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No, they started taking action a couple of months after they found out people were playing their games on linux

https://eu.battle.net/forums/e...

For one example, it literally took six months for AMD to fix a critical crash flaw in their drivers effecting Blizzard's Overwatch. Information is documented by Blizzard staff themselves: https://eu.battle.net/forums/e...

> While there is a lot of tactics and strategy to work out, a huge part of a game like this is simply the ability to click on and order units about as fast as possible

= Short Answer =

TL:DR; False. Even 19,000 APM won't save you.

= Long Answer =

First off, a few terms so those that are't familiar with StarCraft aren't completely lost:

* APM = Acronym for Actions Per Minute. How fast you can click.
* micro -- ability to control your units individually (i.e. tactical positioning of units taking advantage of how many "game frames" they take to execute rotations and moves, along with taking advantage of speed and range of units)
* macro -- ability to produce units and keep all of your production buildings busy
* multitasking -- how well you can do both, and adapt to new strategy

Short term, someone with superior micro will destroy someone with better macro.
Long term, someone with better macro will destroy someone with better micro.

How well you can balance micro and macro IS what the game is about.

> Is there something I don't understand about the game here?

Yes. You are under the assumption that ALL you need to do win is have a high APM, which is false. While there is SOME truth to -- better players have a higher APM -- it ISN'T an absolute.

i.e. Spam clicking can get you up to ~400 APM. That doesn't mean you are efficient at micro and macro -- only that you can click like crazy.

The 2nd TL:DR; High APM doesn't tell me how good your macro is!

Correlation != Causation. A high APM suggests you are a better player; it does NOT guarantee it.

During the lifetime of a game your APM can and will vary. From the link above:

You can play the first 5 minutes of the game with perfect macro with 20 APM, then progress to 150APM by mid to end game and avg it out as 50

Another part of the problem is that APM has no standardized calculation; ergo some players use eAPM -- effective Actions Per Minute -- instead, which drop redundant commands

For example:

S...1...2...X

If a unit starts at 'S' and the user clicks on the sequence 1, 2,X -- that is 3 clicks -- where the first two are redundant. Does that mean they have a high APM? Technically yes, BUT the eAPM is closer to the "actual" APM.

The differences between low vs high APM has been debated for ages. There are:

* Bad players with low APM -- we don't care about these
* Bad players with high APM -- proof #1 that APM isn't as important as Strategy
* Good players with high APM
* Good players with low APM -- proof #2 that APM isn't as important as Strategy.

If you have two good players who can balance micro/macro then you'll see some VERY interesting, evenly matched games. The APM is only an indicator of potential problems.

> A computer could very obviously do this faster than any human unless it was artificially limited.

You are forgetting that all the "hard" AIs in RTS games typically cheat in 2 ways:

* They can see the entire map (doesn't have "for of war" -- it knows instantly where your base is without scouting)
* They are given more starting resources and/or can harvest resources faster

In Starcraft 2, Elite AI often has like 300 - 500 APM. With the HOTS (Heart of the Swarm) expansion Blizzard replaced the "Insane" with "Elite AI". The old AI is a che

Back in 1999, Quake 3 Arena came out with the ability to add maps, mods and skins to the game for free. If it were made ~5 years ago, the equivalent would be buying half of the same content as the base game, with the other half in DLC that has been further divided into 5 pieces for example, all of which were completed prior to launch. You are effectively buying an unlock code for content on your disc, with individual prices for each DLC piece or one season pass (Best value!) If it were made now, the modern equivalent would be the DLC shit above + in game virtual currency to buy in game content (skins etc), and that content used to be freely available to download, or make your own. Example: http://pcmedia.ign.com/media/n... Now consider how you would monetise skins if they are freely available on the internet. Answer: prevent 3rd party skins and mods, give some weak excuse tied to "game as a service" Example, overwatch: https://eu.battle.net/forums/e... TL;DR: Jim Sterling was right, "only cosmetics" are part of the problem.

• World of Warcraft generates almost $2.15 billion in revenue per year.
• Venezuela's nominal GDP was $333.7 billion in 2016 at the official exchange rate. But the official exchange rate is about 4.2x higher than the black market rate. So at the black market exchange rate this works out to a nominal GDP of $79 billion per year.

If you look at it per capita:

• According to the previous link, WoW has about 9.5 million players. For a per capita revenue of $226 per person per year.
• Venezuela's population is 31.6 million. For a per capita nominal real GDP of $2500 per person per year.

Kinda staggering if you consider that Venezuelans live there 24/7, or 168 hours/week. Meanwhile the average WoW player plays 22.7 hours/week. So normalizing for amount of time spent in the "realm":

• WoW per capita revenue per hour of play = 19.1 cents.
• Venezula per capita GDP per hour = 28.6 cents.

So while the units are pretty meaningless, the actual value of time spent in the game/country turn out not very different.

Technically, at this point as long as they ship they have fulfilled their promise as it is after 20 Feb 2017. It could be a month from now or 2 years

If you want to look at it that way, they could deliver it five minutes before the heat death of the universe and they'd still technically have met their promise...

That was kind of my point. In my mind I read that statement along the lines of the Blizzard definition of soon

"You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top-of-the-line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn't match our recommended specs."

1. Don't you think that says volumes about Oculus' specs, rather than the Mac Pros? No, of course you don't.

2. From what I have heard, the GPU in the Mac Pro is optimized for CAD-type stuff and computing-functions, rather than for high-speed gaming. Horses for Courses. I seriously doubt that anyone buys a Mac Pro as a Gaming Machine.

You can definitely do this (I have, back when it was a lot harder) but I'd suggest picking a PvE server and a stealthy class like Rogue or Druid if you plan to explore areas significantly beyond your character's level. Stay out of enemy cities and give mobs with skull icons a wide berth and you can explore a lot of the world with a low level character. As beautiful as the zones are, though, I'm not sure you'll keep busy for more than a week or three *just* exploring.

On the other hand, there's really no grind to speak of until you approach/reach the level cap. Pick up a questline and follow it, run some dungeons (there's so many at low levels you don't need to do the same one twice) and you'll level up extremely fast and with very little boredom. If you're a casual player, the rest system will make your leveling go even faster. There's even a class they added recently, the 'Monk', which gets an big boost to leveling, and their refer-a-friend program bonus makes leveling just ridiculous. And if level capping faster than most single player games wasn't enough, they've started offering a huge boost when you buy the current expansion, so you can start a character at close to the maximum level, ready for almost anything in the game.

Of course things get dull again not long after you hit the level cap, so you might also consider rotating MMOs; there are tons of them these days; play one till you get bored or hit the "grind starts here" level cap, then switch to another; when you get back round to the first it should have new content to keep the grind away a while longer.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/fo...
Just one of many examples.

Though for a home PC, I'd look more into a KVM over IP or long-distance video over Cat-5/6. I've seen some that will do HD over CAT-5. You just need to buy extra hardware on both ends. And it was VGA only, not HDMI or Display port. There are lots of ways to throw video over a home network.

"Hell is other people."

My current game addiction is WoW. It's explicitly multiplayer, although you can pretend ("the illusion of single-player") that you're playing by yourself for a lot of the play. Until someone ganks you, or starts spamming inane bullshit in the yell channel, or you have to go into a pick-up raid to accomplish something (damn legendary cloak quests).

In that latter case, you run into the worst of people, all in a little 10-player or 25-player microcosm. Narcissistic douchbags, trolls (some of whom are actually trolls), lazy asses who expect you to carry them, clueless weiners who don't understand the fight and can't be troubled to learn...

Too bad for me I actually enjoy the game, except for the parts where the "multiplayer" part ruins the rest.

Diablo 3 is basically single player now. Other players don't really affect your game in any way, all the good drops are stupidly account bound.

That doesn't apply to the console versions which don't have bind on account and never had the auction house. Not only that, but it has:

1. Gifts: Whenever you get a legendary or set item there's a chance a gift for one of the people in your friends list comes along with it. It looks like a little wrapped present. Send it along and when they open it they get a legendary.

2. Nemesis: If you die to a regular non-elite monster, there's a chance that it will become a Nemesis and level up. You will know it happens when you see it quickly enter a red portal when you die. Then later on that nemesis can re-enter your game (With an awesome horn announcing that he's coming) or one of your friends games with a "shadow" of yourself tagging along with him. Kill the nemesis, and he can drop nice loot, and a gift for the person he originally killed. Die to him and he levels up again, and goes to find another game to enter.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/gam...

You forgot to mention the total crapfest that was Diablo 3...or so I've heard. One of very few AAA titles bad enough to manage to score only 2 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

The game hearthstone is fun, but I've already had a few arena matches (which you have to spend either gold or money on) bug out to where I was forced to lose. I even took screenshots and everything to show that the game and/or their servers were clearly at fault, yet they won't bother to refund my attempt.

http://us.battle.net/hearthsto...

(I asked them about it and gave them more detail in a trouble ticket, and they told me that they have a strict policy of never issuing in-game credits for any kind of issue at all, even when it is THEIR fault.)

Since Warlords of Draenor, which is $49,99. For the standard edition, no less.

Source: https://us.battle.net/shop/en/...

Yes, I realize it's an expansion for WoW and not D3, but you only asked about expansion price from Blizzard and didn't specify it had to be for a specific game.

Let me retype me post for those who have trouble connecting the dots;

Another large company, with a large game community, falsely banned me for cheating. It had been some time since I played any of their games. I moved to Seattle in 2010, and I do not believe I played any of the games since I moved here.

It is very possible that that companies lack of technical skills was unable to prevent hackers from using MY account, and that is what lead to the ban. And ANY company in a similar position is likely to make the same mistakes.

/--- noreply@blizzard.com
12/10/13

to me
Greetings,

* * * NOTICE OF ACCOUNT CLOSURE * * *

A user of this account has recently been involved in actions deemed inappropriate for Diablo III by the In-Game Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. This decision was made after a thorough investigation of the situation as a whole. Though we are unable to discuss the outcomes of our investigations due to privacy concerns, rest assured that this incident has been looked into very thoroughly, and the appropriate actions have been taken on all involved accounts.

Account Action: Account Closure
Offense: Unapproved Third Party Software
A third party program is any file or program that is used in addition to the game to gain an unfair advantage. These programs may increase movement speed or teleport heroes from one place to another beyond what is allowed by game design. It also includes any programs that obtain information from the game that is not normally available to the regular player or that transmit or modify any of the game files.

Cheat Programs ("Hacks")

We take action against accounts using hacks when a hero on the account is identified using a hack program. Hacks provide benefits normally not achievable in the game. Such benefits may include: increased speed, teleportation, or running through walls.

Automation Programs ("Bots")

We take action against accounts using automation programs or bots when one or more heroes on the account are identified using a bot to achieve automation.

This Diablo III account has been closed by our staff based on a review of the account and all related policy violations, in accordance with the Terms of Use and our In-Game Policies (http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/300722). Note that any open bids or auctions at the time of the account’s closure have been cancelled. Your open bids will be refunded to your original method of payment. Please allow 5-10 days for processing depending on the availability of your financial institution. Any bids or auctions completed prior to the account’s closure will neither be refunded nor reversed.

Moving forward, this Diablo III account and any Heroes or items associated with the account are no longer accessible. The only way to continue playing Diablo III is to purchase a new license, or to attempt to recover access by appealing account closure. While closure overturns are very unlikely, we advise that customers pursuing an appeal hold off on purchasing a new Diablo III license until the appeal process has completed. If you add a new Diablo III license, a new account will overwrite your old, without any prior Heroes or items from the closed account.

Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration. To learn more about how Account Administration is able to assist you, and how to contact them via online ticket, please visit us at http://us.battle.net/support/e.... We will be unable to investigate account actions over the phone - an online ticket is the only way to contact Account Administration.

We understand that these policies may seem harsh, but they are in place to ensure that every player is able to fully enjoy their time spent on Battle.net. Thank you in advance for respecting our position.

Regards,

Blizzard Entertainment
Diablo III Customer Support
http://battle.net/support

Let me retype me post for those who have trouble connecting the dots;

Another large company, with a large game community, falsely banned me for cheating. It had been some time since I played any of their games. I moved to Seattle in 2010, and I do not believe I played any of the games since I moved here.

It is very possible that that companies lack of technical skills was unable to prevent hackers from using MY account, and that is what lead to the ban. And ANY company in a similar position is likely to make the same mistakes.

/--- noreply@blizzard.com
12/10/13

to me
Greetings,

* * * NOTICE OF ACCOUNT CLOSURE * * *

A user of this account has recently been involved in actions deemed inappropriate for Diablo III by the In-Game Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. This decision was made after a thorough investigation of the situation as a whole. Though we are unable to discuss the outcomes of our investigations due to privacy concerns, rest assured that this incident has been looked into very thoroughly, and the appropriate actions have been taken on all involved accounts.

Account Action: Account Closure
Offense: Unapproved Third Party Software
A third party program is any file or program that is used in addition to the game to gain an unfair advantage. These programs may increase movement speed or teleport heroes from one place to another beyond what is allowed by game design. It also includes any programs that obtain information from the game that is not normally available to the regular player or that transmit or modify any of the game files.

Cheat Programs ("Hacks")

We take action against accounts using hacks when a hero on the account is identified using a hack program. Hacks provide benefits normally not achievable in the game. Such benefits may include: increased speed, teleportation, or running through walls.

Automation Programs ("Bots")

We take action against accounts using automation programs or bots when one or more heroes on the account are identified using a bot to achieve automation.

This Diablo III account has been closed by our staff based on a review of the account and all related policy violations, in accordance with the Terms of Use and our In-Game Policies (http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/300722). Note that any open bids or auctions at the time of the account’s closure have been cancelled. Your open bids will be refunded to your original method of payment. Please allow 5-10 days for processing depending on the availability of your financial institution. Any bids or auctions completed prior to the account’s closure will neither be refunded nor reversed.

Moving forward, this Diablo III account and any Heroes or items associated with the account are no longer accessible. The only way to continue playing Diablo III is to purchase a new license, or to attempt to recover access by appealing account closure. While closure overturns are very unlikely, we advise that customers pursuing an appeal hold off on purchasing a new Diablo III license until the appeal process has completed. If you add a new Diablo III license, a new account will overwrite your old, without any prior Heroes or items from the closed account.

Any disputes or questions concerning this account action can only be addressed by Account Administration. To learn more about how Account Administration is able to assist you, and how to contact them via online ticket, please visit us at http://us.battle.net/support/e.... We will be unable to investigate account actions over the phone - an online ticket is the only way to contact Account Administration.

We understand that these policies may seem harsh, but they are in place to ensure that every player is able to fully enjoy their time spent on Battle.net. Thank you in advance for respecting our position.

Regards,

Blizzard Entertainment
Diablo III Customer Support
http://battle.net/support

why do you put up with this kind of crap?

Games haven't been owned by anyone for a long time now. Even buying a physical disc is just buying a license to play the game, which can and does get revoked in cases of abuse (see: Halo 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Diablo III). Of the companies out there that are licensing games to customers, Steam is relatively permissive, and it's rare that a typical gamer will run into issues with them.

Nintendo can have their NES, SNES, and Gamecube games back when they pry the cartridges and/or discs from my cold, dead fingers!

why do you put up with this kind of crap?

Cost, convenience, and a lack of alternatives.

I license the right to play a game from Steam, usually for dirt cheap prices, and in exchange, it's available on any Internet-connected computer I own. Should I lack an Internet connection, it's possible to enable an offline mode as well, allowing me to continue playing regardless of my lack of a connection.

Games haven't been owned by anyone for a long time now. Even buying a physical disc is just buying a license to play the game, which can and does get revoked in cases of abuse (see: Halo 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Diablo III). Of the companies out there that are licensing games to customers, Steam is relatively permissive, and it's rare that a typical gamer will run into issues with them.

The news you're posting is just an update. http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/bl...

But Blizzard is video game company; managing cardboard print runs and scheduling tournaments isn't exactly in their wheelhouse.

Just as one example, Blizzard has run tournaments at BlizzCon for years now. You could have found this out with 10 seconds of Googling.

And not forgetting that you can buy no shortage of mice, or keyboards that are fully programmable to do everything you want.

Except those are questionable at best and have produced bans in the past.

WoW was great when the dungeons were relevant. Getting the paladin's epic mount was a pain in the ass once TBC came out and no one ran the required dungeons any more. Had to buy runs and work my ass off but I finally earned it. Then they made it a summon spell so now you get the horse at level 40 for free and it's speed scales with your riding rank. This killed all enthusiasm I had for the game and canceled my subscription same day. Shit that I worked hard for and earned was now just being handed out for free. Instead of fixing the dungeons and giving high level people a reason to go there other than just to help low levels they removed all reason for anyone to ever go to said dungeons.

All the work you had to do And a retelling of the events

And now today you get effectively both the slow and fast mount for free and all you have to do is buy training.

This is a good chunk of why WoW sucks today and why so many people leave with each patch.

It's a progression MMO. The timeline changes each time a new expansion comes out. Prior content becomes obselete much like any game on the market.

WoW was great when the dungeons were relevant. Getting the paladin's epic mount was a pain in the ass once TBC came out and no one ran the required dungeons any more. Had to buy runs and work my ass off but I finally earned it. Then they made it a summon spell so now you get the horse at level 40 for free and it's speed scales with your riding rank. This killed all enthusiasm I had for the game and canceled my subscription same day. Shit that I worked hard for and earned was now just being handed out for free. Instead of fixing the dungeons and giving high level people a reason to go there other than just to help low levels they removed all reason for anyone to ever go to said dungeons.

All the work you had to do
And a retelling of the events

And now today you get effectively both the slow and fast mount for free and all you have to do is buy training.

This is a good chunk of why WoW sucks today and why so many people leave with each patch.

Really? Cause they indicate that that problem was resolved in 1.5.4.

Currently the only outstanding bugs they have listed with regards to offline mode is that you need to go online once after patching, and you must fully download the game prior to going offline.

Gonna check when I get home. Actually, screw that....gonna kill me some Terrans for a while...then check.

Yep...I first saw that thread last year, but never went back to read the entire follow up.

It's definitely a bug, and mostly fixed at that.

Sorry...I was incorrect. I thought they had removed offline mode in some previous patch, but apparently it was just a bug

No...after more research, it was a bug, and it is mostly fixed. See here for details.

TL;DR:
Blizzard screwed up offline mode at one point.

Currently to go offline, you must have:
1) The game fully downloaded (makes sense)
2) Go online once after patching (they are working on fixing this).

So right now if you are a hermit in a cave with no online connectivity, but you happened to pick up the open wi-fi of a passing hiker and patch SC2, but then did not go online after the patch....then you are screwed.

Otherwise, yes, you can apparently play the campaign offline.

Reallly? I'd heard that since patch 1.5, Guest mode went away.

Many people here seem to agree.

The system requirements for HOTS indicate that Broadband internet + a Battle.Net account are required.

http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/6679638021?page=2#26

Ok, I guess the implication is that offline mode is only available if the game fails to connect to Blizzard's servers? I don't feel like turning off my internet or blocking a port or whatever to check.

Really? 'catastrophic outrage'? People really need to get a grip. It's like calling someone a Nazi for minor offenses.

Indeed. What kind of person would over-react like that to something as simple as a change in the rules of a game?

Then I was able to login, they made me change my password to something with upper and lower case, and numbers.

Odd, considering Blizzard's passwords are case-insensitive.

They can't claim that it's fun or enjoyable. They can't claim that it's interesting.

They can and do. Regularly. What they won't do is claim they're fun, enjoyable, and interesting for everyone. They understand a lot of people don't like all aspects of the game. They equally can't claim that raids are fun and enjoyable and interesting for everyone. Or PvP. Or Exploration. Or Dungeons. Point to any single aspect of the game, and there's probably someone that plays WoW that doesn't like that part, and never does anything with it. Even basic combat. I've enjoyed the variety of dailies. It's something neat to do while waiting for a dungeon, or for a friend to log in, or during my lunch break as a neat bite-sized block of content. In reaching exalted one the two factions I've worked on, I have only repeated a few of the quests more than once.

I will note that I haven't been running every single daily every single day -- and there's necessary no reason to do that, for anyone. Seriously. Not even the Hardcore Raiders looking for every advantage actually need to do it. Anyone doing so is doing it because they can't learn how to pace themselves, manage their time, and can't take a logical look at the rewards and work out what they'd need to do for each, and then how much time it would take to get the required costs for them outside of the rep (i.e. with the VP cap, you're waiting a week or two per item anyway).

It was a joke at first, sure, but a popular one, and made a long time ago for Warcraft 3: http://classic.battle.net/war3/pandaren/

And then, despite that being a joke, they actually did add the Pandaren to Warcraft 3 - The Frozen Throne, just not as a full race. The bonus campaign "The Founding of Durotar" includes the Brewmaster Hero unit Chen Stormstout (one of the major NPCs in MoP). Earlier, you may have seen a quest in the Barrens for Chen's Empty Keg (a reference to this). They've hinted at adding in the Pandaren race for years (and nearly did so for Burning Crusade), and have included them in other elements of the game, such as the Pen&Paper RPG books and the Trading Card Game.

Point being... They've been in the lore for Warcraft long before there was a World of Warcraft. Their inclusion was neither unexpected by those that had been following the game, nor even a major break in lore (like, for example, the Draenei were). Death Knights as playable characters make less sense than Pandaren in the game, and they seemed to be accepted just fine. The Pandas will be accepted just as well by anyone that enjoys the game in general.

It was a joke at first, sure, but a popular one, and much earlier than the Pandaren Express one. If you want the original joke, it was this: http://classic.battle.net/war3/pandaren/

And then... they actually did add the Pandaren to Warcraft 3 - The Frozen Throne, just not as a full race. The bonus campaign "The Founding of Durotar" includes the Brewmaster Hero unit Chen Stormstout (one of the major NPCs in MoP). Earlier, you may have seen a quest in the Barrens for Chen's Empty Keg (a reference to this). They've hinted at adding in the Pandaren race for years (and nearly did so for Burning Crusade), and have included them in other elements of the game, such as the Pen&Paper RPG books and the Trading Card Game.

Point being... They've been in the lore for Warcraft long before there was a World of Warcraft. Their inclusion was neither unexpected by those that had been following the game, nor even a major break in lore (like, for example, the Draenei were). Death Knights as playable characters make less sense than Pandaren in the game, and they seemed to be accepted just fine. The Pandas will be accepted just as well by anyone that enjoys the game in general.

I'm pretty sure I have it installed on my phone which runs windows phone.
There's also that native windows program you can run (or at least there was, back when I installed this POS).

That may be the case. It's just that according to their page, which if you scroll down, they say they support iOS, Android, phones from some Korean carriers, plus the physical dongle. It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that if they do support Windows phones, they don't make it immediately obvious that they do.

It's a matter of negligence in this case. Blizzard quite freely admits that their basic login protection is worthless every time their answer to your account getting hacked is "buy an authenticator". There's a case of fraud, as Blizzard attempts to sell you an optional product rather than fixing what they freely acknowledge is a broken system.

And there's a case of douchebaggery as they tell you that it was your fault for trusting their own account protection systems rather than buying an authenticator because banks totally charge $30 for the same service, so you're really getting a great deal! But wait, there's more douchebaggery! When you buy an authenticator and still get hacked, it's still not Blizzard's fault because the Blizzard rep personally checked just about almost every single account and they all had dirty filesharing software and malware and were all buying gold from gold-farmers!

And the users themselves perpetuate the bullshit because they never got hacked and apparently have no fucking clue about how hacking works, or the problem with using a hotel analogy when it comes to comparing secure systems. For example, I would expect a hotel that admits that its basic locks don't provide protection against a particular hacking practice would CHANGE THE FUCKING LOCKS!!

Ew, ew, ew. Fortunately if you dig a little, you can still get the pre-Synapse (presynaptic?) software.

Assassination is one of three possible specializations for the Rogue class. According to her wow profile:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/garrosh/Santiaga/simple
She did not do any end game content and hasn't logged on in almost 2 months (and even then only a very small amount). She seems to have been a much more active player back in 2010, but probably went to a much more causal play schedule once politics started up.

1 - Changing the region for the WoW install is easy, but does have the potential to be a little time/bandwidth consuming. See the blue post here: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/5207771231

2 - Your idea about keeping an image for a fortnightly restore is a recipe for security holes, unless you're happy constantly repatching and upgrading everything at the same time. I prefer to keep a list of what I need to install along with any install media I need to do a clean reinstall of the essentials any time malware strikes (which is very rarely) or performance is a bit off (which is a bit more often), letting me get back to a nice clean state where I can reinstall anything else I'm using at the moment and recover my data, usually tidying it all up in the process. I also do an incremental image every couple of weeks in case of emergencies. My list currently looks like this, in order of installation:

Avast Antivirus, Anti Malwarebytes, MS Updates, Firefox (plugins: adblock plus, https everywhere), Adobe (Air, Reader, Flash), CutePDF, Silverlight, VLC Player, Java, BatteryBar (if laptop), OpenOffice (or whatever)

Firewall, Proxy, Router and Ports Configuration for Blizzard Games

What ports and settings are required:
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/firewall-configuration-for-blizzard-games#4

And toggling the Peer-to-Peer functionality can be toggled from the GUI now (about time):

Blizzard Downloader Troubleshooting
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/blizzard-downloader-troubleshooting

Firewall, Proxy, Router and Ports Configuration for Blizzard Games

What ports and settings are required:
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/firewall-configuration-for-blizzard-games#4

And toggling the Peer-to-Peer functionality can be toggled from the GUI now (about time):

Blizzard Downloader Troubleshooting
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/blizzard-downloader-troubleshooting

Blizzard has acknowledged the hack and hotfixed the in-game exploit.

Blizzard reports the exploit being used has been hotfixed.

Who would vote for a nub with ilvl 345? ;p

You're all going to do it anyway, so I'll save you the trouble. Here's her character:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/garrosh/Santiaga/simple

My question is, how the hell can we trust her to work hard for the citizens of Maine when she can't even find the time to pug a few heroic dungeons? Her gear is terrible! Does she even know where the justice point vendor is?

Seriously though, it looks like she played heavily up until a few years ago. I guess she's spent more time lately on real-life issues. Like running for Senate.

Real links here: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/securityupdate.html
http://sea.battle.net/support/en/article/important-security-update-faq

The important thing to note is that the passwords were encrypted with Secure Remote Password protocol, meaning that Rainbow Tables are ineffective since each password is individually encrypted instead of using a common hash. Also, the process is CPU expensive so brute forcing is highly unfeasiable for reasonably length passwords.

I'm going to go out on a glass-half-empty limb here and say that means encrypted, not salted and hashed. "Cryptographically Scrambled" is too obviously ambiguous. I hope I'm wrong!

From Blizzard's FAQ on the breach

What can you tell us about the scrambled passwords that were accessed?
Cryptographically scrambled versions of passwords for North American players were accessed, protected by Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol. This information alone doesn't give unauthorized users the actual passwords -- each password would need to be deciphered individually. The added layer of protection from SRP makes that process computationally very difficult and expensive.

That Blizzard Authenticator is practically a necessity since all Blizzard accounts are not case sensitive

We’ve extensively tested for false positive situations, including replicating system setups for those who have posted claiming they were banned unfairly. We’ve not found any situations that could produce a false positive, have found that the circumstances for which they were banned were clear and accurate, and we are extremely confident in our findings. Playing the game on Linux, although not officially supported, will not get you banned – cheating will.

Whats news is that Slashdot's headlines are getting worse by the day. "Banned ALL Linux users on wine!" Wow! Really? Wonder what the folks in this thread might say about that? (User using wine; also, this post)

Very clearly, this is only "all linux users" for certain, low-percentage values of "all". From the posts on battle.net, it appears that "all" is roughly in the vicinity of "10". But congrats on yet another inflammatory headline, slashdot. Drive those clicks!

Clearly, as usual, nobody did their research. I quote the Blizzard Community Manager:

We’ve extensively tested for false positive situations, including replicating system setups for those who have posted claiming they were banned unfairly. We’ve not found any situations that could produce a false positive, have found that the circumstances for which they were banned were clear and accurate, and we are extremely confident in our findings. Playing the game on Linux, although not officially supported, will not get you banned – cheating will.