My warm welcome to WOW from Blizzard

[Officerdg]

OK so I have been playing UO for years and friends have been trying to get me to play this game. Finally I give in and do it. I started a 10 day trial but with all the restrictions on a 10 day trial it was stupid so I went and bought the War Chest. Installed now I have 40 free days of game play with full benefits in game. Ive played for like 2 weeks, I also have 2 handicap sons that are trying there hand at it. Between the 3 of us someone is on the acct almost 24/7. I will say the game is addicitive. HOWEVER, Blizzards way of saying Welcome is to give my account a 72 Hr Ban and a final warning for what they said is "Questionable game play activity" I said OK what the heck does that mean. its a new account and I havent played formore than like 2 weeks. Still in its trial state meaning I havent had to pay for it so I havent added my billing info and hadent planned on it until I was sure we were gonna stay. Well thats there reason, people start new accounts play alot as we were and use those accounts to steal/farm gold and items from people. WTF !!!! Yeah thats right because me and my 2 handicap sons were playing ALOT in such a short periode we are "Gold Farmers" and "Thiefs" why thank you Blizzard I have only been in Law Enforcement for 18 years now I appreciate that ! What a wonderful way to welcome new players. I had no clue there was a time limit on how many hours you could play this damn game. Now I wonder should I stay or go! Probly go since they are such and inviting and warm company! Try to spin this any way you like I assure you we were doing nothing "Illegal" or wrong.

 

[Eldorian]

I'd call them up and explain to their customer service your situation and I bet they remove the ban and you probably won't have to deal with it again.

Unlike most other games I play, Blizzard does have some great customer service and GMs - they're probably a little proactive though on the account banning, but with all of the problems they have with gold farmers using free trial accounts I am not surprised by this.

Heck, even ask them for a couple days free for the trouble and see if you get it.

Here's the # to call: (800)-59-BLIZZARD

If that doesn't work let me know and I'll see if I can poke someone

 

[Officerdg]

Thanks for the advice. I called the number went thru all the number pushing just to have a recording tell me the only way to contact them is via email and to expect 2 to 3 days for a response.

 

[Eldorian]

Well that stinks... I've never had to call them before, always just dealt with their online GMs. Hopefully you'll get it taken care of.

 

[Officerdg]

I appreciate the advice though. Im sure I know how its gonna work out, Its my fault whatever happened they wont care tough crap and OH WELL! So Chances are I wont be staying around for round 2 of Blizzards welcome to WOW program. Probly let the boyz finish out the free time once the accounts free again and just let it expire.

 

[Eldorian]

<blockquote><hr>

I appreciate the advice though. Im sure I know how its gonna work out, Its my fault whatever happened they wont care tough crap and OH WELL!

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh, I can definitely tell you've been a long time UO player.

 

[Guest]

LOL, exactly what I was thinking.

I would still contact them if I were you, Officerdg. We have been bombarded in game with gold-sellers and hackers all spamming real players like ourselves with crap and disrupting our game. They were on trial accounts... I totally understand and appreciate that Blizzard is attempting to do something about it.

You wouldn't have to worry about it at all if you bought the game and were paying for it, I'm quite sure. It IS very fun, you should stick with it a bit more.

 

[Guest]

My advice, in addition to the above, is to perhaps get a second account, one for yourself, one for your kids, that way this won't be seen as an issue either.

Gold farmers are horrible. And are a major issue in WoW and one of the defining signs are accounts that are basically logged in almost all day long (ie no breaks after 8 hours or more).

And as WoW servers don't reset in mornings like UO servers do, it's not hard for people to script leveling and gold farming.

 

[Officerdg]

<center> <blockquote><hr>

You wouldn't have to worry about it at all if you bought the game

[/ QUOTE ] </center>


<center>I did buy the game I paid 40 for the War Chest. 30 Free days means 30 free days. I am aloud to play for FREE for 30 days. I to can appreciate the way they are watching for this kinda stuff. Its great to see a game that actually has and uses its GMs. However last I checked this is America Innocent until proven guilty. Why not try asking me send a GM in game to talk to me ask me to verify my intentions by adding valid billing info or something? No instead they put a 72 HR ban and a final warning on the account. Whats that mean? Well it means that no matter what I/We do if the slightest thing gets outta line the account is gone and why? Because Blizzard chooses to treat me as a crook and dishonest. </center>

 

[Guest]

I know what you mean, and in ways I agree, they should have talked to you.

At the same time, for those of us that have been playing WoW for a long time, you wouldn't believe how many times we've been spammed and harassed by gold farmers and the fact they're trying their hardest to catch these folks i admiralble. They have 9million players. And I doubt they have half that many GMs. So it might have been a wee bit difficult to come to you and ask. Or thye might have just seen a new account in their files that has been active X hours in X days and it sent up a warning flag and they took action.

Either way, if you email them or try to find a way to actually talk to them, it might be rectified.

 

[Guest]

Oh I'm sorry! I thought you were on one of the download "free trial" things. Still, once you play for a while and get spammed over and over by these buttheads and see how the game economy is ruined by them, you may not quite get why it's necessary for them to be careful.

I totally understand your frustation, though I hope you understand why they are responding in such a manner to you. Once you email them and explain I'm sure they'll apologize and fix it up for you.

 

[Officerdg]

<center> <blockquote><hr>

Greetings,

Thank you for your follow up e-mail regarding the account action on XXXXXXXXXX. This account has been issued a 72 hour suspension as a result of the Terms of Use under Section 3 [Establishing an Account] that “To establish an Account, you will be required to provide Blizzard with certain personal information and the Authentication Key provided to you by Blizzard. Your failure to supply accurate information to Blizzard when requested, or to update that information as it changes, shall constitute a material breach of this Agreement.” As a result, we regret to inform you that we are unable to reduce or reverse the account action previously issued.


[/ QUOTE ] </center>

<center> This is my response from Blizzard. Does this mean Wal-Mart is selling bogus codes or what? Thats where I bought my War Chest at anyway! Oh well Thank you to those of you who have expressed your willingness and concern to help. The account will be unblocked sometime thursday afternoon, I have several days of free time left so I guess we will continue to play it and decide what to do when the final free day comes. If the anal orphises at EA would put 1/3 of this attention into Ultima Online it probably wouldnt be a dead horse. </center>

 

[Guest]

I have no idea... That sounds very weird. Wish I could help.

 

[RayneStorm]

That's bloody odd. Especially them giving you a 72 hour ban right from the start. Usually they follow a Penalty Volcano ...a 72 hour ban is the next to last thing before account closure. However....here is what I think might have happened.

Account is created as a trial.
Game play is within normal time levels, slowly going up.
Account is upgraded to a full account via the War Chest with the extra free game time.
Game play time shoots up with three people playing it.
Blizzard's Monitor Tools shows a new account with almost 24/7 activity on it.
The Tool thinks you have paid for a powerleveling service and shuts you off.

Blizzard hates gold farmers and powerleveler services. They have a very knee-jerk reaction to them...usually a warning then closure of the account. Dunno if emailing them would be all that helpful...especially if you explain that three people are using the account, when according to the Terms of Use / Service, only two people can ever share an account, and ONLY if the account is in an adults name with ONE legal minor also playing the account. Blizzard more than likely figured no adult/child combo would ever play almost 24/7, hence, to Blizzard you look like a powerleveling service.

Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[DJTyrant]

Is all the time played on the same IP (computer)?

If you're switching computers often (within say a few minutes of each other) this will often flag an account also, in addition to the high play times.

I know it doesn't help your situation atm, but it at least gives you an idea as to why it happened.

 

[Officerdg]

Yes, I do understand about farmers and such and totaly agree with there stance on that type of issue. Emailing has accomplished nothing at all! We are god and our word is final is all they have to say. Of course not in those exact words. I guess the "Penalty Volcano" dont mean anything for new players they just bypass it. Thank you anyway.

 

[Officerdg]

No its on 3 differant computers. Apparently thats why I am where I am. Too many people playing one account. Thats actually obsured, my children cant play my acct? I personaly think thats the most ******** thing I have ever heard. They will give 100 reasons for it but all it boils down to is money. They are money hungry gready ppl and its all bout there pockets and lining them as much as they can by forcing people to have multiple accounts that way. Oh well, its old news. I have the acct back and several days to play free still. Unless they decide to ban me again, I mean I have already made like 10 gold in less than 24 hrs so they may think I am farming again and decide to ban me forever. We will decide by the end of the free time as to wether or not to continue. Im not sure what we will do yet as before this all happened I couldnt get enough of this game and now it like blah whatever. Thank you for your concern and advice all of you.

 

[CassieDarksong]

I can sorta understand it....sorta.

Normally a good sign of an account being "power leveled" is it being logged on by several IPs. As you have several IPs in your house from 3 different computers, it's a trigger sign.

If the children were playing on your computer, there would have been no red flag.

Either way, I hope things improve for you.