Account Suspended
 

Hello.. I'm sorry if this is a horribly stupid question, but yesterday my account was hacked and blizzard allowed me to reset my pw but they also suspended my account for 72 hours saying i was using 3rd party software. Now the only addons I use apart from the ones available from Curse which I'm told are Bliz approved is Carbonite. I looked all over the Carb site hoping to see something about being bliz approved and found nothing. IS IT? lol I love carbonite and I hope it is.

Other than that the hacker had to have installed something. I'm 46, not a kid, and I've played this game since 06 with never a problem, and am very depressed I can't play the game i love.

I'm going to go with Carb being approved for use. There are a couple things that allow me to say that.

1. The addon is hosted here on WoWI, an Official Blizzard Fansite, that is required to follow the WoW ToS and EULA.

2. Any addon that follows Blizzards Addon Policies is ok.

3. If Carbonite was not approved either directly or indirectly, by following all Guidelines as set by Blizzard, then they could simply ban the addon from running within WoW.

As to a hacker having installed something, it does not mean that it is from an addon. It could have been from any number of sources including any random website you may have gone onto.

After your suspension is up, or during the suspension, I would strongly recommend purchasing an Authenticator directly from the Blizzard Store to help safeguard you account from further malice. I would also run a good Antivirus, Anti Malware/Spyware program and make sure your computer is clean.

And get a good Firewall, too.

Thank you for the replies! I run good antivirus and am hooked to a router for firewall. Blizzard restored everything thank God :) But yo can be certain I will spend $6.50 for an authenticator!

If your Router has a built in Hardware Firewall that's a good first step. I would still recommend running a Software Firewall directly on your computer though. No single method is perfect, but, it's better to have all your bases covered just in case :)

Also, do you run an external macro program? Like a G15 keyboard or n52... normal use wont get you banned, but some of the scripting or macro abilities being used might flag Warden (the Blizzard spyware that watches you).

Again, just using a macro(able) device wont get you banned, but some of the things you can use it for will.

Well the G15 is supported by Blizzard seeing as to how it has an Official WoW profile :) . Using this keyboard and it's software won't trigger Warden to suspect the use of a 3rd party application. The keyboards software is not considered to be a 3rd party program. NOW the use of the keyboards macro system CAN get you in trouble in game. They keyboard can be used to create macros that can be considered against the rules. Blizzard monitors in game activity and can typically determine if a player is automating anything (Consistent key presses that are perfectly timed every time for example) . If a player is flagged for this they may send a GM to watch the player for activity that may look like automated use. The GM may even try to contact the user to see if they are at their keyboard.

When they speak of 3rd party programs they do not talk about addons like Carbonite. Anything that gets installed into the Addons folder of WoW is not considered a 3rd party program. If there is an addon that people use that is some how breaking Blizzard's rules they ban that particular addon .. not the addon user.

3rd Party addons are programs that run alongside of WoW.
Programs that run/are Macros.
Programs that automate any portion of gameplay (glider for example).


But I also suggest you protect your account with the $7 authenticator. It takes you an extra 3 seconds to log into WoW and will provide you an almost hack free account.