Blizzard forces 200MB of bloatware to start-up games.

[jmaster299]

Well this is a sad day. Seems like people are alright with bloat just because "you got memory to spare!".

200MB for a launcher is waaaay too much. I have no idea how a launch could take up even 50MB. Maybe I am just getting old, but I liked it better back when I could just launch a game without having to launch another program (or sometimes even two other programs) to play the game. It is so much faster. Nowadays when I want to play a game it first starts steam, then it might start another launcher like Uplay, and then the game starts to load. Each one of them has to connect to some terribly slow online authentication as well. It takes like 2 minutes before the game even starts to load.

I don't even get why they have to be running if the game is already launched. Why do I have to have a bunch of launchers running in the background when I play the game? I wish people would be less tolerant towards this kind of bullshit. I think the world would be a better place that way.

 

 

 

You look... familiar.

Take the time to read my posts in this thread. It is WAY more than just a launcher. I does tons of different things in addition to launching games. BattleTag chat system to chat with friends who are playing ANY Blizzard game. Integrated Blizzard store with no need to redirect to a browser. Constant news feed for anything and everything related to your games and Battle.net (maintenance, patches, breaking news like the DDOS issue, etc). 

The Battle.net launcher does EVERYTHING that STEAM does and STEAM is a much, much, larger install size than 200MB. Being sure to exclude the steamapps folder and the backup folder, STEAM takes up 1.4GB of drive space. Yet 222MB for the Battle.net Launcher is bloatware to you???? 

Also, you can change the settings so the launcher automatically closes after you launch a game.

[LOST TALE]

So... do you... 

Anyways, it's just 200MB and makes a lot much easier. I've got it running in the background 24/7, and if I wanted to play any game I just go to my taskbar and click one of the four games I want to play, without having to worry about updates etc because this all gets done in the background.

 

Oh not to mention I can also read the blizzard news, which I like

 

I think I need a list of stupid employ decisions. Because enforcing this on everyone else at the cost of 0 technical difficulties is NEWS to me.

[Wano97]

I think I need a list of stupid employ decisions. Because enforcing this on everyone else at the cost of 0 technical difficulties is NEWS to me.

There are worse things than a 200MB launcher.

[LOST TALE]

Take the time to read my posts in this thread. It is WAY more than just a launcher. I does tons of different things in addition to launching games. BattleTag chat system to chat with friends who are playing ANY Blizzard game. Integrated Blizzard store with no need to redirect to a browser. Constant news feed for anything and everything related to your games and Battle.net (maintenance, patches, breaking news like the DDOS issue, etc). 

The Battle.net launcher does EVERYTHING that STEAM does and STEAM is a much, much, larger install size than 200MB. Being sure to exclude the steamapps folder and the backup folder, STEAM takes up 1.4GB of drive space. Yet 222MB for the Battle.net Launcher is bloatware to you???? 

The previous launcher took 2-4MB.

It did:

-Download manager with even more options such as peer to peer option.

-Add/start/pause download, play before downlaod finishes, donwload in background?

-Patch notes,

-News

-Closes it's self automaticly once game is launched.

 

I dont need other shit. I can now chat with people.

Steam does more.

 

chat? store? +198MB hard drive and 2000% RAM usage.

Option to keep using old one? NOPE

[Imaginaerum]

I think I need a list of stupid employ decisions. Because enforcing this on everyone else at the cost of 0 technical difficulties is NEWS to me.

Then maybe you should buy all of the Blizzard games.

[jmaster299]

The previous launcher took 2-4MB.

It did:

-Download manager with even more options such as peer to peer option.

-Add/start/pause download, play before downlaod finishes, donwload in background?

-Patch notes,

-News

-Closes it's self automaticly once game is launched.

 

I dont need other shit. I can now chat with people.

Steam does more.

It was only for 1 game, and did not have an integrated store, a complex news section or the chat function. Also, if you take 2 seconds to look at the launcher options, you can set it so the launcher closes after you launch a game. Either get over yourself or don't play any games from Blizzard. Anyone who is complaining about 200MB of drive space these days should not be on the internet, period.

[JustTooDank]

it used to be 4 MB, they rmeoved that option, because fuck options. idiots.

Do you still have a floppy and/or ZIP drive?

Options, amirite?

[LAwLz]

ya and? those 20 games can be like 5-50 GB per game so 200 MB is nothing. I have over 1 TB of steam games installed that I don't even play so 200MB is a joke. I also have all my songs in flac AND mp3 (thats like 200GB) and 1 TB of anime and 1 TB of movies. so when I see a launcher that is 200 MB I could not even care.

I don't get this logic at all. Just because you got a lot of other data on your drive doesn't mean it is okay to have unoptimized and bloated code in your programs.

My imageviewer (IrfanView) is 1.97MB. For some reason, the Windows Photo Viewer which has less functionality (including no support for animated gifs) takes up 5.29MB. I think that's bloated but it's still not too big of a deal. Now, if the image viewer was 200MB I would be pissed, and I think everyone should be as well. There is just no excuse for this. Programs should be as small as efficient as possible. Don't waste resources because you got plenty of them.

 

 

2 minutes? How slow is your connection? I can load Steam, Origin, Uplay, or Battle.net and have a game running in much less than a minute (barring patches). I'd rather have multi-game launchers/downloaders then have to navigate a website, download a big installer, then install the game. With these services you hit download and it installs while downloading, no extra steps. Beyond that not having them would make things a huge mess. You'd need accounts for EVERY publisher and have to rely on them keeping the installers up for download.

100/100Mbps and they are installed on my 128GB Crucial m4.

Steam takes 18 seconds to start.

Uplay takes 20 seconds to start.  (both times not including any updates)

So okay I was a bit unfair with the 2 minutes, but it's still taking 38 seconds longer to start the game that it should. Every single time I want to start some game like From Dust. When the launchers take longer to start than the game, you got problems with your launchers.

Wait... You would need an account for every publisher and you'd have to rely on them keeping the installers up for download? You already have to do that. I need an EA account to play their games. I need a Ubisoft account to play their games. I need a Steam account to play a bunch of their games. I need a Blizzard account to play their games. Want me to continue? You are always going to rely on them keeping their installers up for downloading no matter if you use an installer.exe or some launcher. Launchers don't operate on magic. Launchers are often just glorified ftp clients.

 

 

 

Take the time to read my posts in this thread. It is WAY more than just a launcher. I does tons of different things in addition to launching games. BattleTag chat system to chat with friends who are playing ANY Blizzard game. Integrated Blizzard store with no need to redirect to a browser. Constant news feed for anything and everything related to your games and Battle.net (maintenance, patches, breaking news like the DDOS issue, etc). 

The Battle.net launcher does EVERYTHING that STEAM does and STEAM is a much, much, larger install size than 200MB. Being sure to exclude the steamapps folder and the backup folder, STEAM takes up 1.4GB of drive space. Yet 222MB for the Battle.net Launcher is bloatware to you???? 

Yep and that's what I would call bloat. By the way I think Steam is bloated as well, so bringing that up won't really help you.

[gunsman]

IMHO the bnet launcher is one of the cleanest looking launchers i have ever used. Heroes of the Storm isn't connected with realID friends just yet, so it is nice to have just the launcher open to chat while playing HotS, not only that but i can keep the chat going while switching games. It just works, and background updates are a plus too.

[AlexGoesHigh]

 

STEAM takes up 1.4GB of drive space.

actually 400MB, maybe it adds up to you like cache stuff and games doing others thing outside of the SteamApps folder, i just made fresh install of steam whit zero games and that what the folder shows up to contain

[jmaster299]

I don't get this logic at all. Just because you got a lot of other data on your drive doesn't mean it is okay to have unoptimized and bloated code in your programs.

My imageviewer (IrfanView) is 1.97MB. For some reason, the Windows Photo Viewer which has less functionality (including no support for animated gifs) takes up 5.29MB. I think that's bloated but it's still not too big of a deal. Now, if the image viewer was 200MB I would be pissed, and I think everyone should be as well. There is just no excuse for this. Programs should be as small as efficient as possible. Don't waste resources because you got plenty of them.

 

 

100/100Mbps and they are installed on my 128GB Crucial m4.

Steam takes 18 seconds to start.

Uplay takes 20 seconds to start.  (both times not including any updates)

So okay I was a bit unfair with the 2 minutes, but it's still taking 38 seconds longer to start the game that it should. Every single time I want to start some game like From Dust. When the launchers take longer to start than the game, you got problems with your launchers.

Wait... You would need an account for every publisher and you'd have to rely on them keeping the installers up for download? You already have to do that. I need an EA account to play their games. I need a Ubisoft account to play their games. I need a Steam account to play a bunch of their games. I need a Blizzard account to play their games. Want me to continue? You are always going to rely on them keeping their installers up for downloading no matter if you use an installer.exe or some launcher. Launchers don't operate on magic. Launchers are often just glorified ftp clients.

 

 

 

Yep and that's what I would call bloat. By the way I think Steam is bloated as well, so bringing that up won't really help you.

No, you don't know what bloatware is if you are going to call 200MB bloated for something that can do all the things that I listed. Until you rewrite the code so it uses the less than 50MB that you claim it should use, you don't have any standing to complain about it. 50MB is beyond unreasonable for a program that does as much as the Battle.net launcher does. Like I said before, if you can't handle a program using 200MB of drive space, just get off the internet.

And yes, the average user having a terabyte or more of drive space these days absolutely means a program that uses 0.02% of that drive space means you can't call the program "bloatware".

 

 

actually 400MB, maybe it adds up to you like cache stuff and games doing others thing outside of the SteamApps folder, i just made fresh install of steam whit zero games and that what the folder shows up to contain

 

We are talking about total base install size, so learn to read please. The full entire install size for Battle.net is 222MB. STEAM, with absolutely no games files, game saves or game backups is 1.4GB.

[LOST TALE]

Blizzard has been getting DDOS attacked for several days now. that's why the download is messed up. Also, like Builder said, don't complain about 200MB. That is not even close to being "bloatware". If it was 2GB you would have a point. Blizzard has been using a launcher since day 1 of WoW. They just now use 1 launcher for all their games instead of a different launcher for each one.

Even 120MB for Origin is not bloatware. Seriously, get a grip. 

everything using 5x RAM for...nothing.Gripping doesnt stop complaining

[Xorbot]

You lost me at 32 GB of RAM in 2010.

 

I wanted to say a decade, like 80's or 90's.. but it is weird saying "it's the 10's"... so I guess I went with 2010's?

[LOST TALE]

We are talking about total base install size, so learn to read please. The full entire install size for Battle.net is 222MB. STEAM, with absolutely no games files, game saves or game backups is 1.4GB.

Bnet, with absolutely no games files, game saves or game backups and 4+ times less fucntionality is 222MB.

[harrynowl]

 

Does this really matter? Go complain about games that have 40GB of audio.

[LAwLz]

No, you don't know what bloatware is if you are going to call 200MB bloated for something that can do all the things that I listed. Until you rewrite the code so it uses the less than 50MB that you claim it should use, you don't have any standing to complain about it. 50MB is beyond unreasonable for a program that does as much as the Battle.net launcher does. Like I said before, if you can't handle a program using 200MB of drive space, just get off the internet.

And yes, the average user having a terabyte or more of drive space these days absolutely means a program that uses 0.02% of that drive space means you can't call the program "bloatware".

You can't say a program isn't bloated because "it only uses 200MB". To classify a program as bloated you have to look at it's suppose to do and how much resources it takes up to accomplish that. 50MB is not unreasonable for an RSS reader, a store (which fetches info from the Internet anyway) and a chat client. So let's see how much space it has to take up.

An FTP client only used for fetching files would be less than 500KB (based on the fact that PuTTY is 484KB and it supports far more than FTP)

A decent chat client like Pidgin takes up 17.9MB. It's not really fair to compare such a big client to the chat in the Blizzard client but I am going to give you a handicap.

RSS reader... I don't actually have one on computer so I looked at the RSS reader on my phone instead. Pulse takes up 15MB.

Last but not least the store. I think it is pretty reasonable to say that it shouldn't take up 33,4MB but let's say it does. I would be surprised if it needed to take up more than 15MB I mean, the entire Android AOSP browser takes up like 30MB, and that a full blown Webkit browser with support for HTML5 and a bunch of other things.

All that adds up to 50MB. I have no idea where the other 150MB are going in Blizzard's client but it's really really bloated for what it does.

 

 

Why should I be okay with a program being 4 times as big as it has to be? It's just wasted resources. Have you ever heard of Wirth's law? Because it kind of applies here.

 

 

I love your "if you can't do it better then you aren't allowed to complain" mentality. I guess that means I am not allowed to criticize any movie before I make my own either, right? I am not allowed to say that Rebecca Black sang poorly in ther song "Friday" because I haven't made a better song myself, right? Sorry but that's just completely illogical.

[Misanthrope]

I wanted to say a decade, like 80's or 90's.. but it is weird saying "it's the 10's"... so I guess I went with 2010's?

 

Makes a little more sense. I could let it go if it was 16 but 32 even right now in 2014 it's still stupid unless you have a server or a professional grade workstation.

[jmaster299]

Bnet, with absolutely no games files, game saves or game backups and 4+ times less fucntionality is 222MB.

Still not seeing the issue. Get over it or uninstall your games.

 

You can't say a program isn't bloated because "it only uses 200MB". To classify a program as bloated you have to look at it's suppose to do and how much resources it takes up to accomplish that. 50MB is not unreasonable for an RSS reader, a store (which fetches info from the Internet anyway) and a chat client. So let's see how much space it has to take up.

An FTP client only used for fetching files would be less than 500KB (based on the fact that PuTTY is 484KB and it supports far more than FTP)

A decent chat client like Pidgin takes up 17.9MB. It's not really fair to compare such a big client to the chat in the Blizzard client but I am going to give you a handicap.

RSS reader... I don't actually have one on computer so I looked at the RSS reader on my phone instead. Pulse takes up 15MB.

Last but not least the store. I think it is pretty reasonable to say that it shouldn't take up 33,4MB but let's say it does. I would be surprised if it needed to take up more than 15MB I mean, the entire Android AOSP browser takes up like 30MB, and that a full blown Webkit browser with support for HTML5 and a bunch of other things.

All that adds up to 50MB. I have no idea where the other 150MB are going in Blizzard's client but it's really really bloated for what it does.

 

 

Why should I be okay with a program being 4 times as big as it has to be? It's just wasted resources. Have you ever heard of Wirth's law? Because it kind of applies here.

 

 

I love your "if you can't do it better then you aren't allowed to complain" mentality. I guess that means I am not allowed to criticize any movie before I make my own either, right? I am not allowed to say that Rebecca Black sang poorly in ther song "Friday" because I haven't made a better song myself, right? Sorry but that's just completely illogical.

Again, either code it to use 50MB or get over like like the OP needs to get over it. You always talk this huge game about how things should be, yet you have no actual proof to back it up. You say 200MB, I say you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Based on other programs that do the same thing, 200MB is a much smaller install size. And, yes, again, if you can't handle a 200MB install size, do the world a favor and get off the internet. You're one of the people that cries about how much RAM Chrome uses too, yet it has a cap of a whopping 20MB.

When stuff like Pidgin can allow you to chat with people on their desktops, in multiple different games, and a mobile client all at the same time, then you can use it as an example. But it also needs a fully functional store for all of those games and a complex news feature. Click the "news" tab in the Battle.net launcher. Its a lot more complex than an RSS feed.

[Razzaa]

This thread is still alive? Pointless from the very first post........

[Carpenoctem]

Sensational useless title ftw.

Feels like it's a trend going these days to get attention.

 

To be on the subject.

I love to have everything ordered in one place, and my cpu/pc doesnt even feel it. Problem is yours I am afraid.

[jmaster299]

Sensational useless title ftw.

Feels like it's a trend going these days to get attention.

 

To be on the subject.

I love to have everything ordered in one place, and my cpu/pc doesnt even feel it. Problem is yours I am afraid.

Its actually a common, but still pointless and misguided, complaint on these forums. A very vocal minority complains when any program uses more than 1MB of RAM or 10MB of HDD space. Doesn't matter what the program does, they all think they know how to code better than billion dollar companies. I really don't see how they haven't suffered an aneurysm yet since only the most basic of programs with zero functionality fit into their limited idea of what is acceptable.

Yes there are programs that can probably be scaled down, but at 222MB for the total install size, the Battle.net launcher isn't one of them. I think the biggest issue here was the OP had trouble when downloading it, but completly ignored the fact when he was told Blizzard was suffering through a 3rd straight day of DDOS attacks.

[Fetzie]

Replacing the 4MB styled launcher who did everything they first claim about the new one

 

They could of just gave the option to not use it or to use it. EA not giving Mod tools or enabling game features already in the game is not new with almost no effor ton their side is not new.

Games now create 3 folders in average literally, 1 for the game, 1 for a software utlity like rapture 3D, 1 for game save. some use less, some use more.

 

And apparently people are accepting more folder cluttering, double the launch time for games and GBs of just launchers.

 

Summary: Nothing has changed, except 20 minutes of not being able to play while using 25% of the cpu (????)

 

 

 

Source: My experience and this: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/14569679/launchers-upgrading-to-battlenet-desktop-app-6-25-2014

 

The changes to the new launcher:

 

Chat with battle.net friends from the desktop

Launch multiple versions of the game at one time

Swap game region (EU, US, KR, RU, CN) without having to edit a realmlist file

Not need 4 launchers for each game

Access account management without needing to log in a second time

Automatically enter an authenticator code when launching a game

Access official forums without needing to log in separately

Access the Blizzard Shop without needing to log in separately

Easily manage install locations of games

Log in to PTR/Alpha/Beta clients without needing to log in separately

 

 

So yeah, it does a fuck load more than the old launcher.

[Guest]

Battle.net launcher doesn't add 20 minutes of being unable to play, wtf are you talking about?

 

The launcher is awesome, it keeps all the latest titles up to date, just waiting on them to implement WC3 and TFT.  Plus you can chat to any of your in game BNet friends across all games, Hearthstone, SC2, D3 and WoW as well has having a store.

 

Stop complaining about progress.  200Mb in memory for a fairly robust, secure, well polished and useful program is not a large price to pay.  If you don't like it then turn it off Startup and only use it when you log in.  It remembers your authenticator details for weeks or months so it's not like you need to enter it a lot.

 

If just having the client open uses 200Mb memory, takes up 25% of your cpu resources and has added 20mins on to you playing any game supported by the software then your PC is fucked mate, not Blizz, not BNet.

[Gunjob]

Oh.. Another rage post by lost tale "grabs popcorn"

I use this battel.net launcher and its nice.

 

 

[jaggysnake57]

dude