Yesterday I was permabanned for cheats/hacks and I don’t know what to do at this point. This is the 3rd account that has been perma’d out of nowhere, with my main account being 15+ years old (no previous offenses or mutes on all accounts). I’m trying to understand why this is happening to me. I know I will never know the actual reason because Blizzard would not want any botter/hacker to know what caused the ban, which of course makes sense. It’s just unfortunate and quite sad.
I believe its 1 of 2 things:
The first account to be banned was my oldest account (main account). I was playing a lot of AV at the time in SoD (MC phase) and what I would do is prepot every protection potion, have both invis pots including gnomish cloaking device, and play defense as alliance. I would wait in the final room where General Vanndar Stormpike is, see that they are coming, put a battle standard down, and invis. Once everyone is in the room and attacking Vanndar, I would pop out of invis, bubble (I played ret), and kill the horde’s tank which usually results in their wipe (and a win for alliance!). I know that would be very frustrating for the opposing faction but I was just having fun playing the game. I would also insta queue and see the same tank(s) over and over again so in conclusion I believe I was mass reported by a ton of players in a short period of time. This leads me to believe my IP or pc hardware specs have been blacklisted and any account associated would get banned, which explains the repeated bans. The 2nd account (SoD) was banned in a month, and the 3rd account (classic fresh) was banned after 2 months. Both accounts were brand new and there was a few months in-between the 2nd and 3rd account where I didn’t play at all. I would also like to add that my characters weren’t boosted as I actually enjoy leveling and have become pretty efficient at it.
I might actually have some kind of program in the background that is considered to be related to or associated with whatever programs botters or hackers use. I have not done a factory reset of my pc but I will now. Even though I did not do a factory reset it’s a little frustrating that I have to go through hoops just to play WoW. I shouldn’t need to do anything when I know I’m innocent. I know most people reading this won’t believe me but that’s fine because I completely understand. I know that there a lot of cases like mine that have been overturned and it seems like a post on the forums is required for that lol. I will say that I’ve been consistently playing WoW and only WoW since the release of classic. I can’t even remember the last time I downloaded a program because I don’t play other games, download music/movies, or anything like that, so I don’t know how I would have some sort of program in the background when I didn’t get banned that whole time.
I could get a completely new pc, new payment method, change my IP address, etc. and try to play again which would probably work. I don’t want to do that because I would obviously like all my accounts back and just get to the bottom of this issue. My main account was banned in August 2024 so this has been a long battle for me. I submitted tickets for about 2 months and I’m talking like 30+ tickets or responses. They all resulted in the same template response. I would like to know if there is ANYTHING that would increase my chances of getting my accounts back, such as ideas of proof that I didn’t cheat/hack or ways to actually have some kind of dialogue other than tickets with customer service.
I completely understand Blizzard’s perspective as people actually bot and lie on the forums and there are so many players that they have to lean on automatic flagging programs such as Warden. I’m sure there are a ton of appeals at any given time as well. I ask to please escalate this as I was wrongfully banned and at least try to understand my perspective of actually not doing anything wrong (intentionally).
And for the love of god please don’t just link the ToS as I have extensively researched about this topic on the forums over the months and I actually read the ToS myself.
Now, keep in mind, the reason for the suspension is not always exactly tied to using of cheats of hacks. There could be multiple factors at play. But we can’t confirm this here. Only thing you can do is appeal.
Yeah, I know. And I completely understand. This post will be grouped with the thousands of other forum posts about being banned, and can understandably get annoying. I’ve seen a lot of posts in the past get escalated so I’m kind of hoping for that. I feel like my case is very messy with 3 accounts included over a long period of time. I appreciate the response.
It isn’t because other threads. Customer Support forums is more of a player help desk. We try and help the best we can in navigating the tickets system, explaining policies, or where to go for any issues. I’m sorry but there is very little we can do here on the forums.
That’s fair. And I know there is very little that can be done on the forums. But what I do know is that players and GMs/blue posters should be aware of an increase of people claiming to be wrongfully banned. It’s good information to have and mistakes do happen. I want to put this out into the ether so that it can hopefully be seen amongst the many other posts where players claim they were wrongfully banned for cheats/hacks.
Game Masters doesn’t visit the forums, and the Support Forum Agents do know mistakes can happen. Everyone who works for Blizzard is human after all, and we all know humans do make mistakes, even Blizzard employees do know when mistakes are made.
Yeah, but it only takes one person to inform the GMs of any given issue or post. And to say that there is nothing that can be done except submitting a ticket is only semi-true as I’ve seen posts where a CS rep aided in overturning an account. It would also be nice to get some advice on what I should do by players that were in my situation.
Does anyone know why my 2 new accounts got banned after my main? Does some sort of IP ban list or blacklist exist? Assuming that I am not aware of using any hack/cheating program.
This is not something we’d know here, and even if we did, couldn’t exactly tell you.
But some speculations to what could be a source possibly is another program used for work or another game. Or maybe even outside macro’s set up on a keyboard/mouse But as I’ve just said, we do not exactly know, and even if we did, can’t exactly tell you.
This is why I believe I’m on a ban list because none of that applies to me. That would explain why my new accounts got banned. I know for a fact I didn’t download anything during my last account and I obviously don’t have AHK or anything like that. My last appeal ticket around October did seem to have a unique response. The GM responded to my 2nd account actually, and to preface, I told the GM(s) in the appeals that the two accounts were related. In that unique response, the GM asked me for my payment methods, old expansion keys, addresses, etc. I thought that was kind of odd but I assume they asked me that to prove that the two accounts are mine. Long story short I never responded to that ticket because at that point I was at peace and did not want to support a company that would perma innocent players like its nothing. That changed when fresh was announced lol. Came back for fresh since the release and now I’m here with a 3rd account banned. I think I may have made a mistake by not resolving that ticket because that could have removed me from any “blacklist”, if that exists.
We did send that up for review, and hacks asked for confirmation of ownership. We sent an email about that last October and I do not see a response. Given the name doesn’t remotely match the other two accounts, I’ll take a leap and say it’s because it’s not yours.
Now, the first and second Battlenet names also don’t match - but they are similar enough that could probably be overcome.
The first - your oldest, would honestly be the one I’d concentrate on. Banned last Aug.
I hope you can appreciate how all these factors taken together do not look to be in your favor.
I don’t know if you’ve been multiboxing - but if so, you need to be aware that ANY automation or streamlining to accomplish that is no longer allowed.
You should also only be on accounts under your name, and the contact information needs to be legitimate.
In any case, the only way to get an action re-reviewed is through appeal tickets. I hope this information may give you a little insight into the issues on our side.
We don’t like to ever action an account, that’s the course of last resort and mistakes can be made. That is why there is an appeals process. At the same time, it is our duty to keep the game as exploit-free as possible for all players and the health of the game and community.
I know this probably isn’t what you wanted to hear, but I do wish you all the best.
I am going to add something here - those DO NOT REPLY emails really mean it. If you did try to reply via email, it would not have gone anywhere. To reply to any request for information, you need to open a ticket, cite the first ticket number so the GM has a reference, then provide the info they ask for.
It has to all be done by tickets, and using the previous ticket numbers helps.
That may not be applicable to this specific account, but for any other accounts you are working on appealing, keep in mind to use only tickets to reply/provide info.
Thank you for your feedback. The reason why the names are different is because I didn’t want the other accounts to be associated with my main account. I do own the 2nd account and I take the ToS very seriously. But, when the GMs look into this 3 account case they can see that the same payment method was used as well as almost identical emails (off by one letter or digit). I never thought I would be in this position where I have to prove my identity but I definitely understand your perspective and it is helping me understand how the GMs are handling the situation.
I never multi-boxed and never will as I have no interest in that. The extra accounts were made purely because the previous account got banned. I’m not here trying to prove my innocence because I’ve read enough posts to know that is useless and a waste of time. I just want a thorough look at my case as I know in the end the truth will prevail.
I will follow up on my main account as you’ve suggested. Should I just copy and paste the ticket numbers and/or this forum post? It’s a lot to explain lol.
I appreciate your insight!
@mirasol Of course! Thank you for the input. Every form of communication I’ve made during this long appeal process has been via tickets and now this forum post.
You can if you like - and it’s not an insurmountable barrier on the second - it’s just not easy.
That’s why we insist on legitimate info.
Usually listing all that info may be a good thing, but since the 1st and second got associated, and they did send up the second, it may look to a GM that the first was as well. That’s just a semi-educated guess on my part, but reading the notes it would be a natural assumption on their part.
You are more than welcome to reference this thread if you like. But I’d concentrate on having the oldest sent for review. Now, that may very well come back as an uphold. That’s not something we can control or have any say on. That is fully hacks wheelhouse.
At this point I honestly don’t care about the 2nd account as I don’t play SoD anymore and that’s all it was used for. I’m willing to take the L on that. I just want my main account to be lifted so I can continue playing classic fresh on my 3rd account. I will open up a ticket now, thanks.
Thank you, this really means a lot to me you have no idea. Given that 3 accounts are involved over a long period of time. I would love to fill out a survey to give a positive result
