My account has been banned and I don't know why?

Afternoon all,

Came home after a short holiday last week to find my account banned. No idea why. I don't bot, I don't cheat, and I only chat when making a trade. 20+ years of single play and then this...

I responded to the ban by contacting Blizzard, asking what had happened and why, because I hadn't done anything, and got a generic "breach of terms and conditions" email. Ban was upheld.

I appealed this to Blizzard, wanting to know the specifics of what had transpired as I had absolutely no knowledge of what had set off the alarm at Blizzard HQ. Got a response from them and I got the following, and I quote...

"Game Master Thuinnar here.

Your Diablo 2 Resurrected game account has been permanently closed due to a violation of the Code of Conduct.

After thoroughly investigating the situation, I concluded, based on the evidence we've collected directly from your account and its activity, that the action was appropriate, so it will not be overturned.

We are unable to reveal any additional details outside what's already been disclosed in the original email that was sent alongside the account action (check spam and trash). You may submit a data request to obtain additional information.
- Want a Copy of my Data: https://support.blizzard.com/article/000157641

This action is in accordance to the Diablo 2 Resurrected game Policies, which were acknowledged and accepted by all players before they could start playing the game. These policies and conditions allow us to keep a safe and fun environment for all players. We recommend that you review the links below for additional information on the Code of Conduct and Terms of Use.
- Code of Conduct: https://battle.net/support/article/42673
- Battle.net Terms of Use: https://blizzard.com/company/legal/eula.html

Please note that, because we have reviewed our actions and verified them to be correct, we consider this matter closed"

And that's that. I have no idea why I would be banned, and no specifics were supplied so at very least I would know what they were on about. I am literally at a loss, to think 2 decades of play has led to this. I'm damn sure I wasn't hacked, and I know I didn't do anything, so is that it?

Had this sort of thing happened before to anyone else?

I'm really just stunned at the circumstances, and the manner in which Blizzard has shut me down without answering my simple request as to what I am allegedly supposed to have done. Because I certainly didn't.

Apologies for the rant, but can anybody add anything that may be helpful?

did the email they sent initially contain any information?

did you submit a data request so you can poke through it and see if theres anything there?

did you participate in RMT?

when you trade, are you cordial?

what kind of character names do you have?

theres a LOT of information to be gained here.

Thanks for the reply. Per your observations...

The initial email said, quote... "Recent activity on this account has shown characters participating in behavior that violates our Code of Conduct (https://battle.net/support/article/42673). This includes—but is not limited to—cheating, botting, and exploiting game mechanics which harms the game environment or the intended player experience". Have no idea what they are on about here, don't do any of that.

Haven't done the data request yet, but certainly intend to, as I'm still in the dark here.

Don't even know what RMT is, sorry.

Yes, always cordial in a trade, and people can attest to that.

Nothing in character names either. A level 95 Amazon, and two mules. That's it.

Mikosovich wrote: 3 hours ago

did the email they sent initially contain any information?

did you submit a data request so you can poke through it and see if theres anything there?

did you participate in RMT?

when you trade, are you cordial?

what kind of character names do you have?

theres a LOT of information to be gained here.

Big Oddy wrote: 2 hours ago

Thanks for the reply. Per your observations...

The initial email said, quote... "Recent activity on this account has shown characters participating in behavior that violates our Code of Conduct (https://battle.net/support/article/42673). This includes—but is not limited to—cheating, botting, and exploiting game mechanics which harms the game environment or the intended player experience". Have no idea what they are on about here, don't do any of that.

Haven't done the data request yet, but certainly intend to, as I'm still in the dark here.

Don't even know what RMT is, sorry.

Yes, always cordial in a trade, and people can attest to that.

Nothing in character names either. A level 95 Amazon, and two mules. That's it.

Mikosovich wrote: 3 hours ago

did the email they sent initially contain any information?

did you submit a data request so you can poke through it and see if theres anything there?

did you participate in RMT?

when you trade, are you cordial?

what kind of character names do you have?

theres a LOT of information to be gained here.

RMT = real money trade (as in Jah for $)

Big Oddy wrote: 2 hours ago

Thanks for the reply. Per your observations...

The initial email said, quote... "Recent activity on this account has shown characters participating in behavior that violates our Code of Conduct (https://battle.net/support/article/42673). This includes—but is not limited to—cheating, botting, and exploiting game mechanics which harms the game environment or the intended player experience". Have no idea what they are on about here, don't do any of that.

Haven't done the data request yet, but certainly intend to, as I'm still in the dark here.

Don't even know what RMT is, sorry.

Yes, always cordial in a trade, and people can attest to that.

Nothing in character names either. A level 95 Amazon, and two mules. That's it.

Mikosovich wrote: 3 hours ago

did the email they sent initially contain any information?

did you submit a data request so you can poke through it and see if theres anything there?

did you participate in RMT?

when you trade, are you cordial?

what kind of character names do you have?

theres a LOT of information to be gained here.

If you really haven't done any of that but Blizzard believes so and doesn't provide any other options, going to court will be the only option left.

There they will have to prove to the judge that you breached the code of conduct. Probably not worth it....

Big Oddy wrote: 4 hours ago

Afternoon all,

Came home after a short holiday last week to find my account banned. No idea why. I don't bot, I don't cheat, and I only chat when making a trade. 20+ years of single play and then this...

I responded to the ban by contacting Blizzard, asking what had happened and why, because I hadn't done anything, and got a generic "breach of terms and conditions" email. Ban was upheld.

I appealed this to Blizzard, wanting to know the specifics of what had transpired as I had absolutely no knowledge of what had set off the alarm at Blizzard HQ. Got a response from them and I got the following, and I quote...

"Game Master Thuinnar here.

Your Diablo 2 Resurrected game account has been permanently closed due to a violation of the Code of Conduct.

After thoroughly investigating the situation, I concluded, based on the evidence we've collected directly from your account and its activity, that the action was appropriate, so it will not be overturned.

We are unable to reveal any additional details outside what's already been disclosed in the original email that was sent alongside the account action (check spam and trash). You may submit a data request to obtain additional information.
- Want a Copy of my Data: https://support.blizzard.com/article/000157641

This action is in accordance to the Diablo 2 Resurrected game Policies, which were acknowledged and accepted by all players before they could start playing the game. These policies and conditions allow us to keep a safe and fun environment for all players. We recommend that you review the links below for additional information on the Code of Conduct and Terms of Use.
- Code of Conduct: https://battle.net/support/article/42673
- Battle.net Terms of Use: https://blizzard.com/company/legal/eula.html

Please note that, because we have reviewed our actions and verified them to be correct, we consider this matter closed"

And that's that. I have no idea why I would be banned, and no specifics were supplied so at very least I would know what they were on about. I am literally at a loss, to think 2 decades of play has led to this. I'm damn sure I wasn't hacked, and I know I didn't do anything, so is that it?

Had this sort of thing happened before to anyone else?

I'm really just stunned at the circumstances, and the manner in which Blizzard has shut me down without answering my simple request as to what I am allegedly supposed to have done. Because I certainly didn't.

Apologies for the rant, but can anybody add anything that may be helpful?

To answer your question "Has this ever happened to anyone else?" - Very likely but I don't know of anyone who was wrongfully banned in D2R. The anti bot measures have been ramped up so maybe they "cought" you for something that was not an issue before.

For instance, do you use any tools that modify the game like "a useful helper" or are you changing the time settings to manipulate TZs? Strictly speaking, any modification of the code or any other form of manipulation that leads to the game behaving differently is a breach of the CoC.

I have 3rd party programs running, no mods, no cheats of any kind, nor would I ever use any.

I will happily run TZ's over and again to try for a Latent Sunder, but that's about it.

Flyhorse wrote: 1 hour ago

I do know someone got banned and unbanned. He told me he got banned because of running Chaos over and over just to rush to level 99, after email explaination or something, he got unbanned because it is the only way to lvl99 since he's playing non-expantion, after all only the Diablo gives him exp.

For your case, if you truely have done nothing with "cheating, botting, and exploiting game mechanics which harms the game environment or the intended player experience", what I can think of is some sort of Memory reading / writing process performed by 3rd party program which is monitored by blizzard in real time (or not?). For example, maphack or alike. (Not saying you did that.)
General speaking you have to run the 3rd pary program to read the Memory, but sometimes a specific Mod gives you that functioin working just like maphack, rising the risk of account ban.

Again, not saying you have done this kind of thing, just a thought what might be the cause.

Don't even know what multiboxing is.

ShadowHeart wrote: 2 hours ago

vued wrote: 2 hours ago

To answer your question "Has this ever happened to anyone else?" - Very likely but I don't know of anyone who was wrongfully banned in D2R. The anti bot measures have been ramped up so maybe they "cought" you for something that was not an issue before.

Over on various Discord servers, I have heard loads of stories of wrongful banning since RoTW came out, mostly since last ladder season (which began in May). Most of the ones who mentioned it in public chat channels were able to appeal the bans and get their accounts restored (some shared screenshots of apologetic emails from Blizzard), but I’ve seen a few who had the ban upheld. Every single one of these people were multiboxing and had one or two out of X accounts banned (but the majority of their accounts weren’t, just the one or two). Still have no clue what separates the majority who got their accounts back from the minority who didn’t. Blizzard is being extremely vague about reasons.

Nope. Only have the one account. I'm so confused.

ShadowHeart wrote: 39 minutes ago

Big Oddy wrote: 41 minutes ago

Don't even know what multiboxing is.

Means you run multiple instances of the game on the same PC (requires having multiple BNet accounts with D2R purchased on each).