Class Action Lawsuit against Blizzard.

[mmines]

Ya this is ridiculous, not only do they take a loss on these (they retail for like 20$) in the terms of service it says you can't sue them, or something to that affect.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

You're right the company that makes the authenticator will sell it below cost because they make so many that in the end it will still turn a profit.

Actually, what I learned in high school from simply listening to the managers at McDonald's.

They would sale an item at a loss for the volume and upsales.

It's common in business. And moreso for giants like McDonald's (which is a much larger company than Blizzard. So they would know a thing or two about marketing more than any fanboi, ya know?).

[Deleted]

eh, paid £5 for my authenticator, and no shipping costs. its an optional thing, i dont see the problem.

[Deleted]

Wait... isn't the authenticator tied to your Battlenet account which is free?

Sure, if the Authenticator was tied to a game specifically this could make sense... but... The authenticator is tied as an added security layer to something that is free, which as far as I know, is no problem in regards to the law, that it can then also be used to protect games tied to said account is an added bonus.

[Bryntrollian]

blizzard got hacked and some accounts got compromised because of it

[KangarooBasher]

i would buy a authenticator if blizzard didn't charge $20 dollars shipping for oceanic people. I buy items from the us all the time and the postage is usually about $3-4 dollars.
The main reason people get hacked is because they sign up to a site like this use there same password for world of warcraft and email, then a person hacks this site, goes through the accounts and logs in with the details until they work.

[Deleted]

Well, it's free via the mobile authenticator right? If you're a WoW player, it's likely you have a smart phone anyway or at least a phone that can get the authenticator app.

[Xeraxis]

i would buy a authenticator if blizzard didn't charge $20 dollars shipping for oceanic people. I buy items from the us all the time and the postage is usually about $3-4 dollars.
The main reason people get hacked is because they sign up to a site like this use there same password for world of warcraft and email, then a person hacks this site, goes through the accounts and logs in with the details until they work.

It's not Blizzard charging you the $20.

[KangarooBasher]

It's not Blizzard charging you the $20.

actually blizzard sets the shipping costs. Its like i buy a item for $100 dollars off ebay, then the person could just set the shipping to say 300 dollars. considering oceanic people have to pay about 26 dollars for a Auth, that's half the price for a smart phone so you would just buy a smart phone instead if you don't have.

[Xeraxis]

actually blizzard sets the shipping costs. Its like i buy a item for $100 dollars off ebay, then the person could just set the shipping to say 300 dollars. considering oceanic people have to pay about 26 dollars for a Auth, that's half the price for a smart phone so you would just buy a smart phone instead if you don't have.

Just because it shows that price on their website doesn't mean they are the ones setting that price. That is unless you believe that Mike and Chris board a plane and hand deliver them each time an Aussie buys an authenticator.

[KangarooBasher]

Just because it shows that price on their website doesn't mean they are the ones setting that price. That is unless you believe that Mike and Chris board a plane and hand deliver them each time an Aussie buys an authenticator.

Yes ,but it costs about 3-4 dollars to ship to Oceanic region not 20 dollars, its still blizzard fault for picking a shipping company that is super expensive international.

[ethzero]

Over here in Australia we're just better off with the Mobile Authenticator..

I mean I'm not about to pay half the price of a cheap smartphone just for the dongle version.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Lol, so many tools out there.

I have the authenticator (key chain one) I've never EVER been hacked during my years in this game. My brother didn't have an authenticator, he's been hacked 3 times before he learned his lesson. They sell them only for the production cost.

[Philosopino]

Bah, idiots wasting Blizzards precious time

[KangarooBasher]

the production cost of the auths are actually about $2.50-$3.00 they are mass produced somewhere in Asia.

[This name sucks]

the production cost of the auths are actually about $2.50-$3.00 they are mass produced somewhere in Asia.

So the same as everything.

[Surfd]

Actually, what I learned in high school from simply listening to the managers at McDonald's.

They would sale an item at a loss for the volume and upsales.

It's common in business. And moreso for giants like McDonald's (which is a much larger company than Blizzard. So they would know a thing or two about marketing more than any fanboi, ya know?).

Yes, Blizzard is totally selling you an authenticator at a loss so they can make extra money off the upsales. I know everyone immediately ran out and bought a Sparkle Pony, Pandaran Monk pet and a Race / Faction change with their authenticator because they knew their account was now safe.

Attempting to conflate the business model of McDonalds, which literally lives on high volume sales of Combo deals on products with very VERY high profit margins, to WoW, which operates on a fixed, subscription based system is an even more rediculous comparison then your earlier one where you tried to claim that Blizzard selling WoW without a mandatory authenticator was "basically" like offering the service without requiring a login / password.

Blizzard offers Authenticators at a loss because the loss is offset by the savings provided in the reduced Customer Service requirement.

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Also, something else that occured to me after sleeping on it: By and large, the Lawsuit is actually almost completely missing the point of why accounts are compromised to begin with.

The people compromising your account largely couldn't give a rats ass about the "personal" information available on your battle.net page. I mean, what exactly are they going to do with your Billing Address, a mostly obfuscated credit card number, and your real name? Sign you up to the Jello-of-the-month club? All of which, by the way, they likely already have access to from locations OTHER then Battle.net if they managed to gain access to your Bnet account, since 90% of the time they gain that information by compromising your computer directly. (If they have your login / password to your B.Net account, there is a VERY high chance they have already compromised your e-mail account as well, which is a much more serious breach).

I mean, not much point in blaming your credit card company for fraudulent charges if the fraudster is sitting in your livingroom, flipping through your wallet, ordering pizza and pay-per view porn.

The people compromising Bnet accounts want the CHARACTERS on the account, not the account itself. That is where they make the money. Stripping your toons, selling the shit and using them to spam or exploit till caught. Hell, I remember reading an article few years ago that essentially stated that a stolen WoW account was by and large more valueable then a Stolen Credit Card number.

[Kevyne-Shandris]

Attempting to conflate the business model of McDonalds, which literally lives on high volume sales of Combo deals on products with very VERY high profit margins, to WoW, which operates on a fixed, subscription based system is an even more rediculous comparison

You a WoW user knows all about marketing and better than McDonald's?

Snorting Kool-Aid isn't healthy, dude.

[abovebeyond]

Blizzard...get hacked? Blizzard has never been hacked. Even the hackers and people who create botting programs have said: "Blizzard is bulletproof." There have been security breaches maybe, where encrypted information may have been leaked out (and Blizzard always warns its users to change their information), but there has never been a single case of compromising user information (login/password/credit cards) by Blizzard in the 16 years I have played their games.

It is very easy to get information from the player's end though, as there are plenty of idiots who use the same login/password for 14 different types of forums and their WoW account. Security on forums is so much more lax, hackers are able to fish out entire databases of login/password data at a time and just plug them all into different MMOs. This is how the vast majority of accounts (across any game) come to be compromised.

Authenticator is free, the protection it grants is amazing, but it isn't 100% foolproof. That said, I don't think there have been many cases if any at all of people's accounts being hacked while having an authenticator.

[Tziva]

Blizzard...get hacked? Blizzard has never been hacked. Even the hackers and people who create botting programs have said: "Blizzard is bulletproof." There have been security breaches maybe, where encrypted information may have been leaked out (and Blizzard always warns its users to change their information), but there has never been a single case of compromising user information (login/password/credit cards) by Blizzard in the 16 years I have played their games.

Just for the record, Blizzard was recently compromised only a couple months ago.