Well the bans are for real. Silkbuyers as well as Nonsilkbuyers get banned. However it seems like the bans are random, you get two punishments before a perm. ban. Login to Server got harder, they changed the system to a .. well lets say .. a queue system .. however its not proven that its a real queue ..
Yea you see, the servers are still pretty full, logging takes up from 30mins to 30 hours possibly, if you read through the search button a bit about the new Login, you will see that non Prem players needs several hours to get in.
If you ask me, dont even begin to put any Silk into Silkroad, at least to this Version, cause its moreover a waste, your Silks aint saves you anymore, and many players left already, everywhere goldbots .. and if you ever make it to 100, you will need to put some silks into Magic Pop, to get a SoSun Weapon to be equal to many other players .. well anyway, have fun there .. :)