Battle.net 2.0 was finally unveiled today at Blizzcon 2009. There are a ton of new features that will revolutionize the gaming experience for how gamers play Blizzard RTS'. We've already posted articles on BNet 2.0 Custom Mapping and BNet 2.0 Match Making System and 15 screenshots. This article will provide more an overview on what to expect with BNet and outline the key features.

Base UI

The basic UI for the Starcraft 2 BNet interface is that similar of Windows, of course with Blizzard's artwork style. There is a task bar at the bottom which shows the current time, access to the menu, and access to all chat windows. BNet also now supports voice chat which is accessible directly from the task bar.

Accounts

BNet 2.0 accounts will be global to all future Blizzard titles. Because the games are linked directly to your account, hacking will definitely be something to think twice about. If you get caught hacking numerous times, Blizzard could just ban your account effecting more than just the individual game you were caught hacking in.

Single Player Mobility

Wings of Liberty will be offering basic cloud storage on Battle.net. What that means is that if you play at work or at a friend's house and wish to carry your progress back to your home PC, you can update your Battle.net account with your progress. Then when you return home or somewhere else and wish to catch up where you left off you can login to your Battle.net account and continue your play.

Friend's List

Your friend's list will be global to all of your Blizzard titles starting with WoW. You will be able to customize your friend's name on your list (you can put their real name, nickname, or something else) so you know exactly who it is. Battle.net will support an IM-like friend's list system with a few extras. You can see the status of all of your friends, what games they're playing, what zone they're in for WoW or which map they're playing. You can also broadcast a message to all of your friends. So say you're playing Starcraft 2 and want to run some WoW Heroics later. Rather than IMing all of your friends, just broadcast a message. Check out this screenshot for an example:

Avatars and Decals

Through achievements you can unlock new avatars and decals. Selected decals will actually appear on your units and structures on the battlefield giving you some customization over your army.

Personal Profiles

You will have personal profiles which will hold statistics on your gameplay, achievements, best map, match history, and more. You will be able to customize which personal information is displayed.

Achievements

Achievements will be available for multiplayer which will unlock avatars and Decals. They will not only be applicable to multiplayer but also for the Wings of Liberty single player. They will also be applicable . There are also plans to implement unique achievements for the most popular custom maps.

Game Lobby

One of the greatest improvements to BNet is that you can create a game as private, invite all your friends, and then open it to the public. This prevents you from kicking players constantly just to get your group of friends in and having to get the timing right before someone else joins.