Diablo 3 Giveaway
We are currently running a competition on facebook to give away a free copy of Diablo 3. All you need to do is like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ClanB20 and reshare the competition post as public: https://www.facebook.com/ClanB20/posts/330127423722611?ref=notif¬if_t=feed_comment Read More »
Another New Minecraft Member
We have another new Minecraft member. Welcome to anthrax465. We hope you enjoy ClanB20! Read More »
New Minecraft Member
We have a new addition to our Minecraft team: Joe_Abz So welcome to him, we hope you have fun on Minecraft with us. Read More »
Left 4 Dead 2 Server
We now have a public Left 4 Dead 2 server. We can swap between L4D and L4D2 whenever we want so it can accommodate everyone’s needs. It is 8 slot, so can support versus if we decide thats what... Read More »
New BF3 CQ Video
A new BF3 Close Quarters addon video has been released, check it out: Read More »
Minecraft Server
We have added Minecraft to our list of games and have our own server up and running. It is an 8 slot private server, currently there are only 4 of us playing on it so there is room if... Read More »
Additional SC2 Day
An additional SC2 practise day has been added to the calendar, so it now looks like this: Mon: SC2 Tues: SC2 Wed: BF3 There has also been a week blocked out where other practises have been removed for the... Read More »
Diablo 3 Beta for Everyone This Weekend
Blizzard have announced they are allowing everyone access to the Diablo 3 Beta for this weekend only. This will be a kind of “Stress test” of the system before its release: “Diablo® III Open Beta Weekend We’re pleased to... Read More »
Member access and updates
I have updated the members pages to reflect the new members, Clovenhoof, Fridge and KoK1AN. Your pages are currently blank, if you have a look at Ch3m’s member page you can let me know the info you want on... Read More »
SC2 4v4 Team
Thats a bit more like it. Our new 4v4 team is now placed in the gold ladder, so well played to Ch3m, Musser, Orpos and KoK Read More »
BF3 Patch information and impressions.
The huge (1.5GiB) massive awesome patch of patching goodness was released yesterday afternoon, and having spent an evening playing it, I am generally pleased with how it plays now. For the full list of fixes please see this link: http://www.clanb20.co.uk/patch-notes/... Read More »
BF3 patch
Good news, everyone! According to DICE (via Twitter), the new Battlefield 3 patch is currently in certification at Microsoft and Sony, which means the patch is complete and only awaits the go-ahead from the console makers. Of course, the... Read More »Elder Scrolls MMO
Also nothing to do with the clan, but an Elder Scrolls MMO has just been announced, check it out: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ZeniMax-Bethesda-Elder-Scrolls-Online-MMO,news-14481.html Read More »Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced!
Nothing to do with the clan, but check this out: Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II Enhanced Editions Announced The countdown on the BaldursGate.com website has finished, but even after waiting for the massive slowdown to pass by, we’re... Read More »
Member access and updates
I have updated the members pages to reflect the new members, Clovenhoof, Fridge and KoK1AN. Your pages are currently blank, if you have a look at Ch3m’s member page you can let me know the info you want on yours and send me a picture.
I have also edited the other member lists to reflect people who are not playing those games.
Our current game statuses are as follows:
BF3: We have a solid 5 man team and need to recruit 3 more unless Horus and Shadow decide they are suddenly active.
CS:GO: We have our 5 man team ready, just need the game to come out now.
D3: Lots of interest in this game, pretty much everyone will be playing it, so we have more than enough for 2-3 4 man groups.
L4D: Doesn’t matter as its just for fun.
SC2: We now have a good 4 man ladder team, having a second 4 man team would be nice to practise against each other.
I have given all new members the forum access they should have as well.
It would be appreciated if all members can use the events calendar to sign up for events (currently SC2 on Tues and BF3 on Wed). This will allow us to know who is coming and plan the evening better. (This includes all current members who should be setting an example for new members).
Elder Scrolls MMO
Also nothing to do with the clan, but an Elder Scrolls MMO has just been announced, check it out:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ZeniMax-Bethesda-Elder-Scrolls-Online-MMO,news-14481.html
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced!
Nothing to do with the clan, but check this out:
Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II Enhanced Editions Announced
The countdown on the BaldursGate.com website has finished, but even after waiting for the massive slowdown to pass by, we’re not left with a whole lot of information to glean from it. Thankfully, Beamdog’s Trent Oster has been busy sharing some information via Twitter, which I’ll combine snippets from (along with everything else we know) below:
• Overhaul Games (Beamdog’s development arm) is heading up the projects, with the support of both Atari and Wizards of the Coast.
• The new Beamdog newsletter states a Summer 2012 release date, at least for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition (no release date for Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition yet).
• Tales of the Sword Coast will be included in the Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Throne of Bhaal will be included in the Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition.
• There will be “new content for the game you love, made by some of the original team members”.
• The team is doing their best to provide support for mods, old and new.
• Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will be exclusive to Beamdog (on PC), though other platforms will be announced next week at the very same time. The very first screenshots will debut then, too.
• The BG:EE will utilize the 2nd Edition D&D ruleset, just as the original games did. Beamdog’s motto: “Don’t break the fun.”
• The “Infinity Enhanced” engine that powers both Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition will be “based off the latest Throne of Bhaal code base”. That means we can use class kits and wild mages in the original Baldur’s Gate!
• The team is making it a point to support as many languages as they can.
• No new-fangled 3D-rendered graphics, here. They’re going “2D isometric all the way”, just the way we like it.
• The team is going to stick with the original BG model of limited voiceovers because it “allows for more in-depth writing.” Good call.
• As of right now, our old BG1 and BG2 save games should work in the Enhanced Editions. The team hasn’t had to change the save game formats… yet, anyway.
• There will be all-new characters for us to meet and recruit into our party in the Enhanced Editions. Voiced by all-new actors, no less.
• The Enhanced Editions will likely only be released digitally, so your old Baldur’s Gate boxed copies will have to continue taking up your prized shelf space for now.
• The interface will see some revising, specifically to increase the size of the font (and hopefully the characters) at high resolutions. Elaborating further, Trent states that they have the original source code and are attempting to rework the UI and rendering.
• Once you’re finished with the Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition, you will be able to import your character into the Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition, just as we could with the original games.
• The team is “looking for new ways” to attach Baldur’s Gate + Tales of the Sword Coast and Baldur’s Gate II + Throne of Bhaal into one cohesive title. And, yes, that would be nothing short of awesome.
• The outdated DirectPlay network interface used by Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II has been “macheted” to make room for something that is “better”. Here’s to hoping co-op multiplayer will be vastly improved!
• The ultimate goal? The new Enhanced Editions are “part of the master plan” toward the possibility of a Baldur’s Gate III.
• And, finally, we have an official announcement:
Announcing Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™
March 15, 2012 – Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Overhaul Games are pleased to announce work has begun on the Enhanced Edition of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II.
Since its initial release in 1998, Baldur’s Gate has entertained millions of fans around the globe, and has received countless awards. This classic saga of mystery, intrigue, and adventure has set the standard for Dungeons & Dragons® computer roleplaying games ever since.
RE-FORGED BY OVERHAUL GAMES
Overhaul Games has assembled a talented team of artists, programmers and designers to enhance this timeless classic. To remain true to the spirit of the game, the team includes original Baldur’s Gate developers.
RELIVE THE MOST EPIC STORY EVER TOLD
Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™ and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition™ will feature a re-forged version of the Infinity Engine with a variety of modern improvements.
THE GREATEST ROLEPLAYING GAME OF ALL TIME, ENHANCED
For all information regarding Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition™ visit www.baldursgate.com
Clan Rules
The Clan Rules have now been posted up in the forum.
Please see below for full details:
General Clan Rules:
- All clan members should abide by the T&C laid down by their corresponding games company.
- No clan members should be found to be using bots/cheats/boosting services/anything deemed “illegal” in their game.
- All clan members should act maturely and politely when dealing with members of our clan and other clans.
General Game Behaviour:
- Play your game with respect for other people.
- If an issue arrises with someone in the clan, bring it to the attention of an officer, we will attempt to resolve the situation for you without involving the rest of the clan or upsetting people unnecessarily.
- If an issue arrises with someone outside the clan, please keep a level head and either report it to an officer of our clan or directly in game. Flaming people back never helps yourself in a bad situation.
- If an issue arrises with another clan, leave them well alone and bring it to the attention of our clan’s officers, who will then speak directly to the other clan’s officers to resolve the situation.
In Game Chat Rules:
- Clan chat:
- Clan chat should be kept for polite conversation, excessive discussion of an offensive nature will be deemed in breach of these rules. Just remember, not everything you think is acceptable to talk about will be acceptable to others. So think before you speak.
- Discussions of a drug related nature/extreme sexual nature/violent nature are banned from clan chat, keep them to whispers please.
- Public chat:
- Do not spam the public chat.
- Keep any conversations in the public chat polite.
- Do not openly discuss internal clan matters across public chat, other people do not need to know.
- Do not recruit for this clan in public chat, this should also only be done in extreme situations by approved officers.
Play style in game:
- We do not enforce any rules with regards how you would like to play your chosen game, as long as it is “legal” in the game then we are fine with it. If you want to spawn kill people, base rape people, repeatedly use the same “cheese” unit on someone it does not matter to us, winning is winning regardless of how many people cry about it.
LAN Teams:
- Teams for LAN tournaments will be made up of the best players for the game being played regardless of rank. When there is real money at stake having the best team available is just logical.
Clan Ranking System:
Ranks:
Trial
Casual Member
Pro Member
Officer
Clan Leader
Ranks explained:
Trial:
- Trial rank is given to someone wishing to join our clan after successfully passing the application stage through our forums/web site.
- Trial time lasts for 1 month, after which time a decision will be made on your acceptance to the clan.
Passing trials for casual rank will be based mainly on the following:
- Activity
- Politeness
- Friends in the clan
- Feedback from other members
- How well you fit in with the clan atmosphere
Passing trials for pro rank will be based on:
- How well you fit in with your game’s team
- Your performance in clan matches
- Your practise/match attendance
- Your skill and understanding of your game
- Your willingness to change and adapt your play style to fit the needs of your team
Casual Member:
- You will be expected to follow all the clan rules.
- You will not be expected to be part of the main clan match teams, nor should you expect to be.
Pro Member:
A Pro Member needs to have:
- A strong knowledge of all tactics as well as having watched videos/paryicipated in tactics planning for upcoming matches.
- The best possible unlocks/gear/buffs/whatever applies to your game, you need to have the best of it.
- 99% attendance for your chosen game’s practises/matches.
- Update ALL required patches/addons BEFORE match start time.
- Use the web site’s Event Planner for each practise/match.
- Use the small bio/refill breaks that are inserted in practises.
- Use the forums regularly – especially before and after practises/matches.
Pro Members will be ready in their chosen game and in vent 5 minutes before scheduled event start time.
The Match Leader will invite standby/casual members if confirmed Pro Members don’t show up in time.
Being late or missing a practise/match that you are confirmed for will serious impact your chances of being chosen again. If you are behind on our tactics or out of practise then you are not much use to us.
Poor attendance will also have a serious impact on your clan stature, only attending a few events here and there will likely cause you to be demoted to casual member or removed from the clan.
Officers:
- Officers are expected to help with the smooth running of the clan and its practises/matches.
- Officers are expected to help diffuse any difficult situations that may arise.
- Officers are expected to know a large amount about their chosen game so they are able to advise others easily.
- Officers are expected to be fair in their decisions.
- All decisions made by officers should be for the good of the clan rather than for personal gain.
- Officers should promote the clan and its activities (without going over the top).
Clan Leader:
- Should abide by the same rules as “officers”.
- Has executive decision on all clan matters.
Pro Members/Officers/Clan Leader:
- Your primary focus should also be this clan and its activities, if your game allows multiple characters then your main one should be in this clan. If your game allows clan tags then you should be wearing this clan’s tags.
New BF3 CQ Video
A new BF3 Close Quarters addon video has been released, check it out:
BF3 Patch information and impressions.
The huge (1.5GiB) massive awesome patch of patching goodness was released yesterday afternoon, and having spent an evening playing it, I am generally pleased with how it plays now. For the full list of fixes please see this link: http://www.clanb20.co.uk/patch-notes/
Choppers feel better and tv missiles now kill things instead of only disabling them, AA appears a bit more powerful, and while igla’s have a shorter range they are still able to defend an area pretty well against a marauding chopper.
AEK-971 has been baalanced to be more of a close range gun by making its recoil and muzzle drift kick in earlier as at mid ranges you could kill people before this happened and as such not suffer any of the weaknesses of the weapon. L85A2 still feels good at range, bit more horizontal drift due to the changes to fore grip and silencer accessories though.
Playing with abolt action rifle in cqb is better as now its much easier to one shot people if your aiming for th eupper chest/head, and switching to pistol is faster as well, so you no longer have to stay at some range to stand a chance, you are just as able to fit at point blank, although if you miss then you will still die very easily to a skilled player.
Vehicles dont feel like they have changed much over all, but it does all feel a bit tigter than it did, and due to some of the changes to locking and coaxial weapons there should be a bit more variety in the loadouts people choose.
The whole interface feels a lot better and more professional now, with extra buttons here and there and more options spread around the place, such as creating squads rather than joining pre defined ones and the commo rose is now used to issue orders which means you dont try to spot a man near a flag and tell your squad to go and attack it by accident. You dont need to click it like BF2, just leave whichever option selected and let go of Q to issue that request/order. Infantry and vehicles have different menu’s so it is context sensitive, and the give order button doesnt display unles syou are the SL. If you request ammo etc it flashes up on the minimap the icon of what you requested so nearby players can spot it, meaning you dont have to break cover and look at a support guy and press Q in order for him to “maybe” work out you only have 4 bullets left in your pistol. You can also ask people to bail out of your vehicle, and all jeeps and buggies now have horns which can be activated by clicking or pressing space bar.
BF3 patch
Good news, everyone! According to DICE (via Twitter), the new Battlefield 3 patch is currently in certification at Microsoft and Sony, which means the patch is complete and only awaits the go-ahead from the console makers. Of course, the PC patch could be released earlier, but DICE likes to update all three platforms at the same time. Last time a patch was in the certification stage, we saw it released approximately one week later, which means we are already past that time frame and hopefully we will see it any day now, and no later that the 6th April going by previous cert process times from Microsoft and Sony.
After the patch we can expect to see the Close Quarters DLC pack which adds four infantry maps with fragile scenery as well as new guns. You can see the Ziba Tower map in the trailer below, as well as some screenies.
BF3 Server Up and Running
Our new BF3 server is now up and running.
The IP address is: 85.236.100.5
Its name is: Multiplay :: ClanB20 – Conq large – Recruiting
It is a 32 man server running Conquest Large maps.
It is doing a full map rotation of all the normal BF3 maps and then all the Back to Karkand maps.
2 Rounds per map.
Enjoy!
Patch Notes
The list of fixes for the upcoming BF3 patch have just been released. There are some very needed changes (especially if you are a fan of choppers). But a lot of current issues are fixed which should all round make the game more enjoyable, check out the full list below: (more…)
One squad VS. public servers.
Last night Ch3m1c4L, Horus Angron, Orpos and Shadow F3r4L formed up a squad on public servers. This was our first time having a full squad of people all using voice comms and working together.
This is what happens to the scores 
ESL Registration
We are now registered on the ESL web site ready to enter the 8v8 BF3 ladder.
Please can anyone wishing to participate in clan matches join the team at the following link:
http://www.esl.eu/uk/login/validate#/uk/team/6632267/
The join password can be found in the BF3 members only part of our forums.
Musser and Digi on BF3
Musser and Diginymph now finally have copies of BF3 and graphics cards capable of playing it.
Last night we installed our new MSI GTX560Ti 2GB cards and hopped on to BF3. Now we just need Digi to get over her motion sickness and we are ready to rock and roll!
Important Diablo 3 Information
There was an important Blizzard announcement regarading the Diablo 3 installer, please see below:
“We became aware of an issue affecting the previously available German and EU English versions of the digital install downloader for Diablo III, which would not download all the necessary files. If you’ve pre-downloaded the digital version of the game in these languages before 10:00 AM CEST (9:00 AM GMT) on Saturday May 12, you must obtain the new downloaders to be able to install properly once the game is released on May 15. We apologize for the inconvenience, and ask that you please let friends and acquaintances know so they can begin downloading the working installer that’s now available.
1. Obtain the new Diablo III digital downloader using the links below
2. Point the download save at the same directory as before
3. If you chose the correct directory only 50MB will need to be downloaded to fix your install, otherwise you’ll re-download the entire ~7.6GB
New EU English Installer
New EU English Installer (Mac)
New German Installer
New German Installer (Mac)
Whether you repair your previous install or download the entire game again, it’s necessary to use this new downloader to install and play the game when it launches.”
Diablo 3 Giveaway
We are currently running a competition on facebook to give away a free copy of Diablo 3.
All you need to do is like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ClanB20 and reshare the competition post as public:
https://www.facebook.com/ClanB20/posts/330127423722611?ref=notif¬if_t=feed_comment
Diablo 3 Beta for Everyone This Weekend
Blizzard have announced they are allowing everyone access to the Diablo 3 Beta for this weekend only. This will be a kind of “Stress test” of the system before its release:
“Diablo® III Open Beta Weekend
We’re pleased to announce the Diablo III open beta weekend, which offers open access to all players with a valid Battle.net account! Beginning this Friday everyone is invited to log in and help us put the game and servers through their paces in this three day stress test as we march toward the games release on May 15. You can begin downloading the Diablo III client right now.
From Friday, April 20 at 12:01 p.m. PDT (noon), until Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT you’ll be able to log in, team up with friends, and play each of the five heroic classes to level 13 as you fight to save the world from the impending demonic invasion.
FAQ
What steps do I need to take?
- Log in or create a Battle.net account at http://www.battle.net
- Create your BattleTag™, which is required to play Diablo III (What is BattleTag?)
- Download the game client, install, and play between 12:01 p.m. PDT April 20 and 10:00 a.m. PDT April 23
I don’t have a Battle.net account – can I still play? Absolutely! Just visit http://www.battle.net to create a free Battle.net account. Next, download the client from https://us.battle.ne…nload/index.xml and install it. Create your BattleTag, and then log in to the game using your Battle.net account name (email address) and password to begin slaughtering the demonic hellspawn that dare stand in your way.
Are there any differences for stress test participants versus invited closed beta testers? Stress test participants will only be able to access the beta between Friday, April 20 at 12:01 p.m. PDT (noon), and Monday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. PDT. In addition, stress test participants will not have access to post in the beta forums and will not be provided Beta Bucks for use in testing the currency-based auction house.
Can all regions/countries participate? Due to regional differences and features of the stress test client, Korean players will not be able to partake in the stress test weekend. However, beginning the week of April 23, we will be conducting a separate, invitation-only closed beta test that will give players in Korea a chance to try out the game, along with players in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
What if the service is down/laggy/disconnecting me? It’s very possible that players connecting to the stress test could experience issues with the service. While not ideal this is exactly why we’re having a stress test. We want to catch and analyze as many bugs as possible during this stress test period, so that we can try to ensure a smooth launch on May 15.
I’m having an issue, how can I get help? Due to the limited window of the stress test we encourage you to visit the Technical Support or Mac Technical Support forums if you’re having any issues running the game, and checking the Known Issues list if you’re running into a bug. As a stress test participant you will not be able to post in the beta forums.
What platforms and languages do you support? For the stress test we’re offering the client in English, French, and German for both Windows and Mac. At release the game will be fully localized into English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Korean, and Traditional Chinese for Windows, and English, French and German for Mac.
I’m an invited closed beta tester, what happens after the stress test weekend ends? As an invited closed beta tester you’ll continue to have access until the beta ends on May 1.
“
Diablo 3 Release Date
It has officially been announced by Blizzard that Diablo 3 will launch of the 15th of May 2012.
The game is already on battle.net and available for download in an encrypted format which will go live instantly on the 15th of May. (once it has been patched with anything new between now and then).
Diablo 3 Will be Hard!
If anyone is in any doubt as to whether Diablo 3 will be hard or whether it will be a joke like WoW then check out this video from the developers:
Another New Minecraft Member
We have another new Minecraft member. Welcome to anthrax465. We hope you enjoy ClanB20!
New Minecraft Member
We have a new addition to our Minecraft team: Joe_Abz
So welcome to him, we hope you have fun on Minecraft with us.
Left 4 Dead 2 Server
We now have a public Left 4 Dead 2 server. We can swap between L4D and L4D2 whenever we want so it can accommodate everyone’s needs. It is 8 slot, so can support versus if we decide thats what we want to play, we just have to change the map.
I know the banner says HL2, but mpuk dont seem to let me create one that simply says left 4 dead, and uploading my own image to it fails for some reason, so just ignore that bit, it is Left 4 dead 2 
Intructions for how to force a lobby to connect to our server:
Creating a lobby
Choose a game mode you would like to play. For this case we’ll say versus. Click on the versus icon. Select the Play With Friends option. On the next window, click Create Versus Lobby. In the next screen, select a campaign you want. Then for Server Type select Best Available Dedicated then click Create Lobby. After you click that the lobby will be created. At this point you will need to enter one of the commands to make your lobby connect to your dedicated server.
In the game, hit the ~ key to open the console. If the console doesn’t open that way, you need to enable it. Follow the instructions below.
(In the game, click Options
Click Keyboard/Mouse
Click Allow Developer Console
Select Enabled)
In the console, type
mm_dedicated_force_servers 85.236.102.2
and hit enter.
Click the invite friends button and wait for them to connect. Once they connect you’re good to go. (if it re4quires the port also then use mm_dedicated_force_servers 85.236.102.2:37315)
Or you can use the sv_search_key method as listed below instead of using mm_dedicated_force_servers.
In the console type:
sv_search_key ClanB20
You can bind the commands to keys to avoid having to type them out each time you create a lobby. The command to do so is below.
Open your console and type the following commands. You can change the F3 and F4 keys to any key of your choice. Do make note however, F1 and F2 are used for voting so don’t change those. F12 I believe is set as default for screenshots.
Bind F3 “sv_search_key ClanB20″
Bind F4 “mm_dedicated_force_servers 85.236.102.2″
After you entered those commands, simply press F3 while in your lobby to make the lobby connect to your server once you select to start. You may find the sv_search_key does not always work 100%. In that case, simply hit F4 for your mm_dedicated_force_servers command then click to start again.
Minecraft Server
We have added Minecraft to our list of games and have our own server up and running. It is an 8 slot private server, currently there are only 4 of us playing on it so there is room if anyone else wanted added to the whitelist just post in the Minecraft forum.
Additional SC2 Day
An additional SC2 practise day has been added to the calendar, so it now looks like this:
Mon: SC2
Tues: SC2
Wed: BF3
There has also been a week blocked out where other practises have been removed for the launch of Diablo 3. 15th – 20th has had all practises removed. Obviously if you are not planning on playing D3 in this time then feel free to play the other games as normal, but I’m pretty sure everyone is getting D3.
I will start chasing people soon but can everyone please start signing to the events on the calendar so we know in advance how many people are coming, its really easy to do: Select the event on the calendar, click “Send Booking”. Thats it, job done.
SC2 4v4 Team
Thats a bit more like it. Our new 4v4 team is now placed in the gold ladder, so well played to Ch3m, Musser, Orpos and KoK
Upcoming Starcraft II Patch
Dustin Browder posted this yesterday on the Blizzard site.
We often use special press events to pass along information about what we’re working on and what’s coming in future patches and products. These announcements are useful to the community and us alike because they allow us to reach a very wide audience. In many cases however, the message is not as deep or as detailed as we’d like, so we thought we would try some developer updates (like this one) to see if we can do a better job of communicating our intent for the various features we are working on. We have a number of updates and changes coming SoonTM to StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and we wanted to share some of them with you.
Patch 1.5 Is Coming
The upcoming 1.5 patch will be our most feature-laden patch to date. This patch represents the first steps towards the release of our first expansion for StarCraft II, Heart of the Swarm, and will include numerous upgrades and fixes throughout the game. One of the most significant additions will be the all new Arcade feature which includes improved custom game visibility, ratings, reviews, game instructions, screenshot support, and more. Patch 1.5 will also include significant improvements throughout the overall user interface, streaming support, antialiasing, editor and modding upgrades, new art tools, and more. We’ll go into further details about these features in future developer updates. In this update, I would like to provide some insight into the thinking and motivation behind a few of the upcoming changes.
Arcade & Custom Game Selection
We discussed the new Arcade and Custom Game creation tools that would be available at BlizzCon 2011 and while things have changed since then, we are looking forward to getting it out to players for testing. Overall, the biggest complaint we’ve heard is about the popularity system and how games are listed. The challenge we face with the interface is how much to orient the space towards the player, versus how much we focus the interface on the needs of the mod maker. Mod makers want a very egalitarian society where no single map has any type of “advantage” in the interface. On the other hand, most players just want to see the best maps and they don’t want to have to sort through hundreds of maps to find the ones that are good. We think what we have now doesn’t do enough to surface new maps that are good. While we tried to make things better with “Fun or Not,” the system alone isn’t doing enough for many of our mod developers so we wanted to try something different.
To help players find games more easily in patch 1.5, we intend to include an “open games list.” To be clear, this will not be every open game that is on the service. Instead, the open games list will deliver to you a selection of games from the many hundreds or thousands that are currently open. We are currently working on different ways to determine how the list you’ll see is generated.
We’ll also be releasing the art tools that we use internally to create art for StarCraft II, thus enabling mod developers the ability to more easily create their own art and add it to their creations. In addition, we’re beginning to reach out directly to mod and game developers that have created fun, quality maps on Battle.net to get direct feedback, help them tackle obstacles, and provide them with early access to the 1.5 feature set so that they can begin to prepare for Arcade prior to its release. We’ll be revealing more details about the Arcade and the changes we’ve made to the concepts in the near future.
Contact & Communication
We’ve heard concerns about the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty social experience and many of these comments boil down to, “the service feels empty” and “I don’t know where to go to find people.” We have some simple fixes we’re going to put into the chat system to try to give players some additional connectivity. These aren’t huge fixes, but they may help players who want a more social experience.
First, we’ll allow players to resize their chat windows to fill a larger portion of the screen. We’ll also remember the chat channel you were in as well as the position of that chat channel on your screen for when you next return to the game. This will allow players who want to recreate something that feels a lot more like Warcraft III or the original StarCraft to build their own interface that looks a lot like those older games.
We’re also working on a feature that will help players connect with other players and games that are near their location (connecting through the same IP). We believe this will primarily be used by people in internet gaming rooms, offices, dorm rooms, and local tournaments where you just want to find the guy sitting in the desk next to you. Although this may not be ready in time for the release of patch 1.5, we do intend to have this available by the time Heart of the Swarm ships.
Much of the content we are working on for Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm is motivated directly by community feedback. While we’re unable to respond to every post, or even most posts, your feedback does get to us. Thanks for sending it.
Let us know what topics you’d like us to cover in future Developer Updates. Topics that we’re thinking of covering include: Game Balance, Heart of the Swarm Multiplayer Progress, and Blizzard DOTA Gameplay.
2v2 Ladder Matches
Ch3m1c4L and Musser have been doing some 2v2 SC2 matches and doing well. Currently ranked 13 in the silver ladder.
3v3 Ladder matches
We had our first 3v3 ladder matches last night. We started off poorly, only managing to win one of our placement matches, thus being placed in bronze league again. After this Ch3m1c4L switched over to Protoss to add some versatility to our tactical choices. This seemed to work very well as we went on to win the next match (again bronze) but then managed to win a match against a gold/silver/silver team.
The team is seeing rapid improvement as we get used to timings and when we should be applying pressure and expanding. Several of the matches we lost were only because we didn’t manage to secure our expansions. Once we get it all a bit tighter, and stop forgetting to build workers or supply, we should start doing pretty well and move on up to the gold league fairly quickly. We will then have to start learning which units are hard or soft counters to each other as well as how to micro during battles while still managing to macro, as opposed to relying on the fact that if our macro > theirs then we win as we have twice as many units.
Adun Toridas.
Starcraft 2 Day Moved
The Starcraft 2 day has been moved to every Tuesday at 8pm from now on, please see the events calendar for more details.
First Ladder Matches
The team had its first 4v4 ladder matches last night which was good fun.
Once we worked out what we were actually supposed to be doing and Cowbox managed to stay online long enough we started to win some games.
Currently ranked 24th in the Bronze ladder (we were 21st but then we failed a bit). That should be fairly easy to progress on.
Starcraft 2 – Practise and Ladder
We have our first clan practises up in the events manager now, for the moment its looking like Thursday for Starcraft 2 games (although the first one is this Friday). These will be 4v4 ladder matches, however obviously if someone is busy on that day we will also enter the 3v3, 2v2 and 1v1 ladders.
Make sure to sign up on the Event planner so we know you are available. If anyone is interested in arranging clan matches with us, or even joining in our SC2 games then just let us know through the forums.
