Over the weekend, Blizzard said it updated the Terms of Use for Diablo 3's Real Money Auction House. It now states that players will be required to have a Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator attached to their Battle.net account to use Battle.net Balance.
"For clarity, this means you’ll need to have an Authenticator to add to your balance via Battle.net Account Management or to send the proceeds of your real-money auction house sales to your Battle.net Balance," the company said in a forum sticky.
The news isn't surprising given recent reports of account hacking. Diablo 3 players have complained of missing gold and virtual items while others have watched the hacking in real-time. Blizzard has warned customers to use a more sophisticated password, to keep it original to Battle.net, and to use one of the two Battle.net authenticators in order to safeguard their account.
Blizzard said for those who previously added Battle.net Balance to their account prior to the change, they will be able to use it to make make eligible purchases on Battle.net and in the auction house without attaching an Authenticator. However, an Authenticator will be required to add to the balance in the future.
"While we understand that this creates an extra step for players during the login process, we believe this added layer of account protection will help foster a safer auction house environment for all of our players," the company said.
Blizzard's Real Money Auction House for Diablo 3 is slated to go live on Tuesday, June 12. It was originally set to launch one week after the game went retail, but was pushed back to May 29. So far the company seems to be on track for the June 12 launch.
