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Starcraft 2: No Lan Support

_J__J_ PedantRegistered User, __BANNED USERS regular
edited February 2010 in Games and Technology
It was recently confirmed that Starcraft 2 will not support LAN multiplayer.
Blizzard just recently confirmed that there will be no LAN (local area networking) game mode in StarCraft 2. This was confirmed in a interview with Rob Pardo, senior VP of game design at Blizzard Entertainment. Rob Pardo stated:

“we don’t have any plans to support LAN,” he said and clarified “we will not support it.” The only multiplayer available will be on Battle.net.

This seems like an inexplicably silly decision on Blizzard's part. I still plan LAN games with my friends on occasion. Granted, one can simply connect everyone to a switch and hook that into one's broadband connection to play multiplayer. But it seems needlessly controlling on Blizzard's part to remove the option of playing over a local network.

Thoughts?

_J_ on
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Posts

  • SuMa.LustreSuMa.Lustre Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Wait what

    that's so ridiculous

    blizzard wtf are you doing

    SuMa.Lustre on
  • Dr.TongueDr.Tongue Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

    Dr.Tongue on
  • RandomEngyRandomEngy Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    If the new Battle.net stuff makes it super easy to create private games with your friends I don't see this limitation as being too onerous. I mean playing SC2 probably isn't going to take that much bandwidth per player.

    RandomEngy on
    Profile -> Signature Settings -> Hide signatures always. Then you don't have to read this worthless text anymore.
  • _J__J_ Pedant Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2009
    Dr.Tongue wrote: »
    Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

    And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

    _J_ on
  • 4rch3nemy4rch3nemy Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    It's to stop ze pirates from creating VPN's (over hamachi or other virtual lan apps) and playing all the SC2 they want against eachother. No option for LAN play? No multiplaying pirates.

    Not as many people would have played over LAN anyways, no big deal.

    How did all the korean progamers play against eachother, though? I figured they played through LAN in televized games, as to keep the latency down. I hope B.Net has it's shit thoroughly together so that progames won't have hiccups or spikes that have potential to ruin games.

    4rch3nemy on
  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    _J_ wrote: »
    Dr.Tongue wrote: »
    Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

    And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

    Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.

    I wonder how many more people are going to pirate the game without losing any sleep because of this kind of thing.

    TL DR on
  • NeolightNeolight Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.


    interseting point, god damn you WoW!

    Neolight on
  • 4rch3nemy4rch3nemy Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    _J_ wrote: »
    Dr.Tongue wrote: »
    Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

    And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

    Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.

    I wonder how many more people are going to pirate the game without losing any sleep because of this kind of thing.

    Pirate it and "enjoy" your single player and single player skirmish!

    Not many people will, though (or at the least, a lot less people will).

    This change has necessitated the purchase of the game to play online and enjoy the competitive multiplayer.

    4rch3nemy on
  • FireflashFireflash Montreal, QCRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Ugh that sucks! How are we gonna play this at work during lunch break? We can't connect to game servers from our network.

    Fireflash on
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  • SuMa.LustreSuMa.Lustre Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    what will tournaments do for lag-free environments?

    SuMa.Lustre on
  • CamuiCamui Sogekidan Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
  • TL DRTL DR Not at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    4rch3nemy wrote: »
    _J_ wrote: »
    Dr.Tongue wrote: »
    Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

    And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

    Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.

    I wonder how many more people are going to pirate the game without losing any sleep because of this kind of thing.

    Pirate it and "enjoy" your single player and single player skirmish!

    Not many people will, though (or at the least, a lot less people will).

    This change has necessitated the purchase of the game to play online and enjoy the competitive multiplayer.

    Players have two options.
    1. Buy the game. Patches and support, and you can play on B-net.
    2. Pirate the game. Have to wait for patches to leak, and no B-net. But you can bet someone will have LAN capability cracked within a week of release.

    I imagine a lot of people will end up doing both.

    TL DR on
  • StreltsyStreltsy Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    To be fair, judgment about this should be reserved until information on the new B.Net 2.0 is released.

    Either a LAN feature will be included once you connect to B.Net for authentication (like steam) or net-code is so good latency doesn't matter anymore, or there is some other replacement feature. It would be really dumb releasing SC2 without some form of LAN considering it's supposed to replace an entire industry built around it's predecessor in South Korea and spark new development in the west.

    The going theory is that this is to prevent piracy, but I don't really understand how that would help all that much considering that the largest percentage of pirates will be those who will play single-player. Again, it should be interesting to get info on the new Battle Net.

    Streltsy on
    410239-1.png
  • MoioinkMoioink Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    Moioink on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I think this helps curb piracy just a tad maybe. The big draw of their games is online play, and now with the new b.net system in place AND making it the only way you can play multiplayer... I dunno how many thieves want to go as far as coding in some shit in a game.

    This hurts LAN parties man.

    Henroid on
  • CamuiCamui Sogekidan Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

    :winky:

    Camui on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    They host tournaments on battle.net for WC3. And they bring up tournament servers for WoW. So I'm pretty sure they're prepared to handle it on B.Net 2.0.

    Henroid on
  • Darkchampion3dDarkchampion3d Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Streltsy wrote: »
    To be fair, judgment about this should be reserved until information on the new B.Net 2.0 is released.

    Either a LAN feature will be included once you connect to B.Net for authentication (like steam) or net-code is so good latency doesn't matter anymore, or there is some other replacement feature. It would be really dumb releasing SC2 without some form of LAN considering it's supposed to replace an entire industry built around it's predecessor in South Korea and spark new development in the west.

    The going theory is that this is to prevent piracy, but I don't really understand how that would help all that much considering that the largest percentage of pirates will be those who will play single-player. Again, it should be interesting to get info on the new Battle Net.

    Even if this were true, which is unlikely, it's still dumb.

    And pirates will crack it anyways. Blizzard is just being stupid.

    Darkchampion3d on
    Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    *Cough* virtual LAN services such as Hamachi *cough*

    Zombiemambo on
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  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I'll reserve final judgement until I see how it actually works, but between this and the splitting of SC into three separate single player games, I'm seeing no incentive to buy this. Some of my fondest gaming memories revolve around LAN Starcraft; I don't want to have to connect to the internet just to play with the guy sitting next to me.

    And what happens when Battle.net goes down? You can't play multi? Bet that would piss the Koreans right off to have a server go down in Irving and have to cancel a live televised SC Match. :P

    Houn on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    *Cough* virtual LAN services such as Hamachi *cough*

    Don't those operate via LAN functionality built into the game though?

    Henroid on
  • MoioinkMoioink Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Camui wrote: »
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

    :winky:

    My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

    Moioink on
  • Darkchampion3dDarkchampion3d Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    Camui wrote: »
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

    :winky:

    My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

    As long as the other 2 are billed as expansions with the appropriate price tag reduction like Brood Wars.

    Doesn't particularly matter though, as I have been less and less impressed with Blizzards offerings/money grabbing of late. I'll wait until you suckers buy it and convince me it's awesome before I even consider buying it.

    Darkchampion3d on
    Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson
  • _J__J_ Pedant Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2009
    Camui wrote: »

    You didn't want to start a new thread to talk about it.

    This is where you and I differ.

    _J_ on
  • TarranonTarranon Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    *Cough* virtual LAN services such as Hamachi *cough*

    There are so many ways to curb stuff like Hamachi without actually banning LAN play. For example, in Dawn of War II, LAN games with a ping rating above what should be expected for an actual local connection don't appear.

    And yeah, you can crack that, but it requires downloading a patch and physically changing your registry information. And every new patch invalidates the crack.

    Is it a perfect solution? No, nothing ever is and there will be ways around it. But it is such a hassle that most people, I don't think, would bother. Meanwhile, it lets people who actually want to do actual LAN games , you know, get to it without hassle.

    Tarranon on
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    On the black screen
  • 4rch3nemy4rch3nemy Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    Camui wrote: »
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

    :winky:

    My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

    As long as the other 2 are billed as expansions with the appropriate price tag reduction like Brood Wars.

    Doesn't particularly matter though, as I have been less and less impressed with Blizzards offerings/money grabbing of late. I'll wait until you suckers buy it and convince me it's awesome before I even consider buying it.


    You doubt that it's going to be awesome? THERE IS NO PLACE FOR YOU IN THIS WORLD!

    Seriously, this game is going to be awesome, no matter if you can play LAN without being plugged into the internets for authentication or not.

    4rch3nemy on
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    Camui wrote: »
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

    :winky:

    My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

    I'd much rather have 10 missions for each race, then two expansion packs with an additional 10 per race each.

    Actually, I'd rather have one fucking game with one fucking storyline, regardless of what it takes to complete it. Splitting it up into three is such a totally transparent money grab that it sickens me. WoW has destroyed the Blizzard that was, and all that remains is a company who's primary focus is finding the best ways to squeeze every last fucking drop of cash out of every customer they can. Just watch. Each SC "Episode" will end with a cliffhanger, and your mandatory b.net multiplayer will assault you with ads.

    Houn on
  • TarranonTarranon Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

    So evil?

    Tarranon on
    You could be anywhere
    On the black screen
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I imagine despite all this bullshit, people are gonna eat the game up and fucking love the shit out of it for at least a year, and then for like 3 months after the next expansion and the next.

    Henroid on
  • Bruce ForsythBruce Forsyth Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I remember when Blizzard used to cuddle afterwards. Now they just roll over and fall asleep. *sniff*

    Bruce Forsyth on
  • StreltsyStreltsy Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    Camui wrote: »
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

    If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

    :winky:

    My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

    I always *facepalm* at the surprising amounts of stupid generated in PA threads about anything Blizzard related; It's one game with two expansions packs. Not that this is what the thread is even about.

    -

    Again, this really isn't worth a thread until info on the new Battle Net is released so we can have some solid answers.

    Streltsy on
    410239-1.png
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Tarranon wrote: »
    As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

    So evil?

    The company's behavior is out of the norm from what people expect. And that behavior is that of a company that wants to make money, which is what all companies want to do in the long run. It's like when musicians 'sellout.' It's a job man, people do it to make a living. Shock and horror, the reality of the world. It has spilled into our pure slice of the gaming industry.

    The behavior isn't "evil," it's just different.

    Henroid on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Okay, I feel I am entering into dangerous waters here, but what is up with this "game in three parts" thing I keep hearing?

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • CamuiCamui Sogekidan Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Tarranon wrote: »
    As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

    So evil?

    I wouldn't say the content they made for wow was "Free". If it was we wouldn't be having to p2p. All that free content equals to is for us not to just play for 3-4 months, get bored and wait 1 year later till they release an expansion.

    Don't get me wrong. I love blizzard and what they do, it's just their act lately is getting sad.

    Camui on
  • PancakePancake Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Axen wrote: »
    Okay, I feel I am entering into dangerous waters here, but what is up with this "game in three parts" thing I keep hearing?

    The first release of the game will be just a terran campaign. The zerg and protoss campaigns are coming as separate full price games.

    Pancake on
    wAgWt.jpg
  • TarranonTarranon Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Camui wrote: »
    Tarranon wrote: »
    As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

    So evil?

    I wouldn't say the content they made for wow was "Free". If it was we wouldn't be having to p2p. All that free content equals to is for us not to just play for 3-4 months, get bored and wait 1 year later till they release an expansion.

    Don't get me wrong. I love blizzard and what they do, it's just their act lately is getting sad.

    I guess as long as what they're releasing is quality, I don't see what the problem is.

    Tarranon on
    You could be anywhere
    On the black screen
  • SqSq Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Moioink wrote: »
    All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

    Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.
    This.

    You can still have private or LAN games, you'll just have to authenticate first. It's a measure to prevent people from buying one copy and installing it on 8 machines for a LAN party and/or pirating additional copies for LAN-over-hamachi play.

    Regarding the 3 separate single player releases, if each campaign is as long and as fully developed as they claim, then maybe it won't be so bad. Also you can always wait and buy the gold/battlechest edition if it turns out that buying three individual SC2 games is not a good value.

    Sq on
  • EvangirEvangir Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I'll wait for release to see how they handle this. The ~0 latency of LAN games is so important to pro-gamers for micromanaging units, and considering Blizzard is 100% designing this as a competitive (or e-sport... though I hate the term ever so much) game, I imagine they know what they're doing. Sounds like a nothing issue to me.

    And seriously, I'll never understand the Blizzard hate. They've never released a bad game. They've never released a rushed game. A 30 mission Terran campaign with two 30 mission expansions is not a money grab. You'll be getting more than your $60 out of each one, given how amazing the online experience is going to be. Unless they decide to charge $200 apiece and require each expansion to continue playing online, you're wrong.

    Evangir on
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  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Pancake wrote: »
    Axen wrote: »
    Okay, I feel I am entering into dangerous waters here, but what is up with this "game in three parts" thing I keep hearing?

    The first release of the game will be just a terran campaign. The zerg and protoss campaigns are coming as separate full price games.

    Mind you, the Terran campaign is longer than Starcraft + Broodwar's campaigns combined, and the Zerg and Protoss SC2 stories are to be just as long. So content wise, we're getting a lot.

    And content takes time and effort to make.

    Typically companies pay people to do that work.

    And companies pay for that through people buying their products.

    I guess we can all be judge and jury when we have the content in our hands though right?

    Henroid on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Pancake wrote: »
    Axen wrote: »
    Okay, I feel I am entering into dangerous waters here, but what is up with this "game in three parts" thing I keep hearing?

    The first release of the game will be just a terran campaign. The zerg and protoss campaigns are coming as separate full price games.

    Wha-?


    @Henroid

    Ah I see. Will we be able to play as Zerg or Protoss online and in Skirmishes though?

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
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