Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBlizzard prepares for switch to Battle.net accounts
by Alex Ziebart 
Nov 11th 2008 at 9:00PM
It states that in the future, Blizzard intends to switch over from World of Warcraft accounts to a centralized account system for Battle.net. Which means that you'll create one account and you'll be able to use it for all of Blizzard's games with online capabilities in the future such as Diablo III and Starcraft II.
The hook is that you cannot upgrade your Burning Crusade account to a Wrath of the Lich King account without accepting the fact that you may be required to open a Battle.net account at some point in the future. You can still play WoW, but you can't upgrade your account for Wrath.
This sounds scary, but it really isn't. If you were in the Wrath beta, you may remember that beta testers had to do something like that. It seems we were not only beta testing Wrath of the Lich King but also the implementation of Blizzard/Battle.net accounts. We logged in using our e-mail address, not our account name. And for our efforts, they awarded us with Chilly the Penguin. It was a pretty smooth transition from using one to the other once it was in place.
So when you see this when you're upgrading your account, I wouldn't worry about it. Go ahead and accept it, and enjoy Wrath of the Lich King. For the average WoW player, when the switchover happens it will probably only take five minutes over your time to plug in your information and you'll never even need to think of it again. If you're a diehard Blizzard fan and will be buying Diablo III, Starcraft II, and whatever other games come our way from them, this will actually be more convenient for you. This is also how achievements will be tracked across all Blizzard games like they have mentioned they want to do.
Plus, they'll probably still give out those adorable penguin pets when they go through with it. So cute!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 5)
Butnick Nov 11th 2008 9:44PM
Pre-Paid debit cards FTW, you can get them at any Wal-Mart.
Butnick Nov 11th 2008 9:40PM
This is essentially the same thing SOE did with all of thier online and pay-to-play games. It's really no big deal. If they do it the same way it's a just a general login screen at which you choose which of the various games you have that you want to play. Also if they take a que from Sony there will be a deal for multiple games that ends up making the monthly cost much lower. Sony had the Station Acess for $25 a month that let you play EQ, EQII, and EQOA, plus all their little BS games. It was like paying for two and getting the rest for free, and if you only played two anyway it made it easier to keep track of your monthly budget because it came out once instead as two seperate charges. There really is no downside except that if there is an issue with being able to sign in you are screwed out of all your games and if you get hacked you loose them all.
Elvrag Nov 11th 2008 9:41PM
Dont do it! its all just a comspiracy! WoW is not real! >.< ....jk
Mark Nov 11th 2008 9:48PM
It better not be like Diablo II where they delete all your characters if your account is inactive for a while. That really sucked. I'm sure they won't though, people would burn their headquarters to the ground.
Steve23 Nov 11th 2008 9:59PM
I may need help I made my Wow Account when i was like 13 or so well im 16 now and anyways I used an old Email I still know the email it self its just that I dont remeber the password it must have been something dumb I didnt make it my cousin did for myspace:( I was wondering if this would pose a problem for me when this happens?
Bionic Radd Nov 11th 2008 9:49PM
Monetizing does not mean pay to play. It means, more than likely, microtransactions similar to what NCsoft has been doing to great effect in Guild Wars for years. I foresee Blizzard selling things like storage space and possibly character slots for a fee to people that feel the base game isn't enough for them. I also imagine there will be a lot of prestige items that look sweet but don't do much for sale. There are plenty of ways to make tons of money off the people with too much of it and still keep D3 free for the rest of us.
Crayonn Nov 11th 2008 9:59PM
I hope my Blizzard authenticator still works...
Mutak Nov 11th 2008 10:00PM
If this was anything more serious than a game, that kind of crap would give me pause.
Think about it: the battle.net account is going to have a bunch of terms and conditions associated with it that might be totally different from the ones you're agreeing to right now.
In essence, they're asking you to sign a contract saying that when they give you another contract in the future, you will sign that as well, even though you don't know what will be on that new contract.
Legally, it's pretty shady and probably wouldn't stand up to a court challenge, but like i said, it's just a game.
Chris Nov 11th 2008 10:15PM
Assuming american contract law is in some ways similar to english/australian/new zealand/canadian contract law, such an agreement would hold about as much water as a sieve.
You can't agree to reach and agreement, at least not in any enforceable sense.
Graham Nov 12th 2008 10:10AM
What evidence is there to suggest that there is anything "shady" )or different at all) in the new contract? Plus, no one is forcing anyone to sign it. If you don't, you will not be playing the game anyway.
Mutak Nov 14th 2008 8:21AM
It's not the contract that's shady, it's the whole "agree to unspecified terms now or don't play" that is shady.
There's a very good chance that the battle.net terms will be substantially the same as the ones we currently operate under, but this is still a bad way to do business.
Considering the fact that in the current agreements they reserve the right to change the terms of service pretty and much anything else about the game (including how you log on) at a whim, 'm sure this was just intended to be a fair warning heads-up, but it's a bad way of doing it.
Shelyndis Nov 11th 2008 10:10PM
Alright people, relax... if you've been playing Beta your "Blizzard Account" is this in a nutshell. If you take a peek into your WoW directory you will find hints at Blizzards implementation of the Battle.net system. (ie. Bnet.dll) - As for those who bought your accounts of eBay I'd be going to the store and picking up a battlchest.
Aloja Nov 11th 2008 10:10PM
If we get Chilly, I may be overjoyed. :)
GregCPX Nov 11th 2008 10:21PM
Who Cares.... They can't keep WOW running, why would I ever want to purchase any of their other products? I can only assume the same bad service and customer care is shared across all of their games... this is only an assumption, but I'm not paying them one red dime (including the new expansion) until things calm down.
Bionic Radd Nov 11th 2008 10:23PM
LOL. One day of downtime and a couple of weeks of choppy servers completely negates the fact that I have been able to log in to my account almost every day for the last 3 years? You are a sad, angry child.
Gothicalcomy Nov 11th 2008 10:32PM
This doesn't sound all that bad really. but i kinda wounder about the post about making Bnet like xbox live. Sharing friends and maybe even achievements for all new blizzard games that would be cool.
Hendrata Nov 12th 2008 9:25AM
I have a question actually. Does Battle.net account identified by email? That is, you can't have 2 accounts with the same email?
If so, this could be a problem for those of us who are using multiple accounts with the same email (for RAF bonus etc). Sure we can easily add more email accounts and email addresses can be obtained for free. But it's still one more step / effort.
NaYa Nov 12th 2008 3:52AM
Wait. So if I have a b.net account already, can I merge the two, or are my old records all gone?
Barangengot Nov 12th 2008 8:04AM
When will OL upgrade for the WOTLK will be Availble?
Cantor Nov 12th 2008 8:37AM
I'd like to point that European Beta testers, for whatever reason, didn't get Chilly the Penguin when we swapped our accounts over. Sounds like whining but meh, it was annoying.