Account suspended for grinding bosses in Craglorn - Loyal fan and customer for over 20 years

Augustiine · May 2014

Hello there. I have been a loyal customer since the early start. I've bought the Imperial Edition box set, Hero's guide and everything you can imagine Elder Scrolls related. In fact, I've been playing this series sice Arena in 1994. Yesterday night, I've managed to get my only char up to Veteran rank 12 with my guildmates.

How did I do it?

By killing the bosses on Ruins of Kardala over and over again. I don't think this can be considered hacking or cheating as it was something that the game allowed to do, also known as grinding. Besides, hundreds of people, if not all people in Craglorn, were doing it.

I am NOT a gold seller or a bot, just a very focused player that did that boss run for 5+ hours.

Therefore, I would like to get my account unsuspended. I've put days into this and its not fair to get banned for something like that without any kind of explanation.

Thanks,

@Augustiine

Crassius · May 2014

https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/ask

Use: " I would like to appeal a suspension/ban" in the dropdown.

This is quicker than posting here and hoping. It's all the mods here will do for you anyway so get in there first. Good luck.

DrywFiltiarn · May 2014

I doubt that your playstyle is related to you being banned. Reading among the recent topics of people that have been banned as of recent, the banning is something that can happen at any time in any location as it seems, there have been several cases already where people leave an instanced area, disconnect and become banned. Zeni really needs to investigate this... To me it appears it could be related to bot-detection mechanism they implemented giving false positives under certain circumstances.

Epona222 · May 2014

There have been a few threads today and yesterday where people were disconnected/crashed and ended up with suspended accounts - if you've just been playing the game then it should end up sorted out OK, just appeal it Crassius says above.

In a way, view it as encouraging that Zeni are using a heavy hand to ban people as there are so many bots, on appeal I am sure they will look at your account and see the activity indicates that you are a normal human player

Majosea · May 2014

Woke up, and did the normal morning things. Go to start up my game and the password does not work. Go to the site..the password does not work, so I change my password. Go to logon and it says that I have been suspended from the site. Hacked was the first thing that came to my brain but then I see all the lovely posts about how Zen have dropped the ball again. I have sent two request in; one for phone and one for email support. I do not bot; I do not sell nor buy gold; I tend to stay out of zone chat discussions unless I am looking for a group. I get online and play the game for hours with my brothers or alone. Zenimax, I want the account back soon.

Augustiine · May 2014

Thanks for the encouraging messages guys. This is really an unfair situation and I hope everything get sorted out for fair players like us.

Mistamichal · May 2014

Epona222 wrote: »

In a way, view it as encouraging that Zeni are using a heavy hand to ban people as there are so many bots, on appeal I am sure they will look at your account and see the activity indicates that you are a normal human player

I agree. I think the minor inconvenience of having to contact Zeni to get your account unsuspended is more than made up for by the (hopefully) thousands of bot accounts that will be permanently banned.

KerinKor · May 2014

Mistamichal wrote: »

Epona222 wrote: »

In a way, view it as encouraging that Zeni are using a heavy hand to ban people as there are so many bots, on appeal I am sure they will look at your account and see the activity indicates that you are a normal human player

I agree. I think the minor inconvenience of having to contact Zeni to get your account unsuspended is more than made up for by the (hopefully) thousands of bot accounts that will be permanently banned.

Nice theory in blind support of ZOS .. the reality I'm seeing is that bots I reported DAYS ago are still running/flying about, so those unjustly banned don't even get that crumb of comfort.

As one of the many hundreds falsely suspended several weeks ago I don't accept being collateral damage in ZOS lost war against RMT and the bots is a "minor inconvenience".

I suggest you try it someday.

Augustiine · May 2014

If I can get my account unsuspended I agree with that! I don't mind being locked out of the game for a day or two. I just would like to get a response from ZOS and not just being suspended without any kind of information.

I have been a fan of this series for 20 years now and it would be really sad if they do not reactivate my account and I just loose my character that I literraly put weeks to built. Life will go on, but they will loose one the most loyal customers they ever had, Im sure about that.

Majosea · May 2014

KerinKor wrote: »

Mistamichal wrote: »

Epona222 wrote: »

In a way, view it as encouraging that Zeni are using a heavy hand to ban people as there are so many bots, on appeal I am sure they will look at your account and see the activity indicates that you are a normal human player

I agree. I think the minor inconvenience of having to contact Zeni to get your account unsuspended is more than made up for by the (hopefully) thousands of bot accounts that will be permanently banned.

Nice theory in blind support of ZOS .. the reality I'm seeing is that bots I reported DAYS ago are still running/flying about, so those unjustly banned don't even get that crumb of comfort.

As one of the many hundreds falsely suspended several weeks ago I don't accept being collateral damage in ZOS lost war against RMT and the bots is a "minor inconvenience".

I suggest you try it someday.

Completely agree with your assessment and to the other poster, it is not a minor inconvenience to some people
.

ZOS_MichelleA · May 2014

Have you submitted a ticket yet, @Augustiine? If so, would you please let us know the ticket number so that we can look into this? Thanks for your support and patience thus far.

Majosea · May 2014

ZOS_MichelleA wrote: »

Have you submitted a ticket yet, @Augustiine? If so, would you please let us know the ticket number so that we can look into this? Thanks for your support and patience thus far.

not Augustine but here you go

140524-010576

140524-010952

Skewki · May 2014

@ZOS_MichelleA, are the login timeouts with the 301 error after trying to log in again caused by this new "bot-detection" thing banning innocent players? I would like to know if this is what it is, so i can start an appeal instead of waiting around for ticket answers.

I suspect that isn't the problem though, since I still have the ability to log onto the website.

Ticket: 140523-019717

Epona222 · May 2014

KerinKor wrote: »

Mistamichal wrote: »

Epona222 wrote: »

In a way, view it as encouraging that Zeni are using a heavy hand to ban people as there are so many bots, on appeal I am sure they will look at your account and see the activity indicates that you are a normal human player

I agree. I think the minor inconvenience of having to contact Zeni to get your account unsuspended is more than made up for by the (hopefully) thousands of bot accounts that will be permanently banned.

Nice theory in blind support of ZOS .. the reality I'm seeing is that bots I reported DAYS ago are still running/flying about, so those unjustly banned don't even get that crumb of comfort.

As one of the many hundreds falsely suspended several weeks ago I don't accept being collateral damage in ZOS lost war against RMT and the bots is a "minor inconvenience".

I suggest you try it someday.

I didn't for a minute mean to imply that it should be just shrugged off and smiled at (and I like the game but I'm no sort of fanboy in any sense), just that surely Zenimax can look at the account of someone who has been unfairly banned and see that the activity is that of a human player, not a bot - it can't be that hard to tell.

I do sometimes catch myself these days though almost mimicking bot activity, I got very short of flax and found myself running around in a circuit of places I knew flax would spawn, often getting there either just before or just after a bot.... I trust though that if that activity may have looked suspicious, they could easily look at my account and see my gradual quest progression and crafting research which I am sure bot accounts don't bother with - if that makes any sense.

Augustiine · May 2014

ZOS_MichelleA wrote: »

Have you submitted a ticket yet, @Augustiine? If so, would you please let us know the ticket number so that we can look into this? Thanks for your support and patience thus far.

Hello there, Michelle. Yes I did.

Here it is: Question Reference # 140524-010897

Thank you very much for looking into this!

Bromburak · May 2014

Augustiine wrote: »

By killing the bosses on Ruins of Kardala over and over again. I don't think this can be considered hacking or cheating as it was something that the game allowed to do, also known as grinding. Besides, hundreds of people, if not all people in Craglorn, were doing it.

I've put days into this and its not fair to get banned for something like that without any kind of explanation.

Interesting, if you didnt get any explanation, why do you think it has something todo with Ruins of Kardala?

Azphira · May 2014

False bans, nerfs, crap loot. The bot problem will become solved soon, because there won't be enough people left for them to stay here to farm gold for.

Epona222 · May 2014

Bromburak wrote: »

Augustiine wrote: »

By killing the bosses on Ruins of Kardala over and over again. I don't think this can be considered hacking or cheating as it was something that the game allowed to do, also known as grinding. Besides, hundreds of people, if not all people in Craglorn, were doing it.

I've put days into this and its not fair to get banned for something like that without any kind of explanation.

Interesting, if you didnt get any explanation, why do you think it has something todo with Ruins of Kardala?

I am not the person to whom you were addressing the question, but I suspect it has a lot to do with bot paranoia that is prevalent at the moment. Maybe you don't have those moments when you're at a crafting station or in the bank and the unofficial bot police decide that your card is marked and keep constantly trying to open a trade window with you over and over while you're trying to look at your research spreadsheet on your second monitor, or tell you to log out now to prove you're a real player or they'll report you - it's all gone a bit too far, and EVERYONE is paranoid that they might be getting reported for something completely normal and innocent.

Moonraker · May 2014

Bromburak wrote: »

Augustiine wrote: »

By killing the bosses on Ruins of Kardala over and over again. I don't think this can be considered hacking or cheating as it was something that the game allowed to do, also known as grinding. Besides, hundreds of people, if not all people in Craglorn, were doing it.

I've put days into this and its not fair to get banned for something like that without any kind of explanation.

Interesting, if you didnt get any explanation, why do you think it has something todo with Ruins of Kardala?

Repeatedly killing bosses in an instance is exactly the type of behaviour that bots had been using hence the link.

Personally I think they should reduce XP gain after first kill of bosses. There is plenty of other content available to grind XP.

Augustiine · May 2014

Bromburak wrote: »

Augustiine wrote: »

By killing the bosses on Ruins of Kardala over and over again. I don't think this can be considered hacking or cheating as it was something that the game allowed to do, also known as grinding. Besides, hundreds of people, if not all people in Craglorn, were doing it.

I've put days into this and its not fair to get banned for something like that without any kind of explanation.

Interesting, if you didnt get any explanation, why do you think it has something todo with Ruins of Kardala?

I dont understand your point. Im just being straightfoward and saying what I was doing for hours before I logged off. Repeatedly killing bosses at this location. I was doingthat legally with my guild mates, who will soon testify on my behalf on this post.

Mistamichal · May 2014

KerinKor wrote: »

Mistamichal wrote: »

Epona222 wrote: »

Nice theory in blind support of ZOS .. the reality I'm seeing is that bots I reported DAYS ago are still running/flying about, so those unjustly banned don't even get that crumb of comfort.

As one of the many hundreds falsely suspended several weeks ago I don't accept being collateral damage in ZOS lost war against RMT and the bots is a "minor inconvenience".

I suggest you try it someday.

Actually it has happened to me. So I am also one of the hundreds falsely suspended, and have no major hangup about it like some people.

Epona222 · May 2014

When I need to gain XP because I want to raise my level and get a skillpoint before trying the horrible boss that killed me several times over yet again, I try to log on at a quiet time and find an area with a lot of mobs and no-one trying to quest in the area.
If anyone turns up to quest, I leave and go somewhere else (or help if anyone wants help).
I do what that loading screen says, about if you find something difficult, run away, gain a level, gain a skillpoint.
I do sometimes need to do that, go off and gain a level before coming back to that fight, because I am not SuperGamer. But I do try to pick time and place for XP grinding where I will not impact negatively on anyone else's experience of the game.

Bromburak · May 2014

You shouldn't think about dozen of possible reasons as long you don't know what really happened.

As well your example doesnt matter because if anyone reports you Zenimax would start investigation first, or you seriously think just because anyone is reporting a player it will result in a ban?

Try to see your own thoughts from a logic perspective and you will figure out its not very realistic and take it with a smile.

It makes no sense to drive you nuts for nothing.

Augustiine · May 2014

Just to let people know, Ruins of Kardala is a 4 man instance. Therefore, I was not negatively impacting anyone's experience. Thanks everyone.

alencarandreh · May 2014

@Augustine is my guild mate and he is a fair player. He is by no means a bot or hacker and his account should be unsuspended.

Epona222 · May 2014

Augustiine wrote: »

Just to let people know, Ruins of Kardala is a 4 man instance. Therefore, I was not negatively impacting anyone's experience. Thanks everyone.

Oh no, I wasn't saying you were at all, sorry if you read it that way!
Was more saying that I have done a bit of grinding myself on occasion, and going into a bit of detail about how it would be easy enough to tell me apart from a bot when I am doing that - really sorry if you took it as some sort of accusation!

Reevster · May 2014

Bots are still up and running, I hope I don't get reported too as I like to try and run ahead of them and steal their mobs lol. Sometimes they even save me from dieing if i happen to get over whelmed .... not everyone running from mob to mob are bots....

Caduryn · May 2014

So....Zos is banning Ppl that grind Mobs..... just wow, cant belive they can sink that much.....

Bromburak · May 2014

There we go, stupid statements without any prove because someone made a paranoid guess.

Dubah · May 2014

Well, to be honest, we had a guy who got banned as well a few weeks ago. We joked about it a bit he kept his head up and filed an appeal and it didn't even take ZOS but maybe 6 hours to unlock his account, he is the same way loves the game and loves to play and nobody understood why he got banned, but just keep your head up because the innocent people are going to appeal and when they do ZOS will unlock your account, good luck hopefully it gets fixed for you

Caduryn · May 2014

Bromburak wrote: »

There we go, stupid statements without any prove because someone made a paranoid guess.

The "genius" Hotfix today that solved nothing in VR Areas already prove me of Zos incompetens.