Limited Matchmaking "ban", for what exactly?

[Sebascc]

I've been a long time CoD fan and returned to the series with the new MW2. I've never cheated, raged, exploited, or said anything offensive during my time in CoD MW3 (I know, a rare specimen in our lovely community). I only play Hardcore S&D so no spawn killing either, but my K/D ratio is pretty positive as a result (1.6?). How the hell did I end up banned (or shadow banned) in this game?

The most outrageous thing is that according to their website you "cannot appeal this ban" and "Unfortunately, we are unable to inform you when the account will exit a limited matchmaking state". Is it ever if this game is no longer supported?

Well, how the hell am I supposed to keep playing this game?? Do a couple of good games at the top of the leaderboard ban me? Am I never going to get un-banned? Ridiculous.

This ban was completely unjustified (and potentially permanent), you can check if you were also affected by this at the Activision website, log in to "appeal a ban" and it will tell you if you were affected.

I bet I am not the only player affected, and Activision needs to be quick in fixing these mistakes before they eat a lawsuit for preventing us from playing the $70 games they sold us. For now I'll take a break from CoD and see if it is better in a week. If not (or if this situation keeps repeating), its time to move on to another game and never purchase another Activision game. For those others unfairly punished, I hope you do the same.

[Beerplayer]

From one match to another, about 2 or 3 days ago, I experienced the same thing that happened to you. I asked in the lobbies, and it seems that everyone is saying the same thing about the shadowban issue. I haven't cheated or used bad words against players, but it seems that this is a general issue, not just for you and me. It seems that only certain game modes work, but the ones I play in are banned. It looks like some sort of ban to push people to buy BO6 after the poor results of the game due to the amount of hacks in the matches. It seems that in matches where there are a lot of hacks, even if you don't have any, they ban you for about 15 or 20 minutes until you can play again. This has caused many people—more than half of the players—to leave the game, and it seems they are recruiting. This is something that could be reported, but in MW3, there aren't enough players for them to pay attention. I hope this doesn't go much further because, as you said, we've paid money to play a game that came out about 1 year and 4 months ago, and we can’t play it as we did before. Sorry for my poor english.

[Beerplayer]

I'm also going to tell you something, this afternoon I played MW3 and I encountered the first cheater since I bought the game at the end of 2023. Such a coincidence.

[Beerplayer]

This is what the Activision page is telling me in official page:

ACCOUNT IN LIMITED MATCHMAKING STATUS
Game(s):
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III

Description:
Matchmaking has been limited on your account due to a possible violation. Unfortunately, we cannot inform you when the restriction on your account will be lifted.

You can check here periodically to see if the status disappears or if it changes to a temporary or permanent sanction. The end of the limited matchmaking status does not mean your account is free from potential violations.

For more information, please refer to the Call of Duty security and compliance policy.

[Beerplayer]

But I have never violated any rule in MW3 nor used hacks.

[Beerplayer]

Also, from what I've read, it seems that it only finds us matches with people who are in shadowban

[Lenovri]

Same issue, shadow ban. wtf

[Lowbei]

it can detect cheat engine and process hacker even if they arent running, resulting in limited matchmaking.

this is the cause of 90% of these, tho the person always claims to be part of that 10% because thats less embarrassing.

[kownt2ten]

I had it also a few days ago, but it was lifted in less than 12 hours. Some patch was pushed earlier in the week that probably did not go as intended. There are a few threads out there like this.

[Sebascc]

Originally posted by Lowbei:

it can detect cheat engine and process hacker even if they arent running, resulting in limited matchmaking.

this is the cause of 90% of these, tho the person always claims to be part of that 10% because thats less embarrassing.

What are "cheat engine" and "process hacker"? I've never heard or downloaded these. The most I delve have been in mods for Lethal Company and the backrooms haha

[Sebascc]

Originally posted by kownt2ten:

I had it also a few days ago, but it was lifted in less than 12 hours. Some patch was pushed earlier in the week that probably did not go as intended. There are a few threads out there like this.

That would be great, it means it would get fix in the next patch. Mistakes like that can happen in the game code. Not sure I want to wait a full season for them to patch it tho xD

[Chop Chop]

How to Play MW3 Warzone

[The Pitbull]

I thought I was shadow banned today it turns out people are actually leaving COD and that why the lobbies are taking a long time to load up and your playing with the same players all the time.

[Paceman44]

same problem, shadow ban and I don't cheat or hack!!! And no bad language!!! Shame on you Activision!!!

[JmZ-x-]

Originally posted by The Pitbull:

I thought I was shadow banned today it turns out people are actually leaving COD and that why the lobbies are taking a long time to load up and your playing with the same players all the time.

Game is pretty weak. People complained about MWII and MWIII but at least they were somewhat fun. This game is boring less than 4 months after release lmao.

[onedudesmind]

If you play with cheaters you can get banned now, so if a friend of yours cheats and you don't know you can still be banned.