Lost Ark is now receiving a lot of negative Steam reviews following a new initiative from the developers to ban inactive players. The ban shows up as a permanent game ban or a VAC on the affected users' Steam profiles.
It is currently unclear how long an inactive duration warrants a player ban. Some users are reporting that the last time they have opened the game was last April, while others haven't logged in since February, so it might be connected to the players' total playtime and not inactivity. Nonetheless, Lost Ark has issued a recent statement that is believed to be the cause of this new ban wave for both bots and inactive players.
The official statment says that the game is rolling out massive bot account bans, using "new and highly-effective" tactics to target and remove bots from the game. As per the announcement, the wave ban should have a positive impact on gameplay, market, and auction experiences, as well as decreased lag in heavily populated areas. The deployment of large-scale ban waves will not stop with this one, and the statement says there is more where that came from in the coming months.
Another issue might be that the game is banning non-trusted Steam accounts. Lost Ark has implemented a system last March to punish players who haven't earned the Trusted status, and it is suspected that the affected users might have forgotten to do the two-step authentication step as well to earn this status.
Steam user accounts usually start as "Limited", with some features like getting involved in game economy trading restricted to prevent malicious users from operating them and scamming other users. Users can upgrade to a "Trusted" account by adding at least $5 USD to their steam wallet, and making a purchase through their account. Users are also required to have two-factor mobile authentication set up to earn the Trusted status.
Banned users are currently infuriated as the ban wave is labeling players as cheaters – according to some affected users – for breaking Valve Anti-Cheat Technology (VAC) guidelines. This type of ban cannot be removed from an account if it is issued, and if someone gifts the banned account a game, they gifter will not be able to gift the game for a second time.
Lost Ark might be cracking down on suspicious accounts because of their extensive roadmap for this year, which includes a new continent and 96-player PvP mode, as well as a new advanced class character, the Artist.