The SWTOR Pre-Order, Authenticators, & Account Security July 21, 2011
Posted by Wilhelm Arcturus in Blizzard, entertainment, Sony Online Entertainment, Star Wars: The Old Republic.Tags: Account Security, Blizzard Authenticator, Origin Store
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You’ve probably seen something somewhere about the Star Wars: The Old Republic collector’s edition in the last day or so. But today it became official. You can pre-order SWTOR.
Join us… it is your destiny: pre-order for #SWTOR begins today! Get Early Game Access: bit.ly/p3T7lb #SWTORPreOrder—
The Old Republic (@SWTOR) July 21, 2011
Twitter again becomes my first source of new information. First Osama bin Laden and now the SWTOR pre-order.
You can follow the link to the pre-order page to see your options.
In the usual fashion, one of the things they are touting along with the pre-order is early game access, though while Amazon.com is listing the ship date as December 31st, 2011 (which really means “we have no real date yet”) you have to wonder when “early” will really be.
There are three tiers of pre-order at the moment, standard ($60 at Amazon.com), digital deluxe edition ($80 only via EA’s new online store Origin), and the collector’s edition ($150 at Amazon.com… and they are marked as ‘sold out’ at Origin). (Syp breaks out the various pre-order goodies here.)
While the price (and size/value of the accompanying statuette) has been a key item of discussion in regards to the collector’s edition, one item in the package caught my eye.
The key item for me
Hey look, another VASCO Digipass Go 6 authenticator, just like the one Blizzard sells.
Stock Blizzard Authenticator Footage
And, well, just like the ones Square Enix sold for Final Fantasy XI (but stopped?) and gave out as part of the collector’s edition for Final Fantasy XIV.
Looks familiar
And like Sony Online Entertainment announced at Fan Faire would be available for EverQuest II.
SOE Authenticator
And we have heard that CCP is also on board with the authenticator to implement two factor authentication for EVE Online at some point in the future.
So, cheers, account security is becoming a regular part of MMOs these days… or at least part of traditional, subscription, large budget MMOs in any case.
And since I know I will be playing Star Wars: The Old Republic… it is just a given unless there is some huge… really huge… problem with the game… I want an authenticator.
But there is no way I am spending $150 on a collector’s edition box. Take out the statuette and knock $50 off the price and EA would probably have me. But $150 is just too much for me.
So I am waiting for EA to tell me how to get one. It is something that is important to me after the many account hacking experiences I have witnessed in World of Warcraft. If they were smart, they would just stick one in every box. It is an up front cost, but prevention is less expensive than staffing up for hacked accounts later. Blizzard will attest to that I am sure.
Is an authenticator important to you?
