I find myself in a situation that has left me both perplexed and disheartened. Recently, my wow account was unexpectedly closed, citing a violation of the Terms of Use and In-game Policies (Unauthorized Cheat Programs (Hacks)).
I have been an active and dedicated player for almost a decade, across various wow expansions, from Retail to Classic WotLK, Hardcore, and now the Season of Discovery. My account holds countless memories and means everything to me.
I’ve reached out to the Game Master to appeal the closure, expressing my genuine belief that there has been a misunderstanding or error in this case. Despite my efforts, the response has been disheartening, and my appeal seems to have been overlooked.
It has come to my attention that some other players are facing similar issues, possibly caused by mass reporting. I urge you to share your thoughts or back me up if you believe my case warrants further attention.
I feel truly lost and depressed, unsure of what to do or how to reach out. Should I just give up on wow after all these years? I know that I did nothing wrong, but how can I prove it?
I would certainly hope that just by mass reporting alone players aren’t getting their accounts closed. That is a very serious action that should only be the result of evidence-based human-investigated severe terms of service violations.
Have they said your appeal has been reviewed and will not be reviewed further? If so it may be the end of the line unless you can bring new evidence in. On that subject it’s probably best you don’t discuss the topic further as they don’t allow that on the forums.
I feel sorry for you if you genuinely have no clue what you did wrong, but clearly, Blizzard’s behind the scenes cheat detection program has detected something running that isn’t allowed with Blizzard games.
The only real thing you can do is appeal via ticket unless they have stated you should not. If that’s the case…
It appears that a substantial portion of the ban process is automated. I recently stumbled upon the case of a WoW streamer who encountered a ban. Notably, he played for an extended period, and apparently, such prolonged playtime can trigger suspicion of botting. This resonates with me as I have been playing for 10-15 hours daily since the launch. Interestingly, the streamer got unbanned within 4 hours, while I find myself waiting for an appeal response after three days.
Here’s the link to the streamer ban : https://twitter.com/ahmpers/status/1729305737636016597
To clarify, the initial response I received was a standard notification stating that the account closure aligned with their Terms of Use and In-game Policies. However, when I attempted to escalate the case and seek further clarification, I received a response emphasizing that a full investigation had been conducted, and the evidence provided was deemed correct. Unfortunately, this led to the closure of the ticket with a firm decision that the action would not be overturned.
It’s not caused by mass reporting, it’s caused by you having something active on your machine that can be used for botting.
Anything from Keyboard and mouse software that uses macros or an independent macro program that’s active on your machine. It doesn’t matter if you use it or not, the important part is that it’s ACTIVE.
Also some remote access software can cause this to happen as can VPNs or Proxy servers.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I just wanted to clarify that there’s no suspicious software on my machine. It’s a fairly new laptop mainly used for work in Unity and Unreal Engine.
As for addons, I stick to the popular ones like Questie, Bagnon, AtlasLoot, and Auctionator. No fancy macro programs, just using my laptop keyboard and a basic mouse. I’ve made sure that there’s nothing of that sort on my end.
It’s a bit frustrating because I believe this might be a false flag situation. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a thorough check, and that’s where the confusion lies.
I didn’t say suspicious software. Please read the list again.
How do you know there hasn’t been a thorough check?
Do you have any keyboard software down next to the clock? Any Mouse software? Anything like Teamviewer, or anything like macroplus?
Also remember using anything to redirect World of Warcraft data from connecting directly with Blizzard’s servers is against the rules. VPNs and proxy servers count as those things, as is going through a works tunnelling VPN.
Any software AT ALL next to the clock?
Automation software is not just botting software but ANYTHING, and I do mean anything, that can automate ANY process. It doesn’t have to be used by you, just a process in your task manager.
Fair point, and I appreciate your question. My concern about the thoroughness of the check arises from the fact that the closure reason points to “a direct breach of the Terms of Use,” specifically related to botting, which I haven’t engaged in.
In a situation like this, where the stated reason doesn’t align with my actions, it leaves me questioning if the check covered all the necessary aspects. I’m simply trying to make sense of the closure and looking for any possible avenues to address this misunderstanding.
What’s adding to my confusion is that the only thing that seems to make sense, especially after witnessing what happened to the streamer “ahmpy,” is that I was playing SOD for an extended period. Apparently, this can flag you for botting, and that’s the only plausible connection I can draw.
No, I don’t have or use anything like that.
I want to make sure I understood it correctly. If you’re asking about the software running on my system: Battle.net, Nvidia settings, Microsoft teams, Windows Security, Unity Hub
I’m no expert, but I just googled “Unity Hub” and it looks to be some kind of programming tool.
Just to make you aware that having certain programming tools running on your PC while playing WoW, is actually forbidden, and will incur a ban. Their reasoning is that it theoretically lets you edit the PC memory, and hence, can alter how the game plays. As Linus Tech Tips found out when one of their staff got permanently banned for it. The ban reason given was “Hacking/Botting”.
Not saying that “Unity Hub” is the cause, because I don’t know much about it, just passing out the idea.