"detected a change in your access pattern"

Heya,

Q u o t e:
I really don't appreciate having to change my password for this reason. Seriously, I do have a life outside Azeroth. Don't get me wrong, I love playing WoW, but I do other stuff too. The fact that sometimes I'll go a couple days without playing because I'm doing other stuff, like making music does not mean that my account was hacked. I would appreciate it if I did not have to change my password the next time I go a little bit without playing. Thank you.

Your password does not have to change every time you go without World of Warcraft for a while. You will only receive an email from us, regarding suspicious activity if you are logging in from a different location. This is a security measure from preventing anyone else to access the account that is not authorized to do so.

Also, you should always check the email headers of the emails you receive from us, here is some information that can show you how to verify if an email is legit or not.

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/25133

What should I look for in the header?

Email headers contain information about the sender (who sent the email message), the path the email took to reach your inbox, and things that may have happened to the email before arriving. This information is very important and can be used to determine whether or not an email is malicious.
Once you've accessed an email's header information, you'll want to attempt to verify the sending address. To do this, look at the "Return-Path" or the "originating address" for the email. For most phishing emails, the email address displayed in this location will differ from the address displayed in the "From" field.


A legitimate header from Blizzard Entertainment should look something like this:

X-SID-PRA [email protected]
or
Return-Path: < [email protected] >
Received: from smtp01.worldofwarcraft.com ([XX.XXX.XXX.XXX]) by…
Received: from … by smtp01.worldofwarcraft.com …
for <Your Email Address>; Tue, 29 Jan 2008 10:46:05 GMT
From: [email protected]
To: You’re Email Address


If you believe you've received a phishing email, please forward the email to [email protected] , at your earliest convenience. When forwarding the email, copy and paste the entire email header into the message body to ensure that we are able to identify the source. This information will help us prevent future phishing emails of the same type.

For similar emails and what to look for when you receive emails from us, please visit this thread:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=965511383&sid=1