Blizzard: Authenticator Required for Diablo 3 RMAH

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]Authenticators still get bypassed by hackers:http://www.mmo-champion.com/thread [...] athchargerhttp://www.examiner.com/article/di [...] you-hacked[/citation]
Has is explained on the first link you posted this isn't really the game fault or blizzard's fault. I've played wow for a few years and I also play diablo iii, in all this time I was never hacked. Perhaps because my computer isn't a harem for malware.

 

[slabbo]

I really don't like the idea of requiring an authenticator. first it does nothing for the security. everyone I know who had their WOW accounts hacked had one, so that didn't do shit. Secondly I had one on my android and it worked fine until it crashed and wouldn't work anymore. It would always just force close itself. You can't just uninstall it and re-install it and get it to work, the code it outputted once re-installed again didn't sync up and match what blizzard was expecting, and wouldn't work. I had to contact blizzard and go through a lengthy process just to be able to reset my account and log into and play my games again...it's was way more hassle than it's worth. That shit is broken...not well thought out at all.

 

[Onus]

[citation][nom]Greg23[/nom]The real irony here is… that they were very transparent with everyone during the development cycle, yet people still bought the game. (Now they can only go around blog hopping with nerd rage).How do you pay for something, knowing full well its many design flaws/expectations and hope Activision/Blizzard will come to their senses.All the 8+ Million Diablo3 consumers have done, is solidify the fact that Activision/Blizzard can continue making radical design decisions… knowing the public will still fork out the cash.Either don’t buy the game or shut up about it already.[/citation]
Not to worry, Blizzard is not getting my money for this disappointment; not until a persistent connection is not required for single-player. If it never happens, then they'll never get my money.

 

[Marcus52]

[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]Authenticators still get bypassed by hackers:http://www.mmo-champion.com/thread [...] athchargerhttp://www.examiner.com/article/di [...] you-hacked[/citation]

Yes, token devices that generate random codes can be broken, but that doesn't mean they are. The fact is, it's very rare.

Do you lock your front door when you leave the house? Why, any skilled thief can break into it anyway, right? True, but the fact is most of them won't take the time to learn the skills and make the effort. Any security method can be bypassed with enough effort, but the more effort you require the fewer people are going to even try.

The proof is in the pudding though, as they say. The fact is, there has been one confirmed cracking of a Blizzard account protected with an Authenticator, and hundreds of thousands of accounts cracked that don't have Authenticators attached. And, the method used was security patched and can be detected by any decent up-to-date antivirus program.

I'll say something that my come across as accusatory, and if that's the way you want to take it, fine by me, but the fact is there are plenty of people out there that don't want you to use any kind of security token because it makes your data harder to access, and they are crooks that don't want their access denied.

Are security tokens foolproof? No. Are they an effective added security measure which makes it significantly harder to break into your digital data (Blizzard game accounts in this case)? Absolutely.

The people that complain about the cost of an Authenticator ($6.50 in the U.S.) are making a specious argument, at best. That's the price of a meal at a fast food restaurant. And if you think Blizzard is making scads of money off them, then I ask you, why are they selling them for far less than anyone else that provides them? Check out and see what it would cost to equip everyone where you work with one to protect your business property.

That price also includes shipping in the U.S. There might be a state tax added, depending on what state you live in. $6.50 with no added shipping cost, and you think they are doing it to make money?

 

[aggroboy]

This game soaked up more of my gaming time than Minecraft, Terraria and Mass Effect 3 put together. Blizzard must have done something right.

 

[eddieroolz]

But I thought the authenticator was being hacked?

 

[xbatusayx]

I never thought people will be upset with few bucks.. I know people who buys in-game item/game account for thousands of dollars playing a free-to-play game.

 

[anartik]

Personally I think the whole concept is flawed and problematic. While I'm sure their lawyers rendered some opinion on the matter I still of the mind that 3 letters could sink the whole thing... IRS (state and federal). Guess you all should be getting 1099's from Blizzard at the end of the year.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]But I thought the authenticator was being hacked?[/citation]
The authenticator itself hasn't been hacked. But there is a malware that intercepts the code when we login, sends the wrong code to blizzard servers and the right code to the hackers server. So they can use the code to enter the game.

 

[xonxoff]

There is always winauth ...

 

[GreaseMonkey_62]

The more I hear about Diablo 3, the less likely I am to buy it. Certainly not at $60 a pop. In fact it only makes me want to fire up the old Diablo 2.

 

[psiboy]

I just want the idiots at Bli$$hard to stop doing maintenance on Diablo 3 and WoW on the same damn day/night! Are they trying to drive me to other company's games? Tools.....

 

[invlem]

Easy targets are [citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]I really don't like the idea of requiring an authenticator. first it does nothing for the security. everyone I know who had their WOW accounts hacked had one, so that didn't do shit. Secondly I had one on my android and it worked fine until it crashed and wouldn't work anymore. It would always just force close itself. You can't just uninstall it and re-install it and get it to work, the code it outputted once re-installed again didn't sync up and match what blizzard was expecting, and wouldn't work. I had to contact blizzard and go through a lengthy process just to be able to reset my account and log into and play my games again...it's was way more hassle than it's worth. That shit is broken...not well thought out at all.[/citation]

The point being, hackers are far less likely to go after an account that has an authenticator attached to it, when there are plenty others that don't. I fail to see how having an authenticator is less secure than not having one... Authenticators don't make you impervious from attack, but it does make you a far less attractive target than the 1000's of other users that don't use one.

I'm somewhat confused by the complaints, people who are going to use the RMAH are willing to spend real money on virtual items, I have a feeling the target audience here will have no issue shelling out $7 to protect their account.

Granted the RMAH is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you don't see the point of it, you're not really the audience Blizzard is targeting here, and you can continue not having an authenticator, no one is forcing anyone to use it.

 

[K2N hater]

[citation][nom]GreaseMonkey_62[/nom]The more I hear about Diablo 3, the less likely I am to buy it. Certainly not at $60 a pop. In fact it only makes me want to fire up the old Diablo 2.[/citation]
Gave up on D3 after beta. Now playing Wing Commander Saga. It's a brilliant old-school game made by fans and it's free. Gotta love PCs!

 

[GNCD]

[citation][nom]crisan_tiberiu[/nom]I have a Nokia 3110 as a phone. So you say i should upgrade to an android phone to get a free authenticator from Blizz? no ty, and yes, i am cheap i want a phone that i use it for talking, not to surf the net, not to play angry birds, not to log to facebook/twitter or run an authenticator for Diablo 3[/citation]

SMS authenticator

 

[sig_83]

I once got hacked on Warcraft and then I got the authenticator after. For people that think why bother, Blizzard will only restore an unsecured account so many times. If you are hacked while using the authenticator Blizzard will not hesitate to restore your account, as they are the ones ensuring your security via the authenticator. No code + multiple hacks= S.O.L.