http://lostark.game.onstove.com/News/Notice/Views/41
After the October 25th (Korea local time) maintenance of Smilegates’ STOVE portal, a significant number of STOVE accounts were required to re-certify their previous i-Pin (Internet Personal Identification Number which is an alternative to the Resident Registration Number) verification with a (mobile) phone number that is registered to the account holder. The older security verification system was depreciated since the biggest problem with the older system was the use of misappropriated information that were used in order to create accounts (like the ones on OBTGames or NewGameWay).
OBTGames has suspended all sales of LOST ARK OBT accounts and are offering partial refunds for purchases made after June 1, 2018. NewGameWay has not (yet) posted any information. While they mention they are looking to resume sales in the future, it will likely come at a price hike if they end up resorting to utilizing mobile phone/SIM rental services like Cellhire or Korea Sim Card to perform this verification.
My own STOVE account (which I just checked 24 hours after the news was released in Korea) has yet to be flagged for re-verification but it is an older one which may have been phone verified (before a lot more people began to purchase these where they began to only perform the simpler i-Pin verification). Still, I’m not exactly confident that it won’t be hit in a future re-verification wave.
I can understand why Smilegate is taking this step though. Their primary focus right now is getting the Korean OBT off to a smooth launch with their intended domestic market. There is probably also a growing concern regarding the black market of verified accounts where misappropriated identification information is usually at play (that includes names, addresses, phone numbers, and KSSN’s of people possibly deceased or unknowingly having that information being used to create registration information for these gaming accounts that are mainly being used by foreigners to play these Korea only/version games).
Myself, if my STOVE account does get hit before the OBT, I’ll just have to go with the flow and not have anything to complain about.
October 28th UPDATE: and boom, my account now shows that it needs re-verification (so yep, it looks like they were just flagging accounts in waves before the character pre-creation begins).
