I’ve been wanting to get a VPN just to help with my computer security.
Will that flag my account as suddenly logging in from another place? The banwave that just happened as made me nervous I’ll get accused of account sharing if I download one. I don’t want to get in trouble because I finally decided to download that NordVPN youtubers are always trying to sell to me.
I would throw a note to blizzard and ask them first hand. I’ve never had a VPN but would be cool to know .
VPN use is not “supported” in that Blizz won’t help you set it up or approve it. However, they don’t prohibit it in most of their games. In rare cases it can cause a false positive with cheating detection routines - but IP is not the only thing they are looking for so that is not a common cause of problems.
The only Blizzard game that bans you for using a VPN is Diablo 2 (2000)/ LoD (2001). You get a 2 week temp ban for using a VPN or commercial internet access point.
YEAH that’s kind of what I’m afraid of lol. I’ll most likely avoid it then. As nice a I feel it would be to have it ain’t worth the risk if Blizzard is flagging it.
Well, I don’t play Diablo so I’d be fine on that part haha. Are they pretty good at looking at the issue in the event of a vpn though? Other posts seem to imply that they aren’t.
The metrics for anti cheat software are not JUST IP based, it has to do with account activity as well. If you get swept up in a major ban wave it may take time to get resolved. Usually waiting a week then trying is better. The false positives related to a VPN though are pretty low these days.
The advice most people use when dealing with a VPN and Blizz is to use the same one every time. That way the game sees a consistent pattern, not you jumping around the globe.
Still, it would be at your own risk so if you were one of those swept up, it would be annoying and time consuming to get fixed.
Noted! I didn’t get hit in the banwave, I’m too cheap/gold poor to buy anything, but I’ve seen a lot of people saying that they didn’t boost who did get caught (although I have no doubt some of them are trying to save face)
VPNs don’t help with security (regardless of what the ads tell you). There’s a good video from Tom Scott about what a VPN can and cannot do.
Here are the reasons I use a VPN
99% of Security breaches are human error. If you really want to up your security spend your money on a password manager (lastpass, dashlane, etc) and enable as much 2FA everywhere it is available.
I wouldn’t recommended a vpn until there’s clarification from blizzard on how we can use it. My friend was temporarily banned recently,
In his ban appeal he was given generic responses from blizzard. I asked what he could’ve done to trigger the ban he thinks it’s because he tried to purchase a wow token while using a vpn that flagged his account as a malicious attempt.
Huh. Noted.
Honestly I’ve rarely had any real problem with getting hacked, it’s just something I think about from time to time and what’s going on now kind of gave me pause.
Doesn’t netflix get you in trouble though for doing that? I’d imagine they don’t like those services if nothing else lol
Oh yeah I won’t be touching it for a week or two at least until we have a better idea of what’s going on.
D2R is fine - that is on modern Bnet. It is D2 (2000) and LoD (2001) on the old Bnet services that have the restrictions.
VPN are more a privacy tool and for protecting you from man in the middle attacks and snooping. So your ISP wont be able to tell your playing wow or going to a naughty website.
In terms or protecting you from blizzard for cheating, you’re running their software on your machine so they can and probably do have unique install ID’s and machine ID’s and log them for sessions.
Which is probably the basis for the ban wave. Blizzard is looking at things like 40 accounts logged onto the same machine and completed the mage tower.
Right. D-clone hunting on D2:R is a big mess because the subnets are tied to global location, not just the “Realm” you select - hence the need for a VPN. It’s all legit…It just sucks is all 
In classic D2/LOD VPNs allow you to dodge the game-creation limit; which is considered an exploit.
/Gets out soapbox.
Let’s have a little chat about VPN’s and what they do for all the people who use them to be “safe” on the internet.
Are VPN’s safe?
If you are going to use a VPN, make sure the company is reputable and not some fly-by-night ad you saw on Linus Tech Tips. Ask yourself, do I trust this company enough to use my data responsibly or not use it at all, like a major email provider or antivirus company. Good: ProtonVPN, GoogleVPN, Avira VPN, VPN Proxy One (trendmicro). Bad: Some vpn-only-ish company whose business address, employees and ownership is unclear (most of the ones advertised on youtube videos, like PIA, Tunnelbear, Nord, or any small VPN offering $1 deals). Try not to use a VPN for general gaming and web browsing unless you have a serious reason to need it. It is not, objectively, a net security increase for most people in the US.
I just use an authenticator (physical one, not a phone) and a static IP address on my systems. As long as the IP never changes , and it never will. I do not have to use my authenticator.
problem solved.
Oh the physical one I bought off Amazon. My old one died years ago.
Good to know! Thanks!
Yup. This. You have to trust -someone- along the chain. Either your ISP or your VPN. Both of these entities have the ability to use your metadata for ill and have the ability to sell you or your data to anyone willing to pay for it.
Keep in mind, “If you aren’t the customer then your the product” so if you find a cheap/free VPN then you are the meat being sold at market. These companies aren’t running a charity.
The other big thing is keeping anything that’s connected to the internet in any fashion as up to date as possible - browser and operating system obviously, but also routers and modems. Helps to have a competent adblocker like uBlock Origin installed too to help reduce the chances of getting hit by a zero-day JavaScript exploit delivered by some random banner ad.