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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: The great Battle.net merge
by Matt Low 
Oct 13th 2009 at 8:00AM
Of course, an announcement like this comes with all sorts of complaints. I've perused the forums on the topic and checked out some of the comments when we announced it here. Here's a few common reasons players are against it. Just for kicks, I've offered some solutions!
Common excuses
- Lack of trust in the Battle.net system since some players who converted had their account hacked after (Solution: Get an authenticator)
- Privacy concerns since email address is the sign-in
(Solution: Make a new email address and use that instead of your personal or work email) - Multiple account hassle
(Solution: It's one email login where you can choose which WoW account to get into and yes, you can login simultaneously to different WoW accounts attached to the same Battle.net account) - My WoW account has a different name then my Battle.net account
(Solution: Don't buy accounts) - I'm too lazy
(Solution: Guess we won't be seeing you in game anymore)
Regardless, Blizzard appears to be adamant about this. I've had a few guildies myself who didn't like the idea. I've heard some players were considering quitting which I find extreme. Over what? Because Blizzard's implementing streamlined account changes for the sake of security and convenience?
Come on now!
If you're a GM with players like that, you're not going to have much of a choice other than to call their bluff. Start shopping around for other players to fill their position if they're serious about leaving. Because once November 11th rolls around, you really don't have another choice.
Those are my personal thoughts on the issue. Where do you stand?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 12)
Juanin Oct 13th 2009 9:13AM
They should include authenticators in their products! I live in Chile and there's absolutely NO store selling neither the app or the plastic thingy, and, hello! there's people who don't have credit cards to buy them on the Blizz Store or whatever!
Nix Oct 13th 2009 9:22AM
@Neyessa: That is my situation exactly! I live in a EU country, no restrictions what so ever ... Hey if there is an increased fee for postage I am willing to pay no problems with that.
Also, I'm glad that I'm not alone in this and thanks to all for your comments and suggestions.
/bow
Ydrisselle Oct 13th 2009 9:36AM
@Nix: I'm living in Hungary. Blizzard ships Authenticators here - for 26€. Three of them are 18€. But at least we can order them.
Neyssa Oct 13th 2009 9:39AM
@Nix: I am Nor as well :) I totally understand you.
I dont like to be accused with buying illegal stuff, stealing accounts, etc. just because I am not the average situation (see my comment below).
I dont want to feel that I am in a 'banned' country. I am not even in the above mentioned situation @juanin, not having credit card, etc. This is just pure ignorance from Blizz.
Abbadon Oct 13th 2009 9:47AM
While a company may be aware of and adhere to certain legal restrictions... most people aren't (or don't care). As I see it, everyone in these restricted countries has two options:
1) Go to eBay and buy one there. I just glanced and they're only marked up a few bucks over what Blizz sells them for. To be certain, just run down the auctions doing the "ask seller a question" and ask if they'll ship to country XYZ and how much for shipping. I'm positive you'll find someone willing to sell/ship to you.
2) If paying $10-15 more than retail is too hard to swallow (via eBay), find someone you trust in your guild or even WoW.com that can order one for you and sell/ship it to you for actual cost.
As the recipient, my only concern would be that Customs would possibly keep/destroy the authenticator (because of whatever reasons Blizz won't ship to you in the first place). But I find it hard to believe that any further action would be taken against the sender or recipient - just leaving you empty handed for the little bit of money spent. Then again, you might ask the sender to note is as a keychain on the customs form; if Customs doesn't inspect every item, that description might help it get overlooked.
Nix Oct 13th 2009 9:50AM
@Ydrisselle and Neyssa: I'm from Malta :)
Agreed it is lack of attention from Blizz somehow. I don't want to QQ in any way but man ... this is lame.
Let's hope someone, gets the smart idea to say "Hey, I have an idea! We can make more money if we start shipping authenticators to all countries in the world!"
"Hey that's a great idea, you are really smart! As a matter of fact you are promoted, can work from home, you wage is tripled and get an Aston Martin as a bonus on your next pay cheque!"
/sigh
t0xic Oct 13th 2009 9:57AM
For all of the individuals that don't understand why EU countries are not treated equally... A little light reading to explain it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography
Rob Oct 13th 2009 10:17AM
@Juanin
As been mentioned, certain encryption devices (like the Blizz autheticator) are illegal to sell outside the U.S. I feel bad for those who can't get the autheticator, but there isn't anything we or Blizz can do about it.
Nix Oct 13th 2009 10:26AM
@Rob: The authenticator gets shipped to places like Hungary and UK and those are outside of US :)
AndremedaSC Oct 13th 2009 11:08AM
"What is your suggestion when Blizz does not ship an authenticator in your country?"
Can you have a guildmate buy one for you and ship it to you?
Catanbri Oct 13th 2009 10:28PM
It might not be Blizz's fault that they can't ship you an authenticator. Like @Abaddon said, United States Customs might not be allowing the export of this product. And if it is the US Customs office preventing it, Blizz would have to do something illegal in order to get you one.
My advice is this: Be patient. I love my authenticator, and I see the potential for good in this product. I am sure Blizz does as well, and will be if not already, working to get authenticators available to everyone. It is not just the key they ship to you, they also have to have the back-end setup for it. And that will take time and expense on Blizz's part.
Brian Broom Oct 13th 2009 1:04PM
I'm pretty sure that the authenticator restrictions are US restrictions on export of cryptography devices/code.
Karilyn Oct 13th 2009 8:19AM
- My WoW account has a different name then my Battle.net account
(Solution: Don't buy accounts)
I actually had a legal name change, due to getting married, which occurred after the creation of my WoW account. I've never got around to getting my WoW account's name updated. When I did my Battle.net merge last night, I used my current name, and I was prepared have to call Blizzard's account management in order to get the names worked out.
However, the accounts merged without a problem despite having different names.
NOTE: That seems like a major security flaw to me.
Neyssa Oct 13th 2009 8:54AM
I agree with Karilyn - the reason for different names may not be as simple as the author of the article thinks.
I started playing WoW on my boyfriend's account. In the first year, I occasionaly played on his acc, and slowly I fell in love with the game. I am very casual (took 9 months to reach lvl50), didnt have time to start leveling again on a new account, so we bought an account on his name and transferred my druid. Happy time, we could start playing together, and I reached lvl58 on the day BC came out, so we leveled together through Outland.
We lived together in one household, played with each other's character (when he wasnt home and healer was required, I jumped in with him), but life changes and we broke up after two years. I kept my account but it was on his name. Yesterday I merged it into a Battle.net account and it let me change my name! I am still waiting for Blizz to cancel my account, and legally, they would be right, and I dont think they would listen to my story. So if this goes through successfully, I will be happy with Battle.net.
NOTE: I usually write from my main email, but it is the one registered for battle.net. So not now, hope it doesnt turn out :)
Balmer Oct 13th 2009 9:02AM
It is a bit of a problem, and had Blizzard setup some kind of check on this then the problem of Hacked accounts being merged to Battle.net accounts would have been much smaller.
(It has been a while since I double checked this, and with the site down right now I can't, so I may be wrong, but) as I recall even if you login to the worldofwarcraft.com site I don't think it displays your full name, so the hacker couldn't have gotten your name and created a fake battle.net account.
Sure it may be a hassle for people with legal name changes, But from a technical and Security standpoint, it would have made a lot more sense.
tgrhwke Oct 13th 2009 9:12AM
When you merge your WoW account into the Battlenet account, all the contact information on the WoW account is changed to match the contact information of the Battlenet account. That is why there is no hassle with merging multiple WoW accounts with differing contact information into one Battlenet account and it's also why it's hard for Blizzard to recover an account that has been comprimised and merged into a thief's account.
themightysven Oct 13th 2009 8:19AM
I converted yesterday, and suddenly all my load times tripled. It may have been a coincidence, but it still made me roll my eyes. The reason I hadn't done so before was because of all the downtime and unable to log in they originally experienced, wanted to give them the most time to iron out those issues
t0xic Oct 13th 2009 10:04AM
Funny that. When I converted my account to b.net my load times were 3x faster. It's a miracle!
phaer Oct 13th 2009 8:20AM
I have a problem; I can't get the verification e-mail. Anyone have any fixes?
Dragundam Oct 13th 2009 8:19AM
You forgot Blizzard is going to harvest all of our information, freedoms, and precious bodily fluids.