We've already reported that the Blizzard Authenticator is sold out, but here's another twist to the story. WoW Insider reader Ryan told us that he placed his order last Monday, before the sell out was announced.
However, instead of getting his Authenticator, he instead got an unexplained refund. With no other word from Blizzard, they simply canceled the order and refunded the money. He talked to a coworker who had also ordered the Authenticator and found that he had the same experience. As of yet, Blizzard has not explained the refund to him.
It's likely that Ryan was simply unlucky enough to place his order after they'd sold out but before they'd officially announced it, but there's other somewhat unfortunate implications. If they're refunding his order instead of honoring it, it suggests that they don't expect to have any new Authenticators ready for quite some time.
In short, Blizzard really did vastly underestimate just how popular these authenticators would be. Not only were they unable to deliver as many as needed, but many areas, including most of the non-US world, were unable to order them. With these unexplained refunds, and no announced ETA for the Authenticator to become available again, it seems like Blizzard really has been blindsided, and may still be scrambling to get on top of this glut of demand.
It seems strange that they really didn't understand how popular this world be. Almost every day, a new glut of key logger posts from stolen accounts show up on the official forums, as hackers and gold sellers work overtime to steal new revenue sources. Everyone seems to know someone who's been hacked. No matter who you are or how you play, you're vulnerable. Even if you aren't hacked directly, you may still feel the sting if a fellow guild member gets hacked and your guild bank gets cleaned out. With that type of craziness going on, it's no wonder more people are looking for more ways to keep their accounts safe.
Perhaps this is just another example of what Rob Pardo said at the Paris GDC: Blizzard approached the MMO game rather naively. This naivete may be what keeps them from providing the security their customers need. Of course, they aren't under any obligation to provide more extreme measures like the Authenticator per se, but they understand very well that the things account stealers do damage the game as a whole. In that case, it seems like they should have been more prepared for this.
Hopefully, Blizzard can recover from this setback quickly, and get back on track for selling more Authenticators and making them available to players everywhere. While it's good to see Blizzard help players take action against account theft, it only works if the help is consistent, universal, and readily available.





















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-07-2008 @ 7:14PM
Lucas J said...
I ordered mine the moment after I noticed the WoW Insider article announcing they were on sale. My order shows up a little differently, with an original charge of 9.19. A few days later, the order split into two rows, one of which says REFUNDED without an amount, and one that says SHIPPED with the price of 6.89.
Apparently there was some issue with their online store charging shipping costs that were not needed or something along that lines as well.
I'm just hoping I actually get one.... Tries to contact customer support have failed.
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7-07-2008 @ 8:01PM
doug said...
This happened to me as well
7-07-2008 @ 7:39PM
Rob said...
Same here, refunded only $2.30 for a net of $6.89, hasn't shown up yet but didn't receive the full refund.
7-08-2008 @ 9:38AM
Thrush said...
I had the same experience with my order and I did receive my authenticator. I think they over estimated shipping and refunded the shipping charge. Mine arrived from usps and only cost 59 cents to ship not the $2.30 I was originally charged
7-07-2008 @ 7:24PM
SaintStryfe said...
I got my order on Saturday. Works great, I'm very pleased with it.
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7-07-2008 @ 7:36PM
Midreian said...
I ordered mine on the 30th and the order history says shipped. I have still yet to get it, but I am hoping I will have mine sometime soon.
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7-07-2008 @ 8:03PM
Taeous said...
I'm in the same boat Midreian. I ordered it on the 30th, it charged me $6.50, and says shipped. However, when I try to view my order online it says an error has occurred.
7-07-2008 @ 8:23PM
Joe P said...
Mine too Taeous, I can't figure out why :c
7-07-2008 @ 8:43PM
Aurdon said...
ditto
7-07-2008 @ 8:48PM
Ishmiel said...
Mine was like this and I received it. So, I wouldn't take this as a bad sign necessarily.
7-07-2008 @ 8:50PM
Todd said...
Sane here, shipped but error when I click on order.
7-08-2008 @ 12:52PM
BlueDragon666 said...
Same problem, still haven't recieved it. Says it was shipped, but no tracking number has been e-mailed and I get the 'error' message when I try to check my order status through my account in Blizzard's store.
7-07-2008 @ 7:39PM
Sean Riley said...
Definitely sounds like they've underestimated demand. It could well be this was a trial batch: Small numbers, looking to see how quickly they sell out. Since the answer was "Lightning fast" it seems likely they'll order big for their next set.
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7-08-2008 @ 2:01PM
Pzychotix said...
Or more likely, there are more people who want them than their production facilities can manufacture?
See Nintendo and the Wii: They definitely know the demand, but it's the problem that they simply can't manufacture enough supply in a snap. Even if Blizzard knew the demand for these things would be high, how would it get more than it already has? You can't just build another production facility; that's very costly and would probably dig into any losses that Blizzard is already taking on these things.
Instead, Blizzard chose to announce them at WWI (probably the best place to announce them due to the vast array of media coverage), and release the supply in batches as it got it. Would you rather them wait several months until the production facilities had a sizeable supply before the authenticator release? That'd be dumb of Blizzard, since it would mean that their cost saving devices would be sitting around doing nothing.
Simply put, you can't say that Blizzard wouldn't know the demand for these devices, since none of us have access to the information that Blizzard has. There's a wide array of reasons as to why there's a short supply of these things, and to say you've pinpointed the exact reason without proof is shortsighted.
7-08-2008 @ 6:00PM
Sean Riley said...
Absolutely true. I retract my earlier comments -- They're possible but far from certain.
7-07-2008 @ 7:43PM
Warollic said...
I ordered mine on the 30th and since then my order has been stuck at "Processed - Your order has been successfully processed and will ship soon".
:(
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7-07-2008 @ 9:19PM
Darkharmony said...
I'm right there with you, ordered right away and stuck on processed. The thing is I could end up with a refund regardless cause my address got messed up somehow and they said theirs nothing they can do.
Blizzard should of known the demand for this would be huge with all the problems of wow accounts getting hacked.
7-07-2008 @ 7:49PM
Tech said...
I ordered mine on Monday morning as well. My order has shown as shipped since Thursday (I think) but I have not yet received it. Also, when I click on the link for the order it gives me a message saying an error has occurred.
I never received an e-mail saying it had shipped either. Though I have not been refunded, I am starting to think I may be out of luck...
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7-07-2008 @ 7:49PM
Ishmiel said...
I received my on Saturday! It really puts your mind at ease.
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7-07-2008 @ 8:33PM
Jason said...
I placed my order in the afternoon on the 30th and it's still saying processed as my order status I hope it updates to shipped and not refunded..
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