Forced to Battle.net: My thoughts (long read)

[ELBA]

Few things here.
Anyone remember AC (Asheron's Call) and when MS made us all join MS passport? Ya no fun . We had to go though their site to get to "our" game every time we logged in. If our servers (our game) was down we couldn't play. Then on top of that if MS Passport was down we couldn't play.

I watched the Blizzcon. Live stream. The talk about the B.net. was ok but I am still leary. Smurfing was going to die because of the new set up. You would get a "real ID" and it is set to your CD key of your product. (Note all of your purchased blizzard products, WOW, Stafcraft II , Diablo III) So to make an other B.net account you would have to buy the game and get an other CD-key. So making new accounts over and over to smash the noobs (smuffing) will die. Sounds great right?

Other thing I remember (Blizzcon stream) was a graph. B.net now has 12 mil. Subs. And wow has 11.5 mil. subs. So when they are combined it would be 20+million subscribers

They told us all these good things about the new B.net. The AIM type chat. Friends list that span all servers all games. Having a "facebook" style approach to setting up friends.

Some people just play wow and didn't even know anyting about the B.net. They just play wow they don't care about B.net. However now that they're forced to, they will. The first thing they'll ask is why? They'll tell you all the good things they did at Blizzcon. But I feel that they're selling it. That there is a side they're not telling us. The new B.net that was talked about at Blizzcon. is coming with Staftcraft II. Which we know is not coming out this year.

I also feel that they are doing what they can to "trick us" into getting B.net now. The "Authentication Issues" that prevented us from getting in game were only for those of us with out a B.net account. A one time deal a while back I know, but it was a red flag for me.

The Mountain Dew Game Fuel "Choose Your Side" promotion. The in-game pet was cool. I wanted the pet. But didn't when I found out I had to join B.net fist before I could do anything regarding the pet or promotion. No pet for me. (The promotion ended August 20.)

Big brother is watching. Everything in and on B.net could be tracked. (I'd still use vent for communication.) What games you play and own. Who your friends are and what kind of PC they have *cough* non personal system data. What they play and own. How many hours you play / on-line and off line, and what games. (Remember the parental controls in B.net they talked about?)


Blizzcon quote off the live stream para phrased "A wow account is worth more on the black market than a credit card" I was shocked. How about you?

Ending of account sharing and hacking? Why not just ship a Blizzard Authenticator with every box? Will a keylogger / hacker be able to log in on a B.net / wow account that dosen't have a Blizzard Authenticator linked to it? Now maybe yes. After theses changes I hope not. Example after the change; wouldn't the hackers copy of wow have a CD key that wouldn't match with the victims account info. at log in? (Say future games come with that function when you install the game you set up account/ cd key/ B.net/ real ID) Meaning the hacker would have to hack you game/PC and get your CD-key AND log your keystrokes. So keylogger + virus to get that CD-key info? Then hack the wow install on his PC to change the CD-key to the victims? The hacker would need more than just a keylogger for sure.

Back in time goto December 4, 2008 source Company: Massive. Massive= Microsoft. Microsoft = X-box. Two things here: One the ads. "multi-year advertising deal that will span throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea and Australia." Ring a bell? All wow countries? On Battle.net-" but expect traffic to ramp up in a big way with the release of StarCraft II and Diablo III." Ya duh. We'll "ramp it up" about 11.5 million, because all wow players will be forced to join. That 20+million. Subs. number I mentioned earlier, how's that for a pool of gamers to advertise to? Then second thing. Which was touched on many times at Blizzcon and which was never answered- Blizzard games and console games Will Blizzard create console games? "Blizzard COO Paul Sams mentioned at BlizzCon that they haven't yet ruled out Diablo 3 for consoles." That's just one game I know, but it's a very big game. I'm sure every gamer will buy Diablo 3 sooner or later. If it goes console, I'd bet other games will follow.

Pay for Battle.Net and World of Warcraft?
Source "Is Battle.Net going to remain free?"His (Blizzard's Jay Wilson) response probably wasn't what you'd want to hear. "We are looking to monetize Battle.Net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features," said Wilson. "We kind of have to."

BlizzCon 2009: The new Battle.Net A must read. And anything at www.joystiq.com regarding Blizzard/ Battle.Net/World of Warcraft
"Both free and premium maps are included," and "You'll have to pay for certain maps, and whatever other additional content it wants to add a dollar sign to. The company didn't elaborate much on this, but it's probably the tip of the iceberg."

I do like the hint of replay in wow. "It's unclear if this will extend to other games at this time. How useful would a replay be in WoW? You can record gameplay in WoW on the Mac version, but not on the more popular PC version. Perhaps players will start huddling up like NFL linebackers to study game films in the future."
Imagine the youtube of you winning 5box arena? Or of all those hate tells us boxers get? Save the replay and post it here for a laugh.

I'll close with: I know its coming; I'll join to play wow. I just don't like the whole package deal forced on us. Good and bad we get the whole package.

[Eggy]

Meh, it can't possibly be worse then steam, and that works brilliantly. I dont see a problem with any of it. Even paying for battle.net i'm fine with I dont mind supporting their servers at all.

But I do find it funny that you drag up AC, thats like 11 years ago? Ancient history in these times.

[mmcookies]

The thing with AC and MS was that the only purpose there was to drive traffic to MS Gaming Zone, which was seriously tanking at the time. Turbine got dragged into it via contractual obligations.

Blizzard, on the other hand, seems to have solid plans for Bnet to improve play experience, and to leverage the social aspects of its games. Expect to see a facebook-esque "gamerspace" attached to Real-IDs somewhere down the line. From what information they've put out, I believe the players are in good hands, but as with all things, we'll just have to wait and see.

[Slayde]

I converted all 5 of my wow accounts to battle.net when they first offered it and haven't had any issues with it since. It's nice because when you log into your account management, you can switch between accounts on the fly if you need to check account status, make changes, apply new gamecard time, etc.

[Multibocks]

you know you are coming off real black helicopters and tin foil hat-like. I couldn't give a shit what people monitor of my useage/friends/system/toothpaste/buttwipe. Guess Im just not that private.

[Khatovar]

I agree 100% with Multibocks. You make it sound like Blizzard is using Battlenet as a means of entering our house so they can rape our pets and spy on our bathroom habits. I played AC for years, my cats were not violated and there is no shower scene footage of me out there anywhere. Blizzard is entering a phase where they have more than one game to focus on. Moving to Battlenet allows them to centralize everything they do, much like the Station Pass does for Sony.

I'd comment more, but the further I get into your post, the more it just appears to be random words strung together.

[Souca]

Just wanted to correct one thing. Starcraft 2 is being held up because it is integrating the new Battle.net features. WoW isn't being delayed by Starcraft 2 in any way. It already uses the Battle.net features it needs to. There is no wait for WoW users.

- Souca -

[cybernerv]

battle.net is fine and I agree withe the others that you are a little paranoid.

have to remember that blizz and its parent company are BUSINESSES. their main goal is to make money and that is what they are doing with this. Plus from a business aspect, what would be easier to maintain? accounts that are linked to b.net and not to b.net? or have all players use b.net?

also about the "hackers" and what not, I am sure they will put up some safeguards in.

[heffner]

I didn't like that I was being forced to join either. However, I know if I don't, I won't be able to play. They will always have that power given their disclaimers.

I find it hard to believe so many people don't care about gathering of personal information. Sure, it's not really a big deal and doesn't impact me directly, but it doesn't mean that I should have to do it. Do you give your phone number or zip/postal code to the cashier when they ask?? I never do. Why should I offer free information to someone else so then can make money off of me? It just annoys me. Sure they can claim it's to improve services etc.. Perhaps it will, but I guarantee you they will gain more from it than any of us will.

[Pallarfo]

I think the logic is a bit flawed.
A lot of us already use b.net accounts, with arround 5 wow accounts integrated in it.
So imho you cannot add 10 million b.net accounts with 10 million wow accounts.
You'll be counting the wow accounts twice.
Blizzard already knows howlong you are online playing wow, who your wow-friends are and stuff like that. They don't need B.net for that, a simple wow account is enough.

Regarding the cd-keys, those are not installed on your computer as far as I know, only linked to accounts, not to installs on pcs or macs.
You can login at my wow install with your account.
Only way for a hacker to get your key is you mail it to him, or you have made a note of the key(s) on your pc and they grabbed that file.