ark-2

[past wind]

My whole point is, ASA will need both, officials and unnoficials, just like Ark

[blissful perch]

It’ll be good info, but it won’t really answer the question of how valuable officials are

[past wind]

The moment they shut officials down is because support will be gone

[blissful perch]

This is what I’m curious about. I’m not so sure it’s true

[past wind]

They need officials at least for telemetry

But IMO officials have a bigger role than just that

[blissful perch]

I don’t think ark requires officials forever to function. Likely for launch it never hurts to have them, but ark has plenty of content for play outside of official that could be leveraged

And I’d way rather WC be conservative with their spending on official and focus more on quality and quantity of content

[past wind]

Like I said. Close low population officials more frequently

I also think they should do wipes more frequently

Like 2 years at the most

[blissful perch]

Wipes and closures would help a great deal

There’s a ton of chaff servers on ark 1 that cost WC money and provide near 0 benefit

[past wind]

I heard at YouTube, from Raas I think, servers cost them like 300k/month

[blissful perch]

That’s just plain gross

[past wind]

Don’t quote me on that, because im not sure, but makes sense based on my personal experience with datacenters

[blissful perch]

I wouldn’t be shocked either. Which kinda solidifies my point that the financing of officials has to more strictly follow the ROI

[past wind]

But, at least, the new servers will cost less. Based on their last announcement

The old ones cost a lot because they are old

Also Ark is old, not very optimized

[blissful perch]

For sure. Again, idc if officials run and they self sustain on their ROI. There’s a reasonable group of folks who purchase ark to play official

However, the ROI always falls for the provision of a service over time after a single purchase. Hence my statement that servers need to close more regularly/sooner. This would all be in response to active player numbers. Closing a full pop cluster of officials is senseless

[split dove]

unofficial server hosting has to be available very early on for Ark 2, bc we all know with mods and crossplay many people will likely want to make a unofficial one for themselves.

[past wind]

I think the issue here is, apparently, they had a policy of never wiping or shutting down servers. Low pop servers should be shut down to give space to other modes or freshly wiped maps.

I remember in the beginning there were just a few servers

I mean officials

[blissful perch]

Yes, and I believe this was because people were very upset when their stuff was wiped as early access moved forward and servers had to be wiped without much warning (for example when the island was changed and areas of the map were deleted)

Stating beforehand that servers will be wiped at clear intervals will help with that frustration by being more transparent with people

[tropic forge]

you know whats the main problem for official server only having 10 to 20 ppl on them? having their spots occupied plus server aint stable at all whit more than 20 ppl on the same, and thats why most servers on pve are pillar not only to stop ppl building right next to you a fucking lagging castle but to prevent more ppl on the server to avoid crashes and constantan lag

thats what i wanna see on ASA whit their new "code line", if servers are more stable and can handle more ppl

now saying there's dead official servers its a joke unless its now cause when i play dosent matter if was ps4 or pc, official pve servers always had more than 5 ppl on them at all hours, at highest when everyone was on 20 to 25

[blissful perch]

The #1 reason I quit official was because of unacceptable lag and performance problems

[blissful perch]

20/25 out of what…60?

[tropic forge]

and thats understandable fuck i know that extreme well but saying officials have low ppl its a joke to me at least when i was still playing

[tropic forge]

70 if not mistake it was the cap

[blissful perch]

So it sounds like they should drop the max pop number down on officials then

[tropic forge]

well thats why i said i wanna see their "new line cde"

[blissful perch]

I mean…i would close servers if a bunch were averaging 1/3 the cap

[tropic forge]

that must be pvp servers, sough a bunch when i was wainting for gen2 whit my tribe, we actually try for 2 weeks but box tribes always wipe us after one week whitout us doing anything to them

but on pve never see a server whit 1 to 5 ppl on all time, or server was broken and ppl left or server got a crash and pppl were start to join

but im gonna be honest, i dont wanna be on a pve server whit 70 ppl on them building and taming, thats a lot even if server handles well, resources is a problem whit 50 ppl on, 70 ppl on pve more than half will be solo tribe so at least 35 youtube castles will be there for those solos than theres the amount of tames getting dust outside cause they are painting their castle

[hazy elm]

Ark 2 needs a battle pass

so we can earn cosmetics while we play

and buy a premium edition for more elite skins

[tropic forge]

you mean loot skin boxes a.k.a cod style 🤣

[hazy elm]

Maybe but they could call it the Survivor Pass 😮

[tropic forge]

or More Money For Snailgames or MMS

[hazy elm]

or Wildcard

Wait does WC work for free?

[tropic forge]

when ppl will get trough their skulls that wc dosent get the cut its snailgames

[blissful perch]

kinda why I think official PvE is super iffy

[hazy elm]

Wait wildcard doesn't make any money off the games they make?

[blissful perch]

if it's low pop because space is so limited...unless WC fixed the issue design wise I'm not seeing the appeal

[tropic forge]

wc was bought by snailgames so you tell me, who gets the cut?

[blissful perch]

WC loses money every second an official server is running if that's what you're asking

[hazy elm]

How is wildcard still able to pay their employees

I had no idea they are non profit

[tropic forge]

space aint limited you can even build on the ocean if you know how but ppl have their preferences which most want, flat land

[past wind]

They have their cash flows. Like the game pass and ps plus.

But, based on their last moves, the money is drying up

[tropic forge]

still, pretty sure snails get a cut from that after all its snail that owns wc not otherwise

[past wind]

Of course they do, they spent money expecting a return

Would you invest your money out of love?

[tropic forge]

hell no 🤣 but huge ammount of ppl here thinks so

[hazy elm]

I heard Snail Games abuses WC

Calls them names and stuff

[tropic forge]

ufff

[past wind]

I heard the earth is actually flat

[hazy elm]

There's a whole yt video on it too lol

[split dove]

i heard ark players have functioning brains

[past wind]

Theres a whole Netflix doc about it

[hazy elm]

Look up wc employees abused by snail games

[past wind]

That’s fake news.

[hazy elm]

This is why they were forced to make ark 2 because snail beat them up

tiny snail with big club

go boom

[tropic forge]

ho man 🤣

[past wind]

Seems legit

[tropic forge]

still waiting for that guy to said to boycott ark or make ASA whit MTX

[past wind]

People are funny

“Let’s just boycott Ark and get nothing in the end! Yay!”

Isn’t easier just to move on?! As you don’t really care if boycotting you are killing the product?

[tropic forge]

cancel culture 🤣

[split dove]

cancel your brain culture

[winged dome]

Official motto of Average Ark Chatters

[split dove]

Shhh they might be able to read this in 10 years 🫣

[winged dome]

They won't see it until it features in a Nooblets video 😂

[split dove]

He's not even in this discord, they might learn basic reading comprehension before that ever happens

[tropic forge]

"Please note that this creature will be released for Scorched Earth, so make sure your real-world submissions are in theme with that map!" damn ppl have to be going crazy whit the creatures admissions for them to say this 🤣 hell i have see one guy trying to put a hippo on the desert 🤣

[stray elm]

They live in Africa, so not too hard to believe they can live near the rivers in Scorched

[tropic forge]

youre right africa dosent have rivers at all just plain desert whit no life, only water that as is when it rains

i just notice you said "rivers" in SE, the only water that i remember there was on the obelisks

[untold ingot]

Hate to break it to you, but africa is a huge continent that is a lot more than just a desert lol

[stray elm]

There's rivers in the middle

[tropic forge]

i cant remember

[untold ingot]

The water on se is nowhere near deep enough to house hippos

[stray elm]

No shit, put my point was that hippos live in 'hot environment'

[untold ingot]

Yes, but not desert hot

[tropic forge]

anyway hippo spend more time in water than outside and i cant imagen them on SE

[stray elm]

Ah, but they do get desert cold. 👀

[stray elm]

Like, aye. Wildcard hasn't removed it yet, so I guess they consider it valid enough. 🤷‍♂️

[tropic forge]

did wc remove others?

[stray elm]

They remove submissions if they're not within the guidelines.

[tropic forge]

🤣 ppl really crazy

"i know gonna put this creature submission that can do everything in the game while i watch it"

[stray elm]

I hate the idea of adding more mammals to ARK, since most of them are fucking lackluster as all balls.
But, I can actually see prehistoric-Hippos being interesting, since they are SUPER aggressive in real-life, and can tango with gators and lions.

[tropic forge]

hippos actually kill more ppl than crocs

[untold ingot]

I think there needs to be more mammals in ark, especially since they are lackluster lol

[stray elm]

I believe Hippos kill more people then crocs 'and' sharks included.

[stray elm]

Like, if people can suggest interesting ones other then a fucking bootleg giraffe, I'd be down.

[tropic forge]

i think why ppl dont like mammals, they dont lay eggs so ppl cant breed them as easy as dinos

[stray elm]

Like, why not proto-mammals?

[tropic forge]

sure is a shit to breed when there was no cryos

but whit cryos its easy plus they better whit veggie cakes than other dinos on boss fights

[stray elm]

I have no personal issues with breeding mammals.
I just hate how lackluster they look in real-life.
Like, modern mammals are the most boring animal-kingdom, compared to literally anything else like fishes, reptiles, insects, etc.

[tropic forge]

you need really pass some time on a forest like the amazon than comeback and tell us again that opinion

[stray elm]

What, like monkeys, bears, deers, etc?

[untold ingot]

Tiger be like

[stray elm]

Tigers are hella lackluster compared to a rex, personally

[untold ingot]

I mean, seeing as we have no actual visual of a rex, I would contest that opinion lol

Rexes could have looked like overgrown chickens

[tropic forge]

ho wait youre comparing dinos that no one as ever see one alive so no muscular mass no skin no color no sounds to modern alive ones

[stray elm]

We have skeletons, so we do know what they roughly where shaped like.
So not like chickens

[stray elm]

I'm comparing to everything that has ever lived on Earth

[tropic forge]

we dont even know everthing that lived on this planet

[untold ingot]

Have you ever seen a cat skeleton, they look way more interesting than a trex lol. Trex are only interesting because of their size

[stray elm]

In a game about prehistoric creatures, there's many better options then mammals.

[stray elm]

No shit.

[stray elm]

I have, and still not interesting to me.

[tropic forge]

but youre the one that said "I'm comparing to everything that has ever lived on Earth"

[untold ingot]

There is just no convincing some people 🤣 jk

[stray elm]

Just like no convincing you with that art bullshit a month ago?

[untold ingot]

Hey, I am unconvinceable and proud of it

[stray elm]

You're dense

[untold ingot]

Lol, you arent entirely wrong

[stray elm]

Like, denser then a black-hole type of dense

[untold ingot]

I mean, there is evidence that something being as dense as a black hole facilitates super intelligence, so I take that as a complement lol

[stray elm]

Show me the fucking evidence.

[untold ingot]

I cant post links here lol

[stray elm]

No shit, you fucking Sherlock Holmes.
I meant DM's

[untold ingot]

Let me find the paper

I dmed it

[tropic forge]

damn this took a real turn 🤣

[untold ingot]

Hey, I like obscure and unconventional physics

[stray elm]

Okay, interesting article.....

Actually makes sense in a weird fucking way

[untold ingot]

I mean right

[stray elm]

Okay, you may be intelligent.
But you have no wisdom.

[untold ingot]

That actually made me laugh

[stray elm]

To be fair, there's a difference.

[untold ingot]

There is a huge difference

And that difference is what makes people better than ai at problem solving

[stray elm]

You can be smart, but lacking in wisdom.
Or have wisdom, but lack in intelligence.

[untold ingot]

Intelligence and being smart are also not mutually inclusive

[stray elm]

Or be shit at both

[prisma pike]

Hell no, servers would get flooded by like 30 people lmao.

[tropic forge]

so hard to say intelligence youre born whit, wisdow comes whit experience

[prisma pike]

Whit

[stray elm]

Whit

[untold ingot]

You can be wise without experience though. And intelligent without a genetic composition for it

[stray elm]

Wisdom if I recall is derived from a form of experience, whether that's your own experience or watching others fail and making sure you don't is the question.

[untold ingot]

Well, the second part isnt entirely true. Because dogs arent as intelligent as people. But people are similar enough that there is a very small difference between the most intelligent and the least intelligent

[tropic forge]

not sure you can be wise whiteout experience, you can have the knowledge of others experience but you havent done that knowledge so you cant be sure of it

[untold ingot]

I mean, Ill take that. I think it also comes from having a clear head

[untold ingot]

wisdom != knowledge though. It is critical thinking ability. You dont need any prior knowledge to be wise

At least thats how I view it.

[tropic forge]

fair enough

[untold ingot]

To be fair, I kind of do make up my own definitions for things, because there are conceptually distinct differences

[prisma pike]

That's just called being intelligent

[untold ingot]

I mean, personally I view intelligence more as a potential to wisdom rather than actually being wise

[prisma pike]

Anybody can be wise, it's just learning, applying and reciting knowledge. Intelligence is problem solving, abstract thinking and more.

They can overlap a bit though, like if two problems have similar solutions then wisdom of the problem could be more useful.

[winged dome]

Anyone can be wise, but this chat proves most people choose not to 😂

[calm scaffold]

it seems they took the "lets completely ignore the situation" route for the community crunch

a shame honestly

[winged dome]

Did you not read the entire last crunch?

Like ... at all?

[calm scaffold]

where did they mention ASA being more expensive now and all those glaring issues?

[winged dome]

😐
"Here are our new plans:

ARK: Survival Ascended will now be a standalone package released on every platform (PC Windows/Steam, Xbox Series S/X, and PlayStation 5) at $59.99. The package will include the following pieces of content built-in (not sold separately), with each remastered and altered for the next-generation"

[calm scaffold]

the quote from community crunch 356

while crunch 357 is currently out addressing none of the problems

the LAST crunch

[winged dome]

What ... problems? 😂

[calm scaffold]

right

all ima say is snail games stocks plummeting has a reason

[winged dome]

Relevant

[calm scaffold]

i wonder if indirectly calling me stupid make the companies stocks go back up

you can say anything to me idc

point is theyre losing money

no amount of copium can change that

[winged dome]

That I don't disagree with

Devs lost a lot of community confidence with Crunch 355. Backpedaling in 356 is helping to recover that - what else do you want addressed?

[calm scaffold]

the fact the "backpedaling" is actually a price increase with fancy wording

[untold ingot]

Price was never the issue. The issue was coupling a game announced to release in 2 years with a game announced to release in 4 months

[winged dome]

Is it a price increase? 🤔
355: Ark Asc basegame + Ark2 preorder: $50 + $20 DLC pack1 + $20 DLC pack2 = $90 for Ark Asc and all current DLC
356: Ark Asc + all current DLC packaged: $60

[calm scaffold]

and in the future ark 2 for 60$

MAYBE 30$ if we get lucky

[winged dome]

Assuming we're not pulling a Cyberpunk and paying for a game we haven't even SEEN yet, overall saving $30 on Ark Asc

[untold ingot]

You dont have to buy it

[calm scaffold]

true, but its for the people who do want to buy it

[untold ingot]

It is their prerogative to charge full price for a remaster, and full price for a game.

The change in price plan is because people asked for it

[calm scaffold]

... to be 30$ more?

[winged dome]

*less

[calm scaffold]

i mean i guess that counts as a price change LOL

before it was 90$, now its 60$ for ASA and another 60$ in the future for ark 2

whats 60 + 60?

also premium mods

which are more money

[winged dome]

We don't know the price of Ark2 yet, unless you have some future knowledge we're not aware of 🙂

[calm scaffold]

ark 2 isnt gonna be no 20$ after 4 years of development and snail games behind the wheel

[untold ingot]

Ark2 will be an ea release allegedly, so I doubt itll be the full 60 at the start

[winged dome]

I expect no more than $40

[calm scaffold]

ay yall do you man LOL

ima just sit back and get toasty

[winged dome]

Paid mods is pretty though

But I'm sure there will be alternative mods with similar functions in time

[tranquil shuttle]

I would like them to make ark ascension to be a FREE update to draw players back in then charge a little more than 40 for ark 2 instead of making ppl pay for both.

[winged dome]

You can like all you want, its not going to happen 😂

[tranquil shuttle]

Ik ):

[past wind]

It’s not an imposition. Modders will have the option to make them paid or free.

Also, I bet free mods will be way more popular than paid ones

I mean, even the unnofficial servers won’t use paid ones unless they are super popular

[rustic socket]

When is ark2 expected to be released on the Xbox

[untold ingot]

2024

[radiant dew]

just now i saw a news is about asa, and i wan ask 2 things are, if i bought ase from steam, then i will get refund from steam about the ase or not; another is i need to top up some money for asa or not?

or i need play asa is direct pay a new thing money?

[winged dome]

Why would they refund you for a product you already bought and played?

No, you'll need to buy Ark Ascended if you want to play Ark Ascended.

[tropic forge]

i really wonder if i have being rob for paying remaster/remake games all this years, seems that ppl being getting them for free

[winged dome]

Ikr? What do they do/know that I don't?

[tropic crag]

And the ones who do make their mods paid will be shunned and bullied, like they were with the Skyrim paid mods, when Bethesda tried this same thing

Also, a lot of clown takes here today, goddamn

But that's just from a skim, I'd hate to be forced to read almost everything (I feel bad for you, mods, take breaks and drink water!!!)

[elfin pumice]

Whens ASA out for pre order?

[lone pilot]

end of august i think

[tropic crag]

No, that's when it releases, we don't know pre-order details yet afaik

[split dove]

another day of thanking wildcard for not engaging in those practices, especially microtransactions, NFT's and more

[tropic crag]

Ye

[livid gate]

is ark 2 gonna be released this year on pc? or like begin 2024 even later maybe?

[abstract birch]

Earliest end of 2024

[zealous schooner]

so pumped for ark 2!

[empty plover]

You'll be waiting a while

[brittle moss]

Some modders deserve to be able to monetise their work though. Whether people like it or not.

[winged dome]

Kinda brings up some concerns. What if a mod breaks or causes crashes and the author doesn't fix them? I doubt people who paid will get a refund, and I don't think WC can force a modder to fix their mod

[tropic forge]

isent that what ark 1 is? 🤣

[winged dome]

Not wrong

[astral token]

And how are version updates etc. handled

[winged dome]

For a company's product to not work there is consequences. Bad reviews, loss of player base, ect. For a modder the only thing they really lose is integrity

[astral token]

So far not a single modder has embraced paid mods

[winged dome]

Lots accept donations, which I think is perfectly fine. Some do paid commission additions which I'm a little iffy on, but as long as they don't absolutely break or trivialize the game then I generally don't mind

[astral token]

It is against steam workshop guidelines to have a mod’s content locked behind a compulsory paywall

[winged dome]

I mean commission as in someone pays to add something to a mod which everyone can use

[astral token]

That’s fine really

[mint swan]

You know what was a clown take…thinking the cc was April fools two weeks ago

🤡

[tropic crag]

It was, though? If you think them taking back a lot of what was said and elaborating on the remake wasn't a complete 180 (see; joke), then you're the clown here lmao

[tropic crag]

I've seen a few like that, where someone commissions the mod author via their patreon for like a specific soundbite to replace one in the game

[past wind]

Yeah, I never said they didn’t have the right to charge for their mods. But I think it’s common sense most people will prefer to use the free mods, right? Servers will also prefer to use free mods, or maybe they will pay modders to develop their own mods.

[past wind]

No, man, with all due respect, you were wrong. 🤣🤣🤣

It was real, but the community didn’t like it. They just changed the course. Everything was real and meant to be implemented.

[tropic forge]

actually nothing change only the way to due it, ASA is real and ark 2 got delay 2 years everything is still there just in another way of doing it

[past wind]

By changing the course I mean the upcoming bundle being fully focused on ASA instead of ASA + Ark 2. And yeah, all the rest was kept the same.

[tropic forge]

yah just the bundle that change, you still have to pay for ASA and dlc and gotta pay for ark 2 only thing that remains to see is if they gonna still do that 1 month early access which i thing they realize the share amount of ppl that might buy ASA would have access to that beta and they fear that share number would be extreme high for a beta testing (server stability plus the amount of servers for that beta)

[rancid harness]

Paid mods will likely be vetted for quality I would imagine

[winged dome]

Yes, by WC and Overwolf (the mod support's host), but I'd imagine that only counts for initial quality and in no way can realistically confirm longterm stability unless they purchase the mod and rights to changes from the developer

[open monolith]

ark 2 will be pushed back to 2026

[boreal coral]

When is ark 2 releasing?

[indigo wind]

2030 at the rate it's going\

they say late 2024 but i'll believe it when i see it

[boreal coral]

Sure

They are delaying over and over...

[indigo wind]

yep, but are we gonna talk about how ASA was planned to be free

just heard about the situation a few days ago, sux ngl

[winged dome]

Less planned and more teased to be free, but plans and the scope of the project changed

[tropic forge]

dont confuse ark 1 engine upgrade only to a remaster

[winged dome]

And that has been talked about, discussed, dissected, argued, debated, and whined about several dozen times over already

[past wind]

Which was a huge mistake and I was one of the few that pointed out announcing it with a meme was a mistake. 🤣

Their new approach seems way more professional. Silence until they have something really meaningful to share.

[past wind]

TBF, that’s BS. Just saying. Change of scope in a month? To something you will release in six months?! I don’t buy it.

It’s just the way they found to diminish the hate. And I totally get it and respect their decision.

[winged dome]

Original tease was back in January - its been 3 months

[past wind]

~2 months between the tweet and the "change of scope". I don't buy it. The product is set to be delivered in 6 months. Also they've changed the Ark 2 release date.

It seems to me they were driven to that change because of Ark 2, not because they needed to change the scope of the OG.

But sure, that's my POV. And like I've said above, I think the way it is now makes more sense. It was a PR mess, but a strategic win.

[untold ingot]

My take is they saw Ue5.2 and heard what ue is trying to do, so they are waiting for more of the mechanics of the engine to work out

[tropic forge]

no youre wrong on that, they actually give their reason on last cc that was whit the changes

[untold ingot]

... The reason was they are only beginning to learn the advances possible with Ue5.....

[tropic forge]

nope

[untold ingot]

Unreal Engine 5 is incredibly new technology to us (and all developers), and we aim to use this cutting-edge tech to its fullest potential while creating a game with never-before-achieved scope at Studio Wildcard. As we learn more about the engine and develop the sequel, we have adapted our workflows and adjusted our pipelines to accommodate this new next-generation paradigm, and because of everything that involves, we need more time for development.

[tropic forge]

We also recognize that ARK 2 has some pretty significant design changes from the original game, which may not make it as appealing to everyone (looking at you, Souls-like combat, primitive-only weaponry, and strict third-person mechanics – and an overall “very serious” tone)

[untold ingot]

They don't list that as the reason for the delay thoufh

They list that as the reason for asa

[fallow niche]

Reason for delay, yes.

[fallow niche]

Reason for asa.

[tropic forge]

evething else they say was total BS they aint amateurs trying to work for the first time whit unreal much less making a game, good games takes about 6 years minimal and when they announce ark 2 they only have a paste whit the name "ark 2 project", why i said this, pretty obvious their ark 2 trailer was a rush mess of it to keep ppl looking at ark, why now ark remaster, pretty easy too snails aint giving more money for servers ark 1 is a very old broken game whit very low sales by now plus they dont have any good gameplay too show yet cause they still can say ark 2 is on beta phase at all

dude im almost 37 years old, i learn few thing along the way

[untold ingot]

I actually doubt that reasoning

And age doesn't matter at all.

It's entirely irrelevant to this discussion. They have some pretty specific reasons as to why they made the decisions they did.

[tropic forge]

i remember you and pumpink giving crap when i said they gonna turn ark to EU5 to copy/paste stuff to ark 2 so far seems legit to speed progress, when they come whit those bones for ppl to chew on (concept arts) i said that was a bad sign what you guys told me, "did you forget to take your meds today" "ho here comes crazy fox again" so far its going great we already have gameplay release date even preorder ark2 right?

[untold ingot]

You misremembet. I don't say stuff like thst

It is highly likely that they copy paste assets from ark1. That's literally how every game gets made so fast. They aren't copy pasting the entire gamr

[tropic forge]

yeh dont feel like scrolling all the way up just to proof fuck that i already spend my time looking for that line that was on cc

[untold ingot]

I mean, sure. But don't blame me for something someone else said

[harsh spear]

i told you

2024

i knew. cuz they always delay. cant trust them.

its crazy to me that they wanna resell not just the Game itself on UE5 but also every single DLC. And then they also shut down all the official servers for the "old" ARK. Big Yikes.

Im starting to hate them. Even though they made one of the best games ive ever played.

[tropic forge]

actually this is the second delay whit 2 years on it but since they gonna remaster ark 1 and all dlc's free and the pay ones i can see ark 2 being delay even more and to top the cake they most likely gonna delay ASA cause its way too short time to have it island and SE in the end of august whit all the new features done

[harsh spear]

yea i agree

[untold ingot]

People were ceaselessly asking for a remaster. Why should a remaster be free

[tropic forge]

i feel like they are kinda desperate to keep ppl attention on their games and keep the money flow to snails otherwise pufffff

[harsh spear]

well it shouldnt be free. but at least give a discount to the OG ark owners

shutting down the servers for the old ark is just the icing on the cake. Its like forcing you to buy the new one

[tropic forge]

that dosent work like that

[harsh spear]

actually it should be free

[winged dome]

Ok - don't play it then 😂

[untold ingot]

That would kind of be a breach of privacy unless Asa was linked with ark1, which it's not

[harsh spear]

its just copy paste

[winged dome]

Problem literally solved

[tropic forge]

well, again no one is paying for those officials servers to be on but wc and snail games whit their money, after 8 years of service no one can complain about it, i actually find surprise officials run for this many years

[untold ingot]

If you aren't playing official, Asa won't affect you other than a few new creatures and an Asa exclusive dlc

[split dove]

all those servers for a minority in the community aswell

shortly before the ASA launch. Despite ASE Officials representing the minority of players on ARK, it’s an invested and passionate group with attachments to their bases, tames, and characters, and seeing that go away can’t be easy

[winged dome]

I dunno, seeing it go is pretty easy to me 😂

[split dove]

same

[harsh spear]

official servers have been running very poorly cuz they downgraded server im pretty sure. Some people said to me its because many buildings but i dont believe so.

[untold ingot]

It is because of structures and old servers

They didn't downgrade servers though

[harsh spear]

they got so much worse over time

gen 1 and gen 2 literally unplayable

[untold ingot]

That was both an engine and a server issue

[tropic forge]

i already had this talk whit shifter but again you too come whit that bs minority on officials, i dont care for pvp thats thiefs problems but on pve aint just a few that play on it, maybe now but while i was still playing gen2 launch was beyond capping the servers they release that aint minority

[untold ingot]

Gen2 literally was stretching beyond what Ue4.5 was capable of

[tropic forge]

what mode? pve or pvp?

[untold ingot]

Both, official is pretty bad

[harsh spear]

gen 1 was running well in the beginning but got heavily worse over time which is expect to be a server downgrade

[untold ingot]

They didn't downgrade the servers

Things get worse when people build on it and have breeding operations. Thats just the name of the game

[harsh spear]

and why youre sying "was" an issue. are they running well nowadays?

[untold ingot]

.... Because gen2 was released. Past tense. They aren't currently still developing the map...

[harsh spear]

this

[tropic forge]

well i can talk about pve and the main problem on server stability on pve is due to youtuber castles that ppl see and go build on official server and all that bullshit plus having dinos painting your base dosent help and the fact the residents have to pillar their entire server to prevent bobs to destroy rare dino spawn or resources dosent help either, now you can try single player and see the major difference that makes when those things arent there

[untold ingot]

Asa is getting new server hardware and a new engine

[harsh spear]

how do you know they get new server hardware?

[tropic forge]

there aint downgrade server at least i dint read that news, its all about what ppl build on the server and keep render those buildings and dinos

[harsh spear]

well if they downgraded server they wouldnt announce it thats for sure

[tropic forge]

belive me there wasent one, you play pve?

[harsh spear]

no

[tropic forge]

well was about to ask how many random traps have you found and wall spikes but yeh

[harsh spear]

of course single player runs better cuz its literally locally hosted on your own server

[tropic forge]

ho yeh? makes a couple of castles near each other and go fly around them to render them in and out than tell me if is running great

[harsh spear]

gen 1 is mostly empty and has crazy laggspikes on every single server

and you often die because of this and lose so much time and ressources that its not fun to play

[tropic forge]

thats due to wc experiments whit local events

[harsh spear]

gen 2 as well.

[tropic forge]

you think when a gen1 server crash as nothing to do whit volcano eruption and space metours?

[harsh spear]

no

[tropic forge]

and gen 2 whit the asteroids resources

ho ok yeh downgrade serves yeh youre right, i dint notice that when the game come out to ps4 or later when i play on pc

[mighty lion]

Are people still having issues with that?

[prisma pike]

Gen 1s never crash cause nobody lives on them lol

[tropic crag]

@split dove , you know what to do

[astral token]

But they're still a minority.

Just because a lot of players are playing official post Gen2 launch that doesn't mean that's the only platform that saw an uptick in member count

[blissful perch]

Everywhere has more players after a content drop…what’s more interesting is how populated a given format is in terms of the playerbase

[untold totem]

me maining lunar

[river gate]

New anti cheat ?

[mint swan]

Proximity chat

[tropic crag]

Bot tier comment

[mighty lion]

Lunar main is best main

[snow rain]

when can you get ark 2?

[clever vortex]

Bit of a late reply, but just as an example, Skyrim Special Edition was full price for new players, but those who already owned Skyrim and all of it's DLCs got Special Edition for free. (at least on steam - I have no idea if it worked the same on console). The only thing that old players had to pay for was the new content available on the creation club, since it hadn't been included in the original game and therefore they hadn't already paid for it. Point is, people wouldn't be as upset if they were only paying for the new content that comes with ASA, or if they would get a discount if they already owned the original game and all the DLC. The problem is that ASA is full price regardless of whether you have already paid for 90% of the content it includes.

[stray elm]

I'd say the difference here, is that Special-Edition made no changes to the coding, so it made the game still had the good old Bethesda-hard lock glitches.
ASA on the other hand is (if I recall) a complete rework of ARK's coding, with taking advantage of adding content that they couldn't add before due to this, and engine limitations.

[snow rain]

when are you able to get ark 2 on xbox?

[stray elm]

2024

[snow rain]

dang

[stray elm]

Like, you guys do know Google exists for answers, right?

[snow rain]

i relly didn't think of that

really

[stray elm]

Don't worry, the 20+ people who ask daily also don't.

[snow rain]

i have to wait a entire year

to play ark 2

[stray elm]

We all have to

Year and a half, actually

[tropic forge]

gonna be more than 1 year since they push it to the end of 2024

[snow rain]

when does the rhinognatha come out

[stray elm]

Google

[snow rain]

omg

[clever vortex]

Yeah, that's fair. I just think it would have been better received if there was at least a slight discount for old players so that they were largely just paying for the new content and improved coding. Personally I feel like ASA is worth it.

[tropic forge]

old players had their discount when ark 1 was on early access unless for those that bought at on official launch but again its being 8 years

[clever vortex]

Personally I feel like I've gotten my moneys worth from the original game and am happy to pay for ASA. I just think that the negative response to the announcement of ASA could have been reduced if there was a discount for those who already owned the game and all the DLC, especially since there are some players who only started playing recently and will now have to pay full price a second time if they want the new content.

[rancid harness]

This would have been huge, yeah. I'm in the same boat though. After 5k hours I feel like I've definitely got my monies worth and am ready to evolve to something new.

[stray elm]

Issue is, how do you even setup a system like that?
Like, has any game actually had 'discounts' for original-title purchasers?

I don't even think that's a system on Steam

[mighty lion]

Atleast

[astral token]

I think steam can detect if u own X and thus alter the price of Y

[clever vortex]

I knew that there was something that used a system like that but I couldn't remember what it was so I looked it up and apparently Dark Souls Remastered was 50% off on Steam for anyone who owned the original Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition. So we know it's possible.

[astral token]

Same way how if u own SE u will grt a discount on Season Pass

[stray elm]

Ahh

[blissful perch]

However…lotta folks who got ark recently got it for dirt cheap or free

[uncut sage]

Man I just want to play ark 2

When I was younger I couldn’t play cause I didn’t have a console but I loved to watch the YouTuber kingdaddydmac sus name Ik but he was a big point I’m my life of the ark community when I did buy it I never stopped playing it was so fun playing over and over still love the game and want to see more

[mighty lion]

Ark 2 will be a very different game. If you are looking for a continuation of the Ark gameplay you know, you'll probably like the new ASA dlc

[rancid harness]

It's still a survival sandbox dinosaur taming game, so I think we can expect it to feel fairly similar, even after all the changes in mechanics.

[tropic crag]

But the point was that the gameplay will without a doubt change in a way that some may feel isn't "Ark", to them

And we already know that they think some of the playerbase will be off-put by it, hence the tweet from Ced whenever that was, that basically said Ark 2 won't be for everyone and that some fans won't like the changes, which is ok

People like what they like, and if that happens to be the left click, stat checking sim gameplay that is Ark 1 official PvP, more power to em

[mint swan]

in all honesty would prefer if there were less of those folks in ark 2

[split dove]

we kinda need more humans and less monkeys cough cough Ark chatters
we need more new players to try and replace those folks anyways

[mint swan]

as long as we don't get that constant "where evo event" i'll be fine lmao

[pseudo shore]

what’s ASA?

[sacred wing]

A scam

[untold totem]

ARK remake in UE5

[humble onyx]

A false promise

[rare heart]

They need to make para look not dumb like saber

[chrome fern]

Why are people clown emoji you? It basically is a scam because they're forcing players to buy a product before its release just so they still get guaranteed money if the product is shit on release

What also makes zero fucking sense is they're also gonna be transferring official data over to the remaster scam so Im confused why not just keep Official servers up on original Ark in the first place

[untold ingot]

No one is forcing anything though.

[winged dome]

Amazing

Everything you said was wrong 😂

[split dove]

🍺

[untold ingot]

They aren't transferring official data either

[chrome fern]

shutting down official servers which a large portion of the playerbase uses is practically forcing em

[untold ingot]

Same thing happened to legacy as well

[split dove]

Despite ASE Officials representing the minority of players on ARK, it’s an invested and passionate group with attachments to their bases, tames, and characters, and seeing that go away can’t be easy

[untold ingot]

You are going a bit overboard with that lol

[split dove]

i gotta point out things that weren't true, my job is to provide factual info after all

[blissful perch]

Tasteful librarian behavior where needed. We want to encourage more provision of this information, not foster WC regret

[past wind]

It is true, tho

we know for years the unnofficial/offline players are the majority

there other better reasons not to shut down the officials than saying "official players are the majority"

[blissful perch]

I want WC to share that information more freely though. Bludgeoning people with it imo is going to convince them to not share that information in the future

[tropic crag]

And yet, bludgeon we must

[silver turret]

is it just me that feels kinda robbed by needing to pay $60 for the same game with some visual update and fixed and then prob atleast an other 60 for ark 2, while we were getting them both before for 90?

[desert swallow]

just you

[silver turret]

we pretty much buying a beta again that is a test and bug fix tool for ark2, while having to pay for the same content we already own?

[tropic crag]

No, that is not at all what we're doing

[silver turret]

ya sure? because that is all they have showed and said so far, just not in those words but guess you will have to find out the hard way

[tropic crag]

You may want to get your sight checked, then. The last CC read as nothing of the sort

[silver turret]

they are upgrading to new engine (bugfixes are gonna be a given same for some things that are going to break that they didnt think of) a good year and a few months before ark 2...yes it is and asking $60 again for it is shameless

[tropic crag]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink lmao

[harsh spear]

is ASE gonna have official servers?

[past wind]

That's the reallity for all games intended for constant updates like ark. Look any MMORPG and will see there are constant bugfixes, new content, QOL updates etc.

[tropic crag]

I'd sure hope so, otherwise we'll never hear the end of it 🤣

[past wind]

That alone doesn't mean it's a beta

[past wind]

No, not after ASA is released

08/31 is scheduled to be the last day of official ASE servers

[tropic crag]

Oh, I thought he meant ASA

[untold ingot]

Well, I am not 100% happy with how they changed it either. But, I am 100% happy that when people were upset they changed the pricing scheme to what people asked for

[harsh spear]

sry i meant ASA. aka Ark on UE5

[stray elm]

Yes, that's why they're shutting down the servers for Survival-Evolved. To reuse them for Survival-Ascended.

[past wind]

Based on the last crunch, they won’t. They’ve said the old servers are too old and expensive to keep.

Probably they will shut down and keep them offline. Replacing for other newer machines.

[harsh spear]

usually they rent servers. cuz they cant be anywhere on the world spread. if they shut down its for money reasons but not to reuse them

[stray elm]

I wasn't being technical, but sure.

[stray elm]

Charlie stated above

Old-server boxes still need to be replaced at some point, since their technology becomes outdated. Even if they're renting servers.

If I recall right, server-boxes are like PC's and 'can' replace parts. But there's a degree of replacing parts, to just replacing the whole thing, just like an outdated PC.
I believe they also upgrade 'ALL' server boxes at once, to not make one server better then others, which can obviously be financially draining for the server-manufacturers.
Then there's the issue of needing to shut-down X-amount of servers for X-amount of time to give the boxes the upgrades, which can/will impact the games they're supporting.
All together, it's probably wise to just leave the boxes how they are, until they become so outdated that they 'need' to be replaced.

[harsh spear]

gen 1 and gen 2 are unplayble so they have to upgrade

i wonder if some servers are better then others right now which would make sense considering that i have less lagg on some NA servers than i have on some EU ones even though i live in EU

[stray elm]

Oh defiantly, I believe server-companies will have different server-sites around the world to make it easier/faster for the users within their respective continent, to gain the best performance.
But I believe the whole 'upgrade at once' for server boxes is site-based, not universal-based. So the NA servers may actually be more updated then EU servers.

[north jungle]

Nah. They are shutting down the official servers to help convince the player base to upgrade to ASA. Makes sense, as I reckon a large portion of the player base on official would not migrate without their beloved jerboas and otters.

Some of the other factors may play into it, but nudging the player base to upgrade is probably the key one.

[harsh spear]

rebooting everything back to zero is such a healthy thing for ARK honestly. But i just cant see myself paying for the same game twice unless they changed major things.

[cold locust]

I’ve bought ark 3 times for myself and once for my wife. My son has bought Skyrim on pretty much everything. And many people have bought gta5 3 times to keep up. There is nothing wrong with charging for an updated version of a game.

[bleak apex]

are they shutting down all the unofficial servers on survival evolved once ark 2 comes out?

[cold locust]

I do t think that was mentioned

[bleak apex]

ah

[cold locust]

Not yet anyway

[bleak apex]

OH your on steam btw are your servers down right now as well?

windows 10 and xbox servers are down

[cold locust]

I’m not at home right now

[bleak apex]

ah

[winged dome]

Derp, misread. Unofficial should be fine

[bleak apex]

wait wut

oh maybe for you

for me its not 😦 i should of got the steam version

[winged dome]

WC has no ability or power to shut down Unofficial servers

OFFICIAL - yeah they're f'd 😂

[bleak apex]

well its all shut down

[winged dome]

Can't Xbox host Unofficials?

[bleak apex]

yea im on windows 10

official works fine

[winged dome]

Then you're fine for Unofficials

[bleak apex]

unoffical isnt working i got kicked from a server hours ago

and now i cant get back in literally 0 players for all unofficial

[winged dome]

Probably another issue. Check for updates or if the host is having issues

[bleak apex]

jesus

[winged dome]

Oh hah, check #announcements

[bleak apex]

yea it says could not retrieve address

[winged dome]

Known issue they're working on

[bleak apex]

yea i saw that

[winged dome]

Just need to wait

[bleak apex]

wonder how long thats gonna take ig i should stay up all night to wait lol

[tropic crag]

It's a known issue with Nitrado hosted servers, and because (under contract) Xbox servers can't be hosted by any other server provider, almost the entirety of the Xbox playerbase is SOL until Shitrado fixes their servers

Been saying it for years, Nitrado sucks ass and they need to allow us to host servers with other providers on Xbox. Maybe ASA will do that for us, and Nitrado are doing this whole thing to be petty because they know it or something

Worst part is, Nitrado no longer has a 24/7 help line, and some ex-employees have come out and said that they can and do block their customers from the support chats for almost any reason, it's despicable and borderline illegal

[bleak apex]

servers up yet?

[ruby zephyr]

Nope

[tropic crag]

For Ark 2? No, the servers will not be up until the game comes out, lmao

[full marsh]

Family

[tropic crag]

Good, this chat needed to be killed, the things worth talking about were already talked to death 410 billion times over 😂

[blissful perch]

Actually I think a closer correlation is when I got busier

Less game design chatter -> dead chat. At least in terms of people not talking about the same complaints 24/7

[mint swan]

You know what is worth talking about. How you said it’s an April Fool’s Joke🤡

You’ll never live it down as long as I’m around.

[tropic forge]

dont wast your time whit that fanatic just block him like i did

[winged dome]

Or how this clown who gets upset over emojis keeps bringing it up 🍻

[tropic crag]

Lmao, Fox callin people fanatic, rich

There's nothing to live down, I was right

Take the L already

You get a clink, you get a clink, everyone gets a cliiiiiiiiiink

[untold ingot]

Or, everyone could just get along...

[split dove]

keep dreaming 🚬

[tropic crag]

No one can get along with the average Ark chatter, have you seen the IQ statistics? 😂

[split dove]

drops faster than the average crypto market

[untold ingot]

Well, judging by number of messages sent out, you kind of are an average ark chatter 🤣🤣

[tropic crag]

It's a good thing that's not the criteria, then

[humble kindle]

When we getting a ASA chat

[south lance]

never

[mint swan]

Have you looked at your own IQ statistics? You literally called people brain dead for “believing” the cc, and yet low and behold it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke

[mint swan]

No can do, I must remind him daily of how he was SO confident and making fun of others thinking they were wrong

[mint swan]

He’s more like the average Ark know it all…🤐

[errant geyser]

Ima count down the seconds until Ark 2

[rare heart]

They should add giant pitbulls to ark 2, good idea?

I think its a healthy investment in development funds

[astral token]

ARK II chat rivalries are poppin’ fr

[abstract birch]

Will be a long count until 2077 XDDDD

[prisma pike]

I'ma name one princess and let it loose in the raising area

[mint sleet]

i prefer paying the price of one game for two games, now we have to pay even more individually.

[mint swan]

Careful speaking like that…there’s some people here who will call you braindead for suggesting such a thing

[mint sleet]

the bundle was better then having to pay for the games individually

money wise at least

[mint swan]

Oh I’m not necessarily disagreeing

[mint sleet]

also if they make it free, they would have to make UE4 ark free as well.

so they should have thought about that before saying it would be free

[untold totem]

and pay more for the same DLCs in ARK 1?

i rather have the "Ultimate Survivor Remake Bundle" than one base game with a "paid beta" access of a game we dont really know what it looked/played like (i rather be paid as a Beta Tester like the good old days instead of paying to be one)

and if i don't like ARK 2, i have to shelf out the DLCs that i already have in the old game

[blissful perch]

Boils heavily down to if you planned to get ASA dlc…if you did, you’d be shelling out for more than 2 games (with the old model)

[azure hawk]

What features would be in ark 2 which are not found in classic ark?

[winged dome]

If we had gameplay of Ark2 and it was much closer to release, then I'd be fine with it. The main issue people had with the bundle was it being forced to even get ASC until a year after release while having no idea if Ark2 would be worth it

Forced pre-order with very little news about Ark2 was basically a gamble

[split dove]

Cross-platform modding, Advanced template and building sharing, character progression and skill system with a skill tree,
Better creature ai

No omnipresent radar -- animals now track and hunt by sight, sound, and smell! Hide from predators with visual camouflage and environmental obstructions, and learn to mask your scent! Dynamic pathfinding enables creatures to intelligently maneuver around obstacles and player-built structures.
a new opposing pve force
Hostile 'Aratai' hunt & attack you riding their own tamed creatures, as they seek to drive human interlopers from their world.
Dynamic world events
Natural and unnatural occurrences are always happening across the game world, independent of your presence! Your choices in deciding whether to interact with these events will yield rewards or challenges.
Component based item crafting
Construct your weapons and tools from a range of distinct modules to customize their look and functionality -- millions of possible combinations enable you to craft your own unique gear! The specific materials you choose will further affect the appearance of your items, with multiple options of resources found in unique regions of the world.
Souls like combat and advanced character traversal mechanics
Advanced character traversal mechanics like mantling, free-climbing, parkour, sliding, and swinging! Target-lock(likely just camera lock), blocks, dodges, combos, staggers, special attacks, emphasizing player-skill-based action.
Third-person-only gameplay

that's currently what we know that's new/different. there might be more stuff revealed over time

[mint sleet]

thats just my preference, i like saving my money. theres no need for attitude.

[untold totem]

do you ever read what i am talking about?, try reading it again with a different tone

i am stating the facts, you still gonna buy the existing DLCs again, instead of "free" right now

[mint sleet]

just my preference

[tropic crag]

You would have paid more money, that's your preference? I mean, aight I guess

Sounds pretty contradictory to me lol

[stray elm]

Actually, for the long-haul, the Respawn-Bundle was cheaper.
59.99$ USD for both ARK-1 and ASA.
19.99$ per DLC-pass, so up to 90$ USD before taxes.
Now ASA as a whole is 59.99$ USD for both ASA and the DLC's, but excluding ARK-2.
But depending on how much they market ARK-2, then it'll either be cheaper, the same, or a bit more expensive.
If ARK-2 is 39.99$ to 49.99$ USD, then it'll respectfully be around 100$ USD to 110$ USD.
Making it 10$-20$ more then it originally was, 'IF' they market it to 40$ to 50$.

Either way, I don't care personally.
But I can see how people think the last bundle was fine compared to this one.

[tropic crag]

Your math is off, but hang on I need to do something real quick brb

[stray elm]

I just woke up like 5 minutes ago, so I thought so.

If you can tell me what's wrong with it after you're done, I'd appreciate it.

'Personally' I think they should've done a hybrid of both.
Allow ASA to be a 60$ game with all DLC's within it (besides the new one of course) while having the Respawn-Bundle as an option if you want the whole ARK-series.

[rancid harness]

There is no proof, but there is common sense.

The amount of features they're trying to fit into A2 says $70

[tropic forge]

thats for a finish game not a ea

[rancid harness]

Fair point.

[stray elm]

A finished Triple-A game at that matter.

[tropic forge]

and we all being seeing that "triple-a" quality 🤣

[rancid harness]

Personal bet is it'll be $40 for early access 😉

[tropic forge]

they have to go all efforts into ASA if they actually get a shot for the timeline they give us 🤣

[mint sleet]

do they have a large team?

if they dont, they should stop working on so many things at once and focus on ark 2

[stray elm]

They have around 100-ish employees if I recall, with like two other studios helping them

[rancid harness]

They've been hiring for a lot of positions for a LONG time. It seems like they're hurting for employees.

[stray elm]

But I disagree with the ARK-2 part.
They know it isn't for everyone. So ASA is a perfect opportunity for them to keep the OG version of ARK alive if ARK-2 doesn't do well, financially or just with the current player-base.

[tropic crag]

Ok, so. The original bundle price was 90 USD for ASA plus all current DLC and Ark 2, that part was right. BUT, that's not taking into account the additional new DLC for ASA, which I'm going off on a limb saying was probably going to be 10-20 USD, more than likely. In total, that's 100-110 USD for the original bundle (plus tax, but I'm not going that deep.)

Then, we have the "new deal", which is 60 USD for ASA plus all current DLC, and Ark 2 being separate at anywhere from 20-60 USD (I'm being generous on the high and low ends.) Add in the new ASA DLC, 10-20 USD, and that equals out to 90-140 USD.

That being said, I HIGHLY doubt that Ark 2 is going to be more than 40 USD in early access, it might even be 30, so it's more like 100-120 USD if you look at it logically.

Anywho, there's a lot of prices here we simply don't know, the new ASA DLC, Ark 2 in EA, Ark 2 full price, hell, they may even make another ASA DLC if ASA and the new DLC perform well enough and/or the fans ask for more.

TL;DR, if a difference of a meager 10-20 bucks is really going to break your bank, then you have more to worry about and direct you funds towards than playing video games LMAO

Don't forget to pay your bills, video gaming is a luxury not a basic human need

[stray elm]

True.
But like I said above, I personally would enjoy if they reintroduce the Respawned-Bundle later on, when ARK-2 gameplay is actually seen.

[blissful perch]

I’d rather just see an ark 2 preorder at that time

[tropic crag]

Yeah, tbh, fuck bundles altogether

Much rather just see a preorder then

[blissful perch]

I’m most ok with DLC bundles etc for a single game

[tropic crag]

Season passes that actually include all planned future content for the game went the way of the dinosaur, now we only get the Borderlands 3/Halo Wars 2 treatment of several season passes that still may not include every DLC

[stray elm]

I guess that also includes ARK with the Genesis-pass

[tropic crag]

Sadly

I wish gaming would go back to like 2005-2013, where we actually got what's promised

[stray elm]

Okay, shitty marketing on Halo-Wars 2.
But for a moment, can I talk about how fucking good that game was?

[tropic crag]

It was, but we still never got a FUCKING Flood leader (even though they added the fucking Flood) so I eternally hate 343 for that reason (and many others, but I digress.)

[blissful perch]

It’s double edged. Old gaming processes generally had more limited scope and less post launch support. New games tend to have tons of post launch content and support, but the scopes (which adapt to player feedback) tend to be all over the damn place

[tropic crag]

It's not even just the scope, but cutting out content and reselling it as DLC (like most AAA companies tend to do, now)

[stray elm]

Yeah, that was the biggest fucking letdown.
You know how much their wallets would skyrocket if they made a Flood story-DLC, where you play as a gravemind?

[tropic crag]

That's the part of modern gaming I hate the most tbh

Oh fuck off

Stupid bot

I've typed EXACTLY in before, they must've lowered the limit 🙄

[stray elm]

Hopefully with the new management at 343, they'll actually be smart and allow the Halo IP to be borrowed by other studios.
Cause at this point, I think 343 should just be the middle-man publishers, not actually touching Halo.

[blissful perch]

It’s also adapted such that financial models now depend on DLC and post launch content to stay stable

No longer is $ -> game -> sales -> $ -> next game used

It seems to be $ -> game -> sales -> content ($+) and services ($-) -> new content runs dry -> services stop -> remaining money goes to next game

[tropic crag]

Yeah 😕

[blissful perch]

I’m extremely torn on the games as service model…on the one hand unbelievably cool stuff happens that wasn’t possible when I started gaming. On the other hand, it sucks

[tropic crag]

There's certainly some live service games that are cool, but then again, most of them are either riddled with microtransactions or are horribly I completely forgot my second half of the point mid-type, excuse my brain

[blissful perch]

Services like continued development are still services if that makes sense

The issue I have is people seem to often demand a full suite of services infinitely at no extra cost after a game comes out. It makes no sense

[tropic crag]

Yeah, that's an issue too, the entitled gamer epidemic

[blissful perch]

It’s funny people tolerate worse products for sometimes years but refuse to compromise on a full suite of infinite shelf life features

I wonder if ark 2 would be out by now if WC saved money by shutting down officials after 2 years

[tropic crag]

Oh assuredly lmao

[stray elm]

From at least what I got from the CC, it seems like they have the manpower to be able to release ARK-2 this year, if they wanted to. But they delayed it due to the health of their employees, and wanting a backup plan through ASA just in case ARK-2 flops.

[tropic crag]

Yeah, and fighting crunch is always a good thing imo. The game will be out when it comes out, of that I'm not worried whatsoever, but having ASA in the meantime is cool too and will at least silence the "bro wtf why Ark 2 just remake the first one" people

[blissful perch]

True, that was getting miserable to read

I’d love to figure out more to chat about for ark 2 but idk anymore

I’m just so inclined to sit on my hands for ASA and start making inferences from that

[stray elm]

Hopefully we hear more about ASA this week.

[blissful perch]

Is this week an ark 2 concept art week?

[stray elm]

That's assuming we're getting any more.

[blissful perch]

Idk, we got saber two weeks ago

[stray elm]

Right, I need to reread the CC, cause I can't recall if they just said 'no gameplay this year' or 'no more ARK-2 stuff this year'

[blissful perch]

Reasonably sure it was no gameplay

[split dove]

With that in mind, we do not plan to showcase any gameplay/screenshots/videos of ARK 2 this year; however, we intend to keep you informed and engaged in the development process by regularly showcasing more ARK 2 assets in the months ahead, leading to our gameplay reveal next year.
we probably will still get concept arts or renders, but that's likely it for this year

[tropic forge]

after 2 years of what? ea or after official release?

[stray elm]

Okay, so we'll still see concept-art, and possibly even in-game assets. Just nothing big like gameplay, or in-game screenshots

[blissful perch]

Official release

[tropic forge]

when was gen 1 release?

[split dove]

February 2020 i think

yh feb 25th 2020

[tropic forge]

so 2018 would end officials so 2020 gen pass would come out, that dosent make any sense plus wasent on 2018 extinction come out?

i believe base game should have 2 years at least for officials maybe 3 since its ark everything takes time and for each dlc should increase about 1 more year

[tropic crag]

Maybe not 2 years, yeah? But certainly at least some time after all the content had been out for a little while (I for one think that official being shut down/sort of wiped now is fine)

[blissful perch]

I’m flexible. I’m kind of against the concept of long standing officials for indie games in general, since it’s a money drain (and for ark, not essential to experience the game)

[tropic forge]

but when a game is build to be online to have more ppl band together to get things done aint easy for single player and if you go whit unofficial server side i would say just make ark a sub game, that way you have single player or online but whit a sub and you can have a massive community plus gives money (gonna hate saying this) to snail games to keep the game update and be fair to charge a price for the game as LONG it as single player whitout subs

[blissful perch]

If officials were a separate subscription service my issues would be resolved instantly

Official folks get the service they want, and they pay for it. That’s a great outcome for me, as someone who wants the full amount spent on ark to go to…developing ark. Not running a server I’ll never log on to

[tropic forge]

yeh that part of "full amount spent on ark to go to…developing ark." aint happening not matter how you wish as long wc isent a independent company

[blissful perch]

If officials didn’t exist, every cent of my ark purchase would go to the company that makes ark

Because officials DO exist, my money is split between the company that makes ark and the company that hosts ark for other people

[tropic forge]

but snailgames hows ark by owning wc

they will always get the really fat cut of the incoming money

[blissful perch]

You say that, but the bulk of incoming capital is reinvested

[tropic forge]

it did, as soon ark start to sell snailgames made dark and light, a exact copy of ark code, later atlas, so i guess you have something in there whit the capital being reinvested

[blissful perch]

Id rather my money go to atlas that host official servers

Atlas taught the studio some lessons, which improves future content I might enjoy. Hosting officials gives me basically nothing

[tropic forge]

but your "money" is only invested once unless you keep buying more copies, so if you spend lets say 100 bucks from 100 about 60 goes to snail pokets 30 goes for wc and 10 for the marketing develope more content etc, its a extreme rough exemple pretty sure aint like that but its more or less like that otherwise snail would cut wc long ago and if jeremi had power over wc when snail try to make ark 1 whit mtx they would do more than make a threat to leave the company

[blissful perch]

Well yes…my money only gets used once. That’s why I get irritated when it gets spent on a service I don’t use and don’t really care for

Companies have expenses and obviously they’re paid for by sales…I’m not naive. But operating costs are an ok use of my money imo. An extraneous service that doesn’t move the game forward however does not seem like an appealing cost to me. I’d like $0 of my money going to that, which with subscriptions might be a reality

[tropic forge]

well you can really say "get irritated when it gets spent on a service I don’t use and don’t really care for" i dont care for single player but money was spend to amke it that option happen, should single player being erase cause i dont care? dont think so, the fact saying something shouldnt exits cause "i dont care about it" makes it impossible to make any product cause someone will find something on that product they dont care but dosent mean dosent have more other stuff's on that product they find usefull

[blissful perch]

Singleplayer isn’t a service however. It’s the base content of the game upon which the service “official PvE” is built

[tropic forge]

not its not, last battlefield dosent have singleplayer

[blissful perch]

It’s development is likely a 99.5% overlap with official PvE, for ark (the game we’re talking about)

[tropic forge]

its really up to the ppl that make the product to decide what they wanna implement on the product cause in the end its their money thats being invested to make a product to sale to customers, its the costumer that as to decide if the product is worth their money or not

[tropic forge]

actually ark was build to be pvp

pvp cant happen on single player

[blissful perch]

I could say “official” and that would be true too

[blissful perch]

Well yes, because I’m paying them for a good, and that good includes a service. But I’m allowed to voice my opinion and see if WC cares to act on it (for this issue I suspect they won’t)

[tropic forge]

i dint say you cant voice your opinon, I was just telling you what i thing about your opinion on how your "money" was getting spend and how one side youre taking that opinion

maybe its just me that always thinks about others

[blissful perch]

One sided?

[tropic forge]

yeh when you said your money shouldnt be invested on a service you dont use

[blissful perch]

Not sure it’s one sided. I firmly believe people who use a service should, after a period of time, be expected to pay for its continued upkeep

I said I’d PREFER it not be used on the service I don’t like. I don’t have a choice 😅

[tropic forge]

and thats true never said otherwise, but it should happen after sometime a company is done whit that product, ark whit all dlc only 2 years worth aint enough in my belive unless their release everything at once which wouldnt make any since

[blissful perch]

I mean…the subscription could kick in as soon as 3-6 months after a new DLC comes out

[tropic forge]

none of us have a choice for the simple reason its their money their product

[blissful perch]

Beyond me voicing my opinion or not purchasing further WC products, I have no influence on where my money is spent. Doesn’t mean I won’t exercise those two options where I see fit 😉

[tropic forge]

well for a game like ark whit the official rates i would say 1 year, after all not everyone gets the product on launch day for many reasons

[blissful perch]

If you had subscriptions you could run officials tbh as long as you wanted

My beef is exclusively with the fact that they are a recurring cost that isn’t primarily fronted by the official playerbase, which are people that USE the service

[astral token]

We don’t wanna pay for minorities :C

[tropic forge]

im saying 1 year to be fair or maybe a system of countdown time for fresh player on that product and when time runs out if they would wanna continue would have to pay a sub

[astral token]

Ok that just sounded weird lmao

[blissful perch]

Go ahead and unsay that 😀

[blissful perch]

One year is a bit long. I’m fine with one month (a standard free trial length)

[tropic forge]

if you wanna go that way, seems mtx on games is growing to majority 🤣

[blissful perch]

I’m also not against subscribers getting other perks like cheaper DLCs and the like. The game is free to play the month of a DLC drop -> and for one month for new players, otherwise officials cost ya a subscription fee of whatever makes sense (likely cheap)

[tropic forge]

yeh but thats like final fantasy etc, a month on official ark it would be medium base maybe a couple of brontos a parasur and you finally got a pair of rexs to start breeding (this logic im getting from ppl that work and have family etc)

[blissful perch]

That’s MMO life fox

A month for a working person in most free trial MMO games only lets them scratch the surface

[tropic forge]

not even sure if they get to scratch anything but their heads everytime they start to play and die right away

[blissful perch]

A month of ark will answer the important question of “should I keep paying/playing official or not”

[tropic forge]

its way better than the steam 2h policy 🤣

[blissful perch]

Yea…steam’s policy is basically only there to catch scam games

In 2 hrs you can usually identify if the game is a scam (or you can’t run it for whatever reason) and refund it

[tropic forge]

i find it bs for big games like ark and other that have like framing resources to build etc by the time you have a bit of grip how is the game mechanics on that aspect its way pass 2h

[blissful perch]

Well it’s not about “I didn’t like the game I want a refund”, and never has been

It’s always been about protecting steam…because steam gets in hot water if people are scammed by steam store pages that promise a product that is actually a scam

[tropic crag]

🤣

You can also return games past 2 hours if you have a valid enough reason (or live in certain parts of the world, which is bullshit imo)

[harsh spear]

usually. unless the game is called Atlas with que-times that let you wait longer than the refund timer

i bet a lot of people got scammed by that

[blissful perch]

lots of "server" games have that issue day 1, and yet people keep falling for it

[fast jay]

💩

[untold totem]

see No Man's Sky

[rancid harness]

Which has become a fantastic game since launch 👌

[tawdry hound]

Min I'm really looking forward to the combat, the fact that every dinosaur is gonna be like a darksouls boss fight gonna be crazy

[blissful perch]

I’d say what really ruined that game’s launch was bad marketing. If it was marketed as a singleplayer procedural experience and was a bit more honest about expectation management…imo launch wouldn’t have flopped

I hope (and suspect) WC is taking lessons from that and is purposely avoiding raising expectations with any gameplay before it’s ready

[rancid harness]

Saying ruined implies the game hasn't made a comeback, which it has.

[blissful perch]

Meant ruined the game’s launch. Let me revise

[chrome fern]

I dont feel sorry for people who got scammed by Atlas lmfao

After seeing how Ark 1 originally launched I wasn't gonna even touch Atlas with a 300 foot pole until it improved but it never did

[untold totem]

while me still playing ATLAS, just waiting for a season of a very active RP server to open

[winged dome]

I want to like Atlas, but each time I try it I feel like mechanics change randomly. Too many things/exceptions to remember for a new player

[winged dome]

Maybe with Ark Asc and dynamic water means we'll get actual waves in the oceans, and raft mechanics that aren't crap

[astral token]

(real)

[ripe cedar]

I doubt waves but maybe having river push you

[untold ingot]

Waves are possible in ue5, so we might see them

[blissful perch]

I’ve had new ark players tell me this before they stop playing too

Atlas was a very stark reminder to me how much learning I had to put up with to get used to ark’s often obscure and confusing UI/mechanics

[winged dome]

True I guess 😂

Ark's learning curve be steeeep

[untold ingot]

Me hoping ark2s curve will be steeper

[blissful perch]

Steep learning curves cost players and cause confusion

The learning curve should be shallow but lengthy or shallow with an “easy to learn hard to master” approach. A huge amount of confusing or unintuitive features dumped on a new player is lazy or outright poor design

[untold ingot]

Well, confusing and unintuitive isn't the only way to make the curve steep

[blissful perch]

True. You can also demand way too much of a new player way too early in the game (although ark 1’s steep curve is entirely due to being obtuse)

[winged dome]

Obtuse and never really mentioned anywhere in-game

[untold ingot]

Yeah. Ark has the issue of being unintuitive, while not being super complex

But compared to a game like tarkov, ark is easier to learn imo

The issue with ark is thst unless you are playing pvp there is no sense of urgency or danger at all

[blissful perch]

Not if you play “optimally”. If you’re a true Bob there’s plenty to be afraid of

[untold ingot]

There is no real urgency though

[winged dome]

I think there's some urgency in having a Theri or Alpha Creature ripping your thatch or wood base apart and killing your tames 😂

[untold ingot]

That happens randomly though. Randomness doesn't equate urgency

[winged dome]

Random, but the chances are high

[untold ingot]

There is no reason to play efficiently or effectively while playing pve, unless you want to

[untold ingot]

Not really actually

[blissful perch]

You’re urgently trying to pull your tames away from the jaws of death

[untold ingot]

And once you get your first real tame, that threat because null and void too

[winged dome]

Literally every 'First Time Playing Ark' video features everyone's favorite Tickle Chicken

[blissful perch]

That’s pretty urgent lol. There’s no urgency to progress, but there is urgency in the gameplay experience

[untold ingot]

There is no reason to play efficiently, and the skill required to play well is all about afk time. There is no urgency to the game at all

[blissful perch]

Urgency ≠ efficiency

There’s plenty of Bob urgency as people scramble to prepare for a rex someone spotted nearby. I certainly remember my early ark days having that sense of “prepare for trouble”

[untold ingot]

Having a threat that grows or adapts in opposition to the player makes progression more vital. Ark is missing that

[blissful perch]

That’s kinda…not essential for me

I don’t want to be pushed through the game. I want to define how I move through the game. That’s the appeal of the sandbox

[untold ingot]

A one time experience of feeling like you are in danger, that stops being danger after 100 or 200 hours isn't really good design imo

[blissful perch]

That’s mostly due to ark’s PvE consisting of highly cheese heavy encounters and a horrendous power curve in favor of players. It isn’t really at all related to “urgency in progression”

At no point do I want to feel like I have to rush down the most endgame tech I can make in PvE. That defeats the purpose of the flexible player driven experience ark offers

[untold ingot]

There should be a threat that grows as you progress though

[blissful perch]

Not even. Threats simply need to exist at each level of player scaling somewhere in the world, and players need to be drawn to threats that scale with their progression level

You don’t NEED Aratai to be building up to scale alongside players to make the game work. You just need “hard” environments for teched up players to go to for some later game reason…that offers them more challenge and engagement

[untold ingot]

Well the aratai are already going to be in. And they are going to raid bases.

My argument is that they need to do it well

[blissful perch]

We actually have 0 idea what precisely they’ll do

They could be static encounters, roaming events, scaling PvE “enemies”, etc.

[untold ingot]

If it actually requires skill and is hard even for late game then yes. If it's like ark1, than no

[winged dome]

Aberration does this really well. Mushroom Forest being relatively safe with easy early game materials, Biolum having more abundant mid game, and Rad Zone having Drakes and Element

[blissful perch]

You can just have “Aratai A, B, and C” in different areas of the world that are scaled to player levels A, B, and C

[untold ingot]

I enjoy games that make is a challenge to progress because of environmental dangers etc that make it hard to do so

[untold ingot]

I don't like the concept of having a "hard" area to go to. I would rather the hard area is more dynamic

[blissful perch]

Ab is definitely the shining star for ark 1, in that it very clearly delineated the intention of “player needs to be X prepared for blue and X + Y prepared for red”. Tho cheese sort of muddies it lol

[untold ingot]

I don't want a safe area for pve, I want to have to use tactics to stay safe

[blissful perch]

I presume events will move the “hard” areas around, but the point is the same

[blissful perch]

You can do that and still give players full control of the pace they take for progressing. That’s my argument

[untold ingot]

Migrating aratai tribes, or Dino migrations would be vastly superior to separate regions dividing difficulty

This would make it so you might run into super strong endgame aratai, or gigas on your Spawn beach, and you have to hide or run away from them

[blissful perch]

I suspect some areas of the map will be devoid of that and many will not be, in order to cater to new players

[untold ingot]

It would also make gameplay more varied and interesting, because you don't have specific Spawn regions

[blissful perch]

I think WC clamping creatures to better obey their spawn zones in ark 1 implies that players have voiced they want some areas to always be safe

[untold ingot]

I think it just better manages server maintenance

The way they have designed it

It fits pretty well with the random walk ai that ark has currently

[blissful perch]

I’m fine with those safe areas offering limited resources and capacity for progression…that’s extremely normative. But forcing people to progress versus encouraging players to venture into dangerous places to progress on their own? It’s an easy question

[untold ingot]

Sure have a relatively safe beach. But dynamic spawns and interaction with dinos and aratai is objectively more interesting

[blissful perch]

It’s only interesting for a certain group of players to have that occur everywhere at any time

[untold ingot]

I mean, that's where the scaling comes in

[blissful perch]

Most “all skill level” games of this type (imo correctly) have an area split from the broader map that keeps players safe until they feel comfortable progressing to the wider world

[untold ingot]

Ark2 specifically said that it would require more skill. I am hoping that applies to more than just timing in attacks

[winged dome]

What would the threat be scaling off of? Server time? Player level/numerical experience points?

[untold ingot]

Server time would be the best imo.

[blissful perch]

That’s fine, but the issue is how it requires that skill

[winged dome]

Then new players on that server would get absolutely shafted

[untold ingot]

Maybe so

[blissful perch]

The world as a whole cannot scale. That’s obviously impossible in a game with always active servers. maybe possible with wipes but even then it’s shaky

[untold ingot]

It needs to be dynamic though

[blissful perch]

The entire world’s power level? Pretty easy no

[untold ingot]

Every other game that has "safe zones" for new players also lacks variability in the same way as ark does

[blissful perch]

Even ark 1 has safer areas for new players, so not sure what you mean

Subnautica has the safe shallows, which is an excellent example

[untold ingot]

What I am not saying is to increase stats and levels of things arbitrarily

[untold ingot]

And gameplay is predictable and not very dynamic

[blissful perch]

I assumed there’s a method to it. But no method I can think of for full world scaling is going to work

Again, unless there are regular wipes

[untold ingot]

Migrations and dynamic aratai tribes. Weather effects based on the number of bases, or something

Pretty easy to include tbh

[blissful perch]

But pretty bad at improving gameplay

[untold ingot]

Why is that?

How is gameplay better with complete predictability?

[blissful perch]

You can’t have dynamic events scale with server wide progression, because server wide progression fails to capture individual player experience and personal progress

[untold ingot]

You haven't given me a reason why not, only that you don't like it

[blissful perch]

I gave have you one right there. Dynamic events that are static in their “power” are one thing…what I don’t subscribe to is the idea they should in any way scale with an average that leaves players who are over and under scaled feeling the wrong level of world difficulty

For people, likely yourself, the model you propose would be great for keeping the game fresh over time. For the players who devote less time and progress more slowly (due to skill or other reasons/ways of enjoying the game), they will fall behind and get burned. I see no reason to shaft those people

[winged dome]

I can see events scaling, maybe based on the number of nearby players, and those events can be tiered based progression. Maybe raiding a dino nest for some free eggs is low tier, raiding an Aratai camp is mid, and a fragment of the Genesis ship crashing to the ground is high tier - competing with Aratai forces for Tek Scrap materials

But overall world scaling? Nah

[south lance]

honestly i would respect even ark meta if the game wasnt so shit at running

my hope with melee is that attacks are less ping dependent

blocks and dodges will be the new issues above hitreg

but hitreg will still maybe be an issue

like timing based combat on shitty ping could be as bad as it is rn

[winged dome]

Probs will still be an issue, but hopefully not as bad as it is now

[sinful flicker]

when ark 2

[blissful perch]

Ping gets harder to manage when gameplay gets more complex

[south lance]

this isnt good for ark2 then

or like, the ping issue

the combat is fine ish

they really need to get better servers tho

[blissful perch]

I think ark 2 should have a ping ban on official (and a setting for unofficial) tbh. If you’re above X ping -> oops you’re booted

[south lance]

that could work but then ddos would be even more annoying

hopefully they get more conscientious about ping exploits

[blissful perch]

I’m down for better official servers for those players lol. Maybe subscriptions can fund even better ones 😂

[south lance]

they can also try to client side more of the game, increasing min specs further

idk if servers already do yhat as much as possible tho

all the extra mechanics probably imply further server side performance required tho

[tropic forge]

you know very well how you can minimize ddos, it was done at the beginning but wc open the door probably from what i ear which was by demand of snailgames

[desert swallow]

I don't see how minimizing dodos will fix anything.

[winged dome]

Smol packets for smol birb

[untold ingot]

This is more along what I mean. I just don't want the locations of these events to be static and predictable

[blissful perch]

Ok but that’s not what was said. Number/density of players is an extremely easy check. Even if number of bases is easy, neither is any assessment of the quality of players or bases

[untold ingot]

Actually, number of bases and quality of bases is pretty easy to check. You can do it manually right now

With admin commands

[blissful perch]

Quality of a base is extremely subjective. I doubt any measure would correctly measure the progress of the player within. Especially if people learn how quality is measured and abuse it

[mighty lion]

Amount of collective resources poured into non -native structures ( player bases) would be a fairly easy way to judge overall map progression. Especially if you apply other scaling factors such as level of structure. Not saying it's a good idea, but shouldn't be difficult to implement

[tropic crag]

It wouldn't be a complete waste of time to make an in-game item that does roughly the same thing, either (yes I'm still pushing the tool cupboard idea)

Maybe even make them work in conjunction, like tool cupboard upkeep plus whatever other criteria (maybe overall combined tribe level?) divided by something or other equals amount of force in next Aratai raid, or even the chance therein of a raid at all

[blissful perch]

I agree it’s measurable…but I also agree the question becomes is that a good idea to use as a way to make things harder

[hexed drift]

I kinda hope ark 2 is gonna be more pve

Or make the pvp so it’s not huge mega tribes owning whole servers and more back to the roots of a dinosaur survival game

[slender seal]

For ark pvp to ever work it needs a better decay system. There’s zero up-keep for massive bases aside from logging in every so often

New SOTF gives me hope, they revamped that so hard

[winged dome]

Base upkeep adjustments is a pretty good idea to keep megas in check while hopefully not affecting smaller/medium tribes too much. Maybe there's material or timed repair costs to keep structures in good shape, and the cost/time needed increases relatively to the overall number of structures in the area

Could also be the same for dinos. I'd like to see more effort needed in keeping a bunch of creatures aside from filling a box of food and having space for them to collect dust (in the open or in a pod)

Maybe regular use and exercise, or having a varied diet keeps their stats from degrading

[tropic crag]

Eh, I don't know about that, but having to train dinos in the first place to make them able to do things (why should your anky know how to break rocks right off the rip, let alone at your command?) is a good idea in my book. Same goes for everything else, and it honestly makes the whole process sound a lot more fun tbh (teaching your flyers how to fly without you falling off, as they've never been ridden before, teaching your carnivores not to eat/attack certain things such as your own herbivores, etc etc)

But yes, base upkeep ala the TC method similar to Rust has always been the best option imo to deal with land grabbing, unnecessarily huge bases, megas, and various other things

[winged dome]

Makes sense. The Dinos in Ark1 were confirmed to be genetically altered to be domesticated easily, maybe that conditioning is starting to wear off over time and not at all because mutation lines have spiraled out of control

[potent hull]

i think new dlc for asa my let us go to Arat Prime it only what i think

[somber swallow]

Why is ark 2 only gonna be PC/ Xbox exclusive?

[split dove]

it's a timed exclusive, mainly due to 1) Wildcard and Xbox having signed a deal for a timed exclusive period and 2) Sony only allowing early access games for up to a certain amount of time and Wildcard might not be sure how long Ark 2 will be in early access

[blissful perch]

…what connection does that have to the comment you replied to 😅

[somber swallow]

So your saying it will be on PS but it jus might come out a lil later or something like that?

[split dove]

basicly yes

[somber swallow]

Okay I thought that was gonna happen but when I was doing my research i didn't see anything that said something bout ps5,

[mighty lion]

I guess it depends on the state of ark 2 pvp, increased pve forces can actually be a boon for base defense.

While being a nuisance for pve play

[blissful perch]

It’s more about accessibility and freedom of play imo

I think increasing the role of PvE is critically important, as is scaling players to never really bypass the pve’s power scaling. But that’s not quite the same as having the entire world’s PvE scale with time or a metric that tries to measure “player progress”

[raven vessel]

Maybe if your in hide armor with wood walls...

[mighty lion]

I dont think that makes sense

[winged dome]

New things to do for PvE also adds things for PvP. Genesis missions, breeding, bosses, ect are all done by both play styles despite being 'PvE activities'

Whereas items added for PvP are usually only used by PvP players since they don't have much use in PvE (C4, Rocket Launchers, Cruise Missile, ect)

[inland loom]

Yoo ark 2 is coming to game pass

[blissful perch]

All true. Just trying to split that from the discussion about world scaling 😅

[untold ingot]

Well, hoping that ark2 removes explosives and has aggressive ai, I can see pvp items being needed in pve

Especially if fights aren't just clicking simulator

[stark moth]

I've been wondering what it would be like to have something like creature illness, if say left in the wrong type of housing (eg parasaur left out in the rain/cold too much or frogs never being in water). Or an emotional system like gachas where tames become less responsive the more they're ignored. Or a skill system that slowly improves a tame based on how it's used (argy only used for flying slowly improves stamina/speed, one used in battle gains melee, etc)

[potent hull]

i no your hiding the Community Crunch were is it shifter lol

[tropic forge]

well that was a bunch of nothingness cc

[winged dome]

Expect nothing and never be disappointed
🚬

[tropic forge]

aint that the true

guess next month to know anything about ASA and 1% chance of anything about ark 2

[untold ingot]

Yeah, I think a month or two for Asa info is a reasonable window

[tropic forge]

two months will spell trouble in my point of view

[untold ingot]

Yeah, it'll be a point of contention for sure

[tropic forge]

hell there's only one more week this month thats why i said next month 🤣 so its almost only 3 more months for their timeline

[untold ingot]

They have a tendency to delay stuff like trailers until the last possible moment. Hopefully they don't do that this time, but they might

[tropic forge]

delay trailers 🤣 ark2 trailer anyone???

or trailers

if everything goes right whit their timeline the first ark 2 trailer will have 4 years before the actually game

[winged dome]

I mean, teeeeechnically the teaser trailer was the first thing we saw about Ark2

[untold ingot]

I mean, technically yeah

[winged dome]

I'm still under the impression something went seriously wrong with development which caused the devs to backpedal from 'next announcement will be gameplay!' to 'no gameplay until 2024!'

[tropic forge]

telling you their progress wasent great at all whit ark2 since last year but no one believes me

that excuse to learn more of new UE5 its laughable, its like they are calling themself's noobs on making a game whit UE

[tropic crag]

Yeah, Epic keeps releasing new versions of UE5 faster than anyone can keep up with lol

And they keep having to upgrade everything each time

[mighty lion]

It is possible to spend alot of time developing a game and realizing it's just not fun to play.

[left arch]

you're making that out like that would be a difficult thing to do, moving projects from minor revision to minor revision is very easy, say going from unreal 5.1 to 5.2, they really wouldn't have to do much work and that wouldn't be why

[winged dome]

True, true. Like Elden Ring. Tried something new with being open world but it lost a lot of what made a Souls game a Souls game imo.

[ripe cedar]

Idk if thats the best analogy with how popular it is

And i think the devs realized that open world would be somewhat different

[winged dome]

I'm not saying it's a bad game or people shouldn't like it - I just found it not really fun to play

Despite generally liking the rest of the games

[winged dome]

Having a huge open world with little to no actual interactions inside it except for randomly placed enemies is a pretty big change from intricately designed interconnected zones with strategic enemy placement that makes even experienced players take pause at every corridor or corner. Plus having a mount that can easily outrun or outmaneuver every enemy means there's no real challenge in exploration

[blissful perch]

My issue was that I was able to explore way faster than I was able to progress my skills and stats

So I had a horrible sense of what I was supposed to be going after

[winged dome]

Same. Barely out of the starter zone and dipping into the Rot where enemies and bosses were wayyy beyond my expected power level

[elfin pumice]

Run away and come back later

[winged dome]

Nah, if it moves then it's my duty to make it not move anymore

[tropic crag]

For an indie dev team? Ehh, I think it might. Remember, WC is still sub 100 people last we heard iirc

[split dove]

let's also forget the very important tidbit that Fortnite is so easy to port UE5 bc the same company makes EU5 and has the best knowledge of how to use it 🫣

[potent hull]

way flobs way did you not give us any asa news this time way lol

[split dove]

my asa books haven't arrived in the library yet

[potent hull]

not even the game map for player to look at

[tropic crag]

I'd honestly like to see anyone here go try and make a triple A game with an indie budget and sub 100 people in UE5, then and only then could they actually tell me it's easy or hard to do something with a cutting edge engine that most people know very little about. Until then, anyone who says otherwise is just grasping at straws and making assumptions

[past wind]

What? The maps are the same.

[past wind]

Well, the real issue isn’t making the game at all. It is overpromissing, but underdelivering. Better saying, not delivering at all.

I will say it again, huge PR issues since years at Wildcard.

[tropic crag]

That has nothing to do with the issue at hand, though?

Guy said it was easy to port between versions of UE5, I asked for proof essentially, not related at all

[stray elm]

I will admit, whoever is their PR team and sets those unrealistic release-dates need to have a talk with someone higher.
But that isn't what Bruise was on about

[stray elm]

Well, did they mean from Unreal 4 to 5, or from different versions of 5?

[past wind]

You are implying all that backlash is because they don’t have enough money to finish the game faster. All I’m saying is they have put themselves in that situation by talking too much and delivering nothing.

[past wind]

Ah ok, I didn’t see that comment specifically

[stray elm]

Cause if it's a version switch, then yeah it is actually easy.
Transferring between Unreal 5 to 5.1 is literally just opening up your save in 5.1.
Transferring though from 4 to 5, is a whole process though that is a bit complicated.

[tropic crag]

Idk, look at their post. I thought versions of 5, but

[stray elm]

Especially transferring from a old 2015 version of Unreal-4, to 5.
Since that requires first porting your current project to the latest version of Unreal-4 that supports the transfer feature.
Which that alone is yet another process, probably the hardest for Wildcard since they're on such an outdated version of Unreal 4.
But once you're able to do that, then you have to transfer from the latest version of Unreal-4, finally to Unreal-5.

[mint swan]

April fools LOL

[tropic crag]

It may be easy for one asset or even for one person making a game, but a coordinated effort between a large number of people working on a "triple A quality" game with an indie budget will no doubt run into more hurdles than just one guy who knows what he's done so far and can easily check for errors between ports. It's really not as simple as everyone thinks, you have to coordinate and check everything thrice over

[stray elm]

Bruh just clowned me for a moment when I'm not even involved with Bruise. 💀

[tropic crag]

He's just a salty troll, ignore him

[mint swan]

I apologize for the misfire

[mint swan]

Says the one who called people braindead over cc that wasnt an April Fool’s joke

[stray elm]

Damn, this man be committing warcrime of misfiring on people who aren't part of his war.

[mint swan]

Please forgive me

[stray elm]

I feel personally attacked.

[split dove]

about as accurate as the russians using missiles on kids

[mint swan]

How can I make it up?

[stray elm]

NOOO!!! 💀

[tropic crag]

No forgiveness, as you've shown none for a simple emote

[stray elm]

Flobs, I like you man!
I don't want you to get warning!!

[mint swan]

I didn’t ask you for forgiveness…

[split dove]

🪖 🚀 🧒 🏚️

[stray elm]

NOO!!!

[split dove]

yes

[stray elm]

[tropic crag]

Lmao

Flobs really went "Why are you booing me, I'm right"

[split dove]

[placid igloo]

Sry to pop in but I’ve just recently got into Ark again with some friends and we heard last night that the servers are shutting down soon?? Is this true? And are they coming back up someday or are they going down permanently :(?

[stray elm]

It is true, and they wont be coming back up for Survival-Evolved

But they'll be releasing the data on the servers for public use

[placid igloo]

Aw what :(( so we just won’t be able to play anymore until Ark 2?

[winged dome]

Oh, it's this again
🍻

[mint swan]

Tbh I don’t remember you but that’s okay

[placid igloo]

My friends just bought the dlc too 😭😭 wow that sucks

[winged dome]

Only Official servers are shutting down in August. Single Player and Unofficial should still work

[winged dome]

Keep telling yourself that hun, clinks prepped for the next time~

[mint swan]

That’s okay, my quarrel isn’t with you anyways so it doesn’t bother me

[placid igloo]

Ah I see.. maybe we’ll be able to find a good unofficial server. Thank you for the info!

[stray elm]

Anyway, back to this.
While yes, it is hard in general to do this. Upgrading between versions of Unreal-5 to 5.1 is simple to a dev-team that have 8-years of experience.
Again, going from 4 to 5 is a different process, and that alone is fucking hell.
But going from 5 to 5.1 'should' be simple to a long-term dev-team that have probably had more issues with their own coding.
Also, if I recall right, Wildcard is more AA currently then a indie studio, as they make almost the same amount of full AAA-titles do a year, and 100+ employees is around the norm for a AA-team.

Epic-Games also has a tutorial out for how to migrate from version to version for Unreal-5, so there's also that information out there already.
Don't need to worry about trial-and-error.

[stray elm]

Like I said, they'll be releasing the files of official servers when they shut down.
You'd be able to (in-theory) use these saves to host your own servers, with the same characters/bases/etc from the official server.

[tropic crag]

But checking every asset to make sure it ported right and such is still something they have to do, no? You wouldn't want a seam or some strange texture error to make it into the full game when all it took was a little look, right?

[stray elm]

I'm also betting people are going to start hosting their own official-unofficial clusters using said saves.

[stray elm]

I don't believe that's an issue between minor-versions. That's why it's a lot more easier.
Again, I'm not a game-dev, I just know some shit from personal experience.
But from what I'm looking at on Google, this issue only accurse with major-version switches, like a HUGE leap between minor versions (Unreal-4.25 to current Unreal-4) or from Unreal-4 to 5.
Again, not a professional. That's just what I'm seeing online.

[placid igloo]

Ohh I see, I think I understand. Hopefully it works out lol

[tropic crag]

Something that hasn't been mentioned here (as it is pretty much common knowledge, but I see you are new here so) is that there's a remake of Ark 1 coming out called ASA, which will be releasing shortly after the official servers go down, so there'll be a new official just not on Ark: Survival Evolved, but on Ark: Survival Ascended

[placid igloo]

Oh cool!! I assume we’re going to have to buy it though, even if we’ve already had Survival Evolved?

[stray elm]

Thank you for calling it a remake!
People have been calling it a remaster, and it's not really that at all.
It's more of a soft-remake.

[tropic crag]

Did you mean "occurs"? But also most developers will want to check their things before they release it/port it further, so as to not cause issues down the line

[stray elm]

Sadly, yes. But personally I don't think it's that much.
60$ USD for the base-game and all of the DLC's.
While providing more features.

[tropic crag]

Yes, but it's only 60 USD for the game and all currently released DLC with improvements and all this ported to Unreal Engine 5

[placid igloo]

Well, it could be worse I guess lol thanks again for all the help! :]

[tropic crag]

I mean, it is a remake. A hard one at that, seeing as they're re-writing the entire code of the game...

[stray elm]

Oh defiantly, double to even triple-checking is always good.
But I was more talking about the functionality of migrating between versions versus engines/major version leaps.

[stray elm]

Fair, I just call it a 'soft-remake' since it isn't 100% recreating everything from the ground-up. Which is what I believe the differences between a hard/soft remake.

[tropic crag]

Understandable, it is much easier I will say, what with the tutorials and the engine being easier to use (or so I've heard)

[split dove]

keep the anky spaghetti monster as a small body ragdoll chance

[stray elm]

I really hope they keep shit like that for shits-and-giggles.

[tropic crag]

Isn't that literally what they're doing, though?

Maybe I misread

[stray elm]

From what I got from the CC's. They're porting ARK-1 to Unreal 5, and upgrading the older assets to fit in with the newer assets artstyle.
While on top of that, adding more features like dynamic-water and such.
Not really a hard-remake, as in recreating everything from scratch.
This is at least what I got from the CC's

[tropic crag]

Hmm, coulda sworn they rebuilt the whole codebase from the ground up

Thanks, now I gotta go read 🙄 lol

[split dove]

i think they're using the new switch version that was rebuilt from the ground up as a base iirc

[stray elm]

I believe the Switch version is using a 'modified' version of it.
I think they stated back then with the new Switch upgrade that they're going back and fixing up the coding? Which I'd assume is more tinkering, then a complete rewrite.
I say this cause, unless they're redoing ALLL of that again with PC ARK, then it'd probably be smarter to go with the original plan of porting the Switch version to the PC, and just upgrading it from there.

But I don't know, Wildcard could be pulling a 'No U' and be completely rewriting the coding from the PC version, instead of using the already updated Switch-port. 🤷‍♂️

[untold ingot]

Yeah, I kind of get the same idea. They also call it a remaster instead of a remake. And there are very few remasters I can think of that are actually remakes

[untold ingot]

Well, I spent some time playing around with porting an old Ue4 project of mine into Ue5, and you aren't entirely wrong. There can be some issues porting between minor versions, like 5.0 to 5.1 had some issues due to a changing codebase

[prisma pike]

They did I'm pretty sure

They said it started as a modified version of the switches coding but then they decided to go further and rebuild the entire game.

[tropic crag]

That's what I thought, but I went back and reread the crunches and it didn't quite say that verbatim, at least not anymore. You can more or less infer that they used that version as a base to start from, though

[left arch]

The process of moving across a project from a minor revision to another minor revision, say 5.1 to 5.2 is as simple as opening the project in the new version, then making sure all the assets are still in place and still look right should only take a well sized team like wild card like a week to check but you really shouldn't have to because the version change shouldn't mess with anything other than fringe cases
it's not like a major revision like 4 to 5 which can require a ton of work

You really would only have to check things that would be effected by the update

For instance the latest full release branch of unreal 5 has global illumination properly interacting with windows and see through objects

[tropic crag]

There is also issues that can't really be accounted for though, like the changes to the codebase as Raq stated

But I don't really mind the delay either way, I'm all for a game taking it's time to actually be done or in a releasable state before being shown in any way

[mint swan]

But I thought the cc was an April fools joke

[winged dome]

Oh look, it's this again
Twice in one day

[mint swan]

I still dunno who you are😂

But it’s okay. I know I’m not the only one that think it’s funny because I got people pm’ing lmao

[winged dome]

Man, you must have some memory issues or something 😂

Have a clink, refresh your memory

🍻

[mint swan]

Yeah still doesn’t ring a bell

Like I said early, no quarrel with you so the ‘clink’ doesn’t bother me lol

[left arch]

oh no no no that's because it obviously was

🗿

[mint swan]

Yeah, we’re all braindead for believing otherwise

[left arch]

😃

no thoughts, head empty

[winged dome]

Motto of this chat

[left arch]

SO TRUE

[untold ingot]

I miss the days when ark2 chat was talking about cool ideas. Not it's all just insulting each other.

[left arch]

I miss the days when there was ark 2 content to talk about 😔
nah but I agree

[untold ingot]

We had less then than we do now though

[left arch]

yeah but it was recent then, we got trailers and steam page dropped and so we had stuff to talk about
there hasn't been any good info on ark 2 released in a while

[untold ingot]

Yeah, maybe

People used to say ideas though

[left arch]

the good old days

[blissful perch]

Most of the imaginative people moved on

[left arch]

now most of the discussion is mostly ark 1 being remade or vitriol

[blissful perch]

Pretty much since gameplay was promised it became nearly impossible to speculate about game design

People just kept bickering about WC and about news…or were drones summoned by a YouTuber

[left arch]

true

[untold ingot]

Tbh, most of us are still here. Just not being imaginative anymore lol

[astral token]

Living example

[harsh spear]

besides small tribes and official i would like a mode for solo only. so you cant tribe with anyone. would you guys also like to play that or no ?

[south lance]

i would maybe, but itd be dead