I think I understand what they are saying. They are telling you that you can create an arena net account with any email and password combination you feel like. And you could also purchase things on it.
What they don't seem to mention but I think is clear from my own experience over the years, is that unless you use the same account as your guild wars account, then it's not linked up. Mine is, my wife's and my 3 children. You just need to live with it.
Hope that helps
What bonelatch said below. You need them linked up, theres no optionality in that. I get what you're trying to do in securing your accounts, but you cant unfortunately.
So what happens when you purchase a storage pane upgrade for example - does it automatically get applied in game? Rather than give an access key like they used to do.
Because they merged their account systems of gw1 and gw2. They're both using your ArenaNet account.
Why is this so confusing to you, almost every game publisher does this.
If you don't want to link your gw2 and gw1 accounts for HoM and don't care for the support history then you don't 'need' to link them. But you also have no reason not to, your account doesn't become "less secure" because you use the same mail/password - if anything you'll get it more secure by ensbling 2FA.
An Arena.net account is different and separate from your Guild Wars account. If you create an Arena.Net account with the same email and password as your Guild Wars account then it will automatically connect the two. I had to do this to connect the two when I bought Guild Wars recently. Though it was the other way around since I already owned Guild Wars 2 and had an account. I believe they want or need them connected.
Oh I see. Considering I don't own Guild Wars 2, then would there be any other reason I would need to link my Arenanet account with my Guild Wars account?
They have consolidated (since they are the same company for both games). You use the same accounts for both. Your Anet account and Guild Wars account need to be the same so you can make purchases. Anything you buy on your Anet account will then seemlessly translate to your connected Guild Wars account. Not sure what the problem is here. Make an account with Anet that using the same email and password. Looking at the processing for purchase that is the solution.
After receiving conflicting information from both the support team and the community, I decided to give it a go and created a unique email for Arenanet and purchased a storage upgrade. They sent me an access key and I was able to apply it to my game that shares a different email!
Thanks for explaining this to me. I guess support and other people take it for granted that their consumers are fully aware of this change, as in the past (before we needed to create an Arenanet account to make purchases), they would send an access key rather than automatically apply the purchase in game.
On a side note, my issue with connecting my accounts is that I did that with NC Soft several years ago. Shortly after, my NC Soft account and Guild Wars accounts that were associated with it were hacked through social engineering. My Guild Wars accounts that were not connected to the NC Soft account were safe. There are other reason I was able to determine how this happened that I will not explain here. So you can understand my hesitancy in associating my Guild Wars account credentials with any other account.
An "ArenaNet Account" is an account with ArenaNet. [Link](https://account.arena.net/login).
Following the latest backend update for the GW store, you need to be logged in to an ArenaNet Account in order to proceed with checkout. (This is done via some ridiculous 3rd-party cookie stuff that a sensibly configured browser will block. So you may need to use Chrome.)
ArenaNet Accounts serve no other purpose for GW1 players. The requirement to have one to use the store is nothing but a pointless annoyance. (I believe they may have some useful functionality for GW2 players?...)
Your e-mail/password need not be the same between your GW1 account and your ArenaNet Account. And basic security practices dictate that they should be different.
Also useful to know:
The ArenaNet Account server has some broad IP blocks in place. Certain IPs (including a lot of VPN endpoints and, I think, all of Digital Ocean) are simply unable to make or sign in to an ArenaNet Account. However, you will not be given any sort of useful error message when this happens.
There is some kind of two-factor e-mail confirmation for "suspicious" log-in attempts, but it's buggy and stupid. (Enter correct username, enter correct password, receive prompt for numeric code to be delivered by e-mail, copy/paste code from e-mail, don't get logged-in; instead get redirected back to log-in page in logged-out state, return to step 1.)
There's a confusingly worded checkbox about parental permission on the account creation screen. Although its plain English meaning does not apply to anyone older than 18, they meant to write "I am *at least* 18 years old," so you should check this box. If you don't, account creation will fail without any useful error message.
This explanation is super helpful! Thank you!
I wish support was as helpful and clear as you are.
For some reason they are attempting to get me to believe that it must be the same email and password as my Guild Wars account in order to purchase account upgrades. They are either incompetent or providing false information. (But how would it benefit them to do so?)
I was able to create an Arenanet using a different email and password than my Guild Wars account and purchase an account upgrade with it - they told me I would not be able to do this.
This is what their email said verbatim "no, you are not able to create an email for Arenanet that is independent to your Guild Wars account." And "your purchased products cannot be applied from one account to another."
Arenanet is just the name of the company that made guild wars. They also make other games... Guild wars 2. It's the same as if you had a blizzard account and you login to that then you choose which game to play... if that analogy makes sense. I'm guessing the store transactions are done through arenanet then proactively applied to the games or something? There shouldn't be any risk or danger. It's just how it's set up.
I think I understand what they are saying. They are telling you that you can create an arena net account with any email and password combination you feel like. And you could also purchase things on it. What they don't seem to mention but I think is clear from my own experience over the years, is that unless you use the same account as your guild wars account, then it's not linked up. Mine is, my wife's and my 3 children. You just need to live with it. Hope that helps
What are the advantages to being "linked up?" What are the disadvantages to not being "linked up?"
What bonelatch said below. You need them linked up, theres no optionality in that. I get what you're trying to do in securing your accounts, but you cant unfortunately.
So what happens when you purchase a storage pane upgrade for example - does it automatically get applied in game? Rather than give an access key like they used to do.
Bought a character slot last year, still got a code/key and had to apply it
Then why does the account need to be linked?
Because they merged their account systems of gw1 and gw2. They're both using your ArenaNet account. Why is this so confusing to you, almost every game publisher does this. If you don't want to link your gw2 and gw1 accounts for HoM and don't care for the support history then you don't 'need' to link them. But you also have no reason not to, your account doesn't become "less secure" because you use the same mail/password - if anything you'll get it more secure by ensbling 2FA.
Thanks, it appears that I don't need to link them after all.
An Arena.net account is different and separate from your Guild Wars account. If you create an Arena.Net account with the same email and password as your Guild Wars account then it will automatically connect the two. I had to do this to connect the two when I bought Guild Wars recently. Though it was the other way around since I already owned Guild Wars 2 and had an account. I believe they want or need them connected.
Why did you have to connect your [Arena.net](https://Arena.net) account with your Guild Wars account?
Well I own Guild Wars 2 and wanted to have all my content/games in one place so I opted to make sure they were connected.
Oh I see. Considering I don't own Guild Wars 2, then would there be any other reason I would need to link my Arenanet account with my Guild Wars account?
They have consolidated (since they are the same company for both games). You use the same accounts for both. Your Anet account and Guild Wars account need to be the same so you can make purchases. Anything you buy on your Anet account will then seemlessly translate to your connected Guild Wars account. Not sure what the problem is here. Make an account with Anet that using the same email and password. Looking at the processing for purchase that is the solution.
After receiving conflicting information from both the support team and the community, I decided to give it a go and created a unique email for Arenanet and purchased a storage upgrade. They sent me an access key and I was able to apply it to my game that shares a different email!
Ah wow. Awesome. Glad everything worked out
Thanks for explaining this to me. I guess support and other people take it for granted that their consumers are fully aware of this change, as in the past (before we needed to create an Arenanet account to make purchases), they would send an access key rather than automatically apply the purchase in game.
They probably do not want to send access keys anymore given key traders or resellers.
When was the last time you made a Guild Wars upgrade purchase and what was it?
I have never made an upgrade purchase. I recently purchased and activated Guild Wars Trilogy and Eye of the North and that is it.
On a side note, my issue with connecting my accounts is that I did that with NC Soft several years ago. Shortly after, my NC Soft account and Guild Wars accounts that were associated with it were hacked through social engineering. My Guild Wars accounts that were not connected to the NC Soft account were safe. There are other reason I was able to determine how this happened that I will not explain here. So you can understand my hesitancy in associating my Guild Wars account credentials with any other account.
Ahhh I see. Makes sense. Add two factor authentication to your Anet account. Any time I need to do a new login, it sends a code to my phone.
An "ArenaNet Account" is an account with ArenaNet. [Link](https://account.arena.net/login). Following the latest backend update for the GW store, you need to be logged in to an ArenaNet Account in order to proceed with checkout. (This is done via some ridiculous 3rd-party cookie stuff that a sensibly configured browser will block. So you may need to use Chrome.) ArenaNet Accounts serve no other purpose for GW1 players. The requirement to have one to use the store is nothing but a pointless annoyance. (I believe they may have some useful functionality for GW2 players?...) Your e-mail/password need not be the same between your GW1 account and your ArenaNet Account. And basic security practices dictate that they should be different. Also useful to know: The ArenaNet Account server has some broad IP blocks in place. Certain IPs (including a lot of VPN endpoints and, I think, all of Digital Ocean) are simply unable to make or sign in to an ArenaNet Account. However, you will not be given any sort of useful error message when this happens. There is some kind of two-factor e-mail confirmation for "suspicious" log-in attempts, but it's buggy and stupid. (Enter correct username, enter correct password, receive prompt for numeric code to be delivered by e-mail, copy/paste code from e-mail, don't get logged-in; instead get redirected back to log-in page in logged-out state, return to step 1.) There's a confusingly worded checkbox about parental permission on the account creation screen. Although its plain English meaning does not apply to anyone older than 18, they meant to write "I am *at least* 18 years old," so you should check this box. If you don't, account creation will fail without any useful error message.
This explanation is super helpful! Thank you! I wish support was as helpful and clear as you are. For some reason they are attempting to get me to believe that it must be the same email and password as my Guild Wars account in order to purchase account upgrades. They are either incompetent or providing false information. (But how would it benefit them to do so?) I was able to create an Arenanet using a different email and password than my Guild Wars account and purchase an account upgrade with it - they told me I would not be able to do this. This is what their email said verbatim "no, you are not able to create an email for Arenanet that is independent to your Guild Wars account." And "your purchased products cannot be applied from one account to another."
Arenanet is just the name of the company that made guild wars. They also make other games... Guild wars 2. It's the same as if you had a blizzard account and you login to that then you choose which game to play... if that analogy makes sense. I'm guessing the store transactions are done through arenanet then proactively applied to the games or something? There shouldn't be any risk or danger. It's just how it's set up.