizzard knows it. But they can't just flip the switch and make Ladder F2P without having an infrastructure in place that allows monetisation and continuous addition of new (mostly non-free, non-balance interfering) content.
Here's to hoping they'll do that for LotV.
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I wonder if you have access now to HotS units with this change or just WoL units, it could be a problem if players are only allowed to play WoL.
I also feel this was an excellent decision, because this avoid the hackers to flood the 1v1 ladder yet it will allow players to actually play the game without being restricted to Terran or only two arcade games, besides more players will be able to play my maps! so i'm all for it :3
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
I wonder if you have access now to HotS units with this change or just WoL units, it could be a problem if players are only allowed to play WoL.
If you have all Terran units from HOTS also right now, it means it will be same for Zerg/Protoss, maybe
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On November 10 2013 20:53 Existor wrote:
In result, semi-F2P may solve question regarding LAN. Looks like now you can install StarCraft 2 in many PCs and do a tournament with just Starter Edition. Create custom game, choose your race and fight! There is no 1v1 ladder, but you still can train against AI and your friends. Just have Internet-connection, thats all you need now.
I don't think you understad what the question regarding LAN is...
edit: but the change is definitely good. For casual players it's probably as close as you can get to F2P multiplayer without compromising the ladder (from 1vs1 up to 4vs4).
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I fear for the modest and polite chatting going on in most games... Occasional BM is okay, but with f2p trolls and assholes soon joining in on team games I don't feel this is going to a very pleasant thing to play anymore. Gotta resume my 1v1 career, then.
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On November 10 2013 21:32 Creager wrote:
I fear for the modest and polite chatting going on in most games... Occasional BM is okay, but with f2p trolls and assholes soon joining in on team games I don't feel this is going to a very pleasant thing to play anymore. Gotta resume my 1v1 career, then.
They only have access to teamgames over the spawning functionality.
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Dakota_Fanning
Hungary2342 Posts
I accidentally clicked on a wrong answer. Any way to re-vote or change vote?
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just make it f2p multiplayer already .. with 1v1 ladder so ppl know what this game is all about
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Its a really great thing and something I recommended that Blizard should do almost a year ago. The next step IMO is to develop an easymode F2P 1on1/team arcade game to easen the transition from F2P to purchasing and playing the full game. The important thing here is to make this experience similar to a normal Sc2 game but with a higher focus on social aspect + less stressful playing experience.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On November 10 2013 21:51 xsnac wrote:
just make it f2p multiplayer already .. with 1v1 ladder so ppl know what this game is all about
But you can already for free play 1v1 in customs and in arcade
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I felt like the HotS campaign wasn't really worth that much money by itself. It was quite short and easy, just a rush through mostly similar maps. And most people don't really care about 1vs1.
I think what will be nice about this is that people will be forced not to use the ladder so much though, this will likely promote clans or groups or channels or whatever.
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Sweden33719 Posts
So, as soon as there's a decent way to make a non-blizzard ladder/match making system for SC2, we might see the Chinese sc2 scene take off ~_~
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Arcade section for free is pretty epic. But hope they really don't try to go closer to f2p. Such a balance act there that could destroy the game within days. Just because LoL did it and Dota2 brings in money in a different way, doesn't erase the 30k other free 2 pay failures that ended in pay 2 win.
And well Blizzard has no experience when it comes to f2p, so I like that they try it out in other games and not risk Sc2.
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For sure I think this is a good step for sc2 to take. Friends can now go to a internet cafe and just start a tournament. Hopefully this will improve the korean scene.
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I think it's a cool idea. I totally agree with all races being available, my friends always wanted to play but they lost interest because they didnt like Terran..
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I don't think they're adding anything many people care about to the game.
It's not going to make a difference no matter how you look at it.
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I like it. Will make converting buddies into SC2 a hell of a lot easier since we can actually play together and be casuals.
Let's be realistic, if they LOVE SC2 and wanna play it more competitively, they would go and shell out the money for the game. (I'm in Canada so maybe the gaming culture's different in other places)
This gives the game (what I consider) a pretty sweet trial edition where you get the entire game besides 1v1 so newcomers know what they're getting when (or if) they cash in.
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Its definitely a good thing.
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So after this patch you can play any of the maps in custom? (if you have only the starter edition?)
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So is this HOTS or just WOL? I mean if its just WOL multiplayer, than its not really that great.
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On November 10 2013 21:33 JustPassingBy wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2013 21:32 Creager wrote:
I fear for the modest and polite chatting going on in most games... Occasional BM is okay, but with f2p trolls and assholes soon joining in on team games I don't feel this is going to a very pleasant thing to play anymore. Gotta resume my 1v1 career, then. They only have access to teamgames over the spawning functionality.
Ah, thanks for clarifying that! Then it's not a bad thing at all 
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On November 10 2013 22:29 Liquid`Jinro wrote:
So, as soon as there's a decent way to make a non-blizzard ladder/match making system for SC2, we might see the Chinese sc2 scene take off ~_~
that would be sick
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Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc.
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Good, definitely. Could potentially increase the audience by a significant amount, especially after Blizzcon/WCS. I'm sure some people do not know about it being f2p so I'll be advertising SC2 around my circle of friends a lot once 2.1 hits.
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On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc.
But we were beating LoL this past weekend...?
+ the countless europeans on the Blizzard Stream ;~;
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On November 10 2013 22:29 Liquid`Jinro wrote:
So, as soon as there's a decent way to make a non-blizzard ladder/match making system for SC2, we might see the Chinese sc2 scene take off ~_~
You can create a ladder through custom maps, SC2 has a way to store data from customs persistently, this can include Elo ratings.
Matches could be found through chat channels.
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On November 11 2013 01:56 Cheren wrote:Show nested quote +On November 10 2013 22:29 Liquid`Jinro wrote:
So, as soon as there's a decent way to make a non-blizzard ladder/match making system for SC2, we might see the Chinese sc2 scene take off ~_~ You can create a ladder through custom maps, SC2 has a way to store data from customs persistently, this can include Elo ratings. Matches could be found through chat channels.
There's no way* to create a custom ladder system within the arcade that isn't gameable/exploitable by a malicious person, unfortunately.
(*Without substantial, unrealistic amounts of effort for such an endeavor.)
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I love this. Makes it so much easier to play with people.
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I think this is a smart move from Blizzard. Promoting the game without hurting existing players is always good.
On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc.
Going to full f2p will most likely piss off people who paid for account(s). Remember globalization of the servers and how many people ranted how their accounts were disappearing etc.? Ya, it's probably wise to avoid that.
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I'm pretty sure they will make the whole MP free when LotV comes out. (atleast they should and I definitly see them doing it)
Also they should advertise these changes more. Most people who don't play SC2 won't notice this change. So I don't think it'll have a great impact on the playerbase.
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it's a great idea, i love the fact they are making it semi f2p
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In result, semi-F2P may solve question regarding LAN.
How can F2P solve LAN?
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Too little, too late.
But this is a nice gesture (:
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Canada13386 Posts
On November 11 2013 02:06 eScaper-tsunami wrote:I think this is a smart move from Blizzard. Promoting the game without hurting existing players is always good. Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc. Going to full f2p will most likely piss off people who paid for account(s). Remember globalization of the servers and how many people ranted how their accounts were disappearing etc.? Ya, it's probably wise to avoid that.
Full f2p will be patch 3.1 after LotV is out for some time likely
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f2p games are way more popular, good move by blizzard
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On November 11 2013 01:37 Master of DalK wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc. But we were beating LoL this past weekend...? + the countless europeans on the Blizzard Stream ;~; and koreans on ogn :^)
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Definitely good. The one thing that BW had going for it was that it had a really cutthroat competitive scene on iCCup and a ton of fun custom games from BGH, to Fastest Map Ever etc etc.
SC2 currently has no custom scene, and so right now the people who play SC2 generally play it only for competitive reason and for some people competitive SC2 is just way too stressful.
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for real? sc2 costs the same price as any other game(less actually) and people bought COD, GTA, BF4 in the last few weeks? Am i the only one here who cant see the point of starter edition? its an SC2 demo? who exactly is this aimed at? if you have sc2 . . .then most of your friends probably do as they were the ones that got you into it? Im failing to see the point of this whole thing, someone please explain?
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On November 11 2013 03:47 StatixEx wrote:
for real? sc2 costs the same price as any other game(less actually) and people bought COD, GTA, BF4 in the last few weeks? Am i the only one here who cant see the point of starter edition? its an SC2 demo? who exactly is this aimed at? if you have sc2 . . .then most of your friends probably do as they were the ones that got you into it? Im failing to see the point of this whole thing, someone please explain?
Now everybody can download sc2 and just play acrade for example.
There are tons of good games there, you dont have to play a "real" rts mode there and you still can have fun.
blizzard should promote arcade now, i think that could help sc2 overall.
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It's amazing for me, because now my friends will stop whining about only ever playing as Terran haha.
On a more serious note, I think it's more a case of "nothing to lose". If people are not buying SC2 so much nowadays, at least now the more "casual" people, who are not interested in 1v1 ladder, will have a chance to play with friends and not on Xel'Naga Caverns or Shattered Temple. If it gets more people into the game, I don't think that it is a bad thing. For those of us who used to only watch SC2, it's amazing to finally be able to play other race and arcade maps.
More importantly for most of us who ladder all the time, it won't break the ladder system with insane numbers of smurfs and maphackers. For those who like the arcade, it's more people in arcade (hopefully who don't spoil games) which can't be awful. UMS may take off when it is free to play, just like when people used to pirate WC3 and SC:BW or play on Garena (and other programs). It's good to expand the game, and maybe will boost the sales of LotV when it comes out? idk
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Op are you factually wrong.
Free version can only play wings of liberty multi!
You need to add this to your post, OP
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Overall, I like the changes they have made to the SC2 Starter Edition. Here's a post from an article titled "A Guide to Fixing Starcraft 2 for LotV" that I wrote that applies to the SC2 Starter Edition rhat holds my thoughts about what Blizzard could do with it to help the scene.
METHODS TO GET NEW PLAYERS IN THE GAME:
What is currently wrong with the game: Declining player base that consists of people getting bored of the game and/or moving to other games such as MOBAs Dota 2 and LoL.
The Fix: This is one area where the in-game points system will help. Currently there is the SC2 starter edition which is free.
I would like the following things to be added to the SC2 starter edition:
-Levels
-All races unlocked
-Clans
-Custom games
-The ability to use the FULLY FEATURED map editor (more maps = better for the community)
-Voice chat
-Chat channels
-Unranked ladder (gives in-game points)
-All news-related information (strategies, tournaments, headlines etc)
Advertisements for SC2 Starter Edition:
Blizzard can make additional cash by accepting advertisements from different companies and rotating them in a rectangular area throughout the top portion of the screen.
Other potential areas for advertisement:
-Loading screen for games
-In the actual game itself
(Note that advertisements would only be enabled in the Starter Edition and by purchasing the game would be removable)
I propose to allow the following to be enabled by using in-game points:
-Ranked ladder (enabled for X games)
While keeping certain things like tournaments off limit to these players. This would give them the social features of the game and the ability to work their way to getting part of the full game temporarily. What I hope this would do is give them enough information to truly decide if they would like to purchase the game or not.
Also, Wings of Liberty should become FREE TO DOWNLOAD (thanks JBangin for the suggestion!). Blizzard is most likely not making much on the original game any longer, so this would give new players the option of trying out Starcraft 2 with all of the original game's features for free, or trying out the Starter Edition with everything until HotS included, with limited features.
By in-game points system, this is what I mean:
POINTS:
What is currently wrong with the game: It seems that the game sales by themselves are not giving Blizzard enough incentive to implement all of the features that we want, and with a polish that the game deserves. I propose a microtransaction system to generate more money for them from the game.
The Fix: In order to implement a microtransaction system, a points system should be implemented to reward people who play the game more to be able to purchase things for free using points they earn in the game.
An alternative to spending money in-game for many of the new game additions, the use of in-game points will reward players who play the game more. This is similar to League of Legend’s Influence Points.
-Gained through laddering (including unranked ladder games), playing in Blizzard tournaments, through more people observing in-game laddering, achievements, and also through purchasing with real money
By allowing people to gain points through playing unranked ladder, they can effectively participate in a microtransaction system by using in-game points (or cash) to purchase such things as skins, items & UI modifications, making a sort of F2P system has LoL has because of the zero cost of the SC2 Starter Edition.
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On November 11 2013 03:53 larse wrote:
Op are you factually wrong.
Free version can only play wings of liberty multi!
You need to add this to your post, OP
I know SE players can CURRENTLY play HotS with others that have HotS... and WoL players (or those that don't own HotS) can also play HotS with those that have it...
I also don't see how this is in any way bad.
I think the biggest problem - at least from my perspective - is keeping people playing. I have a lot of friends that all own HotS, they just seldom play. This still doesn't do anything to address that.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On November 11 2013 03:53 larse wrote:
Op are you factually wrong.
Free version can only play wings of liberty multi!
You need to add this to your post, OP
Specially for you I've created new account to check what Starter Edition provides.
Here are screenshots of Heart of the Swarm Starter Edition
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/7n0LMep.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/40pNO4N.jpg)
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Good idea,they just need to market it properly.
The majority of the people who would be interested in playing sc2 if it were f2p don't even know that there is a starter edition.
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
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On November 11 2013 03:54 dgwow wrote:
Overall, I like the changes they have made to the SC2 Starter Edition. Here's a post from an article titled "A Guide to Fixing Starcraft 2 for LotV" that I wrote that applies to the SC2 Starter Edition rhat holds my thoughts about what Blizzard could do with it to help the scene.
METHODS TO GET NEW PLAYERS IN THE GAME:
What is currently wrong with the game: Declining player base that consists of people getting bored of the game and/or moving to other games such as MOBAs Dota 2 and LoL.
The Fix: This is one area where the in-game points system will help. Currently there is the SC2 starter edition which is free.
I would like the following things to be added to the SC2 starter edition:
-Levels
-All races unlocked
-Clans
-Custom games
-The ability to use the FULLY FEATURED map editor (more maps = better for the community)
-Voice chat
-Chat channels
-Unranked ladder (gives in-game points)
-All news-related information (strategies, tournaments, headlines etc)
Advertisements for SC2 Starter Edition:
Blizzard can make additional cash by accepting advertisements from different companies and rotating them in a rectangular area throughout the top portion of the screen.
Other potential areas for advertisement:
-Loading screen for games
-In the actual game itself
(Note that advertisements would only be enabled in the Starter Edition and by purchasing the game would be removable)
I propose to allow the following to be enabled by using in-game points:
-Ranked ladder (enabled for X games)
While keeping certain things like tournaments off limit to these players. This would give them the social features of the game and the ability to work their way to getting part of the full game temporarily. What I hope this would do is give them enough information to truly decide if they would like to purchase the game or not.
Also, Wings of Liberty should become FREE TO DOWNLOAD (thanks JBangin for the suggestion!). Blizzard is most likely not making much on the original game any longer, so this would give new players the option of trying out Starcraft 2 with all of the original game's features for free, or trying out the Starter Edition with everything until HotS included, with limited features.
By in-game points system, this is what I mean:
POINTS:
What is currently wrong with the game: It seems that the game sales by themselves are not giving Blizzard enough incentive to implement all of the features that we want, and with a polish that the game deserves. I propose a microtransaction system to generate more money for them from the game.
The Fix: In order to implement a microtransaction system, a points system should be implemented to reward people who play the game more to be able to purchase things for free using points they earn in the game.
An alternative to spending money in-game for many of the new game additions, the use of in-game points will reward players who play the game more. This is similar to League of Legend’s Influence Points.
-Gained through laddering (including unranked ladder games), playing in Blizzard tournaments, through more people observing in-game laddering, achievements, and also through purchasing with real money
By allowing people to gain points through playing unranked ladder, they can effectively participate in a microtransaction system by using in-game points (or cash) to purchase such things as skins, items & UI modifications, making a sort of F2P system has LoL has because of the zero cost of the SC2 Starter Edition.
all i can say is that i'm glad that you will never work at blizzard because honestly these suggestions are plain horrible
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On November 11 2013 03:21 Hoon wrote:How can F2P solve LAN?
I have explained in 1st post.
Looks like now you can install StarCraft 2 in many PCs and do a tournament with just Starter Edition. Create custom game, choose your race and fight! There is no 1v1 ladder, but you still can train against AI and your friends. Just have Internet-connection, thats all you need now.
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On November 10 2013 22:29 Liquid`Jinro wrote:
So, as soon as there's a decent way to make a non-blizzard ladder/match making system for SC2, we might see the Chinese sc2 scene take off ~_~
Didn't SCBW or FRB have a ladder that kept track of your account across games?
Matchmaking will be hard, but you now have access to all the things you got on ICCUP on the starter edition.
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The arcade is kind of dead unless you're playing in prime time + top 25 popular arcade games!
Therefore having more people play in the arcade can only be good, as some of them might want to explore a couple of alternative maps so it becomes possible for others to do the same. I am tired of having to wait insanely long in a lobby if you find a slightly obscure map because 4/5 people don't even know the 'Open games' tab exist.
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On November 11 2013 04:40 MaxQT wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 03:54 dgwow wrote:
Overall, I like the changes they have made to the SC2 Starter Edition. Here's a post from an article titled "A Guide to Fixing Starcraft 2 for LotV" that I wrote that applies to the SC2 Starter Edition rhat holds my thoughts about what Blizzard could do with it to help the scene.
METHODS TO GET NEW PLAYERS IN THE GAME:
What is currently wrong with the game: Declining player base that consists of people getting bored of the game and/or moving to other games such as MOBAs Dota 2 and LoL.
The Fix: This is one area where the in-game points system will help. Currently there is the SC2 starter edition which is free.
I would like the following things to be added to the SC2 starter edition:
-Levels
-All races unlocked
-Clans
-Custom games
-The ability to use the FULLY FEATURED map editor (more maps = better for the community)
-Voice chat
-Chat channels
-Unranked ladder (gives in-game points)
-All news-related information (strategies, tournaments, headlines etc)
Advertisements for SC2 Starter Edition:
Blizzard can make additional cash by accepting advertisements from different companies and rotating them in a rectangular area throughout the top portion of the screen.
Other potential areas for advertisement:
-Loading screen for games
-In the actual game itself
(Note that advertisements would only be enabled in the Starter Edition and by purchasing the game would be removable)
I propose to allow the following to be enabled by using in-game points:
-Ranked ladder (enabled for X games)
While keeping certain things like tournaments off limit to these players. This would give them the social features of the game and the ability to work their way to getting part of the full game temporarily. What I hope this would do is give them enough information to truly decide if they would like to purchase the game or not.
Also, Wings of Liberty should become FREE TO DOWNLOAD (thanks JBangin for the suggestion!). Blizzard is most likely not making much on the original game any longer, so this would give new players the option of trying out Starcraft 2 with all of the original game's features for free, or trying out the Starter Edition with everything until HotS included, with limited features.
By in-game points system, this is what I mean:
POINTS:
What is currently wrong with the game: It seems that the game sales by themselves are not giving Blizzard enough incentive to implement all of the features that we want, and with a polish that the game deserves. I propose a microtransaction system to generate more money for them from the game.
The Fix: In order to implement a microtransaction system, a points system should be implemented to reward people who play the game more to be able to purchase things for free using points they earn in the game.
An alternative to spending money in-game for many of the new game additions, the use of in-game points will reward players who play the game more. This is similar to League of Legend’s Influence Points.
-Gained through laddering (including unranked ladder games), playing in Blizzard tournaments, through more people observing in-game laddering, achievements, and also through purchasing with real money
By allowing people to gain points through playing unranked ladder, they can effectively participate in a microtransaction system by using in-game points (or cash) to purchase such things as skins, items & UI modifications, making a sort of F2P system has LoL has because of the zero cost of the SC2 Starter Edition. all i can say is that i'm glad that you will never work at blizzard because honestly these suggestions are plain horrible
What's bad about it? Blizzard is a business, they need to be making good profits in order for the higher ups to provide them with more manpower to help with the game. If they make the game better, it is worth small microtransactions that don't affect the game, as well as advertisements (in the free version only, mind you).
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On November 11 2013 03:49 The_Red_Viper wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 03:47 StatixEx wrote:
for real? sc2 costs the same price as any other game(less actually) and people bought COD, GTA, BF4 in the last few weeks? Am i the only one here who cant see the point of starter edition? its an SC2 demo? who exactly is this aimed at? if you have sc2 . . .then most of your friends probably do as they were the ones that got you into it? Im failing to see the point of this whole thing, someone please explain? Now everybody can download sc2 and just play acrade for example. There are tons of good games there, you dont have to play a "real" rts mode there and you still can have fun. blizzard should promote arcade now, i think that could help sc2 overall.
oh yeah, see i never play the arcade, and that editor is fucking awsome
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I honestly hope that ladder never goes completely f2p. I'd prefer a monetary barrier of entry to keep undesirable players like hackers and smurfs off the ladder. Even though the current system isn't perfect, at least it forces banned players to buy another copy if they want to continue playing.
1v1 should be kept cleaner by requiring a copy. With spawning, Starter Edition players would at least be forced to socialize and group up with other full version players to do team game ladders, which might make chat channels more lively or encourage playing with real life friends more.
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As someone who played starjeweled on NA during the time when it went free....
Maphacks aren't really an issue, because you have full map vision regardless in Starjeweled, but there really wasn't an upswing in other kinds of cheating either. What we did see was a lot more lag from people with less powerful computers, and a lot more people who spoke only Spanish (whom we believed to be connecting from Mexico).
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This is overwhelmingly a good thing. Custom games/UMS games are what kept me interested in Brood War for years, will be the same thing here. And now that Blizzard has started showing when tournaments are live in client, should open up more visibility for tournament scene as well.
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On November 11 2013 04:24 Existor wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 03:53 larse wrote:
Op are you factually wrong.
Free version can only play wings of liberty multi!
You need to add this to your post, OP Specially for you I've created new account to check what Starter Edition provides. Here are screenshots of Heart of the Swarm Starter Edition
OK Sorry. This really means SC2 is kinda F2P now.
LotV will be even more F2P.
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Seems like the perfect balance! Making all the things available that are more suited for less hardcore SC2 players. These guys are probably not going to buy the game anyway if all they want is the Arcade and maybe some team games. Also, it is still a bit restricted in that you have to rely on a friend to help you every time you want to play.
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Good move, imo they should restrict the arcade and 1v1 ladder, make everything else available (so 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and customs) along with all ranked play.
Since 1v1 (eh..), the arcade and ranked play are the biggest appeals, it makes sense to restrict these to pull in the sales. Do some sort of weekly arcade rotation too.
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Hopefully they can make Warcraft I, II, Starcraft, Diablo I & II all available for people that have bought any recent Blizzard game. I think that's a good incentive to get people to buy Blizzard games imo, especially if someone was bright enough to attach those games to the new b.net 2.0, so that you could even play them online with friends if you wanted to. Like, it can't be too complicated to launch Brood War as a game inside a game with a battle.net overlay on top.
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There's a few reasons why I really like this setup
Lan play. My friends and I used to keep Brood War on thumb drives to just dive into custom games when friends are over but with SC2, even if most of my friends had an account, if everyone didn't it was all moot. Combined with spawning a player could do pretty much anything other than 1v1 or team matchmaking sans a friend that owns the game, which I think is more than fair.
I think this solution also alleviates the commonly cited concern that if SC2 was totally F2P, hacking (in 1v1) would be extremely rampant since all of the info is client-side unlike Dota/LoL and it'd be easier to just create a new account.
I don't think there's any downsides to expanding the Starter edition so I think it's totally a good move.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Added tl;dr version
tl;dr - With patch 2.1:
◘ AVAILABLE - All 3 races: Terran, Zerg, Protoss
◘ AVAILABLE - 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 - when Spawned (in party with player with a full SC2)
◘ AVAILABLE - Arcade (all UMS maps, not only featured) & Customs games (all maps, not only 4 SE-maps)
◘ AVAILABLE - Replays (watching, saving new ones, co-op replay observing)
◘ AVAILABLE - Only reading Chat Channels
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - 1v1 Ladder (Ranked / Unranked) and full WOL & HOTS Campaigns
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Groups & Clans creation
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Chat Channels usage (you can't write in Chat channels)
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Official forums posting (You need a SC2-character to post on official forums)
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Cow-Level Chat (click 10+ times on SC2 logo in the main menu)
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United States23455 Posts
On November 12 2013 04:03 Existor wrote:
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Cow-Level Chat (click 10+ times on SC2 logo in the main menu)
This is certainly the biggest selling point of the game now. If you want access, you must purchase!
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On November 12 2013 04:13 Darkhoarse wrote:Show nested quote +On November 12 2013 04:03 Existor wrote:
◘ NOT AVAILABLE - Cow-Level Chat (click 10+ times on SC2 logo in the main menu) This is certainly the biggest selling point of the game now. If you want access, you must purchase!
Haha, good point. But really cow-level is just an easter-egg in SC2 menus. So you don't lose much except having "...mo-o-o!!" at the end of all your quotes.
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I Personally think this is a great way to market and still not give away all the goods
Awesome and well thought out plan by blizzard Kudos to Blizzard and the Team!
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Oh, I didn't even know this cow chat exists, how active is it? :o
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On November 20 2013 01:12 JustPassingBy wrote:
Oh, I didn't even know this cow chat exists, how active is it? :o
Didn't know it either. Just went there on EU and there was 1 person afk.
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On November 11 2013 03:23 ZeromuS wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 02:06 eScaper-tsunami wrote:I think this is a smart move from Blizzard. Promoting the game without hurting existing players is always good. On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc. Going to full f2p will most likely piss off people who paid for account(s). Remember globalization of the servers and how many people ranted how their accounts were disappearing etc.? Ya, it's probably wise to avoid that. Full f2p will be patch 3.1 after LotV is out for some time likely
Ummm, source?
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dont like the idea of sc2 f2p...but i guess it will result in an f2p.
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They don't make it free to play because they want to make money. That's the point of running a business. Multiplayer is the reason the majority of people play this game, it'd just be bad business sense to suggest giving away a product free of charge. You should be happy that they give you anything for free.
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On November 20 2013 01:25 eScaper-tsunami wrote:Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 03:23 ZeromuS wrote:On November 11 2013 02:06 eScaper-tsunami wrote:I think this is a smart move from Blizzard. Promoting the game without hurting existing players is always good. On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc. Going to full f2p will most likely piss off people who paid for account(s). Remember globalization of the servers and how many people ranted how their accounts were disappearing etc.? Ya, it's probably wise to avoid that. Full f2p will be patch 3.1 after LotV is out for some time likely Ummm, source?
his ass
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On November 23 2013 12:21 Korbo wrote:
They don't make it free to play because they want to make money. That's the point of running a business. Multiplayer is the reason the majority of people play this game, it'd just be bad business sense to suggest giving away a product free of charge. You should be happy that they give you anything for free.
A free to play business model does not mean a company isn't making any money.
Case in point: Valve's Dota 2
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On November 23 2013 12:26 askmc70 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 20 2013 01:25 eScaper-tsunami wrote:On November 11 2013 03:23 ZeromuS wrote:On November 11 2013 02:06 eScaper-tsunami wrote:I think this is a smart move from Blizzard. Promoting the game without hurting existing players is always good. On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc. Going to full f2p will most likely piss off people who paid for account(s). Remember globalization of the servers and how many people ranted how their accounts were disappearing etc.? Ya, it's probably wise to avoid that. Full f2p will be patch 3.1 after LotV is out for some time likely Ummm, source? his ass
Nice of you to check.
It's a good thing surely. How much difference it will make i don't know. I think that if this were the case since the beginning, SC2 would have been much more successful in Korea.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
It's a joke with some true in it
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As you said you can't 1 v 1 with 2.1 SE so I will literally not notice any difference once the patch is life as I barely ever play anything besides 1 v 1 or custom games with friends. However I guess introducing somebody to sc2 will be a lot easier now as it'll be "just download for free" rather than spent 60+ bucks. So overall it'll be a positive change that probably won't affect me to too much.
imho all of multiplayer will be free to play some time after lotv anyways as that is the best way to monetize the game after all expansions are out. I'm sure lotv will also introduce the option for more skins/portraits etc. and maybe even monetisation via arcade.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
I think, free Arcade is a first step to making it as market, so mapmakers will do their maps for some cost, and some percents will go to blizzard. Probably that will be Starcraft-answer to Diablo 3 auction
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Good.
I think they should make the entire game F2P and charge people for portraits or cool unit skins or something like that to make money. Sort of like what LoL does.
1. Its going to attract more people because just playing it is free.
2. People are willing to dump small amounts of money into cool skins.
Also on a side note they should bring back the old battle.net channels from SC/SC:BW.
I think these changes together would dramatically improve the community.
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Good move but nothing to put the game back on the map. It's flaws are too deep to fix
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any effort to increase enjoyment by casual users and grow the base can only be good, for any game.
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On November 10 2013 21:32 Creager wrote:
I fear for the modest and polite chatting going on in most games... Occasional BM is okay, but with f2p trolls and assholes soon joining in on team games I don't feel this is going to a very pleasant thing to play anymore. Gotta resume my 1v1 career, then.
EU must be vastly different from NA, because the majority of chatting that goes on, most especially in public channels and team games are cesspools of BM and trolling. Even if it weren't the case, people have no current disincentive not to BM/troll, and to be honest, the last thing SC2 needs is behavior enforcement aka summoner tribunal...
On November 11 2013 02:06 eScaper-tsunami wrote:I think this is a smart move from Blizzard. Promoting the game without hurting existing players is always good. Show nested quote +On November 11 2013 01:21 Supert0fu wrote:
Good, but could be better. Sc2 needs to go towards F2P I think when sc2's GRAND FINALS were getting significantly less viewers than just people streaming league, there's an issue. And before people say LoL is a game for dumb people or "sc2 can be great it doesn't have to beat LoL" my question for you is "why don't you want sc2 to be as awesome as possible?" Why would you not want to get the grow the audience, which will to more money, more stable environment, etc. Going to full f2p will most likely piss off people who paid for account(s). Remember globalization of the servers and how many people ranted how their accounts were disappearing etc.? Ya, it's probably wise to avoid that.
Fuck them, let them quit if it makes them so mad (they won't quit btw, they'll be over it in a week). The net result of a larger player base would still be more beneficial than leaving the game as it currently stands.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Bumping thread because of incoming patch.
Want to remind that Starbow will also be free, same as entire game except 1v1 ladder. Team ladder yoou still can play in free version when Spawned (aka in group with player with full SC2)
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On January 20 2014 06:04 Existor wrote:
Bumping thread because of incoming patch.
Want to remind that Starbow will also be free, same as entire game except 1v1 ladder. Team ladder yoou still can play in free version when Spawned (aka in group with player with full SC2)
seems a bit much that I paid 40$ just to play a broken mmr decay ladder system now
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On January 20 2014 11:24 Smurfett3 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 20 2014 06:04 Existor wrote:
Bumping thread because of incoming patch.
Want to remind that Starbow will also be free, same as entire game except 1v1 ladder. Team ladder yoou still can play in free version when Spawned (aka in group with player with full SC2) seems a bit much that I paid 40$ just to play a broken mmr decay ladder system now
You also pay for campaign with professinally done CGI and sometimes fun missions, not only for multiplayer.
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Just a note on the hacking/cheating, considering some previous comments. While locking out 1v1 by charging keeps hackers/smurfs at bay, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 are now fair game. I know not a lot of people take teams seriously like 1v1, but a lot of people still play team games and this could be bad news. All it takes is one legit person to spawn someone up and the spawned player, who is on a free account, is free to hack all day long...
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On January 21 2014 05:01 exKid wrote:
Just a note on the hacking/cheating, considering some previous comments. While locking out 1v1 by charging keeps hackers/smurfs at bay, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 are now fair game. I know not a lot of people take teams seriously like 1v1, but a lot of people still play team games and this could be bad news. All it takes is one legit person to spawn someone up and the spawned player, who is on a free account, is free to hack all day long...
Maybe they could update their Terms of Service to give the possibility of banning anyone who colludes with hackers by spawning them up.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
On January 21 2014 05:09 Nerevar wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:01 exKid wrote:
Just a note on the hacking/cheating, considering some previous comments. While locking out 1v1 by charging keeps hackers/smurfs at bay, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 are now fair game. I know not a lot of people take teams seriously like 1v1, but a lot of people still play team games and this could be bad news. All it takes is one legit person to spawn someone up and the spawned player, who is on a free account, is free to hack all day long... Maybe they could update their Terms of Service to give the possibility of banning anyone who colludes with hackers by spawning them up.
The most sad thing is that they don't actively ban and react to all the current maphackers, that exist now
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I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play.
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On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play.
I've just seen that, WTF? Are they afraid of spam or something?
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On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play.
It was probably to prevent a surge of flaming and trolling and flooding in the chat channels. At least now you can report the account, but Blizzard just wouldn't be able to defend themselves from unlimited free trolling accounts.
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On January 21 2014 05:23 Sapphire.lux wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play. I've just seen that, WTF? Are they afraid of spam or something?
Yeah I think it's actually because there's not much of a chat interface to ban individuals (aside from group creators/officers, right?) they want to avoid people abusing the fact that getting banned from bnet isn't a big deal (since blizz hasn't monetized sc2 online so there's no rank or money at stake).
I agree it's silly because it's a side effect of other things (having a poor chat channel system, having no way to monetize sc2 multiplayer) but I don't think it has anything to do with the little league analogy.
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free stuff is always good :D
and it popularize sc2
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On January 21 2014 05:25 ZenithM wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play. It was probably to prevent a surge of flaming and trolling and flooding in the chat channels. At least now you can report the account, but Blizzard just wouldn't be able to defend themselves from unlimited free trolling accounts.
I see your point, but I would argue that the volume of chat in the channels at the present time is non-existent. A lot of the arcade games are difficult and not something you can click play and have a great time. I guess I just see a lot of random people joining games, not being able to chat in a game channel, who don't have the slightest clue how to play.
On January 21 2014 05:27 HeavenResign wrote:
but I don't think it has anything to do with the little league analogy.
It's a reference to someone refusing to give up a battle that is already lost. Just seems silly to hold back communication of all things. "You can play my game but you can't chat in game channels because I SAID SO bew hew"
Give me a break.
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
not being able to chat in a game channel, who don't have the slightest clue how to play.
Do you see the difference between Chat channels and ingame/lobby chat?
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On January 21 2014 05:52 Existor wrote:Show nested quote +not being able to chat in a game channel, who don't have the slightest clue how to play. Do you see the difference between Chat channels and ingame/lobby chat?
Of course. The ingame lobby isn't exactly a place to relax and converse, though. I just think it's silly, but hey, I bought the game when it came out so I guess it isn't worth getting worked up over.
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On January 21 2014 05:44 Ctone23 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:25 ZenithM wrote:On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play. It was probably to prevent a surge of flaming and trolling and flooding in the chat channels. At least now you can report the account, but Blizzard just wouldn't be able to defend themselves from unlimited free trolling accounts. I see your point, but I would argue that the volume of chat in the channels at the present time is non-existent. A lot of the arcade games are difficult and not something you can click play and have a great time. I guess I just see a lot of random people joining games, not being able to chat in a game channel, who don't have the slightest clue how to play. Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:27 HeavenResign wrote:
but I don't think it has anything to do with the little league analogy. It's a reference to someone refusing to give up a battle that is already lost. Just seems silly to hold back communication of all things. "You can play my game but you can't chat in game channels because I SAID SO bew hew" Give me a break.
I was pretty polite about it, and I understand the point you were making, I just fundamentally disagree with analyzing this change based on the individual temperaments of programmers/developers when there are clear practical reasons this was done (whether they are the right reasons or not), and it makes psycho-analytic assumptions such as programmers don't want people playing their game to be happy, or they "gave up", or they did it as some pot shot against "the brass?". It just seems very far-reaching. Sorry if you thought I was/am giving you a hard time.
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Bisutopia19202 Posts
I wish they would make LoTV cheaper at release. I only want the campaign.
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On January 21 2014 06:06 HeavenResign wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:44 Ctone23 wrote:On January 21 2014 05:25 ZenithM wrote:On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play. It was probably to prevent a surge of flaming and trolling and flooding in the chat channels. At least now you can report the account, but Blizzard just wouldn't be able to defend themselves from unlimited free trolling accounts. I see your point, but I would argue that the volume of chat in the channels at the present time is non-existent. A lot of the arcade games are difficult and not something you can click play and have a great time. I guess I just see a lot of random people joining games, not being able to chat in a game channel, who don't have the slightest clue how to play. On January 21 2014 05:27 HeavenResign wrote:
but I don't think it has anything to do with the little league analogy. It's a reference to someone refusing to give up a battle that is already lost. Just seems silly to hold back communication of all things. "You can play my game but you can't chat in game channels because I SAID SO bew hew" Give me a break. I was pretty polite about it, and I understand the point you were making, I just fundamentally disagree with analyzing this change based on the individual temperaments of programmers/developers when there are clear practical reasons this was done (whether they are the right reasons or not), and it makes psycho-analytic assumptions such as programmers don't want people playing their game to be happy, or they "gave up", or they did it as some pot shot against "the brass?". It just seems very far-reaching. Sorry if you thought I was/am giving you a hard time.
Not at all. I didn't mean to come off as rude. I think in a perfect world, your analysis would be spot on. I don't really think that malicious intent was involved, but I couldn't help but poke a jab or two at them. It seems discriminatory but they obviously don't want the entire game to be free. I give them a lot of credit for making the arcade free, but yea, no offense meant towards you.
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On January 21 2014 05:27 HeavenResign wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2014 05:23 Sapphire.lux wrote:On January 21 2014 05:16 Ctone23 wrote:
I'm really disappointed that free-users can't join chat channels. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. How are they suppose to learn and get better if they can't chat in the game client? It's akin to a youngster refusing to shake hands after a hard fought little league game. It's childish and whoever made that decision at Blizzard should really get over the fact the higher-brass chose to make part of the game free to play. I've just seen that, WTF? Are they afraid of spam or something? Yeah I think it's actually because there's not much of a chat interface to ban individuals (aside from group creators/officers, right?) they want to avoid people abusing the fact that getting banned from bnet isn't a big deal (since blizz hasn't monetized sc2 online so there's no rank or money at stake). I agree it's silly because it's a side effect of other things (having a poor chat channel system, having no way to monetize sc2 multiplayer) but I don't think it has anything to do with the little league analogy.
I wish there was controllable chat channels (ways to ban, op etc - even if it's considered too old school or not necessary because everyone uses skype or irc).
Otherwise I understand the starter editions not being able to spam channels with diablo/wow gold offers...
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Russian Federation4295 Posts
Updated some available/unavailable points
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3sBL4lA.png)
