Blizzard has confirmed that a ban wave has gone out ahead of World of Warcraft’s Eternity’s End update. While account sharing was the primary target of the banning spree, some confusion has arisen as a few players have been served real-money trading ban notices “in error”.
Following some confusion on Reddit and WoW’s forums, A Blizzard customer support employee called Orlyia has confirmed that the ban wave went out yesterday (February 21). However, there’s been a bit of a mix-up. “Unfortunately, some initially received an RMT notice in error,” they say. “The second they would have received would have been the one that was applied. I do apologise for any confusion this may have caused. As others have mentioned, this action wasn’t necessarily from recent activity. If you’d wish to have this action reviewed, you’ll want to submit an appeal ticket.”
In response to a player question about a separate ban wave about account sharing, Orlyia shares that, from their understanding, the offence was actually the main thrust of the banning spree that led to various erroneous RMT notices.
World of Warcraft’s 9.2 patch – Eternity’s End, if you’re fancy – is set to launch in America today and Europe tomorrow. Alongside the 11-boss Sepulcher of the First Ones raid, you’re getting a new zone, progression system, and Torghast Wing. Blizzard is also building a “hybrid approach” to class sets, which you can read about at that link.
In July 2021, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging years of workplace discrimination and harassment. The story has since embroiled CEO Bobby Kotick and prompted the US federal government to open an investigation. It continues to unfold and to be of immense importance to the game industry. You can catch up on all the developments so far in this regularly updated explainer article.
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