Separate window for friends list

The current app allows the friends list to be separate from the main window. This feature should be retained in the new app.

86 Likes

This feature is in the new app

9 Likes

How do I open the friends list?

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Hi!

I don’t see a way to seperate the Friends list itself. I see the ability to open “Chats And Groups” and even open separate chat windows with people. It would be nice to see the option to customize these items. I personally like everything within the Blizzard app eco system(Window) though I understand others may care more just about chats being seperated. The option to make the experience our own would be nice.

11 Likes

I did try open “Chats and Groups”, but that doesn’t separate the Friends List. It opens up a new window with all previously saved chats in one window. I, too, did not see an option to decouple the friends list from the main window.

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I also liked it better as it was before, when you could separate the friends list from the main app window. Frankly, I never ever use the Battle net app for chat, as we use Discord for that and preferred the old way when I could hide it.

11 Likes

I second this. This is one of my primary points of feedback. Being able to split the friends list from the launcher/app like the way it used to be

10 Likes

Yup. Already reported in within the client and will be opting out of the beta until it’s fixed. It’s far too annoying to use right now.

No way to keep an eye on the online contacts without keeping the entire window open is bad enough, and when you send it to the systray then restore it to look at the contacts, you have to wait for who knows what to load, that has nothing to do with the contacts…

This is a launcher, not some kind of media center that you’re supposed to be spending your time on. Open it, launch a game, have the contacts/chat available separately, done.

10 Likes

I disagree, actually. I quite like that the friends list is in-line with the main window without all that empty space from the old launcher. I can finally have discord and bnet with my friends list open simultaneously on my second monitor without having to shuffle the windows around constantly.

That said it seems to be a relatively popular opinion that it is detachable like the old one, so perhaps it would be best to add that as an option.

What I really miss and frankly don’t understand why it disappeared is the option to have the compact view on the friends list. I don’t even get through my favourites before the bottom of the window. There’s only space to see 12-14 names on a standard 1920x1080 monitor.

Aside from that though I really like the new launcher.

1 Like

I quite like the friends list being there automatically actually. It is tidier than a separate window IMHO. To each their own.

I wish the chat windows had stayed as they were though instead of forcing them to be a separate window.

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I think it’s excellent if they’d offer a choice. Friends list dock or undocked. Or maybe a way to collapse and expand it.

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+1

This is precisely what the main window needs.

5 Likes

I’ve submitted feedback, but I’ll re-post it here.

Please re-introduce a simple pop-out friends list. It’s already annoying that it’s been removed from the live bnet app right click tray menu options in favour of “social”, but at least it was still accessible with an extra click (via double clicking the tray icon, then choosing the friends pop-out).

The bnet beta is a massive step backwards in my opinion. While the design is fairly sleek and looks nice, the functionality & layout is reminscent of EA’s Origin, which feels way behind the curve and has used the same tired integrated chat design for years. I strongly dislike Origin. I don’t want an integrated chat interface! I want an easily accessible pop-out friends list (launchable with a single click or two from the tray icon). While Steam looks very dated, its layout & functionality is much better. I launch steam and it’s configured to pop up my friends list. It’s minimal, and it’s the part of the app that I use above all else. It’s not docked or integrated with other content or functionality.

I don’t want to see my games list, patch notes etc. passively sitting there. Why? I only read this stuff when something changes, which is rare. I.e. the content that is front and centre, taking up 90% of the screen real estate is of zero interest to me. On the other hand, I actively engage with the friends list every single time I launch bnet. I’ll often have the pop-out friends list docked on a monitor while browsing the internet (just as I do when using steam). Origin used to make it extremely difficult to achieve the same thing (it’d take about 4-5 clicks to get a pop-out friends list) and that’s the main reason I don’t use Origin.

In the bnet beta, there’s two options that I can see and neither one satisfies my current preferences.

  1. The default integrated friends list is useless. You can’t pop-out just the friends list or dock it. It’s stuck on the side of a huge window. To re-iterate, the left-hand side of this window is full of useless information. Once I’ve read it for the first time, Overwatch news from the 26th of Nov is of no interest to me on successive launches. I don’t want to see this lumped together with my friends list. I want to see a friends list, and nothing more!

  2. Having an integrated ‘chats and groups’ absolutely does not fulfill the same function. Again, there is no way to pop-out the friends list – only to spawn a window per chat.

So to re-iterate, the design looks nice but the layout and functionality is worse. Please retain the ability to quickly launch a pop-out friends list with a single click.

Thanks

14 Likes

I was having same problem but after reading all replies, it has been solved.

1 Like

I quite like the friends list being there automatically actually. It is tidier than a separate window IMHO. To each their own.

1 Like

The problem is not that they’ve introduced a new design. The problem is that they took away the current design without giving us an option to bring it back if that’s what we prefer.

I very much agree with the point that I don’t want all the clutter and autoplay videos when I’m trying to chat with my friends. As a matter of fact, I don’t really play actively any more, but I do chat with my WoW friends, so usually, I will have the launcher open as well as the separate friends window. This way, I can minimize the launcher and not have to see the autoplay vids whenever I want to see if a friend came online.

At some point, it’s not a new feature; it’s just the devs being stubborn and forcing us to play by ‘their’ rules instead of the way we want to play. This has been a complaint from the very beginning of this Beta phase and yet they still haven’t responded to this criticism.

I haven’t been using Beta because of this issue, but I have been keeping a close eye on the Beta patch notes. I see they just rolled out a new update, but the friends list is still firmly attached to the main window and they’re just ignoring the whole issue!

I will double check, but I doubt anything’s changed. If it had changed, they would’ve put it in the patch notes.

6 Likes

exactly this.
it would be cool if an option could be implemented to disable the right side friends list, as it stands now at the time of writing, it looks bad.

4 Likes

It would be perfect if it had two things:
1 - Friends list with “drop down” button. To be able to leave it open or hide it.
2- Conversations built into the launcher. As in the current “Social” tab.

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Please at least offer a way to hide/collapse the friends panel. I don’t chat here, and it’s super annoying to see it in the main UI all the time

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I also would like the friends list on the main window to be collapsible or an option to turn it off entirely. The popout social window is enough of the social for me. I’d rather have the option to have the main window be just games and news.

1 Like