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Why I feel Single Player is Important


gfan84

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Hey guys, so I have been thinking about my first experience with ARK on my PS4, and since the official release (seeing all the brand new players) I have come to realize how much my single player playthrough has helped me out.  Single player allows you to start the game on your own time and figure out what is going on and how to make things on your own.  This experience is invaluable when it comes time to head into an online mode whether it be pvp or pve.  When I first started the game, and went with single player, I have absolutely no idea what all those settings were for.  So I actually didn't change anything (for fear I'd make the game crash...no joke)  and started the game fresh.  Let me tell you starting a brand new experience on your own dropped on an unforgiving island was both breathtakingly beautiful and absolutely terrifying!  I knew I needed food and started to gather berries (I started in the easy southern part) and it took me a while to figure out how to harvest from trees lol.  So long story short, I had to figure out everything on my own, I very rarely looked up how to make things because I wanted to figure it out on my own.  I even got killed by an angry trike after it woke up because I didn't know how to force feed it narco berries.  But the fact that I was able to figure it out and do it on my own without other players assisting me I feel made me more capable of a player to go on pvp and pve servers.  Actually to this day, on pve I very rarely if at all join a tribe, I know I can make it on my own (not counting bosses).  Heck my shining moment in my single player is being stranded on a rock, my ptero dead, and two rexes trying to make me their next meal!  I start to desperately fire as many tranq arrows from my crossbow as I can, (by the end, my crossbow was almost broke) and I had two unconscious rexes, one was sacrificed to feed the other one, but nothing beats the feeling of taming your first rex solo!

so my overarching point is that single player is a valuable mode to play on and I would definitely recommend any new player buying ark to start on single player without touching the modifiers and just explore and have fun.  Since the game's official release I have started on a new official island server and I cannot believe how many poor new players are spamming the comments asking about how to do the most basic task in this game (though I usually cut them some slack because I was in their situation long ago).  But honestly I think single player is a good way to at least become accustom to the game, until you are confident enough to start playing on pve or pvp.   

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Single player is definitely an important mode. If you're of a mind to venture into multiplayer, learning the essentials in a private game at your own pace will increase your odds of surviving exponentially.

 I was actually having a conversation with my friend recently about the advantage of experience. Now, barring what became an intensely unpleasant attempt at socialization on a dedicated, I am strictly a solo player.

But with each new map that gets released, my methods to get started have been worked down to a science - exactly what needs to be done and in what order. I can get an Outpost up very quickly (as time measured by Ark standards goes), and have the essentials prepped very methodically so I can be ready to go exploring in no time. And that's the kind of thing that you can only learn by experience.

Ark on its own can be overwhelming just starting out. I have vivid memories of not knowing anything, and the hilarious (in hindsight) installments of failure that followed. Drowned, eaten by piranhas, raptors...nasty run in with a carno, no clue how to do anything. Knocked myself out with narcoberries just trying to fill my stomach...Even doors had their challenges, and don't get me started on the whistle wheel. My first ever tame was a dilo, and after I brought him home I could never figure out why he wandered off, when all the other dinos in my friend's game stayed right where we left them. For literally about eight months we all just assumed he was kind of stupid, as none of us realized that "enable wandering" was a thing, and I probably hit it accidentally when I tried to name him. There was so much to learn...so many tiny details and facets. But over time, I figured things out.

And that's what single player offers to a newcomer: time. So, if you aspire to the world of multiplayer, when you first get boots on the beach you have a plan.

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I started off solo PvP and quickly realized I was in WAY over my head. I had no idea what I was doing and having to deal with politics and trolls in my first week was awful. I could barely survive a night without something happening. And once I got something going it was gone..i had to bow out with the attitude of "I'll be back someday".

Went over to single player to learn the ropes and I'm still there. I absolutely love it. Now I get the wife on for split screen every now and then and that's about the extent of my multiplayer experience lol. 

Only thing is I wish it was possible to beat alpha dragon in single player...or any dragon really lol. I want to ascend legit to ragnarok.

 

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Personally, I feel SP is an unrealistic start to the game. The basic gameplay is quite simple to grasp. Where the game becomes extremely nuanced is in its multiplayer rules and acceptable practices. Knowing not to block spawns,waterways and thoroughfares is of paramount importance with hundreds of other players interacting in the same play space. As is forming the community and engaging people into trade and commerce.

 

Personally,when I get I to a SP game I turn it off in 30 min due to boredom. I mean...who are you going to show off all your cool stuff to!

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i played 800h of single player alone being a noob, farming stuff by hand with 1x rates on all, got bored went to play on official, played 3 months on ragnarok official, got so frustrated and angry with all the days downtimes, crashes bugs, huge rubberbanding, no admins etc and CAME BACK to single player lol. Playing non dedicated with another person with event rates. The fluidity of single player is amazing, no lag no rubberbanding no retards no crashes I can close whenever I want, no more waking up to feed stuff etc etc.

Will continue playing like this from now on, bought the season pass already. I will never play on an official wc server again...

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I'm glad I started this subject.  All of you have great points to single player both good and bad.  I noticed though the unfortunate trend that many people keep with single player is because of the politics and trolling on the multiplayer servers.  The mechanics of this game really do encourage team work but not everyone plays nice.  I was on an unofficial server today and chatting with the players on there (mind you this is pvp) most if not all of the players are paranoid of the other people on the server even their own tribemates!  So it's basically become more of a "your on your own" mentality even though cooperation is the basis of having a pve server.    

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10 minutes ago, Jat said:

Just a heads up guys, we've got an option called 'Single Player Settings' (it's enabled by default), where we've modified certain aspects/the rates of the game to make it much more approachable, and we do intend for new players to start out using that :)

 

Singleplayer is great. The only real thing that it's missing is an option to revert nerfs.

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Singleplayer is great. The only real thing that it's missing is an option to revert nerfs.
Single player is great, however I enjoy the community aspect and like the pvp settings more than the pve. I run two player dedi servers for this reason and the fact that I can control what goes on is also nice. I have a small group of players that agree with the modified settings and don't really raid or troll. We usually work alone unless doing a boss fight or other events. I learned a lot on single player though.
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