So in the next patch Blizzard wants to force us to get an authenticator by removing the right to make messages in looking for group ?
In other words, in patch 9.1 I won’t be able to say in the LFG tool that I need a venthyr or a BL for my M+ run unless I get an authenticator ???
No way Blizzard. The pathetic excuse of fighting against advertising is not gonna work. I never used an authenticator and never will, I don’t care about the 4 extra slots of bag you can give whatever you want to entice people to get an authenticator if you wish but you’re not removing the basic tools for pugging as a threat to get me to get an authenticator.
Edited for additional comments.
For the record I got the COVID vaccine almost the first day it was available for my age category.
Also the point of this thread is not whether the authenticator is good or bad (I let everybody be their own judge about this) but whether players who don’t have an authenticator should be punished by removing game features from them.
Next I don’t believe that the motivation of Blizzard is to fight lfg advertising per se : they just use this as a excuse to push the authenticator, and as a way to pretend they are doing something about advertising. Also I don’t believe for one second that, even if the measure is implemented, you’ll see any noticeable decrease in the number of adds you see in the LFG channels.
12 Likes
I’ve had the SMS Protect and an Authenticator on my account for over a year and have never had to use it again. I only use WoW on my own PC.
15 Likes
Refusing multi-factor authentication in the digital space is almost the equivalent of refusing vaccines in real-life. Almost.
It’s a weird hill to die on.
45 Likes
That’s a ridiculous comparison, considering.
21 Likes
I’ve had the Authenticator app for 6 years (ish) and only get prompted for it rarely, either when a new device is logging in to my account (i.e I’ve changed phone or got a new PC) or I’ve changed password.
I don’t get why people are so anti the authenticator? It literally acts as an extra protection on your account to stop it being logged in to by anyone other than you and if they try you get alerted to the fact.
Blizzard asking for an authenticator to be attached to accounts for LFG is just them saying “We want to know these accounts aren’t throw away and only being used to do the thing that the community is constantly complaining at us for not dealing with!”
Community: Oi blizz do something about LFG advert spam!
Blizz puts in changes to try combat LFG advert spam.
Community: OMG blizz what are you doing? Why are you forcing me to protect my account whilst also trying to stop LFG advert spam? Just stop Blizz!!!
13 Likes
Exaggeration promotes understanding. I added a little caveat with the “almost”, so no need to get your knickers in a twist.
But I’ll stand by what I said regardless. I don’t see the sound reasoning for refusing something that is entirely for your own protection. It’s a strange thing to object to and a weird hill to die on, in my opinion.
6 Likes
Given that the potential consequence of not being vaccinated is death and the potential consequence of not having an authenticator is having to wait a day or two for your account to be restored and possibly losing a bit of the progress you made in the hours before your account is hacked … yeah totally makes sense 
And my point is precisely that the extra burden the authenticator is not worth the extra protection.
1 Like
its actually pretty spot on .
3 Likes
I did it today and i can tell you it cost me nothing
i don’t know why people are so mad about this 
it will just tells you that someone is trying to log into your ACC and if it’s not you you can decline and that is a good thing to have in my opinion
and if you think they will stalk you because you have now mobile APP or phone number
you are already in system so if they want to know all about you they will no matter how much you fight against
4 Likes
You will get hacked and you will loose your account without two factor, its not a case of if its a case of when.
Seen it many times.
2 Likes
well by that logic, why isnt it mandatory.
Its natural human paranoia that is pervasive in all society now, bred by people abusing trusting people so often that we now have phrases like “theres no such thing as a free lunch” etc etc.
If blizz made it mandatory for the game then i doubt many would object. Make it voluntary with incentives … humans will immediately go “get stuffed, youre trying to take advantage of me in some underhand way you swine”
and thats precisely why i dont have one and never will.
And now, theyre going to punish you for not having one … which will push detractors even further down the 'eff off" route, including myself.
My logic is why do i need it. I dont go to wow-linked websites, i dont use any addons … whats the reason i would lose access to my account ( i never have, since wow beta, by the way). Why would i need a second layer of protection when i aint exposing problem that is beating the first layer i already have.
Its either mandatory or its entirely optional and youre not punished for not complying.
Not a mishmash of both with natural human paranoia driving non-compliance.
as for you vaccination comparisoners … If i was a complete hermit, would i get the virus? no, i wouldnt.
I dont need a second layer, with the added irritation of having to use it, when im not exposing myself to the source of the problem. Blizzard are seeking to punish me for that. If this goes ahead, you can queue up the army of people who are going to rage and more will leave.
Very very stupid idea blizzard, dont think you can afford to do stupid things for a while
2 Likes
Temporarily. You can get your account back regardless. Very easily in fact.
2 Likes
Its not always that easy and can take time and can happen over and over, the logical way is to prevent it in the first place.
Its really a great change.
If a few people dont like being told what to do for their own good and leave then thats fine.
3 Likes
For years I couldn’t make new character without logging into a french realm to delete a character a hacker made on my account lol
Good question.
Back in the day the norm was that whenever you created an account somewhere, then you had to assign a password. That was mandatory.
Then the sneaky hackers found out how to compromise those passwords.
So then the requirements for your passwords got stricter. They needed to be longer. Include symbols and numbers and capital letters.
Then the sneaky hackers found out how to compromise those passwords as well.
And now the trend is to push for more multi-factor authentication. Will it end up being mandatory as the previous steps have been? Probably. Eventually.
The reluctance to make it mandatory right now probably stems from the fact that passwords in general have become a source of annoyance for the user. They’re long and complicated to remember. You need a million different ones. And you need a ton of apps and key fobs to verify your logins. And then there’s the captcha approaches where you have to guess if some doodle is an E or an inverted M, or whether there’s 4 pictures with a traffic light or if it’s just 3 and the 4th is a blurred monkey in a tree.
And that’s not to speak of verifying through mails and answering questions about the name of your favorite pet or where your father was born or whatever.
It’s annoying to deal with as a customer, and businesses generally don’t want to risk that their customers go elsewhere because they can’t be bothered to deal with the hassle.
But of course the sneaky hackers are still there, and they’ll still compromise whatever can be compromised, so the need for more security doesn’t go away just because people think it’s annoying to deal with.
And in the case of Blizzard’s multi-factor authentication, then it really is one of the better implemented designs I deal with in my life. For the most part it’s entirely unnoticed and therefore no hassle or annoyance at all. So it’s hard to see why some players would be reluctant to have it. Even if you argue that the pros are insignificant becuse you’re of course not going to have your account compromised, then the cons are still so minor that you may as well get it anyway - because rather safe than sorry.
But like I said earlier, then the objection to the authenticator seems like a weird hill to die on, in my opinion. It’s definitely not sound logic that drives the reasoning behind it.
3 Likes
Prevent yes. It still however easy to reclaim your account. Always. The only two things you would have to send Blizzard are either a picture of your ID or a serial key of old.
You do realise if you get the authenitcator on your phone, it gives blizz access to alot of data. Which is probably the main reason they want to push this so much.
1 Like
Do what I do, lock every app down.
On your PC yeah, not on your mobile. I search/buy a lot more stuff on my phone then my PC. Not saying blizz will do anything with the data, doubt they would. Other companies have been caught and had enormous fines though.
1 Like