#0 - June 22, 2010, 1:28 a.m.
This morning I was woken by my partner, upset because his WoW account has been closed overnight for exploitation of the economy. It appears he's been hit with the automated algorithm, simply because he's had a few weeks off work and has decided to prepare for Cataclysm by farming materials, and hence gold, for a planned Worgen.
His account has had a spike in play time - and hence economic activity - however, I can absolutely guarantee he has not purchased gold (we have a linked credit card, and I can tell you, there's no gold-buying going on).
Nor has his account been compromised. The authenticator he uses has not been changed, nor removed, since it was purchased approximately six months ago.
The IP address from which he plays has not changed (and is the same IP address from which my account plays/posts) in the last two months. The last change would have been when we changed ISP from Optusnet Australia to TPG in late March.
As he is unable to post, I am posting on his behalf. I am not willing to publicly post his battle.net ID, however, the characters in question will be:
Jeadge - lvl 80 warrior, Nagrand server
Mirlinau - lvl 80 warrior, Nagrand server (yes... he likes warriors...)
and
Chitta, lvl 40-odd warlock, Nagrand server.
Jeadge has been farming ores
Mirlinau has been farming herbs
Both these characters have been sending ore and herbs to Chitta, for storage and sale.
Chitta this week established a "personal" guild bank, which has three tabs, mostly filled with ore. Other secondary items in this guild bank include a mechengineer's chopper (made yesterday by the character Lorixi on the account from which I am posting), plus various BOE equipment. Chitta's personal bank also contains various BOA items, mostly purchased this week for badges or stone keeper's shards. The ore stored by Chitta was to be used to power-level his blacksmithing on this third warrior.
It appears my partner's account has been banned because he took the opportunity to prepare (well, over-prepare...) for the rolling of his third warrior, a Worgen, upon Cataclysm's release. He works full time, and is on annual leave following a workplace accident. The spike in play time may have also helped contribute to the illusion his account had been compromised in some way.
He has emailed Blizzard, I have a ticket in the queue in-game. Is there anything else we can do?
