starcraft 2 custom maps getting stifled?

Jerry_111

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http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/248295191

What the heck is this?! You can only start a custom map game if its in the top 50 or if you made it yourself? There's going to be nothing but tower defense on the refresh list if that system remains implemented.

Why mess with something that worked in old SC1 bnet?
 
I have no idea why, and I hope that this gets fixed soon enough.
 
That sounds like a pretty retarded system. "Hey guys, with the new Battle.net we should make sure to restrict the way people play their games as much as we possibly can, it's not like the ability to customise games was ever a big thing in our RTSs."
 
Well there are at least two good things about this. I played a ton of custom games in the original and you'd get a lot of people who threw together a gawd awful map in apparently 14 seconds and then there were the people that would tweak a popular map so there were a thousand versions. Seems a crappy way to fight against it.
 
obligatory

155021-bobbykotick.jpg
 
Welp.

Well there are at least two good things about this. I played a ton of custom games in the original and you'd get a lot of people who threw together a gawd awful map in apparently 14 seconds and then there were the people that would tweak a popular map so there were a thousand versions. Seems a crappy way to fight against it.
Except the new system doesn't really prevent either of those things, from what I'm reading. The Top 50 could well be awful, but since it's all people are able to see and play, they may well continue to retain their popularity regardless of quality, and the publishing system makes it not only difficult to promote a single map/mod, but easier to duplicate it and stamp your own name on it.

Anyway, didn't I read somewhere that Blizzard planned to sell user maps on battle.net, and reward the authors with a small commission? Could be outdated information, haven't seen anything about it since launch...
 
I've also been hearing reports of maps being deleted by blizzard (with no warning whatsoever) for no apparent reason among other things.

A summary here.
 
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/248295191

What the heck is this?! You can only start a custom map game if its in the top 50 or if you made it yourself? There's going to be nothing but tower defense on the refresh list if that system remains implemented.

Why mess with something that worked in old SC1 bnet?

"You recently joined someone else’s game who had the map"

So if you made the map, it's one of the top maps, or you downloaded the map.

I was thinking it was kind of weird that there was basically no way for a map to break the top 50, but if it's good and basically "goes viral" so other people host it, then you break in. I mean what's the other choice? Host a map you've never played? The complaints in the article are mostly about the publishing system and they're all legitimate.
 
Or ATVIzzard.


Yea that one was terrible.
When I looked at that graph I was like "holy crap why did the share prices plummet like that" then I realised that there's two different scales on the graph.

Edit: Wow. Seeing as how Activison are supposed to be the biggest games company in the world now, their stock prices suck compared to EA and Nintendo.
 
Apparently someone made a Kotick Tower Defense map and it got censored.

Really, my one reason for buying this game(I LOVE CUSTOM MAPS) went down the drain.

welp.
 
I just bought the game,does this mean I will be forced to play popular maps only or what?
 
I see no reason why they wouldn't patch in some more filter/search options for the browser. My guess is it'll take like a month to do anything about it though.
 
Probably, but you have to ask yourself why, for a game that's been in development for upwards of ten years and has had a lengthy beta, is this kind of basic shit still happening? Having seen some videos of battle.net in action, it does seem like it's a bit more feature-rich than the original Starcraft in some ways, but I don't think there's any real excuse for them to go backwards from the first game in any way unless it benefits the player, and I'm really not seeing that so far.

Not questioning Blizzard's ability to make a great game, SCII is obviously top notch judging by the response here and elsewhere, but I'm having trouble reconciling their recent behavior with other things regarding their online community. I'm still trying to get my head around that real name shit on the forums, actually. It's been temporarily averted at least, sure, but what does it say about their larger business strategy? Between that and things like this, it really seems to me like they're moving towards a more constrained, developer-controlled online environment, like the ones we've seen in other Activision properties like MW2's IWnet. Not exactly the same mind you, but it does bear comparison...
 
It would be cool if Dustin Browder and some other devs quit Blizzard in the coming months and start revealing what really happened with the ActiBlizz merger. On the other hand, they might not want to get slapped with a frivolous lawsuit and lose everything to legal fees.
 
what if battle.net eventually devolves into a mainly, instant matchmaking service like other titles? shudder

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE VALVE
 
what if battle.net eventually devolves into a mainly, instant matchmaking service like other titles? shudder

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE VALVE
Yep, Valve have never made a game with restrictive online matchmaking. ;)
 
I think we are putting too much blame on Blizzard.

Starcraft 2, as polished as it is, is still rushed in my opinion. Although Activision has no influence on Blizzard, they all answer to the same stakeholders. Thus, the greedy ass stakeholders obviously set a must release date for Blizzard, forcing them to take out several features in order to polish the game up.
 
We'll see how things turn out. I don't have that much faith in the company as it stands right now, but if a reversal comes around I won't complain.

Also, badhat, I was really hoping that smiley was also a link to the L4D website :p
 
I was going to just post a screenshot of the matchmaking screen, but it only came up with one game which is kind of depressing. :(
 
I think we are putting too much blame on Blizzard.

Starcraft 2, as polished as it is, is still rushed in my opinion. Although Activision has no influence on Blizzard, they all answer to the same stakeholders. Thus, the greedy ass stakeholders obviously set a must release date for Blizzard, forcing them to take out several features in order to polish the game up.
But it's not like this is a lack of a feature, this is a bad feature. This a system that would have taken some time to deliberately program into the game.
 
But it's not like this is a lack of a feature, this is a bad feature. This a system that would have taken some time to deliberately program into the game.

It does seem intentional. If you take into account the lack of LAN support, regulated and censored custom mapping, real ID, possible fee for custom maps, it seems like they're going to control yooou.
 
I think we are putting too much blame on Blizzard.

Starcraft 2, as polished as it is, is still rushed in my opinion. Although Activision has no influence on Blizzard, they all answer to the same stakeholders. Thus, the greedy ass stakeholders obviously set a must release date for Blizzard, forcing them to take out several features in order to polish the game up.

So in 10 years no one at Blizzard though to themselves, "Uh hey guys wouldn't it make since not to limit peoples choices to the what was most popular.. DER"

Wow blizzard has pretty good stock. I wonder if they give out dividends ;).
 
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