Account Action Review system is flawed. Where is the customer support?

[Kai_Alura]

Hi Friends. I am posting on this forum in the hopes that maybe someone here can point me in the right direction because customer support has failed me.

Context: in October of 2023, I received a warning on my account. This sent me into a panic as I have been playing for almost 10 years without any issue. I abide by the rules and treat everyone with respect. This game is a form of therapy for me, so I generally avoid toxic environments altogether. However, due to my birthday and the holidays that followed, I pushed the warning out of mind and forgot it about it altogether. Until last week, when I received a notification that my account had been suspended for 3 days due to “griefing”. I was on vacation at the time, and it really ruined my day to know that something was going on with my account that I was not in control of.

When I returned home, I reached out to square enix support over the phone. They advised me that a GM suspended my account because I was “in a match for 12 min without earning any points”. Uh… what? A match? I assumed this was PvP, so I asked the service rep for more details, however they said that they could not provided further information since the GM didn’t include additional details. I then asked them to verify the reason for my warning last year… and they confirmed it was for the same reason; not earning enough points in PvP match.

I asked them how this was a violation of ToS. These are casual PvP matches, not competitive season matches. Also, nowhere was I informed that I had to earn a minimum amount of points in PvP or my account would be penalized. They could not answer my questions but told me they would overturn the decision, and advised me to submit an account action review and contact a GM in game for more details.

I submitted the account action review form and immediately received a response saying that they could not provide details but to respond if I had any other concerns. I have replied for three days now… with no additional response to my questions and concerns.

Today, I reached out to a GM in game. I explained to them the situation… and all they could tell me was that they could not provide any details. I told them that customer support told me to reach out to them and they said that was a mistake. I asked them how I could avoid this from happening in the future, I have been playing for 10 years without issue and within the last year I have received two penalties to my account due to not earning enough points in PvP. They could not provide info. I asked them who I can speak to that could actually help me.. and they just told me to submit another account action review. They apologized for not having the ability to help me further and then closed the chat.

[Kai_Alura]

Continued: How is this customer service? I am wrongfully being penalized for “not earning enough points in PvP”, something that isn’t against ToS… yet I reached out to three separate branches of customer support and have been sent on a wild goose chase to find answers only to be stonewalled. How is this ok? Who hold these people accountable? If they’re going to lock me out of playing a game I pay a subscription for… they need to provide verifiable evidence that I did something wrong. And if the notes the gm left only say I didn’t earn enough points in a PvP match… WTH is that?

I am back in game.. but I want to avoid having further issues in my account and I’m flabbergasted that nobody was able to provide actual assistance and kept deflecting to someone else. Is this really what we have to hope for when issues occur in the community? I expected better treatment towards their loyal player base but it seems they don’t really care about that at all.

What am I supposed to do here? Reach out to corporate? Post on Twitter? WTH?

[VoidsentStatus]

I asked them how this was a violation of ToS. These are casual PvP matches, not competitive season matches. Also, nowhere was I informed that I had to earn a minimum amount of points in PvP or my account would be penalized.

[
・Aiding the enemy / Uncooperative behavior / Lethargic behavior
Refers to an act of performing actions that give an advantage to an enemy (monsters, or the opposing team/players in PvP content) by not performing the necessary gameplay required of the situation. This may be combined with combat sabotage as well.

Key Points
Each player has a different level of skill, and in some cases, there may be a situation where the duty/content will fail. From the perspective of a skilled player in such a situation, a less skilled player may appear to be "adversarial/uncooperative/apathetic," but even if this is the case, it is not a violation as long as the player is playing appropriately.

For example, the following types of situations fall under the act of giving an advantage to the enemy (or the opposing team/players in PvP content):
"I don't want to heal because there is a player I don't like in the group."
"I don't think we can clear this anyway, so I'll just get hit by the enemy attack and go AFK after I'm knocked out."
"I'm going to join the opposing team as a healer and do nothing so my friends on the other team can win the PvP content."
If a report has been filed and the prohibited activity is confirmed, a penalty will be issued.]

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...la=1&kid=68216


Your behavior is the reason PvP discords have to hold controlled private matches or synced casual matches for practice for ranked since casual queue has turned into a joke on every data center with people throwing matches or significantly not trying at all just for series rewards.

[Kai_Alura]

[
・Aiding the enemy / Uncooperative behavior / Lethargic behavior
Refers to an act of performing actions that give an advantage to an enemy (monsters, or the opposing team/players in PvP content) by not performing the necessary gameplay required of the situation. This may be combined with combat sabotage as well.

Key Points
Each player has a different level of skill, and in some cases, there may be a situation where the duty/content will fail. From the perspective of a skilled player in such a situation, a less skilled player may appear to be "adversarial/uncooperative/apathetic," but even if this is the case, it is not a violation as long as the player is playing appropriately.

For example, the following types of situations fall under the act of giving an advantage to the enemy (or the opposing team/players in PvP content):
"I don't want to heal because there is a player I don't like in the group."
"I don't think we can clear this anyway, so I'll just get hit by the enemy attack and go AFK after I'm knocked out."
"I'm going to join the opposing team as a healer and do nothing so my friends on the other team can win the PvP content."
If a report has been filed and the prohibited activity is confirmed, a penalty will be issued.]

https://support.na.square-enix.com/f...la=1&kid=68216


Your behavior is the reason PvP discords have to hold controlled private matches or synced casual matches for practice for ranked since casual queue has turned into a joke on every data center with people throwing matches or significantly not trying at all just for series rewards.

You posted alot of information, none of which applies to me. I’m still playing the match and participating in a way that “I” enjoy and still benefits the team. What “behavior” are you referring to exactly? You mean my outlook that this isn’t competitive content, or a ranked match? Get real. There has never been a minimum score requirement in PvP, so long as someone is actively playing the match, that should suffice. Playing “appropriately” is vague and can be misinterpreted. But again, these requirements should be outlined in black and white if customer support and GM’s are not equipped to provide detailed responses to players who are being punished and left in the dark.

[VoidsentStatus]

I’m still playing the match and participating in a way that “I” enjoy and still benefits the team. What “behavior” are you referring to exactly?

No, the game automatically kicks you out if you’re AFK for two minutes. Obviously I’m playing the match. Sometimes, I’ll camp nodes until they spawn and snipe, just run around and do that. I’ve won matches before this way. I’m not always chasing kills.

The GM's flat out told you you don't have enough points. From what I was told, GM's are not able to watch matches directly, but they can pull up scorecards. That means your damage output, damage taken, healing output, kill contribution etc. were ridiculously in the outlier bottom and they cannot verify anything other than you walking around bare minimum, in no significant combat throughout the match. Your playstyle is not team orientated, your playstyle is not scalable to something everyone in the match is able to do, a GM is not able to easily verify the intentions of said action, and your team is getting trashed on during that time period. From what I had heard from people who play the higher population maps instead of CC, battle high is some concept that increases damage over time after getting kills, which allows for massive comebacks due to steamrolling last minute to be possible if a team spends all day only capping and not fighting. If their description to me is even remotely accurate, you indirectly griefed your team by not working on the same plan that they were. And that would be unccoperative behavior as a minimum. Your playstyle also borders on lethargic resemblance. You are at the mercy of your teammates because a GM cannot verify your playstyle or whether it's even the correct choice in a given match. If you got reported several times, you were pissing off several people, who likely either lost or had to carry you in their head. You're in a scuffed situation, just play with your team.

[Commander_Justitia]

I’m still playing the match and participating in a way that “I” enjoy and still benefits the team.

Well, that seems to be the issue then.

GM don't really have to tell you why you got banned anyway. The GM who gave you a hint, was probably doing more than he should have already.

Knowing that GM's super rarely banned in PvP in the past, you must have gathered enough reports.



If people see this, they don't see what you captured in this mode. They will probably report sometimes. If you do 0 dmg and have 0 healing etc.
Even the second last guy managed to press 1 damage ability in 15min. Can you imagine in PvE only pressing 1 ability for 15min? Would you kick someone like that yourself?

[Titor]

Sometimes if you join in progress right before the match ends you won't have much/any damage. But that's a rare situation, but possible. There's been a few times I joined and the match ended before I could leave base/find enemy.

[Roi-]

Hi OP, seasonal ranked pvper here. If you aren't helping your team in fights and only camping nodes while only fighting occasionally without ever fighting with the team in a PVP mode (Player Vs. Player game mode) it's most likely going to result in others reporting, you. It's not the Elitist mindset of having to make everything competitive just by playing the game mode the way it is intended to be. It's all about working as a team for the goal of winning overall. If you are only camping nodes and not doing any damage to the point where you are catching a ban, I'd suggest just looking back on what you did during that match and trying to improve and work towards being part of the bigger picture which is the following.

Fighting with your Alliance

Heading to the nodes with other players holding off the enemy team from getting to the other players going to the node.

and also healing yourself, doing damage to other players and try to enjoy the game Mode overall.


XIV PVP can be a learning curve to a lot of players, and some will straight up AFK or rage quit because they cannot apply themselves to the following. Best of luck in your future games!

[Darkstride]

Are you joining PvP matches and then just standing there doing nothing?

[Kai_Alura]

No, the game automatically kicks you out if you’re AFK for two minutes. Obviously I’m playing the match. Sometimes, I’ll camp nodes until they spawn and snipe, just run around and do that. I’ve won matches before this way. I’m not always chasing kills. I’m not the best at PvP and that stresses me out. Everyone has a different PlayStyle. My point is there is not a requirement to play any specific way or to earn a minimum amount of participation points. This is casual PvP, not competitive. I’ve been playing the same way for ten years and it’s only just become an issue. If they are going to make all PvP competitive and force players to play in a certain way, then that should be made clear. My point is this isn’t proper customer service and I have tried through several means to speak to someone that has actual information to help, in alignment with their policies and ToS not just assumptions and opinions from players that aren’t directly involved in the process. It’s not ok to constantly punish someone for something they are not aware of and then not tell them what they’re doing wrong so that it doesn’t happen again. Thats some backwards thinking.