Does anyone know the specs on this yet? I'm gonna need a new computer most likely.

In my case, there is plenty of time when I am without reliable internet (when I am visiting parents, when I am traveling)

Aside from all that, by giving up LAN, I am now forced to trust someone else's system that I have no way to fix myself if there are issues.
I understand you have faith that battlenet will never have any issues at all. Personally I am skeptical, and I now will wait and observe rather than try to get it immediately.
Too me its just adding another step that doesn't need to be added with more things that could potentially go wrong.

even sc1 has LAN...

Please explain to me how is that piracy? So am I not allowed to play my copy of Gow on my friends 360?

@Ail

Stop being so ignorant there are so many flaws with your post. What about people that live in countries that have shitty internet speeds, What about people that like having LAN parties, what about the most hardcore group of fans that go to major tournaments? How are they supposed to run major tournaments with hundreds of pc's with no lan support?

Were supposed to be adding features to our games not having them be taken away. just because your content with playing by your self over the internet doesn't mean I am. I prefer to head over to a friends house and play Halo split screen with my friends sitting right next to me having a blast rather than sitting in my room alone. I can tell you for consoles that many people buy a game simply for the reason that it has split screen. There is no reason to take away LAN, I gaurantee you pirates will find a way around any anti-piracy measure in less than a month,actually  probably less than a week. All I see from this is that Blizzard have reached the point where they say screw the fans how can we extort the most money out of these people for the least effort.

This won't screw pirates in the slightest since their A) they don't care about MP or B) they'll just used a hacked server when it appears (and for a game this big, that won't be too long). WoW is a bad example since it relies on online content and a larger community to be played, but that hasn't stopped cracked servers from appearing anyway...

And LAN play is still useful. No reliance on needing an internet connection comes in handy and for larger groups. Getting internt access into a hall you've hired can be a pain in the arse or even just around the house where the largest rooms don't have readily available access. There is also the advantage that when ther servers are down (or you just don't have internet access), you can still play MP. I don't understand why people accept the hassle of needing to get permission from the company every time they want to play.

Major gaming leagues have been running Wow Arena tournaments without LAN for several years.

You do not need LAN to run those, Blizzard actually provides the support...

11 million players play wow every month through battlenet for the majority of them so give me a break about bnet stability...

As for third world countries, wow has been highly successfull worlwide without LAN support, I do not see why SC2 would be any different..

Basically you guys keep telling us how LAN support is needed and the most popular PC games of these last 5 years does not provide it and has been widely successfull, especially in countries which supposedly do not have as advanced internet coverage(China).

And you have a LAN and friends moving with you when you go visit your parents or travel ?

So I don't see how the lack of LAN support changes the situation...

@Ail

actually when I am with my parents I play starcraft with my brother. There have been other case when I travel with friends on a train.

and yes, both situations leave me without internet. Aside from that, there is no way to be sure that their servers will never go down.
Do you feel that everyone one on a LAN is a pirate for some reason? I fail to understand the rabid defense of blizzard giving you less of a product.

Were you purposely trying to give the worst metaphor you could think of?

Installing a game on multiple computers for the purpose of other people playing the game without paying, is piracy.

Here is a definition Einstein

"The unauthorized copying of software. Most retail programs are licensed for use at just one computer site or for use by only one user at any time. By buying the software, you become a licensed user rather than an owner (see EULA). You are allowed to make copies of the program for backup purposes, but it is against the law to give copies to friends and colleagues.

Software piracy is all but impossible to stop, although software companies
are launching more and more lawsuits against major infractors. Originally, software companies tried to stop software piracy by copy-protecting their software. This strategy failed, however, because it was inconvenient for users and was not 100 percent foolproof. Most software now requires some sort of registration, which may discourage would-be pirates, but doesn't really stop software piracy.

Some common types of software piracy include counterfeit software, OEM unbundling, softlifting, hard disk loading, corporate software piracy, and Internet software piracy.

An entirely different approach to software piracy, called shareware, acknowledges the futility of trying to stop people from copying software and instead relies on people's honesty. Shareware publishers encourage users to give copies of programs to friends and colleagues but ask everyone who uses a program regularly to pay a registration fee to the program's author directly.

Commercial programs that are made available to the public illegally are often called warez. "