Lost Ark players without a Steam account "in good standing" could find their accounts restricted as Smilegate ramps up their fight against bots.
Amazon and Smilegate have been hard at work trying to find and remove bot accounts from its servers, having already purged a huge amount from the game. In a recent update, Smilegate announced that the studio will be taking further steps to curb the issue.
"While bots are still prevalent in Lost Ark and we are continuing work, we can report that we have seen some improvements in the numbers of bots seen in-game and are continuing to take action against those who have been able to remain," the post read.
The additional changes set to head to Lost Ark include "a prevention system" which aims to tackle bots and fraudulent purchases. This means that players will need to have a Steam account "in good standing" and met the "small purchase requirement needed to use Steam’s social systems," or made a purchase in Lost Ark through Amazon or Steam, in order to be given ‘Trusted’ status.
Players who don't meet the 'Trusted' status will "experience reduced access to a small number of social and economic systems." Smilegate has acknowledged that this system could have a negative effect on solely free-to-play players, inviting those who might be affected to share their experiences on the game's forum.
Certain features that players might be restricted from accessing include:
Free-to-Play usrees should keep an eye on their gameplay access for the time being, and perhaps expect some slight issues going forward.