Can StarCraft 2 be played offline?

Question

I've always thought that Starcraft 2 was Always Online, but I was talking to a college today and I found out there was an offline mode which just lacks access to achievements or custom maps (like I care for either).

I've boycotted StarCraft 2 when I read that it was Always Online play because I don't want my main gaming powerhouse connected to the internet.

So does StarCraft 2 require any net connection to start a single player game? I'm not going to waste money to buy it only to learn I can't play it.

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 07 '14 at 07:20

19

Starcraft 2 can be played offline, as long as you have logged in at least once.

Attempting to log in without an internet connection will give you the following screen:

Playing "Play Offline" at this point will allow you to:

Play all Campaign and Challenge missions.
Play Custom Games vs. the AI
Play Any Battle.net Arcade maps you have previously played (or can otherwise be found on your computer).

You will not be able to:

Earn Achievements
Earn Experience for your Starcraft 2 profile
Play LAN games, or otherwise invite anyone else into custom games.

edited Nov 07 '14 at 07:20

Brythan

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answered Mar 12 '13 at 03:43

Raven Dreamer

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See also my answer here: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/4258/starcraft-2-what-features-are-disabled-different-while-offline – Raven Dreamer Mar 12 '13 at 03:47
when you say "as long as you have logged in at least once" you mean i still have to log in after a fresh install or can i just go offline right away cause i remember Unreal 3 having an offline mode to but i didn't need to even need to log in to get it's offline mode (but i did have to mess with some profile files in the filesystem to save the game) – Memor-X Mar 12 '13 at 04:07
@Memor-X Not sure what is unclear about that? You have to log in once. – Matthew Read Mar 12 '13 at 04:17
@MatthewRead probably more a sense of clarity on weather the log in has to be successful that first time or not – Memor-X Mar 12 '13 at 04:30
@Memor-X Gotcha, I believe I did try to login while offline and failed when WoL came out and failed, couldn't get past it, but it's been a long time since then. – Matthew Read Mar 12 '13 at 05:12
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@Memor-X It has to be successful. It's essentially a one-time online activation. – Raven Dreamer Mar 12 '13 at 11:15
So once you activate this online once, you can basically shut off all your internets and still be able to play SC2 (1st and 2nd chapters) offline in single-player mode, be it campaign or human-vs-computer team game? – oscilatingcretin Mar 12 '13 at 17:01
@oscilatingcretin As long as you are the only human, yes! – Raven Dreamer Mar 12 '13 at 17:10
Can you refuse to connect to b.net when you /are/ online, though? – Shadur-don't-feed-the-AI Aug 27 '13 at 08:03
Does the login have to be on the same machine as the one you want to play offline on? – Nzall Jun 11 '14 at 08:07

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 31 '15 at 15:14

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I was able to play SC2 offline all the way up until just recently, the last update seems to have made it where you have to connect to battlenet and authenticate your game, which is extremely annoying because my internet doesn't always work good.

answered Oct 31 '15 at 15:14

Fatoldsweaty

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score -2 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 27 '13 at 06:22

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As of this posting, you cannot play offline... even if you want to play local games, and have logged on multiple times in the past, StarCraft 2 still REQUIRES you be online and log in to Battle.net, even to play in "offline" mode.

answered Aug 27 '13 at 06:22

AdobeWanKenobi

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Are you sure? the other answer seems to indicate otherwise. – Arperum Aug 27 '13 at 08:04

Can StarCraft 2 be played offline?

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