Aberration creatures

[SmokeyB]

Is it just me or do the aberration creatures seem real weak ? I mean it's fine and balanced on arb but On the island they seem a bit poor . 

Like a rav is so much weaker than a thylo with less utility and has no kibble like a sabre and probably a weaker attack so what possible use does it have ? Wolves are wolves so still better than a rav , stronger and an easier tame and no LVL 47 saddle . 

A drake is weaker than a wyvern harder to get and doesn't fly with no special attack . What  the point ? 

Crabs are super slow and I suppose they can throw stegos but really I don' see them being a go to raid dino , would probably never get used on the island where we have quetz and wyverns .

Look at the mission to get a reaper and it will get munched by your average boss rex and doesn't stands a chance against a giga.

Lol the rat is just pointless even on arb . No weight reduction an annoying as heck tame using honey that spoils faster than the rat tames and doesn't even get much wood, the beavers a smithy and it swims , it' not like I'm gonna go rolling down the volcano more than once. 

The only good thing from aberration is the shoulder pets the 150 detector and enemy player detector is something I never want to be without again .

So good dlc but nothing there is worth bringing back for anything excpt base decoration .

[TheUglyPrince]

1 hour ago, SmokeyB said:

Is it just me or do the aberration creatures seem real weak ? I mean it's fine and balanced on arb but On the island they seem a bit poor . 

Like a rav is so much weaker than a thylo with less utility and has no kibble like a sabre and probably a weaker attack so what possible use does it have ? Wolves are wolves so still better than a rav , stronger and an easier tame and no LVL 47 saddle . 

A drake is weaker than a wyvern harder to get and doesn't fly with no special attack . What  the point ? 

Crabs are super slow and I suppose they can throw stegos but really I don' see them being a go to raid dino , would probably never get used on the island where we have quetz and wyverns .

Look at the mission to get a reaper and it will get munched by your average boss rex and doesn't stands a chance against a giga.

Lol the rat is just pointless even on arb . No weight reduction an annoying as heck tame using honey that spoils faster than the rat tames and doesn't even get much wood, the beavers a smithy and it swims , it' not like I'm gonna go rolling down the volcano more than once. 

The only good thing from aberration is the shoulder pets the 150 detector and enemy player detector is something I never want to be without again .

So good dlc but nothing there is worth bringing back for anything excpt base decoration .

pretty sure raised reapers have the large damage protection when not in charge light... also aberrant versions of dinos hit harder than their island/othermap counterparts but have less health

:EDIT: ravagers reduce raw material weight by 50% and have decent attack and defence...

[PuffyPony]

The only one of these I really agree with is the Roll Rat. Every other tame, I find to be highly useful. Don't just assume that, because something can't run headlong into combat and kick major butt, it's a weak or useless creature. And wyverns are a poor comparison for the utility of other creatures, because even post-flyer nerf, wyverns are basically the strongest PvP mount in the game.

[SmokeyB]

4 hours ago, TheUglyPrince said:

pretty sure raised reapers have the large damage protection when not in charge light... also aberrant versions of dinos hit harder than their island/othermap counterparts but have less health

:EDIT: ravagers reduce raw material weight by 50% and have decent attack and defence...

They get 20 % damage resistance but no saddle and poor melee scaling so weaker than a rex . 

Ravs have less attack than anything similar on the island and when  would 50% weight reduction ever be useful on the island with Argys quetz and weight bears etc. You would never use a rav over a thylo or bear and wouldn' use it farm .

[SmokeyB]

3 hours ago, PuffyPony said:

The only one of these I really agree with is the Roll Rat. Every other tame, I find to be highly useful. Don't just assume that, because something can't run headlong into combat and kick major butt, it's a weak or useless creature. And wyverns are a poor comparison for the utility of other creatures, because even post-flyer nerf, wyverns are basically the strongest PvP mount in the game.

Highly useful on arb but how useful on the island ? 

And wyverns are a perfect comparison to drakes as you  steal an egg ( fly in grab on Griffin vs make expensive suit with hard to find gems , walk down radiation zone and fight 100 drakes ) them you hatch (14 acs vs 32 acs) then feed it special food for 4 days ( trap weak dragon in trap and tranq vs kill a million nameless) . Then at the end you have either a flying poison breathing beast or some weak little rock climbing lizard . Plus it only gets worse when you scale it up, you can easy do 10 dragons at once solo , the drakes would be a nightmare . To make things worse getting dragon milk is 100% chance and getting nameless venom is RNG. That' Why I compare them , more work less strength .

[RowletAlex]

Here’s my thoughts on the new creatures, and why they aren’t as terrible as they seem on first glance:

Firstly, Ravagers are not meant to be powerful hunting land mounts. They seem to be more of a scouting/travel mount for early-mid game players who want something better than a Raptor, but can’t afford to tame a Carno yet. Their weight reductions fit where you learn their saddle ingame; its at the point where you start to get more costly metal items, and so a moderate weight reduction that can move at a decent speed is good (especially for those who cannot go to biolum chamber for an anky) They can’t climb, but they make up for that with their ability to climb ziplines. So don’t think of them as a wolf/saber/thyla, think of them as an Equus that can hit a little harder and can ride ziplines.

Secondly, Rock Drakes are not meant to be powerful war beasts with insane attack, they’re transport mounts that can get you literally anywhere, while also being able to camouflage (it is still easy to see, but I have found it rather useful in large, redwood-size trees, and it makes you less obvious and more difficult to shoot at) With a slow attack speed but decent ground speed and climbing/gliding, these clearly aren’t meant as the beast you will bring in the front lines of a raid, it is better suited to ambushes, or even sneaking into bases (not sure if camouflage hides from turrets, though) They also can use their boost/pounce attack similar to the griffin, as being camo’d and pouncing on an unprepared player can kill them rather easily, or stun them long enough to kill them. They, unlike wyverns, also get the benefit of a saddle, which provides armor (and a tek saddle, but wyverns may be getting that too so that’s not as important) With two seats and the camo ability, they seem more like a sniper’s mount than the warlord’s best friend that is the Wyvern.

Thirdly, Roll Rats are meant as decent wood farmers with better speed and tankiness than a beaver (try riding a beaver and outrunning/tanking a pack of raptors or a carno) Their roll attack is meant as a panic button of sorts, and not an attack to be used constantly (however, they still should be rideable once the canopy breaks, but they then cannot roll)

Fourthly, Reapers are meant as niche mounts that are cooler than a megalo and have the advantage of size, but they’re not as big as a rex or giga (they’re meant to be at spino level from what I can see, with the added benefit of poison attacks) They’re also not meant as war mounts, but reapers can be intimidating, not due to their appearance, but the fact that a tribe can afford to tame at least one successfully shows that they ain’t messing around (you need to kill multiple queens to get pheromones and be impregnated in the first place, and queens live in the deepest depths of Ark Hell)

And finally, and this is purely conjecture, don’t take this as fact, it’s just a theory: Maybe aberration creatures were made to work best on aberration, and not to work best on other maps. WHOAH, THATS SHOCKING. NEW CREATURES FROM THE NEW DLC DESIGNED FOR THE DLC MAP, AND NOT ALL THE OTHER MAPS? ITS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY! 

[PuffyPony]

3 hours ago, SmokeyB said:

Highly useful on arb but how useful on the island ? 

Still fairly useful.

Ravagers have pretty wide-sweeping weight reductions, on top of a solid Weight stat to begin with, and they're tankier than Wolves and have the benefit of the saddle and pack bonus. In terms of hauling stuff around, they're certainly more useful than a Beaver, and much faster than one, too. A good-level Ravager could probably haul more than an Argent (correction: can haul more, by a lot once you factor in the weight bonus). With the weight bonus, it's probably comparable to a Direbear, if not slightly better. Add in that you can make zipline networks to resource hotspots to avoid the bad below, and it's a very solid contender for hauling things around any of the maps (my references are Aberration and Ragnarok).

Karkinos are basically better Megalosaurus. Awake all the time, can grab and hold two things at once for taming, which also makes it pretty useful for harvesting, if even just to leave at your favorite metal spot to carry around Ankylos and Doeds to harvest. And I do think you understate the usefulness of it being able to throw dinos. Being able to toss Stegos over someone's base wall to soak turret fire is pretty nice. Or just grab a wild Carno and toss it over there, and let it mess with their tames. Or throw some Pegos in there. I think you'd be fair to say its utility is somewhat trollish and griefy, but that doesn't make it not useful. And while "fun" doesn't absolve the usefulness factor, I think the fun factor alone with this guy makes it worth getting and using.

Also worth mentioning the Basilisk. Holy crap. It's realistically on par with, if not stronger than, a Rex. Lower base damage on the bite, but it has the acid spit and equal base health. Add in the higher Movement Speed (like... way higher) and the insane Carry Weight, and this thing really is cooked for success. My personal favorite tame from Aberration, and arguably one of the best non-flyers in the game.

Roll Rats are the main ones who I find not to be all that useful, mainly for two main reasons. One, their saddle breaking. I don't mind it losing durability, but it's annoying that we can't ride it when the saddle is busted, particularly since it's otherwise quite a good mount. Two, it's main "utility" once tamed (basically resource specialist for Wood) is pretty much done better by a Ravager and a dude with a hatchet. I'd find it far more useful if it could act as a resource specialist for gems, and perhaps even rarely harvest them from rock/metal nodes.

3 hours ago, SmokeyB said:

And wyverns are a perfect comparison to drakes as you  steal an egg ( fly in grab on Griffin vs make expensive suit with hard to find gems , walk down radiation zone and fight 100 drakes ) them you hatch (14 acs vs 32 acs) then feed it special food for 4 days ( trap weak dragon in trap and tranq vs kill a million nameless) . Then at the end you have either a flying poison breathing beast or some weak little rock climbing lizard . Plus it only gets worse when you scale it up, you can easy do 10 dragons at once solo , the drakes would be a nightmare . To make things worse getting dragon milk is 100% chance and getting nameless venom is RNG. That' Why I compare them , more work less strength .

Taming similarity =/= comparable. Otherwise, you could use the same argument to say a Giga should be the perfect comparison to a Dodo. It's a better comparison to examine within niches, and the Rock Drake very clearly is intended to fill a similar niche to the Megalania, Thylacoleo, and, to a lesser degree, Ravager. Its focus is mobility, not power. Hence, it's not really worth comparing it to the Wyvern, because they fill separate niches. Another similar example of a mismatch would be to compare the Yuty to the Rex. Clearly, the Yuty fills a different role than the Rex, and judging it by the role of the Rex would be inadequate to get an idea of the Yuty's utility. Same idea for the Rock Drake. Add in that the Wyvern is still arguably the strongest mount in the game (in general), and you're still talking about a pretty unfair comparison even within-niche. Wyvern > Giga. Is the Giga therefore useless?

The Nameless RNG also isn't that bad. Don't exaggerate. Go in with a Spino and strut out with 20 Nameless Venom after half an hour, tops, and Rock Drakes can still use it when grown to rapidly heal themselves by a lot. And Wyvern taming on Ragnarok is obnoxiously easy. I'm not sure if you recall taming on Scorched Earth when it released, but even pre-flyer nerf, it was pretty tough once you found out you needed your 200%+ MS Argent to survive multiples encounters to get a handful of Wyvern Milk after stealing the egg, and you'd absolutely have to make multiple runs because of how low the timer is (and the chance that you'd get boned by a sandstorm). And with the flyer nerf, it's even rougher. If you're going to compare Rock Drakes to Wyverns for taming, at least compare on the default maps for each. Ragnarok is easy mode.

As for the Drake itself, it's the single most mobile creature in the game, flyers notwithstanding (and flyers are, realistically, not usually considered in discussing mobility mounts anyway because... well, they're flyers, and even a Moth would beat any mobility ground mount). They have very good Movement Speed, can climb walls like nobody's business, have the air dash and gliding. Their stats certainly surpass their next best challenger, the Thyla. The invisibility isn't horrendously useful in PvE, in my opinion, because it mostly serves to ward off attacks from random creatures that you could probably kill in a few chomps anyway, but in PvP, I suspect it'd be quite good for sneaking around the outside of someone's base to get to a good vantage point to shoot an RPG or two before darting to the next zone. I have yet to test that theory, personally, but it'd be worth trying. Certainly better than being a big, hulking, saddle-less target that takes bonus damage from projectiles and will melt in front of turrets in seconds.