I’ve recently started playing Retail WoW again following a long break. I’m fairly low ilvl at 449 or so but having fun trying out visions and completing daily quests.
I was recently banned for 24hours which impacted both my Retail and Classic access.
The rationale Blizzard gave was " With the recent action this was due to advertising within the group finder." The problem is i’ve not even used the group finder.
There are only 1 instance where I have grouped up using the group finding which was to kill the world boss. I don’t have a twitch account to advertise, i dont sell carries and i sure as hell dont advertise boosting websites or the like. So I got banned for playing the game as per Blizzard UI?
I explained to Blizzard this was the case, and wanted them to look into it because if bans are being handed me when i’m not breaking any rules, then this could be happening to other people.
They have let me down in their response in 2 ways. #1, when they responded to the initial ticket I was online but they didnt message me through the ingame chat functions. This is disappointing because a quick few minute discussion can clear things up quickly. #2 is their response to my 2nd ticket on the topic
This penalty has already been upheld. Any further requests on this topic will not be reviewed.
They are not interested in reviewing any false flag situations. I’m disappointed in it. Hoping someone cares enough to look into this as i’m sure im not the only one this has happened to.
While it was only a 24hr ban which is long since finished, the important aspect here is to address flaws in the banning system to remove false positives. Seems Blizzard don’t care about that at all.
Edits: Removed some of the more emotional language.
Not to antagonize you further, but I just wanted to make sure you’re aware that discussing punishments and actions of this sort is against the Code of Conduct. You may be inviting further sanctions by doing so without the knowledge of stirring the pot.
Hi Leilleath,
Thanks for pointing that out. I’m tempted to delete the post but if i do that, then we dont end up addressing false flag bans. It’s important that this is raised because if its an automated system, I probably am not the first and I certainly won’t be the last.
It would be disappointing if Blizzard further penalise me for raising this given they’ve shut down other channels to discuss this privately.
Thanks for your post.
Edit: No, i’m the only one with access to the account. I’ve got an authenticator linked.
Understandable, just wanted you to be aware since it can sometimes be done in a way that you’re intending, but other times it can devolve too easily and people get in trouble without understanding the rules of things.
Just to be clear there are no automated bans. Unless this was a silence, which it doesn’t sound like it was, a GM would have handed a ban. There is nothing automated about it.
You should have received an email with instructions on how to appeal. Even though it might be too late if the ban is over it is important to still appeal so the action can be removed from your account if ends up being overturned.
Edit - sorry, should have said squelch, not silence
Thing is false bans do happen but if they tell you that no further apeals will be taken is that they have enough evidence to back up the ban/suspension.
Its also not automated its all handled by a real person a squelch which is a temerary chat suspension is autmated till a GM takes a look.
Sounds like the penalty was reviewed and upheld.
When a review/appeal is done, it’s looked at by a different person than the one who made the original call for a penalty.
Sounds like they both came to the same conclusion which would have been based upon the system logs.
The other thing about appeals is, it’s not a discussion. You don’t get to plead your case.
An appeal will have a new set of eyes go over the evidence and if they come to the same conclusion, the account action is upheld. If not, the action is removed.
Been playing for over 13 years without bans, suspensions or silences.
The problem I have is that because there are no actions i’ve taken to advertise anything, i’m worried there is something going on which will cause me to get banned again. While I appreciate that Blizzard doesn’t need to justify themselves, it worries me that I still don’t know what actions led to the ban.
Wondering if it’s an addon which is the cause?
Noting everyone’s comments around there not being an automated ban process - appreciate that clarification."
I’ve been playing retail the same amount of years - WOTLK! - and this is the first action taken against my account.
Blizziard isn’t into the habit of telling folks that Z, Y and Z cause the action, or tell you what time it was notice or where. The forums isn’t trying to ‘rise awareness’ because posting on the forums won’t change anything, nor get anything change.
You may have not been actioned for anything recent its been pointed out theres been a backlog of reports and because of the work from home they have been getting to that this couldve been from something awhile ago.
Ok, thanks everyone for your posts. Disappointing for me. As for the “could have been in the past” i’ve never done advertising because i’ve never had anything to advertise.
I don’t think further discussion on this will make any difference, and this is probably too below interest for a forum CS to look at so probably no point bumping this thread anymore.
The forums isn’t for such posts because the forums isn’t a bypass the ticketing system, nor it isn’t a place to try to get it overturned in anyway. And no, this isn’t the first time, but not getting overturn more than once means there is something they find as proof something is going funny.
I don’t think I’d go so far as to say that. We’ve certainly seen in the past, times where one of our Support Forum Agents (blues/Blizz employees) have been able to shed some light on what’s going on.
In some cases we’ve even seen them admit that the category that the account action has fallen under isn’t 100% accurate, but as close as a category that they could choose.
So it’s certainly possible a blue might provide some insight, but probably not on a Sunday night.
Something else I’d like to point out is that every single appeal is handled by a separate set of eyes. They have another look over the data and decide if a mistake has been made. It’s the whole purpose of the appeals process.
Is it still possible a mistake was made, sure. Since you’ve been told not to put any more tickets in as they’ll go unanswered, I can’t suggest doing so. But it would seem that something came up in the logs to get you a 24hour suspension.
What that thing might have been, I can’t really say.
Hopefully someone is able to have a look and help me out. 13 years and this is by far the most confusing experience I’ve ever had. Disappointing because my other experiences with CS have been great.
Just for clarification, this action was in no means automatic nor was it the result of a bunch of false reports. While we certainly do have some automatic systems, they are mostly around botting/exploitation maintained by our hacks team. The other system is our squelch system around spam reports.
That said, let’s get into your first post.
Just for clarification, the only time we generally would contact you directly is if we needed more information and/or needed you to do something. We do not contact players to discuss account penalties, never have. During an appeal the matter is reviewed and the message sent is either it was upheld or overturned.
That isn’t true, Uurdz. Understand, our staff can only go by the data that is available to them. The initial review simply did not indicate an error was made.
Having said that, from what I can see the penalty was overturned. I’m surprised you received a message contrary to that.
I’ve sent a message to see about updating the response.
