A few weeks ago I had written about my WOW account getting hacked again. So enough was enough, even the wife was pissed that I had to spend so much time trying to retrieve my account. I had to prove that it belongs to me by waiting on the phone with Blizzard to talk to them and even fax them my driver’s license to prove my identity. So she insisted I get the Blizzard Authenticator so that I don’t have to go through this ever again. It’s only around $18 (shipping/foreign exchange included). No, you don’t have to get this authenticator or pay for it like getting your industrial supplies, in fact it was a very simple process.. and I had it via courier within 5 days.

So how does this authenticator protect you from being hacked again? The Blizzard Authenticator is a small device you can attach to your keychain that provides a second layer of security to protect you from keyloggers and other morons who want to get into your account. Once you associate the Blizzard Authenticator with your account you’ll have to login to the game using 2 passwords. Your regular one, and one provided by the authenticator when you push the button on it.

As you can see from the picture, there is a barcode with a serial number on the back. This in technical terms is the encryption seed. When you buy the authenticator, you enter this serial number into your account. When you press the button on the front of the authenticator it takes your serial number and applies a secret Blizzard algorithm (likely fractals) to it that is relational to the current time and date. The result is a six-digit code that displays on the front of the unit. Since hackers don’t know the algorithm (or your serial number for that matter) the chances of them getting into your account are practically zero.

So, I tried to go change my password but the security question answers have also been changed, so I can’t regain access that way. I sent in an email to support and should hear back soon, but today when I tried to log into my email account I was told the password is wrong. I’m hoping that I’m just being paranoid and maybe it was a temporary glitch in gmail, but since I don’t have access to my old secondary email I have to wait until tomorrow to see if my security questions are still valid on there, to reset my password. Do these hackers really go to so much trouble to hang onto stolen accounts these days? If I could only get my hands on the bastard responsible he’d be needing to make a serious disability appeal cause that bitch would be in hospital with broken limbs. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way. I’m really done with this game now, fuck, I’d rather just delete my toons completely so no one can steal them again. At least in EQ2 I’ve never heard of or experienced account hacks like this.

The last addon I downloaded was Auctionator, I didn’t like Auctioneer much and still think it has something to do with my hack, so I left it alone this time. I’m glad I did, Auctionator is awesome! I posted up over 50 auctions in just a couple of minutes using this wonderful addon. Whether you’re posting up Sferra or loads of enchanting mats it’s fast and easy. Drop an item into the Sell box and it will automatically scan for all items of that type currently for sale. It will automatically undercut the lowest price by just a little bit, so all you have to do is click “create auction”. You can edit your prices manually of course, and Auctionator doesn’t replace the regular AH screens, it adds extra tabs for it’s own features.

I think I’ll fore go the imaginary Orlando vacations this summer and set myself to rep grinding. A few runs through Strat should finish off Argent Dawn since that’s probably my closest one. Profits are decent and I’d get a couple cracks at the Baron’s horse so why not, it’s a fast run through with a DK.

I check the job bank every once in a while to see what’s new around here, that’s how I found out an EB Games was finally coming to town (fuck them, by the way). It looks like jobs in IT are pretty scarce in this area lately but there’s lots available for store clerks and the like.

After I was done with that I logged in to try out my new spec in a group. Heals are much improved, and when buffed up my spellpower is now +1100 (compared to 900 when I was shadow), Now I see a valid reason to look for gear with Spirit buffs. My greater heal currently does a little over 3000 (4500 crits) and flash heal is over 2000. Our paper tank only has around 16k hp at the moment so it’s easy enough to keep him alive except when he does stupid things like jump down a set of stairs out of sight line and gets slaughtered.

Actually I lied about Ding 78, but it will be soon, only 7% to go and I’ll be doing that before I sleep.

Looks like one of the top careers in this failing economy is to be a Warcraft hacker. At a current price of $15 USD per 1000 gold, the hacker made about $120 off my account in less than an hour. Now I don’t quite know how Blizzard handles that side of it though. They were able to return my stuff to me, but were they able to find and ban all the accounts that the hacker was using before he was able to sell it off? There must be some real profits involved in these illegal activities otherwise they (account hackers) just wouldn’t bother, right?

The night I got hacked, I was playing on a different server and when I went to the AH to sell off some stuff I saw that Auctioneer was active. I thought it was strange since I had turned it off, but figured that since this was a different server that was probably the reason it was back. Then I got hacked. I wasn’t using an auto updater for the addon and I’m quite sure it was a zip file I installed from, not an .exe, but I had installed it a few months ago and trashed the downloaded install files ages ago so I can’t be 100% sure. So be very careful with addons, especially if something re-enables itself! Go change your password immediately in such a case!

I sent in an email and opened a ticket and within an hour I had my account back. I logged in to check my toons and surprisingly enough they still had all their gear equiped, but my gold was all gone and my banks were picked clean of everything but the proverbial discount Kohler sinks. I figure I lost at least 8000 gold worth of stuff to this lousy scumbag. I put in another support ticket.

That evening a GM got in touch with me and assured me that whatever I lost could be restored, it would just take a bit of time for them to sort it out. Sure enough I did get an email the next morning stating that a preliminary investigation had been completed and many of my items had been returned to me. After checking I do have most of it back, but there’s still some odds and ends missing worth a couple k, plus all the gold. None of that has been given back yet. I was so close to my epic flyer too! It’s only been 3 days since the first batch of returns, so I’m patiently waiting to see if anything else will be returned when they finish investigating the issue. Anyone else have the same problem? Did you get everything back eventually?

Are they this picky about names on other servers? Scarlet Crusade is an RP server so I can understand them being more strict, like when our original Horde guild, Lethal Fisters, got canned.

I’m a little surprised (although by now I shouldn’t be) at the general lack of creativity when it comes to mobs in the new zones. So far I’ve been killing crypt callers, mer-men, cerebral palsy infected ghouls and rhinos. All things I’ve killed before in other parts of the game. The only new mob types I’ve run into so far are the Rob Zombie wannabes at Riplash Strand. It’s still fun though.

As for other fun stuff, there’s the usual bombs and awesome headgear, and a newer improved version of the explosive sheep. And a new sapper charge, cause there’s nothing quite like being a suicide bombing priest >:)