Seeking help from a false ban

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1

Hello, I am desperately seeking help for a ban that happaned to me a week ago.

I was at work (I own a retail business) and I sometimes have some time to do some mild questing when the season gets slow. I am afk a lot, and the connection at my work is extremely slow and unstable. I remember sitting in tanaris on my monk (sushirollz-zuluhed) at the 21st anniversary event, and I had gone afk to do some work things and I came back to see I had dc’d. I tried logging back in but nothing worked. I saw all my friends were online so something was wrong. Then I noticed my account was banned.

I started this account in 2007, during Burning Crusade. I have spent countless hours in this game, I made friends, fell in love, and was soothed by this game when things in real life were tough.

Part of the original letter I got:

***NOTICE OF ACCOUNT CLOSURE*** Greetings, We have closed this game account due to exploitative activity involving unauthorized cheat programs (commonly known as hacks). - Game Account Name: MIMIOSUSUME - Account Action: Account Closure - Offense: Exploitative Activity: Unauthorized Cheat Programs (Hacks) The use of unauthorized cheat programs undermines the integrity of the World of Warcraft game environment by granting unfair advantages that are not attainable through normal gameplay.

I have never attepted to use any sort of cheat or hack in the game, I have never been suspended or banned before, I don’t have any sort of suspicious activity if there are logs of my gameplay, you can see that I’m just a casual wow player, I die in dungeons and I lose in arenas.

I tried to appeal my ban twice, and now there is no option to appeal again, here is part of the letter I recieved:

Dear Whitney, Issue ID: #106931249 A Game Master resolved your ticket, and left the following response: Hi Whitney, I am Game Master Kiwoawiu and I will be handling your support request today. I understand you wish to get the action on your account overturned. However, note that this has already been investigated and reviewed. Per our terms of service, this account was penalized due to the use of unauthorized third-party software. For security reasons, we cannot disclose further information. We always strive to maintain a healthy and fair ecosystem for all our players, and this heavily detracts from their overall experience. These kinds of decisions are not taken lightly, so this is why it is final. Thank you for contacting Blizzard support and farewell.

I understand you can’t tell me more details to ensure the hackers get better, but at least give me a chance to send in any sort of details that may have triggered it??

I did have an issue with my bluetooth reciever for my mouse that I stepped on and broke, and I attempted to fix it with a generic dongle I found on amazon, that required me to download and install it’s software, which all failed, and I have also started using a new mouse from the company red dragon, which required me to bind my keys to it with its own software which also might look suspicious.

I just want a real person to help me, I’m a kind person in this game, I buff everyone I see on my mop character, I actually used to mc alli lowbies on my priest just so I could buff them. I’m generally quite nice to everyone in game and in dungeons, even if they are new and not good at the game I try to give advice. I feel like I’m a pretty positive person in this community.

2

Appealing is all you can do

8 Likes
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How will that help? It’s after the fact.

Warden has detected something on your computer that can be used for automation, streamlining, or modifying game files.

It doesn’t need to be used for WoW to be detected, or your account actioned.

EVERY appeal response is a real person.

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If they said it’s final, then that’s the end of it. The appeals team don’t take what someone said as what may triggered something: they go by their own logs and internal systems on what they found. What you brought off Amazon, or what other program said to do isn’t going to be a factor. If they reviewed it more then eanough times to get to the final stands part, then they see something more then likely an issue.

Anod for the sake of being clear: You’ve never been able to talk to the appeals team. THey’re not going to debate on what may or may not be a trigger, they’re not going to list systems/apps they have on the side that have triggered their system, etc.

9 Likes
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You do have an appeal open, Chopstickz.

This wasn’t for what you were doing at the time, but something found a week or so previously.

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Just binding mouse buttons to keys should usually be fine* - as long as it is one keypress, one action. If you bound a mouse button to do multiple actions that you can’t do in a single keypress with the built in macros or other settings, that would count as automation.

Also be aware that if you have work software that automates things, even if you don’t use it in WoW, that can be detected. Be sure anything like that is turned off while playing.

If any of that happened, it’s in the past, and all you can do for now is wait on the appeal; but consider it to avoid trouble in future.

*although there is never a guarantee; the mouse software could be doing something strange.

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We can’t say what triggered the action, we’re all just guessing and Blizzard won’t say because cheat software makers would LOVE to know how they’re getting detected, but another common one is make sure you aren’t sending commands to an inactive game window with mouse scrolling or hovering, even though Windows has accessibility options that can be turned on to allow that.

One keypress/click/input = one action in the active game window only, that needs to be activated by clicking or tabbing to it.

1 Like
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It says that my appeal is now closed, I have only opened another ticket and submitted screenshots of the bluetooth dongle I bought as well as the mouse software for red dragon. I don’t understand how wow detects hacking activity.

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Most people don’t, and that’s intentional, I’m afraid. It’s to prevent cheaters from knowing exactly what to bypass.

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Based on the Red Dragon website, the software allows for the creation of macros and the FAQ on macros on that same website says this:

2. Are macros legal in gaming?

Macros are generally allowed in single-player and cooperative games but may be restricted or considered cheating in competitive multiplayer games. Always check the rules of the game and gaming platform.

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There is no point, they don’t accept that as any kind of evidence.

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I understand now that they cannot say what it was, but I guess if a GM would ask me for some sort of evidence related to it without telling me. I also do use GSE addon and becauses I have a finger injury from climbing a lot time ago, so I look like I am button spamming. I have been using gse for years though and I have never had a problelm.

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GSE is an addon that interacts with WoW via the in-game API. Addons utilising that are restricted on what they can and cannot do. If Blizzard doesn’t like what an addon is doing, they will simply disable it or the functions the addon uses.

When it comes to macros and other things created outside of the game, that could be something that’s not allowed. Setting up an out of game macro that repeats keystrokes from just holding a key is not allowed. Adding pauses or sequences and executing that from holding a button down is another thing that’s not allowed.

If something cannot be done in-game, it should not be done with an external tool. That bridges on automation and is specifically prohibited.

6 Likes
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They won’t. They only go by their logs.

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Now I’m wondering if I will be banned yet again because of my mouse and the fact that it only allows me to bind macros to it and not an actual keybind. What should I do in this case? Should I stop using the mouse?

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You can bind to most of your mouse buttons just fine in the in-game Keybinds normally. You can also bind individual keys to your mouse with its own software, you would just need to learn how.

Do NOT use any external macros with WoW. Just because your mouse can do something does not mean you SHOULD do that thing.

6 Likes
17

Did anyone suggest a foot pedal yet? Those are allowed :eyes: as long as it’s one clic -, er, one push = one action.

1 Like
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Anything that runs entirely in the blizzard defined addon sandbox is allowed from an anti-cheat perspective (can still run you into social/spam penalties depending on how you set it up).

If they don’t like something that an addon is doing in their sandbox, they change the sandbox to break that addon (just like what’s happening in Midnight)

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I’ve been using a red dragon mouse and their program for 3 years, and never had an issue.

1 Like
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You should only keybind keys using functionality provided by WOW, using any other application such as macro software for a keyboard/mouse even if your jus hitting a single key puts you at risk for being actioned for automation.