HoTS Beta = Smurf Academy

Every beta player will be a smurf upon the official release.

It just struck me the other day. After greeting my opponent with my customary, “May the best man win,” he replied with, “gg Marakai.”

I was surprised to see that my opponent was so polite. He called me by name, Marakai. But the name threw me off, because my usual name is Maulakai. I had to choose a different name for the HotS beta. I had to remind myself that none of the achievements, decals, or XP from Marakai would transfer over to the official HotS when released next month.

Nothing would transfer over?

Wait a minute. I thought the whole point of this next XP system was to give players a more accurate snapshot of their opponents. If I have my points reset when the game is released, if Marakai goes bye bye and Maulakai starts playing HotS from level 1, well, how are my opponents supposed to know I’m really a level 70 player?

They won’t.

By not allowing our accounts to transfer over, Blizzard is, essentially, creating a Smurf Academy. Every player lucky enough to have been part of the beta test will be a smurf upon the game’s official release. And the culprits, this time, are not the players, but the developers.