Oh darn, I really liked the physical authenticators.
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Dropping the physical authenticators decreases the overall state of account security. I think that’s a bad thing. I really don’t see the benefit to Blizzard or their customers of dropping this important and effective tool.
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THat’s not really a good selling point as most folks have a cellphone nowadays, along with everything being linked to that. Saying they need a physical authenticator is kind of an out dated thing now because, again, cellphones being everywhere.
Trust me they have the numbers, they wouldn’t drop it if the numbers didn’t justify it. There are likely a lot less people using the physical authenticators than you think. Blizzard also loses money on them and the number in use and being sold probably ended up not justifying their continued production.
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This is likely totally true. I completely see that side of it. However I feel that having a device that is totally disconnected from the internet, unlike a phone, means more security. I get it though…they are expensive and if the use does not justify the cost they will discontinue. That means they also figured in the chances of those using physical Auths being compromised eventually and the manpower to fix it.
Times move on. I am not thrilled about it of course. I hope mine holds out for many more years. It has 9 on it already!
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What numbers would those be?
Really? How many people do I think use physical authenticators?
So they say. I don’t believe that. But even if true, that they value a few dollars over account security is disconcerting to me.
The bottom line is that fewer people’s accounts will be protected. Do you think that’s good for the game or bad for the game?
When my current physical authenticator dies or when Blizz decides to stop supporting them, my account will be less secure. That is disappointing.
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So, it’s Blizz’s job to keep selling those things at a cost because some folks don’t want to use a smart phone? There’s so much Blizz can do before they have to let the players take things from a given point. More to the point, sooner or later the folks making them would stop making those themselves at some point.
Much like when Blizz stop supporting OS like Windows Vista, they will need to stop selling those.
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Not data that Mourningg would have, but I believe the point they are making is that we generally have data on the sale and use of the Authenticator, both physical and mobile.
I believe that was a conversational means of conveying that Mourningg believes the number you may be thinking is higher than it truly is. Quibbling about your personal theoretical number seems unproductive.
How unfortunate, not certain why we’d have cause to lie about that, but you are welcome to your opinion, even if it is erroneous. 
To be clear. We believe account security is more important than simply making a profit, which is why we have always sold those at cost. We also traditionally would ship them free within the continental United States.
As it stands, CS can’t provide any details as to why the physical units are no longer available, just that they are. This is also not new, they have been out of stock for awhile. This question was simply asked and answered today in this thread.
I don’t believe there is much more we can add to this thread and it would probably be best to avoid escalating any aggressive discussions so I’m going to lock this one up. Thanks all.
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This topic was closed. If you have a comment or suggestion, your best option is to create a topic in General so that your voice can be heard by those that make the decisions.
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You’ll want to post on General Discussion. The people that make these decisions don’t come here for player feedback.
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Android emulator, baybee.
In all seriousness:
The battle.net authenticator doesn’t require cell service to work, only WiFi. And a $40 omni-authenticator for all the 2FA websites want you to have nowadays is hardly a bad investment.
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I suspect something like an iPod’ll do it. One of the fancier ones, which are basically cellphones without the cell or the phone.
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That’s what I use; an old iPod Touch. You can get 'em refurbished pretty inexpensively, although an old smart phone is probably cheaper and will work even if you don’t activate phone service on it.
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My nephew uses an old smartphone, it doesn’t even have a sim card. You can find them dirt cheap (sometimes cheaper than the keyfob). Just connect through the Google Play store (if using Android) via wifi, and download what you need.
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I would just warn you to make sure the OS on any old device you buy will support the authenticator. My current phone has Android 4 something and after the last update, the authenticator doesn’t actually work correctly: it will come up and complain about not having Internet (even though it does) and the method where it pops up a notification and you just approve it doesn’t work. I have to type in the code manually every time.
Of course that’s usable (it’s the same as using the physical authenticator would be), I’m just concerned that the next authenticator update will break it entirely. And I wonder if older versions of Android also might not work at all.
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^ This
It doesn’t have to be an expensive cellphone. It just has to be something that will run a compatible version of either Android or iOS.
That would also include cheap tablets , iPods , cheap iPhones and Android emulator software. There’s a few people on the forums who operate just fine using Android emulator software with the mobile authenticator installed to it and have done for quite some time now.
PS Android can run on smart fridges and smart TVs as well. You could possibly get it running on that as well 
PPS No I’m not saying run out and get a smart TV just to run the authenticator. Just that a few smart devices someone might already own could be used for the authenticator
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Here’s a thought
Raspberry Pi/Arduino + Cheap USB storage + Digital Counter Display = relatively cheap Blizzard authenticator
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Let’s cut to the chase here and trim away all the fat. Account security is up to the account holder. Not blizzard. They are under no obligation to provide additional security. It’s your job to make sure your account is secure, your PC is secure, and your emails are secure. As it is? They still do offer a multitude of ways to use an authenticator. Android devices. OS devices. And emulators. Which once again they do not have to provide at all. they can pull all types of authenticators. They choose not to. They could charge for the digital authenticators. They do not.
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If you have a cell phone that can be set up with SMS Protect, you don’t have to get rid of the physical authenticator when it dies.
I have a physical authenticator attached to my account but I no longer have the device, it melted in a car fire.
When I am prompted for an authenticator now it has a drop down box that allows me to select having a text message sent with code instead.
I’ve had no issues access my account without having the authenticator any longer, and this is even after changing my internet provider and having the system flag it as a log-in change.
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