the dev can probably do a 24hr delay before the same phone number can be used on another account. A lot of game does this for char deletions, name changes, etc.
They just were really curious about this question since it was never answered and try to get info if we got phones one way or another.
This statement says it all. FWIW, the pros and CCās have long, long advised this move btw, it didnāt just come from internal discussionsā¦
We donāt stop progress on things because some folks canāt keep up. Tired of this argument, we donāt have to accommodate everyone at all times. They want it bad enough they will find a way.
In the developed world all you need is to know someone who you can use their number, and many families toss a cell phone to jr under family plans with old phones. Honestly, anyone that young should not be playing OW, people forget it has a 13+ ratingā¦ itās genuinely not for ākidsā.
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Legal and PR nightmares are just another thursday at Blizzardā¦ 
.
Half the people here crying about giving them their number are more than happy to enter their credit card details. Strange the battles people choose to have (or at least the things they pick and choose to moan very loudly about).
On top of the numerous already-mentioned bad consequences of this new mobile phone requirement policy, thereās an even worse one for my family.
I play on PSN. So do my wife and my 2 children. The children do not have phones, nor will they for many years. Each of us plays on our own individual account under the family Playstation Plus account- no smurfing, no alt accounts, etc.
So what are we supposed to do? The kids wonāt have their own phone numbers, soā¦ they wonāt get to play anymore after having played for 2-3 years? If so, thatās absolutely garbage.
My kids adore Overwatch. T-shirts, books, animated shorts, stickers, mugs, keychains, action figures, board games, NERF guns, Halloween costumesā¦
But NOW they suddenly canāt play because they donāt have phones? Ridiculous.
Do the right thing here, Blizzard. Your customers are not commodities or ATMs. A policy decision like this will instantly turn off the entire tap of Overwatch money and publicity youāve been getting from my family. You treat your playerbase well, and youāll reap the benefits. You do things like this, and youāll go from being a highlight to a long-dropped afterthought in our house.
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Yeah, I agree it hurts the fans more than it helps. Especially the individuals whom are NOT allowed to have cell phones in their household but are allowed a Computer.
The bad idea behind this reason is, is if you are NOT a collector and a person wants wants to SMURFF. they just made it 10,000x worse. Because we can jump on an SMS website and every time we are required to āauthenticateā to said device. We can just jump on over and make a WHOLE new account.
It doesnāt matter if they ban a cheater, or a person for really bad behavior. They will be back within the hour.
Bobby Kotick will give us all a phone call to remind us to buy the Overwatch Battlepass.
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Messing with EU privacy law isnāt something any company takes lightly. Unlike some other governments, they actually enforce their laws 
give me a visit, weāll go to the local second hand store and Iāll buy you a 10$ phone my son. Or we just ask granny, she might have one of those Nokias laying around. Literally anything does the job as long as it can receive SMS. If blizzard makes 2FA without the SMS protocol but over Mobile data we might need to add another 5$. You donāt need to play diablo on it.
The problem IS the sim card. Keeping service. Not just having the item. keeping phone service is money every month. And if that sim card isnāt paid for each month, the thing gets shut down, and the number gets re-assigned. Meaning I lose the account and later canāt still use it. Which would have me locked out again later. :c
depends. I would assume they use 2FA for each new device. If you wonāt log in on multiple PCās you probably will never need it again. If they decide that each new update a fresh 2FA is required than we can argue that its starts hurting for those people. I would still assume you can access your account via a trusted device that was already authenticated for recovery reason in case you lose your phone number. (like google, microsoft etc. does)
The 2FA isnāt for account security though. Itās meant to be a hurdle to stop bad actors. So I canāt imagine that theyād do that. And I have heard of some users saying they had an issue and needed their ID to reclaim their account.
The question really is how much hurdle and here I agree with you. If they are mean about it the minority that does not have working phones with valid SIMs because of age or whatever could get screwed if blizzard decides an authorization lasts lets say for only 1 month. Personally I would appreciate it, but I see that a lot of people could be turned off by that.
Iām not sure how it works if SMS protect is the only thing you have security wise. Iāve had SMS protect turned on for several years I believe and never once had to actually get a code via text, even when switching to a new computer.
I think thatās because I also have a key-chain authenticator that Iāve had for well over a decade at this point that was for my WoW account. When Iām very very rarely asked for an authenticator code, it asks for one from that first. I would assume the same is true if you use the authenticator app. Kind of surprised my key-chain authenticator still works after all these years, but SMS was always just a backup for me that Iāve never needed.
I donāt think the phone requirement is really a security thing at all. If it was just that, it wouldnāt be a requirement since they have multiple other forms of 2FA they could use.
If SMS is suppose to improve account security, why do I keep getting it suggested to borrow someoneās phone? Wouldnāt giving someone a piece to my account security defeat the purpose of it and risk me getting locked out of my own account? EDIT: I only post here because I got an email saying all accounts need a phone. Which I donāt have a working phone.
Maybe try complaining to the smurfs, throwers and toxic people who made this happen?
Hi. The pandemic hit my field of work pretty hard so I can only manage a pay-as-you-go phone at the moment.
Iāve been playing Overwatch since day 1 and itās a great way to get my mind off of how difficult things are after a long day.
So I would like to thank Blizzard for going out of their way to lock poor people and those who are struggling out of the game.
Super moveā„
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Hi, and welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear the pandemic affected your field of work, and I sympathizeā¦
Forgive me but you donāt sound that poorā¦ I grew up poor and when poor people struggle they say things like ājobā instead of āfield of workā.
What is your job? (i mean field of work?)
I agree with you i hate blizz with a passion and with this overwach 2 i cant play a free to play game with friends we need to spread are voice around anything and everyware