http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/account-administration-told-not-to-restore-hacked-characters/#continued

Looks like at the moment, if you get hacked and need to be restored you have 2 options. Wait forever, or accept a care package in lieu of a full restoration.

I'm sure it won't be long until any sort of restoration help is offered. It doesn't affect us though because we all have authenticators right? RIGHT?

I think that care package is pretty awful... I mean when I was hacked the items that were stolen from me were worth many times that, and that's not to mention what was taken from the Guild bank.

I can see this causing quite an uproar if it stands for long... I can't believe Blizz would take this sort of step backwards in customer service...

You don't have to take what's in the box. You can decide to put yourself in a restoration queue that could be days or weeks long.

In all honesty though, if people don't yet have authenticator's after everything Blizzard has done to make them easily obtainable, they're lucky to get anything at all back after being hacked.

I wonder how much it would cost Blizz to just force every account to have an authenticator vs having a large amount of people working in account restoration.

They're wondering the same thing.

My prediction: "All Cataclysm, Diablo 3, and Starcraft 2 boxes will ship with an authenticator inside and you will be required to set it up to play."

... I can't believe Blizz would take this sort of step backwards in customer service...

What a load of craaaap. Their inside sources are fail. I've never read such a load of CRAP on that site in my life. Blizzard have always restored accounts, and always will. They have no reason not to do this.

What a load of craaaap. Their inside sources are fail. I've never read such a load of CRAP on that site in my life. Blizzard have always restored accounts, and always will. They have no reason not to do this.

WoW.com posted a "reaction" by Blizzard that much more clearly explains the service. You have an option of going into the queue to get a full restore, or getting a care package (which apparently they beefed up in some way). I'm not entirely sure that this "new" information wasn't the original information and that it was reported poorly in the first place... but whatever.

That makes more sense, and I can see how this would be helpful to some.

Here's the new article if you didn't see it:
http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/blizzard-policy-changes-in-reaction-to-account-security-concerns/

Well it really does makes sense. Sure, Blizzard has always been pretty fuckin' good when it comes to customer service, but they have also given plenty of methods and information on how to prevent stuff like this from happening.

After a while you just have to cut people off.

WoW.com posted a "reaction" by Blizzard that much more clearly explains the service. You have an option of going into the queue to get a full restore, or getting a care package (which apparently they beefed up in some way). I'm not entirely sure that this "new" information wasn't the original information and that it was reported poorly in the first place... but whatever.

That makes more sense, and I can see how this would be helpful to some.

Here's the new article if you didn't see it:
http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/blizzard-policy-changes-in-reaction-to-account-security-concerns/


Yup it's always been like that though from what I read on the igs forums. It's a choice, it's nothing to do with the way wow insider spun it by saying "Oh they're told not to restore accounts and to just offer the care package". It's just for people who don't want to wait ages for a full restore. Grats to wow insider for making Blizzard look like douchebags though.

From the way I read it, it seemed like they had some inside sources that were disagreeing with the way Blizzard was running things.

Wow.com has in the past mentioned that they have some pretty reliable sources in Blizzard. And from what I've read it doesn't sound so much like a "leak" as it seems like an authorized dissemination of information.

There were 3 or 4 big Blizzard policy posts from Wow.com that day, and while they did read as slightly sensationalist, they appeared to me to be a calculated choice by wow.com to bring attention to something that their source inside Blizzard disagreed strongly with.

These posts were also followed up by a post saying that Blizzard had decided to increase the care package settlement (possibly due to the attention wow.com brought but not necessarily).

There is also the odd case a few weeks ago where their lead blogger, Mike Shramm posted that he was leaving the site suddenly. He and Turpster were the hosts of their podcast every week and both of them announced that they would be leaving without giving any details.

Personally I think there is a lot of behind the scenes politics going on with wow.com blog posts right now (Not the reader comments but the main news/opinion pieces). As someone that has written posts on our site in the past in an intentionally strong tone in order to bring attention to a subject, I don't personally think their intentions were malicious. But hey.... I could be wrong.

So if I posted on Wow.com "GIVE ME BACK MY ARMY YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKERS!"; that would cause Blizz to nerf Shamans?

Who in their right mind would let you post on wow.com?

Modern journalism.

It's the equivalent to pop music.

One chord, a big hook, and two lyrics repeated ad nauseum.
One simple idea, a dramatic emotional example (true or manufactured), and a few lines written at a 3rd grade reading level.

The hook doesn't even have to make sense, just has to be catchy.

Could just call it pop journalism

There's a lot of shit about pop culture that really pisses me off too. I'm not entirely sure why I feel the need to defend wow.com. I think I've just always found them to be writers I relate to; for the most part they are all knowledgeable without being condescending or elitist.

They all love the game, and found a way to get paid for playing it. I just don't see the faceless greedy monster you guys are seeing.

I just don't see the faceless greedy monster you guys are seeing.

I've seen that same monster before, man. I just can't remember where...it might of been on the hood of the car on the way home from a "monsters of rock" gig.

There's a lot of shit about pop culture that really pisses me off too. I'm not entirely sure why I feel the need to defend wow.com. I think I've just always found them to be writers I relate to; for the most part they are all knowledgeable without being condescending or elitist.

They all love the game, and found a way to get paid for playing it. I just don't see the faceless greedy monster you guys are seeing.

I do see the greedy monster, but for my own reasons.

The care package never got increased after wow.com's post- it's always been that way.

I've actually met WoWInsider's current editor (Mike Sacco) ... he and his wife were moving and they stayed at my house with their four cats for a night, rofl. That seems apropos of nothing, but it's just to say that I've seen this site both viciously lambasted and defended. There's another WoW forum I frequent that--particularly while Schramm was in charge--often found its posts cannibalized by WoW Insider and misconstrued in a sensationalist way, to the point that many members of that community have a grudge against the site. But Sacco is a super nice dude and I liked him a lot.

My feeling on this matter, however, is that if anyone knows Blizz policy, it is probably going to be someone who is actually in the present time working for Blizzard <3

That's pretty neat about Sacco staying with you Eules :)

And that stuff about the story swiping is really interesting. I've seen the spiteful comments on wow.com about them stealing stuff but I just assumed it was the same kind of angry jibber jabber that you see on any anonymous forum. I was pretty sure I always saw links to other sites when they had outside sources but maybe that's just what I wanted to think.

angry jibber jabber

lol@uMrT

His wife is on my livejournal friends-list and when they were moving, she posted a plea for help to anyone within a certain mile range. Since they were passing through Memphis, I offered to let them stay for a night, as it would be pretty rough for them to find a hotel willing to tolerate four kittehs (the kittehs stayed in the garage and were no worse for the wear).

I really didn't know her that well when I made the offer and I still don't, but they seemed nice and they needed help, so ... I helped them!

The end.

And the kind side of Eulz is revealed for all to see!

The kind side of Eulz?? Wow..... it's like..... seeing a unicorn.... or a perpetual motion machine!

I SEE SPARKLES

I have this vague memory of Euls being super nice and kind and gentle with everyone for a short period of time. It was very creepy, and my mind has done everything in its power to purge the memory as much as possible.