Need Admin clarification - Region Locking

[Alloyrabbit]

From the FAQ:

Can I change Gateways like in StarCraft I to play with people in other regions?

Unlike StarCraft I, there is no gateway selection to allow you to play with players in other regions. You will only be able to play against players within the same region as you.


Does this apply only to the Beta, or to the full game as well? So far I haven't seen any official answer on either the US or EU forums for this.

Also, if it only applies to the Beta, will that always be the case, or will the Beta eventually be region-free?

If the final game is region-locked, I will not be purchasing it.

[Dipski]

It sounds like the new Battle.net is fully capable of handling all traffic (read: massive server upgrades likely). I doubt they will limit by region.

However, I am not a Blue :)

[Alloyrabbit]

Since the game is not complete it is hard to say how regional versions will end up interacting. It is likely that the realm locations you end up playing on will be specified on the regional version of the software you purchse etc.


Got this from an email I sent to the support site.

I really hope this game doesn't end up being region locked; that would be a needless major design flaw.

[Dustin]

I will be SERIOUSLY pissed off if we're restricted to playing with only people in our region, I have alot of friends in EU and it'd be a HORRIBLE move by blizzard if the final game is region locked.

[Kifire]

not to mention it will kill esports with online tournaments as the USwest,east etc cant play with each other along with the overseas regions.... as everything will be divided, that and i have friends all over, would be nice to play with them... heck i have friends in beta... but none of them are on my region...

[Eloderung]

WoW is region-locked.

I'm sure it has something to do with battle.net accounts and cannot be easily remedied, or it simply isn't wanted to maximize the playability of SC2 for everyone.

[Alloyrabbit]

They should at least enable it for custom games. I have friends in the EU I'd very much like to play with, regardless of whether or not the match is ranked.

[Kiwikaki]

if they lock it in the real version , it will completly destroy the game

[Gishin]

How will we live without the koreans?

[Dasweb]

WoW is region-locked.

I'm sure it has something to do with battle.net accounts and cannot be easily remedied, or it simply isn't wanted to maximize the playability of SC2 for everyone.

Yeah, but that's a totally different game.

[Ziriuso]

Totally different game yes, but same authentication system and servers. Plus there is a EU B.net site and a NA B.Net site for creating user accounts. You can't login with the one account on the other site so I imagine it will be region locked.

[Dasweb]

Sadly it probably will, but I think people expected it not to be because of SC1.

[Kiwikaki]

bump

[Cloaked]

Wow, this would suck. Half my gaming friends are in Europe and Japan... I guess I'm gonna have to tell them all to purchase NA versions, and create NA accounts...

[Thebeezitron]

WoW is region-locked.



Only sorta- You can call blizz if you purchase the game in X country and tell them you want it set to Y region (according to a friend)

[Dtorrey]

i dont want it to be region locked... what will happen when i am stationed in korea again? i will only be able to play on us servers with my b.net account AND all the games will be laggy as hell because i am going across oceans to play on the servers.. i hope they do not do that

[Lechuckgl]

I really hope this game doesn't end up being region locked; that would be a needless major design flaw.

As a game designer, I TOTALLY AGREE on that. Isn't htat what internet is good for ?

[Kiwikaki]

indeed they better make server we can choose to play on like wc3

if they dont , that would bring my piss to a boil

[Alloyrabbit]

Still no official answer on this?

Blizzard, are you listening?

[Abrasion]

The answer to this is absoloutely imperative Blizzard.
Your international customers want to be able to play with their friends.

I'm Australian, I want to play with my US and EU friends, I don't want to get lumped with Asia due to language barriers, few friends in Asia and so on.
On the flip side some high skill customers may want to play against Asia.
We really need this to not be regioned off, can anyone provide more information?

[Hunteromega]

I will be SERIOUSLY pissed off if we're restricted to playing with only people in our region, I have alot of friends in EU and it'd be a HORRIBLE move by blizzard if the final game is region locked.

This. Many, many times over. I have a great number of friends both here in the Americas and overseas living in Europe. It's not fair to force me to play with one group of people in an age when everyone is so connected and familiar with instant communication from halfway around the world.

Can your servers really not handle it? Really?

[Horizon]

It'll probably work like WoW. To play on EU servers you need an EU account and copy of the game.

Terrible idea.

The answer to this is absoloutely imperative Blizzard.
Your international customers want to be able to play with their friends.

I'm Australian, I want to play with my US and EU friends, I don't want to get lumped with Asia due to language barriers, few friends in Asia and so on.
On the flip side some high skill customers may want to play against Asia.
We really need this to not be regioned off, can anyone provide more information?

Oceania is considered part of the US servers. This generally includes Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore.

[Terra]

The answer to this is absoloutely imperative Blizzard.
Your international customers want to be able to play with their friends.

I'm Australian, I want to play with my US and EU friends, I don't want to get lumped with Asia due to language barriers, few friends in Asia and so on.
On the flip side some high skill customers may want to play against Asia.
We really need this to not be regioned off, can anyone provide more information?

In Blizzard's defense, you won't have to play with Asia. Australia'll just ban the game.

[Hunteromega]

This deserves as much attention as the lack of chat channels.

[Droodjerky]

I was thinking they'd implement chat channels a few weeks after the beta started (about now). However now I'm getting scared that I'll be forever in a Bnet 1.0 Void. Furthermore I'd like to opportunity to play with whomever I want to in the world.

If I chose to get my butt handed to me buy the South Koreans, so be it...

[Optional]

No thanks..

I don't want to join a game hosted by some dude in russia or korea, the latency will be horribad. Same goes for i don't want those people joining my games and lagging to crap. 300-400 latency in rts = fail.

[Unsuspected]

Region Locking for SC2 is a horrible idea; I certainly hope that's not the plan for retail.

[Captinhammer]

if they lock it in the real version , it will completly destroy the game

I wouldn't go that far, but it will be incredibly annoying because some UMS maps just won't make it over from one continent to another. Ninjas vs Samurai in WC3 for example originally came from the European servers.

[Feverus]

Blizzard, don't region lock this game. Gaming is fun because of people; and when it is very fun it is usually because of certain people.

Don't cut us off from our friends :-)

[magister]

I'd like to hear an answer for this as well. I mean, if it's got to be that way, then at least tell us why. Surely there is a good reason for region locking? I personally cannot think of one, but I'm open to hear of one.

[Geryth]

I feel strongly against the OP in this. Why integrate the world's player base? You don't mind random team games where your partner can't even speak your language? You want to play custom games with someone in Russia or china with a 300 ping, or again, can't speak your language? Imagine Dota with no communication -- couldn't tell someone to help top, go creep, get out of lane etc.

I hope they do keep them separate, or at least make it very obvious who is from which region and a way to see pings. I just don't want to be searching for a custom game and sift through a sea of multiple languages (and 200 games popping up every 10 seconds as well) to find what I'm looking for.