So a few days ago after they announced the free Mobile Authenticator for Blizzard's Battle.net accounts, I thought, why not? Safety first, right?
For those of you who don't know, Blizzard has had in the works a way to consolidate their gaming library and security of their online registration and accounts for their loyal customers by way of their Battle.net system. In the past, the system provided for Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft players the benefit of having one online account handle per user for all three games. Revamped and back in action, Battle.net is really streamlined and severely easy to manage; the conversion from a WoW account to a Battle.net account is smooth and even has capabilities to put multiple WoW accounts on one Battle.net account. You can even consolidate your registration codes and ownership of Blizzard games on the account as well, making an interactive library.
The Authenticator is what got me. The idea of the security authenticator code generator started a few years back when online accounts started getting hacked, so Blizzard offered a service to combat this for just a few bucks: a keychain with a digital display. The keychain would display an 8-digit numeral that changes approximately ever 30 seconds working off an algorithm to generate the given sequence. The algorithm is attach to a certain identity code, written on the back of the keychain, and syncs up with your account when registered online. This makes it impossible for anyone who isn't you to log into your account. Recently Blizzard offered for iPhone and iPod Touch owners a download to a free application that does exactly what the keychain does called Mobile Authenticator.
My iPhone is now my key to WoW, but not without a price. Like most of Blizzard's exploits since BC, the system is flawed. Everything's rushed with them lately, and the Battle.net system still has problems during log in, keeping those that have a Battle.net account out of the connecting process to the server. The Authenticator works fine, but switching to Battle.net has kept me off the game for periods at a time. I'm still keeping my Battle.net account (not like I have much of a choice, it's irreversible), but I just find it annoying when I have to check internet ping just to make sure it's not me.
It's a neat concept and I like it when it all works smoothly, but on technical issues Blizzard needs to not rush so much for new advancements or content of the system. We end up with these fragments of awesome things but never the whole super-duper.
Blizzard, slow down. Gimme super-duper when it's ready, not this half-assed stuff. BEE TEE DUBBYA, How's 3.1 going? :D
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