Diablo 3 Discussion Thread

Having left D3 after ~3 months after launch and almost loading it up after reading this...

so droprates are incredible now. in the last week alone i found a decent skorn, decent IK belt and a ballin' trifecta amulet with added 100 STR/VIT. amulet alone went for 140M after tax. as a result i went shopping for my WW barb and my DPS went from 23k (been playing since day one, i am at paragon 24 now...go figure) to ~70k unbuffed.

...I'll hold off for a few more months.

Read this and decided to fire up diablo once again after a few months. Didnt find anything once again after playing for 2 hours or so in inferno act1. Thought it was worth a try. My luck just sucks.I dont want to spend more time on this game, but good to know is "getting better".

This game should have been launched in 2013. It is getting better, but by no means should it have been shipped in its previous/current unbalanced, gimped and featureless state.
 
Having left D3 after ~3 months after launch and almost loading it up after reading this...



...I'll hold off for a few more months.



This game should have been launched in 2013. It is getting better, but by no means should it have been shipped in its previous/current unbalanced, gimped and featureless state.

I don't think it was ever going to get into a state of "ready for release" in the minds of gamers from the developers who are handling it. It took forever for them to get it to the state it was in at launch. The only reason it is where it is, is due to player comments and suggestions. The developers are lost without player input, that much is clear.
 
I don't think it was ever going to get into a state of "ready for release" in the minds of gamers from the developers who are handling it. It took forever for them to get it to the state it was in at launch. The only reason it is where it is, is due to player comments and suggestions. The developers are lost without player input, that much is clear.

All they had to was to hire a guy who played diablo 2 for more than 20 hours, and they'd have fixed half the problems before the release.

For example, trade exploits. We all know why it would lock on your inventory once you press check, so you can't swap at the last sec.
 
I don't think it was ever going to get into a state of "ready for release" in the minds of gamers from the developers who are handling it. It took forever for them to get it to the state it was in at launch. The only reason it is where it is, is due to player comments and suggestions. The developers are lost without player input, that much is clear.

True, which is why they should have put more effort into constructing a beta period. Theres a reason people say D3 is still in beta.
 
All they had to was to hire a guy who played diablo 2 for more than 20 hours, and they'd have fixed half the problems before the release.

For example, trade exploits. We all know why it would lock on your inventory once you press check, so you can't swap at the last sec.

I gave up on this line of thinking months ago. When I read how "the entire team pulled together" to make the legendary items even halfway decent in 1.0.4...well, I got the impression that the team wasn't exactly bursting with creativity or Diablo experience. Inexplicably, it was the best they could come up with, despite having vast amounts of resources and legions of fans with great ideas (not to mention 10 years of D2 to build on).

Meanwhile, the team behind Path of Exile hired Brother Laz (Median XL) to create unique items for their game.

I've found some elements of D3 to keep me entertained while I've waited for PoE open beta, since ARPGs are what I like to play most, but once Jan 23 hits I'll be ready to drop D3 like a bad habit.
 
Well I finally broke my 300k self-buffed goal. The only upgrade I intend to make for my farming set is a new vile ward. That will put me up to 3k int, and over 310k dps. After that I'm buying a side grade (actually downgrade to start cheap) set for CM farming, I only need 3 pieces: 1h, offhand, and storm crow.

My Stats:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Deliverer-1886/hero/3900763
http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/deliverer-1886/Catastrophe/3900763
http://d3up.com/b/164786
I did some MP3-4 calculations for exp/hr (5 runs each). From what it looks like, MP3 is my optimal. MP2 might be, but I'm not sure if I can edge out any more time from less MP, run speed is my bottleneck. I'll have to do more testing. I've also cut down on time by picking up only items that may be worth alot

Items to pick up:
Legendaries, rings, amulets, gloves, bracers, helmets, chest, legs, 1h melee weapons. (Should I be picking up anything else?)

Farming Path:
Core
Tower 1
Crater 2
Keep 2
Skip crossing because monsters are concentrated, but each concentration is too far apart, so my run speed really holds me back here in finding the packs.


MP4:
Exp earned range: 6024145-7959028
Run time Range: 9.25-12 Minutes (rounded to quarter minute)
Exp/Hr range (indiviual runs run): 35955117-42069910
Total EXP/HR across all 5: 39,718,399

MP3:
Exp earned range: 5288826-7403168
Run time Range: 7.5-9.25 minutes (rounded to quarter minute)
Exp/Hr range (indiviual runs): 42310608-49354453
Total EXP/HR across all 5: 44,650,836

So it seems bumping down an MP nets me 5 mil/hr more experience. After my exam, I might do an item drop calculation, so I can find best place to drop items per hour (which in turn should lead to best legendary/hour).

Hot. My 220k Wizard is Jelly. Farming for me goes up in EXP until MP4 then it starts to go down.....but if I had 80k more damage I'd be at MP4 all day. But as it stands I can't even get to your bottom range EXP per hour I slack off to much with my wizard and he is just so slow.

If you could muster up enough to get a Zunimassa's Pox with attack speed and crit chance your Damage would be even more nuts. but those rings are like 1 billion.
 
Good stuff. My Archon build is about 220k too with buffs, including my scoundrel follower. Since I'm gearing toward CM, my DPS probably won't go that high any time soon. I acquired a nice Echoing Fury and need a Triumvirate to make full use of it. A modest one for 20M or so will probably grant over 20k more dps over my current OH.
 
Hot. My 220k Wizard is Jelly. Farming for me goes up in EXP until MP4 then it starts to go down.....but if I had 80k more damage I'd be at MP4 all day. But as it stands I can't even get to your bottom range EXP per hour I slack off to much with my wizard and he is just so slow.

If you could muster up enough to get a Zunimassa's Pox with attack speed and crit chance your Damage would be even more nuts. but those rings are like 1 billion.

Yeah, exchanging teleport from improved archon helps cover ground faster and scramble armor might save some time but I don't like trying to get hit when I activate it to run faster.

My rings might be the easiest to upgrade after a vile ward upgrade, but like you said upgrades become astronomical to get any significant upgrades. It's pretty easy to find gear to push me above 400k, affording it is out of the question :) I'm happy at 300k with 5% lifesteal. My full set probably costs less than 350mil, which probably only comes out to like $70 if I cashed out after taxes of AHing stuff. Not really that much in the grand scheme of my finances so its not worth the headache trying to sell it all off.

Good stuff. My Archon build is about 220k too with buffs, including my scoundrel follower. Since I'm gearing toward CM, my DPS probably won't go that high any time soon. I acquired a nice Echoing Fury and need a Triumvirate to make full use of it. A modest one for 20M or so will probably grant over 20k more dps over my current OH.

What kind of APOC do I need for CM? With pinpoint barrier, I should be near 53-55 crit if I could survive the EHP loss over prismatic. Should an APOC triumvirate and storm crow around 17-18 be enough for MP10?
 
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What kind of APOC do I need for CM? With pinpoint barrier, I should be near 53-55 crit if I could survive the EHP loss over prismatic. Should an APOC triumvirate and storm crow around 17-18 be enough for MP10?

I can solo MP10 Ubers with 19 APoC, though I could definitely use more (kind of impossible to go much higher because of the main hand). It depends on crit rate I guess. My crit rate for Ubers is lower than I'd like because I use Force Armor to avoid being 1-shot. My crit rate is 51% without pinpoint, which was sufficient, but I haven't "field tested" this new weapon which is slightly slower than the dagger I had previously. Well actually, I used it when I ran with Harkamus and his friends last night, but not solo. Attacks per second is also a significant factor to the build, I went from 2.13 APS to 2.03 when I got my Echoing Fury and noticed a slight drop in my ability to keep bosses frozen (Hark can testify to how many times I died to Siegebreaker this time due to how often he broke out and slammed me lol). With my crit rate dropping by another 1.5-2.0% with the Triumvirate, I wanna look for ways to compensate for this overall crit/attack speed loss while my DPS grows.

The only combo that I can think of that can handle this perfectly is clearly a Chantodo's set + a good helm with APoC. You can get APoC on all 3 pieces of gear, high attack speed on the weapon itself, and attack speed on the OH. Too bad prices on those are through the roof lol.
 
(Hark can testify to how many times I died to Siegebreaker this time due to how often he broke out and slammed me lol).

We all died more than we liked. We got it done though, so that's what counts. My gear hasn't changed since the first time we all ran the [H] group through. I just can't find anything that's an upgrade that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I was ready to drop 250 mill on a ring, but miscalculated the auction timer. Ran out seconds before I could post a bid.

But we know we can do it now with diff group make ups. Wiz/barb/monk/dh. Wiz/wiz/monk/monk. Wiz/dh/monk/monk. Wiz/barb/barb/monk.

I think Orc (he lurks here; don't think he has a registered name) said he did it without a wiz. That's impressive.
 
Indeed, that last battle was a close call, but I think it was the only encounter that we "1-shot" too lol. SK/Mag was only 1 wipe and Ghom/Rak was unusually troublesome, but a pushover once I found out I could live through the fart clouds. Overall, I (personally) thought it was one of our better runs. Since I don't anticipate a weapon upgrade anytime soon, it should only get easier from here on out.
 
Indeed, that last battle was a close call, but I think it was the only encounter that we "1-shot" too lol. SK/Mag was only 1 wipe and Ghom/Rak was unusually troublesome, but a pushover once I found out I could live through the fart clouds. Overall, I (personally) thought it was one of our better runs. Since I don't anticipate a weapon upgrade anytime soon, it should only get easier from here on out.

Yea, Ghom made me scratch my head too. I rarely if ever die to that encounter. I dunno. Still somewhat perplexing.

I've been using the same weapons since...paragon, I dunno? 30ish? :p I mean they're not bad. They are enough to hit 156k unbuffed.

Found a super mispriced black weapon in my low paragon levels for 1.5 million buyout. 1128ish damage, 2.7% LS, 99% crit dam, 90ish dex, 9% IAS. That one will hold me over for a long time til I find something comparable with an open socket.

Really, I want to get a ring with average damage, dex, vita, some form of either cold res or all res, 6% crit, 40%+ crit dam, possibly life on hit. Basically, all I'm shopping for atm because a weapon upgrade that I actually want will cost over a billion.
 
So i was experimenting with an archon build the other day, to farm some paragon levels (because my regular CM/meteor spec is so slow at killing shit)

I got what feels like a pretty solid build, but i'm curious as to what others are doing...

I got my dps up to 111k buffed, but still couldn't handle MP1 elites... so i must be doing something wrong. Did a couple runs on MP0 Act 3, and while i melted shit, xp gains weren't that great.

I haven't ever done calculations to figure out xp/hour tho

edit: profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/DukeLeto-1627/hero/801081

Also--i do have to say, RNG is RNG lol. Did one act 2 key boss run on MP2 (was planning on just farming, then decided to kill the boss because i was not very efficient and had to drop MPlvl...) got a key heh
 
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So i was experimenting with an archon build the other day, to farm some paragon levels (because my regular CM/meteor spec is so slow at killing shit)

I got what feels like a pretty solid build, but i'm curious as to what others are doing...

I got my dps up to 111k buffed, but still couldn't handle MP1 elites... so i must be doing something wrong. Did a couple runs on MP0 Act 3, and while i melted shit, xp gains weren't that great.

I haven't ever done calculations to figure out xp/hour tho

edit: profile: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/DukeLeto-1627/hero/801081

Also--i do have to say, RNG is RNG lol. Did one act 2 key boss run on MP2 (was planning on just farming, then decided to kill the boss because i was not very efficient and had to drop MPlvl...) got a key heh

I'd drop Galvanizing Ward for Critical mass. Then put on Living Lightning or Deep cuts because they charge both your Diamond Skin and Akon.

I'd also drop Force weapon for blood magic. Though Its only 1.5 % it does help.

Other than that you just need better gear. I'd do it in this order

Boots with More int Like maybe some Zunimassa's because they also add poison
Bracers with more int and crit...you could go Strong Arms for pretty cheap
Try for a Witching Hour the Tal rash bonus sucks nobody uses fire.....really pricey
Try for a skorn with life steal.....really pricey though

Shoulders, Helm, Gloves armor, Pants, and rings are all pretty good and should be last to upgrade.

What kind of APOC do I need for CM? With pinpoint barrier, I should be near 53-55 crit if I could survive the EHP loss over prismatic. Should an APOC triumvirate and storm crow around 17-18 be enough for MP10?

I run at 20 and its pretty good. If you are having AP issues don't forget Prism its decrease the cost of spells by 7 huge help to get the lock down started. Where most people have issues is attack speed. You need as much attack speed as possible to get this working in tip top shape.

The best CM build I have ever seen had a Chantodo's set + Wizard hat for 30 APoC and crazy attack speed. I say it was the best not because of the damage it did but rather the quickness it was able to lock people down the 1.6 Attack speed of the weapon and 9% increase from the off hand is just crazy. A good chantodo's Force with APoC is mind blowing expensive though...at least it was when I was looking.

for the poor people out there you can get around the APoC with Living lighting and Prodigy....It'll never be as good and APoC + Tornado but it'll get the job done.
 
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I'd drop Galvanizing Ward for Critical mass. Then put on Living Lightning or Deep cuts because they charge both your Diamond Skin and Akon.

I'd also drop Force weapon for blood magic. Though Its only 1.5 % it does help.

Other than that you just need better gear. I'd do it in this order

Boots with More int Like maybe some Zunimassa's because they also add poison
Bracers with more int and crit...you could go Strong Arms for pretty cheap
Try for a Witching Hour the Tal rash bonus sucks nobody uses fire.....really pricey
Try for a skorn with life steal.....really pricey though

Shoulders, Helm, Gloves armor, Pants, and rings are all pretty good and should be last to upgrade.

Thanks for these suggestions. The 1.5% will definitely help with my survivability, and i'll look into a pair of Zunimassas tonight--i have 3.6 mil, hopefully enough for a decent one.


for the poor people out there you can get around the APoC with Living lighting and Prodigy....It'll never be as good and APoC + Tornado but it'll get the job done.
I run this on my meteor spec because i haven't had the cash to blow for APoC items, works pretty well although i liked having APoC more, before i got my scorn. Hard to say 'no' to 45k dps tho lol
 
@Breath_of_the_Dying

Tried the fixes and it seems to do it a little less. But now it's like I'm a second behind the server at all times. When I see Mortar on the ground it's already hitting so I eat 1/2 a salvo before I know to move. Instead of the 1 fps if I move while playing in a group I get all mobs and players running in place for 10 secs. Of course I'm dead when I come out of it.

Thanks for the help though as I had forgotten all about that tweak. Too bad it didn't work in this case.

:)
 
is dropping into the 500's on resists worth the dmg from zunimassa's trail?

In order to keep 60+ resists they're 18mil :(
 
Found my first Signet tonight on my second try, first mob, even. These things are really that damn sought after?
 
We just had an RNG discussion earlier. Some people would be interested in killing you right now.

lol, I just got 30 million for it, yay!

From looking at various posts on the Signet it seems to reinforce the RNG debate. Clearly if you are going after something specific you are going to notice RNG far more than otherwise. Don't know if I'll ever get another but it seems worthwhile to continue farming for it
 
is dropping into the 500's on resists worth the dmg from zunimassa's trail?

In order to keep 60+ resists they're 18mil :(

I'd say it is, but then I again I get the 55 AR bonus from the set. From my exp. the trails are a really nice damage boost. The + 8% poison is like 5k+ damage for me. I've looked at ice climbers and such with no movement and a ton more int, and they still don't match the boost from that poison damage. So, I like them.
 
Zunimassa's Trail are hot. I have a pair for my wizard and monk for when I do tempest rush build. The 8% poison + high main stat and 12% speed makes them hard to pass up on.
 
I'm sure some of you will be happy to hear that Blizz is indeed revising Reflect Damage in the next patch. Here's the post:

Edited by Lylirra on 12/10/12 9:12 PM (PST)

Two quick things:

1) We're looking to redesign how the Reflects Damage affix works, as well as make it so that pet damage will no longer reflect back on the player. I went into a bit more detail here. (I believe the buff while active will have some sort of visual indicator, too.)

2) After seeing a number of posts from players about RD dealing what they felt to be TOO much damage (especially from minions), we did some additional testing and discovered that Rare minions with the affix were in fact doing more damage than intended. This is an issue we have scheduled to fix in an upcoming patch.

I'm not sure if these points would change your opinions at all on the subject, but I felt the information was worth pointing out. :)

Also D3 is 34.99 today at the egg. So if you're into mult accts or have some gift giving to do this could be a nice pick up.
Link
 
You got a black dmg weapon?

Yep, got a black damage Scorn that my buddy has let me borrow indefinitely.

I'll likely pick them up, sacrificing some AR, because of the below:

I'd drop Galvanizing Ward for Critical mass. Then put on Living Lightning or Deep cuts because they charge both your Diamond Skin and Akon.

I'd also drop Force weapon for blood magic. Though Its only 1.5 % it does help.

These suggestions were awesome, thanks stevedave! I've never noticed the 1.5% before, but as my dps got higher than its ever been with my archon spec, i definitely notice the healing, and I'm now able to survive MP1 Alkaiser runs. There was once where i got a reflect off the bat and just started a new game though. If I'm on a roll with other mobs around, i can usually handle reflect. There have been some cases where i'm surprised i survived the shit i was in, and holy cow it was fun.

Harkamus--- thanks for the invite last night. I was about ready to go to bed anyway, but you got me my level quickly so i could call it a night :) My archon soloing spec though was god awful with you guys lol I still need to find a spec that's good at rushing with other people.
 
Harkamus--- thanks for the invite last night. I was about ready to go to bed anyway, but you got me my level quickly so i could call it a night :) My archon soloing spec though was god awful with you guys lol I still need to find a spec that's good at rushing with other people.

Not a problem. Archon doesn't work well in multiplayer because you don't benefit from getting the killing blow and extending the Archon timer. Stuff dies too quickly.
 
To my wizard friends:

I've moved away from running an Archon build for Paragon leveling. This came about as a result of reading some posts on Battle.net and realizing that it didn't make sense to have to stop movement and to channel whenever I needed to kill some baddies. Here's my character, for those who are interested:

http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/yetieater-1368/Chippy/20948411
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/yetieater-1368/hero/20948411

The build:
Active Skills
Spectral Blade - Healing Blades 5% LS makes this very useful when I have to go up and slay some fools
Magic Weapon - Blood Magic 1.5% LS + 5% LS = 6.5% LS.
Blizzard - Stark Winter Spammable AoE skill that kills most foes for me
Diamond Skin - Crystal Shell Just in case...
Familiar - Sparkflint Extra damage, though I am thinking of swapping for the Arcanot rune
Storm Armor - Scramble Lightning slays the trash that wanders out of Blizzard's range, and Scramble ensures that I can get from pack to pack quickly.

Passive Skills
Astral Presence Extra AP necessary for me, and the regen doesn't hurt.
Cold Blooded This way enemies that are affected by the Blizzard are sure to die.
Blur So I take less of a hit to my health pool when I need to go fast with Scramble.

What this build has done for me in terms of EXP per hour has been huge. I'm looking at 30-50% increased EXP per hour. Don't take my word for it.. Just think about it and try it.
 
so I tried out Fist Of Thunder - Quickening and its my favorite skill now. 15 spirit per crit and I have 53 crit chance. Put on 2 fist weapons with Life steal, Crit damage/socket, and high Life per spirit spent.

drops my DPS to about 70k where I could otherwise be around 90k, but the near infinite spirit more than makes up for it. Spam my mantra constantly for a 48% damage increase and about 8000 life per cast, and have plenty enough spirit left over to drop bell after bell after bell. Tankist build I have made yet.

Monk has quickly become my favorite class.

To my wizard friends:

I've moved away from running an Archon build for Paragon leveling. This came about as a result of reading some posts on Battle.net and realizing that it didn't make sense to have to stop movement and to channel whenever I needed to kill some baddies. Here's my character, for those who are interested:

http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/yetieater-1368/Chippy/20948411
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/yetieater-1368/hero/20948411

The build:
Active Skills
Spectral Blade - Healing Blades 5% LS makes this very useful when I have to go up and slay some fools


What this build has done for me in terms of EXP per hour has been huge. I'm looking at 30-50% increased EXP per hour. Don't take my word for it.. Just think about it and try it.

This doesn't make any since because you still have to stop to attack with Spectral blade and blizzard is slow as shit, its not like you are constantly moving and swinging. What I think happened is you put on Storm Armor - Scramble Lightning on the none akon build and move faster because of it.....but you can use that in akon mode as well.

They are likely both about the same speed as the main factor that slows a wizard is his movement speed and abilities.
 
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This doesn't make any since because you still have to stop to attack with Spectral blade and blizzard is slow as shit, its not like you are constantly moving and swinging. What I think happened is you put on Storm Armor - Scramble Lightning on the none akon build and move faster because of it.....but you can use that in akon mode as well.

They are likely both about the same speed as the main factor that slows a wizard is his movement speed and abilities.
Does the Scramble Lightening move go above the movement speed cap?


D3 might be coming to a console near you and other tasty tidbits.

http://www.polygon.com/2012/12/10/3...nsoles-still-not-an-official-blizzard-project

I think based on many design decisions of this game, we all knew this was coming. So this is what they're spending their time on instead of pushing out PvP.
 
so I tried out Fist Of Thunder - Quickening and its my favorite skill now. 15 spirit per crit and I have 53 crit chance.

drops my DPS to about 70k where I could otherwise be around 90k, but the near infinite spirit more than makes up for it. Spam my mantra constantly for a 48% damage increase and about 8000 life per cast, and have plenty enough spirit left over to drop bell after bell after bell.
QFT - FoT with the Quickening rune has been the best spirit generator for a long time :)

This doesn't make any since because you still have to stop to attack with Spectral blade and blizzard is slow as shit, its not like you are constantly moving and swinging. What I think happened is you put on Storm Armor - Scramble Lightning on the none akon build and move faster because of it.....but you can use that in akon mode as well.

They are likely both about the same speed as the main factor that slows a wizard is his movement speed and abilities.
I have been running Storm Armor with Scramble on both Archon and non-Archon build. When running Archon, I use Galvanizing Ward, as staying in Archon is a non-issue through most of the run. What Blizzard allows me to do is to fire and forget. I can wander from room to room in the Keep Depths, throw down a Blizzard mid-run, and keep moving. I'll skirt the edges of the mob to let them get a chance to swipe at me, just so I can keep the move speed high.

It isn't easy to kill a mob with a Blizzard. Some people run Frostburn Gauntlets (?) to up the damage of the Blizzard. I'm only at 100k unbuffed DPS right now, but I run this on MP1 without issues.
 
I think based on many design decisions of this game, we all knew this was coming. So this is what they're spending their time on instead of pushing out PvP.


Don't think of it that way as the PC purchasers have done an admirable job of getting the game into a much better state so Blizzard can attack the meat and potatoes purchasers; the console crowd. This could be as big as BLOPS 2 on consoles. It already has a built in subscription service (both AH's) so it can't fail.
 
Don't think of it that way as the PC purchasers have done an admirable job of getting the game into a much better state so Blizzard can attack the meat and potatoes purchasers; the console crowd. This could be as big as BLOPS 2 on consoles. It already has a built in subscription service (both AH's) so it can't fail.

Sure it's in a better state, but it's still not feature complete. They should really be focusing on finishing their damn game instead of trying to sell it in its incomplete state to more people.

i wonder how many parents will be calling up blizzard asking 'wtf' when they see their kid spent 300 bucks on gear lol
 
Sure it's in a better state, but it's still not feature complete. They should really be focusing on finishing their damn game instead of trying to sell it in its incomplete state to more people.

i wonder how many parents will be calling up blizzard asking 'wtf' when they see their kid spent 300 bucks on gear lol

Ha ha I remember when one of my nephews was buying shit for Final Fantasy through his older sister's Playstation Store account. That kid got his ass stomped that day. She went ham on his ass. She was making 1,500 a week which isn't bad for here in NC. He emptied her bank account. Another one of my nephews made me pay for XBOX Live for 2 years before I noticed it. Made his ass wash my car for a year. I gave him my XBOX and it seems that if you keep the same XBOX Live account for PC, Microsoft won't deactivate the console unless you actually call them. I thought deleting the payment on the XBOX was good enough.

So yes, I can see this being a problem!
 
Ha ha I remember when one of my nephews was buying shit for Final Fantasy through his older sister's Playstation Store account. That kid got his ass stomped that day. She went ham on his ass. She was making 1,500 a week which isn't bad for here in NC. He emptied her bank account. Another one of my nephews made me pay for XBOX Live for 2 years before I noticed it. Made his ass wash my car for a year. I gave him my XBOX and it seems that if you keep the same XBOX Live account for PC, Microsoft won't deactivate the console unless you actually call them. I thought deleting the payment on the XBOX was good enough.

So yes, I can see this being a problem!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oy-playing-Call-Duty-Fifa-ran-1-150-bill.html

There really is no excuse to not know if your money is being spent. When it comes to any account with any of your payment accounts (bank, credit, etc) they should only be tied to emails you have full and, almost always, exclusive access to. You should get emails for any automatic transaction done through those accounts. That is the first line of defense. If you e ever give hardware to someone else, scrub the entire account. Even if you leave the account, you still should've gotten emails for purchases.

I don't care if its your son, brother, dad, nephew, whatever. You still need to watch any account that has your money tied to it.

The second line of defense is actually checking your accounts often for every transaction you did. It takes minutes to log in to your account and check all recent activity. Going for more than a month without knowing of purchases is basically inexcusable, unless you are in a remote town with no Internet access. Even then you should take preventative measures.

The only way people get around that is for signing up with completely different accounts using your credit. That should be checked yearly with free credit reports.

Those have nothing to do with video game purchases. People just need to learn to watch their money.

Edit: to bring it on topic. If parents are managing their kids battle net account, they either need to properly learn how to restrict access payments for their kid, or remove payment methods completely. I see no blame on the gaming industry on kids spending their parents money
 
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...oy-playing-Call-Duty-Fifa-ran-1-150-bill.html

There really is no excuse to not know if your money is being spent. When it comes to any account with any of your payment accounts (bank, credit, etc) they should only be tied to emails you have full and, almost always, exclusive access to. You should get emails for any automatic transaction done through those accounts. That is the first line of defense. If you e ever give hardware to someone else, scrub the entire account. Even if you leave the account, you still should've gotten emails for purchases.

I don't care if its your son, brother, dad, nephew, whatever. You still need to watch any account that has your money tied to it.

The second line of defense is actually checking your accounts often for every transaction you did. It takes minutes to log in to your account and check all recent activity. Going for more than a month without knowing of purchases is basically inexcusable, unless you are in a remote town with no Internet access. Even then you should take preventative measures.

The only way people get around that is for signing up with completely different accounts using your credit. That should be checked yearly with free credit reports.



Those have nothing to do with video game purchases. People just need to learn to watch their money.

There wasn't internet access at my home at the time because of a lack of availability in my area. Well I did make my own satellite internet access using an old C-Band dish but if you remember those they were prone to misalignment. And even then I had to use dialup to call out and that didn't work 75% of the time.

So when I wanted to play on XBOX Live I would drive to my sister's house and play there. Since it was easier to just leave the XBOX there I removed the credentials from the XBOX and gave it to my nephews. What my nephew did was call XBOX customer service, pretend to be me, and they had him hook my XBOX to the internet again to reauthorize it. That's all he had to do to to get Live back after I wiped the credentials off the XBOX. I think they asked him what was my dog's name or some shit and of course he knew that as he played with him weekly. They used my stored CC from my Live account to pay for it. Microsoft said I could get my money back if I filed a police report against my nephew who was 14 or so at the time. Naturally my sister didn't want that.

My Live account was and is tied to my Hotmail account that I used for school. Of course they never emailed me about my XBOX subscription starting or stopping to my Hotmail. If they had done that I would have known what was going on. To be exact that same Live account is tied to my SkyDrive and Win 7 & 8 keys today.

Now what the process is to get them separated is I don't know. I know the customer service rep wouldn't separate them that day, and wanted me to have my nephew arrested in order for me to get a refund.
 
I think they asked him what was my dog's name or some shit and of course he knew that as he played with him weekly.

This is something that I want to bring to light because this is very very important. For your sake, and whoever else hasnt realized this, I hope you learn how weak this is for your security.

Never, ever, ever answer security questions sincerely. Even if it doesnt tie to money, but more so if it does tie to money. Imagine how stupid it would be if your bank did this...

Criminal: Hi, I'd my name is John Smith, I'd like to withdraw all my money.
Teller: Sure thing, I just need your photo ID and your account number
Criminal: Oh, i left all that at home, but I'm in a hurry! is there any way to prove who I am?
Teller: Sure thing, just answer this security question: what is your dogs name?
Criminal: Spot?
Teller: Great! Welcome Mr. Smith, here is all your money. Have a nice day
Criminal: Thanks!

You could have a 40-character randomly generated complex password that could take eons to brute force, but your accounts is only as strong as your weakest link. If you use answers that are easily observable or publicly available (old address, old school mascot, current dog's name), you are putting your security at risk.

This becomes very important with your e-mail, which is an easy gateway to the rest of your secure accounts. If your personal e-mail is comromised, you might as well give them all your bank info and social security card as well.

I didnt realize this myself until someone pointed it out to me, then I thought, "How stupid am I to have all these backdoors to my account?" Since then I've been educating anyone I see who uses that stuff.

Do yourself a favor and install, learn, and use keepass (its free). Spend a night away from D3 or whatever leisure activity to clean up your accounts and store all your passwords there. You use a master password to encrypt all those passwords, so you only every have to remember that password (it even has a mobile version if you want those passwords on the go). Then save the made up answers for security questions in keepass. That master password should be unique, and the only people who know (or have access to) that are people you trust with your life (literally). It's a hassle, but so is having to lock your doors. Its necessary to protect yourself.

I dont know if Bnet does security, but dont answer them for anything: gaming like steam, purchasing like newegg, bank accounts, social like hardforum or facebook. Never, ever, ever. I hope everyone learns that now instead of learning it the hard way.

Edit: Back on topic (somewhat), while you're at it, make sure you use an authenticator for battle.net. Especially if you have a money account tied to it. I have no sympathy for someone who gets hacked and did not install an authenticator.
 
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