1.) It affected a lot of people and wasnt fair to them
2.) This would not actually prevent smurfs
3.) New accounts still need a phone number
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Get rekt virgin phone users. Chad no phoners rule.
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It’s happening?!
Prayers answered?
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Of course it’s fair, they just need to sort their bugs out, that’s all.
Smurfs already have an account and were ruining OW1. They are going to continue.
That’s one of the rare things I had hopes with about OW2.
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What, where does it say it is getting removed?
Here with the last update
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Smurfing in general is frowned upon YES, but it is not (never was) so prolific that it actually ruins the game. Let’s not make it sound like millions of players better than you were creating account after account and somehow landing in your games every time.
The gate is wide open to everyone now, including those who could not or would not pay to play. If anything, that alone should wildly swing the ratio of unique vs. smurf players. Maybe people will think you’re smurfing when they get released into the full game and encounter you?
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There is a blue post in the announcements forum.
Doesn’t matter if its free. New accounts still need phone verification.
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DoNt YoU GuYs HavE phOnE ? (Diablo immortal reference xd)
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All the previous smurf/alt accounts now go back to having free reign. Oh well =\
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And, according to blizzards fancy new defense matrix policy, they should be promptly banned for cheating.
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You realize the gate was wide open when people were buying 2, 3, 5, 10 accounts lol. Nothing is going to stop people from smurfing. NOTHING!
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Have we played the same game?
Smurfing is about playing against higher players yes, but also allowing people to make a lot of accounts on which they can use some to just be crazy, which means for instance throwers all over the place. Technically it’s smurfing and you’re still losing SR because of them.
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Haha yeh no doubt 
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Ok, but they are only removing it for already existing players who have played since the last year. New accounts and very old ones still needs a phone.
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I disagree. I know some smurfs being very annoyed by the phone verification. And even if they’re my friends, I am still supporting the phone verification against them.
I agree that it was not going to remove smurfs completely but helps a lot with it.
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Blizzard needs to make smart business decisions.
If you decrease the player pool by >40%, you will not be able to sell items to those players.
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Ehm, how exactly is it fair that I can’t play the game because all main providers in my country are not supported by Blizzard?
And seriously, people already found a loop around this restriction via Talkatone app. With a cost of a few dollars. Smurfs and cheaters were ready to pay for multiple copies of the game, they are sure as hell going to spend a bit on some way to get multiple phone numbers.
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Probably a legal loophole they are trying to close preemptively.