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Beta testers wanted for Battle.net launcher update
Last November, Blizzard announced that they were working on testing updates to Battle.net's communication and login functionalities. That testing is ongoing and has now been moved to an open beta. Blizzard is looking for interested players to help them test a new desktop application designed to improve the launcher and login experiences for all Battle.net users. If you're interested in being a part of this beta test, you can head on over to your account page and opt-in to a Blizzard game universe beta test. As is usual, invites will go out in waves, so you might not get yours right away. Happy testing!
Friendly reminder from WoW.com: Convert to Battle.net now!
In two weeks time, on November 11 (November 12th for EU folks), all World of Warcraft players will be required to have a Battle.net account in order to access the game. The reminder has been counting down on the game's log-in screen for the past week, urging players to create an account on Battle.net merge it with their World of Warcraft accounts, with the promise of a cute little penguin to sweeten the deal. As if the threat of being unable to play the game weren't enough. Blizzard has big plans for their new Battle.net upgrade, which they announced during BlizzCon 2009, and the mandatory merge works towards their long-term goals for all their games. Exciting features such as cross-realm, cross-faction, and even cross-game chat will be part of the new Battle.net, which some people have pointed out is reminiscent of XBox LIVE. Of course, we at WoW.com are dedicated to making sure you make the merge because aside from wanting our readers to cozy up to monochromatic, flightless birds, having them locked out from the game we talk about on the site all the time is kind of a lose-lose situation for everybody. So hey, two weeks to go. Merge that baby.
Mr. Chilly is in the mail on Battle.net accounts
You have until November 11th to switch your account to Battle.net, but the penguin pets are already in-game. I converted my account when I was first able to (which has had its ups and downs) and I logged on this afternoon to find Mr. Chilly in my mailbox on all characters. Like most Blizzard promotional pets, they are Bind on Account and sent to every character you have on every realm. They are also collectible, in that they don't disappear from your inventory after you "learn" them. So, if you have already switched to Battle.net, log in and pick up your new little penguin buddy.
Authenticators to be optional for the Forums and Armory
Many of the people who are actually allowed to surf the official World of Warcraft forums were a little unhappy with the change to Battle.net accounts simply due to the fact that it meant that if you had an authenticator attached to your account, you now had to use that authenticator to log onto the forums, which wasn't needed before. Even if you're allowed to surf at work, and even if the authenticator has a ring on it to so it can be attached to your keys, not everyone feels comfortable carrying that thing around all of the time. You lose it, you're out of luck for awhile.The other day, Bornakk announced some good news that I think a lot of those individuals may have missed: They've temporarily removed the requirement to use an authenticator for the forums and the Armory. In the future, they'll be making this feature optional. You'll be able to choose whether or not you want to use the authenticator on the forums. Why would you want to do that? Well, if your account uses an authenticator, it's going to keep keyloggers and hackers/scammers from stealing your account or characters, but if the authenticator isn't attached to your account on the forums, it can still be used for spamming keylogger links since all that's needed there is your password. If you have your authenticator turned off, it's going to do a whole load of nothing to stop that from happening.It's nice that it will be optional, but if you frequent the WoW forums and don't plan on using your authenticator there, keep in mind that you'll still want to be very careful about where you surf and what you click if forum access is something you enjoy having. In my experience, the forum mods are much less forgiving and not nearly as quick to respond as the in-game GM team.
Mac users having login issues this afternoon [UPDATED]
We've received a lot of reports of Mac users having problems with the login servers this afternoon, and the Tech Support forums certainly lend some weight to those reports. The thread isn't a 26+ page behemoth yet, but it's only getting started. We don't know how widespread the issue is quite yet, but it seems significant enough.Blizzard representatives are on the case, and while they haven't fixed the exact problem, they have found a workaround: This is only happening with the World of Warcraft specific login servers, and thus it's only happening to World of Warcraft specific logins. If you merge your World of Warcraft account into a Battle.net account, you will be able to log in.It's no fix, but if you're desperate enough to play and haven't yet merged your account over, now is a pretty good time to do it. Personally, I'm not sure why you wouldn't do it anyway, but that's just my preference talking. If this login issue gets worse before it gets better, we'll be sure to let you know.Update: This issue appears to be cleared up, but please let us (and Blizzard of course) know if that's not the case!
Battle.net accounts coming to the EU
Blizzard's various websites (official WoW site, the Armory, etc) have all been down for maintenance today, and we had no real idea why. Word is coming in from the EU that the switch to Battle.net accounts that we talked about previously is finally coming about. Portions of the official EU site are redirecting to this Battle.net login page.We knew this would happen eventually, especially since the name of the Authenticator changed on the PTR from being World of Warcraft specific to a more broad Battle.net name, but the fact that it's coming without formal notice is a bit surprising! If you're unfamiliar with what a Battle.net account actually is, it's more or less the same as your WoW account but instead of an account name, it uses your e-mail address and it spans all Blizzard games. Considering the Starcraft II beta is rumored to be starting quite soon, this is probably good timing for the switch.We have no idea if this switch is happening in the US yet, but it's probably a safe assumption that it will. Or if it hasn't, we'll be seeing it very soon. If we find out more, we'll be sure to let you know.Update: It does look like this is coming to the US soon as well.[Thanks to everyone for the tips, and Kumbol for the screenshot]
