The fine folk over at Blizzard Entertainment have unveiled the latest iteration of Battle.net, which allows World of Warcraft account holders and other Blizzard customers to access their World of Warcraft accounts, the WoW Armoury, forums, and other Blizzard services through the use of a single set of log-in details.

The new Battle.Net accounts are described as "an evolution" of existing Blizzard accounts, with all Blizzard account holders now Battle.Net account holders. Details regarding this should have been emailed to users who are affected. At the present time, the changes only apply to North American (which, by extension, affects Australian accounts), with the changes expected to roll out to European and Korean users in the near future.

The new Battle.Net accounts are able to hold account information for multiple World of Warcraft accounts, with the ability to log-in to WoW and the forums using a single online identity. Different profiles will be accessible in the armoury and forums independently of one another, despite being bound to a single Battle.Net account.

It is not necessary for users to migrate to the new Battle.Net system, but Blizzard notes that it will be easier for players to manage a single set of log-in details for all of the company's titles, which will be important as a flurry of new accounts are opened with the launch of Starcraft II and Diablo III in the future.

The new Battle.Net accounts operate independently from "classic" Battle.Net titles, which include Warcraft III, Diablo II and StarCraft. Starcraft II and Diablo III will require a new Battle.Net account, which World of Warcraft account holders can migrate to from today.


The all-encompassing log-in that will be granted with a new Battle.Net account will also allow gamers to register their Blizzard products to their account, allowing them access to patches, digital downloads of titles for which the CD Key has been registered, along with the use of a Blizzard authenticator.

If it is all a little bit confusing for now, Blizzard have published a FAQ over on their website, which explains (in plain English) the new features and limitations of the system, along with a number of planned features, which include parental controls, and the option to "opt-in" to future beta testing as it becomes available.

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Thanks to Pig Fat for this news submission!
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