PerfectStorm

I JUST had my WoW account hacked last weekend. They (the hackers) somehow got my password (and just to clarify, I work in IT, and I'm quite aware of the most common methods by which passwords are stolen, however, my computer is CLEAN - I've just spent the last three evenings running scan after scan for viruses, malware, worms, keyloggers and rootkits and there is nothing there) and once they got into my account, they associated one of the authenticator devices to it in order to lock me out. It is more difficult for them to retain access to an account now, as there is a secret question/answer for password changes, so they are associating authenticators with stolen accounts (there is a software app version for iphone, so it is easily downloadable) so the legitimate account holder is locked out of the account until she is able to spend 4 hours on hold and on the phone with account support to get the situation cleared up.

Unfortunately, Blizzard has not seen fit to require confirmation from the account holder before associating an authenticator with an account for the first time, nor is anything emailed to the account holder notifying her that a modification has been made to her account details. I find that a to be a very bad omission on Blizzard's part and will be making it a priority to do my best to see that they change that. If they had required confirmation from me, nobody would have been able to lock me out of my account at all... granted, they still would have gotten into it, but they would have had less time with it than they got.

I do, however, have an authenticator on the way to my house. I know that it is only a game, only virtual stuff and that I will likely be able to get most, if not all of it restored, but the experience has made me stressed out and made me feel a little bit ... well ... violated. I would really rather not go through this again.

Hacking WoW accounts generate big money for gold-seller/hackers - they strip your characters, personal storage and guild storage of anything of value, sell it off at the auction house, sell the gold that they get from that and what was on your character, then use your stolen account to farm and/or hawk their gold sales and power leveling services. Then they sell the personal information from those people stupid enough to buy gold with their credit cards ...

Ugh.

Edited to add: I read a WoW forum post which suggested that Blizzard should include the device in the game box. I think that's a great idea.

Storm

Not that I am arguing against your statement, but I cannot find anything that indicates that nvidia has end-of-lifed the 2xx series (granted, I only did a quick search online and visited nvidia's website) ... I did find this in Wikipedia under "geForce":

"GeForce 200 Series
Based on the GT200 graphics processor consisting of 1.4 billion transistors, the 200 series was launched on 16 June 2008.[10] The next generation of the GeForce series takes the card-naming scheme in a new direction, by replacing the series number (such as 8800 for 8-series cards) with the GTX or GTS suffix (which used to go at the end of card names, denoting their 'rank' among other similar models), and then adding model-numbers such as 260 and 280 after that. The series features the new GT200 core on a 65nm.[11] The first products were the GeForce GTX 260 and the more expensive GeForce GTX 280.[12]

GeForce 300 Series
The GeForce 310 was released on November 27, 2009 [13], but is another rebrand of Nvidia's older DirectX 10.1 cards rather than the newer DirectX 11 technology[14]. It is unknown when the upcoming 300 series will be released with Direct3D 11, Shader Model 5.0, and GDDR5 memory support. It is expected to be fabricated on 40 nm process, with a target release at the end of 2009.[15][16] "

As I recall, the 9800's were available well into and past the introduction of the 2xx's - why would it be any different in this case? Again, not being argumentative, just seeking clarification.

[edit] Tiger Direct has a bunch of the 2xx line - prices are not as good as the newegg prices, but they appear to be in stock at TD... Zotac is a decent brand - I have a Zotac 9800GTX+ which has been operating quite well in my machine for the last 18 months.[/edit]

Thanks.

Storm

This sounds like a cookies problem... Typically, logins like this will set some kind of session cookie on the user's machine. I'm not familiar with Safari, but perhaps its default handling of cookies isn't what's required for login on the forums?

Check and see how your cookies are set up.

Sorry I can't be of greater asssistance.

Storm

Dear NCSoft:

Please give my beta seat to someone else. The angst on this forum over not getting something earlier than a bunch of other people is making me too depressed to participate.

Storm

I have to disagree with your disagreement ... while there have always been other MMO launches during the lifespan of CoX, Champions Online was the ONLY one that directly competed in the same genre - and, from what I've seen of it (yes, I played a trial account and may actually play more at some point because I like variety in my entertainment), has a lot of identical features, in addition to being "shiny and new" during that critical period. People who love CoX because they love superheroes are probably not going to be as tempted to leave CoX for Aion as they would be for CO.

That said, I really don't understand what the problem is here. Do you think that people who have got *almost* the same numbers as the grand prize lotto winning numbers should get the grand prize? The loyalty program was announced in the forums, on the website and on the splash page of the game, and the criteria for the badge clearly defined way back before it started. If the badge was so all-fired important to people, they would find a way to keep their subs from lapsing during the identified loyalty period. And if they didn't have the money to do so, they really had far more to worry about than playing a game ... and, if they had a roof over their heads and food on the table over the last 3 months they should be grateful (a lot of people don't have that in this economic climate) for their blessings instead of being angry at NCSoft for not getting a badge.

I'll admit that I was briefly resentful about the perks that were given to people who attended Hero Con - but then I realized that I don't have to have everything to be happy with the game. The loyalty program badge doesn't keep the electricity on, or heat your home or even make your character better. It's a BADGE. There are plenty of badges I will never have an opportunity to achieve (like ones that were granted before I started the game) but I'm not going to bash NCSoft or the devs here for that.

</end rant>
<steps off soap box>

Storm

Keep in mind that zombie attacks are possible year-round. One of them could show up wearing a Santa hat or Easter Bunny ears ...

Storm

Um ... No. While I would definitely support account wide storage options, I would absolutely draw the line at them making my storage searchable by others. My storage is MY storage. Earn your own stuff - or buy from WW/BM or broadcast what it is you are looking for. I don't want any more unwelcome spam email or tells than I already get from the gold sellers (yes, I know I can turn it off, but then I lose the ability to receive email from people that I WANT to be able to reach me).

Add to this the fact that the kind of search ability you're talking about would likely bog down server resources immensely.

Storm

I play on Triumph. I was noticing that my lag issues had gone away and was just getting ready to say "Good job!" when I played Saturday and Sunday and got LOADS of red spikes in my netgraph. Very disappointing.

Can we get an update from a redname on the progress on this issue?

Storm