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

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    We appreciate your patience as we digested the feedback and consulted with our partners to revise our upcoming plans. As always, we’re very grateful to have such a passionate player base, and we hear and understand your concerns. We've decided to make some changes and provide additional information as to why we’re taking this approach, so please bear with us as we address some points. 

     

    Price Point and Bundle
     

    First things first, we are scrapping the ARK Respawned Bundle. Our intention behind this was to provide a package where you essentially got two products for the price of one. In hindsight, not the best move. Our bad; we recognize how combining ARK Survival Ascended with ARK 2 and requiring further DLC upgrades wasn’t optimal, especially since you wouldn’t be able to judge ARK 2 as no gameplay or content would be available yet.

    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:
     

    • The Island (Released at Launch)
    • Survival of the Fittest: The Island & Scorched Earth map variants (Released at Launch)
    • Scorched Earth (Released at Launch)
    • Aberration (Released by Q4 2023)
    • Extinction (Released by Q1 2024)
    • Genesis Part 1 (Released by Q1 2024)
    • Genesis Part 2 (Released by Q2 2024)
    • All the community-created maps are also to be released over time in 2024 (Fjordur, Ragnarok, The Center, Lost Island, Valguero, Crystal Isles)

     

    No longer a backward-compatible free update?
     

    Initially, when we had first considered doing an Unreal 5 upgrade, we planned just to port the Switch version of the game and undo the ‘graphical’ limitations required for that hardware. We weren’t going to maximize the potential of the new technology, we weren’t going to introduce new gameplay changes, and we weren’t going to make critical design changes that would have had an impact on existing save data. 
     

    After carefully considering what would be the best outcome for those who enjoy ARK: Survival Evolved and would want to continue to enjoy it in the years to come, we decided that our initial plan would not be sufficient. We want to provide you with an evergreen classic ARK experience, one that can continue to grow over time on a cleaned-up code base, making use of the new technological advancements not only in the industry but also in what we are working on with ARK 2.
     

    We weren’t trying to mislead you with earlier comments; our plans and overall intentions changed. So you're probably asking, why don’t we make these upgrades to the original ARK: Survival Evolved (ASE)? Frankly, it would not be viable. Many of the changes we’re making in ARK: Survival Ascended will touch a lot of aspects of the game; it’ll invalidate save data, some mods may not be functional, some things may not play the same way as they did before, and we didn’t want to change that experience for those who prefer it or are unable to upgrade.
     

    This also impacted our decision to sunset the ASE Official Network offline on August 31st, 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. While we know it’s not the same, we hope making the saves available for unofficial use helps diminish the loss. Our reasoning behind the decision is that those servers are essentially based on old technology and require significant development resources and time for our teams to operate & maintain. In some cases, the issues aren’t as easily solvable without an overall upgrade. Additionally, we know that those resources could be better utilized on fundamentally new technology to further enhance the overall game experience for all players.
     

    ASE will still be available to play for those who choose to; that includes multiplayer through unofficial/player-hosted sessions, the endless amount of mods on the Steam workshop, and all the game content as you currently know it. All of that is going to remain, but after 8 years of development, we have to make the difficult decision of sunsetting ASE and the Official Network in order to provide that truly long-term and evergreen version of the game through ARK: Survival Ascended.

    We’ll be sending off ASE with one final content update for our 8th anniversary this June, releasing the fan-elected creature: Rhyniognatha! (Keep an eye out next week for its Dossier)

     

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    We plan to support ARK: Survival Ascended with new features (including at launch), content drops, creatures, items, structures, and DLC. Our roadmap covered some of those planned changes, and we said there would be more, and here’s another preview:
     

    • Dynamic navigation mesh and creature pathfinding overhaul (AI pathfinding)
    • Photo Mode
    • Nvidia DLSS
    • Dino/Baby Management QOL
    • Wild Babies
    • Snap point improvements (new snaps, logic improvements)
    • Character creation & customization improvements
    • Cross-platform Multiplayer & Full Blueprint Modding (I know we mentioned this before, but we’re serious, it’s happening on PC and Consoles at launch, and we’ve got it working internally with Overwolf technology – this dramatically changes the nature of the console experience).

     

    And this list is not exhaustive. We’re hoping to get even more done, and the only reason we aren’t covering all of those details right now is that we’re still working on them. It’s taking a significant amount of resources and time at the studio, and we don’t want to commit to other particular features unless we’re sure we can get them in for launch. 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.
     

    At the end of the day, these are just words and, frankly, may not mean so much. That’s okay; we understand what will really convince you is seeing screenshots and a gameplay trailer, and you will in time. We know there are going to be more questions, and we’ll be sharing more details over time. We’re not quite ready to pull back the curtains just yet, so we hope you’ll hang in there with us, Survivors. It’ll be worth the wait!
     

    Studio Wildcard
     


     

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    Let’s kick off the first piece of major new content for ARK: Survival Ascended - a fan-voted real-world creature that will launch on Day 1
     

    Please note that this creature will be released for Scorched Earth, so make sure your real-world submissions are in theme with that map! We’ll also be adding an additional real-world creature for each subsequent canonical expansion pack map release on ARK: Survival Ascended.
     

    Check out the Creature Submission Guidelines for more information on the submission process and hop over to the Creature Submission Forum to see the current entries. The entry period will end at 1PM Pacific on April 21st, so don't wait - get your ideas in.  We are looking forward to seeing your ideas come to life!

     


     

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    Survivors on all platforms will be receiving a special Easter EVO Event! During this event, 25% of wild creature spawns will be replaced with the colors from the event list.  It will be active until Monday, the 24th of April.  All Official Servers across each platform will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:
     

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    • 4/07 - 4/24

     

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    *Note that these bonuses are multiplicative of the game's standard 1x rates.

    • Official Servers: 3x XP, Harvesting, Taming, and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 1.5x Hexagon Bonus
    • Small Tribe Servers: 4.5x XP, 4.5x Harvesting, 4.5x Taming, and 4x Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 1.5x Hexagon Bonus
    • ARKPocalypse: 5x XP, 5x Harvesting, 5x Taming, and 5x Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 1.5x Hexagon Bonus
    • Classic: 6x XP, 6x Harvesting, 6x Taming, and 5x Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval
       

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    25% of creatures will currently get the pax colorset below:

    • Red
    • Blue
    • Green
    • Yellow
    • Cyan
    • Magenta
    • Light Green
    • Light Orange
    • Light Yellow
    • Light Red
    • Black
    • Dark Red
    • Dino Light Red
    • Dino Dark Red
    • Dino Light Blue
    • Dino Dark Blue
    • Dino Light Purple
    • Dino Dark Purple
    • DragonGreen3
    • WyvernPurple0
    • WyvernPurple1
    • WyvernBlue0
    • WyvernBlue1
    • Dino Medium Blue
    • Dino Deep Blue
    • NearWhite
    • DarkTurquoise
    • MediumTurquoise
    • Turquoise
    • LightCement
    • LightPink
    • DeepPink
    • DarkViolet
    • DarkMagenta
    • MediumAutumn
    • Vermillion
    • Coral
    • Orange
    • Peach
    • ActualBlack
    • MidnightBlue
    • LemonLime
    • Mint
    • DarkLavender
    • MediumLavender
    • Lavender
    • DarkTeal
    • MediumTeal
    • Teal
    • PowderBlue
    • Glacial
    • Custard
    • Cream

     


     

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    Conquest servers are being re-introduced for a new season by Snail Games.  To kick things off, our current Classic PvP season will end, and servers will be wiped shortly before the new Conquest begins on April 25th.  Classic PvP servers will wipe on April 25th, 5pm Pacific Time.

    Check out our prior Community Crunch for the full details!

     


     

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    Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

     

     

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    Creator: NaturalCauzes

    Primal Fear is an Ark mod filled with terrifying creatures, majestic unicorns, and exploding dodos. NaturalCauzes has 100 days to beat Pikkons Revenge!
     

     

    Creator: pterafier

    Pterafier shows you the different ways to tame the creatures you see around you. In this helpful and captivating guide, he will help you to understand advanced crafting using mortar and pestle, tranq arrows, narcotics, saddles, passive taming, and more.
     

     

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    The concept of a fiery place by @VELUKO1
     

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    Untitled by @MayaPatch89
     

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    Megalo in the night by Sai
     

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    Space Mosas by N4STYR4BBiT
     

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    Pteranodon handmade art doll by sayvaris
     

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    Reaper Riders by Azany
     

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    New tricks by terrortantrum
     

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    The Island cave exploration by @maMe_buDo
     

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    "You won't take this new world, but I will grant you rest, Edmund" by @BlockBeam101
     

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    Me and Cubed Ice flying over Valguero by u/MelonLord97
     

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    Inspired by Hogwarts by @ARKitects_Ark
     

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    Have an Eggcellent Easter!

    Studio Wildcard


    Twitter: twitter.com/survivetheark
    Discord: discord.com/invite/playark
    Reddit: reddit.com/r/playark
    Instagram: instagram.com/survivetheark
    Twitch: twitch.tv/survivetheark
    Steam: steamcommunity.com/app/346110
    Youtube: youtube.com/survivetheark
    Facebook: facebook.com/survivetheark
    Official Wiki: ark.wiki.gg


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    Honestly, you've lost the good will and trust of a lot of players. For me the issue is losing my stuff on official, that I can play with masses of people, I'm frankly not too keen on having to keep it as a save file like some kind of keepsake (much like my first ever moshchops Moshi who still lives in my base).

     

    The price is definitely more reasonable now but again, with some major (and not to be nasty but more trusted developers) releasing major games this year I just can't see myself restarting this journey. if you can screw us over this many times I have a hard job believing you won't do it again.

     

    Overall not too sure how to react. The backing down from the overzealous ideas you had is definitely welcome, and I guess short of blood we can't expect much more, but to have us all looking forward to seeing our stuff all pretty in UE5 then adding some crappy Overwolf bloatware (PS and PC user here, I know overwolf well), some QOL fixes and saying we gotta do the lot again still sits bad with me.

     

    Il probably just play Armored Core 6 instead to be fair. Atleast Fromsoft can be trusted.

    Edited by Eskwyre
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    Hello, thanks for all your work.
     I am a fan of ark I just want to thank you for all the work you are doing
     I also want to say that I play ark with ps4 now I have to buy ps5 or Xbox which is worth money also I have to buy ASA game is a lot the truth I see with 50 dollars all game plus ark2 is fine but everything also if you want to sell a dlc that is new dlc and thank you very much for all the work you are doing Soukir

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    not even worth giving them your time, they obviously only care about money

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     Offer both bundles: full ASA at 60 and full ASA + ARK2 pre-order
     

     

    Edited by darkradeon
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    This price point isn't great but it's better than before and at least more reasonable, people need to remember that ASA isn't just an upgrade anymore but a remaster. No decent remaster and definitive edition (which is what ASA should've been from the start) is gonna be free, especially with all current dlc included.

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    So you released a broken game, didn't fix it, and now you're charging us again for the fixed version? That's an....uhhh...interesting business decision.

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    I stil don't understand one thing: why is it impossible create remastered ARK as DLC (paid $60)? New map e.g. Island 2.0 with the possibility of transferring some object: BP, cryo with a creature... I don't belive it's unrealizable. BP is just a list of material...

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    1 hour ago, Allanballan said:

    How is your math man. This deal is better overall as all the DLCs is included for the price. No remaster has ever been free. All other companies charge so why should Studio Wildcard not? I could not care less about the price tbh because I love this game and would pay 500$ if they had asked.

    Satisfactory is updating to UE5 in the next weeks.....for free....

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    They heard us and took into account what we said and there are still people complaining, thats absolutly insane. At this point nothing will be good enough. Its so selfish that people are wanting this game to b free, like how do you expect them to make the game we love if they get no profit from the game. the $10 is for ASA and ALL of the exspansions. 

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    I did say the entire game with DLC shouldn’t be over $60 so I’m actually happy you went with that price. However the game really does have to release on schedule, or have complete transparency on why something’s not, if we are paying up front for it.

    The character creation improvements were needed also but you definitely have to TLC the Legacy Dinos and improve a lot of how the game runs beyond just adding new content (which is needed also) to really be worth paying for again.

    Make the game ARK should have been originally if you are really going to go through with this or I guarantee, most of us will walk.

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    I've got 6k hours on Official Legacy and I'm GLAD they are closing the servers down and making them available for download. After 5 years of making sure my stuff is fed/rendered once a week it's gotten rather tiresome. 

    I'm an over the road truck driver and use my cell phone data to play. There are times when I get stuck in BFE parts of the US for days at a time waiting for loads. Several times over the years I've lost good chunks of my progress to decay. So to finally get a current save and change settings to never lose my stuff like that is a godsend.

    I cannot for one second believe the people who bought the game 8 years ago and even 1 year ago seriously believe official servers would exist 'forever'. That's insane. 

    I will be buying both ASA & ARK2.

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    3 minutes ago, DragonXKS2 said:

    I've got 6k hours on Official Legacy and I'm GLAD they are closing the servers down and making them available for download. After 5 years of making sure my stuff is fed/rendered once a week it's gotten rather tiresome. 

    I'm an over the road truck driver and use my cell phone data to play. There are times when I get stuck in BFE parts of the US for days at a time waiting for loads. Several times over the years I've lost good chunks of my progress to decay. So to finally get a current save and change settings to never lose my stuff like that is a godsend.

    I cannot for one second believe the people who bought the game 8 years ago and even 1 year ago seriously believe official servers would exist 'forever'. That's insane. 

    I will be buying both ASA & ARK2.

    Speaking of, I really hope there are some changes to decay in ASA.

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    1 hour ago, GaiusMarcellusNerva said:

    The greater transparency is appreciated but you're deliberately missing the point: the amount you're asking for ASA is not the issue, the fact that there is a price at all, is. Players that own ASE should get ASA for free. We have already paid for the game once, just because you've decided to rename the much necessary update does not give you the right to charge for it again.

    Agreed. We didn't ask for a revival of ASE. We just want to keep playing the game until we get bored (and some are also waiting for ark 2). They even made it a point to say that a 'minority' of players play official ASE. Why would they feel the need to express this?

    ASA honestly feels like a horrible attempt at a money grab. What's worse is they knew this would happen.. Who releases an "upgraded" version of the same game with a sequel on the way? Either the devs are in fact complete morons, or they've been holding this in their back pockets for years. There was zero transparency. 

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    If we think about it a little longer, maybe this ASA isn't so bad, let's see what the alternative could be - It could be that WC announces the complete end of Ark 1, and the lack of any work on Ark 1.

    We know little about Ark 2, it is not known whether it will be playable at all, whether it will be our Ark, whether we will like it. If we will like different view of person...

    ASA, on the other hand, is our good old ARK. Same system, back to the good old maps like Aberration. Can you imagine what Aberration blue biome or Rock Drake trench in radiation will look like in UE5?

    Price.. it's still cheaper than Diablo 4. Of the two I choose ARK.

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    I can almost forgive the ASA thing for bundling the dlc and removing A2, but let's not pretend that this is some little oopsie and you just misjudged things while having good intentions. You people know full-well that it was about being able to fudge sale numbers and you would have let it ride if a majority of the community hadn't come down on you like a hammer. Call me jaded but hiking up the price by ten dollars just smacks of trying to squeeze out an extra penny since the original plan fell flat. While I'm happy for players that actually have the ability and interest to get ASA, the new creature vote really doesn't excite me this time around either seeing as it's something that not everyone will get to enjoy unless we've all been good little consumers and shelled out cash, be it for a new console, the game itself, or both.  

    The sensible thing would've been to make it something to release for both parties, if only to act as a balm to soothe tempers and remind everyone that this is a community. This just turns it into a case of the haves and have nots. I suppose if nothing else I'll give you lot credit for not meeting my abysmally low expectations and making rhynio exclusive to ASA.

    Edited by CosmicSkeleton

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    You guys are great!

    Wild Card you know I have always supported you, and I always will. I think it's amazing that you even choose to share this very legitimate and logical path & plan. Many game companies do not.

    I personally wouldn't. 😈

    You guys just remember for every hater and toxic post, you have a dozen people who are happily playing!

     

    Also WILD BABIES! HYPE!!! 😍🤩😍

     

    Spiritpawesome 

     

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    16 minutes ago, Joebl0w13 said:

    Speaking of, I really hope there are some changes to decay in ASA.

    cables and cryofridge bug. plus if owner is stuck on a down server, decays should halt

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    57 minutes ago, SKULLxQAQxSKULL said:

    Ok im going to make it very clear what we want:

    1. We want free upgrade to ASA for current owners of ark survival evolved.

    And

    2. We want to be able to transfer our current ark survival evolved official characters, tames and items to the new ASA offical servers.

    And

    3. Continued support of pve servers in order to innact point 2.

     

    1. "I want everything for free and if i dont get it i am angry... i totally ignore that working on this game costs money... but hey not my money... their money... and if they want money from me then for the work and servers i play on... no thanks".

    2. "Many of the changes we’re making in ARK: Survival Ascended will touch a lot of aspects of the game; it’ll invalidate save data, some mods may not be functional, some things may not play the same way as they did before, and we didn’t want to change that experience for those who prefer it or are unable to upgrade."

    3. see point #1.

     

    Its CLEAR what YOU want. You made it clear... you want everything for free... for years... 👎

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    Wild card we do appreciate you guys and your response and yes so many questions …

    Again balance the maps (meaning on some maps people don’t populate due to resources like element amounts so balance it out)

    make Dino’s available to be podded and unpodded instead of yard gnomes eg… as in the ice golems from val

    we don’t need a Dino guys ;;;; hear me out…

    but we do need HLNA on the maps to help (if hexagon is available for resources wilds stats and warnings.  Create in her a premium side for consumables and craft items in micro transactions) say a mek bp on sale this month color and stats blah blah blah 100bones or equivalent of 1.99… 5000 players take interest… come on you get it

     (make packages in store for in game currency) this is far more needed!!! 
     

    and for the boons can we get it across the servers for all servers have options in obs or mission style pads so the maps and survivors can control there multiplier percentages then you don’t have to … lock pads options as needed… 

     

    jeremy hang in there …. Boss fight !

     

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    can someone confirm and detail me, 
    how will be the saving / backup of all your base, 
    tell us, materials etc... the detail to prepare me to do everythingto the same "map" server as you can download it,
     to the local host only once or as many times
     as you want in case you uninstall and come back?
    Edited by lJFAQl

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    I also suggest adding 1 new creature to each paid DLC map to make them actually feel new and exciting.

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    How would a console user be able to get the saves of their servers and download them when the servers go down in August and play them in single player or host a private server? 

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    Hey Wildcard, look i dont wanna sound negative, but I think you guys really need to see if we can at least bring our characters across to ASA maybe along with our dinos. Could it work if we left our structures behind and maybe could bring compatiable things across? Have you guys exhausted these options out? Please oh please ❤️ it mean the world to me and for others. You probably will see alot of players also buy the ASA too. More then what it could be now. Please exhaust all options -fingers crossed- Im sure the new games gonna look great. However it makes me feel a bit exhausted thinking of starting over. I wanna see the ASA but I dont feel the need to buy it if we aren't gonna be able to keep our progress. The main thing for me is the dinosaurs that have good breeding stat lines. I couldn't care less about the buildings. I can always build up. If you could allow us to bring everything in cryos and with our cryofridges. That be insanely really awesome. 

    take care and happy easter. 

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    I wanna know why the newest creature had to be ridiculous levels of ugly and why no one else is complaining about that. raptor I'm not buying anything till ark 2 has been out for 6+ months but I want the stupid bug winner to not be the spawn of a circus freak

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