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1

Hello all,
I returned to wow earlier this year after some time off. Soon after in March I was permanently banned for “botting/hacking” on my 20 year old account. I appealed the ban for weeks and never got a reason why I was banned. I decided to reformat my computer with a fresh copy of windows and purchased another account. I made a lot of progress on the new characters since then, I’ve been very busy preparing for the new expansion.

Then last Tuesday BOOM… Perma-Banned again for “hacking”
(Just hacking this time no botting)
As a result I had a full blown mental breakdown. I’ve been a player for most of my 37 years being alive. When i think about no longer being able to enjoy one of my only true passions in life anymore because I keep getting unfairly banned, it’s very frustrating and upsetting for me.

After thinking about it nonstop the reason could be one of three things;

  1. I’ve been using the “TRADESKILLMASTER” Add-on. 50 Million downloads on official CurseForge. It’s the only suspicious add-on I started using around the time when all of this started happening. Everyone swears it’s 100% legal, but yet there’s cases of it resulting in false bans that get usually get overturned when appealed. Why did I get banned if everyone has been using this add-on for decades? That’s not fair at all.

  2. I spilled drink on my keyboard in July, it started acting funny for a week before it completely dried up. I don’t have a lot of money right now or I would have just bought another, sorry. It works fine now! I didn’t gain an advantage with it, it was making me lose!

  3. on 8/03/2024 @ 11:37 EST - a few days before the ban I was camping Rohzor Forgesmash for the Plans: Alvin the Anvil with a friend on warmode. There were a few alliance there, and we didn’t want them to tag the rare when he spawned, so I drove them away. Next thing I know I’m getting whispers of threats; “I’m doing computer things, have fun playing while you can lmao” Last time I checked PvP is not against TOS in warmode. When I lose fair and square at PvP I don’t try to get others banned from the game, why ban me?

I’ve been opening tickets appealing this injustice since March. I’ve attached files of images to those tickets proving everything I said above is 100% true. How much longer do I have to wait for a real person who actually cares to sit down and review my case?
I’ve been waiting months, Someone Please Help!

Final thoughts, I hope none of you that are innocent ever have to go through this.
It’s been fun playing with you guys for the last 20 years and best of luck to you all!

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2

You did, as you said below:

You cannot give anything from your end, as Blizzard relies only on their logs. Now you did mention you fresh installed Windows. Did you install any additional software and what kind of hardware do you use? E.g. Razer mouses with macros etc?

Appeals are reviewed by humans. Just like your perma that you appealed for weeks, it must’ve gone over quite a few GM’s that checked over and they thought there was considerable amount of proof to keep you banned.

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They didn’t give any specific reason no. I’m still as clueless as day one. I don’t run any software for my Logitech peripherals while playing wow. I thought of that after the first ban. I did have to install the drivers for my mouse and keyboard to work though. Also I used to play for years with razer synapse running while playing. Zero issues.

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As Forumcat said:

Having read your OP, it feels really like you’re jumping over the place and trying to fluff the post out a bit. No, an add-on doesn’t get folks banned as Blizzard can and will break the add-on if they feel like it’s isn’t working how they feel like it was. Like how there was a raid add-on basically telling them what to do without thinking.

Another idea of the fluff is with your keyboard. Like, it wouldn’t have any effect on your account action, because it won’t magically get new abilties from something spilling onto it.

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The problem with this thinking is that generally, most of the accounts banned in banwaves are hacked accounts. When those accounts get banned, the hackers just grab another hacked account and continue. They do not buy new accounts.

Yes, Blizzard has changed a lot since 2004, as have you. Everyone is different 20 years down the road. However, appealing an account action has not changed much on the user’s end. You open an appeal ticket, and they will look over the data again.

Now, as to your issue above:

No doubt. It’s never a fun situation. However, I would offer this: if you keep getting banned, then there’s SOMETHING you’re doing to get their attention. Myself, and many many others, play the game without any kind of account actions. They are not in the business of just drawing a name and deciding to ban them for some laughs in the breakroom.

It may not be anything you intended, or knew you were doing wrong. But there’s something there. So here are some of the general things that we see in this forum:

  • Using a VPN to connect. It’s allowed, but unsupported. Always use the same port and don’t hop around for some better connection. Doing so can make it look like you access your account from, as an example, New York one second, then Los Angeles the next second.
  • As mentioned, keyboard or mouse macros. Again, allowed, but unsupported. Plus, it’s very easy to cross the line into automation. The in-game macros will not let you do so, but anything outside the game has no restrictions.
  • Multiboxing. The rules have changed, where it’s allowed, but there can be absolutely nothing to make it easier. The main culprit we see is someone having multiple windows open, and they use the mousewheel when hovering over an inactive window. You must click to activate the window, then use your hotkey.
  • Software, both active and inactive, on a player’s computer. Quite a few times, we have seen software like AutoHotKey being used for someone’s job and not the game, but if it’s on your system while playing WoW, it is grounds for a ban. AHK is the one main example I have seen (since it is so easy to cross the automation line with it), but I’m sure there are others. So if you’re using your work setup to play WoW, and there’s software installed, it could potentially be a problem.

What the ban is NOT for:

  • Downloading/using an add-on from Curse. If Blizzard does not like what an add-on does, they will break the functionality in their LUA sandbox. The only exception that I’ve seen is when you add custom notes to an RP addon. The content you add is subject to Blizzard’s rules.
  • What you were doing a few minutes or even days ago. Botting/hacking investigations take time, and even when they are done investigating, it could still take time until the banwave happens.

In the end, Blizzard is never going to give specifics beyond the reason of botting/hacking. This is information that every botter and hacker would love to have, so they know how to avoid detection next time.

The only way to have this looked at is to open an appeal ticket. No help can be given in this forum. There may be a Blue who will take a look and give you advice, but even if they say it would be overturned*, you would still need to have that appeal ticket for it to actually happen. The Blues in here do not change account actions.

(*-They will not give a definitive answer like this. But I have seen many times where they can look and say “Put in another appeal” or “This will not be overturned”.)

Every time you open a ticket, someone new looks over the data. If they reach the same conclusion, then the action will stand. If they reach a different conclusion, then they will reinstate the account. It’s that simple.

It’s not a matter of “not caring”. It simply a matter of what the logs say. I think you can imagine the chaos if they started reinstating because they believed everyone’s excuses, instead of relying on the factual data in their logs.

If it helps set your mind at ease, the number of actually innocent players who have every appeal rejected is essentially nil. Mistakes happen, because the GM staff is comprised of humans (despite whatever dumb rumors you may hear on social media), but that’s why the appeals process is in place.

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The achievement and title of “Good Samaritan” goes out to you good sir.
Thank you for the advice, truly.

And thank you for taking the time out of your day to enlighten me.
You saved me from the negative angle I started to view this situation from.

As for determinating the cause;
Maybe before I reformatted, before the first ban, I had software that might have
conflicted. Not Sure, and I’ll never know (Still never cheated EVER in WoW btw) but I’m 100% positive that after I reformatted, nothing that you just mentioned is installed on my computer. That’s why this feels so undeserving. Not only was I not cheating, but I know I only have this computer set up for World of Warcraft. There’s literally nothing else I can do to make this work. I can’t handle another ban honestly, it hurts too much.

Thank you, again. :slight_smile:

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You realy need to stop with your false information not only is it not helpfilul but totaly inaccurate.

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The forums isn’t for tinfoil hat ideas. All you’ve said can’t be proven unless you’re one of the folks running bots. Even then, what you’ve said is whole unrealized that it borderlines made up.

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Please guys. I’m trying to get support for my 20 yearold account.

I’m sympathetic to both sides of this coin, and I see where both of you are coming from.
I still really love blizzard, yet I’ve been really upset with my situation lately.
But this isn’t the time or place.

This is the last small chance I have for getting help for my warrior. The last thing I want is for them to come and take my post down because we can’t get along :frowning:

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Just to be clear, there are no GMs here in the forums. Your only chance is via the ticket system. Posting here does not change the outcome of your appeal.

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There is really no support here. The only way is through an appeal ticket.

Understandable, but I think the thread will simply be purged of the wild conspiracies. Your issue is still the main point of this thread.

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Okay, thank you for the information.
I did say it was small.
At least I know I tried to seek and ask for help, before walking away

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No worries. It’s understandable to want to seek support when something like this happens and you’re trying to figure out why.

At the end of the day, only Blizz has the answers to that and they will not be able to share them as it, unfortunately, allows people with malicious intent to try and work around how they were detected. Not accusing you here, just explaining why they won’t give details.

Lastly, I’m confident that the thread will be cleaned up. Sorry that someone felt the need to come in with their soapbox and try to derail it :frowning:

Best of luck with your appeals.

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Again, thank you all for your help. I know some of you aren’t official blizzard employees but you’re still doing a lot of good for the community by helping out in the CS fora.
I hope blizzard rewards you all one day :slightly_smiling_face:

Thank you Perl for keeping me up to date on policy. You’re well informed. I myself have been researching this topic for 134 days now. I’m well aware why blues aren’t permitted to discuss evidence and details for specifically hacking and botting cases.

I’m also very thankful you aren’t accusing me of being a threat to Blizzards flagship hack detection software. As much as it pleases me to hear that you believe I wasn’t cheating, It’s perfectly okay if you didn’t.

I’ve been through the “KPI trenches” on this one. After my Reddit post in March and then again earlier last week, I’ve grown a thick skin to what the general public has to say on the topic of my innocence and the innocence of others in this situation.

But I must say this attempt at seeking help felt like a much different experience. Felt like I was talking to people who came to help me, not just stopping by to pour salt in my wounds. Looking back I should have skipped the two Reddit posts and came here first.

Aside from the topic being derailed, at least my last interaction trying to get this resolved wasn’t negative. Brings me joy to see the helpful people in this community once more. And it’s been a pleasure playing this great game with you for the past two decades!

Again, thank you all and best of luck!

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