Guild Wars 2

phoenixdot.9760:

Wow, i got that message to :

Response Via Email (GM Kaine) 09/11/2012 07:22 PM
Hello,

This mail is to notify you that your account was confirmed to be violating the User Agreement and/or Rules of Conduct by engaging in the use of an unauthorized third-party application in conjunction with the Guild Wars 2 service.

As a result of this violation of the User Agreement and/or Rules of Conduct, this and all related accounts have been permanently closed. The account(s) will no longer be accessible and will not be reactivated. Our decision is made in the best interest of the Guild Wars 2 service and for the player base.

Regards,

GM Kaine
Game Surveillance Unit

So, this was auto reply after all. What happen in this game ??? i forgot to logout and falll asleep and the bammmm suddenly banned -_-

Here’s my ticket 120911-009271 same problem

I got that exact same email from them, so much for looking into the matter.

I received the same message. After summit a thread about my incident GaileGray said the chance they mistake very slim(!?) and feel free to refresh the ticket. I afk couple time to eat, go to buy something or answer my clients. I play a 2H guardian and it don’t have any special skill i can auto and spam to farm something while afk. I open a new ticket, update everything i found everyday and hope they will lift this stupid ban.

I dont understand why the banned and terminate issue. Why don’t just they delete the event (Kessex Hill centaur bridge) instead banning people and terminate it. Its too absurd for me to accept this. Maybe they have to do a better job to solve this problem (nerfing the karma, less frequent spawn event, delete it if necessarily). No warning or ban 72 hours or anything, just terminate. Give my money back. Its freaking $50 game!

seeing a common theme in this thread

“… i was just afk with X skill on auto…”

the intention is clear

Player.9621:

seeing a common theme in this thread

“… i was just afk with X skill on auto…”

the intention is clear

Skill on auto is on this game feature, you just need to cast it once on enemy and then it cast automatically or feature that change target if your cast hits another target. If you get banned for this, why put this feature on game ? Beside the reason is not that, but using third party program or bot that we do not use.

Player.9621:

seeing a common theme in this thread

“… i was just afk with X skill on auto…”

the intention is clear

might as well remove the auto attack and auto target. the intention is clear yeah ofc its very clear duh! solution? perma ban and terminate the account! Boy that escalated quickly!

Those that abused the auto cast feature are exploiting an in-game function to simulate a bot, hence you are banned for botting. Their reason given for botting is probably generic, which would be why it says 3rd party program. If you actually think it’s okay to put something on auto cast with the full intention to get rewarded while afking events, enjoy your ban. Saying it’s an in-game feature is not an excuse. Your only chance of getting unbanned, is if they just happen to give everyone a pass again.

Those that didn’t afk auto cast, probably did something else, such as using a programmable keyboard. You might not think it, but using a keyboard macro to press multiple buttons is also considered automation, aka botting. This would be referred to as a 3rd party program.

In very rare cases, some people are banned without warrant. It usually takes a very long time, if ever, to resolve the ban because they at some point saw evidence showing you were automating something, when really, you were mimicking a bot-like play style.

Healix.5819:

Those that abused the auto cast feature are exploiting an in-game function to simulate a bot, hence you are banned for botting. Their reason given for botting is probably generic, which would be why it says 3rd party program. If you actually think it’s okay to put something on auto cast with the full intention to get rewarded while afking events, enjoy your ban. Saying it’s an in-game feature is not an excuse. Your only chance of getting unbanned, is if they just happen to give everyone a pass again.

Those that didn’t afk auto cast, probably did something else, such as using a programmable keyboard. You might not think it, but using a keyboard macro to press multiple buttons is also considered automation, aka botting. This would be referred to as a 3rd party program.

In very rare cases, some people are banned without warrant. It usually takes a very long time, if ever, to resolve the ban because they at some point saw evidence showing you were automating something, when really, you were mimicking a bot-like play style.

If you think when a company banned people account suddenly because we use feature they offer without notice or warning is right then you’re wrong. Especially this game is not Free to Play game, we bought it with not a cheap price.

the goings on at such locations are without a doubt, wrong and obvious abuse of what i will refer to as a loophole in design.
to stand and watch these characters doing what they do its plain to see that something needs to be done about it.
you will get no sympathy from me.
if you park up with skills on auto and go afk for hours, theres only one reason for it.
farming bulk karma and xp without being present at the pc and in control of the character is …

well what would you call it

Player.9621:

the goings on at such locations are without a doubt, wrong and obvious abuse of what i will refer to as a loophole in design.
to stand and watch these characters doing what they do its plain to see that something needs to be done about it.
you will get no sympathy from me.
if you park up with skills on auto and go afk for hours, theres only one reason for it.
farming bulk karma and xp without being present at the pc and in control of the character is …

well what would you call it

ur name is player? why hide? i hope u get banned for no reason too. then come into the forum and ppl will give a kitten for ur post.. just like u doin now, its a kittenin 60$ dollar game its not free, u cant band players like this, without even a warning . its desrespectfull and looks like arena is stealing from us, cause now that we aready paid for the game they can simply delete ur acc and thats ok

Healix.5819:

Those that abused the auto cast feature are exploiting an in-game function to simulate a bot, hence you are banned for botting. Their reason given for botting is probably generic, which would be why it says 3rd party program. If you actually think it’s okay to put something on auto cast with the full intention to get rewarded while afking events, enjoy your ban. Saying it’s an in-game feature is not an excuse. Your only chance of getting unbanned, is if they just happen to give everyone a pass again.

Those that didn’t afk auto cast, probably did something else, such as using a programmable keyboard. You might not think it, but using a keyboard macro to press multiple buttons is also considered automation, aka botting. This would be referred to as a 3rd party program.

In very rare cases, some people are banned without warrant. It usually takes a very long time, if ever, to resolve the ban because they at some point saw evidence showing you were automating something, when really, you were mimicking a bot-like play style.

so.. if u are watchin tv and pressing 1 ure a bot? u got perma ban? u cant take ur eyes of the monitor ever? do u see how ridiculous this is?

I’m sure they can check the time intervals between spell casts, if they were say exactly 0.8 seconds between each cast, then something would be up?

This hasn’t happened to me, but I thought I’d throw my 2c in. I don’t understand how using a game function can be construed in any way as botting. Even if you are sitting in one spot for 6 hours lobbing auto attack whatevers at boars. Its a function of the game. Boggles my mind that Anet would consider it so. Kudos to them for having stringent security, but maybe that security needs a bit more fine tuning.

I have a same case too, why could they ban my account without any warning? It is a foolish rule!
Also, I can’t think a reason for ban someone afk. Any rule said I should keep my eyes on the game anytime? Something I afk and watch a film while I am wait a mission or friend.
Okay, if u still like ban player for afk. A permanent ban is rational way?
I buy the game with money! It’s not a free game.
LOL also have a ban system, sometime also have a unreasonably report or ban, does it ban for permanent?
I know it is gw2 not lol, but the way of ban to consult.
I feel like someone steal my acc!
Should be refund or unban!

bump this.. admins and all ppl need to read this stupidity from arena, they ban for no reason, without warning , and dont even answer us this is ridiculous

kamikaze.2319:

bump this.. admins and all ppl need to read this stupidity from arena, they ban for no reason, without warning , and dont even answer us this is ridiculous

Thats how is been going with this issue for some time. They know there is no rule for what they have deemed “Bannable” so now they are looking for something they can blame this on. Although my situation is slightly different, I still believe that banning someone for a reason not mentioned in the ToS is criminal.

Linestro.1056:

kamikaze.2319:

bump this.. admins and all ppl need to read this stupidity from arena, they ban for no reason, without warning , and dont even answer us this is ridiculous

Thats how is been going with this issue for some time. They know there is no rule for what they have deemed “Bannable” so now they are looking for something they can blame this on. Although my situation is slightly different, I still believe that banning someone for a reason not mentioned in the ToS is criminal.

agree

and still no responses

using your keyboard/mouse macros to play for you is 3rd party programs usage… Just becouse you have some gaming hardware producing company brand on it doesnt make it more fair.

Falrinth.4168:

using your keyboard/mouse macros to play for you is 3rd party programs usage… Just becouse you have some gaming hardware producing company brand on it doesnt make it more fair.

No one is using that.

ok heres a simulated check for what they will be looking at

time on:
7hours
skill 1 × 878457~
skill 2 x0
skill 3 x0
~…..
skill 9 x0

w x0
a x0
s x0
d x0
q x0
e x0
space x0

XP earn t 144k
karma earnt 20k ( i have no idea how much but i bet its a lot more)
gold earnt (x amount)

the people who are doing it are exploiting
its very obvious to anyone who sees it and if you take part then its at your own peril.
no amount of forum posts and hard words will undo your decision to exploit

btw kamakazi, no need for personal attacks, i didnt make you do it,
i like to earn my rewards, im not part of the instagrat silverplatter generation. effort = reward holds real meaning for me
something lost on a lot of people these days
and yea my forum name is player, seems we are both living up to our names

I was banned for hacking myself because I relogged to quickly.

It’s true that you can turn on auto-attack for an AoE skill and that skill will endlessly repeat. That’s not a bot. I’m all for banning people who are actually botting, but wouldn’t it be easier to simply not allow those types of skills for auto-attack? Banning people for afk’ing in an area where DE’s happen because they have a skill on auto-attack (and therefore look and/or behave like a bot) is worrisome. Do I need to be afraid that if I’m going to be punished if I afk somewhere on my ranger and her pet defends me?

I’m a huge supporter of Anet and of the game, but this just doesn’t sit well with me. On the one hand, I can appreciate a firm hand on rules, but on the other… there’s a line between knowing that you have to behave and being afraid that you’ll turn up a false positive in normal play and lose an account into which we’ve already invested a large amount of time and money.

Can we have some clarification on this issue?

Has anyone received help with their issue? Other than being told you are terminated.

Myrina.4658:

It’s true that you can turn on auto-attack for an AoE skill and that skill will endlessly repeat. That’s not a bot. I’m all for banning people who are actually botting, but wouldn’t it be easier to simply not allow those types of skills for auto-attack? Banning people for afk’ing in an area where DE’s happen because they have a skill on auto-attack (and therefore look and/or behave like a bot) is worrisome. Do I need to be afraid that if I’m going to be punished if I afk somewhere on my ranger and her pet defends me?

I’m a huge supporter of Anet and of the game, but this just doesn’t sit well with me. On the one hand, I can appreciate a firm hand on rules, but on the other… there’s a line between knowing that you have to behave and being afraid that you’ll turn up a false positive in normal play and lose an account into which we’ve already invested a large amount of time and money.

Can we have some clarification on this issue?

I agree with this.

Storm.8179:

Has anyone received help with their issue? Other than being told you are terminated.

None, you just got terminated and no asking or clarification or warning or notification, just banned and left without support, when you sending a ticket an auto reply mail is what you got.

Even admin on this forum not showing up.

Player.9621:

ok heres a simulated check for what they will be looking at

---

time on:
7hours
skill 1 × 878457~
skill 2 x0
skill 3 x0
~…..
skill 9 x0

w x0
a x0
s x0
d x0
q x0
e x0
space x0

XP earn t 144k
karma earnt 20k ( i have no idea how much but i bet its a lot more)
gold earnt (x amount)

---

the people who are doing it are exploiting
its very obvious to anyone who sees it and if you take part then its at your own peril.
no amount of forum posts and hard words will undo your decision to exploit

btw kamakazi, no need for personal attacks, i didnt make you do it,
i like to earn my rewards, im not part of the instagrat silverplatter generation. effort = reward holds real meaning for me
something lost on a lot of people these days
and yea my forum name is player, seems we are both living up to our names

Who are you really ? I got banned without any clear reason, and not get warning or notification. I hope you got banned too, so you can feel what customer feel when they get banned without a clear reason at all. Yeah i’m noob to all this MMO game because i play a lot FPS game, that’s why i asking them why i’m get banned and without a warning or notification. As you can see, when you buy a game, company did not banned their customer without prior notice or warn. If they did it, it same with the stole their customer money.

I was terminated due to my turrets not diminishing over time and gaining me xp while I was afk. This was due to the healing turret trait causing my turrets to stay even after the time for them to be destroyed has passed. I only figured this out after my account was banned and terminated and I began to look around online. How was I supposed to know that my turrets would remain forever with these specifications? I have posted on several forums and made my own explaining my situation, and all they have done is edit my titles or my wording. They Never explain to me what ive done.

Separate from that bug, It is not third-party use or a bot when the game is not being controlled by another program outside of Guildwars. Arenanet has made a mistake and needs to fix this.

As a customer i felt i was being scammed or stolen the account and it felt very unjust and unfair. You guys who didnt get banned can say owh this is your own fault etc etc, but please remember, from my own perspective, this is developer fault, and this event of mistake i believe will repeated in the future for a new customer. Think about it, a new player wont know what so ever about being afk or accidently exploit something. People will keep doing the same mistake because there is no real solution in the game.
What macro what bot? So we cant use the feature for any gaming acc we bought? Like razer naga? Thats dumn and your excuses is funny.
Just think about it kid! Im done with this kitteny dev, better stick with blizzard or valve.

I would encourage all of us to file a complaint with the BBB. The lack of a response other than an automated email is insufficient in addressing customer issues.

https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint/

Guild Wars 2 is great game and people find creative ways to play with the features that are part of the game. We are banned because we do not fit their idea of the “model” player. I understand banning people who are offensive. But this is customer abuse.

Let me play the game that I paid for or refund my money. This is not acceptable.

Player.9621:

ok heres a simulated check for what they will be looking at

---

time on:
7hours
skill 1 × 878457~
skill 2 x0
skill 3 x0
~…..
skill 9 x0

w x0
a x0
s x0
d x0
q x0
e x0
space x0

XP earn t 144k
karma earnt 20k ( i have no idea how much but i bet its a lot more)
gold earnt (x amount)

---

the people who are doing it are exploiting
its very obvious to anyone who sees it and if you take part then its at your own peril.
no amount of forum posts and hard words will undo your decision to exploit

btw kamakazi, no need for personal attacks, i didnt make you do it,
i like to earn my rewards, im not part of the instagrat silverplatter generation. effort = reward holds real meaning for me
something lost on a lot of people these days
and yea my forum name is player, seems we are both living up to our names

First of all, exploits are not totally the fault of us players. It is partly the abuser fault for using it, but the other half lies on the game itself. As a professional gaming industry, they should realize exploits as part of their mistake and room for improvement. Hence a clear solution will be to fix, else remove the exploit temporarily instead of banning gamers who are enjoying the game, contributing to the community and most importantly paid for the service. If it really is a major exploit, a server rollback is another option of solution although people don’t usually prefer that as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I support banning for bots. However, I believe permanent banning/termination for such first time exploit offenders is clearly unacceptable. Some of us have just been playing for a few days and have yet to get a grasp of the game. You would not even know if anything is an exploit or is it just how the game works. I understand that they might have more urgent issues to take care of but despite of the tons of work they have after just 2+ weeks since official release, ArenaNet team problem-solving approach of spamming the verdict of permanent banning is definitely being taken too lightly if they really are just looking and deciding based on such statistics.

Why the staff still haven’t any reasonable reply for us.
We can see it’s a hot post in the forum, one and one victim get a permanent termination without any mention or warning even not listen our explain?
Or Anet only care about how many people buy this game?
Some of post have been reply, why a post concern so much people couldn’t get a reply?
What is the sequence for reply?

Same thing happened to me, I let my nephew play a character on my account so that he could see how awesome the game was, next time I logged on I was banned, no way to find out what really happened. Just says for botting or third party.

I would at least say, delete the character that the violation happened on, or at most a lengthy suspension so that customers get the point and won’t violate (or in my case, give out their account information).

I am hoping that if enough people comment on this issue, they will offer us an appeal like they did for the 3000 people banned for buying cheap karma items.

- frustrated and confused

Treu.6514:

Same thing happened to me, I let my nephew play a character on my account so that he could see how awesome the game was, next time I logged on I was banned, no way to find out what really happened. Just says for botting or third party.

I would at least say, delete the character that the violation happened on, or at most a lengthy suspension so that customers get the point and won’t violate (or in my case, give out their account information).

I am hoping that if enough people comment on this issue, they will offer us an appeal like they did for the 3000 people banned for buying cheap karma items.

- frustrated and confused

i hope so too.. there are like 50 posts about this same problem ,those ppl should post it here too like we did

i am a casual player with two lvl 20+ character, one is elementalist and an engineer. i do not know i was exploring nor my intention to violate. i am very sorry. give us 2nd chance. 72 hours suspend or delete all my character, please work with us. We learn our lesson.

I was Banned for third party use/Botting. They claim now that I am doing personal attacks when I am explaining wrongful bannings. Fix This Arenanet!

Treu.6514:

Same thing happened to me, I let my nephew play a character on my account so that he could see how awesome the game was, next time I logged on I was banned, no way to find out what really happened. Just says for botting or third party.

I would at least say, delete the character that the violation happened on, or at most a lengthy suspension so that customers get the point and won’t violate (or in my case, give out their account information).

I am hoping that if enough people comment on this issue, they will offer us an appeal like they did for the 3000 people banned for buying cheap karma items.

- frustrated and confused

sadly in your case letting your nephew play on your account alone was violation of the TOS that you just admitted

Oh please. Letting someone play your game to try it out is not account sharing. How about we just stop letting people borrow other games of ours because it might as well be the same as illegally copying the game?

Myrina.4658:

It’s true that you can turn on auto-attack for an AoE skill and that skill will endlessly repeat. That’s not a bot. I’m all for banning people who are actually botting, but wouldn’t it be easier to simply not allow those types of skills for auto-attack? Banning people for afk’ing in an area where DE’s happen because they have a skill on auto-attack (and therefore look and/or behave like a bot) is worrisome. Do I need to be afraid that if I’m going to be punished if I afk somewhere on my ranger and her pet defends me?

I’m a huge supporter of Anet and of the game, but this just doesn’t sit well with me. On the one hand, I can appreciate a firm hand on rules, but on the other… there’s a line between knowing that you have to behave and being afraid that you’ll turn up a false positive in normal play and lose an account into which we’ve already invested a large amount of time and money.

Can we have some clarification on this issue?

I agree with this, I also feel like arenanet should tone the severity of punishment a bit, a permanent ban for the first offense is a bit harsh, especially in these cases where the intention wasn’t to exploit.

Linestro.1056:

Oh please. Letting someone play your game to try it out is not account sharing. How about we just stop letting people borrow other games of ours because it might as well be the same as illegally copying the game?

im actually confused now, they contradict themself in the same paragraph in 9.B.

(b) Each Account may only be used by one person. If a minor has been allowed access to an Account by his/her parents or legal guardians, only that minor may use the Account thereafter. You may not make any assignment or transfer of rights, obligations or liabilities related to this agreement and any attempt by You to do so is null and void. However, You may allow access to an Account to any family member who is living in Your household.

If you read the whole thing your like ok so if i buy this for my kid i cant use the account however im a family member living in the same household so i can … wait what

GaileGray.9587:

A lot of times an account is hacked and the hacker does something in violation of the User Agreement. Don’t worry, Support can sort that out for you.

Thank you for the response, Gaile. For clarification: are you saying that these are cases related to account compromise, and that the AoE auto-attack is not an exploit deserving of a ban, even if someone afk’s in a dynamic-event-prone area?

I was unbanned today and everything still there ! Anyone just like me patient and they will reply. 4 days waiting

GaileGray.9587:

Myrina.4658:

GaileGray.9587:

A lot of times an account is hacked and the hacker does something in violation of the User Agreement. Don’t worry, Support can sort that out for you.

Thank you for the response, Gaile. For clarification: are you saying that these are cases related to account compromise, and that the AoE auto-attack is not an exploit deserving of a ban, even if someone afk’s in a dynamic-event-prone area?

Nope, I would not say that. I’m making a statement about the general practices of account hackers. AFK gaming isn’t gaming, in my opinion, so I’d never do it and I would hope that people would not expect to get by with it. But that’s personal opinion — I’m not speaking beyond that.

Thank you for your reply. This is not something that I have done myself- because, as you say, all it does is rob yourself of the opportunity to level your character, and what’s the point of that? My concern in this case is for those people who aren’t actively trying to exploit, but who might not be thinking when they /afk.

Would disabling the auto-attack feature on skills that could be exploited (or putting a limit on the repeating function) be something that Anet could look into for the future? I’d hate to see someone get permabanned for an accident.

It’s almost 5 days already since I got banned.

I saw someone posted that he got banned for using turrets. I don’t know what he was doing but my case is here:

I got my account long before the release. So i was able to participate in 2 of 3 BWE’s (i missed the 2nd BWE because I wasn’t available during the time.) There were other BWE’s but I think only selected people were allowed to participate.

Anyway, I created 5 accounts as soon as we were allowed to play on August 25. My main character is a level 19 Engineer and really haven’t progressed much in the game but I like the character already. So what i did is create another engineer (i deleted on char) and my intention is to use it to farm items in Defense of Shaemoor because i get a lot of leathers there and I wanted to make that character perma-DoS character (similar to permanent pre-searing character that earned LDoA).

During the process, I enjoyed playing the character in DoS (defense of shaemoor) that i made it beyond level 5 or so…that I earned skill point so I unlocked turret. When it happened, i started playing AFK using turret until i learned the other turret which made my so happy because i can AFK and a the same time level up my character…farm karma and get loots. This went on as my normal game until one time while i was playing…i turned level 16. A tiny bag dropped and I picked it up (I already know that you get new item each time you level up in DoS) and put the item on (i think it was a pair of pants). Shortly after that (only few minutes), i got booted out and I got a message that i was blocked because of unacceptable behavior. When I checked again later, the message changed and it says that my account is terminated.

My account with level 19 and level 16 got banned for botting. and my character is in DoS and i been playing with it for i think 5 days.

As i mentioned in my ticket, i don’t want to argue anymore. I was just praying and hoping that they will give me back my account coz i miss it so much. It’s fun to play in DoS with a high level character—without botting.

My biggest concern is whether or not this is something an average player should be mindful of (even one who might unthinkingly /afk).

However, if these are cases similar to the karma weapon or code of conduct infraction cases where the banned users were guilty above and beyond an accident (hate speech, hundreds to thousands of weapons, etc.), then I will feel much better about the situation.

I am unbanned….I honestly am surprised. I retract any obligatory remarks I made. I thought they banned me and just did not reply to me because they didn’t want to deal with it. Well. Thanks ArenaNet, I guess I should not have gotten so angry, but in my position I felt I had been cheated and reacted that way.

Linestro.1056:

I am unbanned….I honestly am surprised. I retract any obligatory remarks I made. I thought they banned me and just did not reply to me because they didn’t want to deal with it. Well. Thanks ArenaNet, I guess I should not have gotten so angry, but in my position I felt I had been cheated and reacted that way.

I’m still hoping i’ll be unbanned. Did they say anything about turrets? Is it really a bannable offense? My character was level 16 in Defense of Shaemoor. I’ve been using Turrets since level 5 or 6 i think…at the time i got my first skill point.

BlueFeather.9012:

Linestro.1056:

I am unbanned….I honestly am surprised. I retract any obligatory remarks I made. I thought they banned me and just did not reply to me because they didn’t want to deal with it. Well. Thanks ArenaNet, I guess I should not have gotten so angry, but in my position I felt I had been cheated and reacted that way.

I’m still hoping i’ll be unbanned. Did they say anything about turrets? Is it really a bannable offense? My character was level 16 in Defense of Shaemoor. I’ve been using Turrets since level 5 or 6 i think…at the time i got my first skill point.

I just got a message saying “After reviewing the issue, it appears that your account was blocked in error. Your account is now released and you should be able to log in to Aion. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Please let us know if we can help you with anything else.”

However it is funny that two days before I got this
“Hello,
This mail is to notify you that your account was confirmed to be violating the User Agreement and/or Rules of Conduct by engaging in the use of an unauthorized third-party application in conjunction with the Guild Wars 2 service.

As a result of this violation of the User Agreement and/or Rules of Conduct, this and all related accounts have been permanently closed. The account(s) will no longer be accessible and will not be reactivated. Our decision is made in the best interest of the Guild Wars 2 service and for the player base." So…whats going on?