My subscription ran out and I went to Battlenet to add another year. Only, I can’t. It’s telling me that before I can buy time I need an “authenticator” and, in order to get one of those, I need a mobile device. Well, I don’t have a mobile device.
Is there something I’m missing? Why can’t I use my credit card to buy more time like always?
You can get a plastic authenticator too. It’s about the size of a USB stick and has a small LCD screen and a button on it, and a loop on the other end. You press it and it generates a 4-digit (?) number, which you enter after putting in your username and password, to start up the game. Your authenticator is tied to your account, and adds an extra level of protection. Blizzard really really really wants everyone to have one, due to the sheer number of hackers compromising accounts.
As for why/if it’s required now, I have no idea. I bought an authenticator years ago for my WoW account, and stopped playing earlier this year or so.
It just seemed super stupid business-wise to require customers to have a mobile device. However, after digging and searching I see you can add a game subscription without an authenticator. But they do make it hard to find.
They’re trying to protect you from yourself. Too many people had their account compromised due to being dumb online (or getting something nasty from a flash ad.)
Because they want to ensure that your account has all the security that something like SecurID can provide, now that they’re really sure they’re never going to get hacked again.
I honestly don’t think this is it. There are several ways to pull that off without requiring a mobile phone number. The fact that they pick that particular thing makes me think that there’s something desirable about having someone’s direct access phone number in their account information.
Just like how Google asks for it for if you get locked out of your account–except that I’ve already given them more than one alternated email address, which accomplishes the exact same thing. (It doesn’t help that they come back and ask you again every month or so, and try to hide the way to opt out.)
I choose the level of security that I want on my accounts. I don’t need the security theater.
You can’t buy any more time from WoW?!
It’s truly the end of the World! … of Warcraft
In my 7 years of playing, I never got hacked. Most people I knew who got hacked were because they were buying gold.
But it’s still not a terrible idea to have an authenticator if you have a lot invested in the game.
Personally, I find it amusing as hell that when I go to battlenet to add more game time, when I log in the “Keep me logged in” option is automatically checked. Way to manage security, guys…
…and then proceeded to file class-actions against Blizzard as if it were somehow their fault, because “THEY SHOULD DO SOMETHING”. Well, here’s their something.
FWIW, you can set up the authenticator mobile app to run on any computer, although obviously it defeats some aspects of the security if you do it from the same PC you run the game on.
Or you can buy a little plastic stick that does it.
I wish Valve would do something like this for Steam. I don’t really care about my Battle.net, but I’d be devastated if I lost my Axe chests, Sven swords, and ugly Jugg masks. Oh, and my $1000 in games, I guess.
To clarify, you don’t need a mobile device. To attach an authenticator to your account you need to either:
A) Order a stand-alone authenticator, which is a key fob. I think you have to pay six dollars for shipping. This kind of authenticator is, IIRC, included with every new boxed version of WoW.
B) Download the mobile authenticator app, which is completely free.
i still get spam emails from “blizzard entertainment” about three times a week regarding my WoW account. i played WoW for about a month over four years ago. i’m guessing since millions of people play WoW, thousands are dumb enough to fall for stuff like those emails, and they’re just trying to keep you safe.
… no, they’re just trying to keep themselves safe. Players don’t own anything in-game, it’s all the property of Blizzard. Hackers are cheating Blizz out of their money; the only effect of hackers on players is that the players don’t have access to all their pixellated gold until the account gets restored.
You do need to download the mobile authenticator app onto a mobile device, so you need a mobile device to play. But you don’t. You can still buy a subscription without it. WoW is just making you work just that much harder to do so.
I’d hardly call a key fob with a 6-digit LCD readout a “mobile device”.
It ain’t my desktop.
My account got hacked, my roomie borrowed my laptop to use while on a road trip to visit her mother and picked up some damned virus or another that grabbed a bunch of passwords. Only game accounts that got screwed with were WoW [they logged in, stripped my main and were farming in generic cheap gear instead of my raid stuff] and my beta test account for Aion. I got a call from my dev buddy about my account being logged in when he knew I was in hospital so he shut down the account access and locked the account for me.
Honestly, I am a fan of authenticators, I wish all the games had them. I think that WoW sells them for under $5US. I would get them for any MMORPG I play - to not have to worry about being hacked would be great.
I get spam for games I have never played 
:smack:
More like it costs them millions of dollars a year in tech support salaries to deal with all the people who get hacked coming to them to get their accounts restored.
Blizzard takes a hit on the cost of the physical authenticators, you just pay for shipping. Yes, it saves Blizzard money to give away something.