official World of Warcraft

[ANON86364]

Does anyone know if there are any official figures for the number of accounts hacked daily ?

- From my personal experience, i would estimate several thousand per day.

The lack of ingame GM control, the lack of widespread Authenticator availability, plus the inherent security holes means it has become a hackers dreamworld.

I have seen players hacked in under 5 minutes.

They were playing away happily, they then got a disconnect from the server. When they tried to log back on their password had been changed.

- They changed their password and logged back on, only to find that someone had used their character to empty out their bank of money and items and mail it to a unspecified location (since there is no mail tracking inside WOW).

Blizzard claim:

a) This is not possible

b) That the system must have a keylogger installed

c) Customer accounts are their own responsibility

Erm... Blizzard, WOW is supposed to be a game for kids (and adults too).

They need to get their systems secure... and fast

- How about a free Authenticator with the new addon WOLK ?

And you call yourself the WOWWatchdog...lol. Your probably one of the unfortunate, yet, ignorant enough people who got yourself hacked. This is your way of combating it? You should be combating ignorance of people who compromise their own systems, but seems like your guilty of this as well. lol.

[Dotdot]

Well, all good things must come to an end. :]

After almost exactly one year ( a little more ) of playing WoW, I'm finally giving it up. Not for good, and maybe not even for that long, but surely for a while. I can honestly say that if you enjoy working for what you have, be it in real life, or in a game, this game makes great use of that quality. Sure I've spent 51 days plus with my only character only to not see the end of Black Temple.. or the begining of Sunwell Plateau.. I didn't get exalted with all of the factions or get all the other insignificant things I wanted, but I can leave saying that all the time spent was not a waste for this game unlike some others in the past, did not get boring for more than a day.

Good luck to all, I hope you all have as much and more fun than I've had. :D

So refreshing to see someone admit they enjoyed the game, as they leave/pase from it. Huge scores of folk seem to forget that the game has given them hundreds or thousands of hours fun enjoyable gaming, only to post a comment bashing the game and how theyve grown up and realized its no more than a grindathon. I guess just like how every other game made follows repetitive tasks. But enjoy your break mate and GL come Wotlk i know you,ll be back

[the evn show]

Does anyone know if there are any official figures for the number of accounts hacked daily ?

- From my personal experience, i would estimate several thousand per day.

Do you have meaningful and statistically significant numbers or did you have all 'several thousand' of your accounts hacked in one day? There are over 12 million people playing: if we based our assumptions exclusively off of what we see individually in the game then:

• Every druid has at least 2 sets of Tier 6 (8/8)
  
• only 1/3 rogues is capable of staying out of fires
  
• Shadow priests will never survive twins. ever.
  
• 9/10 people have war bears: buff ZA
  
• 1/5 raiders are Gladiators: nerf pvp
  

No matter how many people you see in game you'll suffer from both selection bias and you'll be unable to collect statistically relevant numbers.

That having been said: even if 2,000 accounts were compromised every day that's still than 1/10 of 1%. Given the nature of their users I'd say that's a remarkably low.

The lack of ingame GM control,

How do you propose a GM prevent your account from becoming compromised? In the event you are hacked, phone support will have your account disabled and investigated in a few minutes.

the lack of widespread Authenticator availability, plus the inherent security holes means it has become a hackers dreamworld.

I always thought a hacker dream world would have more Coke and LSD.

No matter, can you please itemize some of the security holes in World of Warcraft? I am very interested to learn about them and what steps I can take to minimize the chances my account becomes compromised.

I have seen players hacked in under 5 minutes.

I've seen accounts never be hacked. Ever. Forever ever!

since there is no mail tracking inside WOW

Yes, there is. The patch that added a delay to mail messages sent between accounts was specifically to add auditing to mail transfers.

It also allows GMs to transfer BOP items to players and verify that they were received. We've Sent raid drops to the wrong person, GM ticket to have them transfer to someone else who left for vacation, they came back a month later and were able to have that item re-sent after it'd expired in their box. I don't advise miss-looting raid drops intentionally but this is something you can verify for yourself.

Blizzard claim:

a) This is not possible

The mail system is horrible, but it's certainlly possible to use it to send mail. I really doubt Blizzard would deny that a compromised account could have items mailed away.

b) That the system must have a keylogger installed

They probably said "scan for badness" -- a keylogger is a common cause of

c) Customer accounts are their own responsibility

They aren't?

What about my characters, are they not my responsibility either? If not, Blizzard had better get to farming - I don't have nearly enough flasks of pure death to raid on my mage this week.

Erm... Blizzard, WOW is supposed to be a game for kids (and adults too).

They need to get their systems secure... and fast

The game is rated teen, players under 13 are supposed to be supervised (a TOS requirement) and all players under the age of majority are ultimately the responsibility of their parents.

Blizzards systems are fine: the sad fact is that users have insecure systems or follow horrible security practices and there is very little anybody can do to protect a determined person from compromising their system.

- How about a free Authenticator with the new addon WOLK ?

And also a nanny to live in your home and make sure you don't bang your head on sharp corners!

[Slane]

Does anyone know if there are any official figures for the number of accounts hacked daily ?

- From my personal experience, i would estimate several thousand per day.

The lack of ingame GM control, the lack of widespread Authenticator availability, plus the inherent security holes means it has become a hackers dreamworld.

I have seen players hacked in under 5 minutes.

They were playing away happily, they then got a disconnect from the server. When they tried to log back on their password had been changed.

- They changed their password and logged back on, only to find that someone had used their character to empty out their bank of money and items and mail it to a unspecified location (since there is no mail tracking inside WOW).

Blizzard claim:

a) This is not possible

b) That the system must have a keylogger installed

c) Customer accounts are their own responsibility

Erm... Blizzard, WOW is supposed to be a game for kids (and adults too).

They need to get their systems secure... and fast

- How about a free Authenticator with the new addon WOLK ?

I was expecting a link.

[Prosidius]

From Blizzard's offical forums

With the release of Wrath of the Lich King approaching, we wanted to provide you with some important information. In preparation for the expansion, we will be issuing a new content patch in the coming weeks. Much like the patch made available shortly before The Burning Crusade's release, this content patch is designed to bridge current game content with that of the expansion and will contain some exciting changes and additions.

We have outlined some of the larger features scheduled to release with the patch below:

New class spells and talents

Stormwind Harbor

Barbershops in capital cities

Zeppelin towers outside of Orgrimmar and Tirisfal Glades

Two brand-new Arenas featuring challenging new layouts, terrain hazards, and moving obstacles

Guild calendar

Hunter pet skill revamp

New profession: Inscription

As mentioned above, this is not a comprehensive list, just some of the major highlights. We?ll post the full patch notes as soon as they?re available. Regarding Inscription, please note that all Burning Crusade players will be able to select Inscription as one of their two professions and level up to a skill level of 375 with it. Upon the release of Wrath of the Lich King, players who purchase and install the expansion will be able to continue leveling in Inscription and the other professions beyond 375.

[obiwong]

oh god

it's 2.0 all over again :pinch:

[Minifig]

From Blizzard's offical forums

~Snip~

I hope that goes live soon. I want my respec. :(

[mshepp]

I have seen a lot of addons where people remove the bottom default action bar which usual contains the key bindings "1" through to "=" but how do you remember/cast spells etc with no action bar and what not?

[MytMowse]

They're just using another action bar mod, and it's uses your normal binds but it also lets you change them to what you want to use.

[mshepp]

They're just using another action bar mod, and it's uses your normal binds but it also lets you change them to what you want to use.

So the bindings are there, you just dont see them on the screen?

[MikeFu84]

I have been playing with my UI lately. Not finished yet but this is what I have come up with.

[Slane]

Not bad Sauce though I'd put Buffs in Top right. I use Buffalo (i think that's the name) some ues Elk.

[MR_Candyman]

Not bad Sauce though I'd put Buffs in Top right. I use Buffalo (i think that's the name) some ues Elk.

meh, I prefer moghanti's

[Kussie]

So the bindings are there, you just dont see them on the screen?

Precisely, on my ui posted a page or two ago all of my spells are key bound and located on a hidden button bar that you can't see. Additionally some bar mods like the one i have allow you to show different sets of buttons or whatever when in/out of combat or shape shifted and other such options. For example on my ui when i go into combat, the portal/teleport bar and the small main menu bar on the bottom will hide themselves.

I always design my UI's to give as much information as possible whilst still preserving as much of the world as visible as possible. A lot of my alerts and such trigger alerts through my scrolling text add-on and if a spell is on cool down a small progress bar will show on the left for that spell that counts down until it is ready. Then additionally a scrolling notice saying "Counterspell is Ready" will also show up for a few seconds before disappearing.

[maeby]

hey kussie, have you tried dagassist yet? It's pretty convenient. just a simple dropdown menu from titanpanel with all your portals, teleports, reagents, professions, hearth etc.

although i like how your setup works now, very cool. but if you decide you want to hide the buttons even when your not in combat, this does the trick

I wish i could figure out how to change the "dagassist" text on titanpanel though

[Minifig]

I wish i could figure out how to change the "dagassist" text on titanpanel though

Right click it, there should be an option "Show Text Show Icon" etc. You can make it show either. :]

[obiwong]

Realm first achievements!

Realm Firsts are implemented in the next beta build although they will be slightly broken due to the fact that we have data issues with existing beta testers. For now, here's the list. We'll probably add more.

Realm First to 80

Realm First <insert class here> to 80

Realm First <insert race here> to 80

Realm first <insert tradeskill or secondary skill> to 450

Realm First 10/25 end-boss kills

Keep in mind, this will be broken on beta realms slightly. For example, in the current build, Realm First Mage to 80 is actually implemented. Well, Daelo, our Lead Encounter Designer, was testing something and leveled a Mage to 80 instantly and got the achievement for the server. On live realms, this will never happen. On live realms, all blizzard employee accounts are not counted toward server-firsts. But this part of the technology was not yet implemented.

Also, when those Realm First achievements go live, they won't be accurate on the beta realms. But on live realms, the data will be pure and the information will display correctly.

Something to note about Realm Firsts:

A Realm First window stays open for 1 minute after initial completion of the Feat Of Strength. This means if 25 people kill Malygos as a Realm First, they'll all get credit. But what this also means is that if two players reach level 80 within a minute of each other, they will both get credit as well.

source: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.h...&sid=2000#4

w00t!

first to 80 gogogo :laugh:

[SMELTN]

hey kussie, have you tried dagassist yet? It's pretty convenient. just a simple dropdown menu from titanpanel with all your portals, teleports, reagents, professions, hearth etc.

although i like how your setup works now, very cool. but if you decide you want to hide the buttons even when your not in combat, this does the trick

I wish i could figure out how to change the "dagassist" text on titanpanel though

Hey I really like dagassist. Looks nice, currently I use bartender and have it when I hold my alt key it shows a second bar with my portals/teleports, tradeskills, etc. but this would be really nice to have instead. Hope it works for fubar, cause I hate titan.

\

[gigapixels Veteran]

I'm using MazzleUI (not completely happy with it but it's the easiest to work with, so I'm sticking with it until I hit 70 and have some time to work on my own) and it has a built-in context menu, so if I shift-middle click, a small 16-button (4 by 4) box comes up and I place things like my hearthstone, first aid, Miniwing :laugh: and other stuff in there. Saves a lot of space :yes:

But I think it's a MazzleUI exclusive and it's not done by a separate addon.

first to 80 gogogo :laugh:

I'm on it!

[Kussie]

hey kussie, have you tried dagassist yet? It's pretty convenient. just a simple dropdown menu from titanpanel with all your portals, teleports, reagents, professions, hearth etc.

although i like how your setup works now, very cool. but if you decide you want to hide the buttons even when your not in combat, this does the trick

I wish i could figure out how to change the "dagassist" text on titanpanel though

I don't use titan panel, i use Fubar. But even still i like the buttons because i can left click on them to Teleport and then right click to open a portal.

[Okege]

My Current UI

[Slane]

So seriously bored of being stuck in ZA/Kara/T4 content. Anyone got any alliance guilds on any PvE server needed a tank and possibly holy priests? I'm tired of ET and the people there, just want to find a guild not stuck in trying to do 25 mans and actually doing them. Whether that means a guild working through T5 or a guild starting T6. I've looked through the Guild recruitment forums and it's nothing buy Sunwell. My amory link is below. Any suggestions would be awesome.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.x...&n=Madslane

[draakhs]

The problem is we are now in a windstill period like we had just before BC was launched.

It means everyone who needs a break takes one now because there's nothing to do. Guilds are restocking for WotLK and won't start new content if they're not at T6 yet because they expect WotLK to cancel all their gear anyways.

My old guild went through the same before BC was launched. We were starting Naxxramas but could hardly find people interested because no one was eager to run a future obsolete instance.

[Spookie]

We were starting Naxxramas but could hardly find people interested because no one was eager to run a future obsolete instance.

Which ironically is getting a rez for WoTLK! :D

[the evn show]

The gear situation at the end of this expansion is completely retarded. Every time I see "LFM <something> 'must be geared'" I just want to strangle the guy on the other end. It's this pseudo elitist nonsense from people that have no idea how to play. Not only are they not 'well geared' by any progression raider's standards, they also have no idea about basic class mechanics.

Apparently, my mage (frost spec'd to farm primal fire) is under-geared for Heroic MGT. I don't know when gear good enough to do Kael, Vashj (and hell, illidan, archimonde, and kalecgos) stopped being good enough for a 5-man or kara, but I hope blizzard deals with the inflation problem.

The focus on one stat ("How much HP does the warrior have? How much AP does the rogue have? How much +heal on the priest?") is stupid and arguably nets you worse players than looking at spec. A rogue with 2000 AP, but 0 +hit and sub-daggers is worthless compared to the 1700 AP / 250 hit combat sword rogue. A pain supression priest with 2000 +heal and 300 Mp5 out of the 5 second rule isn't worth squat compared to a 23/38/0 or 41 holy priest with 1700 +heal and 450 spirit.

The fact that people putting together groups think the only way to clear a zone is by taking people that have absolutely no use for loot is ridiculous beyond belief. People just hitting 70 on their first character have my sympathy. I really hope that blizzard holds up the inflation. The gap between raiders and non-raiders at the end of classic warcraft was bad but this new system is much worse. Bring on the gear reset: it can't happen soon enough.

Slane's warrior outgears everything but maybe the last-end of BT/Hyjal and Sunwell: the fact that he's got nowhere to go in a world of "LFM tanks" is wrong. This is hands down the most un-fun part of the game and I can't wait for the clean slate to end that ends this nonsense for a year or two.

Edited August 29, 2008 by the evn show