Blocked/Suspended/Terminated -- Player Comments

#1 - Sept. 11, 2012, 1:02 p.m.

As you’re probably aware, we have a thread where players are invited to post if they have been waiting for three days or longer for a resolution of their support issue. That thread is the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

However, sometimes folks want to post about their issue right away. In order to keep things tidy and not have scattered and random posts on the forums, we’re building a single thread where you can post if you want to comment on your issue related to your account being suspended or terminated.

We will be reviewing this thread, and we occasionally use it to gather information, so look for the “red posts” from staff members. And please remember to use the “Tickets for Review” thread for follow-ups.

Thanks.

#18 - Sept. 26, 2012, 8:30 p.m.

Snido.4827:

I used to think that people were just whining about Anets policies, but now after having experienced their justice system myself I understand them. I was given 1 minute to respond to 1 whisper from a total stranger before I was banned. I wonder how many other people have been banned becasue they do not return whispers from total strangers. Had I known that I had 1 minute to respond or be banned I may have been faster on the keyboard but instead all I recieved is “hi hi” and was banned. Gaile could you please please please just talk to me about this? I have followed you since GW1 when you used to talk to us at the fountain at Lions Arch and I was there at your in game party when you stepped down as the community figure head for GW1. I respect you and I would really appreciate just some reply or something to this please.

I really don’t know what you’re talking about. We don’t have a “whisper to verify” system, so this just was not why your account was actioned.

#19 - Sept. 26, 2012, 8:40 p.m.

SenatorWolf.1802:

First off, I’ll state I am not botting in this game, but playing it legitimately, but as someone who has a lot of experience with bots in other mmo’s, I can say that it would be trivial to program a bot to switch weapons and change directions while firing, so I can’t see that alone being a defense. A bots limitations vary, but usually are only restricted by the design and skill of the programmer.

Yet another case when a forum member posts what I wanted to say. Thank you, SenatorWolf.

Here’s the problem with macros: Set up something to make your personal screen clearer, to enhance the visuals, or to prevent Carpel Tunnel Syndrome with single-key to single-command programming — and ensure that the program does not give the user an advantage — and there’s no problem with that use.

But does that macro allow you to set up a half-dozen commands on a single keystroke or hotkey? Does it allow you to step away from the computer to heat up a pizza, talk on the phone, or sleep, while still gaining benefits? How is that fair, when someone else not using the macro is doing those commands individually or is actively playing the game?

Think about it: Does using the macro make playing more pleasant or does it make it intrinsically easier? Does using XX Macro make it possible for you to win over someone of equal skill who does not use it? It is at that point that the macro, the program, the utility, the whatever is not allowed.

#21 - Sept. 26, 2012, 8:42 p.m.

Hilda Raven.8641:

No one should be allowed to Macro. Now by letting him off you will have a kittenon of people botting and playing the “No! I was at my computer the whole time” card.

There are way way too many botters in this game, shouldn’t be so lenient.

Macroing is cheating/botting, as the person isn’t doing it themselves. Come on Anet, be more strict.

Sorry, Hilda, who is letting whom off? Did you read my posts — I think you will reassured if you do.

#38 - Oct. 18, 2012, 7:14 a.m.

Hello Tigerbite.

Thanks for letting us know!! Customer Support are certainly the people to contact with, should problems of this type affect a player.

#40 - Oct. 18, 2012, 9:42 a.m.

I think it’s close enough in time that this post may be relevant. There was a brief glitch last week that did cause some accounts to be blocked in error. The situation was reversed in a matter of hours and the accounts were reinstated. That may be why TigerBite was back in the game without a response to his/her ticket. (In other words, the situation was reversed before the ticket was acted upon.)

If you were blocked last Friday, October 12, then that post could apply to you, and you should be back in the game. But if you were blocked on another day, you will need to file a ticket and then Support can review your particular situation and attend to it.

#53 - Oct. 19, 2012, 10:26 a.m.

For anyone who has experienced this issue, I hope that you have tried to log in recently. If you’re still unable to join the game, and if you did not sell or buy gold or use a third-party program, then by all means submit a ticket to Support. It’s very unusual for tickets to take more than a day or so to get resolved, unless there’s something unusual, like an account dispute.

I just spoke with an agent last night, and he told me a lot of details about a particular case where two people were claiming that they owned the account. In those cases, it’s going to take time to get the proofs of ownership, assess them, and make a determination. Sadly, in a few cases, it’s impossible to determine the real owner and those accounts will be terminated and no one will be given access. (This is yet another argument against account sharing or purchasing a used account — lot’s of people are burned in those situations!)

Helpful info:

Here is information to help you:

• How to Submit a Ticket
• Tickets For Review: 3 Days and Older

#58 - Oct. 19, 2012, 12:48 p.m.

Please, guys, DO contact Support so that a team member can review the case personally to see what may have happened. If it’s a legitimate termination, it will be upheld. But if it’s one of the rare “false positives,” they will take care of it.

#64 - Oct. 19, 2012, 10:02 p.m.

Please submit a ticket to Support by clicking the “Ask a Question” tab on the lined page. If you were banned in error, the team will help you with this!

#123 - Oct. 26, 2012, 11:42 a.m.

When you guys post in this thread, it’s only meaningful if you include your ticket number. I know you may be frustrated, but if you include the number, there’s actually a value to the post (aside from getting something off your chest ).

Thanks for including your 12-digit Incident or Ticket Number.

Also please note that some of the people posting here in heated tones are botters or RMT workers. Not everyone who is blocked is blocked in error. In fact, the vast majority of those whose accounts are terminated are provably guilty. Sometimes there are issues, occasionally there are errors, but they are a tiny percentage and we will take care of those. But please don’t perceive there’s some sort of massive problem simply because you see people protesting. In some cases, the protest is well-warranted. In others, it’s just a rant from a frustrated botter or RMTer.

#125 - Oct. 26, 2012, 12:07 p.m.

Thanks, Rafael. I look forward to seeing other updates (or edited posts) to include Incident Numbers.

#227 - Oct. 30, 2012, 5:10 p.m.

getzzzonked.7609:

I know some people were wondering about the 1 copper mail thing in this thread.

Gaile Gray has just confirmed it on the three day thread that this will not get you banned.

Receiving one copper in the mail is not even one of the many details we review in looking for proof of botting. You can relax about that.

Grim West.3194:

Gaile, I understand ArenaNet’s need to deal with botters and gold sellers. But your “tiny percentage” is still a huge amount of players wrongfully banned. Being wrongfully banned is bad enough, but to add insult to injury is the fact that it takes so much time and effort to get ArenaNet to acknowledge their mistake.

After 5 days I still have never recieved any kind of response or explanation for why my account was banned. The gold selling notice on my log in screen is the only thing I have to go by.

So not only am I angry that you all banned me for something I have never done and never would, but ArenaNet’s customer support is so sadly lacking that we are treated as if we don’t exist. So of course we are angry, and rightfully so. How would you feel if you were treated as shabbily as we have been, for something you did not do?

121021-001711

I am sorry that you have waited so long and I do agree, it has been too long.

Part of the confusion is that the details of the incident seem to indicate a hack (like an RMT worker stole your account) and yet no evidence of an account compromise can be found. I’ll see if I can ping someone to dive into this one.

#228 - Oct. 30, 2012, 5:10 p.m.

getzzzonked.7609:

My account has just been unblocked!

Yay, so happy to hear this! Thanks a lot for posting.

#270 - Oct. 31, 2012, 6:22 p.m.

If your account has been terminated “for engaging in or assisting with gold or item sales for real-world money” it is possible that your account has been compromised. Generally intruders use compromised accounts to disperse in-game spam for various gold-selling websites. This generally results in the account being terminated, often leaving the legitimate owner of the account with no idea why their account is closed.

I know most of you have already submitted a support ticket, but if you have not done so, this is an important step in getting your account returned to you.

Support link: https://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/ask/

#327 - Nov. 2, 2012, 12:27 p.m.

Kalessar.7416:

I just logged into my account and was informed that it had been terminated due to “engaging in or assisting with gold or item sales for real-world money”. This is quite surprising, considering that when I last logged in (a couple of weeks ago I believe), I was at level 24 and had only been playing for a couple of days. Since I have only played on my computer and avoid engaging in password reuse, I find it hard to believe that my account has been hacked. I can only assume in that case that the issue is at Arenanet’s end.

As required, I submitted a question to the support page, and am currently waiting…
(the reference number is #121031-002881 ). The only problem is that I am waiting at a LAN party while my friends are playing next to me.

I’m sorry to say that is sounds as if your account may have been compromised during the time you were away from the game. That’s what the “symptoms” here seem to indicate.

Since you submitted a support ticket — and thank you for that — the team will help you as soon as possible.

#329 - Nov. 2, 2012, 12:43 p.m.

Just to update you guys, the number of false positives is very low. Of course, that doesn’t make you feel better if it affects you. But do keep in mind that there are a goodly number of incidents where the account holder was not botting, but where the account was compromised and used for botting by the thief. That can’t be counted as a false positive because the account truly did need to be closed to rectify the issue and get the account back to the owner.

We’re diligent about improving the system to reduce the false positives to as close to zero as humanly possible. But please keep in mind that an account block is not personal and that compromised accounts will be blocked and then reinstated once the legitimate owner contacts us.

Lastly, I’ve noted that some of the protests here and in tickets are completely without merit. I found one individual — 100% certainly a botter — who submitted nine (9!) tickets protesting the block, and was posting frequently on the forums. Please keep this in mind — the volume of chatter does not necessarily equate to the number of innocent players (with all due respect to the innocent people!)

#340 - Nov. 2, 2012, 1:51 p.m.

tolunart.2095:

Forums are bugged, the posts disappear when the end of a page is reached, I cannot read any posts in this thread now.

Known issue. If you go to the url and remove everything but the title — the numbers following the title, you may be able to see the thread. Sorry for the inconvenience.

#343 - Nov. 2, 2012, 1:59 p.m.

FYI: This thread is not an official thread, and we are not gathering reports on this thread. This is a player post and I’ve amended the title to make that clear.

Many account terminations are related to account compromise incidents. A thief steals the account and uses it for activities — spam advertising, gold sales — that get the account closed. Account reinstatements require time, so we ask that you allow the team sufficient time to work through the issue related to your account.

We do have an official thread where you can post, after you have contacted Support and after you have allowed three full days for the team to resolve the issue.

Post in the official thread if, after three days, you are still awaiting assistance. Tickets for Review: 3 Days and Older

#348 - Nov. 2, 2012, 2:08 p.m.

I agree that we must improve the response time on tickets. Most people do get a response from an agent in a short time, but it can take a few days to do the research that allows the team to reinstate the account (or determine that it must remain closed).

Improving response times — especially related to the appeal of an account that was compromised, misused, and terminated — is a top priority!

#421 - Nov. 5, 2012, 5:35 p.m.

The team will respond to your ticket as soon as possible. The number of false positives is very small, but agents review each situation with care and they will update you as soon as the review is complete. I see from your ticket that you included a lot of good info, so thank you for that — it should help the process.

#459 - Nov. 6, 2012, 2:50 p.m.

NightShine.3849:

I noticed that you submitted tickets for other players who were falsely accused of botting. Will you please help me out. I have had a ticket submitted for quite some time with no answer.

First, I change the topic because we ask that you do not use “staff callouts” to get help.

Secondly, Support will assist you. If you have waited more than three days, you may post in the Tickets for Review thread above.

#460 - Nov. 6, 2012, 2:52 p.m.

Boazon.7254:

Account reinstated in less than 24hrs, thank you Arenanet you have restored my faith. Please continue to be vigilant on the TRUE bots in the game.

Thank YOU for posting, Boazon. It’s important for people to know that Support reacts quickly to these issues and does make solid decisions on the few — repeat few — cases of false positives.

I know you may think there are a lot of these issues, but remember that for everyone posting about this in the forum, tens of thousands are playing without interruption. So please have faith and understanding, and contact Support if you need our help.

#464 - Nov. 6, 2012, 3:14 p.m.

Fashion Palace Hall.8213:

I suddenly blocked the account is doing life skills
The reason cash transactions.
I have not had any transactions. This is a very insufficient grounds.
I can provide full information to demonstrate.
I was a generation of players to follow the play to the GW1 7 years GW2.
Ask you to carefully consider your approach.
fashion palace hall, 8213

Please contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. They will be able to assist you. For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

#465 - Nov. 6, 2012, 3:15 p.m.

Breeze.1270:

I was doing my story mission a couple of hours ago alone.
Suddenly got forcefully terminated with msg pop.
I thought it was kinda connection problem at first time
so I tried to reconnect.
but I got following msg and it was so….embarassing.
‘Your Guild Wars 2 account has been terminated for engaging in or assisting with
gold or item sales for real-world money, which is a breach of User Agreement
and Rules of Conduct. This action is PERMANENT’

I DONT GET IT AT ALL..cuz I didnt violate anything or offend anyone..I’m just a normal
player. I didnt even purchase anything with gem so far…I really dont remember what caused this.

At least I really wanna know exactly what I did for permanent ban. or my account has been hacked?

That sounds as if the account was involved in a chargeback or as if the seller was found to have engaged in a fraudulent transaction.

I really encourage you to contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. They will be able to assist you. For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

#467 - Nov. 6, 2012, 3:24 p.m.

bumpinben.6247:

I am very frustrated at Arena Net right now. I logged into my account last night (November 5th, 2012) and I found out that I have been banned for botting. I believe this is a mistake since I play extremely fair and I did not break the code of conduct (Which I have read). Can someone at Arena Net please respond to my ticket or tell me what I am doing wrong?

By the way: I realize I am not giving Arena Net the fair amount of time to answer but I also find it unfair that I was banned for no reason.

Ticket Key: 121106-000180

You are correct, you are not giving the team a fair amount of time to respond.

The forum is not intended as a way to “light a fire” under the team, or a way to move your ticket up in the queues. Support is answering quite promtly, and while complicated issues (such as account ownership issues, compromise incidents) can take extra time, in most cases you’ll hear back promptly.

Please be patient and allow the team to help you. Thank you.

#468 - Nov. 6, 2012, 3:29 p.m.

Folks, while I want to let this thread run, because players want to help players, in the vast majority of cases, the player who is experiencing an issue needs to contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

And for tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

I’ve noticed lately that there have been quite a few fraudulent purchase cases, where someone purchased from an unauthorized vendor and found that his/her account was closed. (Someone posted in another thread “Don’t blame us, we were just trying to save some money.” Lesson learned, I hope? If you buy below the cost from an unauthorized seller, you’re almost certainly going to get ripped off.)

The vast majority of accounts closed for botting are indeed involved in the use of third-party programs. Yes, they post here, and yes, they file multiple tickets, but no, they’re not going to be reinstated because they are botters or RMTers. You positively cannot appraise how many “innocent people” are being blocked for botting when so many UNinnocent botters are posting phony appeals.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that a few (and it truly is a small number) of accounts may be closed as a “false positive” for botting. We will sort that out, so please contact Support.

#476 - Nov. 6, 2012, 5:41 p.m.

I am going to repost this because it’s relevant to some of the appeals being posted here:

Folks, while I want to let this thread run, because players want to help players, in the vast majority of cases, the player who is experiencing an issue needs to contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

And for tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

I’ve noticed lately that there have been quite a few fraudulent purchase cases, where someone purchased from an unauthorized vendor and found that his/her account was closed. (Someone posted in another thread “Don’t blame us, we were just trying to save some money.” Lesson learned, I hope? If you buy below the cost from an unauthorized seller, you’re almost certainly going to get ripped off.)

The vast majority of accounts closed for botting are indeed involved in the use of third-party programs. Yes, they post here, and yes, they file multiple tickets, but no, they’re not going to be reinstated because they are botters or RMTers. You positively cannot appraise how many “innocent people” are being blocked for botting when so many UNinnocent botters are posting phony appeals.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that a few (and it truly is a small number) of accounts may be closed as a “false positive” for botting. We will sort that out, so please contact Support.

#599 - Nov. 7, 2012, 1:20 p.m.

Hey folks,

Let me give you a couple of updates about this thread. Again, this is not an official thread, and we’re not looking at this thread to find people we can help (because we have others means to do that, see below).

If you care to join in in this thread, you’re joining a player-to-player conversation, acceptable in our forums if the conversation remains positive and helpful.

Some notes:

• If your account is terminated for botting, contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

• Generally you will be helped very quickly (the average is well under 24 hours) but if you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

• Don’t post here repeatedly, or heatedly, or as a call to get everyone to pick up their great swords and make this a crusade. If your posts consist of the same repeated complaints, you are putting your forum privileges at risk. This sort of commentary contributes nothing to our ability to help players or to correct any issues related to false positives and we truly want to help!

• We know there are false positives. When you’re banning thousands, there is some chance that an innocent player will be banned. We regret that deeply, and we work constantly to improve the processes (which are not automatic, by the way) to avoid false positives.

• Most importantly, you should know that a number of the people in this thread posting about their “unjust ban” are, in fact, botters. They may be RMT workers from a foreign country; they may be the guy down the street who is using a bot program and doesn’t think we can detect it. Not everyone is guilty, for certain! Not even the majority posting here are botters! But equally certain, not everyone protesting an account termination here is innocent, either. Please keep that in mind when you read this thread: The volume of posts, or the heat of the protest does not equate to the actual number of innocent players.

And again, we want to help, and we will, if you file a ticket and let us review the case.

#622 - Nov. 7, 2012, 2:28 p.m.

Deaths.9165:

i find it helpfull that ppl are posting their banns even if the forums are closed. thousend of players get banned for nothing. And without thouse posts we wouldnt even know that ist a major issue of anet, they have still to solve. 1 hours ago their was a false positive bann wave again and ppl are using this forum for their agony.

Thousands of botters banned? Yes. But only a handful, a small number, are terminated in error.

#628 - Nov. 7, 2012, 2:37 p.m.

Cerise.9045:

Gaile Gray.6028:

But only a handful, a small number, are terminated in error.

One is one too many :/

GW2 is an amazing game and I would like to keep playing it.

Obviously one is one too many, but this is a human process and in any process there will be the occasional error. If you demand perfection, you will never find it. If you expect excellence, you’ll find it in Guild Wars 2, from the game to our commitment to serving our players.

ziofanoo.2917:

so all this mess is due to poor logs reading?

What? Where did you get that idea? Thousands of bots are terminated a day. A few — a very few — are errors, and we deal with them as quickly and as fairly as possible.

Kieser Soze.8561:

The delay in a official response makes it worse

As I have said, most of these are dealt with within hours. I don’t know how quickly you’d expect them to be addressed, but reinstatements due to error are a priority and will be handled as quickly as possible, as fairly, and as thoroughly as possible.

#752 - Nov. 8, 2012, 10:13 a.m.

Please read

Hey folks,

Let me give you a couple of updates about this thread. Again, this is not an official thread, and we’re not looking at this thread to find people we can help (because we have others means to do that, see below).

If you care to join in in this thread, you’re joining a player-to-player conversation, acceptable in our forums if the conversation remains positive and helpful. This is not where you follow-up on your ticket. Please do not submit a ticket and post here; that will not accomplish anything. We offer a means to follow up after three days, if needed. (See below)

Some notes:

• If your account is terminated for botting, contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

• Generally you will be helped very quickly (the average is well under 24 hours) but if you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the [url=If your ticket is three days old or older, you you are welcome to post in the Tickets for Review thread and we’ll get it on our review list.

• Don’t post here repeatedly, or heatedly, or as a call to get everyone to pick up their great swords and make this a crusade. If your posts consist of the same repeated complaints, you are putting your forum privileges at risk. This sort of commentary contributes nothing to our ability to help players or to correct any issues related to false positives and we truly want to help!

• We know there are false positives. When you’re banning thousands, there is some chance that an innocent player will be banned. We regret that deeply, and we work constantly to improve the processes (which are not automatic, by the way) to avoid false positives.

• Most importantly, you should know that a number of the people in this thread posting about their “unjust ban” are, in fact, botters. They may be RMT workers from a foreign country; they may be the guy down the street who is using a bot program and doesn’t think we can detect it. Not everyone is guilty, for certain! Not even the majority posting here are botters! But equally certain, not everyone protesting an account termination here is innocent, either. Please keep that in mind when you read this thread: The volume of posts, or the heat of the protest does not equate to the actual number of innocent players.

And again, we want to help, and we will, if you file a ticket and let us review the case.

#760 - Nov. 8, 2012, 11:13 a.m.

Jski.6180:

But is it that hard to simply say some one is looking at your ticket? To just leave ppl hanging for 1+ days up to more seems a bit cruel. Truth be told i am only coming at this from my point of view but i am going out of my head over this.

Everyone should receive an automatic response that indicates the ticket has been received and is in the system. That usually comes within five minutes of submission of the ticket. If you do not receive that confirmation email, please check your Junk Mail folder. But anyone who knows his/her ticket number would presumably have received that confirmation email.

Until the account can be reviewed, having agents send another email seems unnecessary. We’d rather have agents address the appeals as quickly as possible rather than send a second “We got your ticket” email.

#763 - Nov. 8, 2012, 11:48 a.m.

Jski.6180:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Jski.6180:

But is it that hard to simply say some one is looking at your ticket? To just leave ppl hanging for 1+ days up to more seems a bit cruel. Truth be told i am only coming at this from my point of view but i am going out of my head over this.

Everyone should receive an automatic response that indicates the ticket has been received and is in the system. That usually comes within five minutes of submission of the ticket. If you do not receive that confirmation email, please check your Junk Mail folder. But anyone who knows his/her ticket number would presumably have received that confirmation email.

Until the account can be reviewed, having agents send another email seems unnecessary. We’d rather have agents address the appeals as quickly as possible rather than send a second “We got your ticket” email.

I see well i some what panicked and made another ticket using Account Support / Login Help i hope i just did not mess up.

Ok, thanks for that information. Here’s what I recommend, to avoid delays in handling your ticket. Go into your NEW ticket and close it. You can note “This is a duplicate of [ticket number]” and that means that an agent can focus on the first ticket and settle that more promptly.

#764 - Nov. 8, 2012, 11:49 a.m.

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

maybe this is helpful but i noticed quite a few ppl saying that their entire parties got baned at same time while being in the party… this is definetly something to look into while reviewing baning process by anet.

btw, really weird to have this happening after 7 years of flawless game support. i am not alone in this situation and it is realy kind of dissapointing and am wondering who else from my closest friends list will get the same experience… for now we have 1 hacked acc and 2 bans…

Are you under the impression that parties don’t bot? If they were banned for botting, it’s entirely possible that this is what the entire party was doing because yes, botters do join guilds, do form or join parties, and do everything they can to avoid detection. It doesn’t work, but they try.

#771 - Nov. 8, 2012, 12:12 p.m.

Kieser Soze.8561:

Gaile Gray.6028:

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

maybe this is helpful but i noticed quite a few ppl saying that their entire parties got baned at same time while being in the party… this is definetly something to look into while reviewing baning process by anet.

btw, really weird to have this happening after 7 years of flawless game support. i am not alone in this situation and it is realy kind of dissapointing and am wondering who else from my closest friends list will get the same experience… for now we have 1 hacked acc and 2 bans…

Are you under the impression that parties don’t bot? If they were banned for botting, it’s entirely possible that this is what the entire party was doing because yes, botters do join guilds, do form or join parties, and do everything they can to avoid detection. It doesn’t work, but they try.

Ouchies, Gale if I may ask a question.

If we encounter bots in our path of questing / farming should we head the other way as quickly as possible? if they get detected then anyone in the radius will get snagged.

We don’t base bot terminations on a map sweep, where everyone in a specific area gets banned. But I personally don’t hang out in bot zones because their insect-like behavior drives me nuts.

#772 - Nov. 8, 2012, 12:14 p.m.

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

Kieser Soze.8561:

Gaile Gray.6028:

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

maybe this is helpful but i noticed quite a few ppl saying that their entire parties got baned at same time while being in the party… this is definetly something to look into while reviewing baning process by anet.

btw, really weird to have this happening after 7 years of flawless game support. i am not alone in this situation and it is realy kind of dissapointing and am wondering who else from my closest friends list will get the same experience… for now we have 1 hacked acc and 2 bans…

Are you under the impression that parties don’t bot? If they were banned for botting, it’s entirely possible that this is what the entire party was doing because yes, botters do join guilds, do form or join parties, and do everything they can to avoid detection. It doesn’t work, but they try.

Ouchies, Gale if I may ask a question.

If we encounter bots in our path of questing / farming should we head the other way as quickly as possible? if they get detected then anyone in the radius will get snagged.

something on the lines of what kaiser said. is it realy logical to asume all party members are boters? isn’t this the reason some innocent players get baned also? can it be possible that boters get partied with non botters? would it be smart to not bot as entire party since it puts more boters at risk of getting detected? generalization is never a good thing especially if computer makes a decision. not to get into argument here, but how is it possible that i personally got baned for boting if i got scanned by a real person? since i know 100% i dont bot or even know how to bot, then i can assume i got probably baned by some kind of program. i am just trying to make a suggestion where things might have gone wrong, thats all.

of course you guys at anet know what realy happened, i am only making a blind assumption with best of intentions.

Sorry, but you’re making a leap from “parties can be blocked” to “parties can consist of bots and will be blocked if they are.” If a bot is detected, no one looks at the party and takes out every member. Every member is detected to be a bot and then they are removed.

Having said that, I would not accept random invitations in bot hot spots, because I’m pretty sure you’re being invited to try to hide botting activity.

#785 - Nov. 8, 2012, 12:35 p.m.

Circe The Immortal.8751:

Gaile… a question please.

Can you tell me how to access your ticket(s) when, at least for me, support logins are rejected because my account is listed as “disabled.” I can already create a ticket through the links you and others provide, but cannot login to support to view/change/update them etc. .

Given what is obviously a very busy and strained time at Support, I don’t want to add another ticket to find out why I can’t login to the support area too!

Support Account log-in isn’t tied to your game account. Have you checked the Knowledge base at support.guildwars2.com? You may find that you need to get another ticket into the system to correct the Support Account issue, but we don’t block you from your Support Account when your game account is suspended or terminated.

#787 - Nov. 8, 2012, 12:37 p.m.

SaveSex.6591:

retek.2963:

SaveSex.6591:

I justed got banned… and it didn’t feel good
I got away from my pc for like 10 mins and I got banned.
I think that may is a problem that I sometimes leave my character online when I am afk… Is that wrong? I don’t know… I have done nothing wrong and any moderator can see that…
I think that I got banned way to easy… :/

I know yer’ feel bro! I was kicked while fightin’ some grawl.

So, what we do now?
I opened a ticket but I feel a little angry ‘cause I’ve done nothing wrong you know…
I play online games for like 15 years and never got banned but now :P
I think that mods have to do something with auto-bans… it’s not fair…

There are no auto-bans.

We will investigate each issue, but I’m going to say it again: A lot of the people making a fuss in this post are botters. They are taking up valuable time trying to get a reinstatement that is not going to happen.

If you are innocent of botting the team will help you.

#1274 - Nov. 11, 2012, 1:43 p.m.

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

SaveSex.6591:

Gaile Gray.6028:

SaveSex.6591:

retek.2963:

SaveSex.6591:

I justed got banned… and it didn’t feel good
I got away from my pc for like 10 mins and I got banned.
I think that may is a problem that I sometimes leave my character online when I am afk… Is that wrong? I don’t know… I have done nothing wrong and any moderator can see that…
I think that I got banned way to easy… :/

I know yer’ feel bro! I was kicked while fightin’ some grawl.

So, what we do now?
I opened a ticket but I feel a little angry ‘cause I’ve done nothing wrong you know…
I play online games for like 15 years and never got banned but now :P
I think that mods have to do something with auto-bans… it’s not fair…

There are no auto-bans.

We will investigate each issue, but I’m going to say it again: A lot of the people making a fuss in this post are botters. They are taking up valuable time trying to get a reinstatement that is not going to happen.

If you are innocent of botting the team will help you.

I am pretty sure I am not a bot :P
Is it because I leave my character online when I am afk? I want to know if that is wrong to not do it again.
Thanks

EG: Good to know that there are no auto-bans

id like to add another thing also. when did it happen that afking is same as boting? and to get permanently baned for going afk? just a bit harsh for a bought game, don’t you think?

Going AFK isn’t an issue. Allegedly playing the game while AFK is decidedly a problem, as that’s not playing, that’s botting.

#1275 - Nov. 11, 2012, 1:48 p.m.

I would like to look into the few cases where you, personally purchased the game from buy.guildwars2.com and then experienced an account closure.

I don’t want to hear from those who bought from a third party who claims to have purchased from our site. I don’t need to hear from people who did a charge-back or asked for a refund. I would very much like to hear from someone who bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using a legitimate credit card and then found his/her account terminated.

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partner, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please note if the charge on you CC statement is a completed charge, or is “pending.”
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

Thank you for your help with this.

Please note that this thread is not intended to expedite your ticket. Please do not post here simply as a means to try to get to the front of the queue. Post if you want to share the above information, and if your situation exactly mirrors what I’m investigating, but beyond that we’re not using this thread to expedite or follow up on tickets.

If you have waited three days or longer for a response, please post in the Tickets for Review – 3 Days and Older thread.

#1279 - Nov. 11, 2012, 1:59 p.m.

Penthos.5148:

UPDATE: ACCOUNT RESTORED!

After close to 64 hours of being permanently banned, the status of my account was changed to ‘Hacked Account’ and then a few minutes later it was changed to ‘Access Restored’.

Support wrote that my account had been hacked and being used for botting. Then it was caught in the Bot Sweep and terminated. If that’s what really went down, I’ll probably never know… but I AM glad to have my account back.

Best of luck to everyone else suffering from this issue, I hope you all get your accounts back ASAP.

Just so you know, that’s precisely what happens in a lot of cases. Sort of the “Triple Whammy of Nastiness” in my opinion. Someone steals your account, usually steals your stuff, and then uses the account for botting and gets it banned.

So you may be sleeping and wake up to find all this mess has arisen while you slumbered. We do work very hard to get people back on their accounts as soon as possible, but it takes time, because security caution requires that we ensure we’re giving the account back to the real owner.

This is why if someone is banned unjustly, he or she should submit a ticket with as much info as possible, so the team can look into the account and, perhaps, restore it without having to request additional “proof of ownership.” Info can be found in the article on account security and with our tips on filling a ticket.

#1282 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:02 p.m.

Toble.2968:

Hey Gaile,

Any news on how the system is going to be fixed?

Not only is there is innocent banning problem, but people with fraudulent Serial codes who bought from the Gw2 site is worrying me?

I do not even know that there is an issue yet. I’m still gathering information on these cases (and I believe them to be few) after which the teams involved in the site will review them to see if there is an issue on our side or perhaps with the other participants involved in the sales flow, such as the bank or CC holder.

#1283 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:11 p.m.

I want to make sure that I comment: RMTs appeal. By the dozens, even hundreds. If you’re seeing posts about “I didn’t do it” keep in mind that while some legitimate players assuredly are having issues — and we’re going to look at each and every one — some of those protesting that they were banned in error are simply RMT workers trying to get their fraudulently-acquired accounts back so they can bot, deliver gold, or spam advertise gold sales sites.

I do truly believe that there some legitimate players are having issues. But I also know that cheaters are posting, too. Please take the posts with “a grain of salt.”

#1286 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:14 p.m.

DarK.1839:

Got this disgustingly copy pasted response..
Doesn’t even make sense. I bought the code myself and applied it myself. The only weird thing ever to happen was a random connection attempt from China, but I thought that was a normal thing since I’ve seen people on reddit show 50 attempts in a day. I also changed my password after this just in case. Not sure if that flagged it?

Hello,

The Guild Wars 2 Serial Code used to create your Guild Wars 2 game account was initially purchased from our site fraudulently. The alleged “buyer” had used stolen credentials then sold or transferred that account to you.

This resulted in the serial code and game account to be permanently closed.

If you purchased this serial code from a website other than www.guildwars2.com we recommend contacting the unauthorized reseller from whom you purchased the serial code for a full refund.

While this fraudulently purchased account is closed, we encourage you to buy an official physical retail copy from an authorized seller or digital serial code at http://buy.guildwars2.com.

Unfortunately, there is no further assistance we can provide for this issue.

Regards,
[Blanked]
NCsoft Payment Review

I’m wondering if you were hacked (based on the attempts you noted from China) and that you were simply “flagged” in the system with the wrong error.

Please don’t be offended by “copy pasted” answers. There are legitimate reasons to use a standard type of response for these issues. If we “ad lib” every one, we might forget some of the valuable information we need to share, so using a response that has the same key components is really the best way to answer player concerns.

#1289 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:15 p.m.

Kurt.5973:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I would like to look into the few cases where you, personally purchased the game from buy.guildwars2.com and then experienced an account closure.

I don’t want to hear from those who bought from a third party who claims to have purchased from our site. I don’t need to hear from people who did a charge-back or asked for a refund. I would very much like to hear from someone who bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using a legitimate credit card and then found his/her account terminated.

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

Thank you for your help with this.

Order date: 11/7/2012

[Incident: 121110-002647]

it’s waiting in progress contacted bank they are managing with that

Sorry, you purchased 4 days ago and the payment still is “in progress?” What does “they are managing with that” mean?

#1291 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:17 p.m.

Daelowana.7319:

If anyone would from support would care to contact me, please feel free to private message me. I was a direct purchaser through guildwars2 official site and have been blocked for fraud.

Sorry, that’s now the way it works. I am one person trying to gather information that may help many players. If you have information to share, you can post it here if you wish or naturally your ticket will be reviewed and your situation handled to the best of our ability. I simply do not have time to engage in a PM conversation at this time.

#1292 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:18 p.m.

ChicknFingrs.8074:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I want to make sure that I comment: RMTs appeal. By the dozens, even hundreds. If you’re seeing posts about “I didn’t do it” keep in mind that while some legitimate players assuredly are having issues — and we’re going to look at each and every one — some of those protesting that they were banned in error are simply RMT workers trying to get their fraudulently-acquired accounts back so they can bot, deliver gold, or spam advertise gold sales sites.

I do truly believe that there some legitimate players are having issues. But I also know that cheaters are posting, too. Please take the posts with “a grain of salt.”

Most of us are legitimate players having issues. I was hoping to have a relaxing weekend and enjoy GW2 but now i have to wait until i get a response on my ticket and see if my ban gets lifted

My ticket number is 121110-003153

Please answer all three questions above. Thank you.

#1300 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:25 p.m.

ChicknFingrs.8074:

Gaile Gray.6028:

ChicknFingrs.8074:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I want to make sure that I comment: RMTs appeal. By the dozens, even hundreds. If you’re seeing posts about “I didn’t do it” keep in mind that while some legitimate players assuredly are having issues — and we’re going to look at each and every one — some of those protesting that they were banned in error are simply RMT workers trying to get their fraudulently-acquired accounts back so they can bot, deliver gold, or spam advertise gold sales sites.

I do truly believe that there some legitimate players are having issues. But I also know that cheaters are posting, too. Please take the posts with “a grain of salt.”

Most of us are legitimate players having issues. I was hoping to have a relaxing weekend and enjoy GW2 but now i have to wait until i get a response on my ticket and see if my ban gets lifted

My ticket number is 121110-003153

Please answer all three questions above. Thank you.

I didnt buy GW2 from the guild wars 2 site, i bought it from Best Buy.

Well, they are a partner, so we should be able to look into this thoroughly for you.

#1305 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:27 p.m.

Daelowana.7319:

® Account Closed [Incident: 121109-002884]
Credit card charged by NCSOFT
11/7 – received confirm from Arena net w order number and code

Is the charge paid or pending? (I may be noticing a trend, so I want to make sure.)

#1308 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:31 p.m.

Reinth.1498:

Sorry but can I get some attention from you Gaile? [Incident: 121110-002158]

And I did submit all information needed in the ticket.

No. That is not why I am in the thread, and I ask that players not petition me for personal assistance. As much as I would like to help everyone, I do not have the bandwidth to do that, so please await assistance from the team and, if you need further help after three days, post in the Tickets for Review thread at the top of the forums.

#1310 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:34 p.m.

There are now five things I want to know, so I can focus the investigation:

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partner, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please note if the charge on you CC statement is a completed charge, or is “pending.”
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

The Support Team will be examining each of your tickets and will help you. I’m trying to ascertain if there’s an issue with purchases. So far I cannot see that to be the case, but I will use the information that you share — the answers to the five questions above — to look into the matter further.

Thank you.

#1312 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:35 p.m.

Daelowana.7319:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Daelowana.7319:

® Account Closed [Incident: 121109-002884]
Credit card charged by NCSOFT
11/7 – received confirm from Arena net w order number and code

Is the charge paid or pending? (I may be noticing a trend, so I want to make sure.)

Pending, but for 59.99 from CHARGE.NCSOFT.COM. I think you may be onto something

Interesting. So you purchased on November 7, played until November 9, and the charge is still “pending” on November 11?

May I ask generally where you are located?

#1313 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:36 p.m.

KrisV.5612:

Gaile Gray.6028:

There are now five things I want to know, so I can focus the investigation:

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partner, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please note if the charge on you CC statement is a completed charge, or is “pending.”
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

The Support Team will be examining each of your tickets and will help you. I’m trying to ascertain if there’s an issue with purchases. So far I cannot see that to be the case, but I will use the information that you share — the answers to the five questions above — to look into the matter further.

Thank you.

But their not the only ones with the problem. What about us who was wrongfully terminated for botting.

Kris — I totally understand your concerns! Each ticket will be reviewed and resolved. I happen to be gathering information on purchases in relation to account closures for “fraud.”

The bot appeals will be reviewed, no worries!

#1315 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:38 p.m.

Daelowana.7319:

Well, I’m feeling more confident after reading Gale’s posts that this is a much bigger issue than me. Thanks for your attention. We know you’re doing your best.

Thank you for your help and for your kind words. I do understand how frustrating this is, and we all want to do the best we can for our players!

#1322 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:43 p.m.

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I would like to look into the few cases where you, personally purchased the game from buy.guildwars2.com and then experienced an account closure.

I don’t want to hear from those who bought from a third party who claims to have purchased from our site. I don’t need to hear from people who did a charge-back or asked for a refund. I would very much like to hear from someone who bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using a legitimate credit card and then found his/her account terminated.

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partners, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

Thank you for your help with this.

I purchased the game from 11/3/2012
my credit card was charged
[Incident: 121111-000224]

I also forwarded my confirmation email I received after buying the game from you they gave me another ticket number associated with that email it is
[Incident: 121111-002681]

Thanks for looking into this. Please work fast

eko — is your payment completed or pending?

#1327 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:50 p.m.

Callipygous.9438:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I want to make sure that I comment: RMTs appeal. By the dozens, even hundreds. If you’re seeing posts about “I didn’t do it” keep in mind that while some legitimate players assuredly are having issues — and we’re going to look at each and every one — some of those protesting that they were banned in error are simply RMT workers trying to get their fraudulently-acquired accounts back so they can bot, deliver gold, or spam advertise gold sales sites.

I do truly believe that there some legitimate players are having issues. But I also know that cheaters are posting, too. Please take the posts with “a grain of salt.”

I’m really disappointed that it appears this is the tone you chose to take with this matter. While you may mean other people aside from me, it feels like your tone is basically, “alright, be quiet, most of you are actually botters anyways.” It’s accusatory and insulting, more so than the actual ban itself. I understand your desire to control the damage, but understand that there are actual people on the other end. I feel like I was going about playing my game only to be called out and then treated like a criminal in prison who protests his guilt.

Now tell me, if you were in the same situation, how would you feel? How do you think many people feel when they look for someone with authority to make sense of it and feel like they’re being demonized – even when they know they’ve done nothing wrong?

I understand where you’re coming from, I really, really do. I’m sure there have been botters who have posted here claiming innocence. But don’t you understand how that comes across to those who are actually innocent? Do you not understand how it could be an incredibly insulting tone to take? I am not trying to attack you, I am simply trying to communicate my frustration about this to (most likely) the only person who will read it. I really hope you understand.

You have completely misunderstood my comments. I believe that many people posting here legitimately have problems and genuinely need and deserve our help. I merely point out that every day, I see tickets from RMTers and botters, and it’s a fact — and probably no surprise — that some of those who claim to be innocent are not innocent at all.

I believe that I have expressed myself in a way that players understand. And I truly feel that it’s important for legitimate players to know that some of those they think are “kindred spirits” are just hoping to ride back onto their cheated accounts on the coattails of the innocent, reinstated players. At no time have I indicated, nor have I felt, that we should reduce our diligent efforts before “most of you are botters.”

We work very hard to help every legitimate player get back onto his/her account. And we will continue to do so. If we make an error, we will own up to that and make it right. (Hence the entire existence of the “Tickets for Review” thread — another means to ensure we do help legitimate players!) But, bottom line, not everyone who submits a ticket or writes a forum post is going to get reinstated because some are not legitimate. It’s really that simple, and I hope you

#1329 - Nov. 11, 2012, 2:53 p.m.

Reinth.1498:

I’m really disappointed that it appears this is the tone you chose to take with this matter. While you may mean other people aside from me, it feels like your tone is basically, “alright, be quiet, most of you are actually botters anyways.” It’s accusatory and insulting, more so than the actual ban itself. I understand your desire to control the damage, but understand that there are actual people on the other end. I feel like I was going about playing my game only to be called out and then treated like a criminal in prison who protests his guilt.

Now tell me, if you were in the same situation, how would you feel? How do you think many people feel when they look for someone with authority to make sense of it and feel like they’re being demonized – even when they know they’ve done nothing wrong?

I understand where you’re coming from, I really, really do. I’m sure there have been botters who have posted here claiming innocence. But don’t you understand how that comes across to those who are actually innocent? Do you not understand how it could be an incredibly insulting tone to take? I am not trying to attack you, I am simply trying to communicate my frustration about this to (most likely) the only person who will read it. I really hope you understand.

I agree.

We, the victims, have nowhere else to go. What actually pissed me off even more, some got their accounts back but some who have appealed earlier haven’t. What is this? Can we at least get informed via email or GW2 account mail about what the problem is?

Sometimes a case is easier to solve than another. Sometimes a player gives us all the info we need to verify ownership. Other times, the player gives us minimal info and requires a lot of “back and forth” to prove he or she really does own the account.

Sometimes, there are confusing details that we see behind the scenes. Like “That account was accessed from China, but nothing was stolen.” Those are edge cases, sure, but they require extra diligence on our case to try to find out exactly what happened, in part to provide the best help to the real account owner.

It’s true that some tickets can be resolved in a day, and others take more than a week. We do our best to handle “in the order received” and to make sure that agents who are expert in a particular area — fraud, account theft, technical support — handle the tickets they best can help resolve.

#1335 - Nov. 11, 2012, 3 p.m.

buyurgan.6023:

Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
11/3/2012

Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
I can’t check it right now cause it is middle of the night but I’m pretty sure it’s charged and legit cause it wouldn’t progress and let me play 2 days without it.

Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.
121108-000029

When you have a chance, could you confirm whether it’s fully charged or pending? Thnk you!

#1341 - Nov. 11, 2012, 3:12 p.m.

Callipygous.9438:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Callipygous.9438:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I want to make sure that I comment: RMTs appeal. By the dozens, even hundreds. If you’re seeing posts about “I didn’t do it” keep in mind that while some legitimate players assuredly are having issues — and we’re going to look at each and every one — some of those protesting that they were banned in error are simply RMT workers trying to get their fraudulently-acquired accounts back so they can bot, deliver gold, or spam advertise gold sales sites.

I do truly believe that there some legitimate players are having issues. But I also know that cheaters are posting, too. Please take the posts with “a grain of salt.”

I’m really disappointed that it appears this is the tone you chose to take with this matter. While you may mean other people aside from me, it feels like your tone is basically, “alright, be quiet, most of you are actually botters anyways.” It’s accusatory and insulting, more so than the actual ban itself. I understand your desire to control the damage, but understand that there are actual people on the other end. I feel like I was going about playing my game only to be called out and then treated like a criminal in prison who protests his guilt.

Now tell me, if you were in the same situation, how would you feel? How do you think many people feel when they look for someone with authority to make sense of it and feel like they’re being demonized – even when they know they’ve done nothing wrong?

I understand where you’re coming from, I really, really do. I’m sure there have been botters who have posted here claiming innocence. But don’t you understand how that comes across to those who are actually innocent? Do you not understand how it could be an incredibly insulting tone to take? I am not trying to attack you, I am simply trying to communicate my frustration about this to (most likely) the only person who will read it. I really hope you understand.

You have completely misunderstood my comments. I believe that many people posting here legitimately have problems and genuinely need and deserve our help. I merely point out that every day, I see tickets from RMTers and botters, and it’s a fact — and probably no surprise — that some of those who claim to be innocent are not innocent at all.

I believe that I have expressed myself in a way that players understand. And I truly feel that it’s important for legitimate players to know that some of those they think are “kindred spirits” are just hoping to ride back onto their cheated accounts on the coattails of the innocent, reinstated players. At no time have I indicated, nor have I felt, that we should reduce our diligent efforts before “most of you are botters.”

We work very hard to help every legitimate player get back onto his/her account. And we will continue to do so. If we make an error, we will own up to that and make it right. (Hence the entire existence of the “Tickets for Review” thread — another means to ensure we do help legitimate players!) But, bottom line, not everyone who submits a ticket or writes a forum post is going to get reinstated because some are not legitimate. It’s really that simple, and I hope you

I do not at all question your desire to do the right thing. However, this impression was formed after reading many of your posts – most notably, the one where you claim that the number of people who are actually being banned unjustly are much, much smaller in number than it would appear based on this forum thread. To me, that would suggest that the majority of people in this thread do not have a real case according to you. This would be why I paraphrased the way I did, albeit rather bluntly.

Now, if you think that based on this information it is simply my misunderstanding, that may be true. I’m a bit rattled by this – after all, I’ve been playing MMOs (plural) for over 10 years, and never have I ever been accused of such a thing. Mixed with the fact that the first thing I see from ArenaNet is your claim that only a small portion of people are actually innocent, and the feeling that I’m about to be railroaded for something I didn’t do is nearly palpable.

I did nothing but sing the praises of your company, even when the few people I played with have abandoned the game because it was not to their liking in one way or another. This feels a bit like betrayal, and the word of the only person associated with the company seems cold and unattached. My reaction is tied to this.

So please, do forgive MY tone. I understand you want to do what is right, as do most people who are not defective. Just… understand the impression this entire process gives some people, myself included. I am clearly not alone in coming to this conclusion or else this thread would not have taken the tone it has.

I understand completely. I may not have been clear about something I said: I didn’t want players to think “Dear lord, there are a lot of posts about banned players” and assume that we have a lot of banned players. I wanted to say, with the comment you mentioned above, that “Yes, there are quite a number of posts, and it may deceive you to believe that there are a gazillion banned players, and that is not the case.”

As Mike O’Brien mentioned in his article about account security, few players have their accounts stolen. I think it was something like one-quater of one-hundreth of one percent of players. And the same is true with “banned for fraud when I did nothing fraudulent.” So it grieves all of us if it happens to anyone but I wanted to be sure that folks understood that looking at a forum thread may give a deceptive view of the numbers.

And again, when it’s you, it doesn’t really matter if it’s one player or a billion, and I do completely understand that!

(And P.S., just me to you: I’m anything but “cold and unattached.” That is why I’m here, posting and sending emails and looking into this issue on the weekend, my “time off.” )

#1344 - Nov. 11, 2012, 3:17 p.m.

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I would like to look into the few cases where you, personally purchased the game from buy.guildwars2.com and then experienced an account closure.

I don’t want to hear from those who bought from a third party who claims to have purchased from our site. I don’t need to hear from people who did a charge-back or asked for a refund. I would very much like to hear from someone who bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using a legitimate credit card and then found his/her account terminated.

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partners, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

Thank you for your help with this.

I purchased the game from 11/3/2012
my credit card was charged
[Incident: 121111-000224]

I also forwarded my confirmation email I received after buying the game from you they gave me another ticket number associated with that email it is
[Incident: 121111-002681]

Thanks for looking into this. Please work fast

eko — is your payment completed or pending?

Actually I can not find it in my online statement.

Oh my! So not completed OR pending? How strange!

#1346 - Nov. 11, 2012, 3:20 p.m.

Daelowana.7319:

Gaile Gray.6028:

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I would like to look into the few cases where you, personally purchased the game from buy.guildwars2.com and then experienced an account closure.

I don’t want to hear from those who bought from a third party who claims to have purchased from our site. I don’t need to hear from people who did a charge-back or asked for a refund. I would very much like to hear from someone who bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using a legitimate credit card and then found his/her account terminated.

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partners, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

Thank you for your help with this.

I purchased the game from 11/3/2012
my credit card was charged
[Incident: 121111-000224]

I also forwarded my confirmation email I received after buying the game from you they gave me another ticket number associated with that email it is
[Incident: 121111-002681]

Thanks for looking into this. Please work fast

eko — is your payment completed or pending?

Actually I can not find it in my online statement.

Oh my! So not completed OR pending? How strange!

I think with some CC’s if the original processor doesn’t accept the funds within a certain amount of time the Pending charge may drop and funds would be returned to the card. I do believe you are onto something with billing tho Gale. At least for a percentage of us.

That’s a good question to ask our billing team. Thanks!

#1351 - Nov. 11, 2012, 3:28 p.m.

ChicknFingrs.8074:

Gaile Gray.6028:

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

eko.7615:

Gaile Gray.6028:

I would like to look into the few cases where you, personally purchased the game from buy.guildwars2.com and then experienced an account closure.

I don’t want to hear from those who bought from a third party who claims to have purchased from our site. I don’t need to hear from people who did a charge-back or asked for a refund. I would very much like to hear from someone who bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using a legitimate credit card and then found his/her account terminated.

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partners, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

Thank you for your help with this.

I purchased the game from 11/3/2012
my credit card was charged
[Incident: 121111-000224]

I also forwarded my confirmation email I received after buying the game from you they gave me another ticket number associated with that email it is
[Incident: 121111-002681]

Thanks for looking into this. Please work fast

eko — is your payment completed or pending?

Actually I can not find it in my online statement.

Oh my! So not completed OR pending? How strange!

Hey Gaile, just wanted to let you know that we really do appeciate your work and the support teams work.

That’s very kind. It’s good to settle issues and get legitimate players back in the game!

#1721 - Nov. 12, 2012, 3:54 p.m.

horsicorn.8649:

I personally bought the game from buy.guildwars2.com using my dad’s credit card (is that allowed?) on November 7th, 2012. The credit card was not charged for the purchase of the game, nor is the purchase “pending”, it’s simply not there. 121110-001784

Thanks for looking into this, it’s nice to know at least Arenanet knows there’s a problem…

This is very interesting. When did you start playing? When was your account closed?

#1727 - Nov. 12, 2012, 4:01 p.m.

kcchang.3168:

Hi Gaile,

1. Purchased on 11/6/2012
2. Yes, bought from official website the buy.guildwars2.com with my own credit card
3. I called the bank. They authorized the payment and give me the auth code: 555756
4. Ticket #121108-000371

Thanks a million for helping, Gaile

Are you able to play the game? If not, when did you start playing and when were you blocked from playing? Thank you.

#1733 - Nov. 12, 2012, 4:06 p.m.

nanze.2876:

does anybody know the ticket’ status “waiting” ?
what does it means ? user’s comment ? or something ?

It means that it is in queue to be addressed by an agent. Waiting is an ok thing — it will be answered soon.

#1744 - Nov. 12, 2012, 4:16 p.m.

Drachdhar.7016:

For Gaile:

Account is not yet cancelled, but still waiting for a reply for my ticket which now is five days old and I am naturally predicting the worst outcome – just my luck.
So here comes some info about my buy.

Date: 07/11/12 during the evening GMT+1
Store: guildwars2.com/shop
Charge Status: Pending, ie money is reserved and untouchable by me.
Card and Bank: Visa, Swedbank
Incident Number: 121111-002238

Are you unable to play? When did you first find you were blocked?

#1753 - Nov. 12, 2012, 4:45 p.m.

A few things:

• If your account was terminated for Botting or for Fraud, please submit a ticket. If you submitted a ticket, that’s great — you’re good to go and will be helped as soon as possible. If you need to submit a ticket, to here and file a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.
• For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.
• If you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

This isn’t a discussion/chat sub-forum for discussion, so please keep this topic-based, providing information on the incident but keeping the chatter to a minimum so we can focus on helping you. Please note that some threads are being removed to allow us to concentrate on the issues.

If your account was terminated for fraud:

• Please indicate the date you purchased the game.
• Please confirm that you personally purchased from the buy.guildwars2.com site (not through a partner, not through a third-party).
• Please check your credit card statement and verify if you were or were not charged for the game.
• Please note if the charge on you CC statement is a completed charge, or is “pending.”
• Please post your Incident / Ticket Number here.

The Support Team will be examining each of your tickets and will help you. I’m trying to ascertain if there’s an issue with purchases. So far I cannot see that to be the case, but I will use the information that you share — the answers to the five questions above — to look into the matter further.

#1757 - Nov. 12, 2012, 4:49 p.m.

squall.7093:

Gaile Gray.6028:

A few things:

• If your account was terminated for Botting or for Fraud, please submit a ticket. Go here and file a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

• For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

• If you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

This isn’t a sub-forum for discussion, so please keep this topic-based, providing information on the incident but keeping the chatter to a minimum so we can focus on helping you.

What if we already filed a ticket. Should we put in another one as well? Or is that post for all the new people coming here who haven’t filed a ticket?

If you put in a ticket, you’re good and will be helped as soon as possible. Thank you for asking, I’ll fix my post to reflect that.

#1758 - Nov. 12, 2012, 4:51 p.m.

Dfogs.2549:

Dark Revan.7634:

Dfogs.2549:

Dark Revan.7634:

Dfogs.2549:

Rengaru.4730:

Wow, so I got hit by the banhammer as well…
For botting apparently…
I just hope I’ll get my account back before the 15th…

If I don’t have my account back before the 15th, I’ll scream.

If I don’t get my account by the 15th I’m out. No joke, if I am not back in the game like I should be, since I have done nothing wrong, then its time to look for something else. I would be too pissed that I lost out on the Lost Shore update to continue.

Right there with you. I can honestly say I haven’t had any issues with this game or ANet since purchasing it in September, but I’m starting to feel a bit jaded. Let’s be honest, they are clearly not working as hard on this issue as they should be, or this thread wouldn’t be full of angry and disappointed customers having the same problems over the course of several days.

Not working hard enough on the issue? I’m pretty sure they don’t even view it as such unfortunately. More people got banned today and It will continue to happen until they own up to their mistakes and decide to actually fix this mess.

Yikes. Yeah, I was starting to get really disheartened as to the lack of any sort of official response on the matter, but I wasn’t aware that they aren’t considering it a real issue. Good to know that ANet has become another company that forgets their customers exist once money changes hands.

We assuredly are considering this a important issue, and I’ve been posting on this thread for two days, so there definitely have been official responses.

#1763 - Nov. 12, 2012, 5:03 p.m.

Dark Revan.7634:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Dfogs.2549:

Dark Revan.7634:

Dfogs.2549:

Dark Revan.7634:

Dfogs.2549:

Rengaru.4730:

Wow, so I got hit by the banhammer as well…
For botting apparently…
I just hope I’ll get my account back before the 15th…

If I don’t have my account back before the 15th, I’ll scream.

If I don’t get my account by the 15th I’m out. No joke, if I am not back in the game like I should be, since I have done nothing wrong, then its time to look for something else. I would be too pissed that I lost out on the Lost Shore update to continue.

Right there with you. I can honestly say I haven’t had any issues with this game or ANet since purchasing it in September, but I’m starting to feel a bit jaded. Let’s be honest, they are clearly not working as hard on this issue as they should be, or this thread wouldn’t be full of angry and disappointed customers having the same problems over the course of several days.

Not working hard enough on the issue? I’m pretty sure they don’t even view it as such unfortunately. More people got banned today and It will continue to happen until they own up to their mistakes and decide to actually fix this mess.

Yikes. Yeah, I was starting to get really disheartened as to the lack of any sort of official response on the matter, but I wasn’t aware that they aren’t considering it a real issue. Good to know that ANet has become another company that forgets their customers exist once money changes hands.

We assuredly are considering this a important issue, and I’ve been posting on this thread for two days, so there definitely have been official responses.

Our issue here is the fact that it was said there was so few false positives and that a lot of us were botters. For someone that has never done and will never do such things and then seeing so many decent people here begging for their accounts back seems to make me think otherwise.

This is a rumour that you need to stop circulating. Yes, you and everyone else who has said it!

No one has said “A lot of you are botters.” We have said “Some of the people posting here are botters.” And that is 100% true!

Please don’t twist a gentle “Keep in mind that not all of these appeals are legitimate” into a “All of you are bad people” because no one is saying that!

#1765 - Nov. 12, 2012, 5:04 p.m.

squall.7093:

Gaile Gray.6028:

squall.7093:

Gaile Gray.6028:

A few things:

• If your account was terminated for Botting or for Fraud, please submit a ticket. Go here and file a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

• For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

• If you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

This isn’t a sub-forum for discussion, so please keep this topic-based, providing information on the incident but keeping the chatter to a minimum so we can focus on helping you.

What if we already filed a ticket. Should we put in another one as well? Or is that post for all the new people coming here who haven’t filed a ticket?

If you put in a ticket, you’re good and will be helped as soon as possible. Thank you for asking, I’ll fix my post to reflect that.

Thank you again Gaile for another day of hard work on a day off. I was wondering because when I was banned and I did not know how to submit tickets properly I sent in more than one. Is there anyway to delete the other ones so that I wont have to wait as long? I wish I found this forum first, but I saw submitting a ticket first.

Well, first, thanks but this is my work day, so I’m just doing what I do. Kind thoughts are appreciated, though.

Secondly, you can close out any ticket that you created. If you open the ticket in the Support interface, you can close it yourself and keep the first ticket open. Now, if you have new info, you can add it to your first ticket and the agents will see that as they review the case.

#1767 - Nov. 12, 2012, 5:06 p.m.

Ophelia Better.7195:

But Gaille some of your post seem to be a bit different than the facts:

1. - 2012/10/25 11:14:29 AM (2012/10/25 07:14:29 UTC-4)
   Gaile Gray
   ArenaNet Poster
   “But I’m super happy that once someone gets a new code, s/he can get back into the game on the existing account!”

1. - 2012/10/25 03:53:31 PM (2012/10/25 11:53:31 UTC-4)
   Gaile Gray
   ArenaNet Poster
   •Players learns the serial code is invalid and that he/she needs to seek a refund from the (unauthorized) seller or reseller. The good news in situations like this is that generally, once the player obtains a new serial code, he or she can continue to play on the existing account.

This does not seem to be the way the fraud purchased accounts are being handled. They are being closed. So while I waited to recover the account with the new A-Net purchased code, I was just wasting my time based on your information. But at least you are trying, the only response from investigation team has been an automated response, even the one closing the account. The statements in the response did not reflect the information in the ticket, so one would assume the easy path is to just close the account and send the automated response “please by another copy of GW2”

This is something I’m pursuing, because there has been a change and the team has explained why, and I understand the change, but I want to see if we can continue to review on a case-by-case basis and allow some players to resume play on the existing account.

Unfortunately, words, once posted, are hard to take back. What I said was accurate at the time, but in the fluid development of best-practices for support, that has changed. I’m very sorry for any confusion caused by the changes, and I’ll see what I can learn about this in the next couple of days.

#1773 - Nov. 12, 2012, 5:18 p.m.

Dark Revan.7634:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Dark Revan.7634:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Dfogs.2549:

Dark Revan.7634:

Dfogs.2549:

Dark Revan.7634:

Dfogs.2549:

Rengaru.4730:

Wow, so I got hit by the banhammer as well…
For botting apparently…
I just hope I’ll get my account back before the 15th…

If I don’t have my account back before the 15th, I’ll scream.

If I don’t get my account by the 15th I’m out. No joke, if I am not back in the game like I should be, since I have done nothing wrong, then its time to look for something else. I would be too pissed that I lost out on the Lost Shore update to continue.

Right there with you. I can honestly say I haven’t had any issues with this game or ANet since purchasing it in September, but I’m starting to feel a bit jaded. Let’s be honest, they are clearly not working as hard on this issue as they should be, or this thread wouldn’t be full of angry and disappointed customers having the same problems over the course of several days.

Not working hard enough on the issue? I’m pretty sure they don’t even view it as such unfortunately. More people got banned today and It will continue to happen until they own up to their mistakes and decide to actually fix this mess.

Yikes. Yeah, I was starting to get really disheartened as to the lack of any sort of official response on the matter, but I wasn’t aware that they aren’t considering it a real issue. Good to know that ANet has become another company that forgets their customers exist once money changes hands.

We assuredly are considering this a important issue, and I’ve been posting on this thread for two days, so there definitely have been official responses.

Our issue here is the fact that it was said there was so few false positives and that a lot of us were botters. For someone that has never done and will never do such things and then seeing so many decent people here begging for their accounts back seems to make me think otherwise.

This is a rumour that you need to stop circulating. Yes, you and everyone else who has said it!

No one has said “A lot of you are botters.” We have said “Some of the people posting here are botters.” And that is 100% true!

Please don’t twist a gentle “Keep in mind that not all of these appeals are legitimate” into a “All of you are bad people” because no one is saying that!

I apologise if what I said was twisting words, I am as you can probably see frustrated that I have had to wait almost 3 days for a “bot” response and I am still not able to play, not because I did something wrong but because someone somewhere screwed up and banned me. So you can see that when you say thing like “some people who are posting here are botters” could offend me, if a-net has banned me for “botting” it is because they consider me to be one or I would’nt have been banned in the first place.

I completely understand and sympathize with your frustration.

#2247 - Nov. 14, 2012, 1:07 p.m.

This note is for those who are unable to play due to some sort of “fraud” marker on the account.

Please remember, if you purchase from a third-party vendor, a company that is not on our list, you run the risk of getting the account closed and the code disabled not because we are evil people, but because the seller did something wrong. Please don’t hold that against us.

Now, if you purchased from us and found your code was disabled, definitely contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. We’ve increased the number of people looking into these issues, and we hope to get you the info you need pretty quickly!

I suggest you check your credit card and see if you were refunded. Sometimes, someone is refunded the charges and in those cases, Support can explain that to you and detail your options. (For instance, they may be able to let you purchase a new code — remember, you got the first purchase refunded! — and continue playing on the same account. That’s not always possible, but the team can look into your personal situation and outline the options.)

#2258 - Nov. 14, 2012, 1:50 p.m.

AndroidClone.1706:

bluerebelmedia.9514:

So, I guess telling the truth gets me an infraction. I said nothing that wasn’t true, offensive or rude. It’s the truth.

I would love to get a real response from a moderator on whether or not the company is intending on keeping the money they’ve taken from me.

If I wait days at a time to get a carbon copy e-mail and I get posts deleted on the forums what am I supposed to do? Please I’m BEGGING you. Help me understand what my options are.

If you paid cash for it at a store, then you are out of luck. If you used a CreditCard then you have options.

1. Keep working if ArenaNet and NCSoft.
2. Document all communications between you and the Anet/NCSoft.
3. If you feel you have been wronged, then you highly recommend contacting the Bank who issued your credit card about a possible dispute.
(Call customer service.)
4. You may have to file a dispute.

Now is the time for you to read up on the Fair credit billing act.
Also remember the FCBA, State Laws, and federal laws supersedes and End User Agreements or Code of conduct lists.

Know your rights! This is why I highly recommend using credit cards vs cash, especially when dealing with out of state companies.

Please be aware that doing a charge-back will result in account closure and the account will not be reinstated in the future. While I appreciate a level of frustration may make it tempting to go through that process, the repercussions are costly (and necessary) and I’d like players to consider continuing to work with our Support Team on these issues, particularly now that they have additional personnel doing reviews of “fraud” issues.

#2260 - Nov. 14, 2012, 1:53 p.m.

Igopewpew.8692:

pngs.3798:

To: all of you banned for fraud payment

Good news!
Support just told me that I can have my account back if I buy a new serial key.
That’s very good news for me and thank you.
Although I have already bought the game and registered an new account. My first try today to link the two accounts failed with the following error “A server error has been encountered. Please wait a moment and try again.”
But I will try again tommorow to see if anything changed.

This is only somewhat near ok news, not good news. And it’s terrible news if you have not even been refunded because of Anet’s own mistake…They literally asked me to just buy the game again without refunding my money, so I don’t see buying a new account as “great news”.

If you bought from us, using a legitimate credit card, we would never tell you to pay twice for our game. There is more to this story, whether it’s an error on our end or an issue with you card, or a problem with your financial institution.

#2261 - Nov. 14, 2012, 1:54 p.m.

bluerebelmedia.9514:

Gaile Gray.6028:

AndroidClone.1706:

bluerebelmedia.9514:

So, I guess telling the truth gets me an infraction. I said nothing that wasn’t true, offensive or rude. It’s the truth.

I would love to get a real response from a moderator on whether or not the company is intending on keeping the money they’ve taken from me.

If I wait days at a time to get a carbon copy e-mail and I get posts deleted on the forums what am I supposed to do? Please I’m BEGGING you. Help me understand what my options are.

If you paid cash for it at a store, then you are out of luck. If you used a CreditCard then you have options.

1. Keep working if ArenaNet and NCSoft.
2. Document all communications between you and the Anet/NCSoft.
3. If you feel you have been wronged, then you highly recommend contacting the Bank who issued your credit card about a possible dispute.
(Call customer service.)
4. You may have to file a dispute.

Now is the time for you to read up on the Fair credit billing act.
Also remember the FCBA, State Laws, and federal laws supersedes and End User Agreements or Code of conduct lists.

Know your rights! This is why I highly recommend using credit cards vs cash, especially when dealing with out of state companies.

Please be aware that doing a charge-back will result in account closure and the account will not be reinstated in the future. While I appreciate a level of frustration may make it tempting to go through that process, the repercussions are costly (and necessary) and I’d like players to consider continuing to work with our Support Team on these issues, particularly now that they have additional personnel doing reviews of “fraud” issues.

Support has told me via my ticket my account is permanently closed. What process should I go through to either get my account opened, or get my money back?

From whom did you purchase and what is your ticket number?

#2268 - Nov. 14, 2012, 2:03 p.m.

bluerebelmedia.9514:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Igopewpew.8692:

pngs.3798:

To: all of you banned for fraud payment

Good news!
Support just told me that I can have my account back if I buy a new serial key.
That’s very good news for me and thank you.
Although I have already bought the game and registered an new account. My first try today to link the two accounts failed with the following error “A server error has been encountered. Please wait a moment and try again.”
But I will try again tommorow to see if anything changed.

This is only somewhat near ok news, not good news. And it’s terrible news if you have not even been refunded because of Anet’s own mistake…They literally asked me to just buy the game again without refunding my money, so I don’t see buying a new account as “great news”.

If you bought from us, using a legitimate credit card, we would never tell you to pay twice for our game. There is more to this story, whether it’s an error on our end or an issue with you card, or a problem with your financial institution.

Thats what they told me too.

I apologize for the delay in our response; we have an unusually high ticket volume which we are working through as quickly as possible. I apologize for any confusion regarding previous responses sent prior to this response reaching you today.

This Guild Wars 2 game account has been permanently closed. The attempted purchase of the Guild Wars 2 Serial Code used to create this account was voided as the transaction was found to be fraudulent in nature.

In addition to the permanent closure of the game account, the credit or debit card used in the transaction has been permanently blocked in our system. There is no option to have this account reopened or to have the block removed from the game account.

If you wish to access the Guild Wars 2 service going forward, you will need to purchase a serial code from another authorized retailer. A list of authorized retailers can be found here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers#UnitedStates-physical.

There is no further assistance we can provide for this issue.

Regards,
Matt S.
NCsoft Payment Review

I’ve given them all billing info of my credit card, bought from the official store, and sent them PDF proof that I was charged, then I got sent this.

edit to respond, from the other thread:

My account was banned and I’ve been accused of using a stolen credit card to buy a fraudulent copy of the game.
- Ticket submitted November 11th.
- Purchased November 8th.
- Purchased through buy.guildwars2.com
- I WAS charged. No, it’s not pending, I’ve been charged.
- I’ve sent support the CC billing info, zip code, address etc. through my support ticket.
- Sent PDF copy of the confirmation from the bank that I was charged through my support ticket.
No response since they said I was using a stolen credit card on 11/11. It’s now November 14th, I’ve updated my ticket multiple times with helpful and useful information proving my innocence of the crimes (literally) Anet is accusing me of and proving they have my money.
At this point Anet has committed a fraud by taking my money and not delivering the product. I’d like the situation rectified as soon as possible and expect an apology for being accused of criminal actions when there was none, and being forced to wait days for an answer on a mistake completely made by ArenaNet who had no problem taking my money.
Ticket ID: 121111-001892

---

Then I got sent the permanent closure message (for the second time), and it told me to buy another copy.

I checked this ticket. The purchase was voided. Please check for a refund.

#2273 - Nov. 14, 2012, 2:09 p.m.

bluerebelmedia.9514:

Gaile Gray.6028:

bluerebelmedia.9514:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Igopewpew.8692:

pngs.3798:

To: all of you banned for fraud payment

Good news!
Support just told me that I can have my account back if I buy a new serial key.
That’s very good news for me and thank you.
Although I have already bought the game and registered an new account. My first try today to link the two accounts failed with the following error “A server error has been encountered. Please wait a moment and try again.”
But I will try again tommorow to see if anything changed.

This is only somewhat near ok news, not good news. And it’s terrible news if you have not even been refunded because of Anet’s own mistake…They literally asked me to just buy the game again without refunding my money, so I don’t see buying a new account as “great news”.

If you bought from us, using a legitimate credit card, we would never tell you to pay twice for our game. There is more to this story, whether it’s an error on our end or an issue with you card, or a problem with your financial institution.

Thats what they told me too.

I apologize for the delay in our response; we have an unusually high ticket volume which we are working through as quickly as possible. I apologize for any confusion regarding previous responses sent prior to this response reaching you today.

This Guild Wars 2 game account has been permanently closed. The attempted purchase of the Guild Wars 2 Serial Code used to create this account was voided as the transaction was found to be fraudulent in nature.

In addition to the permanent closure of the game account, the credit or debit card used in the transaction has been permanently blocked in our system. There is no option to have this account reopened or to have the block removed from the game account.

If you wish to access the Guild Wars 2 service going forward, you will need to purchase a serial code from another authorized retailer. A list of authorized retailers can be found here: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/retailers#UnitedStates-physical.

There is no further assistance we can provide for this issue.

Regards,
Matt S.
NCsoft Payment Review

I’ve given them all billing info of my credit card, bought from the official store, and sent them PDF proof that I was charged, then I got sent this.

edit to respond, from the other thread:

My account was banned and I’ve been accused of using a stolen credit card to buy a fraudulent copy of the game.
- Ticket submitted November 11th.
- Purchased November 8th.
- Purchased through buy.guildwars2.com
- I WAS charged. No, it’s not pending, I’ve been charged.
- I’ve sent support the CC billing info, zip code, address etc. through my support ticket.
- Sent PDF copy of the confirmation from the bank that I was charged through my support ticket.
No response since they said I was using a stolen credit card on 11/11. It’s now November 14th, I’ve updated my ticket multiple times with helpful and useful information proving my innocence of the crimes (literally) Anet is accusing me of and proving they have my money.
At this point Anet has committed a fraud by taking my money and not delivering the product. I’d like the situation rectified as soon as possible and expect an apology for being accused of criminal actions when there was none, and being forced to wait days for an answer on a mistake completely made by ArenaNet who had no problem taking my money.
Ticket ID: 121111-001892

---

Then I got sent the permanent closure message (for the second time), and it told me to buy another copy.

Dear heavens, I’m so sorry! So, you were charged, you know the charge fully processed, and you were not refunded for that charge?

Yes, got confirmation from the bank when you spoke about some people having a pending charge, and again to check to make sure it hadn’t been refunded, and they sent me the PDF of the charges being processed which I forwarded to the support team.

I was so confident once they saw that, there’d be no issue, then I got the response from support posted above.

edit: This is the first I’m hearing it was voided. But the bank isn’t saying that as of today. Can I get some verification from Support or some proof it’s been voided from your company so I can take it up with the bank since there’s no record of that on their end.

Yes, Support can provide you with that. Update your ticket to request it. (Thanks for the additional info.)

#2275 - Nov. 14, 2012, 2:10 p.m.

Prinzkaos.4052:

this is the msg that im getting
You have not applied a retail serial code to your account and the grace period has ended Until you apply a retail serial code, you will be unable to continue playing gw2. please visit the reailer where you pre-purchased (witch i never did, i bought the whole game on gamestop)to obtain retail serial code

Sounds like you have a trial code and not a full game code. Please talk to Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

#2279 - Nov. 14, 2012, 2:16 p.m.

Igopewpew.8692:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Igopewpew.8692:

pngs.3798:

To: all of you banned for fraud payment

Good news!
Support just told me that I can have my account back if I buy a new serial key.
That’s very good news for me and thank you.
Although I have already bought the game and registered an new account. My first try today to link the two accounts failed with the following error “A server error has been encountered. Please wait a moment and try again.”
But I will try again tommorow to see if anything changed.

This is only somewhat near ok news, not good news. And it’s terrible news if you have not even been refunded because of Anet’s own mistake…They literally asked me to just buy the game again without refunding my money, so I don’t see buying a new account as “great news”.

If you bought from us, using a legitimate credit card, we would never tell you to pay twice for our game. There is more to this story, whether it’s an error on our end or an issue with you card, or a problem with your financial institution.

Isn’t it obvious that the problem is not on our side, or our financial institution, it’s on Anet’s side. How else did thousands of people get the exact same problem ? You’re not gonna claim it’s all their fault and their financial institutions right ? Come on it’s overly obvious that it’s Anet’s mistake so they have to rectify it. They took the money, yet they close the account. I had the bankaccount checked a while ago. No money has been refunded whatsoever. So whatever is the underlying issue, I’d like Anet to first of all apologize for accusing me of being a criminal (you didn’t do it but they did in the tickets) and secondly fix the issue I have instead of sending me copy/paste responds without looking into the individual case at all.

Let’s be clear and fair here and not engage in wild speculation.

• If a purchase is refused, the customer is not charged.
• If an account is closed, and if the purchase was made through our store, the purchase price is refunded.

I suppose there can be a lag between closure of the account and the visibility of the refund on a credit card statement, but the team is not simply randomly closing accounts and keeping the money.

#2280 - Nov. 14, 2012, 2:17 p.m.

Prinzkaos.4052:

Trial code???? I bought this game for 65$ cash and i even have a receipt. why you guys just restore my game back? is not my fault. i paid for a full game not a trial. and what is a 65$ trial holy kitten.

I am probably in error. At a glance that read like the message that trial account players are getting.

Please stop posting and contact Support. They are the only ones who can tell you what happened.

#2281 - Nov. 14, 2012, 2:19 p.m.

bluerebelmedia.9514:

As you instructed, I updated my ticket. I’ll check again with my bank, but I still don’t understand why it was voided or what the issue was. Valid card, official store. All this craziness and no explanation. I do appreciate your help, but I really don’t understand.

I agree with Igopewpew, but I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt and check with the bank tomorrow, but if the money isn’t refunded in the next 48 hours I’ll be back.

And the card has been blocked to prevent me from buying the game.

I’ll stop posting so you can get to other replies.

This is a real shame though. I really wanted to play this game, and all this happens. The half day I played I really enjoyed it.

See ya later guys. Good luck.

I am very sorry, too. If you want to post in the 3-day and older thread, if you need to update, I’ll be sure to review this again. I’m sorry for this, and hope that it’s soon reconciled. (I see two purchases and maybe something triggered some sort of “anti-fraud” concerns, I just don’t know. )

#2403 - Nov. 21, 2012, 2:29 p.m.

A team member responded to you a few minutes ago. As stated, the account is not blocked and the error you were getting relates to the password. Please try the new password sent to you and I am sure you’ll be fine.

#2442 - Nov. 24, 2012, 11:02 a.m.

As the moderator stated above, there are a couple of things you can do. Account reinstatements take time, and I know it’s an irritation to wait, but accounts are blocked for a reason and the team members need to look into the “why” before they can determine how to respond to the appeal. Again, you can post in the threads outlined in the mod’s comments above.

#2454 - Nov. 28, 2012, 10:48 a.m.

Kvothe.2348:

A friend of mine got his account suspended. His public name is mcquack.9678. He sent a ticket a week ago and support said that the Payment Review Team was checking the sittuation, but a week has gone and no answer. Can somebody help us with this?

If your friend finds he still needs help after three days, he should post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

#2455 - Nov. 28, 2012, 10:49 a.m.

Isidore.8140:

My girlfriend has been wrongfully accused of using of third party program and has gotten banned for more than two weeks. Not even sure what caused ANet to suspect my girlfriend but she has definitely not used any third party program. We had been playing together for weeks before the incident and have never encountered such problems. Now both of us have stopped playing because of this.

We sent a ticket weeks ago to explain the situation but GM replied with an automated response and insists that my girlfriend is in the wrong without even providing proof. Sent another ticket (Incident: 121124-001746) on 24/11/2012 to appeal and has yet to receive any reply. Please help. It feels as if ANet has just robbed my girlfriend of her hard earned money.

If there was an error, the team will correct it. Creating a new ticket, though, will slow down the process. I recommend you close that ticket and reopen the original ticket to file an appeal.

#2456 - Nov. 28, 2012, 11:20 a.m.

There are some bits of advice I’d like to give to players who are posting in this thread:

• If you were block, suspended, or terminated in error, please contact Support.

• If you are working with Support on the issue, great. If you haven’t received a response in three days or more, you are welcome to post in the Tickets for Review thread, and be sure to include your 12-digit incident or ticket number.

• Read this post for info on what you can include in your ticket to expedite the response.

• Do not submit multiple tickets, but continue the discussion or the appeal in the same ticket.

#2458 - Nov. 28, 2012, 3:26 p.m.

Penumbra.9435:

Just got home from work and couldn´t log in

Changed de password with cd key+mail+char name and was able to log in again.

My chars where there but in another world ( desolation) when i was Blacktide
My main was in southshore cove underwater when i was in halls of the mists

Didnt got any notification in the mail but got to see in the acc security notes some one had logged in from CE (not sure what that is )3 hours ago.

Already sent a tiket and got responce saying i will be contacted in game.

Still waiting atm…

First time i got hacked in about 10 years of online gaming. I still have most of stuff but my cof daggers are gone and i have like more 7 gold or so..the hacker sold some yellows and probly salvaged the daggers..

Any one got similar problem and got restored or rollbacked ?
Do i miss the game master help if im at work when it pops ?

Im glad with what i still have but this is where some quality service could shine.

Best luck guys and change your pass more ( i did it only twice )

I think you have misunderstood something. We will not contact you in the game. We will respond to your ticket, which you can read in the ticket interface or via the emails that we will send you.

These issues usually take a day or two to resolve, so please be patient and update your ticket if you have any new information, or if the team asks you for further details.

#2469 - Nov. 30, 2012, 10:11 a.m.

Just a note to remind you this is a player-helping-player discussion thread. There are a lot of good ideas being shared by players and we want you to have the chance to glean their wisdom because it may address your particular situation. I encourage you to read through the thread and see what you can find.

If you need help, and if your ticket is at least three days old, please feel free to post in the “Ticket for Review — 3 Days and Older” thread [If you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

#2480 - Nov. 30, 2012, 5:42 p.m.

I really encourage you to contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. They will be able to assist you. For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

If you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

#2492 - Dec. 5, 2012, 4:08 p.m.

I really encourage you to contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. They will be able to assist you. For tips on what information to provide in a ticket, please read this post.

If you find you still need help after three days, feel free to post in the Tickets for Review thread, which is at the top of this Account Support sub-forum.

#2498 - Dec. 6, 2012, 12:53 p.m.

ChaiQi.6274:

Just got my account back. Thank you Gaile for speeding up the support team’s process. For everyone else I recommend that you be very descriptive about the issues. It took them 3 weeks to complete mine but I am pretty sure I wasn’t really clear with the problem for the first 2 weeks. Screenshots and what ever evidence you can give them will probably speed the process along. Just keep updating your tickets.

I am glad you are back in the game, and I think your advice is very solid, so thanks for sharing that.

If someone wonders “Why should I provide Support in my ticket,” please read this post.