Is there any risks about the digital download? I mean if I purchase the game at the store then I have a physical copy of the game. If I format my computer I can always reinstall sc2 since I have the cd. However does having sc2 by digital download mean I have to re-download it online to re-install sc2 again after the cpu reformat? Is it possible to burn the digital download into blank dvd-r thus making our own physical copy of the game? With the old starcraft 1 if someone tries to play the game with a burned cd it will say "please insert starcraft cd" will it be the same with sc2 if I try too burn the digital download on cd?
Relevant Question This is a very relevant question for me. I recently downloaded and installed SC2 through digital download and am in the process of reinstalling my operating system. Will reinstalling using the downloaded executable work? I couldn't find information anywhere about whether or not it will work. My fear is that Battle.net will refuse the installation because my activation key has already when used.
You can install and activate SC2 on as many computers as you own and yes, you can use the same downloaded installation file on all of them. The license key is tied to a single Battle.net account but not to a single computer. Also, the actual StarCraft installation is "license key-agnostic". You log on to Battle.net every time you run SC2 (assuming you're not playing as guest). That means if you install a copy of SC2 on a shared family computer, if for example your brother also has an SC2 license key associated with his Battle.net account, he just needs to run SC2 and log-in using his credentials. No need to install his own copy.
Correct, once a key is purchase via b-net or retailer, you will have that game active on the b-net account you initially set up. So you can pretty much install SC2 on any comp and play using your B-net account.
If you wanted to backup the data, you could always go and get a Duel Layer (DL) DVD and burn it onto there. That is what I plan on doing for my enGB distro of StarCraft II (I own enUS). Just got to make sure your DVD drive can burn a duel layer disc. Its a pain you can't back it up onto two DVD's, perhaps similar to Steam games. I got it downloaded in 3 hours time, but 3 hours is still 3 hours (that I would consider that awesome for 7GB+ of stuff).
