At some time during your journeys through Azeroth, you may find yourself in need of a little assistance from one of our Game Masters. We understand; that’s why we are here!
Although we try to help whenever we can, there are some limits on what areas and issues our staff can help with. With that in mind, we wanted to give everyone an idea of the kind of assistance that our support staff may be able to provide.
First, let’s cover some things that a Game Master is generally not able to do.
- Game Masters are unable to provide Game Hints.
- Game Hints consist primarily of providing information on the functionality of the game, drop rates and locations, encounter mechanics, etc…
- Game Masters are not Developers. They cannot change game design or otherwise circumvent intended design, nor go beyond the policies that are in place to ensure everyone has a fair playing experience.
- Game Masters are not able to resolve potential bugs in-game, though they are sometimes able to help with issues caused by a bug.
- Game Masters cannot provide Beta access, they don’t have keys to hand out. Nor do they have release dates for patches or other events. If it is not listed on our website, a Game Master won’t be able to tell you.
What can a Game Master do?
In a nutshell, our Support staff is here to help enforce policy and help assist players with game play issues. Those situations vary but they are primarily those in which you cannot assist yourself.
For example, if your character is stuck (unable to move or be logged into), if you’ve encountered someone violating our in-game policies, if your account was compromised and you are missing items, or experiencing a mechanical issue with the game, etc…
Our support staff is available 24/7 to answer your petitions and inquiries. For most contacts it is not necessary to speak to a representative directly for assistance. As long as the petition remains open from your side of the screen, it will be answered. Please don’t close your petition unless your issue has resolved itself!
We have policies in place to help make the time spent in Azeroth enjoyable, fair and engaging for all our players. It is worth reading our Support Article on the Code of Conduct to give an insight into what type of behavior should be reported.
Please note: Policies around Classic World of Warcraft support will differ slightly. Details can be found in the post: WoW Classic Customer Support and You
You have an issue that a Game Master may be able to help with. Now what?
You can open a ticket in-game by opening the Main Menu (that is the ESC key by default or clicking on the red question mark bottom toolbar in-game). Select: Support (which will open the in-game browser) then click: > Contact Support at the top of that page.
Alternately, there is a drop down menu at the top of most of our webpages that will allow you to access our Support Site to submit a ticket. The in-game petition system uses the same interface as our website.
Contacting Support
If you feel that you need to submit a request for assistance please be sure to use our Support Site to search for your issue. There may be a Support Article or other advice available.
If you have an issue that a Game Master can assist with, it is important to give them all the information that they need so that they can look into your request. The Support Site helps guide you through most requests and will prompt you for relevant information, but it is important to know what we’re looking for when you are contacting us.
The most important questions you can ask when you are submitting a ticket are - Who, What, Where, When, and How.
Who
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If your issue is about another player or a specific one of your characters, it’s very helpful to have both their name and realm! Yes, we do get reports about other players and their name isn’t included!
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Many of the more common reasons for reporting another player now have a one-click submissions solution, so no petition may be necessary at all!
Inappropriate language, Bad Names and Cheating can be reported by right-clicking a player portrait.
Spam, Inappropriate Language, Bad Name, and Cheating can also be reported by right-clicking a player’s name in chat communications.
What
- If your issue is about an item - again, specific item names are very helpful.
- Have you misplaced an item? Telling us it was the Splendorous Staff of Smiting is much more helpful than "I lost my staff".
For most item restoration requests you can use the self-help option on the Support Site - Item Restoration - Which is also available through the in-game browser by clicking on the Item Restoration icon.
Where
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Need to report an issue with a location? Where is very valuable, and please be as descriptive as possible. Telling us something is amiss in Terrokar Forrest is good, in Shattrath is better, in the center of Shattrath right in front of a specific NPC is best.
Also, our systems do note your location when you submit a petition in game. If it’s a location based issue, placing your ticket while you are on the spot is INCREDIBLY useful.
When
- While most players submit a help request relatively soon as the need arises, this isn’t always the case. Telling us when an incident occurred, especially if it was a few minutes, hours, even days ago, is very valuable to help us, help you. The sooner you put in the ticket after you determine that one is needed, the better. Much of what can be done is time sensitive.
How
- In many cases, the ‘how’ isn’t nearly as important as some may think. When reporting a scam the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘when’ of the agreement is extremely important, and the core of the issue. The ‘how’ it might have happened doesn’t really come into play and those details can end up causing confusion.
The next important aspect of a petition is length. Too short OR too long isn’t in your best interests.
“HELP!” Is far too short. Help with what? We’d love to, but we do need to know what the issue is! There are many times we have to ask for additional information because the petition is simply not specific enough for a resolution or answer and we aren’t always able to contact you directly to ask for more information.
Too much information, or including multiple issues in a ticket can complicate matters. If you cover Who, What, When and sometimes Where, as outlined above, you are more likely communicating your needs clearly and important points are far less likely to get lost. Anymore than that may be fascinating, but not necessarily relevant to your issue at hand.
What kind of response are you likely to receive?
- Once upon a time, we tried to talk to every player we could. Sadly, that’s just not always feasible - and in most cases, simply not needed. That doesn’t mean that your ticket wasn’t read, it generally means you did a good job with the details and we didn’t need to contact you for any further information to investigate!
Text only responses
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Many of our responses will be done through text responses in email, in-game mail and now through our support site. We often rely on pre-formatted templates. Again, that doesn’t mean your issue wasn’t researched, it just means we have looked into things and happen to have a template that we believe covers your concerns.
Remember, we cannot tell a player the outcome of a report regarding another player’s account, as that’s a privacy issue. If you report another player and get a ‘thank you for your report,’ please don’t presume that it wasn’t investigated. We simply can’t tell you what happened.
In-game chat
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There may be times when a Game Master needs a bit more clarification and they will contact you in-game, if possible. Please be mindful when you receive chat from someone claiming to be a Game Master, they will have the Blue Blizz Tag
next to their name and their chat will initiate a new special chat window.There are many scammers that send messages from stolen accounts in-game claiming to be a Game Master to try to trick you into giving out your account information. More details on that kind of scam can be found here.
- Game Masters will NEVER send you to a non-blizzard site through an unsolicited tell.
- Game Masters will NEVER ask for your password.
- Game Masters will ALWAYS have a blue Blizzard logo next to their name.
- Game Masters chat will pop up in its own chat box.
- Game Master characters can’t be put on /ignore.
If anyone claims to be a Game Master and is trying to send you to a dodgy website or ask for your information, please report them immediately by right clicking on their name in the chat window and selecting Report Player: Spam.
Feedback
You may wish to comment on an interaction you’ve had with a Blizzard employee. Nearly every ticket should now result in a feedback survey once it’s finalized. Community Manager feedback can be sent to wowcmfeedback@blizzard.com and to contest a forum ban or suspension you submit an appeal through the Support Site
Other resources
A ticket is only one of many resources available to our players with questions. Our Support site is chock full of information our players may find valuable and we have an extensive set of forums covering almost any aspect of the game where players can ask their fellow players questions.
Outside resources can also be very valuable and there are many fan sites dedicated to pretty much everything regarding Azeroth and beyond. Remember, while our Game Masters are constrained from giving game hints, your fellow players are not!
We have a dedicated and passionate Support Staff to help provide you with the information and resources necessary to help ensure in-game experiences are as [EPIC] as possible. We know that few want to have to contact support but we hope we were able to provide some insight and direction to help make the experience a bit better when you do.
Self-Help options
We have several systems in place that allow players to try and resolve their own issue without needing to wait for customer support.
They are as follows:
Character Undelete
Item Restoration
Mail Recovery - for World of Warcraft and WoW Classic
Mail Return