Why was my World of Warcraft account banned?

My account was banned two days ago for allegedly disrupting the in-game economy and using unauthorized hacking software. I believe this is wrong. I have never used any hacking software. Even for addons, I’ve only used Mapster, DetailS, and HandyNote, all of which I submitted as attachments in my appeal.

I think this anti-cheat system is flawed, at least this time. It has seriously hurt me and almost extinguished my enthusiasm for the game. In fact, I agree with and support the punishment of account bans for using hacking programs, but I’m just an ordinary collector who enjoys completing achievements and collecting mounts, pets, toys, and transmog. My account has 46,360 achievements, 1,120 mounts, 1,300 pets, 836 toys, and a large number of transmog items. These collectibles were all painstakingly collected by me, and the process was entirely legitimate and did not violate any in-game rules.

I am also a guild leader and an achievements community organizer, frequently helping players complete difficult achievements and answering game-related questions. The reason I’m saying all this is simply to illustrate one point: I absolutely love this game and have dedicated a lot of time and effort to it (including spending dollars in the in-game store). I have never used, and will never use, any hacking software, nor have I ever negatively impacted other players’ gaming experience. I haven’t even insulted anyone! How could I possibly use hacking software after acquiring so much (it’s common knowledge that using hacking software in any game will result in a ban)? Wouldn’t that make me seem incredibly foolish?

I believe the system’s judgment that I used hacking software is likely because my Death Knight character was mining a lot in the past few days to complete profession achievements. However, after completing a mining achievement in a certain DLC, I teleported to another map. After all, I was there specifically to complete the achievements. The DLC achievements I completed were Shadowlans, Pandaria, Classic, Outland, and Northrend. It took me two or three days to complete these achievements. Of course, I didn’t do this continuously. To avoid getting bored, I would switch to other characters to do world quests, play Legion Remix, buy gems from the auction house to improve my Jewelcrafting skill, and smelt the ores I gathered in the capital city while mining. Furthermore, I have numerous Battle.net chat logs showing that I was constantly chatting with my Battle.net friends at the time, and I’m willing to show screenshots of these chat logs if Blizzard staff require them. The system’s labeling me as a hacker is extremely frustrating. This equates me with those who disrupt the game environment, which is unacceptable.

I’d like to ask, if I didn’t value this account, to which I’ve invested so much time and effort, and if I used hacking software, why have I been continuously appealing and writing so many explanations these past few days? Isn’t that strange? I’ve played World of Warcraft for six years, and I know that using hacking software will result in very severe penalties, so I would never do such a thing.

I only hope that my account appeal will be thoroughly reviewed and transferred to the anti-cheat team for technical verification, so that it can be proven that I am a normal player and have not done anything wrong.

I’ve been in so much pain these past two days. I’m so sad, and I feel like I’ve lost something very important. I never imagined that my first post on the forum would turn out like this. I just wanted to vent my sadness. The thought of leaving this world that I love so much because of a system misjudgment makes me feel incredibly resentful. I just can’t accept the fact that I’ve lost my account. It accompanied me through so much time, bringing me some joy during my most painful and depressing years. I really can’t bear to lose it. Oh God, I think I really need to calm down.

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Yes, you do need to breathe. Then go back and edit your post to break it into paragraphs that people can easily read.

The only option for a ban is to use the appeal system. There are no GMs on the forums and they don’t reveal how the anti-cheat software catches people. They do trace gold across accounts and penalize all accounts involved though. That often catches people unaware that the gold they got from a level 10 was illicit.

It is possible for there to be false positives though! So do submit your ticket.

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This is going to be hard to really read over, I am struggling to read it really without paragraphs, so I’ll just leave this here.

If it is made easier to read later on, then I’ll edit this post to help better with explaining.

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Since nobody has done this, you need to set your expectations for what happens in an appeal.

You’re just asking for a second/third/fourth/etc. set of eyes on what triggered the penalty.

The fact that you have 46k achievement points changes nothing if Blizzard’s anti-cheat picked up something it didn’t like. Same goes for your mounts, pets and toys.

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Thank you for your reply. I have never traded any gold coins, so this issue does not exist for me.

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If you have ever gotten gold for any reason from anyone then that opens you up to being part of illicit money laundering, even if you did not do it on purpose.

Further, if your account is not in your legal name, or registered in your legal country, then that makes transactions look suspicious too.

Most folks get into trouble doing carries, getting paid to help with achievements, getting “tips” for crafting something simple, etc. Often it is the person who says “let me get my bank alt to pay you”.

Just some common things to think about. Not saying YOU did any of that.

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Check your email, Clymene.

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Thank you very much,Orlyia

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If you have been suspended or had your game license closed, please submit an appeal ticket through the account restrictions page. Please do not bump someone else’s thread after they have recieved an answer.

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