Guild Wars 2

From what I can see in the notes on this ticket, the account your friend has listed does not exist. I’ve asked an agent to take a look. I’m working off of 121020-002767.

Edit: He also has been unable to prove that he owns the account, and given the things that have happened in the background, I would appraise this to be an “account ownership in dispute” issue. It’s best to await help from the senior agent to whom it is assigned, because he or she may be able to figure out who really owns the account and move forward from there.

The team is not willfully holding resolution; they are taking the time to make sure they give access to the account to the true owner. We all apologize for any delay, but it’s best to be careful and prudent in situations that involve ownership and access.

Please see if the tip in this thread is helpful.

Please see if the tip in this thread is helpful.

We have a small glitch in the forums where it may be difficult to see your posts. There’s a pretty easy solution:

If you click on a thread and it takes you to a blank page, you should change the url in your browser to trim off the page and post data. For example, take this sample post:

• https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/Night-Capping-and-YOU/page/22#post428654

Simply change that URL to:

• https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/Night-Capping-and-YOU/

Please try this if you find you cannot see a post and let us hear back if it doesn’t work for you.

Afrocles.6978:

I appreciate the update on 121019-001684, Gaile. Here’s our dilemma: he submitted this ticket through the “ask a question” page without being signed in to a support account, since it was giving him an error when he tried creating one using the e-mail originally associated with his gw2 account. Unless we’re missing something, we can’t find a way to update the ticket now. Should we attempt to create a new ticket while signed into a new support account (using a new e-mail address completely unassociated with his guild wars account) or is there a better way to approach this?

I see that the team asked you for some account verification information on the 19th. If you cannot update the ticket simply by responding to the email that should have been auto-generated, then yes, created a new ticket but be sure to include the first ticket in your message to Support, so they can gather all the info together.

Kotik.7836:

Is the support team working during weekends?

Yes, the team works 24/7/365. (Some coverage may be a bit light on holidays, but weekends have a significant staff on board.)

The best thing to do is use the mobile or email authenticator, where you control who accesses your account.

The problem with IP blocking is that, quite frankly, most hackers and more account thieves will use a proxy that makes it appear they’re coming from a different location. So instead of Beijing, it might appear to come from Boston or Berlin. Therefore, saying “Block all these IPs” isn’t effective when the proxy might be in the same state or country.

What is it you guys are trying to do? If it’s access your account or play the game, then this should be posted in Bugs. If it’s something to do with your account overall, or with an attempted purchase, then this is the right place.

It’s hard to say which of the scenarios it is, but if there were access attempts, it’s better to react conservatively and change the password than assume it was just an attempt and all will be well.

anonymouse.9053:

Anyway, it doesn’t matter where they come from since virtually they can come from almost anywhere. Blocking IP addresses is pointless since IP addresses can change, and sometimes legitimate players can be blocked. Also, considering I could play the game using an IP address in many different countries, despite living in the US, I could still play the game even if every IP address in the USA was blocked. So blocking the USA wouldn’t block me, but it would block millions of legitimate players. (NO, I am NOT a gold farmer… lol… I am just using myself as an example)

Blocking specific IP address isn’t the solution. User education about maintaining account security (and not supporting gold farmers!!!), and giving players the tools with which they can maintain that security, is much more effective in the long run.

This is true and helpful to those puzzled by the issue. Thanks for posting.

Kotik.7836:

And i would also like to know whats limitations a region introduces.

For an example with my first key that i got from a non authorized reseller i was able to play on the EU servers. So either i had the EU key or the key itself doesn’t limit you from accessing different regions, if that’s the case i don’t understand why use different regions for keys.

In any case i am only assuming that my first key was an EU key based on the key description on the sellers page.

Regarding the second key i am absolutely sure it is an EU key bought from an authorized reseller listed on the GW2 page itself.

Well, yet i am still getting the “invalid region” error when i try to add my second key.

I understand. This definitely should be discussed with Support.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

Gail, correct me if I’m wrong, but this sounds like the posters above purchased an invalid key meant for a different region, so now when they are trying to use a legitimate key from the correct region, it is being rejected. Does this sound right?

I was responding to Neon, who pointed out (correctly) that our web page was temporarily broken. It’s fixed now.

And yes, someone who purchases from a seller who offers codes for the other region will need to get a refund and acquire a code for the correct region. More information in the Knowledge Base: support.guildwars2.com.

Arks.4085:

The least that could happen is for me to get an e-mail telling me that my password has been changed. I didn’t get any of that confirming that was password was changed, it just WAS changed.

Have you installed the mobile or email authenticator? That will help you increase your security greatly.

If I had a nickel of everyone who said “I’m secure” and then was proved not to be secure, I’d be quite wealthy right now.

Bots do not signify a security breach; they signify the use of stolen credit cards and the creation of accounts, which has nothing with your contention that there is or has been a security breach in our game or on our network. Just consider volume to assure yourself that this is not the case.

The password lists are widely available; feel free to do a few Internet searches to learn more.

The bottom line is that you should do what you desire in relation to your account. We’ll continue to take the best measures possible for our players.

Thanks, Rafael. I look forward to seeing other updates (or edited posts) to include Incident Numbers.

This is not an effective means to address a player’s personal security issue. Giving out gems as you suggest would mean we’d inject a considerable amount of wealth into the game. And doing that harms all players because it causes in-game inflation, raises the costs of goods, and devalues acquired items.

We’re very sympathetic with people whose accounts are compromised and we spend whatever time it takes to help each player re-secure his/her account and regain access to the account. In the future, we will be able to offer the Account Restoration Service where someone whose account is hacked can be rolled back, thereby restoring his characters, levels, items, and wealth while, with the resulting research, also closing the accounts involved in the hacking and removing the stolen items from the economy. But I probably should say that even when this system is in place, there will be limitations, including the fact that we will not offer this service multiple times for a single player.

That’s why individual security is so important and why we publish security articles to help players take care of themselves while we maintain our end of the security equation.

When you guys post in this thread, it’s only meaningful if you include your ticket number. I know you may be frustrated, but if you include the number, there’s actually a value to the post (aside from getting something off your chest ).

Thanks for including your 12-digit Incident or Ticket Number.

Also please note that some of the people posting here in heated tones are botters or RMT workers. Not everyone who is blocked is blocked in error. In fact, the vast majority of those whose accounts are terminated are provably guilty. Sometimes there are issues, occasionally there are errors, but they are a tiny percentage and we will take care of those. But please don’t perceive there’s some sort of massive problem simply because you see people protesting. In some cases, the protest is well-warranted. In others, it’s just a rant from a frustrated botter or RMTer.

Thank you for pointing out that page error! I just reported it to the team.

That is a temporary issue and the “buy site” will be fixed real soon. The broken page isn’t an indication that you’re on the wrong page or cannot use that page to purchase. It’s just a momentary server burp.

The network team is on the case!

Please read Mike O’Brien’s article on account security to answer many of the concerns that you have addressed.

The fact your husband’s account experienced an attempted access—and that you were informed of it—is a good thing. And of course, making a change in credentials is highly desirable in such situations.

Also, please know that players have the capacity to remove their CC details — retention is optional.

The game account and support account are separate, yes. Someday I hope that will not be the case, and you can have exactly the same details on both, so I believe it’s not too much of an inconvenience.

There is a limit of one game account and one support account per email address, but you can have one of each on the same email address.

I do not believe that this would be considered an issue in relation to your account.

Be sure to check your Spam Filter and your Junk Mail. Sometimes the mail is filtered directly into one of those boxes and you never see it. Or it’s auto-deleted, so check your “Deleted” file as well.

If it’s not there, then please do contact Support for help.

Support can help both of you if you contact them. But you should know that the best place to purchase a code is buy.guildwars2.com. You will be sure to get (1) a valid code, and (2) a code that is right for your region of the world.

At the present time, and I don’t know that this will change, guilds accrue their Influence and upgrades on a specific world. They’re welcome to gain Influence and upgrades on multiple worlds, but we don’t shift things around upon request or through a mechanic tied to their world change.

I personally feel that the benefits of being on a less-populated world are considerable. As you mention, you can have folks join you in the future and that’s a real good thing.

It’s really nice of you to post that. We’re glad to offer the email and mobile authenticator systems, and we can see measurable reductions in account thefts when players choose to take advantage of one of the systems!

Guild upgrades are world-specific. If your guild moves to a new world, the upgrades and Influence will remain on the original world. If you transfer back in the future, it will remain in place for your guild.

If you did not change worlds, then it may be worth submitting a ticket to inquire about this.

I believe we will have information about this next week.

If an account it terminated for cause — botting, gold sales, use of a stolen credit card, or other breaches of the User Agreement or Rules of Conduct — then it cannot be reinstated with the application of a new code. It is closed forever.

If someone was sold an invalid code and purchases a legitimate code, then Support may be able to help with reinstating the account. But again, if the account was terminated because it was involved in a breach of the User Agreement or Rules of Conduct, it will not be reopened.

I suggest that you please contact Support for more information.

I’m so sorry this happened to you. Right now, we’re unable to correct this issue, either by offering a “sell back” option or through replacement of the Karma. We are discussing this with the Live Team, to see how we can best handle future incidents of this type.

121020-002897 Resolved
120825-014150 and 121019-002435 Resolved; please respond to the second ticket if you did not get the items
120910-006939 and 121022-002361 Resolved; please respond to the second ticket if you did not get the items
120825-026231 and 121025-000056 In queue for distribution, probably tomorrow

Snoflake.9087:

To Gaile, Peter, Gus, GM Alura, Taredis and everyone else in the Support Team who helped me on my ticket (and everyone else with the Tome problem).

I just wanted to say a very big thank you to all of you for the response and resolution to my ticket about the Tome of Influence wigging out right back on headstart day one/hour one. I can’t wait to get home from work (6 hours from now >.<’ ) and see if everything goes as planned. I’ll keep you guys updated if it all goes pear shaped.

You guys rock.

TimTams for everyone*!

Note: TimTams are a chocolate covered, cream filled biscuit that can double as a straw whilst drinking tea/coffee. TimTams are unfortunately virtual because Aussie scientists are slack and haven’t invented matter teleporters yet.

Woohoo, TimTams! *~pounce~

Thanks for such a warm, positive note. We’re so happy to be able to help players, and doubly happy when they are happy in return.

Abaddons Acolyte.7438:

Hello..
Thank you for getting back to me Gaile, and It seems that the 24 hour time window they gave me had been removed and I was able to make the purchase of the 150$ on October 19th
Now, LOL……..the issue with me is that I always work a large amount of over time at my work and as a thank you my boss likes to treat me with Mastercard/visa gift cards.
So I got another one today, Low and Behold…….BLOCKED ……Again….
So I submitted a ticket, [Incident: 121026-000031]
I only want to buy the dang Witch costume, so I am worried I wont get it in time.
But oh well its just a skin.
Anyways I heard in another forum that there may be some sort of gem limit in a 7 day period, is this true? Or is it….
You guy just dont like me 0_0
Why you no want my money !!?!?!

Oh dang it! I was thinking as I read “Gift card, that should work!” But I see… not so much. ~sigh~

I love the witch costume, I don’t blame you at all. But be assured it’s available through the event! And while this is irritating, please don’t take it personally. We do <3 you and we definitely would like to accept your money.

Let me see if I can find out about whether there’s a limit.

EDIT:

Just talked to a team member, and he told me that it’s the financial institution that is blocking the purchases. He suggests that you contact them — your bank, perhaps, or the credit card company — and pursue this issue. After you do that, I’d suggest you update your existing ticket and tell the agent what you learned, and if there is further trouble, update the ticket again and we’ll throw another hamster into the giant Wheel O’ Business on our end.

I’m sorry for all the hoops — we’re working to reduce those, but must be watchful for the large number of illicit transactions that are attempted each day. :-/

It’s most helpful if players will allow the Support Team a few days before they post in this thread. There’s no need to post right after submitting a ticket, but rather, wait a few days to see if the issue can be resolved and post here if the issue continues, or if you have a repeated issue.

Thanks for understanding.

Please do not create a ticket and then post in the forums. You ticket will be reviewed and addressed as quickly as possible.

I will tell you that until you have not given the team nearly enough information to help you. With respect, there is nothing in your ticket that shows that you own the account. Please re-open your ticket and add:

• your serial code
• your birthday
• your Guild Wars account username (if you have a GW account)
• the last four digits of your CC if you purchased from buy.guildwars2.com.

Kotik.7839:

Thanx for the heads up.

What exactly means “In Appeals Queue, awaiting review”?

In most cases, the appeal queue is where tickets are routed when the serial code is invalid or when the account was involved in disallowed activities. There are a few reasons this may happen:

• Someone purchased Guild Wars 2 from (an unauthorized) third-party that used a fraudulent credit card to acquire the code.
  • Players learns the serial code is invalid and that he/she needs to seek a refund from the (unauthorized) seller or reseller. The good news in situations like this is that generally, once the player obtains a new serial code, he or she can continue to play on the existing account.
• Someone used a fraudulent credit card to acquire the code, but is saying he did not do so.
  • They know what they did, but they try to pretend they didn’t, hoping we’ll let them have a free account. (We won’t.)
• A player’s account was compromised and use for illicit activities such as botting, RMT spam advertisements, etc. The player finds out about this when he or she regains access to the account and finds the account has been blocked for these activities.
  • Once we can verify the facts, we will return access of the account to the owner and will remove the block that was prompted by the account thief’s actions.
• A RMT worker truly was involved in disallowed activities like botting or selling gold and has gotten caught.
  • They appeal even though they are guilty.

Being in the Appeals Queue doesn’t necessarily mean we’re pointing the finger at someone saying, “You did a bad thing!” What it means is that “This issue needs more research.” When that is the case, specially-trained agents review the incident and make a decision about the next step.

jgowans.3156:

Leadeater.3298:
I submitted a ticket on 10/20 after finding my account was terminated for supposedly assisting in gold sales for real money. Any update on the status of this would be appreciated. 121020-001238
I got the same issue as you. T_T

Same issue.

Edit: Sorry, forgot reference 121024-003346

Please note that this thread is for issues that have not been resolved in 3 days or more. This ticket is less than 24 hours old. I do understand that you are eager for a resolution, but I ask that you please allow the team sufficient time to research the issue and get back to you. Thanks for understanding.

Update — Thursday, 25 October

121018-000664 Resolved
121019-000100, 121020-000001 Resolved
121019-001684 We are awaiting more information; please update your ticket
121020-002032 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121020-000494 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121022-002501 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121022-000841, 121022-000907 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121020-001238 In Compromised Account queue
121021-001711 In Compromised Account queue
121020-002032 In Compromised Account queue
121018-000460 Under review by Payments Team

Update — Thursday, October 25

121018-000664 Resolved
121019-000100, 121020-000001 Resolved
121019-001684 We are awaiting more information; please update your ticket
121020-002032 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121020-000494 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121022-002501 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121022-000841, 121022-000907 In Appeals Queue, awaiting review
121020-001238 In Compromised Account queue
121021-001711 In Compromised Account queue
121020-002032 In Compromised Account queue
121018-000460 Under review by Payments Team

Notes:

• Most of those awaiting review are flagged either for “gold selling” or for “fraud.” These reviews take a bit of time, because in many cases the account was compromised and used for botting or other disallowed activities. Please continue to discuss these matters with the Support Team to reach the best resolution.

• Please also note that people working for RMT companies — who are in extreme breach of the User Agreement and the Rules of Conduct — sometimes submit appeals. We will not reinstate accounts found to be involved in these breaches. If something is listed as “final response” it will not be reviewed again.

If your ticket is at least three days old, and if you still need assistance, please post in the  Tickets for Review – 3 days and older [merged] thread, which is here at the top of this forum.

Do both the new and old passwords work? Or does only the old one work? Could you please try to change again, and if it’s still not changing, post an update?

Thanks for your help.

Actually, your post in the “Tickets for Review — 3 days and older” thread is under review this afternoon.

In a general sense, I’d like to ask that people not post more than one thread in relation to a review request, and the “3 day” post is the best for issues that meet that parameter.

As an answer to the general question, yes, when we discover that an account was compromised, we investigate thoroughly and do our very best to track and close all accounts involved. I can remember a case when one reported hacking resulted in 38 closed accounts!

While it’s true that we do not have the capacity to restore (roll-back) accounts quite yet, we will be able to restore accounts in the future. We are very excited about this, because it will mean that innocent victims who request the service immediately following return of access will suffer fewer ill effects from an account compromise.

I do believe (as I said in the linked post) that you two should choose a less-populated server and move there. We cannot move by request.

I suggest you go ahead and contact Support by filing a ticket through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page. They will be able to assist you.

The team has responded. Your friend needs to provide information. The account name he provided is not accurate, and he offered no other details. This is required to prevent account theft. Please have your friend read all the replies and respond accordingly. We want to help.

If you’re required to change your password, your password is known to hackers. I’m sorry if you disbelieve that, but that is the case. The password may not have been used yet, but to prevent a future compromise, why not just change your password and move on?

Here is how I see the last batch of reports:

121020-002845 Resolved
121019-001617 Resolved
121020-000049 Resolved
121022-001287 Resolved
121023-002744 Resolved
121024-002738 Resolved
121025-001302 Resolved
121025-001369 Resolved
121023-003333 Resolved — did you check with your bank about why they were preventing you from making purchases?
121020-002050 Suggestions supplied on 10/20
121021-000737 Info provided 10/21
121021-000603 Info provided 10/21
121022-000213 Info provided 10/23
121021-001267 Info sent 10/21 — are you ok now?
121024-002336 As explained yesterday, your bank is preventing these purchases. Please contact them and get back with Support if you need help after that.
121023-002998 In queue for review
121025-001638 Moved to Technical Support Forum

Kynas.2105:

I haven’t put in a ticket for this, as there seem to be numerous instances of this already mentioned in this thread.. but I can’t get any of my credit cards to work with the gem store. I’ve used them to purchase them in the past without issue, so I’m pretty sure the problem isn’t on my end.

It could be your bank that is the issue, or our fraud protection systems may be preventing the purchase. If you contact Support the team will help you figure out the cause and, if it’s on our end, work with you to resolve it.

Nerradus.2590:

Is there a way to buy Gems other than in game?
I pointed out in Beta, that I didn’t like the idea of buying or using my credit card details in game, and some of my concerns back then seem to have become a reality.

Can’t we have something in our account page on the main site, or buy something like game cards which could then be sold in a store?

I’d like to see something like a subscribtion based system as an option, so I could set up to have XX amount of gems a month.

Yes, gem cards are available! Please read this page for more information.

I am sorry that you’re hitting a limit on purchases, even though I do understand that such limits are necessary from our perspective (due to so much fraud and so many disallowed purchases). It’s disappointing that fraudsters make it difficult for us legitimate people to make purchases!

Please note that the event will run until November 1st, so it’s not ending too soon. And since you wisely submitted a ticket, the support team will have a chance to review this and work with you on the purchase limit. I believe that you will hear about this very soon, and I am sorry for your wait.

What is the name? And which mod did you speak with in checking the name?

I’m sorry, but we normally do not have moderators giving approval for names, so I need to check into these details.