Lost Ark team is still working to control the MMO's bot problem
"We are working on internal tools to make it much more difficult for bots to enter the game."
Smilegate is still working to control bots and "illegitimate accounts" in its fan-favourite MMO, Lost Ark.
Just last week, the developer banned over a million Lost Ark accounts it believed were bots, saying that its team "has been hard at work on crafting effective tools and methods to identify and remove bots from the game" and acknowledging that "in this massive ban wave, it is possible that a small number of players may be erroneously identified as bots".
Following the bans, however, Smilegate said that it wanted to "provide reassurance" to players that this was "just one step in an ongoing battle" and is developing "internal methods and tools to make it much more difficult for bots to enter the game".
"Last Friday we began rolling out bot bans, targeting over a million illegitimate accounts," the update said (thanks, NME). "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.
"We've also heard player concerns about the effect these bots may have on the in-game economy when it comes to gold buying and selling, and we are closely monitoring this situation. We have changed the gold reward to silver for some Rapport and Guide Quest rewards in order to prevent the abuse of these systems by botters and gold farmers."
The update ends by politely reminding players that "participating in any real-money transactions (RMT) through third-party sellers is against [the] terms of service" and both sellers and buyers face a ban if caught. It also confirmed that there have been "significant improvements" to matchmaking since the bans have occurred, "even during peak times".
"As a number of players have noticed, especially over last weekend, we are happy to share that queues in Europe are becoming more manageable. This is a result of a number of adjustments we've made in the background, including (but not limited to) improved game stability."
For more about Lost Ark, including other fixes and QoL improvements, head on over to the official website.
Lost Ark is now Steam's second-biggest concurrently played game ever, second only to PUBG. Bertie was "impressed" by it, too, complimenting its "lovely touches" and depth of combat.
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