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Wildcard Screwed Us Again


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All the excitement about the final release of Ark after all the delays. Spending so much time getting ready to jump on with my tribe, making sure as many players as possible can be available so we can get a good start. What ends up happening? Over the last 3 days I have only had 2 hours of game time.  Can't get into servers because they are full and can never get the full tribe in which has resulted in a complete breakdown of the tribe I spent so much time getting together. Now we all have to go off to separate servers and even then we still can't actually play most of the time because we CAN'T EVEN JOIN A SERVER!!!!!! I don't understand why Wild card would do this? It seems like the most selfish, lazy, misleading thing they could do on release. Why is there so little servers? Especially OC servers. There are only TWO OC servers up atm. ONLY 2!!!!!! Pre release there were 3 oc servers for each map and they were always close to full so I don't see how it would be in anyway logical for WC to only have 2 OC servers post release. It's just so stupid.

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2 minutes ago, Jostabeere said:

So I do not remember it that well, but did WC state anywhere that after release everyone will find empty new servers, so you can speak about them misleading you?

I never said anything that suggests there should be empty servers. If wild card sells a game and shows trailers that show gameplay then that is a promise that if you buy the game you will be able to play it. Did wildcard ever say in their advertisements that online game play may be limited? No. If a dev wants to advertise their game as an online multiplayer game then isn't it fair to assume that if you buy the game you will be able to play online? Do you even understand how advertising works?

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14 minutes ago, ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL said:

 

I never said anything that suggests there should be empty servers. If wild card sells a game and shows trailers that show gameplay then that is a promise that if you buy the game you will be able to play it. Did wildcard ever say in their advertisements that online game play may be limited? No. If a dev wants to advertise their game as an online multiplayer game then isn't it fair to assume that if you buy the game you will be able to play online? Do you even understand how advertising works?

You say you cannot play because new servers are full, which by my logic means you want more emptier servers than there are right now. This is a point WC should have taken into account before release. But that's the only part where I see a point.

Them showing trailers and selling the game does not mean that everyone will find space on new servers. They advertise the game. Not new servers of said game. You can freely play ARK in Singleplayer, dedicated sessions, non-dedicated multiplayer sessions, on unofficial servers and official legacy servers.

Besides that, if we nitpick on the multiplayer tag, then online play still is not limited. Legacy servers do not limit you in anything gameplay-, lore-, or experience-wise besides not allowing transfers to new servers. So I don't get where you claim that they restrict online play. They do not restrict the online play anywhere. New servers are not the only online part of this game. Period.

Sorry to say that, but your complains are pretty weak.

 

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2 minutes ago, Jostabeere said:

You say you cannot play because new servers are full, which means you want emptier servers.

And them showing trailers and selling the game does not mean that everyone will find space on new servers. They advertise the game. Not new servers of this game. You can freely play ARK in Singleplayer, dedicated sessions, non-dedicated multiplayer sessions, on unofficial servers and official legacy servers.

Online play is not limited. legacy servers do not limit you in anything gameplay-, lore-, or experience-wise besides not allowing transfers to new servers. So I don't get where you claim that they restrict online play. They do not restrict the online play anywhere. New servers are not the only online part of this game. Period.

There is no such thing as emptier. I want space on servers. Them showing trailers and selling the game as an online multi-player game DOES mean everyone who buys the game should be able to find a slot on a server, that's the laws of advertising. Online play is limited if you can't play and trying to suggest that the legacy servers or dedi servers are a good enough alternative is just stupid. You obviously no nothing about advertising. Why are you taking this post so personally btw? You wouldn't be saying such stupid stuff if it wasn't personal, so why?

 

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10 minutes ago, ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL said:

There is no such thing as emptier. I want space on servers. Them showing trailers and selling the game as an online multi-player game DOES mean everyone who buys the game should be able to find a slot on a server, that's the laws of advertising. Online play is limited if you can't play and trying to suggest that the legacy servers or dedi servers are a good enough alternative is just stupid. You obviously no nothing about advertising. Why are you taking this post so personally btw? You wouldn't be saying such stupid stuff if it wasn't personal, so why?

 

I see you only care about your feelings regarding new servers so you fully ignore facts and make up claims or laws that are simply wrong.

You can find space on servers, just not all new servers. If you have proof of WC advertising the game and saying that everyone who buys it will find space on new servers, I'll agree with your statement since I might've missed that advertisement. If not, I'll stay to my opinion and the facts I stated above.

Have a nice day.

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10 minutes ago, Jostabeere said:

I see you only care about your feelings regarding new servers so you fully ignore facts and make up claims or laws that are simply wrong.

You can find space on servers, just not all new servers. If you have proof of WC advertising the game and saying that everyone who buys it will find space on new servers, I'll agree with your statement since I might've missed that advertisement. If not, I'll stay to my opinion and the facts I stated above.

Have a nice day.

Go learn the laws of advertising. To say that a game actually has to say that you will definitely get a spot on a new server shows you know nothing about advertising. I'm guessing you are a legacy player who is butt hurt about your server not being worth anything more than a dedi. If the game is advertised as an online multiplayer game it is law that they would have to have a disclaimer if your chances of playing online are slim to null unless it is due to there not being enough players. You can't sell more tickets than the available spots you have and if you do you have to either refund or replace it with something of equal value which is why WC is adding 100s more servers tonight. 

Good day Kid.

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2 minutes ago, Jostabeere said:

I'm not an expert on advertisement laws, but naturally curious.

Since you know a lot about laws, it's an easy one for you to share the advertisement laws you mention with me? Since laws are, you know, are written down by people who make them.

 lol. I love it when people get themselves into an argument when they are uneducated on the topic and then ask the person they are arguing with to give them a free education. Do think there is only one law or something? I would have to link at least 20 different urls from different countries gov websites to this thread. It would be easier to give you a summery of the advertising laws because they are all pretty similar if not the same but then I wouldn't actually be getting you what you asked for so it wouldn't be good enough.

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1 minute ago, ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL said:

 lol. I love it when people get themselves into an argument when they are uneducated on the topic and then ask the person they are arguing with to give them a free education. Do think there is only one law or something? I would have to link at least 20 different urls from different countries gov websites to this thread. It would be easier to give you a summery of the advertising laws because they are all pretty similar if not the same but then I wouldn't actually be getting you what you asked for so it wouldn't be good enough.

So why don't you link me one from a country where WC is currently at? Since they're all pretty similar, one should be enough.

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5 minutes ago, Jostabeere said:

So why don't you link me one from a country where WC is currently at? Since they're all pretty similar, one should be enough.

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0121/58.0/DLM96439.html

This probably won't give you any extra understanding of law because it is an actual law document (meaning it is written in a very specific way) and you will probably need to get a law dictionary because words can mean very different things in legislative language compared to general use of the words but good luck, have fun.

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1 minute ago, ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL said:

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0121/58.0/DLM96439.html

This probably won't give you any extra understanding of law because it is an actual law document (meaning it is written in a very specific way) and you will probably need to get a law dictionary because words can mean very different things in legislative language compared to general use of the words but good luck, have fun.

It was funny for a while and I had a good laugh acting dumb. But I'm tired and feel you won't cooperate and only want to insult me because I disagree with your claims.

You're not able to post the paragraph of a law you seem to know exactly about. You make up things about chances of playing ARK online and you treat me as an idiot. You ignore general facts. I think a discussion between us won't end well.

Besides that, isn't the legal department of WC a better place to talk about broken laws, rather than the community forums?

Have a nice day or night, whatever you have in your country right now.

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Well. How can you Jostabeere be such a .... ? You use and abuse of sophism in your answer. That's sad. Really. You never tried to get the point of the discussion. Always tried to prove him wrong.

You jumped on the word "law" to put him in a difficult position. Can't you understand there is moral and ethical issues here ? Not only legal ones ?

If you love rhetoric so much, use charity principle over sophistic... Gotcha ;)

@ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL : In EU we only got 1 official TheCenter... This launch is a joke. WC are now known as pathological liar or crazy people (They do the same mistake again and again hoping for different results).

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38 minutes ago, ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL said:

 lol. I love it when people get themselves into an argument when they are uneducated on the topic and then ask the person they are arguing with to give them a free education. Do think there is only one law or something? I would have to link at least 20 different urls from different countries gov websites to this thread. It would be easier to give you a summery of the advertising laws because they are all pretty similar if not the same but then I wouldn't actually be getting you what you asked for so it wouldn't be good enough.

All this tells me is you are a lazy debater too afraid to state your sources. Anyway why should the forum take your word over @Jostabeere's? He is a respected forum member who has been active since at least early last year, whereas you only recently left the early birds rank.

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There are servers to play on. Just not official ones. If you refuse to join a private one, for which I'm sure you have your reasons, that still does not mean there aren't servers for you to join. It merely means that you do not wish to join servers that are available for you.

And really, if "not having servers to play on" were somehow against some law then every MMORPG that ever ended should be settling or are being litigated in court right now, since their customers can no longer play the game they purchased as servers have been shut down.

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Not to jump on on the law thing but have you serched for why there are so few servers?.... Pretty sure you'll find that they had an issue with starting them on the day and have been manually doing it one at a time and every time you set one up it takes longer. I dont know for a fact but id think that they will keep adding servers but it takes time. While its not the best outcome for you situation it is a positive one in the end. If your in the uk you should know that just because you baught a ticket it doesn't garentee you a seat on the train, if you get my meaning. 

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3 minutes ago, ciabattaroll said:

There are servers to play on. Just not official ones. If you refuse to join a private one, for which I'm sure you have your reasons, that still does not mean there aren't servers for you to join. It merely means that you do not wish to join servers that are available for you.

And really, if "not having servers to play on" were somehow against some law then every MMORPG that ever ended should be settling or are being litigated in court right now, since their customers can no longer play the game they purchased as servers have been shut down.

I think the biggest problem here is expectation versus reality. I completely agree with players that there should be enough servers to host MOST players. If you have to wait in a queue for 15 minutes until someone gets off the server, so be it, especially if Wildcard is trying to be as economically responsible as possible and not overload on servers that will be dead in a couple of months and waste tons of money. The big issue is the expectation is that players would be able to hop on a server with their tribe mates and play a game they all enjoy. This has not happened. Mass tribes have taken over servers, servers are at max capacity steadily, and people can not play on a server that they trust (that's one run by Wildcard, not another player).

Here's the thing ciabattaroll, you aren't wrong. There are plenty of options that players have. But again it's the expectation of how something could of been (or should in some people's opinion) versus the reality. And ultimately the perception is more important than fact. If people are angry at Wildcard for a perceived slight or fell mislead/lied to, they are less likely to buy anymore Wildcard products in the future, including probably soon to be released DLCs. If that happens in mass, good bye Wildcard. It's a fine line for Wildcard to walk, meeting expectations while being fiscally responsible. I don't envy them.

Also, fix NA-Ragnarok 13. It's been down for days (this is directed at Wildcard). 

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2 hours ago, Jostabeere said:

So I do not remember it that well, but did WC state anywhere that after release everyone will find empty new servers, so you can speak about them misleading you?

Lol... Some people just need to spread misery wherever they go. Good try being rational though.

1 hour ago, ArkOfficialIsDeadDEVFAIL said:

Go learn the laws of advertising. To say that a game actually has to say that you will definitely get a spot on a new server shows you know nothing about advertising. I'm guessing you are a legacy player who is butt hurt about your server not being worth anything more than a dedi. If the game is advertised as an online multiplayer game it is law that they would have to have a disclaimer if your chances of playing online are slim to null unless it is due to there not being enough players. You can't sell more tickets than the available spots you have and if you do you have to either refund or replace it with something of equal value which is why WC is adding 100s more servers tonight. 

Good day Kid.

Don't speak to people like that. 

1st, a grown man teaches, he doesn't try to make people feel small.

2nd, What laws of advertising? There is none! Advertising stopped being relevant in the 60's. Marketing is what businesses do. And no regulatory body set the rules in this area. It was 2 guys named Trout & Riess. GM was the first company to argue with them. They told GM everything they were going to do to cause their own bankruptcy back in 1968... Guess what happened?

Also, Wildcard never sold any server spots, they sold a game. You have no case or argument.

Please don't talk like an industry expert for an industry you know nothing about. When you do, you taint the reputation of all of us that actually do it for a living.

Thanks, and Regards!

 

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33 minutes ago, Ocicat said:

I think the biggest problem here is expectation versus reality. I completely agree with players that there should be enough servers to host MOST players. If you have to wait in a queue for 15 minutes until someone gets off the server, so be it, especially if Wildcard is trying to be as economically responsible as possible and not overload on servers that will be dead in a couple of months and waste tons of money. The big issue is the expectation is that players would be able to hop on a server with their tribe mates and play a game they all enjoy. This has not happened. Mass tribes have taken over servers, servers are at max capacity steadily, and people can not play on a server that they trust (that's one run by Wildcard, not another player).

Here's the thing ciabattaroll, you aren't wrong. There are plenty of options that players have. But again it's the expectation of how something could of been (or should in some people's opinion) versus the reality. And ultimately the perception is more important than fact. If people are angry at Wildcard for a perceived slight or fell mislead/lied to, they are less likely to buy anymore Wildcard products in the future, including probably soon to be released DLCs. If that happens in mass, good bye Wildcard. It's a fine line for Wildcard to walk, meeting expectations while being fiscally responsible. I don't envy them.

Also, fix NA-Ragnarok 13. It's been down for days (this is directed at Wildcard). 

I will agree that it's rather unfortunate for players to be unable to "hop on and play" on an official server of their choice, but at the same time, be it unintended or by design, I can completely understand why there just isn't enough servers being opened up. It can boil down to either money or something that I can only describe as the activity of a server.

In regards to the former, I am not a fly in the wall of Wildcard's offices, nor am I their CFO or an accountant, so I can not really say how big money plays into it. I do recall that at one point its been said that monthly maintenance of the official servers prior to launch were in the hundreds of thousands. If money really were a big factor in the slow release then its understandable that cutting off servers that failed to meet their criteria would be a boon, as each hardware shut down saves on costs to keep the other servers up and running. But again, I am not privy to their cost of operations so to say that it's totally because of money would be nothing but paranoia.

In regards to the latter, that is something that I can see as more plausible of a reason for the slow churn. If you were around two years ago during the games unprecedented rise through early access, Wildcard was opening up server after server to accommodate demand. However, as time went on, populations slowed, stopped, then slowly declined. Maybe it was exploits, maybe it was grief from other players, or maybe people just got tired of playing ARK; either way people still slowly started to vacate those servers. This caused servers meant to hold 70 people to not even come close to those. Heck, I remember at one point past the flier nerf someone crunched the numbers (for both official and unofficials) and basically said that at one point there was only a fraction of a person online playing ARK at a specific timeframe. Wildcard may be trying to prevent population decline that sharp by having a lower count of official servers. This is one possibility that I find a little more likely, but that's just my opinion on the matter.

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5 minutes ago, ciabattaroll said:

I will agree that it's rather unfortunate for players to be unable to "hop on and play" on an official server of their choice, but at the same time, be it intended or by design, I can completely understand why there just isn't enough servers being opened up. It can boil down to either money or something that I can only describe as the activity of a server.

In regards to the former, I am not a fly in the wall of Wildcard's offices, nor am I their CFO or an accountant, so I can not really say how big money plays into it. I do recall that at one point its been said that monthly maintenance of the official servers prior to launch were in the hundreds of thousands. If money really were a big factor in the slow release then its understandable that cutting off servers that failed to meet their criteria would be a boon, as each hardware shut down saves on costs to keep the other servers up and running. But again, I am not privy to their cost of operations so to say that it's totally because of money would be nothing but paranoia.

In regards to the latter, that is something that I can see as more plausible of a reason for the slow churn. If you were around two years ago during the games unprecedented rise through early access, Wildcard was opening up server after server to accommodate demand. However, as time went on, populations slowed, stopped, then slowly declined. Maybe it was exploits, maybe it was grief from other players, or maybe people just got tired of playing ARK; either way people still slowly started to vacate those servers. This caused servers meant to hold 70 people to not even come close to those. Heck, I remember at one point past the flier nerf someone crunched the numbers (for both official and unofficials) and basically said that at one point there was only a fraction of a person online playing ARK at a specific timeframe. Wildcard may be trying to prevent population decline that sharp by having a lower count of official servers. This is one possibility that I find a little more likely, but that's just my opinion on the matter.

Pretty solid opinion I'd say.

I think all those factors are at play, except funds being in short supply.

I believe what we are seeing is a reallocation designed for future growth.

If I'm correct, well know for sure after tomorrow's announcement. Following will be a bunch of new servers allocated to New (Paid) DLC content.

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Why are the official servers so desirable?

Suggestion; get your tribe organised, hire a game server local to the majority of the tribe and set it up how you want.

There's 8 of us in our server, so its $5 a month each. I play with a 14 ping, same settings as Official. But we also have Structures+, dragons, a SteamPunk mod, item upgrade tables. Lots of quality-of-life additions which aren't in the game. We can discuss and modify settings, play PVP or PVE as we see fit.

Have a blast.

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41 minutes ago, Ocicat said:

Mass tribes have taken over servers, servers are at max capacity steadily, and people can not play on a server that they trust (that's one run by Wildcard, not another player).

 

So you're saying that a lot of people don't play unofficial because it's not something people can trust? Well not exactly. You see, it's more about putting time and effort into the game, and getting the return feeling of it meaning something. On official, the psychology is that, your stuff is also official, your hard work. On unofficial however, meh, it's somebody's garage server, and it might not be there next week, and you might end up with a Tyrannical Dictator who runs the show. But this is mere stereotypes. In reality, a good number of the unofficial servers are actually run better than official, and have actual customer support. My only concern is, how far the mods installed, take the game to.

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2 minutes ago, Sphere said:

So you're saying that a lot of people don't play unofficial because it's not something people can trust? Well not exactly. You see, it's more about putting time and effort into the game, and getting the return feeling of it meaning something. On official, the psychology is that, your stuff is also official, your hard work. On unofficial however, meh, it's somebody's garage server, and it might not be there next week, and you might end up with a Tyrannical Dictator who runs the show. But this is mere stereotypes. In reality, a good number of the unofficial servers are actually run better than official, and have actual customer support. My only concern is, how far the mods installed, take the game to.

Agreed - some servers will be garage-PC's run by players who might not be all that serious about ARK.

But... Our server is a professionally-administered hardware at a server rental company.  We just hire the right to access the hardware for a monthly fee.  We install Steam, then Ark, and the mods.  We update the server when a new version comes out.

We get to set all the pretty bells and whistles.

We get to SAVE the game state - so if something goes horribly wrong we haven't lost too much.

All this and I still can't get a tamed Quetz though :P 

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6 minutes ago, Sphere said:

So you're saying that a lot of people don't play unofficial because it's not something people can trust? Well not exactly. You see, it's more about putting time and effort into the game, and getting the return feeling of it meaning something. On official, the psychology is that, your stuff is also official, your hard work. On unofficial however, meh, it's somebody's garage server, and it might not be there next week, and you might end up with a Tyrannical Dictator who runs the show. But this is mere stereotypes. In reality, a good number of the unofficial servers are actually run better than official, and have actual customer support. My only concern is, how far the mods installed, take the game to.

You almost got the point I was trying to make, so I'll get you the rest of the way there. You are correct there is a stereotype about unofficials. Is it accurate? In some cases yes, in others no, as you pointed out. However, it doesn't matter if you and I both realize this. If other players do not make this distinction, it doesn't matter what you or I believe/know to be true. The perception is there and many will not trust unofficial servers. And since people trust that Wildcard as a company will maintain their hard work on officials because that is how other companies in the past have done it and players rely on this precedent, it is unlikely that many will be swayed to a good unofficial server. There is also the argument to be made, which you pointed out might happen with unofficials, is that officials should be maintained as long as Wildcard keeps the game running. As we've seen with legacy servers that may not be the case though.

A lot of what you pointed out is true, as I see it. Peoples perceptions about unofficials and officials is fairly spot on. But, and here's the sticky wicket of the situation: it doesn't matter what you or I know, it matters what everyone else knows. Or believes. That is what those players will use to make their decisions. And if they will not feel comfortable on an unofficial then they will seek to play on an official. And if they can't after paying $60 for a game that isn't meeting their expectations, then they will be frustrated and upset. Which in turn may lead them to getting a refund and never financially supporting Wildcard in the future. If enough of that happens, bye bye Wildcard.

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