Two sets of bans have been unleashed upon the unsavory parts of the Hearthstone community. The first set was targeted directly at the newly popularized Hearthstone Botting community.
We’ve recently banned several thousand Hearthstone accounts that were associated with the use of third-party programs that automate gameplay, otherwise known as “bots” or “botting.” These accounts will be banned until 2015. As we’ve stated, fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated.
We’re committed to creating a fun and rewarding environment for our players, and we will continue to closely monitor activities within Hearthstone and take appropriate action against cheating in any form, as outlined in our Terms of Use. From this point on, accounts found to be cheating will be permanently closed without warning.
If you believe that you’ve encountered a possible bot or other form of exploitation, please let us know by emailing our Hacks team at hacks@blizzard.com.
Today’s ban targeted players who were trading wins to increase their legendary rank.
Fair play is at the heart of Hearthstone. The Ranked Play ladder is a place where players have the opportunity to duel and gauge their card-slinging prowess while climbing the ranks. Participating in Ranked Play should be fun, exciting, competitive, and fair.
We’ve recently banned Hearthstone accounts that were found to be participating in win trading. Win trading at any rank is something that we do not take lightly, and is in violation of our Terms of Use. As we mentioned in our previous statement regarding fair play in Hearthstone, instances of cheating will not be tolerated. Accounts that were discovered participating in win trading have received permanent account closure and disqualification from events where ranking is used as a method of qualification.
It remains to be seen if any high profile players were hit with this ban.
