Good news everyone ! New Automated Account Recovery System!

[Bluspacecow]

Just come out for us.battle.net

Not sure if you European chaps have it yet

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/bl...for-hacked-ac/
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...Id=26859148968

As a lot of you know when you get hacked one of the things that make the whole experience distressing is getting through to someone to reset your password and start the whole recovery process. Yes they've improved things over the years yet the fact remains that if you do see someone on your account it often doesn't matter how quickly you get through to someone on the phone or via a ticket - the damage is done within minutes

Now no longer. Blizzard have made an automated recovery system. Using this system you can get in quickly and lock your account down. A reset password email is sent out and a ticket is automatically generated.

https://us.battle.net/account/suppor...-computer.html

Is the URL to bookmark.

Now in the interests of science I had a little play with it. My account has not been hacked btw. Here's how I went :

Page 1

Very large prominent disclaimers on making sure you have scanned your computer for every possible keylogger , tips on keeping your account secure , recommendation for getting a authenticator etc etc

Big Orange box with a checkbox that won't alllow you to go any further without making doubly down sure you're secured your end. "Is this computer secure? - During the next steps in the account recovery process, you will be providing us with detailed personal information to verify your identity. Thus, it is extremely important that your computer is secure before proceeding."

Very nice , very clear

Page 2

Asks you for your Battle.net email , First name and Last name. Gentlemen this is why you don't do account trading. Or account buying.

Page 3

Gives you a choice between answering your secret question or putting in the serial number off your CD Case thingy. You know the number that was on the front

Page 4

It's either this page or the page before where it recommends changing your email password as well. Or it could of been about changing your battle.net email. Either way another recommendation to change your email password as it could be compromised is very very nice.

Last Page.

Tells you exactly what's going to happen and what time frames to expect. Very nice.

Also has a few very detailed paragraphs on account security and how to follow everything up. By the end of all this your account is locked with an email sent for a password recovery. A ticket for the recovery of your items is also put in the queue and you get a ticket number for it.

I like how you get the ticket number right in the email to you. It means the rep you get on the phone can locate your recovery request. It could also mean in the future Blizzard may consider changing the automated phone system to add an option to put that in .... and automatically be forwarded to the spe******t involved with your case...or automatically read out a status report on your ticket.

Seriously putting the ticket number in on the email is awesome. I would love a system where you ring up , put in your ticket number and get an automated update on your recovery. Something like someone going "Your support ticket has been assigned to ______ They can see x items to recover. Recover has been in process for x days with an estimated y days left for z items. If your still wanting to talk to an operator please stay on the line now. if you get a message to say all lines are busy please redial until you get in the Queue. Have a nice day !"

*ponders on putting in a suggestion for above*

Here's my thread on my experiences :

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...741312&sid=1#8

PS Yes I've deleted my ticket out of the queue. And my account is unlocked now. The whole process was very fast and all happened in minutes. Yes you can now lock your account down in minutes assuming you've cleaned your computer out and your email has not been compromised