World of Warcraft Blog
The World of Warcraft forums are buzzing with complaints from players claiming that their accounts have been suspended because of chargebacks filed against them by a company that they have no connection with. The problem, though, is that the company behind the charges is unresponsive to complaints, and many players don’t know what to do in order to get their accounts re-authorized unless they pay these bills.
According to the thread, multiple players have received the following message when trying to figure out why their account is currently inaccessible: “Access to the World of Warcraft account *********, has been temporarily disabled due to a chargeback filed against the account’s past payment(s) which were billed to a telephone number via PaymentOne.” PaymentOne is a payment service provider, and has a system in place to bill players’ ISP accounts for their WoW subscriptions.
Chargebacks are normally used as a method of consumer protection—a last line of defense against shady retailers. Effectively, a consumer will dispute a charge on their debit/credit card statements and the issuing bank or credit card company will forcibly return the disputed funds to the person. Exactly why and how these chargebacks were applied to the aforementioned accounts has yet to be determined, but they’ve caused the accounts to have negative balances with Blizzard, which has led to their suspension until the issue is resolved.
The main problem with this claim, though, is that many of the players have never used PaymentOne or signed up for the company’s services; some others have, but most of their accounts with PaymentOne were used over a year ago and were canceled a while ago.
Posts in the forum thread show that Blizzard is willing to discuss the unauthorized charges, but there haven’t been any definite results from pursuing this course of action yet. Even stranger, though, is multiple posts stating that users have contacted their phone companies/broadband providers and are told that they have no chargebacks on their account. A quick Google search shows this isn’t the first time that allegations of fraud and unexpected charges have been leveled against the company.
Another major frustration is that PaymentOne seems unwilling to help players reach a solution that doesn’t involve simply paying these unathorized charges. Posts on the thread state that they’ve either been hung up on when they call the company or are transferred back to Blizzard. Two calls to PaymentOne seeking a comment resulted in being placed on permahold and then being disconnected.
The moral of the story.. DO NOT USE PAYMENTONE FOR YOUR WoW Subscription and beware of useing any of thier other services.
The World of Warcraft Paid Character Transfer Service has been updated with a much lower cool down rate. Previously after transferring your character to a new server or account your character would be restricted to move again for 30 days. Now you can transfer your character every 3 days! with the new cool down period you can move your character to a new server or account every 3 days.
Venture into the titan Pantheon’s ancient halls in the new Secrets of Ulduar World of Warcraft patch with excellent improvments such as the dual talent specialization system, this sytem will allow players to switch between talent spec’s an excellent improvement for those of us with diffrent talents for both PvP and PvE. Hard core raiding enthusiasts rejoice! the Tier 8 Epic armor sets are also now available with this patch.
Read more about the new features below:
Dual Spec: The new dual talent specialization system offers a convenient way for players to switch between two separate sets of talents. In this Q&A, Senior Game Designer Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street sheds some light on how this new feature works.
UI Improvements: Dual talent specialization isn�t the only user-interface enhancement coming in the new content patch. Check out this preview of the other new UI features, including quest- and achievement-tracking improvements, new Looking For Group options, and more.
Dungeon Maps: Beginning with Secrets of Ulduar, players will be able to view maps of Wrath of the Lich King’s dungeons, complete with layouts of each floor and indicators showing the locations of bosses and players in your party.
Lots of new content with this new patch, everyone have fun!
Looking for an alternative to the official WoW armory? try MyWoWArmory.com. This site handles the profiling of World of Warcraft characters differently then the official WoW armory, allowing for faster profiling, better sharing options and the best part, profiles are nameless! It is much safer to share profiles that do not contain your characters name and server, keeping your character anonymous to the public. Recently the site was completely updated with forums, better profile sharing and a much more appealing look. If you are looking for a better way to profile your World of Warcraft characters we recommended MyWoWArmory.com!
Second Skin introduces viewers to the real people who populate online virtual worlds in games like World of Warcraft and Second Life.
Couples who have fallen in love without meeting, disabled players whose lives have been given new purpose, those struggling with addiction, Chinese gold farming sweatshop workers, wealthy entrepreneurs and legendary guild leaders — all living within a world that doesn’t quite exist.
Second Skin premiered opening night of SXSW 2008 to sold out shows, rave reviews and unprecedented press. It then had its International Premiere at Hot Docs, selling out and appearing on multiple Must See lists. The filmmakers have been interviewed by Newsweek, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, NPR, Wired, Fox TV, MSNBC and many others.
Second Skin will be coming to theaters in Spring ‘09 and released on DVD soon after.
Want your chance to fight for fame and fortune? Want to prove your skills in 3v3 Arena combat? Want to earn exclusive rewards for your character? Now is your chance to sign up for the 2009 World of Warcraft® Arena Tournament, featuring level 80 characters and epic gear from Wrath of the Lich King.
In addition to the cash prize pool of over $200,000, participants will have a chance to earn an Armored Murloc in-game pet, with top teams contending for the coveted “Vanquisher” title for their live characters.
Registration is now open for the online qualifier, so head on over to the Arena Tournament page for more information about the Arena tournament and sign up now. We look forward to seeing you there!
