People randomly getting banned

[Illumishinel-DN]

So I was watching my girlfriend play on her cleric and she was farming for shards killing mobs outside of elyos town. And suddenly she was forced to log off with a pop up message from NCSoft and when she tried to log in again it said "your account is banned due to suspicious activities". 

First, her cleric isn't a bot. Her name is Fae on DN server, with elyos 4 star rank, a mansion in ingission, and her minion doesn't have auto loot. And she's been farming for literally less than 20min.

Second, I was watching her play sitting right next to her.

Aion team, do you not even investigate the situation or at least check the background of the subject before banning someone? @CyanI think she deserves an explanation please, thanks.

[Nacifights-DN]

NCSoft must really not want us to have shards.

[Squid]

The ban would not of been from here farming for the past 20 minutes. It would be for something reported weeks or months ago even. This means something she did has caused her to get banned. It is probably not even that serious.

When the CC fraud was going around i got banned for 2 weeks trying to scam the scammers out of keys for shugo vault. You never know the reason for why someone is banned until you get a response from support.

[waffles]

you should be thrown in with her since you have the always seeing eye

[TheStorm-KT]

4 hours ago, Illumishinel-DN said:

So I was watching my girlfriend play on her cleric and she was farming for shards killing mobs outside of elyos town. And suddenly she was forced to log off with a pop up message from NCSoft and when she tried to log in again it said "your account is banned due to suspicious activities". 

First, her cleric isn't a bot. Her name is Fae on DN server, with elyos 4 star rank, a mansion in ingission, and her minion doesn't have auto loot. And she's been farming for literally less than 20min.

Second, I was watching her play sitting right next to her.

Aion team, do you not even investigate the situation or at least check the background of the subject before banning someone? @CyanI think she deserves an explanation please, thanks.

Better be careful y'all.

This sh** has been going on on KT server too. I'm an elyos btw. But there's this asmodian sorc named RedSmoke who kept shouting at me that I hack.

LOL ? -_^

I went on my asmo to talk with him, and he was like ,,I had 4 elyos banned till now. 1 from Limited Edition, 2 from Clarity and 1 from Wakanda Forever. Keep telling yourself that you're not cheating, but I'll still report you.''

I asked him if he has any proof of my ,,hacking''. Because APPARENTLY if you kill a nub that wears Lakrum gear with your OP Ancient +10, means you hack gear and atk speed.

He said ,,There are many ways to hide your hacks.''

That guy is hopeless. So I just switched back to my elyos.

@Cyan @Hime Please investigate these complaints from ppl like RedSmoke. Players might get banned because of idiots like him.

[Celestianos-KT]

@Illumishinel-DN , @TheStorm-KT,

I'd hate to repeat what you already know but Cyan and Hime aren't the people to talk to in such a situation and bringing it up on the forum will only waste your time. If you feel you have been wrongly banned (that can happen), report it to support and demand an explanation.

As someone already mentioned in a prior comment, your bans may or may not be for something that happened a while ago.
When I personally report people, I do so with at least 5 different screenshots of a clear and visible hack. Some go ignored even with damning evidence.
I highly doubt a "he's a hacker because trust me" would be taken seriously.

Again, I'm not judging you and I'm not insinuating anything. I'm just saying that you shouldn't bring up this subject here because you won't get useful help here.

Take care and see you online

[Aly-DN]

48 minutes ago, Celestianos-KT said:

@Illumishinel-DN , @TheStorm-KT,

I'd hate to repeat what you already know but Cyan and Hime aren't the people to talk to in such a situation and bringing it up on the forum will only waste your time. If you feel you have been wrongly banned (that can happen), report it to support and demand an explanation.

As someone already mentioned in a prior comment, your bans may or may not be for something that happened a while ago.
When I personally report people, I do so with at least 5 different screenshots of a clear and visible hack. Some go ignored even with damning evidence.
I highly doubt a "he's a hacker because trust me" would be taken seriously.

Again, I'm not judging you and I'm not insinuating anything. I'm just saying that you shouldn't bring up this subject here because you won't get useful help here.

Take care and see you online

^This.

In order to be banned for hacking or botting, Support needs to pretty much be able to verify that you did those things. An example, a player is caught flying where you aren't supposed to be able to fly. Someone records/screenshots them in the air and submits a ticket. Support has to use their own data to verify with their data that they were at coordinates off the ground where they couldn't have been gliding. Or we submit bot reports. Support has to go in and find that flagged player and verify that they are botting and not just farming. As you can imagine, there is a back log of those and Support is allergic to work. So someone who tells you they are reporting you and that they have personally gotten other people banned, I would take what they say with a boulder of salt.

As for the OP, your gf might have given them a false positive for something as unrelated as a NCoin purchase. What they were doing at the moment they were kicked off probably had nothing to do with the reason. Contact Support if you feel that the ban was unwarranted and get it cleared up.

[TheStorm-KT]

5 hours ago, Celestianos-KT said:

@Illumishinel-DN , @TheStorm-KT,

I'd hate to repeat what you already know but Cyan and Hime aren't the people to talk to in such a situation and bringing it up on the forum will only waste your time. If you feel you have been wrongly banned (that can happen), report it to support and demand an explanation.

 

Meh, I stopped playing a long time ago, so :shrug:  

But yeah, in case of a ban, people shouldn't care what other players say, until the ban arrives. Only then should they send a ticket to NC.

Otherwise there's no need to mind those ,,Ima report you'' nubs  

[Illumishinel-DN]

Follow up on the case, it turned out the reason behind the ban iss 3rd party software and Botting, which doesn't even apply to her. 

There's no shugo console, no rain meter, no VPN, the laptop literally only has aion installed besides Microsoft office and chrome. 

First time the block, second time would be the permanent ban. Should all players be worried about getting banned for active grinding? Should we all worry about losing years of grind for no reason? 

We have replied to the support team about the issue. If anyone has been in a similar situation you're welcomed to follow on this post and I will post screenshots of their future replies once I receive them. 

 

[FivePointEight-KT]

Can Hime and Cyan explain what’s going on?

[Urud-DN]

I received the same treatment @Illumishinel-DN, almost 1 year ago: banned with no explanation (3rd party software is a quite vague accusation), they refused to tell me what they found on my pc, and finally they "pardoned" me and unbanned me. The funny thing was that I already didn't play the game, so everything that I did was loggin-in and chat in Pandaemonium with my legion mates, no pvp, no pve, no luna, no mobs killed, no skills used.

I still visit this forum from time to time, like a magazine, because it's funny to read some thread, but that ban was the reason why I definitely quit the game, after 4 years. I didn't want to be forgiven for something that I never did. No matter the unban.

[Illumishinel-DN]

These just look like pre-written replies copy pasted from a word document lol.

[Fae-DN]

Situation update, so all of my emails have fallen upon deaf ears (or in this case, blind eyes?) and all the responses I have gotten are cookie-cutter, copy & paste replies that lead to absolutely no where (one of the replies I got was from a GM that had no clue what was even happening lol do they even read? ss attached below). None of my questions have been answered, none of my concerns are being acknowledged, and no proof has been given. I am also unable to even contact a senior GM about this issue because all NC does is use bots to answer their emails (ironic?). I can say with absolute confidence that NC’s support team is the saddest excuse of customer service that I have ever seen in my entire life’s existence. 

Long story short, basically what NCincompetent is telling me is that inconsistencies in their “detection methods” and super ultra top secret “tools” warrants being banned for no apparent reason other than merely existing. So from now on, I suppose I should be terribly afraid of even logging in; in fear of being reported by spiteful, petulant children that happen to dislike me for god-knows what reason and useless, malfunctioning “detection methods/tools” that NC chooses to use. I guess I will be taking my money else where, as this company obviously does not give the square root of jack shít about their paying customers. Thanks for reading. Cheers.

Doesn’t read prior emails, doesn’t know what’s happening, doesn’t know anything. Is this a bot? Lol. 11/10 support. 

[Aly-DN]

I'm confused. Did they reverse the warning and outright ban you now? Or did you get a second ban after the warning?

So you think that a group of people have a grudge against you and reported you for botting and continued to do so over a period of time long enough to get Support's notice? Sounds a bit far-fetched considering I have reported actual bots for days and weeks and those bots are still roaming around. Are you sure there isn't something else that could be happening? And if you are sure, did you tell Support exactly who and why these people have a grudge against you? Report them for harassment for accusing you when you haven't been botting?

Support has always been clueless and has always used cut & paste answers. In fact, most game supports do, but they are usually not as clueless.

 

[Fae-DN]

That was the email I received prior to GM Jun’s response. I’m not currently banned. 

Also, I agree the statement I made was a bit far fetched. However, I don’t know of any other thing that I may have done that warranted in an account suspension (their reason of banning me was of course, due to “suspicious third party software”). I play on a Macbook and literally only have 3 things installed on Windows 10 (Aion, Discord, Google Chrome).

I honestly would not even be frustrated at this issue if I was truely doing things against their ToS but I have done nothing and am being falsely accused.

I personally don’t know of anyone that has a grudge against me, but who knows? I’m just a filthy casual player that ocasionally purchases Ncoin here and there. 

The message I’m getting from NC is literally “stop playing our game”. 

[Aly-DN]

I can totally understand. Support is often frustrating. I have a suspicion that they are taking a "hard-line" on this because this isn't a perma-ban and so they feel they can hold firm on a warning, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Vantheria-DN]

@Fae-DN, were you using a macro to auto-select and kill mobs for you while you were asleep? Some people are doing this and don't seem to realize it's bot behavior. I'm not asking in a critical way, btw, because NCsoft support/GMs are completely moronic 99% of the time. Just throwing out something else that may be happening that you might not be thinking about.

[Fae-DN]

I 100% understand what a bot is and what it does. To answer your question, no. I manually and actively play on my account whenever I am online. I log off when I sleep. 

 

[Aftershocktwo-DN]

Sounds like you're telling the truth but then we have to consider not only their automatic method of collecting data but also how their flags are raised and how they actually go about performing an investigation. If they put time into it like they should have I'm sure this wouldn't have happened. If they did put time into it and it still turned out this way then we have something else to talk about...

You seem intelligent, well spoken, I'll take your savvy enough. Did you need to create a partition on your mac's HD in order to properly install Aion? I don't remember if I had to back in the day when I gamed on a mac. That being said, if so it's possible that on the other side of boot camp there could be pre-existing software? I mean do you really only use this machine for Aion, Discord and Google Chrome? Why have a macbook then? I'll be quite honest, something doesn't add up but I don't think it's malicious; I believe we're probably missing something technical beneath the sheets that was probably innocent and is being overlooked, which would also explain why they reversed it and aren't giving you any information, because they know whoever handled it messed up.

But how can you be flagged for nothing? This is funny to me. Can something like this pop up for whatever reason and flag someone for an investigation? Does this mean Xing scans our files without our permission? How does this actually effect us as players? I believe we do all have the right to know, despite it meaning people potentially finding easier/more ways around it, if someone/something is able to see what we have installed without using it in conjunction with Aion. Isn't that a privacy issue? Confused on how this works and it only leads me to more critically review this scenario... because it's either a completely broken system, completely broken staff or a completely broken story...

 

With my experiences on Aion I'd believe them all to be true.

[Yoyo]

probably as simple as this.  Gm logs in due to tickets on bots or bot reporting system.  They just watch the area if you were doing a weekly or something and making a similar path and killing the same mobs as the bots they just assumed you were a bot and said hey these are the bots ban them and say 3rd party.

[Fae-DN]

10 minutes ago, 2s30B77F-DN said:

Sounds like you're telling the truth but then we have to consider not only their automatic method of collecting data but also how their flags are raised and how they actually go about performing an investigation. If they put time into it like they should have I'm sure this wouldn't have happened. If they did put time into it and it still turned out this way then we have something else to talk about...

You seem intelligent, well spoken, I'll take your savvy enough. Did you need to create a partition on your mac's HD in order to properly install Aion? I don't remember if I had to back in the day when I gamed on a mac. That being said, if so it's possible that on the other side of boot camp there could be pre-existing software? I mean do you really only use this machine for Aion, Discord and Google Chrome? Why have a macbook then? I'll be quite honest, something doesn't add up but I don't think it's malicious; I believe we're probably missing something technical beneath the sheets that was probably innocent and is being overlooked, which would also explain why they reversed it and aren't giving you any information, because they know whoever handled it messed up.

But how can you be flagged for nothing? This is funny to me. Can something like this pop up for whatever reason and flag someone for an investigation? Does this mean Xing scans our files without our permission? How does this actually effect us as players? I believe we do all have the right to know, despite it meaning people potentially finding easier/more ways around it, if someone/something is able to see what we have installed without using it in conjunction with Aion. Isn't that a privacy issue? Confused on how this works and it only leads me to more critically review this scenario... because it's either a completely broken system, completely broken staff or a completely broken story...

 

With my experiences on Aion I'd believe them all to be true.

Many good questions that I would be more than happy to answer. Yes, I had to bootcamp Windows 10 in order to install Aion as it does not have a Mac version. 

The reason I only have Aion, Discord and Google Chrome on Windows 10 (not my entire system) is because I had originally only allocated enough room on Windows 10 to install Aion and some room for storage (pictures, videos, etc.). 

I currently live away from home and had been for the past two years because of University. I do not have my PC with me as my dorm is quite small and a PC is bulky and heavy. That is why I play on a Macbook.

I use OSX for all my schooling related stuff, browsing, etc. It really only has Microsoft home office and The Sims 4 on it.

Believe me or not, I know you can only “take my word for it”. Cheers. 

[Aftershocktwo-DN]

1 hour ago, Tyd-KT said:

probably as simple as this.  Gm logs in due to tickets on bots or bot reporting system.  They just watch the area if you were doing a weekly or something and making a similar path and killing the same mobs as the bots they just assumed you were a bot and said hey these are the bots ban them and say 3rd party.

Maybe but it still doesn't seem likely, then again this is GM fault we're potentially discussing and it wouldn't surprise me... didn't GM's used to interact somehow rather than just watch? We all grind for hours. I'm sure we've all done three straight before. You're likely right but in either case there wasn't enough diligence. OP could line out their grinding area but that'd be counter-productive for them. I guess it just depends if they get flagged/banned again?  Ya I suppose you're right, could be that too. 

1 hour ago, Fae-DN said:

Many good questions that I would be more than happy to answer. Yes, I had to bootcamp Windows 10 in order to install Aion as it does not have a Mac version. 

The reason I only have Aion, Discord and Google Chrome on Windows 10 (not my entire system) is because I had originally only allocated enough room on Windows 10 to install Aion and some room for storage (pictures, videos, etc.). 

I currently live away from home and had been for the past two years because of University. I do not have my PC with me as my dorm is quite small and a PC is bulky and heavy. That is why I play on a Macbook.

I use OSX for all my schooling related stuff, browsing, etc. It really only has Microsoft home office and The Sims 4 on it.

Believe me or not, I know you can only “take my word for it”. Cheers. 

Bingo. 

Any chance their system might have picked up someone else using the same IP on campus/dorm, assuming you're all tied into wifi or a landline or something? Third party program means nothing in reality, especially if they won't name it. Could literally be anything someone on the same IP as you has on their machine if it's community access (at any time). BF for example, he doesn't play but used to, has he ever brought a machine over and run it on the same connection as you? Could be anything innocent tucked away. 

Much less likely explanation than Tyd's above, but still deserves to be explored.

[Fae-DN]

You could be right. But what irritates me the most is when they don’t tell me what exactly I did wrong and threaten to permanently ban me the next time I do it. 

The sole purpose of this entire post was to express my frustration with NC’s inadequate support team. They give no answers, sweep simple requests under the rug and then simply disregard you. And I’m sure I’m not the only one facing this issue.

Oh well, I guess I’ll never know.

 

[Aftershocktwo-DN]

Ya, it really does suck, doesn't it? The way the cases seem to be handled, juggled about like some kind of word doc or cc that we can't see... It all screams "This is an inadequate, messy system". There has been zero transparency with NA for so long now and I feel like it is absolutely their greatest fault and caused their steepest decline. Without transparency there can't be real discussion and without really talking this is what happens...... You don't get to be like SE and relaunch FF14 bigger and better than before without listening AND talking. I hope you don't have to go through it again, assuming you decided continue playing.

 

I wish someone somewhere in NA would own up to how poorly things are being run, and if they blame the system, I wish they'd own up to how poorly the system is constructed.... We've all acknowledged it, almost daily. Not sure what imaginary world these guys live in.... All of them.

[Vantheria-DN]

3 hours ago, 2s30B77F-DN said:

Any chance their system might have picked up someone else using the same IP on campus/dorm, assuming you're all tied into wifi or a landline or something?

This is probably it tbh. Remember that dude who was abusing the manastone-gear-breaking system and getting tons and tons of +12 manastones maybe 6 months ago? The player Johngunmad. He ended up getting banned, then logged onto the forums to cry about it because it caused everyone else in his university to ALSO get banned.