Issue with Battle.net log-in

[Zenoth]

Alright, so I haven't logged-in to my Battle.net account in about three weeks (been playing other games, busy, etc.).

A few hours ago I launched my B.net launcher with the intention to play some D3 to burn some time. I'm granted with a message that says something like "Your account has been locked because your log-in pattern has changed...", and that I should prove "it's really me". I got two options, via mail (they send a code to my account e-mail address, copy it and past it) or via a secret question. That's where the problems start...

My Battle.net account is very old, I registered it way back in early 2000's with a @netscape.net address/domain. That was waaaay before AOL bought Netscape. That e-mail address never changed but I never used it anyway over the years. So, aware that I am about the whole "Netscape mail doesn't really exist anymore" issue I decide to see if my screen name for that netscape account along with my password still work over at AOL Mail. To my surprise, it worked. The problem is now that my old "netscape.net" address changed to @aim.com, completely new domain.

So out of cusiroty I start my B.net launcher again and choose to let it send me a code, expecting it to be sent to that AOL mailbox instead since I told myself "well, perhaps it'll be sent to that new AOL mailbox instead". Nope, nothing. Now of course I don't remember what answer I ever typed for the secret question, which happens to be something like "What did you want to do when you were younger?". Yeah, no, I don't recall if I ever actually answered that question specifically when I created my B.net account to start with sometime back in 2002 (maybe before that).

So, long story short... I can't log-in anymore. What are my alternatives?

1) I don't remember the answer to the secret question.
2) I can't have a code sent to my B.net e-mail account, because my e-mail account essentially doesn't exist anymore (netscape.net).
3) I have to be logged-in to my B.net account to use support options over at the Battle.net web site... so I can't even send a support ticket.

Do I really have to call them and lose my time on the phone with a bot?

 

[cronos]

Yes, you're going to have to call them, unfortunately. These are a common issue in the past five years or so, so I hope they at least make the process pretty efficient by now. Just call and see how it goes.

You don't have an authenticator setup for your battle.net account? Physical or otherwise?

 

[futurefields]

fwiw i called Blizzard once and the customer service and support were very fast and did what i needed

 

[Zenoth]

I've managed to find a way to send a support ticket without being logged-in, I'll see how that goes. Apparently right now their phone line is busy (said to try that one later...).

 

[Grooveriding]

I've had to do this a couple times for various reasons. Once they let me verify using a CD key I had used to add a WoW license to the account. The second more recent time I had to download some PDF form, sign it and upload it to them with a scan of a piece of government ID. I didn't want to provide the ID, but they said it was mandatory.

 

[sweenish]

I provided ID when my authenticator got borked.

Overall, it was a pretty painless process, all things considered. I expected some serious verification before they just hand over an account.

 

[Zenoth]

Ok so it means I can't stop playing for 3 weeks?

I HAVE to log-in regularly? I'll do whatever they ask me to do to recover the right to play a game I payed for (I'm not that naive I know we don't own games anymore and it's been nearly a decade like that by now). But what if I get bored of D3 again enough to not even launch Battle.net again for another month, the problem will show up again?

That's seriously annoying and I'm controlling my anger right now. Anyway... still waiting to see if that non-logged-in ticket I sent earlier will do anything. I'll wait until Monday to do a phone call, 'cause during the week-end it looks like their phone line is permanently being used.

 

[cronos]

Ok so it means I can't stop playing for 3 weeks?

I HAVE to log-in regularly? I'll do whatever they ask me to do to recover the right to play a game I payed for (I'm not that naive I know we don't own games anymore and it's been nearly a decade like that by now). But what if I get bored of D3 again enough to not even launch Battle.net again for another month, the problem will show up again?

That's seriously annoying and I'm controlling my anger right now. Anyway... still waiting to see if that non-logged-in ticket I sent earlier will do anything. I'll wait until Monday to do a phone call, 'cause during the week-end it looks like their phone line is permanently being used.

Their 'pattern recognizer' system is funky. There was once a time where I wanted to login to WoW from my laptop during the day from work (to check auction, etc.) and every single time I login from my work IP address (and later in the afternoon when I got back at home) they claimed that my login pattern changed, even after I do this every day for two weeks straight. Well, obviously what they thought was a 'pattern' wasn't really a pattern at all. So no, even consistently logging in doesn't guarantee that this funky system never got tripped again. If you were able to fix the listed email address though (or remember the answer to your secret question), the process is as simple as getting and entering that code, so it's really only ten seconds extra time, if that.

Having said that, I barely login to battle.net these days (maybe once every few months, if I wanted to check something), and it's been years since my identity was challenged. Of course, I also have an authenticator tied to my account (the physical token), so that might have helped.

I understand your frustration (and trust me, thousands of people are complaining about the same thing), but the fact is that this is a system implemented to protect us from wasting even more time (ours and theirs) to recover our accounts if it got hacked. So, while it's annoying, we're just going to have to live with it.

 

[alcoholbob]

The joys of always on...ah. That's why I still love playing Warcraft 3. I can play any of the custom games like tower defense without having to log onto battle.net.