Will Bnet 2.0 have chat?

[HistoryX]

O please dont act all high and mighty . No Chat at launch is retarded. If they can program achievments into b.net im sure chat channels would take 1/5 the effort. Using chat channels as a selling point for an expansion makes me think twice about what blizzard has become.

[Gradius]

god that sounds HORRIBLE , we seriously may have to wait till expansion ONE for any semblance of chat. Thats just pathetic.

I have to agree. They're taking out so many things that the original had: basics like chat, lan, and the ability to play with other servers.

Not that it makes much of a difference to me. I'll still buy the game.

[Maxa]

Don't like it don't buy it. It's that simple.

Do you want to see chat at release and greatly delay the game even further or do you want the game out as soon as possible and have chat patched in later?

I don't care for chat myself (I'm not interested in talking to strangers on Bnet), but when you consider how basic and simple chat rooms are to so many online games, it does strike me as strange that SC2 will have no chat at launch. This isn't a radical or incredibly advanced feature we're talking about here.

[Hav0x]

O please dont act all high and mighty . No Chat at launch is retarded. If they can program achievments into b.net im sure chat channels would take 1/5 the effort. Using chat channels as a selling point for an expansion makes me think twice about what blizzard has become.

I'm not acting high and mighty. It's basic logic, if you hate something so much then don't buy it. You obviously know nothing about programming with the way you're talking. What they have planned may be very extensive thus requiring major amounts of work. I love how people with no knowledge think features are so trivial to add in. Also, nowhere did they say that one of the features of the expansion would be chat channels. They said that the patch for chat may not make it until the content patch for the next expansion. (There will be large additions to Battle.net with each expansion that will be patched into the previous versions of the game as well.)

[SinsWage]

Just accept the fact that this is NOT a complete game. What it IS is the first 1/3 of a $180 game. By the end of 2012 right before the end of the world Starcraft II will be nearly complete. At that point we'll be able to clearly see how the game turned out. Until then consider it an extremely long beta you're paying to play.

[Gifted]

@Hav0k:
First I"d like to say I understood your tone and know you weren't intending to be "high and mighty". I just wanted to share it. However, though you didn't intend a harsh tone I think you could agree that what you wrote could be misunderstood as harsher than intended. Just keep it in mind for future posts. ^_^ (For the record, I perceived it as "matter of fact" tone, but still, I think you see what I'm getting at)


@Historyx:

I don't think it's a case of manpower that's delaying chat. If you actually LISTEN to the question from the QA (watch it, not read it) you will hear the tone in their voice. This helps you understand that the PLANNING for the feature isn't completed yet. Hell, they don't know if they want to keep the naming convention the same or change it. It is very hard to continue on functionality that could be dependant on a portion of the product that isn't "complete" yet.

Let me define "complete". The naming convention, (name.identifier) might change soon. If it is, they'll have to go back and change code related to it and the code regarding the IM portion of their chat client so far. They also have to look into how the channels will work, how private or public channels will work, and how clan implementation will work.

It's dramatically more efficient to do correct planning beforehand, and gather data to help ensure that plan is efficient or effective. This is what beta is for. What it looks like is not that it's "not easy" or "slow working" but rather that there are other priorities that are higher than this one. (WHICH IS DIFFERENT than it being a low priority)

From what I've perceived of their notes and comments, chat channels could be out 3-6 months after release in a content patch. The expansion looks to be scheduled about 1 year after WoL. Obviously, it's all subject to change.

Also, I know you don't post much around here, but try to alleviate your tone as well. Mature conversations that don't involve words like "retarded" will get respected a bit more.

@SinsWage:

By your statement, anything that involves content patches are not complete games. By your statement, every MMO is never complete, many episodic games are never complete, and any time a game comes out with additional content, the original wasn't a complete game.

What I'm trying to say is that the game will be released with features and have additional features added over time. The reason many of these features aren't in is due to planning and evaluation, not man hours. The best way I can agree with you is to say that this beta isn't "complete" but in actuality, it's a "Multiplayer beta" so in a sense it's complete in that perception.

[Jabber Wookie]

O please dont act all high and mighty . No Chat at launch is retarded. If they can program achievments into b.net im sure chat channels would take 1/5 the effort. Using chat channels as a selling point for an expansion makes me think twice about what blizzard has become.

Regardless of certain features I'd love to see upon release of this game, I have to say the devotion and time put into this game only proves it's worth the measly $50-$60 it cost to buy it (I'm not implying everyone has an extra $50 to spend all of the time, but if you have a computer capable of playing this game, I'm sure you can afford it).

They're not even freaking charging for Battle.net. Do you know how many crappy games that take 3-6 months to make cost $50-$60 and don't provide an online multiplayer capability?

Seriously, I dislike some of Blizzard's choices regarding SC2 on occasion, but I will never accuse them of being money-hungry corporate junkies. They seriously dedicate themselves to each game they make, which is shown through the small number of games they have made, yet one of the biggest fan-bases in the world.

[Aldrius]

Using chat channels as a selling point for an expansion makes me think twice about what blizzard has become.

It wouldn't be a 'selling point' for chat channels. It'd be something that was put into the game around the same time as the expansion coming out. They'd just bundle it into their work with their expansion.

Look at WoW, there's a TON of stuff that was included 'in the expansion' but it's available in Vanilla WoW, you don't need to buy the expansion that's release coincided with it to use the feature.

Just accept the fact that this is NOT a complete game. What it IS is the first 1/3 of a $180 game. By the end of 2012 right before the end of the world Starcraft II will be nearly complete. At that point we'll be able to clearly see how the game turned out. Until then consider it an extremely long beta you're paying to play.

Huh? So the fact that they continue to improve the game even after it's release makes the original product simply an incomplete beta? That doesn't even make any sense. The only difference this time is they've PLANNED it. They know HOW they're going to improve it, and they took that opportunity to make the single-player campaigns incredibly focused, extensively designed endeavors.

So instead of just releasing the game, and going "We'll probably make an expansion." They're going "We're definitely making two expansions."

[SinsWage]

I think my post was badly phrased and misunderstood. All I meant is by blizzards own admission many of the features they want in the game will not be included for some time. This implies they know the game is not complete in the fullest sense of the word, but rather than take 2 more years including all of this they will give the community a portion of what they want included. Perhaps 2/5 is a more appropriate fraction, with content updates and the expansions comprising the other 3/5. I am in no way upset by this, I'd much rather have that portion now and enjoy it than wait. I was just trying to express to those concerned that eventually all the community options will be included.

[Gifted]

Thanks for reclarifying Sinwage, much appreciated.