Permanently banned after 9 years of clean play. It seems like automated anti-cheat flags regional network tools (zapret/AmneziaWG) as network tampering.
Hey everyone,
I’m making this post because I feel like I've been played. My Overwatch account, which I’ve been playing on honestly since 2017 (bought OW1), was suddenly permanently banned out of nowhere. No prior warnings, no mutes, no temporary suspensions. Just a permaban.
The email stated I violated the EULA/Terms of Conduct, but didn’t specify why. I am a dedicated Workshop mode creator and mostly spend my time chilling in custom lobbies making modes. I have never used cheats, macros, or exploits in my life.
After analyzing what happened, I am 99% sure this is a massive false positive caused by the automated anticheat (Defense Matrix) conflicting with regional network tools.
Here is the full context:
- The Software: Due to severe internet and ISP restrictions in my region, many standard websites (like YouTube, Discord, and even workshop.codes) and games (like Titanfall 2 and Doom Eternal) simply do not open. To use internet normally, I have to keep utilities like "zapret" (which runs the WinDivert driver) and AmneziaWG (Cloudflare WARP config) running in the background.
- The Connection: These tools do absolutely nothing for Overwatch itself. They are strictly for my browser so I can watch YouTube or talk on Discord while playing. They do not inject any code into the game, nor do they provide any amount of advantage.
- The Trigger: About 3-4 hours before the ban, these background utilities caused a network glitch, and I got an official in-game error: "You have been removed from voice chat" (Vivox server connection lost). A couple of hours later, it reconnected on its own.
- The HWID Change: Around the same time, I also logged into Overwatch from a brand new laptop I just bought to test its performance.
I suspect that the automated anti-cheat flagged the combination of a new device (HWID change), severe packet desynchronization caused by zapret/AmneziaWG, and the sudden drop/reconnect of the Vivox voice chat as "Network Tampering" or a "Lag Switch." Or even "Account Sharing" if we're generous.
I tried contacting support. First, a Game Master named Lelidaya closed the ticket (for some reason?) and told me they escalated my case to senior engineering specialists for a manual review and that I should await their response in a few days. I waited patiently for 10 days, then sent another ticket, asking something along the lines of "what's up?", only for it to be closed with a generic copypasted bot response saying "the decision is final". My subsequent appeals are being ignored or auto closed.
I have invested 9 years into this account. I love this game despite its glaring flaws and the Workshop community. Getting my account taken away by a blind automated system just because I wanted my browser to open YouTube and Discord is incredibly unfair.
Has anyone else who uses tools like zapret, GoodbyeDPI, or modified WireGuard clients experienced recent bans in Overwatch 2? Is there any way to actually reach a human being at Blizzard who can manually check the network logs?
Thank you for reading.
UPD: I was unbanned 13:49 PST August 3rd. Thank you all for the support!