My apologies, I didn’t have a chance to really explain why for that first moment I thought the account was compromised. I’ll explain now.
During Vanilla, I farmed my tier 0, and did my 0.5 quest chain, and obtained my 8/8 Feralheart. A beautiful set indeed which is what I use now for my transmog. Now, I worked hard obtaining this set which required a lot of gold, and time. It required a bunch of tasks within the game. A lot of dungeon runs, and world quests such as a 45 min strat run.
A week or two before BC hit, I logged on to find my Tauren naked. I logged in to see all my gear, and gold gone. I believe I had just a little under 800g which in Vanilla was a lot, and this was after buying epic ground, and spending all that gold doing the 0.5 quest chain which was very gold demanding but most importantly my Tier 0.5 was GONE! I don’t think the authenticator was out yet or it could have just been released or about to be released. I’ve always been on top of my computer maintenance but I wasn’t as anal about it as I am now but I still had protection, and did scans. I’m still not sure exactly how or when I was infected but it was very surprising to me, and kind of ironic because my friend wanted to order something online, and I told him to come use my computer because it would be safer, and then a week later that happened, and he busted my chops about it.
I submitted a GM ticket, and after about a week or so I received a response saying the restoration I requested could not be verified. The response also stated my character has been equipped with powerful replacement items to get me back into the swing of things. So, I log on to find my Druid equipped with the most basic green gear, and I was LIVID. How can my restoration not be verified? How can the GM not see I completed the quests? How can he not see in my inventory I had quest items specific to the ending of the quest line. I just couldn’t understand. I was also extremely upset because I put so much time into it, and the GM should have known this was not your average restoration. It was something very special, and a little more effort should have went into it.
Now, back then there was also a direct email for the GMs which Blizzard did provide on the website I think or could be found from a Google search so I immediately took the time to email them, and this email was a very long DETALED email which again explained my situation but in more detail as well as the response from the GM. I explained again how I had certain quest items which I still have in my bank today. The main quest item was the Brazier of Invocation. The final quest is to use this item inside UBRS. After killing the beast, you used the brazer inside the same room to summon Lord Vathalak which was an awesome fight. After killing him, his spirit appears and you speak with it to trade in the Tier 0 chest and helm for the 0.5 chest and helm. Anyway, I then said something like if anyone has a heart, and could please take the time to really look into the matter you will see the quests have been completed. My email was heavily detailed. I wasn’t rude, I wasn’t mean I was just very firm. This was very emotional, and my emotions leaked as I was typing. I remember receiving an email back which said something about the email I used wasn’t the correct department. I ended up sending a reply just kindly asking them to please forward my email to the correct department which they did.
Now, during the time frame of the email being sent, and the reply coming in asking to forward BC launched. I had absolutely no desire to play my Druid, and I doubt anyone would want to either after what just happened. I mean in all honesty if I myself was a low person and was in the business of compromising accounts to steal gold which I guess were to stock those gold buying websites, and I logged into an account where the the player was wearing Tier 0.5, I wouldn’t vendor the gear. If I had to take the gold that’s one thing but I wouldn’t vendor the gear. Fortunately, Mom raised me right, and I would never be a part of such a business.
So, I ended up rolling a BE Rogue, and the Rogue became my new main for most of BC. My rogue dinged 70, and I started raiding, and playing him. Now, during this time my email was forwarded / escalated to where ever it had to go. One evening I was logged on my Druid, and I was in Hellfire. I was at the Dark Portal, and I receive a in-game whisper by a Senior GM. I didn’t even know a Senior GM existed but that’s what it said a Senior GM. He asked if I had a moment to talk, and I said absolutely, and I immediately started whispering him about how I’m still extremely upset over this whole thing, how I just don’t understand how none of this can be verified, and before I really could send him too much more I was hit with a quick loading screen. The GM teleported me. I was still in Hellfire near the Dark Portal but I was at the top of one of those tall mountains that had a very small flattish top to stand on. The Senior GM appeared before me, and waved at me.
A few moments later my screen was hit with
You receive loot: Feralheart Cowl
You receive loot: Feralheart Belt
You receive loot: Feralheart Vest
All 8/8 rightfully returned to me.
My a little less than 800g however was not returned. I asked the Senior GM about it and as always when it comes to gold, it’s always an issue where currency can’t be verified. I let it go as I was very happy I had my Feralheart back. I still continued to play the rogue and eventually decided to start leveling my Druid. I put my Feralheart in the bank. Transmog wasn’t a thing then nor did anyone know it was coming. Although the gear was useless stat wise going forward it was just the principle that I had it, I worked hard on it, and it was stolen from me, and I wanted it back. Now, in BC is when the game started raining gold, and that’s the term I always use because that’s the way it felt coming from Vanilla. Between gold from quests, and gold from giving all the useless stuff to the vendor, it just felt like it was raining gold. I made a lot of gold compared to that 800 or so gold but then the fact that I didn’t get my gold back started to bother me so I emailed again explaining how I had this gold the hour before my account was compromised, and if someone kindly took the time to check the logs they would see it there, and a week or two later I received an email stating that the gold was returned to me and awaited me in my in-game mailbox. I logged in and collected my gold that was also stolen from me.
I purchased an authenticator as soon as I was able to. I don’t remember if they were out yet or not but I bought one, and have had one ever since. Also, ever since that day I’ve taken computer security a lot more serious. Now, again I was always on top if it as much as I could be because computer repair and maintenance was something I was always into, and I eventually made it my work. I SWEAR BY applications such as Malwarebytes as it’s just fantastic. I have premium because one black friday I purchased a lifetime license for $10. Something that is no longer available. Now MWB does yearly licenses and I believe multiple year licenses but I’m grandfathered in. For AV I’ve tried a few different ones. Way back in the day I used Norton but stopped when Norton became very resource heavy. I’ve used the free verison of AVG but like Norton AVG became very resource hungry. I landed on AVAST quite a few years ago which was light but now like the others have become very resource heavy. I now use ESET NOD32 which is probably the BEST AV I’ve ever used. It’s extremely light which they strive to do, and protects well. For the past few Black Fridays over on Slickdeals which is a forum where people post deals of all sorts I would always find a 3pc ESET license for $15 or so but always only ever had one system so people on the forum would split it so someone else would purchase a 3pc license, and I would PayPal him $5 for one of the 3. This past black friday I missed because I didn’t have my computer hoked up for a little over a year as my living arrangements didn’t allow me to do so. I came back around Christmas, and didn’t want to buy it directly with ESET or on Amazon because a 1PC 1 yr license was $40. However, found a seller on ebay that had them for $9.99 with good feedback so I bought one, and had no issues renewing my ESET subscription. Other than that I have an adware scanner, I use Spybot Search & Destroy but I use version 1.6.2 as I feel it’s better than the latest, and is still able to download all the latest definitions.
Here I am now. That’s the story. That is why my first thought was someone somehow gained access which again boggled my mind because you wouldn’t be able to get past the authenticator code to get into account management but I was just wasn’t thinking 100% clear as I was just totally concerned, and concentrating on changing my PW, and getting back in. That’s when I saw the authenticator was removed, and SMS protect was off so that is why I posted on the forums. The GM did not tell me he was doing that which again I feel should have been told before hand. Tell me to further investigate the stuck unread ticket notification you need to login and this requires a total reset. Then, ask me if I would like to proceed. This way I know it’s going to happen and I would know why but it’s no big deal anymore. I ended up canceling the ticket, and did not proceed. I rather deal with the stuck notification.
To the other players, and to everyone in general. Computer maintenance is very important. Make sure you have all microsoft updates downloaded, and installed. Make sure you’re regularly scanning your computer for infections. This is running a AV scanner, and a Malware scanner. I then recommend going the extra mile, and running an Adware scanner which MWB also has, and then a Spyware scanner. I run these on a weekly basis. I then defrag my two HDDs every few months. I have an SSD too which my OS is on but of course you don’t defrag an SSD. I recommend Defraggler for this task, and booting into safe mode to perform the defrag as it will do a better job. If you don’t have an authenticator I highly recommend getting one whether it be a physical one or the mobile one. I personally prefer a physical one.
Have a great evening