Perma Ban - Appealed to 72 hour Final Warning

[justinr1234]

1)Were you using Honorbuddy, Gatherbuddy or both on the account?
Honorbuddy (with GB2 plugin)

2)If so, when was the last time?:
Was using it when I got banned.

3)What profile were you using?:
Specifically banned for using a Twilight Highlands profile.

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

5)What plugins are you using?:
Refreshment Detection

6)How many hours per day did you bot for?:
5 hours / 4 hours rest rotations using aRelog. Semi-random in that I would play "for real" on the account and sometimes let it sit overnight or other random off times. Usually I wouldn't get more than 11-14 hours in a day with breaks. But in general, I'd let it sit more than that for bigger 8-12 hour breaks of doing nothing (turned off ARelog). Also, I used multiple characters in different zones (no more than 5 hours at a time on 1 char, 4 hour break, then 5 hours on another char).

6.5)What honest percentage of time did you supervise your bot?
5% of the time?

7)How many auctions per day did you have?:
0

8)Did you Use Any Other Bots, Hacks, or Mods?
No

9)Was your account involved in gold selling?
No

10)EU or US realm?
US


Here's the original e-mail from Blizz:
Greetings,

<REMOVED INFO ABOUT CHARACTER / REALM>

A user of the above account has recently been involved in actions deemed inappropriate for the World of Warcraft by the In-Game Support staff of Blizzard Entertainment. This decision was made after a thorough investigation of the situation as a whole.

When a harassment report is made, all players involved in the incident are subject to review, which may result in account penalties. Though we are unable to discuss the outcomes of our investigations due to privacy concerns, rest assured that this incident has been looked into very thoroughly, and the appropriate actions have been taken on all involved accounts.

Any disputes or questions concerning the following account action can only be addressed by Account Administration. To learn more about how Account Administration is able to assist you, please visit us at Support Contact Information - Support - Battle.net Support .

Account Action: Account Closed

Offense: Unapproved Third Party Software

A third party program is any file or program that is not a part of the World of Warcraft software, but is used to gain an advantage in the game, such as increasing your movement speed or teleporting from one place to another beyond what is allowed by game design. It also includes any programs that obtain information from the game that is not normally available to the regular player or that transmit or modify any of the game files. Normally, this classification does not include UI modifications, except those UIs that require an external application to function. Any external applications that are used in conjunction with World of Warcraft can cause quite a few unwanted side effects. Some of the major possible results of the use of third party programs can be instability of the game to the point that a player "crashes" from the game quite often. External programs can also be used to transmit viruses, spyware, and other unwanted programs into a player's computer. Third party programs can also be used to obtain information from the player's computer, such as account, password, and personal information.

For further information, please view the World of Warcraft Policies and Terms of Use Agreement: (Support - Battle.net Support) and (Blizzard Entertainment: Battle.net Terms of Use). Please be aware that additional inappropriate actions may result in further disciplinary action, up to or including account closure.

We understand that these policies may seem harsh, but they are in place to ensure that every player is able to fully enjoy their travels in the World of Warcraft. Thank you in advance for respecting our position.


Correspondence #1 from Blizz after appealing:
World of Warcraft - Account Issue Unauthorized Software Found

Greetings,

Thank you for your follow-up email regarding the account <REMOVED ACCOUNT INFO>. This account was closed after evidence was produced indicating one or more characters on the account were found to be using an unauthorized cheat program. These programs provide character benefits that are not achievable in the World of Warcraft through normal means. Such benefits include, but are not limited to, character automation (also known as "botting"), increased speed, teleportation, or running through walls/boundaries. These types of programs offer an unfair advantage over other players and supersede the intended limits of the game.

As a result of this determination and the harmful nature of unauthorized programs on the game environment, the action taken against this account will not be reversed. Please understand that we do not reach this decision lightly. This action has been taken in accordance with our Terms of Use (Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft Terms of Use).

In addition, you are responsible for any unauthorized cheat software found to be running in conjunction with World of Warcraft, regardless of the location and ownership of the computer used to log into the service. Please remember to keep your login information confidential. Any account that is registered to your name may not be shared with anyone except for one minor of whom you are a parent or guardian. The security of your account rests with you.

As a reminder, only the Account Administration department can address disputes or questions about this account action. To learn more about how we are able to assist you, please visit us at Account Administration Overview - Support - Battle.net Support. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and hope we have addressed any concerns you may have had. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance to you.

Respectfully,
Blizzard Customer Service

My response was a big sob story

Blizzard response #2
Thank you for your continued correspondence with this issue.

In regards to your appeal. The action has been reviewed again as requested with the findings verified to be accurate. However the penalty has been reduced from an account closure to a 72 hour suspension ~Final Warning~! Please note that any futher actions of this kind will almost asuredly result in account closure.

Please understand that we do not reach this decision lightly. This action has been taken in accordance with our Terms of Use (Blizzard Entertainment: World of Warcraft Terms of Use).

In addition, you are responsible for any unauthorized cheat software found to be running in conjunction with World of Warcraft, regardless of the location and ownership of the computer used to log into the service. Please remember to keep your login information confidential. Any account that is registered to your name may not be shared with anyone except for one minor of whom you are a parent or guardian. The security of your account rests with you.

As a reminder, only the Account Administration department can address disputes or questions about this account action. To learn more about how we are able to assist you, please visit us at Account Administration Overview - Support - Battle.net Support.


Regards,
Blizzard Entertainment
Support - Battle.net Support



Main Question
How did they manage to say it was "Unapproved Third Party Software" and then "Unauthorized Software Found" and "Unauthorized Cheat Program"? Anyone have any light to shed on how I can avoid this in the future? I plan to close this account up after I move some stuff off of it and start anew on a different account. I just want to know any suggestions on how to avoid this particular banning in the future.

 

[Smix]

um... original letter is pretty unique.
was there GM sign at the end of it?

 

[gliga]

Ban for botting, from my knowledge, comes from ppl reporting you. Warden as it self isnt able to detect Bots, but based on many player reports they ban you for "Third party software". So ye you kinda cant avoid it just like that, as soon theres nothing better for ppl to do in wow and get bored, ppl start noticing bots and start reporting. Changing server will help you, till some1 alse notice you there and the game goes on and on and on.

 

[Kronz]

I'd say the stuff about "Unauthorized third party software", "Cheats", and so on is part of their form letters. Just as long as your bots are undetected it's your word against the accuser's.

Perhaps one of the following has happened.
1. People have reported you too many times in that zone and a GM has taken a moment to see what's up.
2. Someone very determined to get you banned has submitted a report, backed by a video or screenshots of your character in a compromising position.
3. Too many players have submitted testimonies at the same time that your character is doing things it's not supposed to, acting funny.

I remember a druid was botting in Uldum while I was questing and like 3 or 4 players in General started talking about him dismounting over a node, falling to his death, repeating it over and over again. I am truly sorry for what has happened to this guy, because all of these players were there to farm herbs and ores, too so he was competition to them and chances are at least a couple of them haven't looked the other way, although they were ALL definitely botting their farm, because you can't farm and talk in General like that. You can do either, but not both at the same time.

Anyway, if I were you, I'd download a program capable of recording your WoW session, so when you get shit like this, you will know what exactly caused people to report you and present an adequate defense and not just a silly generic sob story hoping Blizzard will play dumb, because they don't want to lose subscribers.

When a harassment report is made, all players involved in the incident are subject to review,

What bothers me, though is the "Harassment" part of the letter. Where the hell did they take this from ? What the hell did the person of question write ? Your bot was perhaps following the same flight path as him, ninjaing his nodes ? Have you unchecked the option to "Ninja Nodes" ? Most certainly, if you have shared a flight path, you have been reported by a botter supervising his bot, while you were AFK. Ugly, but when you get on the competitive side of most people, they will be less than understanding and will take any chance they get to move you out of their way.

Edit - I just found this thing called FRAPS, which might be of great help when writing appeals.

 

[justinr1234]

um... original letter is pretty unique.
was there GM sign at the end of it?

Yes there was a GM signature.

Have you unchecked the option to "Ninja Nodes" ?

Yes. The option is not checked.

I'm thinking maybe I should make up some sort of non-optimal profile that follows a truly zig-zag pattern that no other botter could even come close to following. This should lower the possibility of me running in to anyone. On top of that, I'll try to set up some better monitoring with maybe recording my game (as you mentioned) and using better responses to whispers. I think maybe I got a bit lazy in this department. As of now I just ignore any whispers with the ShutUp addon. In the future, I think I should probably review every whisper I get with BuddyCenter (or similar plugin) and stop botting for 3-4 days every time someone accuses me of botting. Maybe I'll also switch it up and have my bot chars do more than just farm specific zones and increase my "down time" from 4 hours idle to 8-12 hours idle between 5 hour sessions.

 

[Phones]

"My response was a big sob story"

May you explain the your approach that got a perma to a 72 h? Did you say you were hacked, or someone played on your account?

 

[justinr1234]

"My response was a big sob story"

May you explain the your approach that got a perma to a 72 h? Did you say you were hacked, or someone played on your account?

I told them I have never used cheat programs and I have no idea what they meant. I begged them to please not ban me when I worked so hard to accumulate my characters and that my guild was relying on me for raiding. I said I would lose my guild and most of my friends and that I would have to start from scratch. I begged and said to please not make me start all over again.