Surfing around the Blizzard website, I noticed some interesting bits of information that I believe hints at Bnet 2.0

With all the rumors flying around about Blizzard looking for Next-Gen MMO developers, which obviously hints at Diablo 3 being in development, I found this interesting Job posting:

Blizzard Entertainment seeks a Web programmer experienced in developing Web-based applications for our internal and external websites. The programmer would be responsible for creating new and improving existing applications in a high-load, high-availability environment. The ideal candidate would be experienced in Java, web-related technologies, and relational database design. For more information, check out the posting.

Blizzard has a great web team, and their websites for Warcraft and Starcraft related games are some of the best in the gaming community. So what could this next Web based project be for blizzard?

Well lets look closer: “experienced in developing Web-based applications for our internal and external websites”

Internal Web based applications could mean anything from an internal CMS (content management system), internal Blizzard chat/email/data web based programs, a Blizzard Basecamp like app, etc etc…

Now External websites is what we need to look at here, because that involves us, the Starcraft & Starcraft 2 fans.

Right off the bat those 2 words “External websites” could mean one of 3 things.

Think Steam, its a desktop application that works like a Web application. You can buy Sierra games and 3rd party games right from Steam and do other things like check out trailers, demos, etc… even has a X-fire like IM system for their gaming community.

Could Blizzard be building something like this? A Web/desktop application where you can download the latest Warcraft III Patches, WoW expansions, and Starcraft II maps. Bnet channels will be accessible through this application so you can chat with your clan while at work and not be as obvious. A Bnet messenger system that allows users to add friends like /f add. Joining games your friends are in by clicking on their names in your friends list. The features could go on and on...

http://blizzard.com/us/jobopp/web-associate-software-engineer.html

^ The above link is the full Job posting details for the Web Software Engineer… Note this bullet point:
Experience with credit card processing/transactional systems.

So I’m right about some similarities between Steam and this web project. This is a new trend or rather next-gen gaming feature… taking small amounts of money from a website or console based application (Playstation 3, Wii Store, Xbox live) which would replace the dreaded monthly fees.

The competitive MMO GuildWars now has a system like this in game where you can purchase update packs or skill packs and even full expansions.

Back to that bullet point, this could mean that a future Diablo 3 could be based on a similar pay system as Guildwars & Guildwars 2, also this could mean that we could find and join friends in Starcraft 2 games much more easier then the 1998 Bnet ‘chatcraft’ mini-game you had to play just to find out where your friends are.