New slot on login screen

[Art3x]

Not sure if anyone has noticed, but there is now a built in slot for the authenticator number on the login screen.

Make it slightly faster IMO. Could this be the first step in making them required?

[levitate]

I read about it in the patchnotes. They should make the authenticator a requirement but I doubt they'll do it.

[TheOne]

If they make authenticators mandatory, they better give them away for free.

[fawlty]

I read somewhere, can't remeber where at this oint, that they would be required for Cata. I assume they will be included in the box. This also means Cata may cost a few bucks more as well.

[ikabod00]

I believe that they only add the extra entry field if you actually have an authenticator and you tell it to remember your login. So I don't think its really the first step for a requirement. I think its just to make it easier and simpler for signing on. Since having the 2nd screen didn't make much sense.

[ximacintoshix]

If they make authenticators mandatory, they better give them away for free.

I read somewhere, can't remeber where at this oint, that they would be required for Cata. I assume they will be included in the box. This also means Cata may cost a few bucks more as well.

i feel like telling everybody they have to pay more money just to be able to log into a game that they have already payed for and pay a monthly subscription fee for would be ridiculous. they could do it, but it would be such a dick move. i could see cataclysm costing $48 or something and coming with an authenticator, and requiring an authenticator to play once cataclysm is installed.

[Prokenny]

It should be requiered, too many careless ppl getting hacked these days.

[conscript]

It should be requiered, too many careless ppl getting hacked these days.

If it was cost effective to force mandatory authenticators they would do it. If they are going to make them mandatory they would likely make them free also or at least pretty cheap ( remember that some people consider the current $6 cost too expensive [aka morons]). I wouldn't be surprised if they included them with Cat and added like $5 to the cost of the game or just ate the cost. At this point though you have to imagine it is getting close to costing them as much in customer support to solve hacked account issues as it would cost just to issue authenticators through a free program. Every man hour spent solving those account issues could probably pay for at least 2-3 of the authenticators depending on the actual cost to produce them for Blizzard.

[conscript]

Agreed.

The costs are easily covered by less demand for help from customer service..(okay, essentially that means somebody will lose his job...the ppl who now deal with your hacked accounts)

If the costs were easily covered this would have been done already. Blizzard is likely facing a scale with one side having current employment costs and the other side having the cost to eat the authenticators, higher unemployment tax rates, and increased authenticator production costs. If side B were cheaper than side A they would immediately put this into motion.

[Ultima]

The authenticator stuff has been discussed before, everyone you say has already been suggested.

The best one I found was having multiple types of Cataclysm boxes, including and not including. It's like £5, if you can waste it on FHM, you can waste it on that.

[Vidur]

Will this 'built in' window prevent those hacking attempts where the code got sent to the hacker? I read somewhere that having the popup window is risky...or something. Either way, I'm glad it's built in - the popup window a) got rid of any light I had in the room if I played at night so I could never see the code and b) wasted like 2 seconds of my life. This will solve both of those issues.

Also, I'm all for mandatory authenticators. Blizzard loses more in paying people to deal with hacked accounts, than they would to simply give free authenticators. If you don't have one, awesome, if you already have one...now you have two. Would be great if you could link two authenticators to the same account then (or can you do this already?). Then again, you just know hackers will find a way around authenticators altogether sometime...

[levitate]

that means somebody will lose his job...the ppl who now deal with your hacked accounts)

Retarded people are retarded. There will still be a huge demand for help so I don't think anyone will actually lose their job.

[Slipper]

Has to be free.

If you aren't a retard your account is safe. I have only been hacked once and that was when I logged on a friends computer.

5 years of playing and ZERO problems on my own system.

[Kryos]

I'm from Europe, so we have one more day to wait for the patch.

My question: Is the +10% buff active in ICC now?

[Cyclone Duke]

Comprised accounts generate a lot of trouble in game (gold sellers, teleport hackers farming herbs/ore on hacked accounts) and restorations take up a lot of the customer support's time. If there were less hacked accounts that needed restoring we'd see shorter GM ticket queues since more GMs would be freed up.

Authenticators cost next to nothing and most of the money paid when buying one is for the shipping/postage rather than the authenticator itself. Hell the phone/Ipod authenticator application is free to download. If authenticators were made mandatory it'd only be a good thing. Here's hoping.

[jontaxe]

If they make authenticators mandatory, they better give them away for free.

You mean for free free? No money free?
While we are at it, waiting for them to ship it and having to go all the way to the mailbox is lame. So is having to carry around a plastic dongle in addition to all your other stuff.

What they should do, IMO, is make one that you can beam to your phone (or maybe ipod touch for people without smartphones). That way I could get one beamed to me without even having to take my hand out of my bag of Doritos. For free. Of course.

What? You mean they already do that? For androids, iphones, and ipod touches? Free free?

No wai...

[Vidur]

The best one I found was having multiple types of Cataclysm boxes, including and not including. It's like £5, if you can waste it on FHM, you can waste it on that.

With the authenticators will being mandatory? If so, you're forgetting about a) stupid people who will, no doubt, choose the wrong box and get home only to find they now need an authenticator and now don't have one and b) jackasses who will willingly not choose the correct box and get home only to find they now need an authenticator and now don't have one. Either way, I suppose the people who do this deserve what they get but, I don't know how Blizzard would feel then about dealing with these people. Not to mention, they'll (the stupid people) likely want to return the product to the store when most stores won't take opened merchandise...especially games.

It just seems like it would cause more problems than just sending all boxes with the things, and ensuring people don't do something like this.

What? You mean they already do that? For androids, iphones, and ipod touches? Free free?

No wai...

Because everyone has an authenticator ready phone...or a phone at all...right.

[Lark]

Agreed.

The costs are easily covered by less demand for help from customer service..(okay, essentially that means somebody will lose his job...the ppl who now deal with your hacked accounts)

They wouldn't lose their jobs, Blizzard support is constantly adding new staff to keep up with demand on their system, especially as new games are added and new features. It would just take the pressure of 'help I'm a dumb ass who got his account stole, fix it blue plz' off their system. There's still about 100,000 things people complain about every day though.

[cherb]

If authenticators were made mandatory it'd only be a good thing. Here's hoping.

If people weren't retards in regard to computer security, it'd be a good thing too. Authenticators don't need to be mandatory, people just need to stop being idiots about how they use the internet.

What? You mean they already do that? For androids, iphones, and ipod touches? Free free?

Free for a phone that costs hundreds of dollars isn't exactly free.

[Gemazarus]

With the authenticators will being mandatory? If so, you're forgetting about a) stupid people who will, no doubt, choose the wrong box and get home only to find they now need an authenticator and now don't have one and b) jackasses who will willingly not choose the correct box and get home only to find they now need an authenticator and now don't have one. Either way, I suppose the people who do this deserve what they get but, I don't know how Blizzard would feel then about dealing with these people. Not to mention, they'll (the stupid people) likely want to return the product to the store when most stores won't take opened merchandise...especially games.

It just seems like it would cause more problems than just sending all boxes with the things, and ensuring people don't do something like this.

Yep. Me too. I'm not an idiot, never been hacked. Never likely to either...

However, I would gladly help BLizzard protect the account I rent from them should they provide it for free. I will not pay them so they can save money. On principal alone.

If I am ever hacked, they WILL fix the damage for me, or I will stop playing. And that is not cost effective at all.