(Blizz responding to people saying that Phase 2 is going to blow us all away)
Woah, well, in attempts to manage some expectations: Most of the work right now is on ensuring we have as solid and stable a release as possible.
What you saw in phase one (with the exception of character codes and some minor balance tweaks) is what you'll see in phase two, and release. A lot of the larger feature integration and refinement plans that we've been discussing recently are planned for post-launch.
What you saw in phase one (with the exception of character codes and some minor balance tweaks) is what you'll see in phase two, and release. A lot of the larger feature integration and refinement plans that we've been discussing recently are planned for post-launch.
Q u o t e:
We have been monitoring the feedback around the map publishing features and the custom game functionality and we are aware of the need for improvement, especially for finding custom games and promoting your maps. The most pressing issues are going to be addressed by launch or in the first patch after release. Things like the abandoned lobby issue for example will be one of the issues that are going to be solved for launch.
We really appreciate all the great feedback we have recieved from you over the past weeks and months, which helped us find issues and think of ways to improve the system. The custom game and map publishing features will keep evolving to include more and better ways of searching, sorting, to include more testing options and a better UI.
We have been monitoring the feedback around the map publishing features and the custom game functionality and we are aware of the need for improvement, especially for finding custom games and promoting your maps. The most pressing issues are going to be addressed by launch or in the first patch after release. Things like the abandoned lobby issue for example will be one of the issues that are going to be solved for launch.
We really appreciate all the great feedback we have recieved from you over the past weeks and months, which helped us find issues and think of ways to improve the system. The custom game and map publishing features will keep evolving to include more and better ways of searching, sorting, to include more testing options and a better UI.
Blizz responding to people saying Blizzard has abandoned their "When it's done" policy:
It always depends on your point of view in the matter. We believe that StarCraft 2 is ready to be shipped. The game is really amazing, loads of fun - all Singleplayer fans are in for a great treat and the cinematics we have in the game are really breathtaking, we are positive that all multiplayer competitive players will find plenty of tournaments to compete in and a skill-based game where they can prove themselves, players who just want to have a bit of fun with their friends can also find their corner with 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 or custom fun maps.
The main complaint we see quite often on the forums these days is about how you are missing certain features on Battle.net. We have a very long list of things that we want to integrate for Battle.net over the next few years ourselves, but we also believe, that the game is ready to ship. We have all the core functionality in the game that we were aiming for. Functionality that players need to enjoy StarCraft II. It was important for us to give players the opportunity to jump into a match quickly, we wanted them to be able to join up in a group with their friends and be able to talk to their friends in the game. We wanted custom games to be possible. We wanted to give the more casual players incentives and also some guidance through the achievement system. The focus for release of StarCraft II concerning Battle.net was really having the base infrastructure to build upon in the years to come. Players can easily find a game against another player of their skill level.
Saying that we are planning to add new features in patches to come, does not in any way mean that we aren't ready - this just means that we won't stop developing Battle.net and improving the service with new features after we released the game.
None of this surprises me. I think this is all expected, and information that many people seem to forget. Battle.net needs to be functional for release. After that, they can and will begin to add on new features and fancy bells and whistles.