Feeling hopeless - Unwarranted suspension/ban

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I was part of the PvP-targeted (I guess?) ban wave on Friday night for RMT. I signed up my team to AWC Cup 4 that day which maybe is related?

I’ve already sent my appeal in (May 3), had it looked at the next day, and received a template response. To my knowledge that means someone has upheld it after re-reviewing the data. I know I’ll have tons of people responding that a ‘real person has looked into it’ and that my ban is likely correct but I’m going to keep trying until they tell me I can’t.

I haven’t done any RMT in my whole career in WoW since Vanilla. Yea big surprise that I’d say that but I’m not sure what else to do at this point. Assuming this is PvP related I don’t see how I’d fall under this as I’ve only played with a handful of people for this whole expansion.

I’m truly lost at this point because I’ve watched all the streamers who were included in this get unbanned in the same night as long as one of my arena partners but mine has stuck. I’m starting to think it was just because I didn’t get a review at the same time as the rest.

There has been no information provided to me on how I engaged in RMT so I just feel powerless and really sad about the whole thing. What reason would they have to hide that considering this isn’t a cheating case? At this point I’m just trying to find a silver lining. I’d like to know the reason that my account is being flagged, ideally to fight it, but at the very least to avoid it in the future. It’s 1 month this time but what if it’s 6 months in the future?

Am I just screwed because I’m just one person with no power?

TLDR: Another ban cry post that you can believe or not

Notes

  • Character is Crudos-Tichondrius if you want to look me up
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Please dont mention streamers most of them are lying.

Keep apealing either the log are wrong or they arent.

I also higly doubt its pvp pure coincedence otherwise it would actioned for cheating hacking or using 3rd party programs.

Rmt usualy results from running a gdkp run alot of the gold is dirty.

Another possibility people have been gerring actioned for is trading gold from retail to classic 9x/10 ots dirty gold as well.

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That is all you can do.

As for Streamers - take everything they say with a grain of salt. They thrive on drama and bending things to suit their narrative for likes.

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We have seen a number come through here who have been popped for receiving illicit gold through unsupported game transactions. They did not buy the gold themselves but received it in various game actions: GDKPs, xserver gold trades, etc…

If you were boosting and it was just for gold, if that gold was tainted, well… I’m not saying this is what happened, but…yeah.

I’d strongly suggest be very very careful with unsupported trades, boosts, etc. How do you know where that gold is coming from? You can’t really.

It just isn’t worth a 20 year old account…and penalties stack, etc.

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The funny thing is I don’t ever do boosts for anything. I also only play retail (except for a few stints leveling to 60 in classic launch, 30ish in hardcore, 25 in SOD). I have never even done a GDKP run. I just don’t prefer to play the game that way.

If anyone else has any ideas I’d love to hear them. I really want to understand what could possibly be going on here.

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To be blunt on the matter: What we say won’t matter as the folks who handle appeals don’t give details on what may or may not triggered it. And trying to spitball ideas on such won’t help as the team don’t take outside info for that.

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Not true they do investigate theres always a chance of a mistake.

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Just for my own clarification - did the email you received explicitly say it was for “Abuse of the economy/RMT”? Or is that what you’re assuming due to what you’re seeing other people claim?

The vast majority of sanctions are 100% legit. It may seem like there are an excess of supposed “false” sanctions because they’re the excessively vocal folks. And then again, the majority of those claiming to be “false”, they turn out to be legit - and people will rarely update their claim of innocence even when they’re faced with the information that seals their fate, as it were. Reading the rules (TOS/EULA/COC) is considered your warning. Any sanction that comes down is deserving of punishment (with the exception of Social sanctions, where there may be a silence or forced name change may be granted).

False ban waves are very, very rare. The last time there was an issue a couple of years ago (or nearly so), there was faulty data that the GMs were given. When it had been discovered, they went back and adjusted folks to either remove the sanction or lessen it for a number of folks. But people like to screech all of the conspiracy theories from the heavens, and most people believe them with little to no evidence. Just because streamers are showing or saying something or it’s some big name player - it still doesn’t make it truth.

Stuff you see posted here? Totally different, because we’re on the most heavily moderated forum there is. The Mods, our SFAs and our fellow players who have been around here for years in most cases - we’re all holding one another accountable to speak truth and provide accurate information. Trolling, spitting out conspiracy theories, hinging entire arguments on something they’ve seen from a streamer - they’re not tolerated on CS.

What happened to player X is not what happened to you. YOUR data pinged something that was breaking the rules. YOUR data is unique to you. THEIR data is unique to them. The only discussion is between YOU and YOUR data and the GM who did the investigation, and then those that are handling your appeals. Nothing else is given any weight.

Now that I’ve been entirely too rambly - I do sincerely wish you luck with your appeals. Please do keep at them until you are warned no more will be accepted.

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The forum rules do not allow several things:

  • Discussion of account actions
  • Call outs of other players

Blizzard does not accept any videos or screenshots from players. Sadly those can be easily faked. They only use their own logs.

False positives DO happen. When they do, they usually unban those folks in a group once they realize what false flag tripped it.

What happens to others is not evidence for YOU though. Your case is yours, and yours alone. If your appeal is in, then that is all you can do. You can appeal until they tell you not to do that anymore on that specific case.

If yours is a false positive, I do hope you get it fixed!

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The exact wording:

Violation: Exploitative Activity: Real Money Transaction

Which is exactly what I saw on streams because they were literally streaming their own emails with the same language.

I don’t disagree with you I believe that they’re rare as well. However, in this case I don’t think I’m just going by someone’s word. It’s funny that what I’m describing is being labeled a conspiracy yet I have the video evidence of people looking at their emails and not being able to login. I linked to stream VODs but that got removed. The AWC discord mentions the ban wave as well and urged competitors to reach out if the ban was done incorrectly.

What’s the bar for calling something what it is? They issued bans that were unwarranted for some portion of people. There are obviously unknowns but what is the bar for calling something a ‘false ban wave’. What evidence would prove to you that it even happened? Would any of it be allowed here?

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Nothing, and No.
No “evidence” is taken from any outside source at all. Posting anything you believe may be evidence is also against the rules, as is this very thread. There is a reason discussions of disciplines is not allowed on the forums, but there does tend to be some leniency granted when trying to help someone understand that thew one thing, the Only thing they can do is appeal through the site (not on the forums)

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They got removed because videos can be edited and shared when you’re aimming at a group. More so when you was talking about someone ticketing about their appeal and within a few minutes being able to play again while at the log-in screen. More then anything, no one is able to know when/if their account action will be removed. So, unless they’re in the office when it happens, being told the minute it does, then it’d come off as stage for folks to buy into.

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False bans happen but the appeal process leaves much to be desired.

Keep appealing, be polite and be patient. It’s a long process

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If here isn’t the place to discuss this, then where would be? Full transparency here, Crudos is my friend and we’ve definitely played together a lot, albeit not last season.

I’m almost positive he has done nothing wrong. Let’s just consider he’s done nothing wrong.

If true, there is system that is unbanning people who are clearly guilty and is keeping bans people who have done nothing wrong (without telling them why or giving any explanation other than a vague false statement with no way to appeal or speak to an actual person).

It’s frustrating for people who genuinely enjoy the game and really takes the fun out of it. The high end PVP community is small enough as it is because Blizzard neglects it and does not listen to its players. Now this?

This is sad to see and I really hope it does not go unaddressed.

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We dont discuss this because in the bigger picture it doesnt matter and coming up with wild speculation on what caused it dors no good. The blues will only talk about language action.

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No where, because talking about it won’t change anything as the appeal team don’t take in outside feed back, such as ‘X got this result because they said A, B C.’ More so because it often turn into a debate of what should or should’ve have been done and start going around in circles.

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You don’t. You have absolutely no part to play in any of this I’m afraid - and I don’t say that to be mean or rude.

Blizzard ONLY deals with the specific player who was sanctioned. They don’t accept reviews and things like vouching for someone’s BFF, family member - none of it. There isn’t any discussion to be had. Technically, this post is in violation of the CoC for the forums, as it is against the rules to create posts to discuss disciplinary actions - but we get a little leeway in the name of education or to assist someone who doesn’t understand the systems to appeal.


Source

This forum isn’t like GD. We don’t assume anyone’s guilt or innocence - it’s not our place to. Folks here post here matter-of-factly most often, because again, the only players in all of this is the OP and Blizzard.

Has absolutely no part in any of this. If you don’t like how PvP is handled (or not handled), you need to direct that ire to the PvP forums. It has no bearing on OP’s appeals.

It’s not. Each time the OP puts in an appeal, a real live person is looking over all the data involved. That real live person will reply with a templated letter either upholding the sanction or overturning it. Just because a form letter goes out does not mean it is AI or automated.

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Blizzard already has the facts. Blizzard has their logs. Speaking with a real person will not change this. The player bringing their “facts” won’t change anything. Blizzard is still going to go by what their logs say.

Form letters doesn’t equal automation. Blizzard has been using form letters for 18 years. It speeds up the handling to tickets, and it facilitates giving players the same information.

There is

To what end? Account action is based on the logs, not what someone says.

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That isn’t how Blizzard operates. The only data they work from is from their behind the screen sources. Nothing else is as inviolate as their data. Videos, screenshots - all of this stuff can be altered. So it is not “concrete” by their metric. That’s not to say you or your friend would submit doctored data, it’s a generalization. Blizzard simply does not work appeals with outside data they cannot prove chain of command like they can their own data.

Blizzard appeals are not for people to plead their case. It’s simply for a new set of eyes to look over all of the data. That’s it. Nothing more or less than that.

A touch ironic, that. Topic A - your friend’s sanction. Topic B - how you believe “high end” PvP isn’t getting enough attention or being catered to by your metrics. Two entirely different and separate things.

I don’t care about PvP. That isn’t why your friend is here. Your friend is here because their account was sanctioned. Neither you nor they have the explicit information as to what triggered Blizzard’s detection system any more than I do. You have nothing but anecdotal meanderings from even more people who also have no idea what they did or how Warden or other detections was triggered.

Not this forum.

Customer Support is not Customer Service. By posting here, you’re not reaching any of Blizzard’s staff beyond our SFAs. Not a single Dev, GM, CM, QA - none of those folks will ever see your posts.

To top it off, this isn’t the forum for opinions. It’s a help desk. We direct folks in submitting tickets when appropriate or help them not need to at all by the many years of accumulated knowledge of Blizzard’s systems and policies.

Opinions are for General Discussion or quite literally every non-support forum on this site.

Here on CS, posts to bump threads, being a “voice” for anything, the “I stand with you!” posts - they’re some of the quickest ways to have a thread 404’d or locked down entirely.

As to the condescending tone of your reply in general? You asked a question. I answered it with the correct information. Had I not, the mods would have removed it or altered it, or the other players who hang out here would have been quick to correct me. You not liking the answers given does not change that fact.

All the best though, to you and your friend, no matter how their appeals turn out.

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Look at the end of the day if u had done nothing wrong you wouldnt have been actioned blizzard found something could they be wrong always a possibility thats why theres apeals keeping this thread upisnt doing your mental health any good. Let the apeal process run its course.

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