Server Wipe

[DeningWei]

3 hours ago, Volcano637 said:

And besides anything that anybody has said, dev or forumer, regardless. 

If they weren't thinking about a wipe they would have stayed strong on their stance of not wiping. They would have said in march and 4 weeks ago "there will not be one" that is not the case at all.

i think new servers would be a waste of money and the sad part is, if they would have made ragnarok a paid DLC they would have had more money for the new servers? So why not charge for it? 

If they already secretly planned to wipe they would have definitely charged for Ragnarok to make sure they can sell one last thing to the majority of players before they leave.

[Volcano637]

2 minutes ago, DeningWei said:

If they already secretly planned to wipe they would have definitely charged for Ragnarok to make sure they can sell one last thing to the majority of players before they leave.

Except the other guy brought up a good point. If the expansion was mostly modded made it would look bad on them.

i thought that as well though, until he brought that to my attention.

[DeningWei]

3 minutes ago, Volcano637 said:

Except the other guy brought up a good point. If the expansion was mostly modded made it would look bad on them.

i thought that as well though, until he brought that to my attention.

Yeah read that just under lol.  Nice map from modders though! 

[DetectiveAtLarge]

It's been stated over and over in this thread, but I may as well say it again. They will probably include a new batch of servers that aren't connected to the old "legacy servers". I'm also thinking that they may make servers more "cluster-like". Instead of having all the servers in one giant server pool they will have three or so groups within that pool that form a cluster group. Say 15-30 island servers, 10 center servers, etc.

 

These pools won't be able to transfer to each other, but they will create common servers or perhaps battlegrounds to transfer to. Maybe it's a pipe dream but this game could really use an  incentive for high level skilled-oriented pvp where people can take their best stuff, fight each other, and one side doesn't quit the game afterwards. Winning the battleground could net you some prefabbed tek stuff, or be an alternative to farming element.

[GP]

11 minutes ago, Volcano637 said:

Except the other guy brought up a good point. If the expansion was mostly modded made it would look bad on them.

i thought that as well though, until he brought that to my attention.

It was completely Mod made, just like the Center. It's not an Official ARK, which is what would be considered paid DLC's just like Scorched Earth and most likely the 2 new ARKs coming post-release.

[Volcano637]

7 minutes ago, DeningWei said:

Yeah read that just under lol.  Nice map from modders though! 

Not to go off topic but... I know right? That map looks awesome! Can't wait to try it out

[mleii]

30 minutes ago, Joebl0w13 said:

Doesn't WC have access to date of purchase information? That alone is all they need to indicate a "new" player.

I'm not sure they get that information back, but there are some games where preorder gets you certain in game items, so perhaps if they know that or perhaps change the license version and that's how they make the game different or detect a difference.  That being the case it might be possible to detect the difference between a game bought at full purchase price vs already bought.  I do wonder how it would work for players who decide to buy the game at full purchase who already own it via the online license as I'm not certain how it works if I have 2 licenses to the game.  Perhaps it returns both, not sure.  That and I cannot rebuy the game via the Xbox store, it won't let me, it'd probably require you to buy the physical media to get a second license if that were the case.

[Volcano637]

1 minute ago, GP said:

It was completely Mod made, just like the Center. It's not an Official ARK, which is what would be considered paid DLC's just like Scorched Earth and most likely the 2 new ARKs coming post-release.

Wow 2 more? That will keep things fresh atleast.

ok I got a little more confused now then. I thought they ended up considering the center an official map? But I still understand you as far as how the center was free as well. I think I am going to stay away from the whole what is official or not thing lol 

[Volcano637]

1 minute ago, mleii said:

I'm not sure they get that information back, but there are some games where preorder gets you certain in game items, so perhaps if they know that or perhaps change the license version and that's how they make the game different or detect a difference.  That being the case it might be possible to detect the difference between a game bought at full purchase price vs already bought.  I do wonder how it would work for players who decide to buy the game at full purchase who already own it via the online license as I'm not certain how it works if I have 2 licenses to the game.  Perhaps it returns both, not sure.  That and I cannot rebuy the game via the Xbox store, it won't let me, it'd probably require you to buy the physical media to get a second license if that were the case.

All I know is if they can successfully do that than raptor it, I'll buy the game again lol

[Joebl0w13]

3 minutes ago, mleii said:

I'm not sure they get that information back, but there are some games where preorder gets you certain in game items, so perhaps if they know that or perhaps change the license version and that's how they make the game different or detect a difference.  That being the case it might be possible to detect the difference between a game bought at full purchase price vs already bought.  I do wonder how it would work for players who decide to buy the game at full purchase who already own it via the online license as I'm not certain how it works if I have 2 licenses to the game.  Perhaps it returns both, not sure.  That and I cannot rebuy the game via the Xbox store, it won't let me, it'd probably require you to buy the physical media to get a second license if that were the case.

One way around this and I think it might happen is the EA version of the game is going to be removed from the xbox store and replaced with the release title. You will have to redownload the game.

[Volcano637]

1 minute ago, Joebl0w13 said:

One way around this and I think it might happen is the EA version of the game is going to be removed from the xbox store and replaced with the release title. You will have to redownload the game.

All 100gb? lol I am not sure how big the whole game is but it is "big". That's probably going to take literally a whole day to download the whole thing ?

[GP]

8 minutes ago, Volcano637 said:

Wow 2 more? That will keep things fresh atleast.

Did you not watch the interview with Jesse?

 

8 minutes ago, Volcano637 said:

ok I got a little more confused now then. I thought they ended up considering the center an official map? But I still understand you as far as how the center was free as well. I think I am going to stay away from the whole what is official or not thing lol 

The ARKs created by WC, i.e. Island and Scorched are fully designed around the story of ARK, i.e. the explorer notes, the boss fights, the tek cave with ascension etc etc. Any new ARK released as DLC will continue that.

The Center, and any future Mod made maps like Ragnarok are not considered Official ARKs. The Center does not have the full Boss system, it does not have the Tek Cave and therefore no Ascension. There are no plans (as far as I know yet) to have the Tek Cave and Ascension on the Center. Ben only recently added explorer notes. This is why they are not Official ARKs. They are considered official in terms of that they are official integrated into ARK, but not official as in an official ARK itself.

It's pretty simple when you think about it.

[mleii]

Just now, Joebl0w13 said:

One way around this and I think it might happen is the EA version of the game is going to be removed from the xbox store and replaced with the release title. You will have to redownload the game.

Maybe, I think that one of the titles I purchased already as an EA that was released I had to redownload, but assumed it was for content reasons.  This was also a game that had pre order items you would get if you ordered early, though come to think of it I didn't check to see if I had those items now.  

[Bulldogfrag]

10 minutes ago, mleii said:

I'm not sure they get that information back, but there are some games where preorder gets you certain in game items, so perhaps if they know that or perhaps change the license version and that's how they make the game different or detect a difference.  That being the case it might be possible to detect the difference between a game bought at full purchase price vs already bought.  I do wonder how it would work for players who decide to buy the game at full purchase who already own it via the online license as I'm not certain how it works if I have 2 licenses to the game.  Perhaps it returns both, not sure.  That and I cannot rebuy the game via the Xbox store, it won't let me, it'd probably require you to buy the physical media to get a second license if that were the case.

Don't know about the rest of you but I paid 60 for this thru playstation

[Joebl0w13]

2 minutes ago, Volcano637 said:

All 100gb? lol I am not sure how big the whole game is but it is "big". That's probably going to take literally a whole day to download the whole thing ?

Game is only 35.9 Gigs on xbox. No worse than many other games out there.

 

[Volcano637]

3 minutes ago, GP said:

Did you not watch the interview with Jesse?

 

The ARKs created by WC, i.e. Island and Scorched are fully designed around the story of ARK, i.e. the explorer notes, the boss fights, the tek cave with ascension etc etc. Any new ARK released as DLC will continue that.

The Center, and any future Mod made maps like Ragnarok are not considered Official ARKs. The Center does not have the full Boss system, it does not have the Tek Cave and therefore no Ascension. There are no plans (as far as I know yet) to have the Tek Cave and Ascension on the Center. Ben only recently added explorer notes. This is why they are not Official ARKs. They are considered official in terms of that they are official integrated into ARK, but not official as in an official ARK itself.

It's pretty simple when you think about it.

No. I am behind on interviews. I have the time today to catch jesses and the new one coming today though. Thanks for the info though. I will remember that for next time.

[Volcano637]

26 minutes ago, GP said:

It was completely Mod made, just like the Center. It's not an Official ARK, which is what would be considered paid DLC's just like Scorched Earth and most likely the 2 new ARKs coming post-release.

Sorry about going off topic but do you know the URL for the next interview in two hours? They still haven't put it on the ark at e3 thread yet

[GP]

2 minutes ago, Volcano637 said:

Sorry about going off topic but do you know the URL for the next interview in two hours? They still haven't put it on the ark at e3 thread yet

A quick Google search showed me this. 

 

[Lewiatan]

1 hour ago, GP said:

Did you not watch the interview with Jesse?

 

The ARKs created by WC, i.e. Island and Scorched are fully designed around the story of ARK, i.e. the explorer notes, the boss fights, the tek cave with ascension etc etc. Any new ARK released as DLC will continue that.

The Center, and any future Mod made maps like Ragnarok are not considered Official ARKs. The Center does not have the full Boss system, it does not have the Tek Cave and therefore no Ascension. There are no plans (as far as I know yet) to have the Tek Cave and Ascension on the Center. Ben only recently added explorer notes. This is why they are not Official ARKs. They are considered official in terms of that they are official integrated into ARK, but not official as in an official ARK itself.

It's pretty simple when you think about it.

You are wrong regarding The Center and Ragnarok. In the latest trailer they are showed as two of 4 official ARKs. WC made a matter a bit complicated, because those 2 maps are not developed by WC, but you can download them from store page. 

I think the best way to describe difference between those and SE and The Island  is to say they are not canon.

[GP]

53 minutes ago, Lewiatan said:

You are wrong regarding The Center and Ragnarok. In the latest trailer they are showed as two of 4 official ARKs. WC made a matter a bit complicated, because those 2 maps are not developed by WC, but you can download them from store page. 

I think the best way to describe difference between those and SE and The Island  is to say they are not canon.

Hmm well, in the interview in the video below, you can hear Jesse clearly state you get the game and 3 official expansions, 2 of them being new expansion after Scorched Earth.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/151136534?t=24h11m34s

Also, if you look on the PlayARK website right here: http://playark.com/#dlc

It shows Scorched Earth as an Expansion and right underneath that it says 2 more expansions coming soon, which would not include Center or Ragnarok because they are not "coming soon" because they are already out.

This is why I believe the 4 ARKs are Island, Scorched and 2 new ones. I could be wrong though, but that interview clearly states 2 more official expansions after Scorched.

[OGCookies]

1 hour ago, Lewiatan said:

You are wrong regarding The Center and Ragnarok. In the latest trailer they are showed as two of 4 official ARKs. WC made a matter a bit complicated, because those 2 maps are not developed by WC, but you can download them from store page. 

I think the best way to describe difference between those and SE and The Island  is to say they are not canon.

The center and ragnorak are part of the mod sponsee program as stated many times by many officials the only two official arks out right now are island and scorched with two to come really is not complicated just need to comprehend what is being said instead of skimming through info

[Shibito]

20 hours ago, Jerryn said:

With very little effort, I can come up with multiple launch solutions, and not all of them involve a 100% wipe. 

I can say with a high degree of certainty that no matter the solution, someone is going to be unhappy, so currently not a huge factor in the white boarding.  I know fully well that none of these are perfect, but thought I would throw them together for fun of it.

But for example:

1.  100% wipe all servers and no new servers:
Result:  People leave(so new servers might not be needed), new players join, organized alphas and megas quickly reclaim their spots(possibly more), organized/experienced tribes and players will become quickly established and late comers will probaly be in the same spot they are in today.  Upside is that PVE griefer structures will be gone and experienced players/tribes will be in a better spot to minimize their impact, assuming the a better solution is not implement by Wildcard.

Variant 1:  New servers also included, which stretches out the time new players will have to learn and get established.

Variant 2:  Wipes are only done on PVP servers, and low pop/utilized PVE servers.

2.  No wipe or wipe of only under utilized servers, with new servers added for new players only.  That is, the new servers are initially isolate to those that pay for the full price game.
Result: New players, and experience players, that buy the full price game will have fresh servers to play on; lots of complaints from those that got the game for pennies on the dollar.

Variant 1:  Isolation is lifted if a player wants to cross over to the new servers(with a new character), and their old character would be deleted from all old servers.  Utilization rates would be based on pre-launch character activity, and thus any cross-overs would cause a decrease in utilization number of the impacted servers, allowing for more recycling.

Note:  Once a server is marked for recycling, a 30 day(or maybe 10 or 15 day) count down begins, and the server is recycled up expiration, no exception; that is, no reset.   You need to move your character and stuff to a new server, if you want to keep it.

3.  No wipes(or wipe of under utilized) and Wildcard offers up paid servers, with admins and priority support.  Paid servers would be free for a set amount of time for those that purchase the full game.  Once the free time is up, players have an option to either pay, or do a one way transfer for their character, some dinos, and some items; but more than a normal move, and you cannot move just items or animals, you have to move your character at the same time.

Result:  New players have isolation, plus managed servers, for those that want to cross over to from the free side.  And some minor wipes for under utilized servers.  And, of course, lots of complaints.

 

Of course, then there are solutions that could include any of these 3 main concepts and/or their variants.  You could do a 3 and with a variant of 2.  So, lots of new servers, plus recycling(wiping) of under utilized, and isolation for newer players, at least initially.

 

How about another option using items already in game and doing a week long cataclysm event, prior to the release, where players on pve servers can save some of their creatures, as long as they fit into a 2x2x2 cube and are below lvl 150 (highest lvl wild I've seen and to reduce veteran players from being seen as over powered by newer ones while still rewarding them for their dedication to the game as it was being developed), this cube then can be transferred to a special server and recalled after the launch.

The cube can only be used once and is linked to your gamer tag and up to 1 additionl game account linked to yours (my daughters tag is linked to my account so she can play ark when I'm not on) to prevent people from creating multiple accounts to "save" additional dinos.

After testing this out I noticed that if you include the tail a trike is roughly 3 x 1.5 foundations in size, taking that into account a 3 x 3 x 2 box will fit 2 trikes while the 2 x2 x 2 box is big enough for 2 dire bears. I suggest this size because I have seen a base with 10 gigas and 20 wyverns, not to mention several high lvl rexs and spinos just on one server who know what they have on other servers.

[Dhalia]

Do we know what is the definition of a low populated server? I have been playing on ours for a year and there are always few people. 

[Volcano637]

2 minutes ago, Dhalia said:

Do we know what is the definition of a low populated server? I have been playing on ours for a year and there are always few people. 

Should be anything less than 30 average but that is just my opinion 

[Lucifina]

They won't wipe they've already stated they wouldn't if they backstab their core it'll destroy their reputation and they'll lose the people that made the game what it is. Hell, it won't accomplish anything anyway large tribes will own everything within days only screwing the small guy if they did do that...