Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 Will Not Have LAN Support

[Malcador]

Meh, I can wait. Will have SupCom 2 and probably other, better RTS's until then. Maybe the storyline will be interesting, and there'll be a workaround for that "always online" stuff- yeah SP achievements you can share with your friends!

[Purkake]

According to Blizzard Starcraft 2 will have always connected feature for singleplayer... wheter it will be mandatory (same **** like ubisoft's ****) or voluntarily, is yet to be seen...

 

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/misc/battlenet.xml

Who cares?

 

It's Blizzard.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Blizzard said about a year ago that they were in the "final stretch" before the beta of SC2.

 

I like their games, I really do, but Blizzard is ridiculously slow.

[Killian Kalthorne]

South Korea has incredible broadband penetration.

 

Ew.

[RPGmasterBoo]

South Korea has incredible broadband penetration.

 

Ew.

 

The Zerg must have something to do with it.

[MacMichael]

According to Blizzard Starcraft 2 will have always connected feature for singleplayer... wheter it will be mandatory (same **** like ubisoft's ****) or voluntarily, is yet to be seen...

 

http://www.starcraft2.com/features/misc/battlenet.xml

 

Battle.net and StarCraft II are designed to be seamlessly connected. That means even if you're playing solo you will still view the latest news, receive game and content updates, and be able to see your friends' status and chat with them. But this new interconnectivity between the game and the service goes even deeper than that. Now, each player will create a StarCraft II Battle.net character. This character serves as your single persistent identity across the service. Everything you do in the game -- win/loss record, achievements, unlockable rewards, friends list, and more -- will be saved to your character profile for you and your friends to see. Even your save game progress in the campaign can be synched to Battle.net. Say you upgrade your computer and re-install the game; once you connect to Battle.net, you can continue the campaign right where you left off. This is especially useful if you play on more than one computer, because all your data will be carried over for you via Battle.net.

 

* Every player will create a battle.net character.

* Everything you do in game will be saved to your character profile

* campaign progress synced to battle.net, pick up where you left off on any computer

 

I see no reason to doubt it's any different than Ubi's system. It's main points are the same. It seems like a natural next step for DRM. Move away from the third party software running on customer's computers, that the people that complain about DRM like to complain about (SecurROM, etc.), to an always online solution that a large segment of the gaming population has already become accustomed to, in the form of MMOs and developer hosted multiplayer servers like battle.net. I'm still not sure how I feel towards the move. I have a stable broadband connection, but there's still something uncomfortable for me with this move. Also makes me wonder how the economics of it works out when they consider the lost sales to people in areas that don't have the sort of connection that would make this sort of mandatory service possible, assuming that Blizzard is making it mandatory.

[Calax]

btw:

http://kotaku.com/5469024/starcraft-ii-clo...ches-this-month

[Tigranes]

I see no reason to doubt it's any different than Ubi's system.

 

Main point is that there is a reason for Blizzard / battlenet to do this - Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft are all about multiplayer. If you read the kotaku article there's going to be a lot of ways in which that persistent connectivity is used to improve gameplay.

 

I also don't see anything that says you HAVE to be online all the time while you play?

[Mamoulian War]

I see no reason to doubt it's any different than Ubi's system.

 

Main point is that there is a reason for Blizzard / battlenet to do this - Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft are all about multiplayer. If you read the kotaku article there's going to be a lot of ways in which that persistent connectivity is used to improve gameplay.

 

I also don't see anything that says you HAVE to be online all the time while you play?

 

I do not mind at all the all-time online system for multiplayer match-making, but last thing i want when playing singleplayer games, is someone from my WoW friends trying to persuade me to resubscribe... When i do Single Player Gaming, i do always disconnect from net to be sure no one disturbs me with Skype ICQ or any other similar ****... sometimes I even turn off my cell phone to not get disturbed... Offline mode for SC2 Single Player is a must for me... so i most likely wait until someone release some workaround, or even wait for BattleChest to be sure to not pay more money that this system deserves... i waited for SC2 10 years, i can wait 2 more...

[Blarghagh]

Starcraft 2 delayed until 2010.

 

Blizzard strikes again!

 

Sorry, but this strikes me as really unfair. Blizzard didn't set a release date. Blizzard never sets release dates. Occasionally they will give a rough estimate of their current target always with the disclaimer that it's subject to change added to it, and when they don't make that, people make a fuss and say it was delayed again. It wasn't. It didn't meet an in-house target, but it wasn't delayed because it was never set to be released. This is just people who took an estimate far too seriously and have an enormous sense of self-entitlement.

I was obviously being sarcastic, I don't have any illusions about Blizzard ever releasing games on time and I don't fault them for that.

Fair enough. I had actually recognized it as sarcasm, but I thought it to be the more bitter, biting type. Apologies then!

[Humodour]

I see no reason to doubt it's any different than Ubi's system.

 

What about the fact that Blizzard has never mentioned it anywhere?

[MacMichael]

I see no reason to doubt it's any different than Ubi's system.

 

What about the fact that Blizzard has never mentioned it anywhere?

 

Are you suggesting I'm being too cynical? My cynicism keeps me warm at night, would you really take that away from me?

[Tigranes]

I do not mind at all the all-time online system for multiplayer match-making, but last thing i want when playing singleplayer games, is someone from my WoW friends trying to persuade me to resubscribe... When i do Single Player Gaming, i do always disconnect from net to be sure no one disturbs me with Skype ICQ or any other similar ****... sometimes I even turn off my cell phone to not get disturbed... Offline mode for SC2 Single Player is a must for me... so i most likely wait until someone release some workaround, or even wait for BattleChest to be sure to not pay more money that this system deserves... i waited for SC2 10 years, i can wait 2 more...

 

Um... I'm sure you will have an "Away" or "Appear Offline" function?

[Mamoulian War]

I do not mind at all the all-time online system for multiplayer match-making, but last thing i want when playing singleplayer games, is someone from my WoW friends trying to persuade me to resubscribe... When i do Single Player Gaming, i do always disconnect from net to be sure no one disturbs me with Skype ICQ or any other similar ****... sometimes I even turn off my cell phone to not get disturbed... Offline mode for SC2 Single Player is a must for me... so i most likely wait until someone release some workaround, or even wait for BattleChest to be sure to not pay more money that this system deserves... i waited for SC2 10 years, i can wait 2 more...

 

Um... I'm sure you will have an "Away" or "Appear Offline" function?

 

I realy hope so, anything different is BAD!!!

[Morgoth]

So, anybody got a SC2 Beta key?

 

I didn't get one yet (dammit).

 

Listening to the Zerg soundtrack on youtube right now.

[Deraldin]

So, anybody got a SC2 Beta key?

 

I didn't get one yet (dammit).

 

Listening to the Zerg soundtrack on youtube right now.

 

No beta access here either.

 

Also checked out part of the soundtrack. Terran 1-5, Zerg 1-6 and Protoss 1. Only song I liked was Terran 1.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Deraldin

[RPGmasterBoo]

I didn't get one either. Damn.

[Morgoth]

So, anybody got a SC2 Beta key?

 

I didn't get one yet (dammit).

 

Listening to the Zerg soundtrack on youtube right now.

 

No beta access here either.

 

Also checked out part of the soundtrack. Terran 1-5, Zerg 1-6 and Protoss 1. Only song I liked was Terran 1.

Have they upped the Terran and Protoss music already? I only found the Zerg ones.

[yay230]

I got in the beta, haven't played much yet though.

[RPGmasterBoo]

I watched an hour and a half report on the beta at gamespot.

 

My major gripe were the cartoony graphics as well as units looking somewhat crappy. However looking at the gameplay, static pictures don't do the units and buildings justice. There's a lot of animations, practically everything on the screen moves around and overall the game looks pretty good. The zerg look a bit crappy but thats to be expected with the asymmetrical buildings and organic design.

[Deraldin]

Have they upped the Terran and Protoss music already? I only found the Zerg ones.

 

It wasn't on youtube when I checked, but someone sent me a rar. It didn't have all the songs in it though.

[Morgoth]

Ok, it's up on youtube already.

 

Well, I've mixed feelings about the terran soundtracks. Most of them sound a bit too much of country, I mean I understand Blizzard thinks of their marines as space cowboys/rednecks, but geez, they've overdone it.

[Morgoth]

Know what?

 

Even if I get a beta key, I won't use it! I must resist the urge to spoil all the fun, getting all the units known already. Better wait when the full version comes out and playing it slowly and prudently, the way it deserves to be played!

[yay230]

The beta is pretty fun and while it's quite obviously too early to tell how good the game will be I can say this is most fun I've had playing an RTS since, well, Brood War.

[Magister Lajciak]

Interestingly enough, the petition for Starcraft 2 to have LAN is nearing 250,000 signatures: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?LANSC2

 

Although it may not make much difference, that is still pretty amazing.

 

Anyway, if Starcraft 2 does not have an offline multiplayer mode, I will evaluate it as a single-player game only lacking any multiplayer functionality for the purposes of my purchasing decision and the same applies to Diablo 3. Unless, of course, there is a way to bypass the need for online presence to play multiplayer, perhaps through the setting up of virtual servers through LAN - I guess will have to educate myself on that as I am not sure how that works.