WoW Account Ban-Not Legitimate

Hi there! WoW (World of Warcraft) is an MMORPG for those who do not know. I have had my WoW account in my name and possession since Day One, which leaves me at just under two years of playing. I have spent countless hours working on my account and it means a lot to me. There are a lot of different kinds of hobbies and although some may not think playing WoW is one but it is to me and many others. So we will just say my account is worth a lot and I would not do a single thing to compromise it with my knowledge.

On the evening of July 23rd, five days ago, Blizzard banned my account. No warning. No Gamemaster whispering me with an explanation, nothing. Within an hour I get an email telling me it was banned and would not be opened under any circumstances. And, if any of you know, all of those captions that 'explain' what I violated. And those are not too useful. Something along the lines of using Third Party software and exploiting the game. The email was extremely vague. I called and asked for assistance and was informed that it was not that department I had called and that I needed to reply to the email and wait for them to contact me. I sent them an email. Very polite and calm, even though I was extremely upset. It explained my confusion and displeasure. I also said there must have been a misunderstanding of some sort and I just wanted it all fixed because I did not want to lose my account.

Yesterday, July 27th, I finally received a reply. The email was shorter. It explained that the facts have been reviewed and it will still not be reopened under and circumstances. And it contained a couple of the same captions about policy from the first email. So, once again, I send another reply. I was non-threatening, calm but with a little less patience. I stated how I still did not know what I am accused of violating and what the facts and evidence are of the accusation. That all I want is my account back and that I should not have to be doing this. I have done nothing wrong. There were a few other things I added as well but that is the jist of it. Still waiting on a response to my second reply now.

My close friend is in the same situation right now. He was banned less than five minutes before me and has recieved the same emails. Three days before our banning we went out and started a rare pet farming binge for our high level characters. And I apologize if you do not understand exactly what I mean. We basically spent a lot of time killing the same things multiple times to retrieve items we desired. We looted several of the things we wanted as well as some other things that randomly drop in the game and we ended up with them. The entire time we did this, which was over the course of four days, we were on Ventrilo (a voicechat program over the internet) talking to each other as well as various friends. We were both working on getting my last pet to drop when it happened. The reason I am explaining this is because I think this could be the only reason we were both banned for the same reasons.

From the emails sent both to my good friend and myself I have gathered, unclearly, that they believe we were using software to hack or exploit the game. For example, botting. From what I understand botting is when a background program plays your character for you. It basically puts the character on autopilot and does things for you on your account. I do not know the details but I do not agree with people using it and I believe it is a guaranteed ban if you are caught doing it. Because I still do not know exactly what it is they believe we have done it leads me to assume, I could be wrong though, that because of the length of time we were logged in and the amount of items we looted it flagged us or something. I do not know their methods of detection or retrieving evidence but I was on the entire time and not one person whispered me to see if it was me actually playing or one of those programs. I am just so confused and very upset. I don't want to lose my account and I am extremely unimpressed with their supposed 'service'.

I know, for a fact, that neither my close friend or I have any program that is not within their terms and rules. I know that us spending that much time on our accounts doing exactly what they are meant for is not violating anything. I have been waiting for them to explain exactly what I did wrong and how they have come to this conclusion. There is nothing I have done wrong to my knowledge. If they base their decisions on statistics, simply, then their system is flawed and both my friend and I have been treated very unfairly.

Is it unreasonable to believe that they are in the wrong? And if they continue to stand this way with me is it possible to get my account back legally? And be compensated for all the trouble to retrieve my account and time lost from it?

I cannot start over from scratch because of a mistake, misunderstanding or plain, old carelessness. I would understand if I really was violating policy but I have not. I don't think I deserve to be treated the way they are treating me. We just want our account access back.

Thank you and apologies for length.
Amanda

al_espinoza66@yahoo.com

[Brittany1130]

Although I don't play WoW myself but I have a bunch of friends who are playing it and I've never heard of getting an account banned without explaination. What Add-Ons do you use? CTRaid, etc. Maybe someone who can still play should ask a gamemaster about your case and in the meanwhile you should make a list of plugins you used and send it to Blizzard to show them that you didn't use anything that wasn't allowed.

[annjd]

In extreme cases you can file suit. It has been done in similar situations. And it usually causes compromise. You could even try it in small claims but would normally have to sue where they are located. Depends how important this really is to you.

Thank you both for your replies. All of my mods I use for the game are not violating policy. They come from Cursegaming, which does a lot of work with WoW so I know that they are not the cause. And I am still trying to communicate with them as much as I can. My account is definitely important to me but I am not unreasonable. If they wish to treat decent consumers like this then they obviously do not need me. Not that it will make a difference. With WoW, accounts are easily replaced. Money never stops coming. So who cares if they ban a few non-violating users, am I right?

[Brittany1130]

That's what I was interested in. If your mods are from cursegaming they shouldn't cause any problems because according to my friends almost everybody uses them.

Unfortunately you are right. They earn so much money that they obviously don't care for a single customer. I wish you the best of luck for your account but if they keep it banned, there are other things to do and see in this world.

Hey there
I have just stumbled Across your post here i been searching the net for answers about account bans on WoW i am fairly new to wow myself and have just come over from Eq after spending 3 years with Eq i thought wow would make a nice change and a few of my friends alrady on wow any how after just to weeks i have been banned. FOR no reason at all i recived a e-mail saying Greetings,

We are writing to inform you that we have, unfortunately, had to cancel your World of Warcraft account:

Account Name: *********
Type of Violation: Involvement in online trading activities
Investigation Concluded: 07/08/2008
Consequences for Account: Account Cancellation

It is with regret that we take this type of action, however, it is in the best interest of the World of Warcraft community as a whole, and for the integrity of the game, that your access to the World of Warcraft servers be cancelled.

Online trading refers to the exchange of in-game content for real world money, and includes, but is not limited to, the sale or purchase of gold, the sale or purchase of experience in the form of powerlevelling, and the sale or purchase of honor points, reputation or items.

Account access is the responsibility of the account owner and account sharing is against our Terms of Use (http://www.wow-europe.com/en/legal/termsofuse.html). Therefore, should you believe someone other than yourself (the account owner) has committed this violation of the Terms of Use with your account, these sanctions would still apply, as our action is taken against the account, not the individual.

If you wish to review our current Rules and Polices, they can be found at:
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/policy/

Regards,

Account Administration Team
Blizzard Entertainment Europe...............

NOW i have started my charecter from scratch i have payed for the game and payed for 6months connection to the servers and now i am banned i have not used any add ons purchased any wow gold no nothing I have broken none of the ToS but i get banned i feel like i have been robberd i have a level 35 warlock and a level 30 war i have been getting right into it and have really been enjoying it working on trade skillz and so on. any how i tried to call blizzard and all they said was the same thing this is not the right department you will have to speak to the accounts admin. THIS IS A JOKE a gamming company as big as blizzard should have the common curtusy to talk about this sort of thing people talk about scamming well WELL DONE BLIZZARD YOUR THE BIGGEST SCAMMERS they have scamed me out of money over £60 for game and server time that i can not use when i have broken no rules there must be Laws against this sort of thing any how i hope it all gets sorted for you best of luck and best wishes

I recived the same mail as the guys before me...but...i upgraded mine account...playd for 7 hours...and its BANNED!!!! just whats going on??? did i just spend mine money for nothing??? I send email to them...but i realy doubt it will help couse it seems that blizzard just dont care about customers....but if somebody knows how solution to this problem i woud be realy gratefull.

You know, the upgrade followed by a ban just happened to my wife. She purchased the upgrade, and found that due to a technicality where because server where all her high level characters are (Dawnbringer) was locked, she couldn't use one of the main features of the upgrade (creating a Death Knight character).

She asked a GM when the server would be unlocked and what she could do in the meantime. His responses were "I don't know" and "Wait for the server to be unlocked." She then found herself banned a few days later.

Apparently, she had made herself an inconvenience not worth having as a customer. We tried to complain but have got the same run-around with 'not my department' and 'your email address isn't on file.'

As a side note, the server is still locked two weeks after her complaint.

argghhh...

I also got the exact same email on 28/12/2008! I'm also completely surprised to get this email out of the blue...

Can't log into wow-europe anymore, I think am going to give blizzard a call...