Random Account Ban after Attempting to do Final Assault

phillipjborrett

Hello Friends and Gm's,

Let me just say that I really enjoy the game when I can play it. However, today I had a really disappointing experience. Despite having my VR progress delayed I got a friend to port me to cold harbor for questing and am still having fun. Then I got to this final assault where the last flame completion is rough. They know about this ofc and I appreciate the work. However, while I am doing this and jumping off trying to complete it I got some bug where I would die two times. Almost like falling through the world or whatever. Well then my new desktop had issues and I had to reinstall Nvidia drives AFTER I repaired my hard drive. Excited to log back in and progress since I finally did the jump thing and fixed my computer I learn I am banned.....

No email, no reason, nothing. Sometimes even logging into my main computer or my lap top I get that code thing. I got it today. But that is normal and I just got a ban. Customer service called me back after I sent a ticket but going on around 1.5 hours now and still no email. This is really frustrating and really difficult to enjoy the game now. I love it but I can't even play now because, it seems, I was attempting the only way I know of to finish the Final Assault quest?? Any response to this would be great because now it seems a bunch of people are getting random bans.

Best Regards,

Phillip

templar_von_midgard

Hi,
The exact same thing happened to me about 2 hours ago, no email here.
Except for I didn't even try to repair the "die twice" bug.

pjlietz

I got banned aswell after falling though the world. Same here no email, no info, and no help so far.

Phillyas

Expect a long wait. Day 3 here for me and I have read others taking longer than a week.

templar_von_midgard

I just submitted another ticket, hope they look at this ASAP or even sooner.

Elsonso

I suspect that there is a bot detection program running on the server that flags instances where people "fall through the floor". If that is all this is, I would expect the ban to be temporary.

(Another thread on the subject: forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/656779)

Sarakash

I just got struck by it this evening. I was falling through the floor and finally as my character hit the ground, i was booted from the server and got suspended without any further notice.

This is not acceptable by any means. People falling through the world is a known bug, it´s anoying and on top of it, you get banned if it happens to you?

knight106

I think i was doing the same dungeon but i was the right level and everything at first i got logged out and then i logged back in. jumped up a ledge after collecting a sky shard and i got logged out again. The message that followed was someone has logged on this account even though i have never ever given out any details about my account to anyone. And then i go to there website and it says i have been suspended from there website. Does anyone know what will happen will they un ban us as i believe i have done nothing wrong apart from do a dungeon in coldharbour

d.zid.816b16_ESO

They might want to consider shutting down, or at least seriouly reworking that automated anti bot system they are currently running. (or however they are managing this)
At least until they get bugs in quests like that, and the whole falling through the world problems fixed. As this is just causing them more work, having to look into and unban accounts that likely never should have been in question to begin with, is just not tolerable.

Frankly the more I play the more worried I get that I may end up with the same kind of auto ban. Given I had the same multi-death falling through the world bug on that quest, and in more parts of the game than im comfortable with...

Jake71887

I love your attitude about this whole thing.

phillipjborrett

Update: So apparently I was banned for "offensive language." I received an email from their support about this without any proof and put in a ticket about this I called 1 person a "scrublord" in defending the game. I also said WTB a GM to fix my broken quest. These are the only 2 things I have ever done that I can think of even come close to being bannable. But even then seriously a perma ban on first offense? Some observations from this terrible experience:
1) If you want to ban someone please provide PROOF of ban instead of banning then trying to figure it out.
2) Never say anything in this game at this point that might be REMOTELY offensive. In fact .when I get my account back, and I'm pretty sure I will, I will never speak in zone again until this kind of heavy handedness ends.
3) Personally, without knowing WHAT I DID, I think it was a mistake and an excuse for accidental banning because of the time it took to email me. Their filters for banning are pathetic.
4) Playing this game is frustrating right now
5) Customer service is slow because of the sheer amount of volume. The lady who called me back said "they are extremely busy up there" and "it could be a week until I hear back"

I sincerely hope that they turn things around but given the buggy experience, the random bans for no reason and no proof and the duping exploits it seems my high hopes for an amazing game are going down. My desire is that they get this under control but in this day and age it seems like it shouldve been anticipated and systems in place to actually provide support and such for their game.

Thanks

Nooblet

Makes me happy to see banning. Shows they care. Typically banned players won't get sympathy from me on public forums after the rift devs started calling out all the stories similar to these. Fill out an appeal if you truly did nothing and wait for a response.

Phillyas

Nooblet wrote: »

Makes me happy to see banning. Shows they care. Typically banned players won't get sympathy from me on public forums after the rift devs started calling out all the stories similar to these. Fill out an appeal if you truly did nothing and wait for a response.

How would you feel if you got banned due to an technical error with the banning system and had to wait over a week?

MysticAura

It would suck, and I would be frustrated. However, at least it proves they are taking steps to deal with the bots. Their new system just needs more fine tuning.

I don't like if they're starting to ban over very minor comments. Major ones should be warned and repeated warnings should be ban. Minor comments..seems more like a GM having a grumpy day or more likely, a player being very weird (can't even think of a word to describe it) I've seen some people on here say they reported someone for a post that I could find nothing offensive in. The one that got reported just didn't agree with the reporter. In those instances I wish the reporter would be warned for abusing the report feature..

phillipjborrett

Final Update: Customer service apologized that I was "caught up in the spam filter" and my account is now unlocked! Much faster than 7 days and much better and easier response. Careful what you say in zone though, because that is what got me... not sure exactly what though. It was in Kajit roleplay lol... anyway I am thankful now that I can play. Props to the team for the relatively quick unban!

holmes.lab16_ESO

Hmm. I got kicked/suspended. I haven't spoken in chat - public or guild. Wasn't doing anything that could get me caught in auto spam filter or anything. Have never exploited, duped items, spammed or anything. Looks like a bunch of us were just kicked & suspended a little while ago.

Etchesketch

phillipjborrett wrote: »

Thanks

offensive language covers a really big area. If you were bashing somebody in /z that's offensive... despite your language. If the person complains and the gm agrees that you were attacking the person, they could ban you.

The are not required to provide any proof. They can ban anyone for any reason. Its the same in all games. It's a private business and they can toss you just because they don't want you around.

Your only recourse is to email them and make your case.

Glad they took care of it for you.

Mauzi

Etchesketch wrote: »

The are not required to provide any proof. They can ban anyone for any reason. Its the same in all games. It's a private business and they can toss you just because they don't want you around.

Sadly that's not the case at all, since this is a matter of customer trading rights:

You bought a game and by that a right to play, including those pre-purchased 30 days. If they refuse you this right by unrightful random banning, you are entitled to a refund for your purchase due to the fact that they didn't fulfill their end of the bargain. This is valid as long as THEY provide proof that you violated rules because it is THEM to cancel the contract.

Even if their ToS has phrases about them being allowed to ban at will and so on, most of those terms are void anyways due to violating various customer protection laws on either EU or country level.

Things may only be slightly different after the initial 30 days since you then are running an abo, but here in europe the prepurchased time cannot be denied without lawfully correct reasoning and giving the customer the chance to correct ZOS's view on things - BEFORE getting a ban.

And of course, after lifting the ban ZOS has the duty to replace the customer the lost gaming days, preferrably with an adequate bonus for e.g. missing out the most valuable easter holidays as gaming time.

That's how it goes almost everywhere in europe - UK excluded due to different laws, and if ZOS doesn't apply to this they're in for plenty of law suites in no time.

And yes, I am affected by a random ban for no reason too since today, which is why I read up about the problem and found plenty of threads about it.

Wrong bans is about the most stupid thing a new game can do anyways, they better keep a proper reputation and not one of "banning proper players while maintaining a world for botters and gold sellers". Which is what ZOS is currently building up, pissing off plenty of players who possibly never look back already.

Etchesketch

Mauzi wrote: »

This is valid as long as THEY provide proof that you violated rules because it is THEM to cancel the contract.

This is one hundred percent wrong and feel free to launch a lawsuit and see what you get.

They have total control of their private property and only need their own opinion that you are not good for the health of their game to ban or account lock you. Period. Again, Period.

They are not required to offer proof of anything at all.

Miezi

Etchesketch wrote: »

They are not required to offer proof of anything at all.

Repeating the same global statement will not make it correct, especially not the way you put it.

Just as written above already by my friend, it depends on where the customers live. Certain english speaking countries have nearly no customer rights at all in this regards, but most EU countries do - and that's what counts for us who live here. If you are interested, you can google up plenty of official EU laws on customer rights to compare to whatever country you base your opinion on.

Yet, I suggest to rest this and keep the above as information for everyone, while rather caring for the really important things, in this case, finally a statement from ZOS on the banning matter:

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey folks, just wanted to add a bit of clarification for the ban we issued today. The ban today was not automated. We do sometimes use automated bans for more black-and-white violations such as gold sellers. That said, we're not immune to mistakes, and will always do what we can to make right on our mistakes. If you feel you were erroneously banned or suspended, we hope you'll contact us so we can review it. We will do reverse bans and suspensions if we find we issued them in error.

Not that it helps anyone really... except telling us that "human mistakes" were done, which due to the amount of banning in almost no time is rather hard to believe and makes me expect to most likely at least have been semi-automated.