Blizzard does not make the forum software anymore. It is a company called Discourse. The default state of the forums is to use our Battletags. So, it is not using Blizzard’s resources.
They very much SHOULD go back to Btag posting for many many reasons.
- Changing your char name, transferring, etc makes you start over with post count, trust level, etc. Other Blizzard forums don’t have this issue because they use Btags.
- Flags and likes are per character, not Btag (this is not how the rest of the forums work) and it allows people to abuse the reporting system. Yes, some get penalized, but it is rare. Abuse of reports is common.
- People sock puppeting to self promote, to argue with themselves, cause drama, etc.
- People switching alts to circumvent the Ignore features.
- Posting char name-server means people can message you in game without your permission, and add you a friend on that char to track you, without your permission. Btags require you allowing contact and don’t let anyone pester you in game.
Switch this forum, like all the other Blizz forums, to a Btag format would resolve those things, mostly. Or force them to use separate Btags with new accounts/payments to get around it.
Nobody is saying your char identity would be erased. But it would be sub to your main Btag. The example above is what I would love to see.
I have been posting in green on my Battltag now for 10 years. Diablo 2, Overwatch Alpha/Beta/Release, HotS, Hearthstone, SC, and the general Blizz forums.
While people have said horrible things to me on the forums, nobody has EVER bothered me via Battletag because it is not personal info (it is a common fake nickname), and they need my permission to talk to me.
The only thing switching to a Battletag would do to you is prevent you from alt hopping without a new Bnet account and new WoW license. It would also prevent people from switching to alts to flag posts.
We get one free Btag change. If Blizz switched, I would hope they would give everyone another free change if they don’t have one right now. That lets everyone pick a name they are comfy with, and that does not break the forum rules. They have done that before.
The problem with that is that the text part of a Battletag is not unique. There can be hundreds of people name Bob. Bob#1234 is not the same as Bob#4567 though. That is rather important.
We had an issue on the D3 forums where a common Multi account troll switched one of their Battletags to impersonate another well known regular. Without the numbers it would have been impossible to tell them apart.
Blizzard did action the harasser with a vacation and forced name change to the Bnet account, but it did underline why the numbers are important.