Introducing the Kentrosaurus & A Message to the ARK Community!

Honestly, I'm sure any devs reading this will get this message, and I shall repeat this message again 

I don't really mind too much about this whole paid DLC, it doesn't really feel right especially given the time frame and the way you hyped it all up, however the very least you could of done, is while adding in new content, FIX the bugs that have been reported again and again and OPTIMIZE the game for like storage space, fps and lag issues (on 25 ping really?!).

You can tell by everyone here, they have including me put HUNDREDS OF HOURS into your game, and the reason is simple, they really like your game. So please, like everyone and including myself is saying, the very least you can do is fix these game breaking bugs.

Examples of the bugs I have personally encountered. (I am playing on an Official PvE Server so this is seriously bad guys, its your OFFICIAL SERVER, I can sort of understand Unofficial servers but come on, official servers with game breaking bugs, man that's harsh)

- Wall and Dinosaur Mesh, the way they phase through, (I understand some think its a immersion breaker, but if you can't fix the image look, maybe at least try to find a way to fix it by if the head or tail, or whatever mesh is phasing through a wall, it can't be damaged) I'm no coder just a suggestion

- Dinosaur spawning inside bases. Now I don't know if it spawned inside or got inside, but nevertheless it was inside a closed 4x4 square wooden ceiling floor with wooden walls and a wooden dinosaur gate on one end and closed roofed. (The point is its on pillars above the ground so nothing should of be able to touch it but I guess I was wrong). The gate was closed and when I logged it, it had killed 3 dinosaurs and chopping on the 4th, before I ran in and saved it. 

- Dinosaur in packs can put and phase through open window walls. This happened after a pack of dimorph who were chasing me, managed to get into my enclosed wooden bunker. They were all bunched up trying to attack me through the window, moving around, until suddenly one popped inside and nailed me.

- Re-spawned in a random location after clicking my bed. Now this one was a pain...... I died, clicked my bed to re spawn and I spawned in another persons' base stuck half way through the stone foundation floor with god knows how many other bodies. The kicker was, because I had spawned in this pile of naked bodies, I was constantly falling ... which meant I could not regain my stamina to reduce my food and water rate in order to poop, and kill myself. Because of this I had to leave the game running for over 5 hours before I could naturally die. This is what happens when you are level 78 with 40 fortitude .... This was horrible ... On this note, I've also seen on my, again, OFFICIAL SERVER completely new players spawning inside an existing base. Now because I play on a PvE server, this means you can't do anything you are stuck inside forever, or you wait 2 hours to kill yourself before you can start playing....

- INVISIBLE ROCKS AND WALLS. One case in particular was frustrating. It was at the North East Cave on Carno Island. Me and a partner used grappling hooks to grapple down to the artifact. Simple right? Well my partner accidentally released the line, fell and died. However he didn't die on the floor, but it looked like it he did on my screen (since I was above him). So I lowered myself and realised I had landed on an invisible / see-through rock. I could kinda walk around and in this rock / wall and see through but could not interact with anything inside this object. I could walk right up, above, side and under the dead body, but could not access the body nor drag it. Again once the body decomposed and the bag was laying there, still the same problem. 

- MORE INVISIBLE ROCKS AND WALLS. In the snow biome, a lot and I mean, oh boy almost all of those rocks facing the shore are horribly constructed with countless little gaps, and holes to get stuck or slip through the mesh and inside the rock, only to again realize you have to wait hours to kill yourself. Remember on a PvE server, no one but either your tribe member can interact with you and pick you up. So when playing solo or in a small tribe, you are absolutely screwed! 

These are the bugs I can think of that I've personally encountered on your Official Server. Honestly, these are some seriously bugs, and potentially can ruin your game in the long run. So please, continue adding new content, because lets face it, everyone loves new content. But please, please, and again PLEASE fix these bugs!!!!! 

I've taken the time to write this, so hopefully you'll take the time to try and fix these problems.

Fabien

6 hours ago, Joker86 said:

That's all you have to say? "You are exaggerating"? How do you know? What will stop people from going EA, delivering a basic working framework, developing DLCs with the sales of the EA game and then finally drop it with a shady explanation, which is what they can do as EA game. What on earth would stop them?

Who knows, maybe it works BEST that way? 

But hey, the gaming industry is DOOOMED!!! 

Any chance of getting a sandbox mode.

Cause i love ark but some days i just feel like building and when you find that perfect spot but have to keep traveling out of bounds for silica, obsidian an metal it kind ruins the mood

you know i think a simple primative horse would be cool just for choice like a level 5 tame sadle engram

 

I bought SE on the Xbox One but when I try to join a server or host one it makes me go to the store and tells me I have to buy it, and right above the "Buy" button it says "This is already installed"

Well, thank you WC for providing a game I didn't even realize I would get so hooked on.

 

When my friends first told me about ARK, I was like: "Aliens, dinos and humans? What kind of stupid game is that?" My friends showed the game to me, they talked about it and I was NOT interested or impressed. Then I watched a SotF stream and realized that you could tame a rex. And ride on it. And breed them as well. "I'm going to breed rexes", was what I thought after watching that stream and that was when I bought the game (after missing the sale of course) and have been playing it waaaaay too much since.

 

The game have plenty of issues with performance and bugs, I have lost pets due to rocks spawning on top of them inside my base etc. etc., and I really don't agree with a lot of development decisions, but so far none of it has made me leave the game or even dislike it.

 

I was a bit worried since the releases had slowed down so much and the content released was getting less and less. We watched the stream, me and my ARK crazy friends, on the 1st of September when you announced SE and I got super hyped, realizing what you had been working on in secret so to speak. The message to the community calms me further down as there's now an announced date (or ETA at least) of when the first tek tier gear will arrive to the game.

 

I'm looking forward to what you guys have in store for us next and keep up the good work, and now I'm off to hopefully not die too much on SE.

8 hours ago, Joker86 said:

That's all you have to say? "You are exaggerating"? How do you know? What will stop people from going EA, delivering a basic working framework, developing DLCs with the sales of the EA game and then finally drop it with a shady explanation, which is what they can do as EA game. What on earth would stop them?

 

Thanks for calling us "whiners" and that way trying to remove any credibility from us as persons. Maybe try to make actual points than going for ad hominems and insults.

 

Is it really so unreasonable to assume that with the successful sale of the DLC they will turn their main focus on those now, declaring the game finished in pretty much the state it is (maybe even leaving it rather unpolished on purpose to encourage follow-up sales for the more polished DLCs), since the base game is already (being) sold and further development on it probably won't net a direct revenue result.

In short: now that they got their first DLC through successfully, what is stopping them of simply declaring the base game released and only working on DLCs?

all i know is every thing we ask to be added they try to put it in the game. it is a shame there are cheap whiners that whine over 20 bucks

 

5 minutes ago, Mikesoandso said:

all i know is every thing we ask to be added they try to put it in the game. it is a shame there are cheap whiners that whine over 20 bucks

 

Actually I bought the DLC. What was your point again?

You talk a lot about adding content before 1.0 release however I'm more interested in optimizing the game engine and fixing quality of life parts of the game.  I lost count of the times I've raged while placing some walls, ceilings and most of off, slopped ceilings & ramps only to have them snap to something else than what I expected.  Building snaps needs a lot of love and fixing.  Also the placing of high mat cost items only to have that item poking though a wall slightly and can't do anything about it bothers me.  My recommendation to several of these are to allow picking up of placed items for a set about of time after placing them.  Say you get 60 or 120 seconds to pick a forge up that placed wrong to get the entire item back and try again.

Something else would be the over all UI.  The client needs a combat log window and maybe a notification window.  This would display all the info such as picking up of items or dropping them.  The current top-middle 90-year old sized text can quickly fill your screen making it hard to see what you're doing for a few seconds.

In short what I would like seen addressed:

• Better UI with more options
• Better inventory management. Sort by X should be remember after closing and re-opening storage. Splitting stacks easier and more flexible.
• Allow picking up of placed items for a short time after putting them down to correct for placement mistakes.
• A lot more optimizations, mainly graphics.  A pretty powerful computer is still needed for even high settings.
• Dino collision while walking around them!  I get sick of getting stuck on a Sabertooth tail and having it push me all over!  Also walking on something like an Anky and have a T-rex ot Giga lower it's head to say hi and I get stuck in it's nose.  I have to jump off the Anky and whistle for it to follow me to get it away from the rex. *RAGE*

I did buy the DLC and enjoy it.  It's hard and I like that.

I have talked with many of my peers while playing Ark and we all agree tame times should be reduced drastically some of us are adults with full-time jobs and cannot put the hours and hours in to tame some of the Dino's also a login que for getting into the server's would be greatly appreciated 

Honestly, I hope you release more expensive DLC... price it higher. I'd pay $100 for a high end DLC map/server.

Why?  Because it creates a tier of elitness that fewer people have access to which also creates a less crowded server base, and I'm fine with that.

I loath what you have done Wildcard. I really do. DLC looks interesting, entertaining and maybe worth its price, but on the other hand cuistomers are stuck in ARK:SE with no progression, the silliest dino AI I have ever seen, map and game with no optimisation, full of bugs with no realistic release date. And the only thing you have been doing is adding more useless dinosaurs/creatures. You abused us, customers, broke our trust and now in this "A message to the ARK community" used the most pathetic excuse to release paid DLC for unfinished Early Access game and did not addres the fact a lot of resources were consumed by developing this "finished and plished" DLC instead of finishing the main game. You know what? I don't buy your explaination. This feature you were talking about could be easily tested on testing servers set up especially for this. The only reason why it was released now, was to abuse customers loyalty to get more money. Simple as that. This is the most unethical thing done by game company I have ever seen so far. 

12 hours ago, Ollorin said:

Seems to me they left out "We sincerely appologize" and "we will make every effort to avoid this in the future"..........  And considering they language that they've used so far, ie "we'll never make those people happy", this just doesn't cut it for me.  It's great that they're adding more content but what of bug fixes?  We're heading into the "home stretch" by simply adding content?

Nope not buying it for a nickle.  At this point Wildcard will only get a thumbs up and DLC purchase out or me if and when they every actually finish the core game. 

they actually did a lot with the update that came out, LOADS of optimization fixes, graphic upgrades and minor bug fixes. as well as adding the dinos to xbox and a few other things. I think they handled it perfectly, a little bit for everyone so that if u didn't feel like buying the DLC u still had plenty of new content to look at on Xbox, or on PC u got a smoother running game.

18 minutes ago, Adamer84 said:

I have talked with many of my peers while playing Ark and we all agree tame times should be reduced drastically some of us are adults with full-time jobs and cannot put the hours and hours in to tame some of the Dino's also a login que for getting into the server's would be greatly appreciated 

THIS. Spamming the a button to get into the server is quite a drag.  Its rage quit material when you've been sitting there for twenty minutes and your tribe mate joins the party, hits the join button twice and gets in. Tribe Mate:"Nice, I just got in. That wasn't so bad." Me: Mother$@#%@%!!!!!

5 minutes ago, Renagade655 said:

they actually did a lot with the update that came out, LOADS of optimization fixes, graphic upgrades and minor bug fixes. as well as adding the dinos to xbox and a few other things. I think they handled it perfectly, a little bit for everyone so that if u didn't feel like buying the DLC u still had plenty of new content to look at on Xbox, or on PC u got a smoother running game.

You say they optimised game a bit by recent patch? Heh. I have I7-6700k, MSI GTX 1080, 32 GB RAM. Before this September update I had 39 fps on epic settings on The Island. After the patch the performance was decreased by 6 fps at least. So, where is that optimisation? The only thing they optimisaed a bit is their shiny DLC. 

I would like to pitch in my two cents from the perspective of someone who is playing this game on an older rig.

I absolutely love the new expansion, the dinos, mechanics, setting etc are great. That said I think this could have been handled better with better communication from the devs beyond the very PR heavy answer we got above. 

I have been watching this game since it first came out, looking forward to the day it would be optimized enough for my rig to handle it. That has now been possible for a couple months and I have noticed increased performance both in the expansion map as well as on the island. I don't get to play the game on super high settings even now but that is what I expect from a lower end rig. As a customer who is happily supporting your game I would very much like to see the cash infusion from those of us who bought the expansion fund another big push of quality of life and optimization passes on the core game.

I would have liked to have your response to given us a bit more of a look behind the screen, and get a much more detailed explanation as to why this has to come now and why it needed to be a paid expansion. I'm happy to support this game as it fulfills the wish of my 9yr old self, but as an adult I would like to see your accountability. The comments i've been reading here all tell me that you have a very passionate and supportive community. We can handle the full truth without burning it all to the ground and not trusting us with that doesn't say much for how well you perceive your community.

If you truly believe what you wrote above and don't recognize your miss steps then that gives me reason to worry and I will be keeping an eager eye at what you do next. 

14 hours ago, Purrmaster said:

I haven't heard much mention of Tek Tier recently.  Could you please confirm whether that is still upcoming and, if so, a rough timeline of when you think it might hit?  I really want to shoot a dinosaur with a plasma rifle.

"... and will soon make their debut along with the first Tek Tier items (Power Armor). "

14 hours ago, UnvaluedMammal said:

what is the boss ascension feature, and what are proceduraly generated arks? 

I don't know what the boss ascension feature is.  But procedurally generated Arks means maps that will be created on the fly with a certain amount of randomness.  Think the dungeons in Diablo or the maps in Don't Starve.  Or the entirety of No Man's Sky.  

The upside of procedurally generated maps is that each one is unique.  The downside is that it may not look the way you wish it to.

13 hours ago, Igloo said:

Whether You (wildcard) intended this or not, you are setting a absolutely horrific president by releasing paid DLC while in early access. If other companies follow suit, this will be a stain on your legacy that will NEVER wash away. People will hate you. I hope you realize just how damaging this kind of crap could be to the  gaming industry if we get game publishers like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, and Capcom doing this stuff. I still oppose what you have done and I will NEVER approve of something that could irreversibly damage the gaming industry.

IF any other company attempts what WildCard has they had better have an amazing base game and damn good DLC, or else it will not succeed like Scorched Earth has. The market will work out it's own kinks, it doesn't need to be supervised. 

Awesome stuff. I just really hope you guys start doing lots of optimization, this amazing game needs it desperately, especially on consoles.

So long as Primal Survival is still a go, I will always be a loyal customer. Even if it means I'm the last player in the Xbox community.

I personally have really enjoyed the new DLC Scorched Earth, and i havent even obtained a Wyvern yet lol 

 

Quote

4 hours ago, Lewiatan said:

You say they optimised game a bit by recent patch? Heh. I have I7-6700k, MSI GTX 1080, 32 GB RAM. Before this September update I had 39 fps on epic settings on The Island. After the patch the performance was decreased by 6 fps at least. So, where is that optimisation? The only thing they optimisaed a bit is their shiny DLC. 

 

so do you have the DLC?  simple question. and as for your PC..... my DLC,s both work fine for the 2 Xbox One's I bought my Wife and kids. Im sorry your so Salty but, honestly and sincerly i dont see anything constructive or positive a Dev can take from this. except you want it to work now and you want free DLC for a game still in development. sorry if i misunderstand but I call jaded and biased on your 2 last posts. Please understand i am not trying to pick a fight just asking you and the others to listen to yourselves for a second. And for the record i would have paid 30 Dollars easily. for a total of 60.

Look I love your game and what you tasked yourself to do with ark and I bought the game for mates to show them how awesome this game is,but would you please be honest with us all. You don't need to say why you need the money,but could you at least say why you released the DLC is because you are strapped and need it,because of the lawsuit. I'd be more inclined to help if that were the case rather you talking like you wanted this along. You said you wanted to give DLC as download only when you released the center,so I found it very hard to believe this was your business model from the get go. I'm sorry that you had a bad time,but not being honest with your fan base is worse.

Again I love the game and I hope you stay on the path you the side of good and not go deeper into the cash grab area.  

@Jeremy Stieglitz please not betray us again with paid DLC before of a final release game version! we help us everything but don't make this again, you may repair this betrayal with the new desert biome in main The Island! don't worry with the time, but make it before the release, if possible!

This is a request of a single gamer among thousands who still playing ARK every day or always after a day on the job!

BR: Obrigado > US: Thanks