As bad as this decision is the community has to take some of the blame here. We had every opportunity to regulate ourselves and not march towards this eventuality. But we were stupid and arrogant about taking care of our own game. This is the result.
Hey, I did everything I could. Instead, while I was trying to tell people “No, just look at the bare facts. Everything you guys want has made the game worse”, they were lie “Nahhhh, OW2 will do great! You’re just a doomer”.
You know what? At this point I’m willing to just say GG to the account if the number doesn’t work out. Usually I’d be the first to say “I paid $60 for this?”, but my $60 doesn’t mean damn thing to Blizzard. When its over, its just going to be over.
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Yea, I would just say screw this and migrate to some other team shooter right now but there are regulars I like playing with. I haven’t seen a lot of them in the last few days though, so maybe they got locked out too! Definitely going to look into some alternative games though, this is all looking pretty bad. Anyone got recommendations?
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I’ve bitten the bullet, had to because I wanted to play OW1 before it goes away in a few days for old time’s sake. I might just go in for the 4 bucks and keep my precious pink mercy and medic skins safe as I can while I try to get my stuff together for that cell phone which should be a thing I can do at this rate God willingly in 1-2 months. Barring any terrible family emergencies or any irregularities when my property tax and vehicle registration renewal come up in November. Hopefully they let me use that in the mean time. Thanks for the heads up.
Let’s wish each other good luck compadres, we are all in the same boat now.
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Were I a conspiracy theorist, I would almost wonder if Blizzard made some sort of exlusivity deal with the other providers. But hey, never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity and all that.
Thanks for the warning. I had been considering using a Talkatone ### as a desperation measure.
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N.B. Talkatone: There is a very specific policy about expiring numbers in the Talkatone app and website. It’s actually quite generous. Since no links allowed here, I will summarize, but it’s found on the scrolling tips in the Android app:
- You must use your number to call or text at least once every 30 days.
- If you do not use your number for a period of 30 days, Talkatone will deduct 20 credits from your balance to keep the number active.
- If the 30 days without use arrives and you do not have sufficient credits, your balance will be zeroed out and the phone number will be released.
- You will receive a courtesy reminder before your number is deactivated.
Things to consider:
- The Talkatone policy is, of course, subject to change.
- Since the numbers are often recycled, a new sign up may get a number that doesn’t work, but you can burn them and get a new one.
- I set up the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator on these accounts, which I believe takes precedence over sending a code via SMS for future authorizations.
- I wonder if Blizzard will do something about this and could they do so retroactively? I think not, based on some knowledge and experience, but after this whole mess I’m just not sure.
- It makes even less sense that Blizzard would use such a stringent SMS verification scheme compared to other implementations, cutting off more than a nominal userbase, when it can be defeated for $1.
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The honest to goodness truth is that Cricket does not support more than a few well-known short codes, and they are also not very standardized when it comes to sharing SIM data.
I, personally, have only had one issue with any other SMS verification service shortly after I first switched to Cricket many years ago. It was a shortcode that just never arrived, but when I tried again some days later it did work, so I’m not sure what is different about Blizzards implementation.
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Great info, thank you.
I too am wondering if Blizzard will do something about this retroactively. I’m definitely going to wait a good while to purchase anything on this account to be safe.
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They stray away from 6v6 for no reason other than simplifying the game even more for them to balance, not even mentioning the Fail Q so that people that cant flex have a better chance at winning some games because they dont know how to adapt to situations. They did brought back at least Open Queue because of the huge success it had on South Korea so they did backpedal in a good way you could say.
Point be, Overwatch dev makes decision that might be good or bad for the players, thats the way it goes unfortunately.
Hmm…I wonder, is this actually needed?
Has anybody put in their number without this app by chance?
No, you only need to connect the number. The authenticator isn’t needed.
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Thank you! I was hesitant with it after reading the reviews…
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Thanks for posting this. This is my experience of Overwatch in a nutshell.
The game was extraordinary at first and the community kept ruining bit by bit from its very release to 2019 and then Role Queue and this was it for me : No more Competitive on a regular basis. Then we had to put up with a content embargo enforced to literally kill OW1 and create hype for OW2 (which hype was literally killed for most players by Blizzard themselves during that content drought done on purpose).
The Overwatch playerbase will keep doing this until the game remains just a shadow of itself. The fact that they’re seriously considering removing the counter-picking system is just lunacy. What’s next after this ? Removing ults, unique weapons, a role ?
People that didn’t like OW1 Day One should have left the game instead of remaining here and asking for the game to become something completely opposite to what it’s about. Overwatch is indeed a team-based game and not a game in which everyone has the same fair chances in a 1v1.
I’m astounded that people still hate role queue. The game experience was awful in NA and EU where nobody wanted to make a coherent team ever. I’ve heard it’s better in the Asian regions where people are a bit more team oriented, but for most players it was just chaos and frustrating.
I’m astounded players accept hero choices restrictions on a game that was all about swapping heroes whenever we wanted no matter the role category.
It depended on your elo and players willing to cooperate. It was NOT a game design issue, yet a human issue. My experience with Open Queue from 2016 to 2019 was my most memorable game experience on Overwatch. Never came close to this quality of gameplay and choices ever since.
Too bad devs and the playerbase wouldn’t come up with a better idea to improve some people’s experience, without ruining players’ that like Open Queue.
Since 2019, whenever you have a thrower in your team or someone performing really bad, it’s impossible to switch roles to compensate or try anything to avoid a hard stomp.
People that don’t like Role Queue (and those horrible queue times) are not even asking for 2-2-2 (1-2-2) to be removed since we know it’s a lost fight with the community but at least make it so that people can swap roles if both players or more agree to do so between them.
It’s not that hard to put in place.
I’m just going to simply say that I disagree with you. Keeping it on-topic, I’m far more concerned right now about being psuedo-banned from the game for simply choosing the wrong cell carrier.
Some people see your issue the same way as me not liking Role Queue… they consider it as a “You” problem. “Just get a postpaid phone number and if you’re unhappy or doesn’t want to make the effort to get one, then too bad for you”, that’s probably what some people will answer you.
Both our issues are related in a way. The more restrictions there will be in the game (and now even “accessing the game” get problematic), the more it will leave players behind.
Overwatch was all about variety and inclusivity at first. I really don’t know how it managed to go so wrong.
You’re reaching. It’s not related. This is a technical issue, while you’re talking about a design/ gameplay issue. If you want to discuss role queue you’re better off creating a thread for it.
It’s quite related actually. Both reasons are political and because of devs trying to satisfy a portion of the community. They added Role Queue because vocal people asked for it on a daily basis and postpaid phone number authorizaton only is to try to content people that want less smurfs and cheaters in the game (even if it won’t work in the long run).
You started it 
! I was just making a parallel to explain that the phone number restriction has been implemented because of people complaining about smurfs. They do not care if it ruins your fun and ability to log in.
All they care about is their own experience, period.
Dude you’re awesome for adding this, it maybe a bit stringent but at least this could be a valid option for people who don’t have compatible providers.