account security will stop player returning

#1 - May 15, 2013, 4:01 p.m.

I took a few month break since I decided to take more classes at night while working full time than normal. I decided to take this summer off, so having a bit of free time, I tried to come back to WoW. Trying to get my account back sucked. I reset my phone in those few months off, so i needed an authenticator I no longer had access to. I tried to unlock my account. They wanted my drivers license, so I scanned it and sent it in with my request and Blizz never even looked at it. I know because they asked me questions that could have been answered by looking at the drivers license. They asked me a question I couldnt remember. They asked me my address. as someone who has played since Nov 24 2004, I had to go through EVERY address I lived at for those 9 years till they got the correct one - the one on my drivers license. Or I could have given them the serial number on the CD I bought in 2004 if I hadnt needed it since Wrath.

Add on top of this, I bought both my kids the game and all expansions up to Cata. When they moved in with their mom, she decided to "merge" their accounts and have them share one because she didnt want to pay for 2 accounts. My son forgot his pass phrase as well which locked my daughter out of her account. So now I get to have the same fun again for another account.

I went through all this just to pay to play a game. Yes I do understand how much they spend on account support due to theft, but making things this difficult is crazy. It is insane to expect a paying customer to jump through these types of hoops just to give hard earned money to a company. If I had not been an obvious fanboy for 9 years, there is no way I would have done this.

Orlyia

Support Forum Agent

#15 - May 15, 2013, 4:59 p.m.

We do try to make it as painless as possible, but we also need to know you - are you.

If you had come back after all this time to find your account stripped bare, perhaps also banned, potentially years worth of achievements/items trashed (and depending on the age of the compromise) possibly irrecoverable, would you feel any better about returning because it was easier?

Illicit goldselling is a multi-Billion dollar a year business. (yes, that is a B). They overwhelmingly use stolen accounts to launder funds, spam, bot, scam - and a hundred other little tricks to generate 'inventory'. Securing your account for you is only part of the equation, what they do with those stolen accounts impacts everyone. Make no mistake, there is NO 'good' bought gold - no matter how legit a company may try to appear or what they say.

As many years as it is possible to have played, people move, very understandable - but it's also important to keep personal details updated. Emails, addresses, etc., so that in cases like this it's as simple as possible :)

Welcome Back!

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Orlyia

Support Forum Agent

#20 - May 15, 2013, 6:26 p.m.

I realize the company is focused more on security than the user experience of signing back up, but that may be causing you to lose ales with former customers. That fact alone should register to your company. Signing back up can be an impulse decision, like buying a drink at a checkout. If you make it overly difficult, you will lose some customers who simply will not jump through the hoops once they are not as invested a current player or employee might be.

And when exploiters get their hands on accounts and do things that harm the community, that also drives away current players.

I do understand your point, but short of retinal scanners, not sure what else could be done to try to maintain security for our players and game to the best of our abilities.

Orlyia

Support Forum Agent

#28 - May 15, 2013, 7:02 p.m.

We do value your opinion, that's not my point at all.

This is also a topic that comes up often, where is the line between helping players such as yourself - and keeping out the bad guys which if they are allowed to run totally rampant, there would be no game to return to. Parasites, unchecked, kill the host.

Make it easier sounds simple, if you have any recommendations on how to actually DO that, given the security concerns that abound, we would be most anxious to hear those thoughts - but 'just make it easier' isn't really addressing both sides of the issue :)

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