Overwatch 2 Ready Check: Prepare for Launch!

You are still free to use those accounts, just attach a unique phone number to them. Nothing was taken from you, only security measures that protect your account were added. Besides, the ToS say that Blizzard can outright do anything they want with your license anyway, so you cannot successfully sue.

Or, are you thinking that the ToS is unenforceable? This topic has been brought up many times before, and people claiming they would sue never have (or never won). I would be interested in watching the show if someone wants to try and publically lawyer up lol.

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If you have Cricket Wireless, you are NOT able to play Overwatch 2 because Blizzard’s verification system flags all Cricket phone numbers as pre-paid/VOIP numbers, even if they are not. Even if you are on a different cellular carrier, you could get unlucky and have your number flagged as pre-paid/VOIP and would be completely unable to play Overwatch 2.

This has been an issue since at least 2020 according to forum posts. Blizzard’s only suggestion to this in the past has been to buy a new phone as they are not able to fix the false flag.

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So what I interpret from this article is that I will not be able to play the game at all because I am on Cricket phone service.

No other game accounts have had this weird issue. I was considering purchasing the Watchpoint Pack but I guess I can save $40.

When I attempted to add my number I just got the error of “Needing a post-paid phone number”

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You’d think they’d have a way for people to test the phone verification, before the game launches.

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OW2 Ready, prepare for launch.

“Please enter bank account information here…”

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It’s not false flag, it’s because it does not receive authentication short codes, it’s not blizzards fault actually; it’s the carrier

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You won’t be able to use cricket on any game requiring mobile authentication

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You can go on your settings and verify it right now…

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Huh, didn’t know that.

I can use my number on any other account no problem and it has received SMS verification codes for other games and apps.

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So it’s goodbye Overwatch 2 before it even began?

I have been using a prepaid mobile service for years. This is quite common in Australia for people who want to save money because it is about half the price of a monthly postpaid service. I actually pay for a year of phone service up front. I have had the same phone number for more than 15 years, across various plans and carriers.

THIS IS NOT A BURNER PHONE.

In Australia you have to pass the same identity checks to get a prepaid SIM as you do for a post-paid or contract phone. Seems the devs don’t understand that things may not be the same everywhere in the world. You can’t just walk into a corner store here and buy a prepaid phone annoymously and start making calls. Don’t punish us for the lax regulations that exist in your country. Don’t assume things are the same everywhere in the world.

I think SMS verification is fine, but if I can’t pass that bar, then I’ve got plenty of other games I can play.

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I’m gonna call BS if it’s any blizzard game, cause this is something that they have used for a while now, there is cricket related forums that are YEARS old

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Lol except I have my cricket phone linked to steam and it works fine, I even bought MW2 on steam and guess what, the phone requirement for that game was accepted because my cricket phone is linked i my steam, so a activision blizzard game accepted my 2fa on my steam account but won’t accept literally the same number on my blizzard account. Guess as a OW1 player till the end I’m also going away with the deletion of OW1. Blizzard is easily the worst company I’ve run into for support nowadays.

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It’s going to prevent so many people from playing OW2.

I was actually looking forward to playing especially when the campaign launched next year.

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Personally, I only switched over to a plan this year for work, before then I stuck with prepay. I’m 27, but I never really used my phone much - cheaper to get a month’s worth of texts/calls, and then have $20 credit that will last me for another few months, rather than paying monthly with a plan. Like, I’m not the kind of person who makes hundreds of texts and can’t stay off social media. If prepay phones really aren’t going to work… that sucks for a lot of people. And if my number ends up not working cos it used to be prepay… yeah, I’ll be beyond pissed.

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So basically, my kids won’t be able to paly OW2 unless I buy them a phone? Do you have kids that play Overwatch? Wow must be another April fools joke, good one. Can I get a refund for my 2 other copies of Overwatch since the kids will no longer be able to play those custom maps anymore since Overwatch one will be gone and they can’t use my Phone number.

Before charging into OverwatchÂŽ 2, ensure that your account is secure by turning on SMS protection, a measure that all players must take in order to play Overwatch 2 as part of our Defense Matrix initiative that promotes healthier player behavior in game.

Starting October 4, 2022, all players across all platforms, including consoles, are required to have a phone number attached to their battle.net account to launch Overwatch 2. The same phone number cannot be used on multiple accounts at the same time, and players can’t use the same phone number to create multiple accounts. A phone number can only be used once when making a new account, and certain types of numbers, including pre-paid and VOIP, cannot be used for SMS Protect.

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They could easily require a different method to verify your account.

They have the authentication app that could be an alternative but if this has been around for years it is not going to change for this game either.

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Personally I’d say that’s at least partly Blizzard’s fault - they have known since 2020 that this system doesn’t work for some carriers and chose to continue to use the system.

If they cared about this, they could have implemented something that worked for all carriers over the last two years and they didn’t. I think that gives anyone who is blocked like this every right to say it’s Blizzard’s fault.

Blizzard absolutely has every right to say that they don’t want to bother to change to another system that doesn’t have this problem (it is their system after all), but it is still Blizzard who is deciding to stay with a system that doesn’t work for some users.

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The only way I can see them changing this is if their population is extremely low or if a lot of content creators are blocked from playing because their phone was not on a major carrier.

I don’t know about other countries but in the US it’s really only 3, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Anything else just uses those cell towers.

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Please do not shut down Overwatch 1. Please just allow us to continue playing the last version. Please don’t make us buy Overwatch Classic in a few years. I like two tanks. I like 2 CP. Please don’t shut down Overwatch 1.

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