They are absolutely wrong. The appeals path is the only one open to you. Live Chat and even when the phone number was available - these were never methods you could use for appeals. The fact that so many people were misusing the phone services played a huge part in why it no longer exists.
Your very first line - you are very likely to be correct. We have seen a record number of folks being hit by bans and suspensions of late due to receiving tainted gold from GDKP runs. It’s why they harp so much on knowing who you’re running with and being able to trust those people. You don’t have to directly buy illegal gold to feel the sting of sanctions if you’re on the receiving end of any of it.
Please do make use of the appeals service. We have seen a lot of these cases get their sanctions lessened, some folks had theirs dropped altogether. Even if your suspension is over while working through the appeals process, it’s good to let it run it’s course in case you can get that black mark removed from your history. This isn’t a guarantee of how your case will turn out, but I can speak honestly and say that we have seen these things play out here on this forum.
Now, if the information you’re gathering is from Reddit or other posting places? The information being posted there should be taken with a very, very large grain of salt. What gets posted here is at least backed by the truth of what we see validated by players and our SFAs. Anywhere else - oh the yarns they can spin.
Again, please do follow through and appeal your sanction through the proper ticket channels. Ticket times are elevated right now, but push it through until the time comes where you are warned that no more appeals will be heard. For all of the many folks who come here, very rarely is there a case when someone regrets trying to appeal their sanction. But we do see more where folks regret doing nothing at all.
Just stick with the apeals ticket anything else is just a waste you dont get to plead ur case and hope for a sympthetic person thats not how the system works blizzard goes by logs and what they can verify .
Live Chat is not for appeals, and never has been. The ONLY means to appeal is via ticket. Anyone telling you differently is misinformed. Further, it does not take weeks to get an answer. Again, misinformation. What you will get is a template from a GM who looks at it. Either they overturn it or uphold it. You can appeal until they tell you it may risk your account for harassing the GMs.
If you feel a mistake was made in your case, open your appeal ticket and wait on the queue. Times are up right now so it may be a few days.
People trying to misuse the chat pathways to get to Live Chat for things they don’t handle, is one of the reasons it gets removed, and why call in no longer exists. You don’t get to plead your case to a GM. They go only on the game data logs, not whatever narrative someone gives.
First off - a bit of clarification. Appeals are not a place for you to explain or plead your case. It is a fresh set of eyes to look over the data used to do the investigation and merit the sanction. That’s it. Blizzard uses the data created behind the scenes and nothing else.
And you may have lucked out before their processes changed, depending on when your last run in was. I won’t argue facts, I’m sorry. Instead I will leave you with proof that the appeals process works. Sometimes it does take a lot of back and forth, and often times longer than anyone would really like - but it does work.
Collecting gold like that for a guild boost event is not against the rules. The problem is if they are giving you gold that came from a gold seller. IE stolen gold is what could get you in a lot of trouble, Even if you had no clue about how they got the gold.
Like if you buy stolen property, you can still be arrested for having it!
Afraid not, Live chat would not accept any information about a appeal to an account action. Only thing that can change this is when they review the logs they find some sort of mistake.
Placed an appeal… so i guess we will see where that goes.
The problem is if they are giving you gold that came from a gold seller. IE stolen gold is what could get you in a lot of trouble, Even if you had no clue about how they got the gold.
Doesn’t that seem crazy to you though? In that case, basically anyone with a vendetta could go scam some gold, use it to pay for a raid carry and ban any of the majority guilds that partake. World first guilds, Mike Ybarra’s own guild… i don’t get how the player is liable, if its clearly a legitimate trade. Traded at the entrance of the raid, immediately clearing the raid.
This is what it is coming down to with the fight on gold sellers. At one point they did not do this but now going after those not directly involved makes sense.
I doubt anyone would do this just to try to get a top guild. Plus all they would get is the accounts that accepted the gold. Sure the people who paid you just wanted what they had been paying for.
If on live not sure why they would not just buy tokens to get gold.
But again, a ruleset that allows someone to target like this… with such ease, i don’t grasp how that can be validated. As given as example… Mike Ybarra’s own guild boost, the guild leader collects, so if someone goes and buys bad gold or scams and uses that to pay, his guild leader should be banned without appeal?
Essentially the only way to stay safe is trust nobody, trade with nobody. Defeats the ‘massive multiplayer’ element.
This is what the war on gold sellers has come down too! Anytime someone is banned they do get to appeal! In fact they get several appeals, but you do not get to present anything it is just to review the logs and information to look for mistakes.
Not really safe to take large amounts of gold when you have no idea where it came from.
Lots of players exchange gold in small and large quantities with other players every day - bans are relatively rare. It isn’t straightforward to say why you got flagged, but if you’re doing legitimate things in game I wouldn’t overly fixate on it just yet. Just appeal using the appropriate method and it will get looked into.
Problem is the type of thing he is accepting gold for. There is a high chance that someone gave him gold that came from a gold seller, In other words was from someones stolen account. That gold got traced to him taking the gold for their guild event.
We have seen a few coming here who has been suspended and the one thing they had in common was GDKP runs. So someone selling boosts for high amounts would also attract this dirty stolen gold and if your on the receiving end, well this could happen to you.
Personally i find the most frustrating thing (and maybe this has changed since all those years ago i had this experience similarly)… they don’t just say ‘This is the problematic trade’ so you can easily provide all the information you have about it. This did eventually happen on my callback resolving everything.
This whole concept of ‘not to give away banning secrets’ i think is just nonsense, as someone who does alot of boosting on the legitimate side, we cross paths with the illegitimates regularly… and Blizzard is not their concern, blimey… we’ve even reported a RMT group in the past with clear cut evidence and they are still there on the same characters.
The problem is, Callbacks were NEVER, EVER, for ANY kind of appeal, did some customers abuse the Callback/ Bliz rep on the phone? Yes, did some Bliz reps actually answer questions? Yes, apparently. And as you can see that sets a bad precedent, because it will not happen again for you. Have a suggestion, then best place is general, complaining that you abused the callback number in the past and cannot do it again will not garner sympathy.
Thing is they do not accept things for appeal with the call back feature! This is why they got rid of the number you could call it. Why it would get slammed with people trying to call in for things they could not help with like appeals.
Maybe you do not think that more and more people will get suspended and banned for receiving stolen gold but it is happening. Thing is you have no idea if they have legit gold or not.
The other group you said was doing RMT boosts, Problem is unless blizard can find out in game that they are taking RMT for boosts it can be hard to prove. Also it is possible that they replaced all the toons and the guild after they got banned and used very similar names.
Maybe you do not think that more and more people will get suspended and banned for receiving stolen gold but it is happening. Thing is you have no idea if they have legit gold or not.
Problem is unless blizard can find out in game that they are taking RMT for boosts it can be hard to prove
So we’ve reached a point where the rulebreakers, are at less risk then those following the TOS. That in my opinion, is the problem and what makes it so much more frustrating.
Also it is possible that they replaced all the toons and the guild after they got banned and used very similar names.
Not the case sadly. Multiple groups we’ve tried to highlight in the past, nothing ever happens.
Historically Blizzard follows the gold trail. If they can detect that a player Z has received questionably sourced gold from another player X, they will follow the gold trail back as far as they can go to disrupt gold seller supply chains.