I was banned this morning, supposedly for using bots. How is it possible that a company of this scale can’t differentiate between a bot and a human? Just because I’m a geek shouldn’t be a problem for them, right? Bunch of useless.
Are you using ANY kind of automation software on the machine. E.g. have you set up the mouse software to auto-click if you keep it pressed? ALL those things may be bannable because they don’t allow “playing without playing”.
Also it might be related to software with the POTENTIAL to do those things like autohotkey.
Also they might get false positives if you play for many hours a day (bots often do that).
Never use a bot or auto-clicker; I have to play the game, 12 to 14 hours a day, maybe that’s why. Is there a way to revoke this unfair ban? Because they say it is permanent.
1 Like
Then it might be a false positive. Web tickets are usually the best option to find a human. If they first answer with a bot keep replying that you are not satisfied with the answer and a human usually comes up.
PS I would not be VERY surprised if they consider 14 hours a day an “unhealthy pattern” and they ban people anyway just for that, but that’s just wild conjecture on my part.
1 Like
A lot of people think this is addiction, but really, it’s OCD. They have pills for this, if you don’t want to talk to a therapist.
Sometimes it’s a combo of abuse of play time for collecting XP. E.g. people were auto-clicking even if they were losing just to get XP for buying packs.
But even without it: just being always online and clicking the screen once in a while is probably into “disruptive” behavior it terms of TOS.
This isn’t a new issue, I’m just gonna link this here (x2):
Why do you play 14 hours a day?
After several attempts to get a real person instead of a bot, I finally managed to speak to a human. And this is what they told me:
Greetings Skiper026,
I am Olreenstat, the Game Master assigned to shed some light on this matter for you.
Please accept our apologies for the use of an automated message. When many tickets are pending, such messages are sent to help some players find a solution or alternative to their situation. However, we understand that this message could be improved.
First, I conducted an investigation to better understand your case. Your Hearthstone account and logs have been reviewed. It appears that this penalty was applied under the correct conditions. As such, Blizzard Customer Support will not overturn it, and this decision is final.
I strongly recommend reading our article on our Code of Conduct, linked below:
I wish you a pleasant day and many great adventures ahead.
Sincerely,
Game Master Olreenstat.
I still don’t know the real reason for the ban; it’s very vague. They mention logs, but I don’t know what that means. What I do know is that I have never used any third-party application to cheat, as I am being accused of.
They never tell details explictly, PRECISELY BECAUSE YOU WOULD COPY PASTE the information to forums like you did and then help cheaters that way.
Were you using any of the “free XP” methods like “idle in Mercenaries and get XP”?
All those methods are bannable, even if the clickbait videos still exist.
My addiction was the Arena mode. At one point, I even managed to finish 5th in Europe. My games were thoughtful and strategic, without any use of auto-clickers or auto-clicking. It’s true that I spent a lot of hours playing, but I don’t have other activities on the side.
It might not be the healthiest habit, and perhaps it’s tied to some underlying issue, but I haven’t really taken the time to question that yet.
Are you sure? Still sounds like a bot (beep, boop). Besides, notice this:
Figures…
What’s that matter? It’s not an offence, as far as I know.
The topic-starter has asked for suggestions about a presumably erroneous ban, not life counselling.
No, I never used any strategies to gain XP, that was never my goal. My focus was always on achieving the best wins in the Arena. I rarely played other game modes. I find it very harsh to apply a permanent ban without any justified reason, and it’s quite suspicious not to provide a clear explanation, supposedly to prevent helping real cheaters. Isn’t improper behavior usually warned about in advance?
Btw, I’ve seen no evidence of people banned for that, and those methods are history anyway.
That victim-blaming attitude on these forums is getting… old, pardon me my American English (and I generally try to use good and proper English, but sometimes an exception could be made).
Here is the continuation of the discussion regarding my permanent ban. Despite the unfairness, I maintain a positive perspective on the situation. I will no longer waste another second on a company that fails to maintain a good relationship with its customers, treating them like trash:
Skiper026
Hello Olreenstat,
Thank you for shedding some light on the situation. I’m relieved to finally have a human response on this matter.
However, I remain puzzled by the reason given for my ban, which is the use of third-party software to automate actions. I would like further clarification on what type of software I am accused of using, as I am still unaware of it.
My goal is to understand this penalty and ensure I never make a similar mistake in the game, although, after such a ban, I seriously doubt I will play Hearthstone again.
You also mention “logs” as evidence, but I don’t know exactly what they contain or what they refer to. I would appreciate a clearer and more detailed explanation of the decision that led to this severe, and in my view, unjustified ban.
Thank you for providing a detailed response.
Best regards,
Olreentast
Re-greetings, Skiper026!
It’s Olreenstat again, the designated Game Master responding to you once more.
An internal investigation was carried out over a period of time, which revealed the use of systems automating certain aspects of Hearthstone, thus providing an unfair advantage over the rest of the community. I also confirmed that your account has not been hacked, as it is stable. Please remember that you are responsible for the actions performed on your Battle.Net account. For more information, please refer to the link below:
Wishing you a good day and an enjoyable adventure.
Sincerely yours,
Game Master Olreenstat.
Skiper026
Hello Olreenstat,
Thank you for your response. However, I still haven’t received a precise answer regarding the automated system I allegedly used to gain an advantage over other players. I admit you probably don’t want to disclose this so-called system, first because you likely don’t have one, and second, perhaps for security reasons.
To be clear, I have never used third-party applications on Hearthstone, not even a deck tracker, although I am aware of their existence. If you analyze my games, you’ll see that 90% of them are arena matches. What advantage could I gain from an automated system in this mode? Arena is a mode that requires strategy, where the goal is to maximize victories, not automate losses to gain XP. I could never use an automaton in arena because it’s necessary to be physically present to play and win matches strategically.
This is truly something inconceivable. I never thought I would find myself in such a situation. Every business has the mission of retaining its customers. Losing one customer may seem insignificant, but through word of mouth, it can lead to a loss of reputation and a regressive cycle for the company.
And no, my account was not hacked. This is, in fact, the only way for me to contact the team, as I have no other means.
Please accept, Olreenstat, my best regards.
Emdelkim
Hello Skiper026,
This decision has already been reviewed by our teams and will not be further investigated on our end. I invite you to refer to the information contained in the email you received from our services for more details. We now consider this matter closed.
Thank you for your understanding.
Best regards,
Game Master Emdelkim.
Ye-e-eah…
Lesson learned, I guess. 
That’s the positive side of it, I suppose.
Whatever you decide, I hope you’ll spend the time of your life (UPD: especially given how much you used to spend) on something more meaningful than this wonderful game by this stellar company in the future.
Yeah, of course, it won’t be hard to find something better to do 
. Thanks anyway for your support.
I’m making an edit because the chat system doesn’t let me reply again: WTF is happening to you, Blizzard? After sending them one last message, I might have finally managed to reach a real human this time. They told me they would conduct yet another in-depth investigation about the game ‘‘World of Warcraft’’. This has to be a joke, right? I get perma banned and accused of botting, and they can’t even name the correct game. Unbelievable.
Skiper026
Thank you for your response and your inflexibility. I’d like to share with you my initial post about this issue on your secondary site to make this shameful situation public:Abusive ban on the platform - #17 by Skiper026-2366. I’ll also begin sharing this information on social media, using the so-called word-of-mouth mechanism. You claim the right to enforce this abusive ban; it’s equally my right to expose this injustice and leverage word-of-mouth. Wishing you all the best. Happy New Year 2025!
Sindekiveth
Greetings, Skiper,
I understand that you’ve encountered some difficulties with the permanent closure of your World of Warcraft account and would like us to take another look.
As a veteran WoW player myself since the Vanilla era, I can certainly imagine that this situation is somewhat troubling for you. But fear not—the Game Master Sindekiveth is here to clarify things.
Following thorough investigations, I was able to escalate this situation to our specialized team, who will take a closer look and get back to you as soon as possible.
If you have any further questions weighing on your mind, please don’t hesitate to send us a message, and we’ll be happy to respond as quickly as we can!
Wishing you a fantastic day, Skiper!
Game Master Sindekiveth
1 Like
It was a question, and a fact. So stop your “question and fact”-blaming just because you want to pretend you are on a high moral ground when you do the opposite.
You are on the opposite of a high moral ground, you just blamed me without any justification.
Still not sure about that.
Oh, yeah… 
It’s been very thorough so far, as far as I can see.
Why, I suppose it just goes to show how thoroughly they’ve ‘investigated’ your case. 
On the other hand, maybe after ten or so more rounds of… this someone might actually look into your case and perhaps sort it out, even.
Your Banned cause you hacked and D/C another player you should be perma banned you need to shut up and accept it because in my opinion your IP address should be perma banned and you should be HWID