Got my Authenticator in the mail today!

[Fuzzyboy]

I wonder what will happen to all the people that don't buy one of these nifty gadgets.

The same that has always been.

You'll have to wait for account administration to verify that your account was compromised (even if the complete restore only takes a week, you'll still be paying the monthly fee), then a week or two for a item restoration specialist to try and get you all your stuff back. If the hackers did a character transfer, you'll also have to wait to get that reversed, and if they issued a chargeback on the credit card used to transfer the character then you'll have to wait some more time for billing to catch up to the fact that your account was compromised as well. Some things (like enchants) might not even make it through the restoration. Restorations are never guaranteed.

Keep in mind -- with or without the authenticator -- you own NONE of the virtual goods. If you get hacked blizzard doesn't even HAVE to help you get your items back -- YOU were the one who compromised the account. YOU are in charge of the account security. So the fact that they do anything AT ALL is amazing. You can't sue them for your account because, according to the ToU/Eula, you didn't own anything anyway. You just leased the account from Blizzard. It "has no monetary value". There can't be a lawsuit, because Blizzard isn't in charge of your account security -- you are. There can't be a lawsuit, because your account has no real-world monetary value (at least according to Blizz).

The question is: is $6.50 worth the trouble? To me it is. To others it might not be. It's personal choice whether you want the added security or if you think it's a hindrance.

To me, my authenticator is priceless. If my account were ever seriously compromised I would consider quitting the game. That is why I've purchased one.

Completely agree that it's worth the price (about $20 for me including shipping), given the time it would take to restore the accounts should they be compromised. I strongly disagree that it's amazing that they try and restore the account - it's not something they do because it gives them a warm fuzzy feeling inside, it's something they do because they'll make more money that way than if they didn't. If everytime some compromised their account, Blizzard responded: "Haha, screw you, buy new accounts, start over and stop surfing porn", they would probably lose customers and not just those customers affected by the compromised accounts.

In addition to that, I'm pretty sure the added security isn't something they do to insulate against lawsuits, but rather something they do to 1) make a penny on the authenticators and 2) save the money in terms of work hours for restoring lost accounts. The security is mind-numbingly easy to implement and with so many possible customers, authenticators will cost about 1 dollar each to make. It's simply good business practice, not an act of charity :-)