Officially releasing with the original Diablo, Battle.net has been the staple service of Blizzard's catalogue of classic games since the late 90's - but its days are now numbered with Blizzard set to move on from the name in the new future.

While its clear to have already happened with the likes of Blizzard Streaming - a tie-in with Facebook - and Blizzard Voice the company has stated how it made sense to call the service Battle.net all those years ago when online multiplayer was still fresh out of the gate.

We’re going to be transitioning away from using the Battle.net name for our gaming service and the functionality connected to it. Battle.net technology will continue to serve as the central nervous system for Blizzard games—nothing is changing in that regard. We'll just be referring to our various products and services using the Blizzard name instead. You've already seen this recently with things like "Blizzard Streaming" and "Blizzard Voice," and more changes are on the way. When we created Battle.net, the idea of including a tailored online-gaming service together with your game was more of a novel concept, so we put a lot of focus on explaining what the service was and how it worked, including giving it a distinct name. Over time, though, we’ve seen that there’s been occasional confusion and inefficiencies related to having two separate identities under which everything falls—Blizzard and Battle.net. Given that built-in multiplayer support is a well-understood concept and more of a normal expectation these days, there isn’t as much of a need to maintain a separate identity for what is essentially our networking technology. We just wanted to make sure everyone was aware as we moved forward with this change over the next several months; we’ll provide any relevant updates as the transition progresses. - Blizzard Entertainment

The Battle.net name was given to let players know the service was there to allow them to play together, in some form, over a network that wasn't simply a LAN match. Now, however, with multiplayer inclusion in practically every game in some form, it seems counterproductive to run a service with a name that quite simply explains the obvious.

So, going forward, each of Blizzard's services will henchforth just be known as Blizzard... something.

Sources: “Battle.net” Update - WoW, Goodbye, Battle.net! Hello... Blizzard | GameWatcher

We've decided to remove the ratings moderators and reviewers give to resources. This means that, no matter the person rating a resource, their votes will count equally. There are many reasons behind this, and a few are drawn attention to below.

1. We cannot be consistent over time.

The Hive has had a lot of moderators since we first opened shop to where we are now. It is simply not possible that the staffers aboard at the moment are giving ratings consistent to those that were aboard nearly ten years ago. The current system is flawed in this respect, but by getting rid of staff ratings we leave the decision about a resources quality to the user.

2. The opinion of a moderator/reviewer should not matter more than the users' when the users are the ones primarily going to use the resource.

Moderators and reviewers have many opinions on how they like to see resources turn out. This is all great. Feedback is wonderful. However, this site is for people to submit resources so other users can benefit from them. Therefore, the user matters just as much as a moderator. By having a moderator or reviewer aboard only to review or reject an item, we are roping in the users to help motivate and shape the product of the author's work.

3. Motivation.

Many users strive for a good approval from the staff, and this is cool - but a resource lasts longer than the approval. By making ratings general instead of specific, we hope to see authors continue to be interested in developing their work on THW.

A staffer will still decide where the resource goes, whether to approve, delete, or put it in the low quality section. They still post a review, but ultimately the only thing that differs from a normal user is where the resource ends up.

The Hive Workshop has added live streaming support!

We've added a new feature to the site that allows live streaming, primarily www.Twitch.tv streaming, to be shown live on the site. In other words, you can watch, interact, and follow people who play (or even mod) Warcraft 3, Starcraft 2, and other games in real time here! This section was made possible by buying the add-on, XenRio, and by people sending donations allowing this add-on to be bought.

The objective of this is to support streamers and connect Hive to the Warcraft 3+ streaming scene, which has already been attracting larger audiences nowadays partly due to our partner, over at Back2Warcraft. We also think this is just so cool and a huge upgrade to the site.

We already have around a dozen streamers who are participating in our project because we've told them about this before we released it. But we're looking to add more streamers, no matter the experience or popularity - long time Hive member or newly registered. So go check out the stream tab, and go check out all of our partnered streamers working relentlessly to provide entertainment playing the games they love!

-> ENTER THE STREAM TAB <-
The stream tab can also always be found on the top bar of the site.

Spoiler: More Information

(We plan on posting this somewhere in the streaming section if possible)

Welcome to Hive's streaming section! This section shows a list of streams that are live and are partnered with the site.

How do I stream?
There are multiple venues to stream on, but the most popular venue people use is www.Twitch.tv.
Here's S3xytime's How to stream WC3 tutorial.

How do I get on the list?
1. Submit your stream on the submit channel button on the top of the streaming section OR message @StoPCampinGn00b on Hive or Twitch. You cannot speak on behalf of someone else, so if you want a streamer you know to partner with Hive, you're free to direct that person here.
2. Link Hive Workshop by using any of the options below.

• Add this image to your stream page and have it linked to www.hiveworkshop.com
• Link Hive Workshop in text with a caption that you're free to customize. Must have the words Warcraft 3 and modding. Example: Supported by www.hiveworkshop.com, the Warcraft 3 / SC2 modding and custom games community.

Once you do that, we will add your stream to the list, and nothing else needs to be done.

Rules:
Streamers and viewers must abide to the streaming site's rules of conduct.
Rules of Conduct - Twitch

Tips & Guidelines:
Streamers
- If you have links blocked on your stream, it would be good to exclude hiveworkshop.com from the block list for obvious reasons.
- Other games are allowed to be streamed, but we encourage Warcraft 3, Starcraft 2, and other Blizzard content more since that's how our site rolls . It'd also be awesome to see some creative streamers, such as drawing and concept art people.
- Best place to put your cam if you're streaming WC3 / SC2? On the character portrait (right of the minimap) so no gameplay nor text is blocked.
Viewers
- Don't annoyingly tell people what to game, map, etc to play. Streamers are not your personal tools.
- Many streamers have a few simple rules or guidelines. Read them before using their chat box.
- Enjoyed someone's channel? Support them by following, going to their channel page! You can also donate and subscribe.

That's all! We encourage people to explore the whole streaming section. You can find the full list of approved channels, featured games, and more.​

Hive Workshop has affiliated with Back2Warcraft. B2W is a huge influence on not only the melee tournament and streaming scene, but on the whole Warcraft 3 community. They have attracted thousands of viewers and followers by covering live WC3 events around the world, nonstop! Many of their followers and participating pro players have returned to the game for the first time in years. There are many custom-game players and modders that don't know that the competitive scene is still active, and there are many melee players that don't know that the modding and customs scene is still active. We offer support to the team and also their viewers who stumble upon us. Because of these things, we are very excited to work with them on upcoming joint projects, and said projects will be coming very soon! (Hint word: streaming) See to the outlets below for more information and coverage. Back2Warcraft.com - Twitch - Twitter - Facebook - YouTube