Let me get this straight?

To make sure you maintain pocession of your WOW account, you have to buy a secur id card?

Huh? So what if you don't they take your account even though you pay a Subscription fee? Sounds like nickel and dime BS.

Is this new? Please let me know where this information is coming from. I haven't played WOW in a while and have no plans to go back, but I do have two end-game characters I would hate to see deleted. Last I heard all accounts had to merge with Battle-net, and I did do that for my account even though it was still optional last year. They highly recommend a secure-id token and I purchased one for $6. It's a small item that sits by my monitor and when I push the button it gives me a six digit number that I used when logging in to my account. I removed the option from my account when it went inactive. I have seen nothing from Blizzard saying that was mandatory.

What I mean is that the only way to make sure your account is not hacked is by using a secure ID card. Well they call it an authenticator. No they don't take your account but apparently it has a good chance of getting hacked without one. I know my account(inactive) was banned for hacking. What is the Blizzard Authenticator? The Blizzard Authenticator is an optional tool that offers World of Warcraft players an additional layer of security to help prevent unauthorized account access. The Authenticator itself is a physical "token" device that fits easily on a keyring. Where do I get a Blizzard Authenticator? The Blizzard Authenticator is able to be purchased directly from the Blizzard Store for $6.50. How does the Blizzard Authenticator work? You must first associate the Blizzard Authenticator to the World of Warcraft account you play. Once the account has been linked, the Authenticator token will be required to log in to Account Management or to the game; when logging in, you will be prompted to supply a digital code generated by the Authenticator.

Twillah that secure token is what I was talking about. I regret wording it the way I did. I should have said that in order to keep hackers from taking your account, you need the secur id. I wonder how hard it would be to have my account unbanned if I wanted to go back.

I don't knwo about getting your account unbanned, but I went to the battlenet site and I do see now that all WOW accounts have been merges with battlenet. Now, your battlenet account MUST BE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS that was on file with Blizzard. There are no exceptions. So, if anyone knows your email address all they have to do is guess your password. Blizzard did this so they have a master file for each customer, and you manage all your Blizzard games (Starcraft, Diablo, WOW, etc) through Battlenet now. What I don't like is that by forcing us to use our email addresses as our login ID they took away a huge factor in account security. Then they pressure people to pay even more money to buy a Secure ID token. I mean, I get it from a business perspective, but as a customer it totally blows. I have a desk covered in Secure ID tokens at work for every darn bank I work with each day - I don't want to go home and do the same for my game. I know that sounds silly but it's a peave. They should assign the tokens at no charge to the customers at least and put one in every retail copy of the game sold on the shelf. /end rant

Oh, and when my friend tipped me off to buy one last year they cost $6...I think it was $8.95 with shipping. The cheapest one I see today on Amazon is $54 What's up with that? Bashir, I would just work to get your account unbanned and go without one - make your password something really crazy that no one would ever guess. It's what I did. Of course if someone hacks my account they'd have to pay to make it active first so I think I'm safe :D I gave all my gold to my guild before I left anyways so they'll be dissapointed.

Also, and then I'll get off my soapbox, it makes me wonder if they will even listen to complaints of account hacking unless you have yourss secured with a token. Are they giving themselves an excuse from helping people who are legitimately hacked by making you buy an additional service? Smells like it to me. I think I will stick with Mythic and NCSoft for my future gaming. I played WOW since launch and watched my guild turn on itself with the release of BC (as so many did) after we worked for over a year to maintain A and B teams of 20 people that raided 4+ nights a week. Broke my heart when our GM disbanded over the squabbles that erupted when people realized they didn't need 40 people for a raid anymore. I like big groups and lots of teamwork - they broke the game down too far to where it became a "what's in it for me" fest. I'm not saying a lot of great people don't still play that game, but it's not the team challenge it used to be and for those of us who spent so much time building those teams it was a big let down.

Oh i dont plan on re activating. I was just reading forums to see what was being said about the new expansion er I mean "destruction." Only way I would go back to wow was if i dont ever find a new game that manages to hold a playable population level.

My account on WoW got banned about 2 months ago for "malicious economic activity" yet my account has been deactivated since Oct '08. Dont think I am going back anytime soon.