http://starcraft2.com/features/misc/battlenet.xml

Looks pretty cool.

Looks like the new Battle.Net is going to be great for the modding community.

Steam's community features + Xbox Live's popularity + It's Free =

Yes, it will be awesome.

$10 says that it's going to become even MORE like xbox live and start charging for the smallest things.

Blizzard isn't a douche bag like microsoft.

I don't think they will simply because of tradition. They haven't charged for 10+ years, and if they chose to do so now, players would be pissed off.

That's awesome. I think I need a new computer though in order to play sc2. Mine is old.

They're going to charge for maps, so I wouldn't call it all free.

Activision is, though.

I thought Activision didn't have any say over SC2, even though they merged companies.

They don't, Blizzard has full autonomy over itself; it functions as normal as if there wasn't a change. If Activision tried to tell Blizz what to do Blizz could easily say, "fuck you, we're leaving," and do it.

I'm pumped for the b.net change. It's about time this 12 year-old system got updated.

DotA?
DotA better not come to sc2.

Maybe not the exact map DotA itself, but there will be a lot of DotA/AoS rip-offs/clones in Starcraft II. Can't really help that though.

Oh it won't. Not as it originally was, anyhow...

I suspect instead a CTF type of game will take over SC2. I sense it.

I wonder if the zerg expansion will come in a mushy liquid UI.

They said at BlizzCon there would be a DotA map in SC2. Hell, look at those mock-ups and see the Blizzard logo as the creator of the DotA maps.

Blizzard will most definitely make one of their default UMS maps, like they did for SC with a few maps (Tetris for instance), with the game. I can easily see this happening, although their hero selection will probably be minimal.