I'm wanting to purchase a second WoW account for my other half to play with me, but can't remember precisely what is needed. As far as I know Blizzard don't sell you CD keys like NCsoft would do, allowing you to just upgrade with a second account and use your existing installation. If anyone can remember the account purchasing/installation process please let me know as I can't [img]smile.gif[/img] .

What I'm wondering is...Do I need a new cd key just to install my copy of wow on another PC (it would say something like key invalid if so). Do you then use the same key to create an account? Or is the key asked for only on account purchase (I vaguely remember it prompting me for one during installation). I ask these questions cuz I don't want to spend $50 on a brand new copy if I don't need to. I was also even toying with the idea of buying an account online (there are some with maybe one lvl 10 char on it that sell for $15 or so) and just working from there. From what I read it is perfectly legal in the EULA to sell and purchase accounts, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I haven't slept so forgive me if this makes no sense :-/.

We did the same thing, but my dad bought a new CD. I don't understand why it would matter if someone made two accounts and installed the same copy of WoW on two different machines, but played different accounts on each machine.

I don't think it's allowed buying/selling accounts. As characters can't be traded between accounts, and buying characters is against the ToS, I think buying/selling accounts is too.

Yes, the buying/selling part is a legal loophole or some such thing so I hear. There was a stir about it a few weeks back on forums. Anyways, I was only considering buying one with a low character on it or (preferably) 0 chars on it, thus making it cheaper than buying a brand new retail box. Basically I was looking for a brand new account at a bargain price.

The character transfers are coming in soon also btw, devs posted about catering for those who genuinely want this service.

Some companies are fussy about multiple installations, some aren't. There is a site I found that sells brand new cd keys, legit like, but they cost around $50 anyways. Bah, think I'll just buy a full copy on ebay and wait it out. I want things *now* you see ;) . Thanks for the help.

Yeah correct. Its not the CD that matters, you can install WoW on as many comps as you like. The real gem here is the CD key. And buying/selling CD keys is purely illegal. Character transfers won't be from account to account, but rather from realm to realm for about $5.99

Yeah I got it sorted and bought a new game on ebay for cheaper. They do plan to bring in account-account transfers though. It is on the WoW battleplan on official site. I am glad cuz I could really use this service. They said something like it will have restrictions to stop sellers/farmers etc. which is good. After the devs saying it won't happen I guess they finally caved and came up with a compromise for those of us who managed to get someone else addicted ;) .

Could you link to Battleplan? I could have sworn that it is character-server transfers, not character-account tranfers.

I don't know what you mean by this. How does the CD key limit you? I have 3 buddies who share a house, and from what I know they all 3 installed the same copy of WoW on their three computers, using the same CD information, and they all 3 have different user accounts and all play at the same time. When I go over there, I simply log onto my user account. The program is independent of logging into the account. These folks at WoW know that the real value for this game comes not from the program sale, but from the repeat payments to play per month. You don't even need the CD in the drive to play.

Or at least, that's what I have been led to believe. I bought my own copy of the game, but may I wouldn't have if I'd thought of this -- I could have just installed theirs most likely.

It's both. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...=1#post4782636

"Another feature of the Web site we'll be implementing is fee-based character transfers. This is a feature that's been very frequently requested and one which we want to provide for players as soon as we can. We'll offer character transfers from one realm to another, as well as allow players to move characters from one account to another. While we want to offer this service as a convenience, we also want to prevent its use for exploitive reasons, so there will be a time restriction to limit the frequency that a character can be moved."

The cdkey is what you need to create an account. It asks you to input it not when you install but when you sign up for your new login name. So yeah, cdkey is everything.

Then how did the guys I know get multiple accounts?

Multiple cdkeys. I learned all this on my second installation. You can install WoW as many times as you want, but you need a login and for that you need the keys to actually log in. There is only one cdkey on each copy of the game so if they tried to use it again it would say 'already been used'. This is why you don't need the cd in the drive to play. Cdkeys are what matter now. I'm sure if you question them further you will find out. Maybe they are on guest pass trials even?

[ 10-19-2005, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: SpiritWarrior ]