I know. And I do. But I am saying more than that. I am saying that I can’t play HotS ladder in the same way that I can choose to differentiate between Sc1 standard or Brood War, or Reign of Chaos or The Frozen Throne. With SC2, I can’t play WoL or HotS. Rather am confined and forced to play a LotV which has changed enough to the point that it’s a LotV-2 and which I like less than what it was. I would happily play HotS multiplayer ladder and stop LotV completely (considering the state it is especially now), the HotS variant being the one that I like the most, after having played all of them and able to tell which one is the one I prefer the most. But, as it happens, I can’t do that.
Actually,
While you can choose between StarCraft and brood War. Only Brood War offer the ladder.
And when it comes to Warcraft III, it’s not classic ROC/TFT. It’s Reforged, which is not the same as TFT as you might think, much of its stats changed as well.
When you talk about ladder play, you can’t do anything but the current standards.
This goes for sc1, sc2, & wc3.
Now for sc2. It is the only game that allows you to set the old standards via gameplay. You can switch to WOL, HOTS, or LOTV in any melee game.
Warcraft III doesn’t even offer ROC anymore. It’s been gone.
None of which allows the old school ladder.
Ladder play is always the current standard. In any Blizzard RTS game.
Sc2 you can still organize community tournaments to host WOL gameplay, HOTS gameplay. No other RTS game by Blizzard allows you to do this.
Warcraft III offered this before it was changed to Reforged, after that it was all removed and only custom made maps allow you to revert back to ROC stats.
At least in sc2, not only can you change the gameplay for any melee map, but you can also use extension mods with your own custom settings for any melee map.
No other RTS has this feature.
A recent show match tournament used a custom extension mod, because the recent patch went through during the tournament, so a quick Extension mod was created that kept the stats to pre-patch setting so the tournament could continue while players didn’t have to change strategy mid tournament.
And yes, StarCraft II went free to play years ago. It is free to play. If you want additional stuff, then yes that is at a cost.
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I think you missed the part when I said that I have played the games since the start of when they were released and in their original environment. That a game, any game, is re-released in a crippled form, that is a different story and sadly it does not only apply to these games but to others as well (one of them being “Alien vs Predator”. The re-released gold edition has actively removed lan multiplayer option which the original had).
This said, I still play the original versions of SC1 and WC3 in multiplayer online and not the re-released (an much ensh!ttified versions of them in several ways) ones. Blizzard used to be a cool company that DID give thought to the player base, as we’re slowly revealing here in this discussion. All the downhill flow started when Blizzard ceased to be itself and became part of Activision in about 2008-2009. Very little new came from that moment on (beware that while WoL was released in 2010, it is NOT a product of the Activision era. SC2 had been in the making for quite a few years already). All the new policies and ways that we see now are Activision (and later Microsoft) derived. Not much new has come from “Blizzard” since it was transformed from a fantastic software maker into a cash cow to be milking its past glory. The contrary has happened, even the old products have been made “new”, and some of them canceled outright (Hello “Starcraft: Ghost”).
A lot of us don’t like to be forced and wrested into obedience. Rolling over in silence is easy for some others. A millimeter of lost option and freedoms is negligible, till the day you find yourself transformed into the frog which missed the moment to jump out of the slowly heating water.
OK no
are u an idiot dont u see everyone wants a revert?
The ROC ladder no longer exists. It’s just Reforged.
And as JCarril0 said:
Generally speaking, if you want to go back and play an older version of an RTS game (when that is possible), you have to open a custom game, not the ladder.
It’s great that you prefer older versions of the game, there is no issue with that, but much like Warcraft III. Certain players complained that they liked the ROC ladder, but unfortunately, it wasn’t as popular so it eventually got removed.
They still offer special custom made maps with only ROC stats and features for a special gameplay for the few handful of players.
The same is for sc2, they offer a gameplay where you can play WOL if you prefer that with friends. You can do HOTS gameplay settings with friends, but once again as any game they will not offer the current ladder play unless it’s the current standard play which is LOTV.
You mentioned that in your opinion it’s LOTV 2, so then that would be the current standard for ladder play.
Much like the sc1 that you play, you can’t play ladder unless you’re doing brood war.
When it comes to Warcraft III, which is only reforged…
That is the only ladder offered. You can’t play ROC ladder or TFT Ladder, you can only do reforged ladder.
Sc2 has way more options then any previous rts game in ways of gameplay.
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As I said, I don’t play the reforged remade version of WC3, but the originals. That’s what I have and bought, CD-ROMs for both RoC and TfT. Blizzard’s Battle.net might not support them anymore, but there still are several other places which do. It’s been a while since I actually tried them recently, but back in 2004-2005 I even put up my own setup of “bnetd/pvpgn” and used it for a while with a few friends who called also some other friends to join, for the fun of it. Incidentally, around 2019-2020 when COVID happened, that’s when the classic battle.net of them was dropped and there were a lot of pvpgn servers around (people had a lot of time to deal with them during lock-down) so I just simply switched to one of the other ones in existence out there as I liked the RoC type of multiplayer more than TfT type. The topmost couple of the most popular servers were with hundreds of players in them and functioned beautifully. Unreal Tournament servers were also very popular and quite crowded too, with many servers hosting maps of team deathmatch games or capture the flag games of full 32 players and always crowded and competing for a slot in the games. I still have the legendary “M-m–monster kill…. Godlike!” echo of the announcer voice in my head. Fun times.
Now that is old school. Kali == Good times!
By the way, Blizzard is just a branding name now since they were bought out by Activision and now Microsoft whose only talent lately is ruining everything they touch by turning it into poo.
You mentioned you prefer the older games on their ladder, you can’t play classic Warcraft III ladder anymore!
You also mentioned before that you prefer hots ladder for sc2, so if you accepted Warcraft III Classic and not play ladder why can’t you accept sc2 playing on hots gameplay?
You talk about having private servers pvpgn for playing classic ladder, why not just do that still?
They even having Radmin for LAN play for most Blizzard Games. This way you don’t have to play the latest version, you can keep enjoying the old school glory days and relive them over and over.
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Because it’s not exactly cool that you who say “yes” to all what is thrown at you for a game you paied for, to have all the facilities and the convenience of a few clicks to get into the game you enjoy; while for me, for the same game which I paied for, I am not entitled to the same facilities and convenience of a few clicks to get into the game I enjoy, rather need to get through the hoops and steps to set up custom games, notify the people I know for it, arrange for the custom map, and so on. For both of us is just as preferable to play with random people who are available at any given moment without having to arrange with only people we know and friends to be online at the exact same time.
You miss the forest for the trees. All what I have shown here are illustrations and examples of what I do, what can be done, if I so wish, with previous games, and that’s all good and fine. Yet this is not possible to be done with the current state of SC2. My preference or your preference to play whatever, new or old games, is not up to debate. I understand that you don’t like to play older games and only want to play the newest and the shiniest. While I enjoy playing them both - which for you apparently translates to me not wanting to play the new ones, which is wrong. The difference here between us is that you’re ok with the idea to be herded towards some certain direction and actively denied to have what you already had, while I don’t think it’s ok and as is obvious from the reactions to this latest “patch” of SC2, a lot of other people feel the same as I do.
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The game you paid for, and the game you play today is different. I think your mixing up what used to be and what is when you refer to what you paid for.
The difference is you want what used to be, which can be done on your own terms with your own friends, majority people have moved on to what it is now and play what it is.
Not everyone likes it no…. Of course not, but those who don’t adapt, don’t survive….
The hype for heart of the swarm is over, as well as legacy of the void.
All that’s left is the enjoyment of the game in its current form
I am not entirely sure of this advocacy you’re set to defend and for what reason. If you think I don’t know what you’re saying, you’re very wrong. If you think you’re revealing something new to me and making me understand new things, you’re again wrong. There is a very high chance that I have lived more years than you have and in such things that you believe to offer an explanation about you can be certain I have come across it before in the past.
At no point I was even thinking to attempt a “correction” of your preference or try to fit it into mine. All the time I explained my reasons of why I dislike the new modification of the game. And the examples of what was as compared to what it is, were illustrations, parallels, similarities, of simplifying the notion of what I am talking about to those who seem unable to get it directly. But there is you, who besides the “I am ok with what the changes are” which is quite a valid reason enough and a pretty good one, you come back instead with pointing out the flaws and the incorrectness of my preference as opposed to yours and how I should change, based on these philosophical words of survival and adaptability. You’re a few kilometers off from your target audience with me if that is the case.
We have obviously agreed that you’re ok with what has been given while I am not happy about it (as very many others are) and have explained why as well. I am not here to convince you or “win you over to my camp” but rather because this place is read from other readers too and that’s the point of all this, of these forums (in principle so, at least). And I also suggest we leave this at that, without needing to venture any deeper into the intricacies of evolution and change.
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By the way, Blizzard is just a branding name now since they were bought out by Activision and now Microsoft whose only talent lately is ruining everything they touch by turning it into poo.
The “only lately” about the talents of Microsoft to turn things into poo, is being very generous about it. Saying “90% of the time since always” is closer to the truth.
I think the original impression was your upset about the current status and the standard of the current game.
You mentioned what it used to be like for you, sharing your experience as how you viewed it.
I simply explained it’s no longer like that and when you said you should get what you paid for, I explained you did.
You later then explained it is no longer what you paid for, and I explained that you were correct, as the game has changed since then.
I think I had mentioned before that there is clearly a misunderstanding here.
I embrace the change and try to make the best of the situation, I go back and play the custom games, the campaign when I am feeling like I was to play that again.
I enjoy multiplayer much like everyone else where the real changes really stand out in gameplay.
I mentioned you can still enjoy what your originally paid for under certain gameplay settings, but you seem to think you had a contract where the game would never change and it would always be what you paid for.
I’m not trying to convince you of anything other then your not entitled nor will you ever be able to receive any sort of refund for not having the game be the way you originally bought it.
I did say however you can accept and enjoy the game in its current form. You mentioned you do enjoy the game even today, but certain things you miss.
Notice I never once belittled and said your ideas or wants are not valid, I just explained this is the StarCraft II that we play. Free, no matter how much money we put into it. It remains and a free to play concept product thanks to the companies leadership at the time.
It’s under new management now and the changes are ever so different, but if we wish to continue to play the game, that’s what we have to understand.
This game will always have a special place in my heart.
The original WOL, then the next chapter as HOTS, and the final conclusion of LOTV.
The multiplayer, the arcade, the once esports phenomenon that even I went to during dream hack 2016.
The memories… worth it.
But it’s still an ever changing game. As any RTS by Blizzard, they evolve into much different then what they originally started with.
It didn’t start with StarCraft II. Warcraft II is a prime example of how drastically the game changed from what it was and what it is today. All the way down to the sound quality is not what it once was…the kali servers to the BNET 1.0 to sync blizzard multiplayer on one platform.
I play Warcraft III 1.27b way more than I play reforged. I prefer it, but it also doesn’t mean I’m not ok playing reforged.
We are not so different in what/how/why we enjoy our Blizzard games, StarCraft II included.
I still have my own StarCraft II 1.0 installer on my flash drive from my collectors edition. It’s awesome!
I log on not as often as I used to for sc2, I enjoy watching pros duke it out over cast play more the I should I suppose, but I really like this game.
It’s got good memories, but what is a good game if not good memories?