Thanks for confirming, Kalv. 
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That is probably something that should have been properly announced. Hopefully MMO-Champions sees this (sometimes they’ve been known to count SFA responses as blue highlights, if they offer new information like this). Ah well, least I still have mine. For now.*
*This is a reference to it inevitably breaking one day, as all things do.
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Wow, that’s… just out of left field. This is something that should have been announced long beforehand to prevent this kind of “surprise”. I was about to order two more since both of my sisters’ authenticators were well over 10 years old and starting to fail.
Any information how they are supposed to change up their authenticators?
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The process for changing or removing an authenticator hasn’t changed. Nothing about the authenticator system has changed except that the phyiscal keychain is no longer available for purchase.
If their keychain authenticators are still working* and they would like to change to a mobile authenticator they can do so pretty easily:
Once the old authenticator is removed, they can immediately attach the new one.
*If the authenticator is no longer working, this article will still be able to assist them. If they have a SMS number associated with their account they can use that for removal or they can contact customer support if they need assistance.
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Well, one really dislikes having a cell phone. She has one that she uses only for wifi and doesn’t have a cell number attached. Is that going to be a problem? I apologize for sounding harsh if I am, just trying to get this figured out so she can get everything changed up with no issues.
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The mobile authenticator should still be fine with that. The phone number is used as an additional security verification method but isn’t required.
I have an old phone at home that I keep next to my computer, it doesn’t have any service but I can still use my authenticator on it
I will strongly recommend (as will the app) that anyone using the mobile authenticator write down or otherwise save the Serial Number and Restore Code that are provided in the app. This is useful if you switch phones and forget to update your Blizzard account. The Serial Number and Restore Code will essentially “clone” the authenticator onto a new device. So, keep that information but also keep it safe!
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One of them is doing this now, so hopefully it goes along painlessly. Thanks for all the help and hopefully sometime down the line the physical ones will be reconsidered for a “rez”
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So what about those of us who own multiple blizzard accounts IE Multi-Boxers? will the Mobile phone authenticator work for more than one account???
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Yes, this is taken from the Blizzard Authenticator support article:
“The Blizzard Authenticator offers an additional layer of security against unauthorized account access on up to three Blizzard accounts.”
So, three Blizzard Accounts can have the same Authenticator serial number from your one device. Any Blizzard Accounts you have over three would need a different device, I imagine.
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thank you Axis, did not see that part
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I disagree. Most retails stores won’t give notice when something is discontinued. We life in a time were mobile devices are very common. I understand some people refuse to use them, nothing wrong with that - but there would be, most likely, more that do than more that don’t.
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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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