Blizzard’s controversial method of preventing credit card fraud, to restrict customers who bought a digital copy of Diablo III to the first act and level 13 for the first 72 hours while they verified the payment, has been undone in a new patch. Where patch 1.0.3 brought a pile of contentious measures, 1.03a leavens them slightly.
Before the 1.03a patch, Digital purchasers suffered the following restrictions:
– Act I up to the Skeleton King is available
– Level 13 cap
– No public game access for unverified digital purchasers
– No auction house access (real-money or gold) for unverified digital purchasers
– Unverified digital purchasers cannot trade items or drop items for other players to receive
– Unverified digital purchasers are not able to chat in any public or game channels
– Unverified digital purchasers cannot attach a custom message to friend requests, but…
– Unverified digital purchaserscan send/accept friend requests, and play with their friends
– Global Play is not available for unverified digital purchasers
And following the rejig, the content and level restrictions are now gone. The other sanctions remain in place for unverified users until Blizzard are assured they are legitimate customers. At least the game won’t feel like a demo, but I’m still astonished that the company are punishing the majority of players in such a fashion. Surely they’re still restricting more people than they’re protecting themselves from?