Blizzard keeps mentioning that they are putting in a lot of work to take battle.net to the next level, but so far keeping specifics on lockdown. Obviously, there will be a sweet new matchmaking system that will probably work really well matching skill/gametype, but clearly there are going to be radical new features beyond this. I hypothesize a major emphasis on user generated content. Just as this has shaped web 2.0, I think it will be huge for blizzard and gaming from here on out. Of course, they have had editors before, and we have seen amazing things come out of those (DotA most notably.) And we know they are including an amazing editor with SC2. But I think there will be a slick new interface, that make sure the best mods rise to the top via rating systems and whatnot. I also bet they will have a rewards system, were players earn points for any number of things from winning games/tournaments to creating popular mods. What these points will be used for, I am not sure, possibly new content for free or special bandwidth privileges or free access to battle.net if they end up charging for it (im guessing they will keep basic matchmaking free, but other things you might have to pay for.) Maybe it will even be possible for modders to profit monetarily off their work, not unlike iphone app store. Besides the emphasis on user generated content, I bet there will be massive, epic, daily/weekly/monthly bracket tournaments, with the ability to watch games being played out by the best of the best live. I think reputation will be huge. Basically I am saying that battle.net will move beyond a matchmaking system of a single game to an entire entertainment platform that will be a major selling point by itself. What do you guys think it will be like? (sorry if this has been discussed before or if my idea is old) Finally, since I am convinced they are building this platform to encourage user content, I really hope D3 will have an editor as well, as people would end up donating 100s of hours free to blizzard, creating amazing new dungeons to the point one will always be able to embark on a new adventure every day. God, I really think blizzard and the digital age is going to consume our lives.
No, i hope not, while microsoft's xbox live is enjoyable i do not want to see a system like that on battle net. SInce Blizzard has already split SC2 into 3 seperate game basically, i don't want to keep paying for something that should be free.
You're looking at one small facet of what the OP is talking about. The ideas he's presenting are well beyond in scope than "pay for play"... please, try to think about the POSSIBILITIES, not the negativities. I'm sure Blizzard has ideas in mind very in step with what OP has posted, and the prospect is exhilirating!
@gforce, i couldnt find any pay to play suggestions some of your ideas are great, i really like the concept focusing more on user-generated content, which in W3 was way more fun to casual players
I think one of the problems with the wc3 ladder is that top players and beginners were mixed together, so sometimes they would be paired in one had a run of good luck and the other a run of bad luck, and much to each other's annoyance. So what about different skill brackets for ladder games? So you could have a pro-gamers bracket, in which you'll only play against other pro-gamers, then the main ladder where most people will play in, and a ladder for not-so-good players. Each player could choose (or earn a right) to play whichever ladder, and you could tie their user accounts (or cd keys) to that ladder. So it would be something like league divisions.
That ladder problem you mentioned was because of the lack of people playing melee. This will be remedied in StarCraft 2.
Not necessarily. I think it was more to do with the "estimated player level". If a noob happens to win their first 3 or 4 games, the game system will estimate them to be a good player, and will start pairing them with good players, which just wastes players' time as 10 minutes later you'll discover they haven't even built their barracks, but they do have a very straight wall of 20 supply depots. Similarly, with each new ladder season, you don't want all skills mixed up together, because you just get a lot of imbalanced games happening in the first 3 weeks.
Did you play the game the first couple of months that it came out? It was completely different then. In order for what you say to be true then they would've had to have purposefully changed it.
They did change it. Because when good players registered new accounts, they complained that they were playing all the noobs until they levelled into the 20s, which is literally 50 winning games or more. So they changed it, and created the concept of the "estimated player level", which follows your winning streaks and losing streaks and uses that to modify the actual level your account is at, in order to select more balanced opponents. But it comes with load of it's own problems as I said: Lucky noobs getting matched with pro-gamers.
Where did Blizzard confirm this? Also, I've made a few accounts where I hadn't played in a long time and I lost the first two or three games but I still got paired with level 20+.
http://classic.battle.net/war3/files/amm.shtml It isn't that drastic a modifier for established accounts, maybe if you have a run of 10 wins or so.. It's more apparent with new players who are at level1. But I heard these details I wrote from friends. Various people in my clan have 5000+ ladder games behind them, and I guess people like that in the community have just gotten a feel for how the system works.
