Banned, no wait, suspended!

[kaizer93]

1)Were you using Honorbuddy, Gatherbuddy or both on the account?

Yes, I used GB for the first time on a character for about 6-8 hours..

2)If so, when was the last time?:

6-8 Hours from 11pm yesterday.

3)What profile were you using?:

[GB2] Shadow's 1-525 Mining Profiles --> [GB2 - M] Winterspring 225-300


4)What combat class were you using? if None Just put Default then the Classname:

Default

5)What plugins are you using?:

None

6)How many hours per day did you bot for?:

Kinda already answered..

6.5)What honest percentage of time did you supervise your bot?

10%

7)How many auctions per day did you have?:

50

8)Did you Use Any Other Bots, Hacks, or Mods?

None.

9)Was your account involved in gold selling?

No.

10)EU or US realm?

EU.



First mail from Blizzard:

"***Notice of Account Closure***

Account Name: ******

Reason for Closure: Terms of Use Violation -- Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy

This account was closed because one or more characters were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for "real-world" currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.

Even if this is the result of account sharing, the account owner can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.

We've found the above behaviour is many times directly related to groups responsible for compromising World of Warcraft accounts; we take these issues very seriously. To better understand our position against exploitative activity and the risks involved, please review this article: Impact of Buying Gold - Services - World of Warcraft

The exploitative activity that took place on this account violates the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. We ask you take a moment to review these terms at Blizzard Entertainment: Blizzard Legal Documentation. Any recurring subscriptions on this account have been suspended to prevent further monetary charges.

If you believe your account was compromised, please go to the following website https://eu.battle.net/account/support/account-recovery.html. Our support staff will assist you as soon as possible. If you are unable to access your account due to the password being changed, please visit our Login Support site here: https://eu.battle.net/account/support/password-reset.html

For any disputes of this action or further information on Exploitive Activity, please visit the Exploitative Activity FAQ and contact page here: Exploitative Activity in World of Warcraft - Support - Battle.net Support

Regards,

Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/"




After I called and yelled at them, I got this result:


"Greetings,

We have now concluded our investigation, and your account has been unlocked.

We have also placed a warning on your account, and issued you a 72 hour (3 days) suspension.

After the suspension has been served, you will be able to access the World of Warcraft servers once again.

Battle.net Account Name: ******
World of Warcraft Account Name: ******
Date of Violation: 21/02/2012
Type of Violation: Use of third party programs
Character Name Involved: ******
Consequences for Account: Account suspended for 72 hours (3 days)

While we regret to take this type of action, we have determined it to be in the best interests of the World of Warcraft community as a whole, and for the integrity of the game.

Please note that should any further violations of our Rules and Policies occur, this incident will be taken into consideration when determining the consequences to your account. This could include further warnings, account suspension or account termination.

Also note, you must log into the game after the suspension expired; this will update the status of your account displayed on the Account Management page.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please reply to this ticket and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

If you wish to review our current Rules and Policies, they can be found at:

Support - Battle.net Support
Blizzard Entertainment: Battle.net Terms of Use

Regards,

Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
http://eu.battle.net/support/"

 

[Jianyu]

grats on the suspension instead of the ban!

 

[Dimsal]

What exactly did you say when you called them? I just got the exact same mail, need to have it changed!

 

[iloveonaknee]

I got banned 4-5 hours ago, got the same email as your first one. I then opened a ticket and explained that I have never sold any golds or in-game items and that the gold I had sent over mail was to my other account and wrote down acc info and that I could confirm it if needed. Then I got the same email u got the second time about it was changed to "Third-party program etc." and got a 72hours suspension instead of perm.
It had to be my COD buyers that reported me or some angry AH user..

 

[kaizer93]

Target..

What exactly did you say when you called them? I just got the exact same mail, need to have it changed!

When I called, I denied using any third party program. I said I had a few customized addons, like Auctioneer and some others.
But the representative at Blizzard was pretty convincing.. He said they had proof, that "placed me on the scene".. When I asked what kind of third party program they had caught me of using, he told me that they could easily see I was running some leveling/gatheringbot.. I told him that it was impossible, but then he said they could target all programs running/communicating with WoW..

For the record, the Blizzard representative was nice and friendly!

 

[Dimsal]

When I called, I denied using any third party program. I said I had a few customized addons, like Auctioneer and some others.
But the representative at Blizzard was pretty convincing.. He said they had proof, that "placed me on the scene".. When I asked what kind of third party program they had caught me of using, he told me that they could easily see I was running some leveling/gatheringbot.. I told him that it was impossible, but then he said they could target all programs running/communicating with WoW..

For the record, the Blizzard representative was nice and friendly!

Hmm, sounds too RNG for my taste, last time I called them I talked to some really mean guy that clearly knew I was lying lol.
I need a better plan!

 

[Kronz]

They COULD target all programs communicating with WoW but they cannot. They are lying. They know the state of Warden at the moment is beyond contempt and it only scans WoW's own memory space and doesn't go outside. Especially not on a Vista or W7 system with UAC. Even if the guy didn't mean to lie, he has probably tried to imply they can catch if a program is injecting and doing memory writes, aka "communicating" in an forbidden manner, which they actually CAN, but again HB is not one of those bots they actually detect, or are willing to detect at all.

Basically they are like cops. They know for a fact everyone is lying. They don't need no scans or proof, they have already made up their minds.

Deny like your life depends on it and they will have no choice but to let you go. Probably some guy, who is also a botter has filed a report against you for taking his ores and herbs.

Additionally, the initial letter doesn't refer to "botting" but gold selling and buying, which means it might have nothing to do with HB at all, but rather with an attempt to buy or sell gold using an insecure method.

 

[kaizer93]

Additionally, the initial letter doesn't refer to "botting" but gold selling and buying, which means it might have nothing to do with HB at all, but rather with an attempt to buy or sell gold using an insecure method.

Yes, and when I told him I've never bought or sold gold or anything like that, I was told that the reason was botting, not goldselling.
I've never done anything illegal on my account, other than HB/GB. So that got to be the reason..
I collected more than 40 stacks of Mithril Ore that night, and I didn't monitor the bot for more than 45 minutes of the process..
So I can only blame myself.

 

[kaizer93]

Hmm, sounds too RNG for my taste, last time I called them I talked to some really mean guy that clearly knew I was lying lol.
I need a better plan!

I'm pretty sure the representative I spoke with also knew I was lying..
But still, he was nice and poltie all the way.
He also suggested that I could reinstall WoW, install/update my antivirusprogram, and be careful installing doubtful addons..
Just in case it was something there that got me banned..

He had this tone all the way saying: "Dude, chill out! We caught you, but ey, you just gotta wait three days, and then it's all good again. No worries!"

 

[Non Quixote]

Basically they are like cops. They know for a fact everyone is lying. They don't need no scans or proof, they have already made up their minds.

Deny like your life depends on it and they will have no choice but to let you go.

Well, I believe that they seldom know for a "fact", but I will agree that if they investigate, they can be pretty damned sure of a bot in operation.

And really, that's all that it takes. If a GM is pretty sure (or hell, even a little sure) that you're a bot, then your account most likely goes into the Land of Banned Accounts! Or if said GM isn't sure but is just in a bad mood and pissed off at his girlfriend. Because honestly, I'm pretty sure that a Blizz GM can suspend or ban your account, for any reason (within the guidelines set by Blizz). I seriously doubt that they have to "prove" anything to anyone. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that they always have a choice about whether or not to "let you go".

With any luck, the GM who reads the appeal just got laid last night and is in a great mood!

 

[Swizzie]

Blizzard can ban your account for any reason or no reason. Piss in the wind their way and they can ban you. Its right in the TOS.