Authenticators should be mandatory. Would prevent a lot of problems both for players and for Blizzard.
This I agree with.
4 Likes
You can set guild ranks to require an authenticator, which is nice. I require it for my guild.
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Personally, I agree and Iām sure Blizzard would like to do this. However, the problem with this is that the Aunthenticator is only available on smartphones or on a physical item that costs extra money. So making it a requirement would force players without smartphones to pay extra money to access their account.
Blizzard makes it as attractive as possible, giving incentives to do so. Maybe more incentives are needed, but itās really the best they can do.
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Should be included with the purchase of every expansion. For a $50 expansion, they can afford a plastic keychain with a chip that probably costs a dollar to manufacture.
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But many people donāt buy physical boxes for the expansion anymore. Most transactions are digital now.
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Umā¦ obviously. But for people who donāt have the ability or desire to use the phone app, they can request one free key chain authenticator that Blizz will mail them. The logistics arenāt that complicated.
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Newsflash. All youāre paying for is shipping and handling.
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It is not quite as feasible as you might think. They are not $1. Security tech rarely is.
The product is in very high demand because it is used by companies and banks globally. Blizz canāt keep them in stock sometimes, much less order one for every box purchase.
Most purchases are now digital, and the digital Auth is free. It would be a waste of money and material resources to make an Auth with every physical purchase when people either have one already, or have the free digital version. Nobody needs 3 of them sitting around.
They already have incentives to get players to use one such as the corehound pet and the additional backpack space. That is beyond the common sense security reasons!
If you wish to check out the physical auth to learn more it is here
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Unless you take a step back and start thinking about how many people play the game and from how many different countries.
What do you do for people with physical ones who:
- Lose their authenticator
- It breaks
- It dies
Mail them new ones? What about for someone who plays the NA client from China? Can you just mail them a new one? How long do you think it will take to get to them?
There are a lot of reasons that this simply canāt be done. Thatās why it remains optional. Personally, I love mine and have had the physical version since it became available in Canada and have since moved to the digital version.
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Youāre misunderstanding what Iām saying. IF you donāt already have one, AND you donāt want to (or cannot) use the app, THEN you ask Blizz for a keychain and they send it to you. Itās not every single player that needs one. Acti/Bliz does over $7Billion in revenue each year. They can handle the logistics of sending out a bunch of keychains.
Account security is OUR responsibility, not theirs.
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Yes.
Yes.
Donāt know. Theyāll get it when they get it. And then they can play.
There are? Iām just not seeing this being impossible for a mega billion dollar corporation.
I highly doubt youād be okay waiting weeks or longer for your authenticator so that you can log back in again. I donāt think you really understand how long it can take to get mail across the world. Not only that, the cost is prohibitive too.
I love how people generalize like this. āTheyāre super rich, so yeah they can!ā This may be a surprise, but it costs money to run a company. Their annual revenues are not the same as profits. Also, youād be pretty hard pressed to make your share holders happy by spending millions on a program to maintain and distribute authenticators.
If you really feel this strongly about it, the best place to provide your suggestion would be the General forums. The blues here do not pass along these sorts of suggestions. The CMs in General Discussion do.
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You have been able to do that since 2008. I donāt see them on the store right now, but they usually have them in stock. You just pay shipping. Auth is free. Shipping is via USPS Ground. It takes a long time for remote places.
Well seeing as they have done it for 11 years, I would say they can.
Other things - if your physical Auth breaks within a set limit, Blizz DOES just send you a new one for free. They did for me when mine died after only 2 years.
Blizz canāt send them to China or various other countries because it is illegal to export certain types of technology to those countries.
Your point seems to be they should somehow make and give out tons of Authenticators for free with each physical edition. Again, that does not make sense when players have already have ways to get it for free or low cost. Why make and ship more than people need?
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Where did I say this? They should only send them to people who actually need one. And Iām not saying itās free. Iām saying itās included with the purchase price. If you want the convenience of an app (and immediate access), use the app. If you want the keychain, you gotta wait until it arrives.
And no, it does not cost $7 to ship a little keychain.
Yes, actually it does. Blizz sells them for the shipping cost only.
Also, Iām not seeing how Blizz determines who āactually need oneā. What about accounts that are not currently active? What about someone who decides to return to the game and suddenly finds out they have to wait a week instead of playing with their friends tonight? And if they lose it, they lose a week of game time because they canāt play again until they get a new one from Blizz. Who pays if they lose it since Blizz is the one requiring them?
We can literally do the back and forth all day long, but itās pretty pointless. If you think Blizz should make them mandatory because you say itās so easy to do, then feel free to give your idea a go in the General forums.
Edit: Interestingly enough, Iām not finding the physical version on the gear store at all right now.
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Think its time to close this up its not going any where else productive.
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so, in other words, you got nothing
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https://m.cdw.com/product/duo-digipass-go-6-token/5457098
$2k (same site has others at far less but still a few hundred dollars)
https://m.kmart.com/vasco-digipass-go-6-hardware-token-1/p-SPM10342780918
Almost $60.
Vasco does individual pricing for the tokens alone (though they have mobile, standard and premium packs for five users at $600-$800) so Google isnāt all that helpful. Plus, there are tariffs on security technology like the Digipass Go 6, so itās even more expensive to ship outside the US.
But Blizzard absolutely sold them at cost, for the sake of trying to get them out there. Something tells me they may be phasing out the physical authenticators, though, in favor of the mobile ones (that are free), and have finally sold out, which is why theyāre not on the Gear Store anymore.
Er, yes they would still need one. Hackers love inactive accounts; I imagine thatās their primary target, since itād take a while for the owner to even notice itās been stolenā¦
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