Playing (or buying) Starcraft 2 in Korea - tips?
I am currently in Korea and will stay here for a while. I have a problem though: My SC2 account is European. And I have no Alien Registration Card right now until March. So now I wonder:
Does the "Start Edition" include multiplayer-access? (I assume "SE players are also unable to use versus and co-op matchmaking" means that it practically doesn't?) And aside from the a 30-day subscription for ₩9900, is there any other option except paying the ₩69,000 for unlimited everything?
Because even though I already got an ARC-number, for whatever silly reason the gov deactivates its usage for registering online unless I'm on a proper visa again. (Right now I'm on a tourist visa / waiver program.) And I didn't create an iPin earlier... I guess the 30-day subscription also needs my ARC no? Because otherwise I might just bridge the time until I get my ARC reactivated with this silly 30-day subscription...
So with a lack of an iPin (or "gPin" now?) and a non-usable ARC, what are my options?
Or is there a way to change my existing licence and account from EU to KOR? Even if I only can change it that once, I'd do it! I won't be in Europe for a while... Yet I assume even when there is, I can't circumvent the "citizen ID" requirement? (Which I can fulfill but is blocked right now. -.-)
Finally: I indeed want to play fair and don't want to (have to) borrow a Korean ID or crap like that! I know (saw it with my own eyes) that people give out their ID's or account data / CD-Key online, Koreans are very kind. But I don't want to be (a) go this way and (b) be reliant upon such a system which is mostly in Korean (/ for Koreans) anyways.
For me the whole thing is highly confusing and frustrating. The citizen ID registration requirement together with my inability to use my existing (and never changing!) ID is extremly annoying!
Thank you for your help in advance
A couple other people have linked the guide on teamliquid so I'm going to instead shared my experience using it.
I did this right before the TW and KR servers merged last year so some of the info I provide might be out of date.
First, I went to OffGamers and purchased a TW version of Starcraft 2. This required me to add a phone number. It turns out the reason they want your phone number is that they are going to call you on it (as in long distance from Taiwan) to make sure you're really buying this and your credit card wasn't stolen. At the end of the process they gave me a game code (an alphanumeric code).
This next part was tricky. You have to log into the Taiwanese battlenet with your American battlenet account. That last part was confusing for me as I spent a good deal trying how to figure out how to create a Taiwanese account only to find out I couldn't (and didn't need to). At these point you want to redeem your code. Well you can't do that (this was also confusing). What you can do is now go to buy a digital game and set your region to Taiwan and select Starcraft Wings of Liberty. It was only at that time it let me enter in my code as payment. After which I was able to download the Taiwanese client. To install I had to "relocate" my American client and install the Taiwanese normally (Starcraft 2 isn't picky where you run it from).
It's worth noting that my American Battlenet account now shows me owning both the Taiwanese and American versions of Starcraft 2. This is strong evidence that Blizzard is ok with my having multiple accounts on multiple servers.
PS. KR/TW server is much much harder. On day 1 I barely placed into Gold (I normally enjoy Masters on US) and I had to fight my way up. Over time you get better, but be prepared to lose a lot initially.
The main thing is that you need a korean Social security number to get a korean account. However you can play on the korean ladder with an account from Taiwan(TW). There is no SSN resctriction on the TW account.
You do need the TW client installed to play with the TW account.