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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 5 of 12)
Rylka Oct 13th 2009 8:39AM
Nice Dr. Strangelove reference. :)
Ferret Oct 13th 2009 8:20AM
All I know is that unless they change the server that battle.net uses to login, I'm not going to be able to play when this happens. For whatever reason, the network at the university I live at only lets us log in with regular accounts and not bnet ones. That's 30,000 people who will be SOL on the 11th.
Woif Oct 13th 2009 9:01AM
Try talking to your campus's IT department?
Colin Oct 13th 2009 12:04PM
Definitely. Ventrilo wouldn't work for me at university and my guild just said talk to the network guys. A day later and it worked flawlessly. The guy I talked to totally understood what was wrong, and was even a WoW player.
Doesn't hurt to ask.
Mykeb14 Oct 13th 2009 8:20AM
My account was once hacked while i had B.net and guess what the hackers coulndt do crap but sell my crap i was able to log on and change my password get my mobile ath. up and running and ban safe as can be now B.net is the best thing now only if everyone would get a mobile.ath. we would hardly ever see gold spammers again!!!
Hal Oct 13th 2009 8:24AM
No, we'd still see gold spammers, it's just that they'll have to earn their gold the old fashioned way. Or they'll find a creative way to rob you of your wealth. Necessity is the mother of all invention and so forth.
DrKwang Oct 13th 2009 8:37AM
This was me, too. And for me, the GMs were able to get all my stuff back, including stuff I hadn't noticed was missing (from non-80 toons, etc).
JPN Oct 13th 2009 8:21AM
I just can't wait for a friends list across realms!! Now I don't have to log in on alts across realms trying to see everyone who's online.
Chris Oct 13th 2009 8:24AM
FYI - according to the maintenance screen, penguins are to be had by all who switch their accounts over.
Rejoice?
Karilyn Oct 13th 2009 8:27AM
Though according to the blue post, not until later this week.
Incoming:
"WHAT? YOU MEAN I DON'T GET MY PENGUIN NOW? I QUIT WOW FOREVER!"
Rinny Oct 13th 2009 8:28AM
I just loaded up wow just to check that out. Rejoice for penguins! I'm guessing the Chilly from WotLK beta?
Chris Oct 13th 2009 8:40AM
I am - oddly - a bit stoked about having a penguin, tbh.
Since a few people have thrown their two cents in at one point or another regarding the battlenet transition, I made the move as soon as I saw it was announced. I have never had an issue with log-ins, being "hacked", or really even all that perturbed by entering my ridiculously long email address on the occasion or two when I've had to actual re-enter it.
/shrug
For all the reasons to complain about the game, or the company, this is truly a non-issue.
Rinny Oct 13th 2009 8:27AM
I put mine to a bnet account when the battle bots came out cuz I'm a sucker for pets. My friend recently had her account compromised and had to be severed from the hacker's bnet account which was a pain. Personally I'm really excited for the new bnet changes; they're taking all the best things from the likes of Xfire, Xbox Live, and Steam and putting their own Blizz perfectionism into it. It's the internet, it's technology, changes happen!
Vogie Oct 13th 2009 8:26AM
The only problem I have with the BattleNet system is I didn't know that my email was going to be my login. I have a very long name so Mynameisverylong&arduous@gmail.com is kinda frustrating whenever I have to type it in for whatever reason.
Chris Oct 13th 2009 8:32AM
So, as recommended, set up something like: shortname@gmail.com
Really, it's not battlenet's fault you chose to use your "very long and arduous" name for your gmail account. Right?
Peter B. Oct 13th 2009 10:23AM
Click the remember account name check box.
Conveniently located under the login button. :D
Farproc Oct 13th 2009 8:32AM
If I'm paying for two Wow accounts, one used by me and the other by my Wife - should I be creating one Battle.net account linked to both Wow accounts (to centralize my payment details), or two battle.net accounts?
Chris Oct 13th 2009 8:34AM
http://us.battle.net/faq/index.html
Q: My family plays World of Warcraft together. Should we create a single Battle.net account for all of our World of Warcraft accounts?
A: No. Sharing access to a World of Warcraft account, other than by a parent or guardian with a single minor, is a violation of World of Warcraft’s Terms of Use. You should create a separate Battle.net account for each family member’s World of Warcraft account. In addition, future Battle.net features will make it beneficial for players to have the Battle.net account they use associated with their own online identity. Creating separate accounts for you and your family ensures you will be able to take advantage of these features when they are introduced later on.
styopa Oct 13th 2009 9:25AM
@chris - you apparently missed the "...paying for two Wow accounts...."
This is why I was reluctant to move to battle.net myself. We have 2 PAID accounts, 1 houshold - according to the walkthrough instructions on battle.net, I SHOULD merge them into a single battle.net account.
According to the OP text from this article, I should do it as well - one login would be simpler, after all.
But with the post that Chris noted, again it's not precisely the same situation of course, I'm not convinced that if I do this, we'll BOTH be able to login simultaneously to the two accounts without flucking things up.
So I just created a dummy gmail account for the second login, and so each account is tied to an email, and again we have 2 (longer) logins for 2 separate accounts.
A stupid pain in the butt change but it was obvious months ago that this is where it was going - from 'optional' to 'recommended' to 'mandatory'. Pretty standard procedure.
eenersumbrella Oct 13th 2009 11:09AM
@styopa
My husband and I were told to make 2 accounts, even though we both use his paypal account information to pay for our subscriptions. It may make it easier to pay for both accounts by linking them together, but honestly you're paying through 2 accounts atm. Sometimes easier isn't better. I know that I'd rather have my own account than have it linked and if for some reason or another we would get divorced, I wouldn't want to have issues with my wow/battle.net account.