It’s been over eight years since Blizzard released its own launcher with the Battle.net app. Since then, virtually nothing has changed in the program, which in the meantime was also called the Blizzard App.
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But this is changing from now on: The American publisher has now released the revised Battle.net 2.0 app in a first beta version. In this article we will explain to you what will change and how you can get access.
This is new in Battle.net 2.0
At first glance, the revised launcher doesn’t look dramatically different than before, but it does new layout is definitely an improvement.
The list of your games can no longer be found on the left edge of the window, but in the upper area of the launcher in the form of a narrow bar. This creates more space in the central area. From now on you can either display your complete game collection here or display the latest news and trailers for the title of your choice.
The best new feature is the new integration of the friends list: So far, it opened in a separate window after clicking on an icon. If you wanted to write to one of your friends, the chat opened in the main window of the launcher – quite inconvenient.
Now it’s exactly the other way around: The friends list can be viewed at any time on the right edge of the app and the chat window now opens in its own window, similar to how it works on Steam or Origin.
Further improvements: The launcher can now also be operated using the keyboard, and a slightly more contrasting color scheme ensures overall better readability.
Unfortunately, classic games such as Diablo 2 still cannot be started via the app – you still have to download them from the Battle.net website and install them manually.
This is how you get Battle.net 2.0
According to a blog entry on the Blizzard website, the new launcher should actually only be available in North America so far and only reach the rest of the world in a few weeks to ensure server stability. As you can see from the screenshots, we were able to install Battle.net 2.0 without any problems. At this point, however, we cannot guarantee that this will really work for every one of our readers.
If you want to try your luck and switch to the new launcher, you have to take the following steps:
- In the Battle.net app, click the Blizzard logo in the upper left corner.
- Select the Settings item.
- Go to the Beta area here.
- Here you can switch to the beta version, the download will then start automatically.
- After restarting the launcher you will – with a little luck – have the new Battle.net 2.0 app.
