I recently found out a way to get an authenticator (and the pet!) for free, and I'd like to share it with all of you.
Before I begin, yes you can keep the pet and ditch the authenticator. Going from no authenticator/no pet to no authenticator/yes pet takes about 5 minutes of your time, so I'd say it is well worth it.
The following warning was supplied for those of you who want to keep the authenticator tied to your account:
"you CAN use the authenticator like a normal one, but if your computer die and/or you have to format your disk, you're screwed because you lose your authenticator and can't generate more codes, ever. so your account is pretty much lost until you call blizzard and explain the situation to them, so it's suggested to remove the authenticator"
Alright, here is the step-by-step process:
1. Download the phone simulation program and authenticator .jar files here:
Phone+Auth.zip
2. Install the phone simulator (MidpX131.exe)
3. Double click (blizzard_mobile_auth_EU_BattleNetMobileAuthenticator.jar)
4. You'll see a phone come up, with a serial in the middle of the screen. You won't be able to see all of the characters in the serial because the phone screen is too small, so look for a folder called "blizzard_mobile_auth_EU_BattleNetMobileAuthenticator-properties" in the same directory as the "blizzard_mobile_auth_EU_BattleNetMobileAuthenticator.jar" file.
5. Open that folder and open the .dll file inside with Notepad (right click -> open with)
6. You'll see a string of characters that look like "EU-1002-1526-0015". Remember/write that string down.
7. Go to
https://us.battle.net/bma and click "Continue to Account management"
8. In the line labeled "14-Digit Serial Number" you will want to enter the "EU-1002-1526-0015" string you saved earlier, but without the hyphens. Yes, keep the EU.
9. In the line labeled "Authenticator Code" you will need to put in one of the randomly generated authentication codes, so go back to the phone app, click the BACK button, click VIEW CODE, and then there's the code you need to enter.
10. An authenticator should now be attached to your account, so log into WoW (you'll need to enter another auth. code at the login screen). Here is where you decide whether or not to keep the authenticator. If you are gonna keep it, just open your mail and claim your pet! If you don't want to keep the authenticator, then go to step 11!
11. After logging into the game and verifying that you do have mail from Breanni, close WoW entirely. Go to
https://us.battle.net/account/management/ and click on 'Change Security Options'. Then click on remove mobile authenticator. Finally, enter two randomly generated authenticator codes to clear the authenticator from your account.
12. After removing the authenticator from your account, you're free to log into the game and claim your pet. The reason you had to remove the authenticator before learning the pet is because Blizzard removes the pet spell from your book if you remove the authenticator.