Linking B-Net accounts with 1 installation

[JU1CYFRU1T]

This is a question for those of you who have linked all 5 of your accounts to your Battle.net account:

Do you have to have 5 different installations of WoW on your computer in order for this to be possible? The reason I ask this, is because when you are entering your username/password... how are the accounts being distinguished? I want to link my other 4 accounts to my B-Net... but I open my WoW installs via "double-clicking" the icon again.

Thx

[BoxingGeeks]

I would strongly advise you not to link your accounts to a Bnet account. With patch 3.2 releasing i was locked offline for 2 days because the bnet accounts use a different auth server then the rest of the world. After calling blizard tech support and then had to call blizard billing "1 hr phone call" to split my accounts back out of the Bnet style so i could log in. They said it was from a DNS setting that wasnt getting update by some ISP. Seems patch 3.2 changed teh bnet auth servers address.

Far as im concerned there is ZERO reason/reward to put them back together.

[rahven32]

Never had any problems with mine. Eventually they are going to force the bnet accounts so might as well get it over with. As far as linking them you don't have to have wow installed at all. It's all done in account management part on their site.

[Svpernova09]

There were a few problems when the battle.net login servers had issues. I didn't have ANY login issues with 3.2 I've been on battle.net login since the first day it went live.

But to the actual OP's question:

I use ISBoxer, which virtualizes the config.WTF file, which allows each wow to store it's own settings to it's own individual file, thus always opening with the correct account selected from the drop down. If you don't use ISBoxer, you should look into symlinking your installation so you can separate WTF folders for each toon.

[Dorffo]

how are the accounts being distinguished?

If you link them and run all 4/5 out of the same directory you'll need to select the account for that window to log into from a drop-down each time.

There are several ways to address this if you want a faster login experience:

• have 5 wow install directories (least appealing option)
• use junctions or symbolic links (saves lots of space)
• use Innerspace and virtual files
• others?

I haven't had any issues with battle.net and authentication since switching my accounts over for the battle-bots earlier this summer, but I've certainly read about a number of folks with horror stories.

[Sychosys]

Ive had no problems with my BNet accounts. I actually have two of them for my five accounts though.

Highly recommend going with the symbolic link approach for multiboxing in general though, makes life easier (Win7 shows one of my slaves as never needing to hit the hard drive, it just uses the cached data of the other accounts for instance)

[heffner]

Not quite sure why it would be any different? You still select the account name as before, it's just a drop down menu instead, so you should still be able to log in multiple times.

Originally I didn't want to go this route either. It really seems that Blizzard is pushing this and will force you to go this route eventually. I was actually having problems with the regular log-in, while b.net users were not, so I figured I might as well switch and have never had a single problem. I switched about 1 month ago.

I definitely wouldn't do this if I didn't have an authenticator though.

[Sychosys]

They used to give you a penguin vanity pet for merging your WoW account with a BNet account.. Course you also had to do this to participate in the WotLK beta.

iPhone Authenticator FTW!

[Ualaa]

I was in WotLK beta, and did not do a Bnet account.
Didn't get a penquinn vanity pet either.

[zanthor]

I was in WotLK beta, and did not do a Bnet account.
Didn't get a penquinn vanity pet either.

Um... I call bullshit.

You may not have done a bnet account for your main accounts, but the ONLY way to access the beta was bnet.