Please help, question about my ban...

Hey guys, i really hope someone can help me out with this...

heres the backstory ::sorry its kinda long but please bare with me::

I started playing guild wars about 3 years ago, it was my first mmo, and i got a necro/mesmer to level 20. Then the quests started getting repetitive, I wasn't too interested in gvg or pvp, or doing the same thing i already did with a new character, so after a month or so i stopped playing.

About a week ago out of boredom I re-logged into my account and created a new character. Things were starting to feel fresh again so I started getting into it, only problem was I only had Prophecies, and 3 expansions were already released.

A few days ago my wife bought me the trilogy pack for our anniversary. I was having trouble getting it installed onto my already existing account so i was forced to create a new account and gave my friend my old account info so he could play with me. He felt it wrong for me to give him something on my anniversary, and wanted to return the favor.

Today I got a pm from someone I had never met before saying he had stuff to give me, I met him in Ascalon, and there he gave me 400K in gold. Turns out that was my friends "gift" to me. Some hours after while playing I was unintentionally logged out, and when trying to log back in I got an error saying "your account has been suspended for purchasing in-game gold for real world money".

I read over the EULA and confirmed with my friend and sure enough, he bought me gold. I've never had to deal with customer service regarding a game, and after some googling I read that some accounts have their inventory or characters completely whipped when facing similar issues. I understand why I'm banned, but I cant help but feel that I am an innocent third party regarding this transaction.

My question is basically is there hope for me if I bring my case up with arenanet or ncsoft? I did just open the account, but I already had 3 characters up past level 15 (insomia, what can you do?) I would just sit and accept the ban, but i'm worried that my hard work will be wiped away. I dont wish to get my friend in this mess ether, he's already pretty remorseful about the outcome of all this, not to mention he probably just wasted some money.

for reference: I didn't know buying gold and items online was such a problem, had I known I probably wouldn't have accepted that amount of gold from a stranger. I do applaud areanets firm stance on keeping the games economy stable, and understand why they do what they do, i guess i feel more or less (probably a lot less) the same as a innocent bi-standard taking a round in the shoulder during a police/gang shootout...

The only thing any of us can tell you is to contact support.

Personally, I don't believe a word. Thankfully for you, I don't work for them.

I think you're going to find it difficult to get any sympathy from ANet on this one, since it was also against the EULA to give your old account to your friend. In any case, nobody here can help you. It's all between you and support.

QFT , if i was you i wouldn't count on getting your account back,all you can do is buy a new copy of the game and start again , this time not being so stupid.

Im one of the persons that would normally also be saying something like "wow niec story,so you got banned because you bought gold and you got caught so now your coming with this excuse" etc.

However i believe you, because the story sound believeable to me,It doesnt really matter what I think,If you bought gold and got banned you know thats why, if you were unlucky then it sucks.

Anyways, if its true, then i hope you can get it sorted out, and of course there is no harm in trying to get your account back, worse thing that could happen is your account remains banned.I wish you luck if you are honest and shame if your making up an excuse.


*wow nice thing to happen to you.You give a friend a account and he gets you banned.

Problem was that you took something from someone you didn't know. If you had taken the money from your friend (your old account) you probably wouldn't have gotten banned. If your friend did not read the EULA to know he was doing something the game didn't allow, its his fault. Tell him what happened and ask him for a new trilogy to replace it.

Somehow though, I don't think you are as innocent as your story suggests.

You bought gold broke the rules now pay the consequences
They won't and shouldn't un-ban you

Technically it is a violation of the EULA to give your account information to a third party. So even if they believe your story about giving stuff to your friend (which I doubt A.net will), they could still ban you for giving your old account to your friend since that is also a violation of the rules.

Realistically.. if you gave your friend an account with only proph, and 1 level 20 necro, how did you THINK he came up with 400k? Really?

Tell arenanet.

And COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!

You had no right to get banned.

If they refuse to un-ban you or you don't get a response, then... COMPLAIN MORE!

Do whatever it takes! Personally I think that it doesn't matter that you don't really care about Guild Wars, what matters is that you were un-rightfully banned.

Please PM me and tell me the outcome.

I hope i've helped!

Bye!

Hmmm...sounds like your $!#@%ed.

You can go to the company with your story but the odds are not in your favor.

oh well, it's just a game anyway.

Seeing how recently you purchased the game, the trilogy in my terms, it's hard to say.

They can either take your word on it or assume the money was something you bought to catch up on the fact that you didn't retain your previous characters and inventory.

Either way best of luck to you =\ and even if this is the case your other account would be banned if you explained they did it?

Great how someone just starting a game knows how to buy gold eh :3

Thank you for your suggestions.

a little while after I posted here, I sent an email about it to anet, requesting that they at least review my case with the information i gave them. They replied saying that given the unusual circumstances they will review my case, so there is hope

Another friend who also owns the game suggested that if I questioned why I was receiving the gold in PMs with the trader (which i did) i should request that anet take a look at the chat logs as well, as it might add some merit to my innocence. so I replied requesting just that, haven't heard anything back yet.

I half expected a lot of you not to believe me, after all, this is the internet. Then again I knew my problem wouldn't be resolved here in the boards. I guess i was just more looking for suggestions on how i should go about all of this.

I wasn't aware that giving an account I purchased to someone else was also a violation of the EULA. i find it odd that they would frown upon something like that. Then again I guess I dont see the possible abuse of such an action...

Thank you again for those who took the time to hear what I have to say and give some constructive criticism, it just makes me that much more of a better player for the future (if anet allows me to be one that is :P)

That was also my main concern, i didn't want my friends account getting the short end of the stick as well...

he used to play WoW and knew a site that did power leveling and such for both games, i guess thats where he got it.

Not for first offence gold buying, thats insta-perma...