"It's called LAN!"

[Xyvik]

Fact One: LAN has been a part of multiplayer gaming until the advent of MMOs

Fact Two: Something that has been a part of something for a long time is usually considered "integral".

Fact Three: Piracy can be fought, and has been fought, by methods other than removing LAN.

Fact Four: Those with internet troubles, and those who use LAN, are actually still a major demographic of PC gaming.

Based on those indisputable facts we can come up with a very real picture as to what Blizzard is doing.

Blizzard Fact One: They have used piracy as their primary reason for removing LAN. See Fact Three, Above.

Blizzard Fact Two: So far they have shown nothing about Bnet 2 that has been a "replacement" for LAN.

Blizzard Fact Three: Nothing about Bnet 2 is particularly new, exciting, or revolutionary.

So based on these facts as well, we can come to the informed opinion that until Blizzard shows otherwise, they're taking LAN out as a way to tighten their reign on things.

Just because the e-sports tournaments get access to something doesn't mean WE, the downtrodden, lowlife buyers, actually get access to it.

But hey, if you want to believe in the all-rightness and the almightiness of Blizzard and all their decisions, go ahead. I don't. I'm waiting to see if they can show something that's worth removing LAN. So far, they haven't. If they do, I will accept their decision and be mature enough to admit I'm wrong. I'm still waiting for that day, though.

So really, these arguments serve no purpose. BlizzCon isn't even over, after all. Perhaps we should all just sit back and wait to see what happens. I'm not even angry at all this, I'm just pointing out that the explanations Blizzard have given us are pure BS in and of themselves.

So. Peace?

[Pandonetho]

Had to

Had to what? Point out the hypocrisy in that segment of my post? Or do you not finish reading before posting?

Fact Two: Something that has been a part of something for a long time is usually considered "integral".

Your point? Maybe you fail to realize, it's THEIR game, they made the game for PROFIT. They'll do, whatever the hell they want with it. You think you deserve something from them? Is that it? Boycott it then, that'll teach them.

Fact Four: Those with internet troubles, and those who use LAN, are actually still a major demographic of PC gaming.

Fact 5 - Those who do have internet, make up the majority of people.

Oh and Fact 6 - you're whining endlessly about Blizzard before they've revealed everything there is to know about b.net.

[Josue]

Alright folks, first of all, using your own experience with LAN as some sort of justification in your argument is pure... bullshit.

I've never given a damn about LAN and neither have any of my friends. Oh yes, let me use that as a justification as to why LAN doesn't matter. What, are you going to tell me I'm a deprived child who doesn't know anything about PC gaming next?

Second of all, Blizzard has already said they plan on including something to replace LAN, so quit crying about it until you actually see what they have for us.

Third, IIRC b.net for WC3 already detects when you're in the same network and enables LAN latency.

Lastly, I can't even begin to think how stupid some people can get through their anger. Blizzard, the company which is pushing for e-sports more than any gaming company I know, is going to sacrifice LAN so that gaming tournaments are not possible with the lag? Are you people smoking something or what is it?

Oh wait, one more thing, no matter what anyone says, Blizzard probably couldn't care less about the people who have issues with internet.

They said themselves they had more players on b.net than they do playing WoW. Yes, so whatever miniscule number of people who are crying about LAN plan to boycott the game, it won't make a difference. A company's number one priority is profit, and if Blizzard thinks this will bring them profit, there's no persauding them.

Wait a second... something that replaces LAN...
what a relief... but still want to know what it is! how it works!
more details...

[Xyvik]

I'm really not whining here. I'm just trying to point out that Blizzard's explanations have been BS. If they just came out and gave us a real reason, we'd all sleep better. But they play the arrogant masters of the universe and shove off a huge demographic that exists.

Fact 5 - Those who do have internet, make up the majority of people.

Allow me one last point: those with broadband internet aren't even the majority in the United States, the place with the most broadband players except China. Broadband internet still has some work to do before it reaches the "majority" status. It's certainly a lot more than it was even two years ago, but it can't yet be claimed to be "majority" just yet.

Oh and Fact 6 - you're whining endlessly about Blizzard before they've revealed everything there is to know about b.net.

But you're right. As I said before, BlizzCon isn't even over. I'm certainly willing to wait and see what Blizzard does. I just don't think their explanations so far have been very upfront, or even accurate.

[Pandonetho]

Agreed then. Let's just hold our horses until the almighty relacement for LAN is revealed for our judgement.

[Xyvik]

Agreed then. Let's just hold our horses until the almighty relacement for LAN is revealed for our judgement.

Let's certainly hope it's almighty

[Noise]

A LAN replacement would only be reasonable if it had latency as low as LAN. What could that possibly be?

[warrior6]

A LAN replacement would only be reasonable if it had latency as low as LAN. What could that possibly be?

nothing. this is what made lan so great. lol can you imagine a pro league game that lags out cuz of a server crash or something? lol.

[Hav0x]

Blizzard didn't just remove LAN to stop piracy. They removed it because they want all multiplayer matches to be handled by battle.net so that all the stats, achievements and everything else that battle.net tracks can be tracked. There is also the fact that they want all tournaments and ladders to be run through battle.net as a part of their premium services that they can charge for. If they added LAN everybody would just use that to set up their tournaments because it's free.

If you are on the same LAN as the game creator on battle.net you will get VERY low latencies, close to LAN latencies.

Blizzard isn't going to sabotage e-sports by forcing them into high latency situations just for the sake of piracy. Use your brains people.

[Genopath]

Alright folks, first of all, using your own experience with LAN as some sort of justification in your argument is pure... bullshit.

I've never given a damn about LAN and neither have any of my friends. Oh yes, let me use that as a justification as to why LAN doesn't matter. What, are you going to tell me I'm a deprived child who doesn't know anything about PC gaming next?

Second of all, Blizzard has already said they plan on including something to replace LAN, so quit crying about it until you actually see what they have for us.

Third, IIRC b.net for WC3 already detects when you're in the same network and enables LAN latency.

Lastly, I can't even begin to think how stupid some people can get through their anger. Blizzard, the company which is pushing for e-sports more than any gaming company I know, is going to sacrifice LAN so that gaming tournaments are not possible with the lag? Are you people smoking something or what is it?

Oh wait, one more thing, no matter what anyone says, Blizzard probably couldn't care less about the people who have issues with internet.

They said themselves they had more players on b.net than they do playing WoW. Yes, so whatever miniscule number of people who are crying about LAN plan to boycott the game, it won't make a difference. A company's number one priority is profit, and if Blizzard thinks this will bring them profit, there's no persauding them.

QFT, I couldn't agree more with this poster.

In all honesty, one can't compare Blizzard' piracy issues with Valve. Piracy does not affect equally all game industries. Game industries themselves are very different depending on the region. One can't compare piracy on China with piracy on the US. There are different legal, economic and recently social reasons behind this.

Blizzard did try to set things right but the recent suit with Haofang really made things harder.

In any case put yourself in Blizzard's position. To the poster that said Blizzard does not listen to fans, well. So far: they've brought Raynor's original voice, changed the tank model, brought back the carrier, changed the art of Terran buildings among some few I could mention. It is easy for selfish "fans" to point fingers and state mistakes of an unreleased video game.

Also on the logic of the other poster, I don't use Windows very much. I use Linux instead. On that same logic I should be pissed that SC2 will only be playable on Windows and therefore should rant to Blizzard that they are not listening to me and therefore generalize that Blizzard does not listen to fans.

Again I mean no disrespect to the other poster but get your facts straight.