New interview Dont expect Chat for a while

[ArcherofAiur]

pathetic.

Quoted for Truth

They are way ahead of the game here and they know what they're doing.

Which is why Dustin appologized for dissapointing fans?

[Wankey]

A better feature got delayed. He apologizes for the delay. They have much bigger fish to fry than chat systems. Chat systems don't make money.

[ArcherofAiur]

They have much bigger fish to fry than chat systems.

Like facebook mmright?




Also explain how the community feeling connected from launch when esports has its best (and possibly only) chance of taking of in US isnt good for making money?

[Dragoonx]

Like facebook mmright?




Also explain how the community feeling connected from launch when esports has its best (and possibly only) chance of taking of in US isnt good for making money?

Facebook helps get the new users all connected. Chat channels would hardly do jack at launch. I can say right now I would probably never use them if its a copy/paste of traditional chat channels. 90% of them weren't even occupied, everyone hung out in the default gateways.

I'm not saying Facebook is an amazing innovative feature that is critical to the success of Starcraft 2, but Chat channels certainly isn't going to be pushing E-sports in the US. Hell, I don't see E-sports growing in our country for a very very long time.

[ArcherofAiur]

Facebook helps get the new users all connected.

Chat channels would do that too. Instead of battlenet 2.0 feeling like the cold void.


Bnet 2.0 is a continual dissapointment. Even small things typical of Blizzard polish are absent. Who here misses moving portraits like in Warcraft 3?




I know that Blizzard can and should do better. Why? Because theve done better before.

[Gifted]

I know that Blizzard can and should do better. Why? Because theve done better before.

Interesting enough Archer, this quote is exactly the same mentality that Dustin brought up. It's a shame that it's not available at launch, but in the whole scheme of things, 1 year down the line, people will forget about how it wasn't there at release.

Let's look at the decision in the realistic view, what's done is done and can't be undone. They have polish, bugs, and balance to handle at this point. They have two choices:

1. Delay the game launch and implement chat channels at launch
2. Launch the game at the announced date and release chat channels in a content patch.

No matter what argument or belief you have, understand that the choices came down to this option. I don't know about you, but I'd rather wait for a content patch and play the game. If I want to chat, I'll log on Trillian, IRC, come here, stream or click "add friend" when I am done with the game.

Sorry if the tone of this message is a bit harsher than I normally throw out, I want chat channels as much as the next person... but I see more bitching about how it is not available NOW, instead of seeing the big picture that it _IS_ coming.

[ArcherofAiur]

Interesting enough Archer, this quote is exactly the same mentality that Dustin brought up. It's a shame that it's not available at launch, but in the whole scheme of things, 1 year down the line, people will forget about how it wasn't there at release.

Let's look at the decision in the realistic view, what's done is done and can't be undone. They have polish, bugs, and balance to handle at this point. They have two choices:

1. Delay the game launch and implement chat channels at launch
2. Launch the game at the announced date and release chat channels in a content patch.

No matter what argument or belief you have, understand that the choices came down to this option. I don't know about you, but I'd rather wait for a content patch and play the game. If I want to chat, I'll log on Trillian, IRC, come here, stream or click "add friend" when I am done with the game.

Sorry if the tone of this message is a bit harsher than I normally throw out, I want chat channels as much as the next person... but I see more bitching about how it is not available NOW, instead of seeing the big picture that it _IS_ coming.

Your absolutly right. Whats done is done. But the fact of the matter is that Blizzard made a couple of huge mistakes with BNET. Mistakes that should have been fixed long ago. Not at the next expansion. I agree that at this point shipping the thing may be the best option. But that doesnt change the fact that in this case Blizzard DID NOT live up to Blizzards usual high quality.



And that is just sad.



One other (and perhaps equally disturbing) thing is that if this were another past Blizzard project and it was missing such a key feature I cant help but feel Blizzard would delay the game even further. Theve remade engines and scrapped entire games.





Blizzard has prided itself on getting it right and not shipping till they do. That has always been what Blizzard has been about. When its ready. And the cold barren shell of BNET 2.0 is most definatly not ready. Maybe by EA or Activision standards, but not by Blizzard standards.

Ask yourself, would they old Blizzard have shipped Starcraft 1 without chat channels?

[Gifted]

Well, they have delayed it multiple times, moreso than any other game (publically), There's a point where no matter what, another delay is not a viable option. I can see both sides on the matter, but ultimately, outside of their MMO, this is the first game with planned "content patches". This model alone allows them to release the game now and release content later.

If you think about it as a "complete game with only balance patches" then yes, you can say that it's a bad path to go. But ultimately, they've made a design decision to include content patches in this game. This decision allows for them to release the game at an adequate time and refine the options they have instead or rushing them out of the door.

Ultimately, if Blizzard was NOT the quality company that you are referring to, we would have chat channels like SC1, despite the fact they know that it wasn't going to be more than a spam haven. So many other developers would have done so. The decision to delay this feature to a content patch alone supports the fact that they are still the same company... just looking at the picture in a more global perspective than someone who decides to judge the game upon release alone. (Not pointing fingers at you specifically Archer, that was a more general thought)

BTW, regarding your "would SC1 been released without chat channels"... the gaming industry and it's progress was significantly differen 12+ years ago. Chat rooms were the thing back then, AOL was based on the ease and ability to chat. Don't underestimate the fact that we have the ability to communicate via the IM system... it's like finding the smartest kid with down syndrome... but it's still adequate until the content patch is release... whether you like to admit it or not.

[Dragoonx]

I don't think it would be fair to compare Bnet of 1998 to Bnet2.0 development which is planned to encompass all their games at some point in time.

I do agree as far as Blizzard quality goes in the overall scheme of Battle.net 2.0; it's not 100%. As far as the game is concerned? I think that is more than ready to be released. So if they can push the game out now and continue to work on other features down the line, that would be a far better option than to delay the game for Chat channels. I still stand by my point that the silly Facebook implementation will end up doing its job far more efficiently than could be done via chat commands.

[Maxa]

Ultimately, if Blizzard was NOT the quality company that you are referring to, we would have chat channels like SC1, despite the fact they know that it wasn't going to be more than a spam haven.

I never use chat channels myself, but I also don't think that concerns about spam and bots are as big a problem as people make them out to be. Ultimately, if you aren't interested in chat channels, just don't use them. On the other hand, if you want to chat at least conventional channels make that an option--in other words, it can only be a good thing.

I'm all for coming up with something better than SC1 or WC3-style channels, but the argument that releasing SC2 with chat channels would somehow make the game worse strikes me as confused.