Written by: yoshi09 on September 11, 2012.

I was hacked and received error code 3002 on September 4^th. Six days later I did get it back and was lucky to not have anything stolen. Here are some steps you can follow to make sure you get your compromised account back as speedily as possible, and avoid other little hiccups that will hinder your playtime further.

1. Go to Guild Wars 2 support site: http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/ask/

2. Under Issue Type, choose “Hacked Account”

3. In Subject, put “Hacked Account”

4. In Question, make it explicitly clear that you were hacked. I wish I knew this sooner. Many other sources will just tell you to type your account’s e-mail address, your account display name and the 25-digit serial code, but this will only lead the support team assuming you forgot your password— and it is frustrating waiting in that virtual line again. As soon as I made it clear that I was hacked, I was helped within 24 hours (though it’s hard to tell if it’s because I also made it clear that I’ve been waiting six days). Here’s what I typed: “I just want to make it very clear that my account was HACKED. I did not forget my password, it was HACKED. Please don’t read this quickly, please don’t give me steps on how to simply reset my password or authenticate my e-mail.”

After making it clear, then go ahead and include your account’s e-mail address, your account display name or character name with the 4 digit number following each if you remember them (you can also find them in one of the first two e-mails ArenaNet sent you if you bought an online copy of GW2), and the 25-digit Guild Wars 2 serial code (also found in one of the first two e-mails ArenaNet sent you).

You may be prompted to put those under Game Account and Guild Wars 2 serial code sections— go ahead and put the corresponding answers in those fields as well.

5. Click “Continue”

After sending, there will be a waiting game. It will be the hardest part. You’ll probably want to make your friends playing the game open up tickets in hopes of giving your own ticket more importance. Don’t do it— it just clogs the support team’s e-mail further and it might even slow the process down.

If you’ve found that you’ve waited over four days, get a friend who has a working account to post on your behalf here: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/account/Unresolved-Tickets-5-days-and-older-merged. Pretty much just follow the format everyone else is posting in (how long they’ve been waiting, description of what happened [i.e. hacked], plus your ticket number, etc.). If you can’t wait that long and need an outlet to rage in, or some kind of group therapy check out this link: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/account/Account-Hacked-Permanently-Banned-Post-here-merged-1. It’s nice to be reminded that you aren’t alone in this situation.

Good luck, and hope to see you back in Tyria soon.