Why did i get banned?

[Kizari]

Hey there guys.
Today, i got a suspention for what would appear to be nothing.
I was playing RBGs, and capping arena with a guildie. When he got capped, i logged an alt & before i could even move, i got disconnected, and i was suspended.
I'll copy-paste the letter in here, with name of account etc removed.
I feel that its important to say, that i did in no way exploit anything, or do anything wrong. I've been getting random DC's all day though, both inside arenas & outside.

Anyway, here's the email:

Account Name: ***************
Type of Violation: PvP Arena/Battleground Exploitation
Details of Incident: Exploitation of PvP Battlegrounds and the honor system
Consequences for Account: Account suspended for 3 hours

Greetings,

This account has recently been identified as being involved in actions deemed inappropriate for World of Warcraft.

This may include, but is not limited to the following:
* Use of add-ons, "mods", external hardware, or any unapproved third party software to automate gameplay.
* Abuse of game mechanics or "bugs".
* Any behaviour that has been found to be outside the intent of the game.

This action has been taken in accordance with the World of Warcraft Terms of Use Blizzard Entertainment: Blizzard Legal Documentation and our game policies http://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/policy.

Any further inappropriate behaviour could result in penalties ranging from a temporary suspension to account closure, and may also include the loss of any rewards the exploitive character has received.

For any disputes of this action or further information on Exploitive Activity, please visit the Exploitative Activity FAQ and contact page here: http://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/200783

To maintain the integrity of our investigation methods, we will be unable to disclose the specifics of our investigation methods. Thank you for your time and for understanding our position in this matter.

Regards,

Customer Services
Blizzard Entertainment Europe
World of Warcraft

Any ideas as of why this happened?
And yes, i know its "just" 3 hours, but it still pisses me off, since i had planned on leveling an alt this evening, together with some friends.

[nerfmeplease]

Looks like you were flagged for wintrading exploiting. if you honestly didnt do that, i would put in a ticket encouraging the GM's to look into your match history so they see. Probably quicker response by calling the customer support rather than a ticket.

[zaksterz]

Looks like you were flagged for wintrading exploiting. if you honestly didnt do that, i would put in a ticket encouraging the GM's to look into your match history so they see. Probably quicker response by calling the customer support rather than a ticket.

If he was flagged as a wintrader, they wouldn't just give him a 3 hour suspension, do you think?

honestly i'm not sure though :P


EDIT: this looks like the mail you'd get back in TBC/wotlk when you always got a 3 hour suspension after getting deserter a couple of games in a row :O

[nerfmeplease]

well that took forever to find, but i did, original blue post on the punishments:

Providing an environment where players can compete in the spirit of fair play is extremely important to us, particularly in rated Player versus Player combat. As part of that commitment we regularly monitor gameplay, and have discovered an issue where some Arena teams have exploited the queuing system to obtain high team ratings, “dodge” unfavorable team compositions, and engage in win trading.

These, and all, exploitative activities are absolutely prohibited. We will investigate the situation carefully, and players that have been found to have participated in exploitation will be subject to the appropriate actions against their World of Warcraft accounts and characters, including:

Arena team deletion
Character MMR reset to 1500
All Conquest gear removed
Conquest earned tally reset, as well as all Honor and Conquest points removed.
All Arena achievements earned since the beginning of Mists of Pandaria removed.
3 day suspension

In addition to the measures already discussed, as a result of the rating inflation that occurred due to the exploitative activity, all Team Ratings and MMR above 2200 will be reset to 2200 during the upcoming maintenance.

Please note: Conquest Point caps should not be affected by this reset. Point Caps will return to the appropriate levels relative to rating the following week.

Does that include RBG ratings? A quick answer would be appreciated as queuing hangs in the balance!
It doesn't include Rated Battlegrounds at this time, and this is primarily aimed at the recognized Arena issue.

We're looking into RBGs though.

I think this change is geared towards people who weren't intentionally exploiting, but gained rating off of exploiters.
Correct!

The easiest way to figure out if this is why you were punished would be to check if you still have a team and/or your points when you log in. Like the last comment in the quote implies, not everyone benefited intentionally from the exploit. The punishment also says "appropriate actions" to the accounts.

Either way, when you figure it out, let me know!

[Rlz]

TL;DR

If you're wintrading and get a 3 hour ban - this is your get out of jail free card.

You will (as of now) keep your rating, gear & everything else but this is where you start playing legit.

Get your rating as high as possible as soon as possible and then just play legit / get ur cap and sit it out for hero.

This is theoretical but I am strongly sure that this is the deal.

[Kizari]

Logged back in, still got all teams, same ratings as before, all gear & conquest (And Season Earned still the same).

[nerfmeplease]

TL;DR

If you're wintrading and get a 3 hour ban - this is your get out of jail free card.

You will (as of now) keep your rating, gear & everything else but this is where you start playing legit.

Get your rating as high as possible as soon as possible and then just play legit / get ur cap and sit it out for hero.

This is theoretical but I am strongly sure that this is the deal.

... no. he already stated he wasnt exploiting of any kind. The only 3 hour related bans me or my friends have ever had are harassment related OP. did you call anyone a naughty name lately?

[Kizari]

... no. he already stated he wasnt exploiting of any kind. The only 3 hour related bans me or my friends have ever had are harassment related OP. did you call anyone a naughty name lately?

Depends. Does 'noob' count as a naughty name?
Other than that, I don't call people names.

I really can't think of why i got suspended.
I didn't do anything wrong the last couple of weeks, months even.
Just afraid of making a ticket & asking, incase they decide to look back at some old stuff. Who knows what they'll find prior to MoP launch, and just around that time.

[sweekz2]

Friend of mine had the same problem. Got banned for 3 hours while we were playing random BGs. Only thing that i could imagine is that the last BG before he got banned, we found a bug, where the mine cart in Silvershard Mines got out of his normal way and flew through the air. But we didn't know how that happened. And we don't know if that was the reason, the GM we asked didn't reply on the question, why exactly he got banned. He just said "We acted correctly".

[lolsap12]

Depends. Does 'noob' count as a naughty name?
Other than that, I don't call people names.

I really can't think of why i got suspended.
I didn't do anything wrong the last couple of weeks, months even.
Just afraid of making a ticket & asking, incase they decide to look back at some old stuff. Who knows what they'll find prior to MoP launch, and just around that time.

Anything that anyone can take offense too can report you the right amount of times to get you banned.