I played from 2002-2005 pretty regularly and came back a few times in 2008-2009 and 2012-2013.
Over that time period I amassed about a dozen accounts, paid/free and some were “linked” to my main (and all registered to same email address, not trying to hide anything).
Anyways, I wanted to come back for the anniversary celebration last year just to see some familiar faces but quickly discovered I had been banned across every single account I ever had. I emailed support and it was supposedly because of “exploits” but I can assure you I have never cheated, don’t even know how to cheat, and I wasn’t even playing when the ban happened in 2014. They wouldn’t give me any details beyond that of course, but my paid accounts went cold in mid-2013 and I have not logged into the game since then.
The only thing I can imagine is that one of my accounts was used for nefarious purposes by a former friend or some random person who managed to acquire my password. I did have several “bank” accounts which were used for holding twinking/tradeskilling stuff for org/friend use (very stupid in hindsight).
Another year has passed and I’m very disappointed I won’t be able to participate in any of the festivities, especially because it seems likely the time to take a trip down memory lane is quickly running out now that the game is approaching its 2nd decade. Has anyone ever been successful in appealing a permanent ban? I wish I had realized what happened sooner and fought it back then, I fear its probably too late now.
I would say it might be possible to be unbanned if you emailed Funcom at the time it happened and if you were great at writing a convincing email.
I have heard of instances of people being wrongfully banned and it sucks but at the end of the day its Funcom’s game and they’re allowed to do what they want.
Glad to hear its at least happened before. At this point I’ve pretty much accepted it but just trying to decide if its worth the effort to fight for one last hurrah before the servers go down for the long nap.
they will not unban you. Many players have been banned for getting hacked repeatedly because Funcom’s policy is to just ban accounts that become an issue in that regard. Often the first time is just a warning but if the person who hacked you did something serious on your account like exploit, I doubt that funcom is going to consider unbanning you.
on the bright side, this is an opportunity to start fresh
In my opinion, if it’s true and you’re completely innocent in this (the least likely scenario here, might I add), then the character names on your account probably have notoriety for all the wrong reasons, and you’d be better off just starting fresh anyway. The only real loss involved here is the lack of veteran points (so no free recall beacons) which you’re used to not having anyway.
Now I know that sounds a little elitist, and reductive of the time you’ve put into your characters, but I personally hate the idea of any permabanned accounts getting unbanned for any reason whatsoever. Your account and your characters were used to cause harm in the game, and your accounts and your charcters were your responsibility.
