Blizzard Profiling hurting innocents

#0 - May 31, 2010, 11:21 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Ok, I got hacked this last new years...my fault...I traced it back to a dumbass thing I did (at work). Well, I bought my wife and I both an authenticator because that would keep us safe from the hackers (even though just about everyone by now knows it won't).

Everything is great since then...we diligently watch everything we do, every step we make (which is sad). This Sunday my wife goes and takes a nap for 90 minutes as we got up too early and so played wow for 4-5 hours. When she tries to log on...it says her account has been permanetly banned. Email from blizzard basically says she is a suspected gold farmer.

We have played wow about a couple of months after it began until now and have not ever sold gold and are not farmers. The only thing she did do was take her druid which is an inscriptionist /herbalist to sholazar basin these last 2 weeks and farm like crazy....I needed the greatness card on my rogue and we also needed to replenish the gold stores .... ( she bought that leather chest piece that drops off the ship in ICC).

Profiling of any kind doesn't work because guess what happens. People are already unhappy with the lack of account security....all of which is not blizzards fault. But telling innocent people that they are guilty of something and shutting down their account ...........I would rather have been hacked and I know how awful that feels.

I was looking forward to the expansion and even diablo and starcraft.......but how can I now...when it isn't hackers you have be worried about but Blizzard itself. All of us work real hard on our characters and there is no d*mn way I'm starting over. Blizzard can figure out itself what is going to happen if they keep treating their customers this way. It's no fun to play when you can't feel secure in your account.

Her Bear tank s name is Breelie on Gnomeregan server in U.S. Archangels Alliance Guild.
#6 - May 31, 2010, 11:45 p.m.
Blizzard Post
Q u o t e:
Profiling of any kind doesn't work because guess what happens.


Though I wouldn't use the word "Profiling" that is not entirely true. By looking for a specific set of circumstances (a pattern of behavior) we are usually able to find and remove a properly address a number of exploitative behavior/accounts. Are there times when a legitimate player may meet those requirements and get penalized? Yes, absolutely, and for that I am truly sorry for the frustration and inconvenience it may cause. Overall though, those cases are exceedingly rare. The benefits of finding and addressing this type of exploitation usually outweigh the occasional error.

Please have your wife e-mail our Account Administration department if she hasn't already. AA is there just for such cases, they will take another look.

Account Administration
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