Mandatory Authenticators?

[Trippy]

Cut it out you two.

[Roentgen]

I've been playing MMO games for as long as the genre has existed, and with all due respect to everyone in the "I got hacked" thread, I've never ever been fucking hacked because I know how to handle my shit. I'm not going out of my way to buy one of their "Godfuckingdammit we're never gonna get these kids to quit clicking on sex leg forum posts" keychains.

words

Wow, I haven't seen anyone pull an "I know more than you!  Tremble at my apparent knowledge and vocabulary" post of this scale in a while.

Whatever, guy. I'm really sorry that explaining to some internet nobody why opening their big mouths really, really wide about how "they know their shit" is wrong hurt their (and apparently your) feelings. I have no interest in getting in some personal Vendetta because of that though, so enjoy your safe Interwebs.

No, dude.  You just perfectly painted yourself as a douchebag.  That's all I was saying.

[Simond]

Incidentally, there's an image kicking about of a "Cataclysm" branded authenticator - buy expansion box & get auth keyring included in the price, perhaps?

[Fordel]

A password that I have memorized and can type in about one second with perfect accuracy?  Sure, that's ok.  Having to fiddle with a little gadget, read a code and then type it in?  Nah, don't think so.

Alright, If you seriously having that big a problem with looking at a 6 digit number and typing it in, I really guess there is no reasoning with you.

It is a pain in the ass. No chance I'm dragging that thing on my actual keychain. That means I'm never going to be able to play wow on any other computer again unless I remember to bring the thing with me, and every time there's the chance to get it lost.  Also, looking up some random code on a dongle to type in is annoying as fuck when WoW decides to kick me off the server every 3 minutes just for fun.  And I have to do the same thing when switching accounts, because there's no way to switch between WoW accounts in the same Battlenet account without logging all the way out of WoW.  That is a massive pain in the ass when I am swapping shit through alst for tradeskill purposes (i.e. auction mule on A buys blue gem, alchemist on account B transmutes it to an epic, jewelcrafter on A cuts it) or when moving shit between alliance and horde for auction purposes.  That's a lot of fucking with the dongle and typing kljd7e 9s0n32 and jjiwu7.  Or leaving both accounts up all the time and taking the performance hit, until you forget to alt tab to the other for 10 mins and it gets autokicked.

Is it the end of the world? No.  Is it going to make me quit? No.  Is it a pain in the ass? Yes.

My Authenticator has only ever given me numbers, if that helps any.

[Sheepherder]

This is where Lantyssa is supposed to come in and ramble about it being insecure now because it uses a reduced set of characters.

[Sjofn]

I figured I had two sitting around from Blizzcons, so I might as well hitch my wagon to it now instead of later. BLIZZCON 2008 VERSION BABY I AM TOTALLY SPECIAL.

I even put it on my keychain so everyone can see I am a dork. 

[Kageru]

Sounds good, I hope they do it. Putting one as a "bonus" in the cataclysm box will also neatly address the fact that postage to Australia is apparently in the 20$ region. Then they can tie installing the expansion to setting up the authenticator.

And of course it's not perfect security, but it's a lot better than a user selected password on an internet connected windows machine.

[apocrypha]

Been using the authenticator for as long as they've been around now with zero hassle. It's 6 numbers, you seriously don't even notice pressing the button and typing it in. You can use the same authenticator on multiple accounts. It's not large, it's not heavy, it's really, really, REALLY fucking easy.

Whinging about having to use one is incredibly retarded in my opinion. It's already semi-mandatory in our guild - get an authenticator and you get access to the guild bank. Nobody has complained once. Plus, core-hound pup 

[Lantyssa]

This is where Lantyssa is supposed to come in and ramble about it being insecure now because it uses a reduced set of characters.

No, it's where I tell you to bugger off.

[Sheepherder]

Killjoy.

[Draegan]

I ordered one last Tuesday and it still hasn't shipped yet.  Slow fucks.

[Ingmar]

Yeah now that I've actually gotten around to activating mine, it is pretty trivial to use. It adds perhaps 15 seconds to the login process. It isn't exactly going to weigh down a keychain, either, it is no bigger than the RSA one I have on there for my corporate VPN.

[Kageh]

The iPhone version is pretty slick, visually, and up for free on the AppStore. If you're not afraid of losing it to a system restore, although apparently that would restore the app once backed up, but I'm not sure about the serial number.

It displays a progress bar that shows you how long til the current token expires, which is handy for logging in multiple accounts.

[Minvaren]

I ordered one last Tuesday and it still hasn't shipped yet.  Slow fucks.

Ordered a couple days before New Year's - same thing.   

[Venkman]

Their order fulfillment server got hacked  

[Minvaren]

Authenticator was sitting in the mailbox today - shows mailed yesterday.  Guess they have a backlog going on or something.

[Fordel]

They sometimes run out of the little things completely and it takes a bit for them to get the new supply or whatever goes on.

[Nonentity]

I have two sitting around from the past two BlizzCons. I suppose I should probably use one.

Then again, I suppose I should probably have a reason to use one.

EDIT: Totally forgot why I was even reading this thread - apparently at one point, a WoW account was worth more than a stolen credit card number, and was less risky. That is scary.

[Jeff Kelly]

If anybody ever has trouble with their authenticators here's what to do. I had to reinstall my iPhone today, which meant that the authenticator had to be reinstalled and was no longer in sync with my account.

Step 1: Use the Tech Support form to send Blizzard a copy of your Passport or ID
Step 2: Call Tech Support and ask them to remove the Authenticator from your account (They need your ID to verify)

Takes about half an hour tops and you can play again.

[Signe]

If anybody ever has trouble with their authenticators here's what to do. I had to reinstall my iPhone today, which meant that the authenticator had to be reinstalled and was no longer in sync with my account.

Step 1: Use the Tech Support form to send Blizzard a copy of your Passport or ID
Step 2: Call Tech Support and ask them to remove the Authenticator from your account (They need your ID to verify)

Takes about half an hour tops and you can play again.

Well, gee, there's a good reason not to get one! 

[Jeff Kelly]

Well on the contrary, there's another reason why you should get one.

Most people I talked to aren't getting one because they don't know what happens when they lose the authenticator, the battery is dead etc. They are afraid that they might not be able to play the game for days or even weeks if this happens.

The tech support guys need to verify your ID because without that the authenticators themselves wouldn't be secure (everybody would be able to remove the authenticator from your account)

Waiting about half an hour before you can game again vs. the possibility of losing your toon you spent years on. I know what I'd choose.

[Signe]

Oh, I've had one for ages.  I'm just saying what people will say.  If typing in six digits is pissing them off, having to call support and wait half an hour will drive them right off the edge of sanity!   

[Jeff Kelly]

If being kept from playing WoW for half an hour is such an issue with those guys they have bigger problems than a broken authenticator 

[Rendakor]

Maybe you haven't seen the forums during maintenance...

[Azuredream]

I think at this point it's just a ritual that during Tuesday maintenence, somebody has got to post a 'WHY AREN'T THE SERVER'S UP YET??' thread, or it just wouldn't be Tuesday maintenence.

[kildorn]

Have they moved past the required "I work in computers, and if _I_ designed this system it wouldn't need downtime!" threads? Those are my favorite. Complete with insisting that WoW really doesn't have that many transactions/second because it's just a game.

[Draegan]

I just got an authenticator.  It works fine.  It's easy.

[Modern Angel]

I just got an authenticator.  It works fine.  It's easy.

It was not. Doom. DOOM! DOOM!

[Ratman_tf]

I got an autheticator and it punched me in the balls. True story.

[WindupAtheist]

More like my current precautions are sufficient and aren't going to change just because I get an authenticator, so why bother? Let all those "I use the same password for everything and have actually looked at a Flash ad in the last five years!" people screw with it. If they want to mail me a free one and require me to use it, well okay, whatever.

But you know, a lot of this shit is people who buy gold or powerleveling services getting their shit stolen by said services, and then not wanting to admit it. I know NOT YOU, but someone is clearly buying all that shit (and lots of it) or they wouldn't go to such lengths to spam us.

[Khaldun]

Honestly, from what I can tell in our guild of very-much non-teenagers, the worst danger is account sharing.

[Paelos]

Honestly, from what I can tell in our guild of very-much non-teenagers, the worst danger is account sharing.

I've played since release and I've busted people in the back alleys of major cities trading with characters named Xjhagoejogjo. Shockingly enough, they were the same people who had hacker issues and wanted to cry on the forums about it.

[Rendakor]

I trade with shady chinese farmers all the time; they sell the cheapest mats!

[Kail]

I've played since release and I've busted people in the back alleys of major cities trading with characters named Xjhagoejogjo.

People seriously do that?  That's awesome.  I assumed they'd just mail it to them, or something.  This "You are to go to the World's End Tavern in Shattrath.  Your contact will be a man named fhqwhgads.  Offer him a cigarette and he'll reply with the code phrase 'the black wolf howls at dawn'.  Come alone, or the deal is off." kind of stuff is way cooler.

[jakonovski]

Honestly, from what I can tell in our guild of very-much non-teenagers, the worst danger is account sharing.

Oh yeah, I work at a library and at one point I had probably disabled half the library cards of the local youth because they'd shared their computer logins (tied to the library card) with just about anyone who asked for it.