author: Patrick Kubiak
Over a Million Bans is Just „First Step”; Lost Ark Devs at War With Bots
Smilegate, the studio responsible for Lost Ark, is still working on solving the issue of bots in their game. New protections are in the pipeline, and further account bans are possible.
Problem with bots in Lost Ark is still present, but the devs are working hard to solve it. Solving this issue is currently their top priority.
Illegal accounts plague Lost Ark
Last week the developers of this popular MMO revealed that they have banned more than one million accounts that were found to be bots. At the same time, Smilegate is "working hard to develop effective tools and methods to identify and remove bots from the game" and "as a result of the massive wave of bans, a small number of players may have been mistakenly identified as bots." The actions taken are meant to be just the beginning of an attempt to rectify the situation.
"Last Friday we began rolling out bot bans, targeting over a million illegitimate accounts. We know this will not fix the situation by itself and there are still bots present the game, so we want to provide reassurance that this was just one step in an ongoing battle.
Following this initial massive ban wave, we are continuing to regularly roll out additional bans to clear out more bots from the game. Beyond that, we are also working on internal methods and tools to make it much more difficult for bots to enter the game, especially at the current rate they are being created. These updates will soon be on their way to the game."
The message from the developers ends by reminding players that "it is against the terms of service to participate in any real-money transactions involving third-party intermediaries."
- More information on Smilegate's actions against illegal bots in Lost Ark can be found in the official announcement from the developers.
Lost Ark (almost) on top
Lost Ark is currently the second most played game on Steam (1.32 million players), just behind PUBG (via SteamDB). With the beginning of March, Smilegate polished up the game and released an extensive update that introduced previously announced new raids and story quests for high-level characters, as well as a few surprises - including a temporary race event called Arkesia and the first PvP season.
