Thank you, Wildcard Team

[blazinaj]

I just want to take a minute and say thank you to everyone involved in the production and development of Ark: Survival Evolved. 

I've been playing this game on and off since nearly the beginning. In the early stages, after what amounted to hours of running around The Island scared to death of Dinosaurs and Glitches, I would be so frustrated that I would drop the game, coming back to it weeks later. But I always came back to play Ark.

Every time I started a new survivor on a new server and pulled up the latest patch notes on my phone, I was always pleased to see the breadth of updates; new Dinos, items, story elements. Many times I would see internet chatter about a dinosaur idea, and 6 months later the dinosaur dossier came out.

This is one intriguing game. You wouldn't be reading this if you didn't love the game-play of Ark. You are immersed in a world of Dinosaurs and Monsters, running through the woods with cloth armor and a stone axe, terrified of hearing that Dilo chuckle. Many many many slow dramatic respawns on a beach later, you have a small little house of your own. 

This game started small, and hit on such an interesting idea, that in its early development stages blew up to house thousands of people every day, all carefully cultivating their crops with dinosaur (and human) feces and casually murdering each other on a nightly basis.

With so many people in early access playing a game that is 100% open-world, there were many bugs and exploits. And many more. And then some more. Culminating in a large scale duplicating exploit and DDoS attacks. Right about the time Wildcard was jumping into the final development stages for a massive console release, which is a hefty investment compared to a Steam Early Access venture.

I think that the team at Wildcard did right by me. After putting in 600+ hours I found a server that I enjoyed coming back to, day after day. This server at one point housed at least one exploiter, demonstrated by dinos duplicated and inside no-dino areas. But I still like the server and don't want to leave it any time soon.

The team at Wildcard recognize people like me, and decided to continue to dedicate expensive server space so that I didn't lose all this time and progress. They even threw in updates to my server, including all new fixes and content, for as long as my server has a population! 

I understand that many people are upset about this or that or whatever, but the bottom line is Ark: Survival Evolved is a great game, and the team at Wildcard have done a good job, or else none of us would even be playing it.

I also want to say thank you to the massive player-base who have kept with Ark over the years and gave feedback and support so that today I can get on and have a lot of fun playing the game.

[LouSpowells]

All in all, they've made an amazing game and it will continue to get better. Ark is really a first-of-its-kind game in a lot of different ways. There are things Wildcard could have done better, and there are things Wildcard could have done worse...but ultimately they have defied all expectations of an indie developer releasing an early access game. 
 

[johnm]

Thank you devs for an amazing game. I am looking forward to any future ark dlc or any  other future project you will be involved in.

[UnluckyRose24]

Ark is amazing, and the development team deserves a standing ovation for all their hard work 

[Shadow9cat]

42 minutes ago, blazinaj said:

I just want to take a minute and say thank you to everyone involved in the production and development of Ark: Survival Evolved. 

I couldn't agree with you more!  I bought a PS4 for the exclusive game Horizon Zero Dawn and saw an advertisement for ARK since it had just been released on that console.  I figured that it would be a good distraction while  waiting for Horizon Zero Dawn to come out.  I wanted HZD because it seemed like you would get to ride metal dinosaurs and run around with a bow hunting!  Lol!  That game turned out to be quite a disappointment, but ARK was precisely what I was looking for!

Ever since playing Zelda Ocarina of Time and getting on Epona running around shooting ghosts, that's all I've ever wanted in a game!  This game fulfilled that simple dream and more!  I bought 3 PS4s so I could run a server and my husband could also play.  And I don't even really like PS4!  I bought the pro so I could get better graphics.  I bought a Nitrado server within minutes of release and roped my family into playing.

In spite of all the bugs... and there are lots of bugs...this game has my heart.  I'll even just jumping in to watch the scenery and the dinos interacting.  I can't wait to explore Ragnarok and any other new DLC that emerges.  This game will have my attention for as long as it's going.   

I just wanted to add:  Thank you Wildcard for offering this on consoles!  The customization is spectacular and now we get even more options with the Nitrado servers too!  

Looking forward to tomorrow.  

[blazinaj]

Thanks for the reply guys! 

[DeZiLL313]

With all the salt in the community atm, I wanna jump in this thread and just say thank you Wildcard as well. This game has been a big part of my gaming life for close to 2 years now.

 Ill never forget when I started this game. I came home from my cousins funeral sauced up beyong belief and full of many emotions, downloaded this game, and rage quit after not being able to figure out how to get one stone lol. The next day I tried again with a more clear state of mind, and I havent looked back since. Wildcard your game helped me through a really tough time and Ill never forget that. But on to other things...

I think about all the thought they put into the game. From the simple basics of a survival game, they grew so much more. From taming dinos to use as utilities for gathering and raiding, to how they even made dino eggs matter by implementing the kibble tree, to the science and math behind the breeding system. So much thought has been put into this game all around. I have 125 real life days of play time and can easily foresee another 125 or more.

Was everything perfect? No, but im the one who decided to join in an early access game, and id gladly do so again if given the opportunity. So again, thank you wild card for your amazing game!

[brownievec]

I would like to say thankyou wildcard. I am truly addicted to your game . I play ps4 and have never experienced anything like it . as poor as you have treated your player base and lied to us I still log on every day to get my fix . I enjoy every aspect of the game . and I cant wait for new players walking into their local retail store to pick up the hard copy . the official launch of ark . they get home and jump right into the online experience and.......... well lets see . you cant hide behind early access now , behind indie release with game price being AAA . behind alpha game , and behind all the fanbots with all the before mentioned and now the new , well don't play it then ,go back to cod mentality. the game guys and girls is now full release and priced firmly at a AAA title sooooooo I do wish ark players the best experience and wildcard for this experience and I hope when I log on as I havnt missed a day since xmas that my experience is better than the poope fest ive tolerated before now. you wildcard officially deserve everything you get now . you cannot hide. there are no excuses.

[Shrekasaurus]

Yes. Wildcard has done an amazing job! Thank you, guys!

[Fealthion]

To be even handed, Thank you for the game itself and your efforts to make it fair for everyone

[blazinaj]

Congratulations everyone for making it to Full Release!