Friend Perma-Banned - Blue Tracker

#0 - July 22, 2008, 2:14 a.m.

Hello. Today as I and my 2 RL friends were doing 3v3, one of them was, out of nowhere, permanently banned for 3rd party software use.

I told him to post here, but he has lost access to the forums.

He is a dedicated player who has spent the last year and a half creating two geared 70s and has never recieved any prior warnings. What worries me, aside from the fact that I may not be able to play with my friend anymore (I've already come to terms with missing out on my arena points for the week), is the fact that he and I have nearly all the same addons. However none of them seem like they violate the TOS.

What we share are:
Proximo
Power Auras
ArcHUD2
Perl
Omen
Fubar
Cartographer
Quartz
Capping

The other day he got Talented, as featured on WOWInsider, but surely this respeccing helper could not justify a permanent ban could it?

His character is Camea on Gorgonnash. He told me he's having trouble finding anyone to contact for help so I thought I'd post his plight here.

What can he do?

Do I risk the same fate using the above addons?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Belfaire

#2 - July 22, 2008, 2:18 a.m.

I'll check this out for you, but just to clarify, we don't close accounts for the use of legitimate add-ons. Generally "third-party addons" refers to automation programs, hacks, bots, etc.

Belfaire

#5 - July 22, 2008, 2:19 a.m.

Q u o t e:

Ask him what type of keyboard he uses and if he could program time delay macros on it.

It wasn't that :)

Belfaire

#11 - July 22, 2008, 3:16 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Forgot to add that he has been grinding aldor rep this week. He says he had determined a circuit of mobs he was killing over and over for efficiency. Could this have something to do with it?

I would assume Blizzard would have tools to differentiate between someone farming/grinding and an actual illegal botting program.

I'll let you know what I come up with when I get some results. Best not to worry about it until then. :)

And, everyone else, please be civil.

Belfaire

#19 - July 22, 2008, 4:01 a.m.

Hey, it's going to be probably during my shift tomorrow that I can get you more information; certain people aren't available right now.

Check back on the morrow, yeah?

Belfaire

#27 - July 22, 2008, 7:12 a.m.

Q u o t e:
ok folks - let it lie fallow until we get some real information

speculation and innuendo serve no legitimate purpose here

That's what she said.

Belfaire

#33 - July 23, 2008, 5:06 a.m.

Q u o t e:
any new info?

I'm actually waiting for some pertinent information still. It's not easy to acquire, so your patience is appreciated. :)

Belfaire

#50 - July 23, 2008, 5:59 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Thanks for posting on your level 14 alt btw.

Quit it.

Belfaire

#55 - July 23, 2008, 6:03 a.m.

Q u o t e:
Brute force attack? As in a "hacker" targets me, Cadmael, and attacks me through the internet tubes? Although there's a chance- I don't think it happens like that ;P

/me straps on his 1980's hacker goggles and plays loud trance muzik while cracking the interwebs in twain.

Brute force attacks on something like a WoW account just aren't worth it for hackers; too much work, too much waiting. With keyloggers and trojans they just fall into your lap.

The chance of getting bruteforced on your WoW account is so low as to be nearly improbable.

Belfaire

#57 - July 23, 2008, 6:07 a.m.

Q u o t e:

I don't expect them to secure my computer.

Regardless, there IS a problem with innocent people being banned. It is being acknowledged (barely) by Blizzard, yet nothing is being done about it (or if there is, they are not telling their customers what they are doing about it).

Why can the banning procedure not be more transparent? Why can tech support not look into these issues and talk to customers to let them know why their account was banned? Why is the only response auto-reply emails? Blizzard makes $1 billion plus per year in revenue. They need better ustomer service.

Because, and this is very important: The astronomical majority of those actioned for botting, etc, are guilty.

I would rather have one email-only department that handles appeals than a phone department that has to deal with every guilty curmudgeon who refuses to accept our judgment. That type of manpower is best spent not coddling those who can't follow the rules.

And speaking of--a transparent procedure for this sort of action helps even more people get around the rules and avoid detection. It hurts everyone.

Belfaire

#64 - July 23, 2008, 6:19 a.m.

Q u o t e:

I meant that possibly Tech Support could help a customer identify the malware and get rid of it so when their account is reactivated it doesn't just get banned again for the same issue.

Right now, my cousin has no clue as to why he was banned. I've told him to run antivirus software etc..., but if that doesn't work and he gets rebanned, it may be permanently. If so, there goes three years worth of work and my best friend on WoW.

Heveled, is your cousin the one this thread is about? If not, does he have his own thread?

Belfaire

#70 - July 23, 2008, 9:01 p.m.

Glarius, have you spoken to your friend about this lately? :)

Belfaire

#80 - July 23, 2008, 10:25 p.m.

Q u o t e:

No, I haven't really spoken with him since Monday night outside of a few texts. He hasn't told me of any new developments. Why, has something been determined?

Well, I don't know if this makes any difference to the two of you, but he can play now. ;)