Smilegate RPG's latest Lost Ark ban wave is said to have culled more than 1 million bot accounts.

The team behind Lost Ark has announced that, on March 4, it permanently removed "over a million illegitimate accounts" from the game that were running bots.

Amazon has banned over a million Lost Ark accounts it believes were bots.

"Following launch, botting has been a growing issue for Lost Ark," the studio said in a blog update on the official forums. "Our team has been hard at work on crafting effective tools and methods to identify and remove bots from the game.

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That's no ban wave, that's a ban tsunami.

The most recent addition to Lost Ark's roster of classes in the Korean version, the Sorceress, was included at launch for players of Smilegate's free-to-play MMORPG in the West. As such, she's been a popular pick for new players looking for a casting-based entry point into the world of Arkesia. She's a hard-hitting DPS that fulfills the fantasy of a spell-slinging glass cannon, a class that lacks defense but packs a huge punch to make up for it.

There are two main ways to build a Sorceress for PVE, each defined by the class' two class-specific engravings. One focuses on delivering some truly massive damage during very specific burst windows (and as a result requires more precise timing and coordination) while the other offers more steady, consistent damage at the cost of forgoing a key Sorceress ability--Arcane Rupture. Figuring out which build to strive for can be a challenge, so this guide will dive into what each class engraving does, which skills complement those engravings, and how to play each build effectively.

Sorceress Igniter Build

An Igniter Sorceress is all about dealing huge amounts of damage in a small window.

If you want to deal as much damage as possible in a small window of time, this is the Sorceress build for you. Revolving around the Igniter class engraving, this build focuses on amping up the class' Arcane Rupture identity ability. As you deal damage, the class identity gauge fills, allowing you to activate Arcane Rupture, boosting damage dealt and reducing skill cooldown times. If activated when the identity gauge is at 100%, this ability becomes even more powerful.

When playing an Igniter Sorceress, you'll want to wait to use Arcane Rupture when it's gauge is at 100% to maximize damage, as your Igniter engraving will further reduce ability cooldowns and increase the crit rate and crit damage of your abilities. You'll want to be using your hardest hitting skills (which also have the longest cooldowns) in conjunction with Arcane Rupture to deal massive amounts of damage. The only downside is your burst windows will often be small depending on the encounter, and should you happen to miss your target, you'll be contributing little to your party's success.

If you're up for a high-risk, high-reward playstyle, below are some of the skills and their corresponding Tripods you'll want to consider using for an Igniter Sorceress. Aside from some key abilities like Doomsday, Explosion, and Punishing Strike, feel free to experiment with whatever abilities fit your playstyle. When it comes to stat priority for gear, focus on accumulating as much Specialization as possible, followed by Crit and Swiftness. You'll want to equip the Igniter engraving (obviously) as well as All-Out Attack (which boosts casting or holding skills) or Grudge (a huge boost to damage dealt at the cost of receiving more damage) to further increase your damage output. Note that upon hitting level 50 you likely won't have all the skill points you need to unlock all three Tripods for each of your selected abilities, so focus first on maxing out your hardest-hitting skills (like Doomsday and Explosion) and go from there.

• Doomsday - Tripod 1: Ignition, Tripod 2: Asteroid, Tripod 3: Magick Amplification
• Explosion - Tripod 1: Ignite, Tripod 2: Weakpoint Detection, Tripod 3: Magick Amplification
• Blaze - Tripod 1: Damage Amplification, Tripod 2: Charged Flame, Tripod 3: Undying Flame
• Rime Arrow - Tripod 1: Enlightenment, Tripod 2: Piercing Strike, Tripod 3: Ice Pick
• Esoteric Reaction - Tripod 1: Quick Prep, Tripod 2: Enhanced Strike, Tripod 3: Stabilized Crystal
• Punishing Strike - Tripod 1: Mind Enhancement, Tripod 2: Electric Discharge, Tripod 3: Magick Amplification
• Frost's Call - Tripod 1: Enlightenment, Tripod 2: Rule Enhancement, Tripod 3: Enhanced Strike
• Squall - Tripod 1: Quick Preparation, Tripod 2: Agile Cast, Tripod 3: Personal Preference

Sorceress Reflux Build

The Reflux Sorceress deals steady damage without having to worry about Arcane Rupture.

Playing a Reflux Sorceress is the opposite of the Igniter playstyle. Instead of saving all of your cooldowns for specific burst windows, you'll be dishing out continual and steady damage throughout the duration of any encounter. While a downside of going the Reflux route is you won't be engaging with your class's Arcane Rupture ability (the Reflux engraving disables it), you do get the added benefit of a small boost to your damage and cooldown reduction at all times. Since you don't have to worry about saving your identity gauge to activate Arcane Torrent, you can also use your Blink ability to your heart's content, giving you more survivability and more options for getting out of harm's way. This is by far an easier playstyle and one more suited for players new to the game and the class.

While many of the skills and engravings you'll be using as a Reflux build are the same as the Igniter, you'll want to change your Tripods away from anything that helps increase your identity gauge and instead prioritize ones that increase damage and crit chance. Instead of focusing primarily on Specialization stats-wise, you'll want to go after Crit first and foremost, with Swiftness as a second priority. When it comes to engravings, make sure to level up the Reflux engraving as quickly as you can and equip it. Like the Igniter, you'll want to grab Grudge as well for a solid damage boost. If you need a little extra crit, Precision Dagger is a solid choice, as is Master of Strikes, which boosts the damage of skills that don't benefit from "front" or "back" attacks (which applies to most Sorceress skills).

• Blaze - Tripod 1: Damage Amplification, Tripod 2: Flame Explosion, Tripod 3: Undying Flame
• Elgian's Touch - Tripod 1: Quick Prep, Tripod 2: Swift Footwork, Tripod 3: Personal Preference
• Seraphic Hail - Tripod 1: Quick Prep, Tripod 2: Evolved Hail, Tripod 3: Red Hail
• Reverse Gravity - Tripod 1: Wide Angle, Tripod 2: Lava Area, Tripod 3: Weakpoint Detection
• Punishing Strike - Tripod 1: Mind Enhancement, Tripod 2: Unavoidable Fate, Tripod 3: Magick Amplification
• Esoteric Reaction - Tripod 1: Quick Preparation, Enhanced Strike, Stabilized Crystal
• Frost's Call - Tripod 1: Enlightenment, Tripod 2: Rule Enhancement, Tripod 3: Enhanced Strike
• Rime Arrow - Tripod 1: Quick Preparation, Tripod 2: Piercing Strike, Tripod 3: Ice Pick

Awakening Skills

When it comes to Sorceress' two Awakening skills, the choice is up to you.

Sorceress has two Awakening skills to choose from. The first can be unlocked shortly after reaching level 50 and making your way to Vern Castle, while the other can't be unlocked until progressing further in the storyline. Thankfully, the first Awakening skill, Enviska's Might, is a great choice. It deals good damage and has a wide area of effect, making it a consistent and reliable choice.

Sorceress' second Awakening ability, Apocalypse Call, summons meteors from the sky to rain down on the battlefield. While visually impressive and technically capable of dealing more damage overall, the fact that the meteors are fairly spread out means some have a high chance of missing their target. Since Awakening abilities have an extremely long cooldown, most players tend to go with Enviska's Might rather than roll the dice on Apocalypse Call. The choice of which Awakening skill to use with either the Ignitor or Reflux Sorceress build is ultimately up to you.

Curious what Lost Ark class you should pick next? Check out our Lost Ark class guide for some of our recommendations. If you're reaching Lost Ark's endgame, be sure to read up on what you should be doing after hitting level 50, as well as how to earn and upgrade an endgame gear set.

Amazon's MMORPG New World will not receive a Russian localization, with Amazon Games confirming the decision is a direct response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking with TechRadar Gaming, Christoph Hartmann, vice president of Amazon Games, said, "We were looking into localizing New World for Russia, and we stopped that." An Amazon spokesperson later confirmed to TechRadar that the decision is due to the ongoing war.

Amazon is also responsible for the recent Western localization and release of the free-to-play Korean MMORPG Lost Ark, which has been playable in Russia since 2019. While Amazon wasn't involved in the Russian localization of Lost Ark, Amazon has been working closely in partnership with developer Smilegate RPG on the Western version. Smilegate RPG has yet to comment on whether or not Lost Ark will continue services as normal in Russia.

Amazon deciding to pull the plug on the Russian version of New World is another case of video game companies taking action in response to Russia's war on Ukraine, with companies like CD Projekt, EA, and Microsoft all stopping new sales of games and/or services in the region. Ukraine's government has called on companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to temporarily ban Russian and Belarusian accounts from their games and services, as well as cancel esport or gaming-related events in Russia and Belarus.

Other companies, ranging from big-name developers like Bungie to small indie teams like 11 Bit Studios, have also donated money to the Ukrainian Red Cross, UNICEF, and other charities. In response to Russia's invasion, EA will be removing Russian teams from FIFA 22 and NHL 22.

Lost Ark is the hot MMORPG of the season, bringing in tons of players and topping Steam charts. But developer Smilegate RPG must be somewhat worried about player retention, as many Lost Ark fans have sounded off over the difficulty of endgame content. More specifically, they’ve expressed annoyance at the difficulty of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 Guardian Raids and Abyss Dungeons. As a result, Smilegate RPG nerfed the difficulty for those Lost Ark levels in a recent update. Nerfing the difficulty for any content is bound to be a controversial move. The folks over at Lost Ark released a lengthy statement to discuss their reasons for dropping the difficulty of Guardian Raids and Abyss Dungeons. In the statement, the developers explained that players on the Korean server had much more time to play these raids and dungeons, as it was the only content at the time. This allowed the player base to learn the patterns of the bosses and have an easier time. However, Lost Ark in the global serv...

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Here's an overview of the skills and engravings for the best Paladin builds for PvP and PvE in Lost Ark.

Amazon Games has released information regarding the content coming to Lost Ark this month, March 2022.

Lost Ark had a bumper debut last month. In fact, it was so bumper that European players of the new MMO ARPG experienced long queue times before eventually getting into the game. This led Amazon to create an entirely new regional server in a bid to ease congestion.

But even with this new 'Europe West' server, queue times for Lost Ark are still huge. Speaking to IGN, Amazon Games franchise leader Soomin Park said Lost Ark's Europe Central region "continues to be filled to the brim" which as a result has led to "player queues and some instability in the region".

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Lost Ark gets its first big update, which comes with new story quests and endgame raids.

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