Accepting gold in Lost Ark can theoretically put your account at risk. A community manager confirmed this in the forum, even if the gold comes from you. We at MeinMMO explain the situation.
What does Amazon say? In a forum post, a community manager from Amazon explains when exactly your account may be at risk when trading gold. He points out that while it is allowed to use the auction house to send gold and items to other servers, it is not intended for that purpose.
These methods could seem illegal and lead to sanctions that players might not expect. Additionally, you run the risk of illegal gold ending up on your account, which can get you into trouble.
Furthermore, he describes that you need to be cautious about who you accept gold from. Because if you receive gold from illegal sources, it can quickly become dangerous for your account. Amazon aims to remove so-called RMT gold from the game on a large scale.
What type of gold is being discussed? Primarily, the community manager refers to illegal gold that comes from RMT purchases. This is gold that has been farmed by bots and then bought for real money, thus entering the game through prohibited means (via playlostark.com).
Bans can be imposed on the bot, the buyer, and the seller, but actually also on you if you unknowingly accept the “black” gold. It is particularly about larger sums, and corresponding transactions are said to be monitored by Amazon.
Which transactions are meant? Explicitly, what is known as bussing or boosting is mentioned. In this case, a high-level player sells their assistance in various raids or bosses. You can then sit back while a pro takes care of the enemies for you, but only because you paid him beforehand.
While this is not fundamentally forbidden in Lost Ark, boosting during the difficult Legion raids often involves extremely high sums changing hands. And if someone receives and accepts 500,000 gold, they bear the risk themselves. Thus, the developers stated in the forum.
This is what your Arcanist could look like if she had more gold:
Your own gold can also become dangerous for you
Caution from yourself: But even if you are just stockpiling gold for yourself, you have a risk. This refers to a way to transfer gold to other servers. While you cannot send gold via mail across servers or use the account storage, you can put an item for a lot of money in the auction house and then buy it with your character from another server.
You would have successfully sent money from one server to another, minus the taxes. What initially sounds like a makeshift solution is actually not welcome. Amazon states: “If something looks illegal, just don’t do it, and you’ll be safe.”
If you want to transfer gold across servers, you should use the feedback form. Eventually, a feature may be added. However, this info does not satisfy fans.
Roxx added during the night: A few hours after the original post caused a stir in the community, community manager Roxx spoke in the forum to clarify some statements. She writes: “Yes, bussing/boosting is still allowed, but just be cautious about whom you accept a lot of gold from. You won’t get banned if you play the game as it is intended and don’t participate in RMT.”
Furthermore, she clarifies in another post that the severity of the punishments will depend on the amount of illegal gold. However, Roxx remains somewhat vague about the situation with the auction house. It only states: “As long as you use the auction house only as intended, you are okay. If you use excessively high amounts that don’t make sense, you are not okay.” (via playlostark.com).
The community is annoyed – ‘There is a difference between 1,500 and 500,000 gold’
How does the community react? They are disturbed by the statements of the developers. While people agree that RMT gold and the users of these offers need to be removed from the game, they also see major issues with the current regulation.
- If you play on two different servers with the same account and transfer gold via the auction house, the gold hasn’t even changed owners. And it even cost taxes, which is why many players believe that such a procedure should be allowed.
- Others believe that the community itself is responsible for what gold they send and especially accept. Evino writes on reddit: “There is a difference whether I boost Argos for 1,500 gold or Helltan for 500,000 gold. With 1.5k, I can assume that it is legitimate gold; with 500,000, it is most likely RMT money, and you know this. Even if you didn’t buy it yourself, you are supporting the bots by doing so.”
- Other fans argue that the amount shouldn’t matter, and people should also be banned for 1,400 gold if it comes from an illegal source.
What do you think about it? How do you find Amazon’s regulation? Should they take such a hard stance or is the publisher overreacting in your eyes? Feel free to let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO.
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