Repeated (overturned) bans for botting

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
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Blizzard has permabanned my account for the third time for ‘hacks’ or ‘botting’.

We all hate botting - but their system definitely has false positives (notice that in order to ban me a third time, the first two bans were reversed - I’m sure they’ll reverse this too, but it takes 10-14 days each time). In effect, my account is repeatedly being suspended for something I didn’t do. Blizz has apologized for banning me on BOTH of the prior two occasions - but now they’ve done it a third time.

I think my main suggestions/requests for this post are:

  1. Is there anything that I/we/Blizz can do about reviewing these bans faster (or before they are applied - Blizz claims to review evidence before banning but my experience contradicts that claim)

  2. If this is a result of mass reporting (could explain overturning the bans) - does there need to be a different system for mass reports?

I remember reporting flyhacking in EPL and feeling like it had no effect - if reporting is both ineffective and bans actual players… What is the alternative? (I know other folks who have had brief suspensions reversed - after they expired of course - and we guess that the suspensions started from mass reports)

  1. I’m sure Blizz will offer ‘10 days of free gametime’ or something similar… Since we play the game with other people… That just isn’t a reasonable remedy. I don’t know what to hope for on this point, but I’d like to hear suggestions.

I had to call out of a raid with 24 hours of notice Tuesday… That isn’t fair to the 39 players I play with. (Since it is midsummer festival, that run was also hoping to set a new all time speed record… I wasn’t going to make or break the run - but this ban-turned-incorrect-suspension might affect their record time and definitely means that I don’t get to be in the - good luck tonight! - record setting run)

Some mail will expire, I’ll miss the EOM drop from this two week period… that takes 8 weeks to come around again? I can’t imagine a remedy for this.

  1. Each time this has happened, I have asked for information about how to avoid it in the future (I understand Blizzard’s refusal - because they don’t want to make it easier for actual bots to evade detection) - I welcome any suggestions from the community. I suggested that they flag my account so they can review any future bans before they are applied, but they must not have liked that suggestion.

Thanks for reading this far. Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

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Are you using some third party software that might throw some red flags?

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Nope! And ever since the first ban about a year ago - I only run WOW on a machine that doesn’t have much else installed. It’s usually open with Discord, occaisionally Firefox/wowhead and nothing else. I use the common addons - questie, NWB…

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Here are some tips to avoid getting a ban from the automated report system.

  1. Don’t piss off any big guilds on your cluster

  2. Don’t farm in a weird looking way on a hunter or mage

  3. Take care in naming your characters, never name your warlock, hunter or mage alts with random stuff because bots do this

  4. Don’t joke around and have chinese characters on your pets

  5. Don’t undercut in a toxic manner on your cluster

It takes up to 15 reports for cheating/botting to have automated action taken on the account and yes takes up to 2 weeks for review and reversal.

I remember streams from launch in 2019 where guilds in ungoro would go in and report as many people in competition for devilsaur leather that it would be all out chaos. This was on the PVE realms so that was the only way to combat competition was to report them in hopes they get banned for 2 weeks. On PvP realms it was just that, horde/ally coming in and camping corpses.

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You can be banned for use of the following in ways not recommended. I will not detail how to break the rules, but if you’re getting creative with the following you’re treading thin ice.

  1. Certain macro (even tho the game makes these creative macro possible)
  2. Creative use of Weak Auras
  3. Any kind of player automation scripts that can in any way shape or form partly automate any process you would otherwise push buttons to do.
  4. Use of AHK (Auto hot keys / Razar Synapse)

Not fully related but If you’re hiding in caves farming in AV you’re likely to get banned for AFK botting.

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Thanks! It is shocking that 15 reports can trigger a ban… I actually get along with most everyone so… I’m sure I upset someone occasionally, but I’m pretty sure the last time I was banned it was because I was reporting the flyhackers in EPL and they mass reported me. That was infuriating.

I appreciate the info about macros, WAs, etc. But like I said, they’ve overturned this and they will again. I’m really not doing anything weird in game (all my WAs are used by lots of my guildies - they aren’t that weird. I’m not good enough to write a macro that complex… etc.).

I’m sure they’ll overturn it again - because I’m following TOS - but this is the third time… Would be nice to know what I need to do in addition to the TOS to avoid these suspensions…

Thanks for the tips so far.

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Best to report that stuff via a stealth class like a druid or rogue so you go undetected. Also wise never to speak to the bots in whisper or even mention them in chat if you’re going after them like that.

Target if target is likely to be something that can be scanned by botters, stealth breaks this for reporting use.

Happy hunting

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If you’re playing SoD I just advise staying out of local/world chats as well… If someone doesnt like you bad enough they will mass report you.

Or if you wipe a raid etc etc.