Hot Topics in Arkesia #1

It can be difficult to keep track of everything going on in the community, especially since opinions on hot topics can be mixed and spread across multiple platforms, channels, and threads. We've decided to give the spotlight to what's going on in Arkesia, and the things that are constantly on players' minds, through a series of articles that we hope will summarize and immortalize the most pressing issues, as well as gather your thoughts on them to form a collective response.

This article is split into two major categories, with the first focusing on current issues that could easily be resolved or may not require intervention, and the second category addressing things that have remained persistent for a rather long period of time. We aim to continue using this format at specific intervals, which allows you to compare results with previous editions to get an overview of how things evolve over time.

We would love to gather thoughts and opinions from as many people as possible and make this a cohesive response from the whole community. You can help us achieve that by sharing this article with your friends and guildmates!

Since this kind of article is a new addition, feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated! If you would like to see a specific topic addressed in the future, join our Discord and let us know in the Lost Ark channels.

Bussing

This has been an increasing pain point over the past few weeks, especially since it impacts everyone to some degree. It is often cited as the main culprit for inflation in the game, and it has the potential to scare away new players or deprive them of improvement by offering an easy alternative to clearing raids, which then creates a vicious cycle.

In close relation to this is the prevalence of alt accounts. According to a fan-made stats site, 39.9% of all Western rosters that have entered Tier 4 don't have a character going above Item Level 1640. The general idea is that those who benefit the most from the bussing situation (besides the drivers themselves) are players with an excess of free time, looking to generate additional gold they can funnel into their main accounts by creating alt rosters. This gold entering the economy at an increasing pace is one of the largest reasons for rampant inflation, which negatively impacts everyone by devaluing their already limited gold supply. What are your thoughts on this issue?

RMT Punishment

No kingdom ruled through fear is a kingdom worth ruling. This statement became controversial when it was first said almost three years ago, and while it holds some truth, not adequately punishing those who broke the rules will only encourage others to follow their example. This in turn devalues the achievements of regular players who earned their way through progression as intended.

Every time someone who engages in RMT participates in events tied to significant rewards or limited titles, it sparks protests and the community's morale plummets. As a result, distrust in the integrity of AGS's prevention and detection systems quickly gains traction. Let us know where you stand on this!

Frontier System & Limited Titles

The Frontier System introduced an interesting concept to the game – it rewards players who can clear content on its original difficulty, while also progressively reducing the difficulty of raids at specific intervals. This not only makes it easier to clear for those who struggled during the first weeks but also makes it less time-consuming.

The controversy comes from unique titles being awarded for a limited time as part of this system. This allows dedicated players to display their skill and add some flair to their characters, but it also opens up an avenue to gatekeeping. What do you think?

This category focuses on topics that are constantly in the back of players' minds, and can collectively be referred to as the state of the game, or how healthy the game is. It's important that you compare each aspect with the situation from previous month(s) and decide if it got better, worse, or it remained the same.

In addition to creating new content, we consistently strive to enhance all existing articles, and your contributions have been invaluable in helping us keep things up to date.

Join our Discord community and utilize the #bug-report channel if you come across any bugs, issues, or guide errors. We remain committed to ensuring that all our content reaches its highest potential.

On behalf of our whole Lost Ark team - Thank you for all the feedback!