Battle.net accounts - Important, please read!

[Windzarko]

For those who haven't already seen, it is soon going to be mandatory for you to have merged your WoW account with your Battle.net account. From November 11th onwards, if you haven't merged, you won't be able to log in, simple as.

To get started, head over to http://eu.battle.net/ and create a battle.net account (unless you have one already, of course).

I've heard some people express security concerns over battle.net, but there's no need for concern since it is no less secure than WoW normally is, you can still have any authenticators you might have still work, and in one way it actually protects you a little, since there is currently a way for account-hackers to merge stolen WoW accounts with their own battle.net account and make it significantly more difficult for the Blizzard staff to reverse the damage.

As an added incentive, battle.net is soon being upgraded to battle.net 2.0 which will be the platform for WoW, Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2. Chances are that the Starcraft 2 beta sign-ups will be via battle.net, for those who are interested.

I recommend that people go and merge their accounts sooner rather than later to avoid the huge crush of people closer to the deadline date, and so you have longer to resolve any merging issues before you become unable to play without a merged account.

There may be one or two issues with setting up and merging, but stick with it; there won't be an alternative!

 

[thatbloke]

The SC2 Beta opt-in has been up for months (I remember registering for it AGES ago) and the only way to opt-in for it is with a battle.net account.

It will mean that you can use your authenticator (if you have one) for ALL battle.net services, and your username will also change from being the WoW account username you will have been using over the years to your email address.

In addition, if you have any other Blizzard games (SC1, Diablo 1/2, any Warcraft game...) you can register the keys you have for those to your battle.net account and you will be able to download the clients for those games directly from the battle.net account management pages.

 

[Marqo]

Yep, Battle.net accounts are no problem at all, and offer some nice functionality. As another nice thing, making the swap will get you a penguin minipet for all your WoW chars.

 

[Zooggy]

Ahey,

So, to be sure, people without battle.net accounts won't have those accounts created automatically?

Cheers,
J.

 

[Marqo]

Nope, you'll have to set one up manually (takes a few minutes), then link your WoW account to it.

 

[SgtFury]

The other thing to watch out for (we have had a few in Northrend Exposure have this happen to then) is it's possible for someone to associate your Wow account with their new battlenet account and take your chars. So sooner rather than later is my reccomendation.

 

[Zooggy]

Hoy,

Okies, I am creating my battle.net account, then...

Eeeek... Dark blue letters on a black background... morons...

Cheers,
J.

 

[Windzarko]

The other thing to watch out for (we have had a few in Northrend Exposure have this happen to then) is it's possible for someone to associate your Wow account with their new battlenet account and take your chars. So sooner rather than later is my reccomendation.

Yup; this is especially important for anyone without an authenticator to pay attention to, and another reason to get on with it while this window for exploitation is open to non-merged accounts.

 

[Zooggy]

Hoy,

Created and merged...

Cheers,
J.

 

[Auryn]

Done, and gief minipet Nao :O

 

[SwampFae]

Yep, Battle.net accounts are no problem at all, and offer some nice functionality. As another nice thing, making the swap will get you a penguin minipet for all your WoW chars.

Yupyup

In addition, as our way of saying thanks for taking the time to go through this process, existing players that merge their World of Warcraft account with a Battle.net account will receive a new World of Warcraft in-game penguin pet.

 

[Astroid]

Merged

 

[Silk]

I merged AGES ago; does that mean I won't get a penguin?

 

[Marqo]

You will. IIRC everyone with a merged account will get them.

 

[HotStuff]

Merged mine, didn't go smoothly, had to verify email address twice.

All is well now. Now what were all these benefits again?

 

[SwampFae]

Blizzard's view:
Easier to manage when you do everything from one place.
You get a WoW minipet.

I would recommend having an authenticator, though.
Recommending this since if one account gets hacked now. Evertyhing can get hacked if you don't have one.

(This is ofcourse only a temporary solution to the problem since hackers get smarter by each passing day)