Community Crunch 356: ARK Roadmap Update, Rhyniognatha Concept, and More!

1 minute ago, Bruxse said:

Wait so instead of getting the upgrade AND ark 2 for $50 we now only get upgraded ark for $60... so they basically just added the dlc price into the UE5 upgrade and told us to screw off and we now we have to buy ark 2 full price on release??

Not only was charging for the dlc scummy in the first place but this is next level of scum.

You basically just shat on our cake and told us it's frosting... 

Remember karma exists and it's going to come back with a vengeance..

Someone’s baby needs cuddling, it just keeps crying. 

I'll chip in and give a more level headed response than most. From the sounds of it ASA will be putting the original experience on par with ark 2. If that's the case the price is more justified, the problem is that we haven't seen it yet so we don't really know. Additionally, a cheaper upgrade fee for people who already own ASE would be a great way to stop people whining.

Sunsetting the official servers, on the one hand, they were never gonna be available forever anyway, I'm not sure if there will ever be a 'good' time to close them. Someone did suggest maybe a more gradual transition with the less populated servers going first? Either way I'm sure you have telemetry telling you that official players is a pretty small number of your overall player base so it's probably the not the biggest worry.

I'm sure ASA will be amazing, WC always put out stuff that's cool asf.

1 minute ago, Voidtoker said:

Someone’s baby needs cuddling, it just keeps crying. 

Coming from the person who sat and cried about how hes never buying the remaster cause it had ark 2 in it and you wouldn't buy ark 2 unless it's first person...

Stand up bud, ur bias is showing.

4 hours ago, Psylent said:

I fully agree with DarkRadeon. I share a lot of the same concerns, and wasn't aware of DLSS possibly causing issues too. So now kinda worried about that on top of everything else. I really don't want anything to do with Overwolf. A friend of mine said they recently had to uninstall spyware from Overwolf...
They're just not trustworthy. Please use Mod.io or even just stick with the Steam workshop. Anything but Overwolf. I haven't played Ark without mods for years now. If I can't play Ark 2 or ASA with mods then I'll just stick with ASE. I'm not downloading spyware.

i said mod.io since it supports consoles while steam workshop doesn't. mod. io alao doesn't slowdown nor installl spyware proceases on your system like overwolf

Edited April 8, 2023 by darkradeon

Re: the ASE Server wiping, if you're not willing to keep them up, then perhaps consider a compromise whereby you eliminate most of them, and give players plenty of chance to migrate to servers that you will be/can keep up for the forseeable. This will let you cut out a majority of the servers and keep some people happy. (Naturally, pillar spam, people who have tonnes of bases etc may make this non-ideal). 

Obviously I see people would prefer to keep them up, but it's just a thought.

Dust in the eyes... Wildcard. 

Do you really think gamers are that stupid? You removed Ark 2 from equation and increased the price... Wow, congrats... you win the prize for most unprofessional and unqualified seller. Bravo "sarcastic applause" 🤮🤢

Edited April 8, 2023 by Morimoto

A much better deal. This saves us ~$30.

It saves PlayStation $20 because ARK 2 will be years away.
It saves Xbox $30 because they'll get ARK 2 on Gamepass anyway.
It saves PC $30 in the shorter term until ARK 2 releases but doesn't force anyone to buy ARK 2.

The price overall hasn't been increased.

8 minutes ago, GP said:

A much better deal. This saves us ~$30.

It saves PlayStation $20 because ARK 2 will be years away.
It saves Xbox $30 because they'll get ARK 2 on Gamepass anyway.
It saves PC $30 in the shorter term until ARK 2 releases but doesn't force anyone to buy ARK 2.

The price overall hasn't been increased.

You are literally just coming to the conclusion that people will only buy 1 or the other, for literally 90% of people that are going to be buying both it's a straight price increase regardless of how you try and rationalize it.

It's even worse for the people who where not going to buy the ASA dlc and just stick with the base ASA cause now they are forced into it no matter what now with the giant middle finger of having to buy ark 2 separate.

I knew there was some people with low IQ out there but i really didn't think it was that bad.

3 minutes ago, Bruxse said:

You are literally just coming to the conclusion that people will only buy 1 or the other, for literally 90% of people that are going to be buying both it's a straight price increase regardless of how you try and rationalize it.

It's even worse for the people who where not going to buy the ASA dlc and just stick with the base ASA cause now they are forced into it no matter what now with the giant middle finger of having to buy ark 2 separate.

I knew there was some people with low IQ out there but i really didn't think it was that bad.

I'm going to be buying both and I don't see any issues with this deal at all. ARK 2 is so far away that i'm not even concerned how much it will cost in 2025, because we all know that's when it will release at the earliest, so that's 2 years away.

Wild Card just give more and more reasons to not support them anymore.  
 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Maria064

3 minutes ago, GP said:

I'm going to be buying both and I don't see any issues with this deal at all. ARK 2 is so far away that i'm not even concerned how much it will cost in 2025, because we all know that's when it will release at the earliest, so that's 2 years away.

Just because you may buy something at a different time, doesn't mean you are getting charged less it's still a price increase no matter what.. The fact you don't see that, actually hurts my brain cause i can't comprehend someone being that stupid. I wouldn't have an issue with you saying you don't see an issue with the deal if you actually acknowledged the fact that overall ur paying more but u are straight just lying saying it's cheaper and people will save money..

Like come on.

For me the deal is a little bit worse now, because i didnt necessarily plan on buying the dlc packs, and would have liked to try ark2, but it makes more sense now and i understand they cant get it perfect for everyone. Just a bit weird how they juggle the prices imo.

Anyways, i hope we get more details soon about the rebalancing they promised. I dont care about new content, i just want what we know to become better balanced. Breeding rework, rebalancing of a row of creatures and caves, reworked decay system for the pve folks and, if they are serious about making the asa the best ark can be, a slight rework of orp servers, maybe adding other game modes too (e.g. something to make up for dropping prim+). And details on new anti cheat systems together with an acknowledgement of how insanely bad the situation with cheating and exploiting is on the official servers now.

All that together with a greatly improved communication from wildcard, let the players know what you plan and involve them in the process. I have very little trust in wildcard when it comes to balancing skills and the other points mentioned above. It needs a solid improvement of pr now if you want to make up for last weeks desastrous crunch and the lost trust from your players.

At the end of the day, this will come down to how many people want to, and can afford to, spend $60 for a game they have already bought and have probably completed. If they only play Ark and no other computer games at all, then maybe they will. I, for one, have absolutely no intention of doing that and will happily play Ark on my local server from time to time, if I can't play on Official servers any more, or, more likely, buy and play different games. 

Your business model is very puzzling. You would do much better to give ASA away for free, with all existing DLC and then continue to release new DLC every 3-6 months (until Ark 2 is completely ready) with new creatures and new maps for the standard $20 or so. That would pretty much guarantee that every regular Ark player continues to buy new content from you and generate revenue while you complete the development of Ark 2. Instead you are hoping that a subset of your customers pays the full $60. I think it will be less than a third of the people that would buy the $20 DLC, so you'll be worse off. 

But what do I know? 

As it is, I'll spend my money elsewhere and see you in 2024 or whenever you get round to releasing Ark.

I have been reading all these comments here about how OverWolf is not worth its weight but I decided to have a look for myself and boy these people are not wrong. 83% 1 star reveiws and an overall rating of 1.6 stars. What are you thinking WildCard? I have been playing this game for years not and I will not be REBUYING a game I already own, and I know alot of people feel the same way. Thanks for the MASSIVE slap in the face to you loyal gamers who have supported you for years now. Absolute crap show you guys have going on there

3 hours ago, MayaPatch said:

WILD BABIES? Ok, i pay you 100$ only because of that! 👀

Jokes aside, I'm glad you listened to the community that had some several good suggestions as well (see skin shop etc. People go crazy for what stuff lol).

Also, the bundle is fair. You could have asked for 80$, people would have bought it anyway. We know the maps, how they work etc.  So, people was not mad because of the price itself, but the bundle.

Sadly, for Ark II is not exactly the same and some people are not even interested to buy it. So, yes, even if for a low price, they wouldn't want own a game they are not going to play. I myself was going to buy the upgrade next year, when the bundle is over, and not at its launch 😅 i never blindly buy something, and when I did, I regretted (and because they're digital copies, i can't sell them).  I prefer to wait for Ark II and see what you guys are working on ☺️ I'm sure it will be great, but better show first and then sell.

 

And now, the creatures: The new giant bug looks cool and, yes, no one cared but... I do love the new Sabertooth design as well! Waiting for more sneak peeks 👀 

Also, did i read right? SE variants? Are we going to get creatures with different patterns? 👀 

You know there are mods that put babies and eggs in the wild, right? And mods that bring plenty of customisation. Why not support those mods instead of this crappy attempt to get more money through selling you the same content while fronting with a glorified graphics upgrade. Forcing the people they CAN have influence on onto their "new" updated servers should tell you enough. Other devs keep servers to their classic games open even if nobody is playing on them. WC has people playing on their servers, but put up a big middlefinger to them anyways.

Nobody asked for a UE5 update. WC just could put all their UE5 learning efforts into ARK2 while keeping ASE servers running. There was zero need for the poop that is happening atm. 

Regarding the pricing, I would prefer to pay 30$ for ASA(Island/SE), then 15$ for Aberration/Extinction on release, then 15$ for gen1/gen 2 on release.

It adds up to the same amount, but I won't be paying for vaporware. 

ASA went from "free" to a $40 bundle with Ark 2.  Now it's $60 by itself.

Wildcard originally said they'd use mod.io, but now they'll use OverWolf.

As much as I love the game, I really can't see myself getting value out of owning three variations of the same thing.

I'm questioning my desire to move on to ASA and Ark 2, just to be perpetually misled by a company that doesn't understand community engagement, deadlines, or finances.

I suspect WildCard have over-promised and over-stretched their ability to deliver.

With Snail Games share price taking a dive, I'm beginning to wonder if WC and SG will still exist in three months time.

I think some of you are still overly emotional about the pricing. Remasters arent easy or cheep. Before it would take 80 dollars for just the remaster. (90 withark 2) the only really questionable ask here was asking us to seperately pay for dlc seperately at near full cost. At 60, yes it's a bit pricey, however we are know getting a fully remastered amd revamped game. Yes the server closings are sad. Maybe we could see a solution but they are closing them because its hell keeping them going. They even said that the servers arent a major part of player population. Yeah...im sad to see my hard earned progress destroyed. But ill get to keep the server save which also means i get to FINALLY get the satisfaction of demoing mega tribe bases, and that mean pve players pillars. Honestly the step bacl repackaging the game is better and feels like they are listening. Besides, ark 2 is a new game....the factbthey were willing to give us ark for TEN bucks? Comeon guys... they werent being complete money gremlins. (I am awar of technical issues with some choices...little worried about those nvidia and overwolf descions. Amd crossplay....sounds awesome HOWEVER cheating will be....rough)

Release the source code of ASE on github. Consider this an act of love for your game and for your community. Let professional and amateur fix the game. People will learn a lot from you and you may get also code snippets solutions for actual ASA and ARK2 development. For non-developer/programmers: this doesn’t mean ASE should become open source/GNU gpl or else, in fact Unreal Engine already have a similar model.

90% of the negative comments here are from players, the other 10% positive comments are from wildcard/snail games employees….

 

jokes aside to close the game off years before the sequel is even finished is insane, even call of duty allows its predecessor games to run for a while. The short sharp chop of Ark1 its to excessive, many of us are quite attached to our bases our Dino’s AND our community, something you don’t quite get in single player…..

 

You can say oh but you will get that back in Ark 1.5, no you get a lot of burned out people wondering why should they even bother mutating Dino’s again, while we get  distracted to the real reasons behind all this , ARK 2 delayed…. End off, lack of funds to creat Ark 2 so let’s strip our golden game (Ark 1) call  it Ark 1.5 and make them all do that again while we charge them all for it, it’s ok they will jump through hoops for us because that’s what the player base does right??  Oh and then they have something to do while we deal with 2-3 years of delay after delay after delay….
 

Of course Ark 1 would end one day but don’t do it this crappy cash cow way. You lose the respect of your players!!!

Edited April 8, 2023 by Xill74

1 hour ago, Larkfields said:

ASA went from "free" to a $40 bundle with Ark 2.  Now it's $60 by itself.

It's not though. It's now a $60 bundle with all DLCs instead of the DLCs costing $40 ontop of the bundle.

1 hour ago, Larkfields said:

Wildcard originally said they'd use mod.io, but now they'll use OverWolf.

They've not official confirmed they are no longer using Mod.io. It's very possible for ASA they use Overwolf and ARK 2 they use Mod.io.

hi guys, please don't take everything the community says personal, the internet is toxic, and behind most hate messages is a 13 year old idiot, I'm sure you guys are doing everything you can to give us good products, even when you have a snail breathing down your neck, i can't wait to see Abberation and the other ARK's on UE5 and i'm sure the extra 18 months will be worth it for ARK 2, have a great weekend!

 

19 minutes ago, Xill74 said:

90% of the negative comments here are from players, the other 10% positive comments are from wildcard/snail games employees….

 

jokes aside to close the game off years before the sequel is even finished is insane, even call of duty allows its predecessor games to run for a while. The short sharp chop of Ark1 its to excessive, many of us are quite attached to our bases our Dino’s AND our community, something you don’t quite get in single player…..

 

You can say oh but you will get that back in Ark 1.5, no you get a lot of burned out people wondering why should they even bother mutating Dino’s again, while we get  distracted to the real reasons behind all this , ARK 2 delayed…. End off, lack of funds to creat Ark 2 so let’s strip our golden game (Ark 1) call  it Ark 1.5 and make them all do that again while we charge them all for it, it’s ok they will jump through hoops for us because that’s what the player base does right??  Oh and then they have something to do while we deal with 2-3 years of delay after delay after delay….
 

Of course Ark 1 would end one day but don’t do it this crappy cash cow way. You lose the respect of your players!!!

This is also another point: ASE took 7-8 years on 1x official to become what it is now. Yes, it may come out now with OP dinos and stats but this is not players fault but about unbalanced game mechanics. How much will have players on ASA to invest their time again on similar mechanics without even knowing how much ASA ongoing?

Ok, so at least there is some acknowledgement of the problem this time around. If this was done in the first place, perhaps things wouldn't be as bad.

So, $60 for a remaster is still steeper than I would have expected even including the DLCs, but still a bit better than the original insane pricing. For that premium price though, I expect this to launch as a finished product and not a buggy unplayable mess 2042/Cyberpunk/Ark1 style for ALL platforms. The fact that you have nothing to show for ASA when you're making such a big announcement (coupled with admitting the engine is still too new for you) and even though you're promising an August launch(plus past history) doesn't instil any confidence to be quite honest. This is 100% one of those cases of wait and see what state it is on launch before considering a purchase.

You've also not mentioned any adjustment to the new paid DLC, so I'll assume it's still the same.

Now, I don't play official servers so although it doesn't affect me, I stand with the people who are affected by this anti consumer move to shut them down on Day 1 of ASA as a matter of principle. After all, if you don't stand with others who get shafted,  nobody will stand with you when you get shafted later.  So, at the very least you need to keep those servers up for one more year just like any other company does for a hell of a lot more time with a lot less active players in them. With that premium price you're charging for the re-master, you owe it to your customers and at least try and claw back some respectability and good will.

In conclusion, I firmly believe you need to take one more step at least to meet your customers in the middle. That's the last post I'll make on this subject. As always, based on the actions I see, I'll vote with my wallet as that's the only thing that really counts.

Quote

 And yeah, we may miss our deadline on certain aspects, but they’ll come in over time as we continue to support this next generation of ARK.

Is this a Todd Howard type quote before Fallout 76 released? ''I've read it on the internet that some of our games have bugs''. I'm getting a de javu feeling....

Edited April 8, 2023 by KingOfAshes

I am happy with this news. A rebuild of ASE is something I have wished for. 

I would love to hear some official discussion on server quality/stability.

Current server status is one of the major drawbacks of the game.

Crashes, lag and rollbacks ruin the experience 100% and make the game unplayable at times.