Wrongfully banned -- "Exploitative Activity"!

Q u o t e:
Exactly. It's my damn money, earned fair and square (my main is a rich scribe), and it's nobody's damn business what I do with my money, if I don't break any rules.

The thing that really pissed me off was not even the loss of playtime per se, but the fact that I was WRONGED.

I am truly sorry for any inconvenience that this situation might have caused, but there were reasons why events unfolded as they did. I'd like to begin by addressing a couple of unrelated points. First, profanity, masked or otherwise, is prohibited on the World of Warcraft forums. Regardless of anything else that might have occurred, there is no license to run roughshod over the standard of conduct expected of posters on this forum. Second, this thread was moved to a new location, and a moderator altered it. They are not typically in a position to post in a thread, which is why one may see that a thread has been edited, but has not yet received a response.

I'm genuinely glad that our staff were in a position to renew the investigation of the matter and clear your name from wrongdoing. I am pleased that we were able to help you feel vindicated. That is, after all, why the [email protected] email address exists. While we are careful to avoid snaring legitimate players, we realize that errors (surpassingly rare though they are) can occur. Thus, we've provided that address as a means for our players to appropriately dispute and discuss actions taken against their accounts.

This situation was not as cut and dry as you've made it sound, and this was not a case where action was taken against your account based purely on the volume of the transaction. While your actions were found to be unwitting, they were in fact highly 'suspicious' as you had substantial trade with malicious parties. Fortunately, that aspect of this situation has been appropriately addressed. In the meantime, we've done our utmost to help you get back into the game in the wake of this investigation as well as to compensate you for any inconvenience that you might have endured.

I'd like to clarify something further, though. You stated that you did not necessarily believe that enforcement within World of Warcraft was authoritarian. In fact, it is, and very clearly so. It must be, as I will explain in a moment. I would instead liken the approach to that of a benevolent dictatorship wherein we strive to provide only the best for our legitimate players by swiftly and decisively curtailing influences which will degrade the overall World of Warcraft experience.

Those who would exploit World of Warcraft and its players for their own gain would be only too happy if we took the time to submit a short interview before taking action. While it seems a small thing, in reality the logistics of such an approach would result in the paralysis of many of the processes we utilize to help preserve the quality of the World of Warcraft experience as well as aid those malicious parties in evading or delaying detection. In light of that, we will continue to employ tools, tactics and techniques that aid us in providing game play that is as fun as we can make it, while eliminating exploitation wherever we find it.

Q u o t e:
My brother got a 24 hour security ban because I handed him 1000 gold when we were both playing from one computer (my computer has the capability to handle multiple accounts) with of course the same IP address.. I guess I am grateful that Bliz is proactive like this, but at the same time why can't I hand my brother some gold without getting him banned for 24 hours? :)

This doesn't sound quite right, since an exchange of 1,000 gold shouldn't generate this kind of security check. Might I ask the name and realm of a character on your brother's account? Perhaps I can clarify what occurred.

Q u o t e:
At least a blue post has officially owned up to the "shoot first, ask questions later" policy. That is a plus. better to have it out in the open.

I think you might have missed the point of my post.

I won't dispute that an error took place - hence why that error was corrected. When an issue like this occurs, we re-examine our techniques to further refine them. It is never our intention to take action against an innocent party, and when such a situation arises we take it quite seriously. I was merely clarifying that there were reasons why action was taken in this case and that we are not in the habit of suspending accounts without good reason. I'd like to emphasize that an isolated experience is not emblematic of an issue with the entire system.

You were allowed to keep the Saronite because you purchased it. I'm not at liberty to reveal the actions taken against another player's account, so I'm otherwise unable to explain the particulars in detail.

Q u o t e:
That being said, I don't think the false-positives are as exceedingly uncommon as you make them out to be. I personally know more than one person who has gotten the business end of the "benevolent dictatorship".

A sample size of one's friends may not be representative of World of Warcraft players at large. Regardless, should any of them feel that their account actions were levied in error, please feel free to have them dispute the matter via the appropriate channels. You've witnessed yourself that review of such situations can be quite effective.

Q u o t e:
I also met multiple people who sold or bought accounts (they mess up the heroics and raids for everyone), so in that respect at least it doesn't seem particularly effective either.

It seems you've met a number of players who skirt the edges of our policies, or break them outright. Perhaps this has some impact on why you've met so many players who have 'gotten the business end', as you put it =/.

Regardless, if you suspect that another player's account was purchased or sold, please feel free to report the matter to us, and we will investigate accordingly. If you are suggesting that because a few slip through the cracks, that the entire system is defunct? I'm afraid that is a bit of a straw man.

Q u o t e:
It's a pretty clear example of lazy/unprofessional/misinformed/strained support staff either ignoring procedure or running on a broken one.

Actually it isn't, and I'm afraid that it seems that a number of of incorrect assumptions are being made. If anything, the actions taken by our staff in your case were rather proactive, though I am sorry to hear that you might not be in a position to appreciate that =(. The situation that the OP experienced is only in the most superficial way similar, and no account compromise was involved. If I may clarify further: your situations are almost completely different.

It is rather clear in your case that an unauthorized party accessed your account. You say that no restoration was necessary, but over 30 items were restored to each of your main level 80 characters =/. You've also stated that you were unable to locate the source of the compromise. Is it possible that you might be scanning the wrong computer, or that another party had access to your account information and Authenticator? I can see that this account had been logged into from more than one location, and the possibility exists that it was logged into at a compromised system at some point.

In either case, it is important that if your Authenticator was active, that you keep the following information in mind:

Security Awareness: New Trojan
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23425467207&sid=1

In addition, it's a good idea to have your World of Warcraft client open, with (false) information submitted into the Account and Password fields when you run your scans. These threads can help as well:

http://us.battle.net/security

** Computer Security Recommendations **
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1778038509&sid=1

Q u o t e:
I've got an in-game ticket open, an email to [email protected], and an email to the original support agent that I spoke to over the phone, and I'm waiting for a GM to clean up the mess they made of my account.

You need only send an email to [email protected]. Multiple points of contact is likely only to muddy your restoration, and it's best to be as clear as possible regarding your situation via a single point of contact.

I would like to remind you that our staff restored your account, whatever it is that you've chosen to believe in the interim. I realize that you used the Armory as a reference, but the Armory is still in beta, and can be slow to update. For this reason, it is unwise to use it as a basis for tracking things that have occurred in-game, such as guild, name, or gear changes.

I am hopeful that our staff will be in a position to help however they can, as swiftly as possible.

Q u o t e:
EXACTLY. I didn't ask for it, and they went ahead and did it. This is what I'm pissed about.

When you contacted our staff to dispute the account action, your case was sent up for investigation. It was then that it was determined that your account appeared to have been compromised, and the appropriate restoration efforts were undertaken.

Q u o t e:
I know you probably won't tell me exactly what happened in order to satisfy some internal policy requirement, and I know you'll back up your co-workers 'til the end 'cause you likely wouldn't have a job if you didn't, so I don't expect a lot here.

It isn't a question of opposing voices and if there was some kind of error or misunderstanding, then that's something I definitely want to address. It appears as though your account had been compromised and that the correct steps had been taken. If this wasn't the case, and these processes were not merited, then that is suggestive of an issue that should be resolved swiftly.

Q u o t e:
If the information I've posted helps you improve your service in some tiny way, then all the better. I've played this game for over 4 years now and been pretty happy with it up until this situation, and I'll probably continue to play it afterwards if the GM's correct what's gone wrong with this restore.

Thanks for your time,
Bumbp

We are always working to improve the service that we offer, and I'm hopeful that our staff can help you get to the bottom of this situation swiftly.