Lucky Linkshell - Phoenix

They kind of snuck this under the radar, but here is the link:

Changes to PlayOnline Member Agreement (http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news16615.shtml)

Basically, what this seems to boil down to is: In order to change your credit card information (if your card expires, for example), or to make a purchase (like, for the next mini-expansion, or for a new content ID) you will need to use this "Secure 3-D" thing, with a verified card. If you currently have a non-supported card, or don't activate this Secure 3-D, it will still work... for now. You just won't be able to update or purchase anything until you get it secured.

I don't know that for sure, that's just what I've been able to gather so far. I really wish SE explained it better. Actually, I really wish they hadn't made this change in the first place. They're probably doing this because people were charging stuff like server transfers after hacking people's accounts.

The various FFXI forums seem to be exploding over this. It's hard to say if people are over-reacting or not. I guess we'll have to see how it all pans out.

There are rumors that people with multiple accounts on the same card may end up getting banned because of this... I have no idea if that's true or not, it would be really stupid of SE to do that. But if I vanish briefly after the first, that would probably be why ^^;;

Yeah, this announcement got buried under a couple of other items so I can see how some people may have missed it.

It's not really a huge initiative, since this is measures put forth by those credit card companies, I suppose to help combat theft.  All it really does is makes you add yet another extra password to the process.