I'm not aware of this ever being an issue.
How the Current Game is Supposed to Work:
Anyone who owns a copy of Reign of Chaos / Frozen Throne from the past can play on Reforged servers free, but they are not allowed to enable Reforged graphics. Enter your CD key into the newer client to redeem your free access to the game.
How the Current Game Actually Works (According to Rants I Read On the Forums):
For some users, when they enter their CD key on the new client to redeem their free copy, the official
Battle.net
launcher still says
Buy
instead of
Play
. Sometimes for these users, occasionally buying Reforged doesn't change that. The problem is if they are not navigating the technology correctly. If they already hold a valid access to the game, buying Reforged doesn't make them have more access, it just adds additional graphics.
If you get into this situation where it says
Buy
instead of
Play
, log in to the account page (
https://account.battle.net/) using a web browser. Click on
Games
and get to the page that looks like this:
View attachment 457556
If you use this download button, it should give you access to the game, and change
Buy
to
Play
on the game.
It turns out, there are so many people who visit Hive that some of them messaged me personally and said they would never play the original graphics again because of how beautiful Reforged graphics are, and meanwhile other people hate the Reforged graphics and everything they stand for with such a passion that they will always play legacy game versions and never the latest just to make sure the Reforged code systems are not on their computer!
So, because people don't agree and Hive doesn't require a certain kind of personality in order to sign up, it will probably simultaneously be true that some of the most passionately Reforged-only modders will be on Hive while at the same time other people are among us who are worried that "blizzerd f***ed up" so badly that no one cares anymore like you said.