I got BANNED from Neverwinter!

Hello fellow multiboxers,

I am new here, but glad that I have found You!

For now, all I wanted You to know that I have been banned from Neverwinter on July 13.
My intention is NOT to create "panic", but I thought this might be useful for You if you are planned to spend money on this game.
Just keep this in mind, it can happen.
I have read the full Terms Of Service and I have not find anything that I violated, however a found a line,
which makes the ban rightful, no matter what:

"Please note that regardless of any notice, PWE reserves the right to discontinue the Service or to terminate or suspend your account at any time in its sole discretion for any reason, or for no reason."

I contacted customer support using the e-mail address of all the banned accounts in direct e-mail and via the website, creating multiple tickets..
I was polite and asked why have I been banned, what was the reason and please quote the relevant line from the Terms Of Service so I understand what did I do wrong. I also explained that I am a multiboxer and what I DO/USE, and what I DO NOT DO/USE and I play for my own and friends pleasure.
Unfortunately no answer came, so I just created 5 more accounts and started all over from scratch.
If I get any answer from them, I let You guys know!

Quickly about my setup, because this might be relevant:
I am using 5 computers, 5 monitors and a hardware that broadcasts the keyboard and mouse commands to the via PS/2 port.
I am using some application for dinamically remapping the keyboard keys so I am able to switch toons..
I have a Cleric+4 ControlWizard setup at the moment, lvl 10 only..The same setup, that was banned (except the leader account for some reason!)
I have not used ISBoxer before, I just registered for a trial week and I am planning to check it out!

One more thing about the ban, that came into my mind:
I thought that one of the 3rd party application was the issues, but actually I had 6 neverwinter accounts and one of them was never used, I have not logged in with it ever, and that one got banned too. So my only idea that it had to do something with the very similar e-mail addresses I used for registration or the very similar user names..

Anyways feel free to comment or ask!

Please let us know what you find out. I have all of my accounts named very similarly and my emails are nw1@, nw2, nw3, ... nw7 so hopefully I don't end up with a similar situation...

I haven't heard of any isboxers getting into trouble so hopefully with the software it is a better way.

Sorry to hear about the ban-troubles.

Sounds like they looked up your IP and banned all accounts originating from there ... assuming you initially created them from the same IP/location?

Are you using other 3rd party tools? If so, you are running a high risk of getting banned for those. I know that they are watching for them... more than most game companies do (from what I've heard in forums, etc).

Sometimes other players report multi-boxers because they mistake us for botters - I know I try and do most of my boxing in Foundry quests, team skirmishes (all my characters only) and dungeons - all places where there are no other ppl. When I do venture out into the open, ppl do notice right away... so far I've just gotten some smiley faces and what-not, but I don't usually go out in the open very much. I recommend the same until we get a firm stance from Cryptic with regards to Multi-boxing in Neverwinter.

So far I have only done a duo up to 60 and took that duo pretty much everywhere in the game... I only grouped with guild-mates and other-wise people likely just thought that my Guardian Fighter was lucky to always have a loyal Cleric following him everywhere...

I have been leveling up my new 5 man group (CWx2+DCx3 to try various options with my duo) just using the Solo Grind quest *[as it is a quick run from the quest entry/exit for just one of my characters and then he shares to the rest and runs right back (rinse/repeat)]. There are vendors right there so it is easy to get rid of stuff out of my bags and no need to have anyone follow or anything...

The above being said, on my 5 man team I haven't really multi-boxed them much in public places because with the above strategy though I haven't been trying to hide anything. The only time I have gone as a group to the zones or around town was to go get the bags from that one quest and I plan to again when at the right level for the other bag.

*[ EDIT: Being close to the Foundry Quest Board should be a non-factor... In leveling my Duo to 60 I mainly did quest line stuff and generally avoided the Foundry quests. At the time I posted the above I didn't realize that you can leave any 5 man team at the entrance to any Foundry quest and repeat at will without running any of your characters anywhere (assuming it starts from and ends at the same location). You can do this by just clicking L to bring up the list of Foundry quests and personally I subscribe to the ones that I want to repeat and once I pick it on my main Foreground window I easily share with the team via NeverBoxer without leaving the foreground window. For Solo Grind when my bags fill up there are multiple vendors right there to sell to. The only remaining reason to run any members of the group around is to daily get the AD perks from the Kobold around the corner or to check mail/bank though that can be done with only 1 or 2 characters at a time to be less noticeable... ]

The above being said, on my 5 man team I haven't really multi-boxed them much in public places because with the above strategy though I haven't been trying to hide anything. The only time I have gone as a group to the zones or around town was to go get the bags from that one quest and I plan to again when at the right level for the other bag.

Ditto here... the bags are really the only quests we need (for the inventory space!).

You should really try the skirmishes - it's alot of fun and you get blue drops, good XP, AD, all the LOOT and you don't have to move anywhere. You can even start them from inside Solo Grind while you wait for it to pop.

Please let us know what you find out. I have all of my accounts named very similarly and my emails are nw1@, nw2, nw3, ... nw7 so hopefully I don't end up with a similar situation...

I haven't heard of any isboxers getting into trouble so hopefully with the software it is a better way.

Since I have not got any official answer, I created new accounts and started all over from scratch. TODAY I GOT BANNED AGAIN!

Finally after weeks, I have received an answer, an "OFFICIAL STATEMENT"...

here you go, quote:

Subject
Banned Account

Discussion Thread
Response Via Email (Customer Support) 07/31/2013 11:21 AM
Hello

Sorry for the delay in our response.

Unfortunately, Multi-boxing provides players with an unfair advantage over other players.

While you may feel it is not expressly forbidden to Multi-box, the fact is doing so creates a negative play environment for players who play fair.

Please be aware players are allowed to have one account per user, you are not permitted to run multiple accounts at the same time. If found to be in violation the additional accounts will be permanently banned and could result in your primary account being suspended or closed.

Thank you.

---------------------------
Perfect World Support
Check out the new Fury of the Feywild module for Neverwinter.

However in my interpretation of the Terms Of Service this reasoning does not stand in most points (like it is written that only "one person may use an account", it is not written that "one person may use only one account"), but I do not see the point why would it be good to start arguing, at the end of the day, they can ban for whatever they please (written in Terms of Service), so it does not matter, I just play something else.

For thoose of You who stick with Neverwinter it is important to know:

The reason of the ban was not some software/hardware usage, so I would not worry about using ISBoxer. The reason is simply multiboxing in itself. They legally do not declare this, but in practice they ban if you are caught. So do not get caught Also there were some good advice in this thread by others how to avoid the unwanted attention, and if you are lucky enough, you will get away with it! Unfortunately I love pvp, this is the main reason why I box, so this method is not suitable for me. I am not sure that they detected my accounts by IP thought. I did not make it hard for them since all my accounts were registered with almost the same e-mail address with a "multiboxer" string in it I could go tricky and create different types of e-mail addresses, use some vpn solution to make my the log in locations farther from each other, create different looking characters but for this game it does not worth the effort for me, especially if I get caught later on, when I spent much time and money reaching lvl cap..by that, I would be mad, the sooner you know if it is not going to work smoothly the better I think.
It other games, where customer service is way faster, I usually give them a call and ask something about the game but I do not forget to mention that "by the way I am a multiboxer and I play with multiple accounts in the same time.." so if they got a problem with it I know it right away, and I do not waste time on that particular game. So far it is only neverwinter, where I can not box. Wow, AoC, SW:Tor, Warhammer Online, Lotro was ok..

Good luck to you guys with Neverwinter!

Very sorry to hear and sad for you. That is bad news but I am very grateful you shared the information. I can totally see people complaining in PVP if a well setup and coordinated attack was smoking people though personally I can't see a MB PVP'er in Neverwinter regularly beating a group that communicates and works together.

With the above in mind my main recommendations to others who, like me, plan to continue MBing NW, is to not be in a situation which would give others a reason to complain. I pretty much have been doing the following to date but I would say the least risky approaches include:

- Don't Multi-Box (MB) Neverwinter in PVP;
- Minimize MBing in Neverwinter Public Zones. If you don't need to run as a group then don't;
- Don't join random Pick-up Groups (PuGs) and only group with Guild-mates who know what is going and are supportive/fine with MBing;
- If possible stick to Foundry Quests (personally my 5man team sits at the entrance and I re-Q from there without running around as a group) while leveling except where important to do quest line stuff in public zones; The only quest line stuff that I have done has been for the Bags so far and I plan to keep it to that...
- Always be respectful around others and don't use MB in away that makes them jealous or gives them reason to construe you have unfair advantage (hopefully "no harm"->"no-foul" parleys to "no complaints" -> "no-ban".

Personally I ran my Duo GF+DC though out the entire game and never had a comment or concern voiced. I guess people regularly see Clerics following others and healing them so no 'wow factor' there. While 2 people running/riding (one following the other) 5 people (1 lead with 4 mirrors) does really stand out... I have run my full 5 man team periodically across Protector's Enclave to do maintenance together and did receive a few curious tells (which I am used to after MB in many games). Going forward, after seeing your post, I am going to try to totally stop doing things like that.

Also saddened by this news... but I could definitely see people in PvP being quick to speak up since it's a more competitive environment.

I'm just about done with NeverBoxer 1.0 which handles formations much better than the betas and so you can easily move through town in a line formation as a guild and then peel off the Fire Teams at different point to make a stop look disheveled. Cluster formation is easy to spot and call out as a multi-boxed party.

But I agree, keeping a low profile (no PvP, use Foundry, Skirmishes and Dungeons and minimize time in town) is probably the definitive solution.

Thanks for your post and we'll take this info to heart and multi-box with caution.

Thanks for the info.

Just came to this forum to see whether it was worth trying neverwinter out and compare it to Rift.

Guess not...

I could not go through all the trouble of setting it all up just to get banned and lose the lot.

Thanks for the info.

Just came to this forum to see whether it was worth trying neverwinter out and compare it to Rift.

Guess not...

I could not go through all the trouble of setting it all up just to get banned and lose the lot.

I have been multi-boxing Neverwinter since Beta (February/March) with no issues. I think the issues arise when you do things to or interact with others and they complain (especially PVP). This is the only instance of Banning that I have heard of among all the people who have been MBing NeverWinter. Unless your goal is to MB in PVP I would say you have marginal risk at this point for solo PVE (assuming you play smart). AFAIK there is no active witch hunt for MBing or looking for them systematically as I for one am not hiding anything (all on same IP and such) and have no issues.