0. World of Warcraft Accounts Closed Worldwide 10/12/2006 10:02:06 AM PDT
In our continued efforts to combat cheating in World of Warcraft, more than 76,000 accounts were closed and 11 million gold was removed from the game economies in Europe, Korea, and the US in the month of September. The closed accounts were associated with activities that violate World of Warcraft's Terms of Use, such as using third-party programs that allow cheating, and farming gold and items. These types of activities can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players.
We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft.
Many account closures come as the direct result of tips reported to our GMs in game or emailed to our Hacks Team http://www.blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=eHacks000 by legitimate World of Warcraft players. If you suspect that a World of Warcraft player is using an illegal third-party program to farm gold or items, or is otherwise violating our Terms of Use, please report the suspected infraction via one of the means listed above. All reports will be investigated, and those that prove false will not result in corrective action.
As always, thank you for your continued support, and best of luck with your continued adventures in Azeroth!
7. Re: World of Warcraft Accounts Closed Worldwi 10/12/2006 10:24:56 AM PDT
Q u o t e:
11,000,000gold over 76000 accounts = 144 gold per account.
somehow.. i'm not impressed.
Or you should be impressed because that means they have done such a good job, that the farmers that are left are only able to acquire 144g before their account is closed!
9. Re: World of Warcraft Accounts Closed Worldwi 10/12/2006 10:29:16 AM PDT
Q u o t e:
Or you should be impressed because that means they have done such a good job, that the farmers that are left are only able to acquire 144g before their account is closed!
Given i've seen what appear to be bots operating in STV and Darkshire in the last week I feel that Blizzard are only catching the inept bot operators, still its a move in the right direction Good work Blizzard , please keep it up.
10. Re: World of Warcraft Accounts Closed Worldwi 10/12/2006 10:30:21 AM PDT
Grats?
-edit- Since we're here nice and cozy on the first page, I have a question. Outside of banning suspected accounts after some lengthy investigation of some sort (no idead how you handle it), are you investing any more resources in regards to detecting bot programs and other such cheat methods?
I rolled up on Echo Isles, which was released 10/05/06, and already we have the 'usual suspects'.
17. Re: World of Warcraft Accounts Closed Worldwi 10/12/2006 11:13:19 AM PDT
Everyone needs to be careful since a friend of my had their account banned for something so innocuous as transferring gold from one of their toons to another. This person is not a gold farmer by any stretch. They simply were using one account as a bank for all three accounts.
Guild banks may be especially at risk since they have the ability to collect large sums of gold and items for storage. If anything is done such as opening a ticket for a messed up raid looting situation that causes a GM to glance at the account, then it is in risk of having it banned. If you don't believe me, you will later when it happens to you or a friend of yours.
While I applaud the goals of Blizzard in protecting the economy, the techniques and thoroughness of the investigations and punitive actions leaves something to be desired.
