#1 - Oct. 8, 2015, 11:07 a.m.
In both cases, the disqualified players were found to have been violating the Terms of Service of World of Warcraft. According to our Tournament Rules, players’ accounts must remain in good standing for the entirety of the 2015 WoW Arena World Championship. As these players’ accounts had been suspended, they were no longer in good standing, and thus disqualified from the tournament.
We have performed a thorough investigation of the accounts in question, and have found overwhelming evidence indicating that both players were indeed participating in activities that rightfully resulted in their accounts being suspended. Blizzard does not publicly share details of actions taken against specific accounts, but offenses that typically result in suspension include: exploiting game mechanics, buying or selling accounts, playing another person’s account for advantage (boosting), and/or collusion with opponents.
In both cases, we should have taken action much sooner, and regret that these players were not informed of their disqualified status prior to the event.
We are working to improve our processes to prevent situations like this from happening again, and ensure that ineligible players are properly disqualified before tournament play commences.