Lost Ark is bringing out the ban hammer once again. The recent wave removed 300,000 suspicious accounts from the game.
Lost Ark surprised the gaming community when it broke several records when it was launched and soared to 1.3 million concurrent players during its peak. However, in one of their efforts to combat botting, the popular MMORPG lost over 300k Lost Ark accounts after their latest ban wave. However, the dramatic drop in the player count is a sacrifice the developers are willing to make to improve actual gamers’ quality of life (QoL).
The Latest Massive Ban Wave
Lost Ark has been having problems with bots since its last February. Though Amazon has not been pulling its punches, the botting problem has been relentless and has devastated the game’s economy. Hundreds of AI-controlled accounts have caused massive inflation for Lost Ark gold.
The developers have taken drastic measures by issuing a massive ban wave that took out around 1 million accounts. However, the problem persists, and Amazon is keen on eliminating bots from the game. Developers had issued another widescale ban, which affected the game’s stats.
After the game’s June 16 update, Lost Ark has lost around 300,000 accounts suspected of botting. These ban waves came after Amazon announced that a series of account terminations would occur over the following weeks. While the number of bots banned was not as big as the previous ban wave, the total was still large.
While some gamers might view losing around 300,000 players as a bad sign, the developers and many adventurers are pleased with the result of this process. Though the game may have dropped significantly in the Steam Charts, the ban stabilized queues and reduced the number of bots seen in Rapport paths, which greatly affected the QoL in Lost Ark.
The loss of the game’s prestige as one of the top titles on Steam is a small price to pay for ensuring the best experience for the Lost Ark’s community. As players have noticed, the queues have significantly improved compared to the last 10k player line. The in-game market has also seen several items stabilizing as the economy starts to recover.
While the botting issue has not been entirely resolved, adventurers can be sure that the effects of these AI-controlled accounts will be less impactful. Hopefully, Amazon and Smilegate will continue their proactive actions against the issue.
Lost Ark’s Botting Problem
Bots were a significant issue in the game even before its western release. The KR and JP servers have first-hand experience of rampant botting. Though this type of problem is not an issue for free-to-play games, the massive number of AI-controlled accounts in the MMO ARPG has taken players off-guard.
With the release of Lost Ark in the west, many veteran gamers expected that the NA region would also be plagued by bots. Unfortunately, due to the massive number of suspicious accounts, it is unclear what are the exact statistics of the game’s natural players. But fans are assured that despite having severe botting issues, Lost Ark has hundreds of thousands of real-life players.
Other Methods of Combatting Bots
Several players note that they still encounter various scripted characters in Fishing Spots and Logging Areas. Fortunately, the recent ban waves were enough to finally stabilize queues and prices for several items.
Amazon has promised that mass bot banning will not be their only method of combating the botting problem. The devs have stated that they are making proactive moves such as banning the use of VPNs and setting up captcha verifications to catch potential AI-controlled accounts. In addition, players have called for stricter systems such as two-step authentication systems.
Aside from these methods, Lost Ark has also imposed limitations on new store trading. While this update does not prevent botting, it does make it harder for cheaters and scripters to reap the rewards. Hopefully, these types of systems will discourage further cheating.
While the botting problem is yet to be permanently resolved, the developers are doing everything possible to address the issue. Fortunately, the case can be fixed to a point where the Lost Ark gold economy will no longer be affected. In the meantime, adventurers should log in and enjoy the stable queues.