A new update for the Blizzard Battle.net service (yes, it is still called that) lets you set your status as “Offline.” This comes as part of an update to the beta branch of the online-gaming platform, along with a new social tab, profile system, and avatars, Eurogamer reports. Blizzard groups have also been added, to balance out the social part of the service.
It’s not always easy to turn down friends who want to play another round of Overwatch, especially when they can see that you’re online. Using the new “Offline” status, though, will let you hide from your pals for a few hours so you can get some single-player gaming in.
Bear in mind, you will only appear offline. That means if you do go into certain online games, your friends who are playing it will be able to see your character come online. However, everyone outside of those games will see you as offline.
As if that seemed too anti-social for this update though, Blizzard bundled it with a number of social-enhancing features too. The new Blizzard groups and social tab help bring together players of different games and those who are already on your friends list to chat. The idea is to help foster better relationships between existing friends, help you plan your next mission, and let fans of different games meet digitally to perhaps play together in the future.
To let your newly found friends learn a little about you, you can now put a few of your preferences and information on your profile page. Along with your name, a chosen avatar, and backdrop, you can have a short “About” section describing you, or more likely making a snarky gamer joke. Profile pages will also list the Blizzard games you play (even Destiny 2) and offer a quick link to start a chat. It even has a place for friends to leave notes for you and links to your relevant social media accounts.
As it stands, it’s not clear when these features will become available for the wider user base. In the meantime, if you’d like to take part in the beta release of the Battle.net client, all you need do is open it up, go to the app’s settings and click on the beta tab.