The Center: Dead, TLC needed, or Good as is?

[SirPeter]

**This thread servers a dual purpose. One: Identify/list known issues and stating opinion on map's status, "Dead, TLC needed, or Good as is." Two: List recommendations if TLC needed.**

As someone who really liked the center when I first switched from the island I found myself growing tired of it faster than expected. It was plagued with problems like the island wasn't. It had some serious issues that took away from the enjoyment of it. I never did the bosses there so I can't speak to if they are better or worse after update. But my issues consisted of:

• MANY locations on the map had areas to get under the map either entirely or where you were between layers I guess you could say.
  • I strongly feel if it hasn't already this should be addressed it was a nightmare playing PvP on this map and getting raided from under map.
  • I got really tired of having to be mindful where I walked so I didn't fall through and lose my tame or my stuff on my person.
  • It strongly takes away from the game play when this is an issue you're dealing with, I am sure it exists elsewhere but I never had and haven't had these issues anywhere as close to as bad as I did while playing on the center map.
• There wasn't (at least from what I saw at the time I haven't kept up with it since I was there months ago) any real updates to the map ever compared to other maps.
  • Haven't been paying attention but still not aware of much.. I know there was one maybe two recently?
• No story tied to the map, even if it wasn't apart of the original storyline why not give it something of its own? Open the Ark universe up a little? IDK could it hurt anything?
  • Am I the only one who thinks this could be nice to add?
• Didn't have any unique creatures like Scorched, Ragnarok, or Aberration. C'mon can't make one single unique thing for it? Again could it really hurt anything?
  • With all of the community's creativity I have a hard time believing Wildcard couldn't come up with something applicable to add here. 

So while playing on it I just felt like it was a place to die, since other maps were advancing and The Center didn't appear to be. It's an interesting map especially with the underworld. It would be nice to see some TLC come to the center and give it some more originality if you will. Help it stand more equal to the other maps. Since Ragnarok dropped it really seems to eclipse the Center. Maybe instead of having all the biomes like Ragnarok what if different biomes had different effects like one area has faster breeding, taming, etc. Those could easily be bad ideas so don't judge me just brainstorming. I am really more interested in what others think as I feel there are probably some awesome ideas out there and want a centralized place for ideas to be posted so Devs can easily see what people are thinking/wanting with the center.

What are other people's issues/concerns with the map? Am I missing something? What should be added/edited/removed from the center map? Should the biomes be adjusted and maybe add a desert or an aberration-like area? Something else? Perhaps if enough people are interested we can get something accomplished.

Everyone is invited to share their thoughts on the center map don't be shy no idea is bad.

KNOWN ISSUES / BUGS

**When specific issues are posted**

UPDATED: 3/30/2018

• Mesh/Ability to get under map.
• Layers of map not visible at particular perspectives. Ground and large rocks invisible from one spot are visible from another spot. 
• Over spawning of creatures in caves and other locations. -Stated in bug forum section.
• Massive amounts of lag, possibly from gross over spawning. -Stated in bug forum section.
• Graphical bug seen during rain. -Depicted in bug forum section.

RECOMMENDED IDEAS

**This list is updated with user's posts below to keep ideas in one centralized location for easy viewing. I will periodically review posts to update list**

UPDATED: 3/30/2018

• Add Griffin spawns on floating island.
• New creature(s) unique to Center Map.
• Add original wyverns with trench.
• Add wyverns, no trench but nesting inside on the inner walls of inactive volcano.
• Create Aberration biome on center whereas Ragnarok has SE biome.
• No Aberration biome but some of the assets from Aberration.
• Unique engrams for Center Map.
• All tek engrams available/Server option to allow it.
• Ascension option.
• Water boss/Third boss.
• Explorer notes/Unique story.
• Unique structures. Ex: Gas vein or Wind turbine for SE.
• Unique/Different additional flyers.
• Additional caves.
• Unique ruins.
• Underwater bubble biome.
• Add landmass on east side of map.
• Third boss drops dragon's engrams.
• Additional islands.
• Cave TLC.
• Actual weather - some of which could have ability to disturb flyers.
• Nameless added to volcano area.
• Adjust element count for bosses.

RECOMMENDED UNIQUE CREATURES

**When specific creature is described will be added here. These will only spawn on Center map.**

**Not all of these are expected to be added perhaps one or two. This is full list of what's been proposed.**

UPDATED: 2/23/2018

• Water wyvern.
• Pegasus.
• Water Leviathan.
• Piscine humanoid.
• Nāga (Explained below) *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nāga
• Tiamat (Explained below) *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiamat
• Gargoyle/Gargouille.
• Sea Drake.
• Dragon boss (reskinned and tamable)

[Chunk1664]

Having just added the centre to our cluster, I find the map a nice change from rag (all resources easy to farm) the island (bosses and my original map so feels like home) scorched (different challenge with spoil timers etc) and aberation  (just completely different).

I think the centre rightly has a place in our cluster for building and taking advantage of some beautiful locations 

[AngrySaltire]

I think I would basically reinforce all you points and I'll brainstorm at the same time. Overall the Center is a stunning map but needs some TLC but unfortunately I dont think it will happen. 

Cant speak for PvP issues as a PvEr. 

Think keeping the center up to date was always an issue. I mean they have only just fixed the megapithicus now. It wpuld be nice to see it get some more love.

I guess lack of story issue was always a problem on the Centre and is the same to a point on Raganrok. I always kinda viewed the center as an Island Lite. Good for hunting high level dinos but lack of story progression was kind of a killer. Its a real shame considering how beautiful the map is. Would be an interesting idea as you say to add its own story in some form. 

I think lack unique creatures is one of the biggest drawbacks for the Center at least it is for me being a PvEr. For me there isnt a point to play the map apart from the amazing landscapes of the map and the unique boss fight. Would be good to add some pull for people to play the map. For example it wouldnt be hard to add a few griffin spawns to the map, would fit in perfectly on the floating mountain. It would be great to add in wyverns as they now form an major role in most peoples gameplay I would inmagine, they do for me. I guess this would take more work especially for those wyverns found in the trench but addition of ice wyvern might be easier. Maybe even come up with its own unique creatures such as a water wyvern or a pegasus instead. Maybe add Abberant creatures instead, again just brain storming. Say Ragnarok hosts the scorched stuff while the Center hosts the Abberant stuff. 

Would love too see more biomes added. The addition of a desert area would be good as would the addition of a wyvern trench. The addition of aberrant biomes would be an interrsting idea especially with the Centers underground biomes but would that take away from Aberattion especially if it makes getting drake eggs easier to get. Also I dont see that you mention engrams but would be good to see it get some of the DLC engrams like Ragnarok does. And to go with this would be good to see the addition of the DLC resources too such as clay and cactus sap. Again add in Scorched and/or Abberant engrams and resources. 

In addition to this (and maybe slightly of topic) it would be nice to have ALL the tek engrams to be earnable on the Center and Ragnarok, even if this is just a tick box for those of us on unofficial. Sucks for those of us hosting our own maps, that we need to host all the maps to earn all the tek engrams. 

In conclusion Ragnarok really does blow The Center out the water. Apologies if I rambled and apologies if I just copied word for word what you said again

[Frogspoison]

The Center strikes me primarily as the Water map - Extremely deep trenches, majority of the surface is water, and it has the unique underwater air bubbles to base in.

I'm also of the impression that the Center was made by 1 person. Not sure on that, but that's my understanding.

It's come an immensely long way from its initial release though - The dev basically doubled the amount of buildable land, and added a massive trench network.

Whats more, it's bosses, despite having only a single difficulty for a while (Alpha), are pretty easy, given that it's just the spider and monkey, so you can breed Megatheriums to do ok.

 

From a building perspective, it has a number of small, solitary islands, the volcanic islands, the giant frozen palace, the giant waterfalls, the floating island, the gargantuan land bridge, the underwater bubbles, and the underworld.

 

All in all, considering that its made by 1(?) dude, I say its a good piece of work. Does it really need additional biomes? Does it need content found in the other maps? No, not really. A bit of touching up on any game breaking bugs, a bit more balancing of its boss fight, and explorer notes - Thats really all the Center needs.

[Balteraxe]

To answer to the topic's question ( my opinion ), it's not dead, but does need more content.

Lately the center bosses (beta/alpha) have finally been fixed, so they are killable, without having the best available base-stat-rexes and 120 armour saddles.

And even than you would lose rexes.

So I am glad about that.

Also saw someone post a topic about, there not being a Center forum section. And a few weeks later there it was.

I read somewhere a while ago that Mrevilfrank (center's mod) was put to the Abberation's purpose, working on that one.

Meaning, that there is no one working on idea's, modifications, etc on the center map.

Kinda sad tough, because I like this map the most. Feels more like a tropical island with all the water / islands / rivers.

But there is so much that can/could/should be added to this map, the following in my opinion:

- Ascension idea. Island and Abberation have an ascension on their maps, would really like to see one on the center aswell, perhaps somewhere deep in the waters in the east of the map, with perhaps a water boss.

- Third boss. The Dragon was the third boss for a while on the center and was eventually removed, because (correct me if I am wrong) the devs wanted it to be unique, hence 2 bosses in one fight. So I was always under the impression there would be another boss coming to the center. Perhaps (again) a water based boss.

- Explorer notes. Would be nice to have these on this map aswell, even if they are the same as the Island's or Scorched Earth's, always liked reading those and are usefull for new players to get the experience boost.

- Unique dino's: perhaps a water leviathan, rare dino, that can swim, walk on land and also fly, just a thought.

- Unique structures: Would be nice to have something like the wind turbine on SE or a gas vein, something that is only unlocked on The Center.

- New engrams: every map has it's own engrams, perhaps also for the Center? Perhaps something like a non-tek jetpack, consumes oil and can't be constantly used like the Tek-variant. Or a underwater boat? submarine or a simple sea glider for single uses.

- Some more aerial dino's: Since this map is made to fly around, would be nice to see more (unique) flyers. 

- More map structures: Like ruins, old temples, combined with explorer notes this could be very nice, I know the 'Ice Castle' underneath the green obelisk, that is very pretty, but very tucked away, more structures like that would be amazing on the center, with more story to the game.

- New Cave(s): Perhaps a few new caves in the Redwood area, there is not much there at the moment. Also perhaps an underwater cave.

- Underworld: there is a big lake there, usually pillared off by one tribe/person (to be an ass or w/e). Would be nice to see it so, that there can't be build there, but with a cave there, jumping puzzle, maze, to an artifact or something else.

 

Some of my idea's, I'm sure some won't be to others liking, but these are just my quick thoughts about the matter.

[SirPeter]

On 2/17/2018 at 4:31 AM, Chunk1664 said:

all resources easy to farm

Yes one of my favorite things about Center map.

On 2/17/2018 at 5:32 AM, AngrySaltire said:

Would be an interesting idea as you say to add its own story in some form.

Maybe if they took the more mythical approach with Center map? Story could be the creators of this Ark were experimenting with different folklore they discovered on/from Earth? They wanted to see such monsters come to life and how humans would deal with them?

On 2/17/2018 at 5:32 AM, AngrySaltire said:

it wouldnt be hard to add a few griffin spawns to the map, would fit in perfectly on the floating mountain.

Personally love this idea.

13 hours ago, Frogspoison said:

Does it really need additional biomes? Does it need content found in the other maps? No, not really. A bit of touching up on any game breaking bugs, a bit more balancing of its boss fight, and explorer notes - Thats really all the Center needs.

Agree the map is solid but it doesn't offer anything special to make one struggle to resist playing it. The layout of the map is great, the scenery is awesome but I really feel it could be more. 

2 hours ago, Balteraxe said:

Also saw someone post a topic about, there not being a Center forum section. And a few weeks later there it was.

You're welcome  but the real credit goes to @Chrissince he listened and followed through.

[SirPeter]

Ok so I updated the list above and some of the suggestions I came up with and will explain here.

Wyverns: The trench is cool on SE and works on Ragnarok but I don't want to see the same idea recycled over and over. I think it would be awesome to use the volcano on Center. Make it a little larger perhaps but where the player can fly into it. Lava on the bottom in areas, a little ground. Lower you get the hotter it is. Wyvern nests along the walls inside the volcano. Maybe a few random nests accessible from the outside that player would fly into a tunnel or cave to get to the nest with just one or two wyverns inside.

Underwater Bubble Biome: So similar to Aberration. All/most of Creatures living in the bubbles are rare and only found here. This is also where the "Piscine humanoid" would be found. Unique center map resource(s) could be found here along with Aberration resources (if Aberration content added to Center map). Any existing creatures living here would be different, changed as the same concept with Aberration but they would be more adjusted to living underwater. Ruins of a civilization could be found here, partially in bubble and partially out. Story showing that the civilization thrived and one day realized the bubble was moving. The bubbles moving/changing size/perhaps separating into the now multiple bubbles occured naturally or artificially. The story will explain how/what happened.

Piscine Humanoid: They would be more animal/creature than human so they wouldn't talk or function as a NPC. Perhaps show some type of more advanced thinking/AI than normal dino/animal but not quite human level. Would have a buff to work in packs with a war cry. Untamable but could be summon to fight for a price. Something they would value would be used and once price is met they will either attack or defend a particular location. They can travel on land, to chase a target but move slower and have accelerated dehydration. While raining they will attack/defend land locations but once storm ends they will quickly return to water. They have two variants, a ranged fighter and a melee. 

Naga: Water boss, untamable. Instead of one singular large boss this would be unique and different. There would be many of them and the Piscine humanoids would worship them. Naga is a race of mythical creatures who when satisfied by the Piscine humanoid sacrifices would provide aid and protect them but when angered would become aggressive and very dangerous. This could be the boss to beat to ascend on Center map. There would be one main Naga with many heads and the lesser followers with one. The fight could be similar in aspect as defeating the overseer on the Island.  

Tiamat: Water boss, untamable. This boss would be very large and has multiple heads. Each head would have a different method of defeating it and could only be defeated in a particular order or at a particular time (ex: while a head was attacking or not attacking it would be vulnerable. Particular environment piece would need to be interacted with to make it take damage, or using a special weapon or ammo are some possible options.) Also could potentially be the boss to beat for ascension. 

Gargoyle: This one is interesting to me as it could be taken in at least two different ways depending on what the devs would like to do. These would be tamable flyers. They could either be a heavy, slower, tank/damage dealer. Another option would be to make them fast and agile, but brittle as they are made of stone. New engrams would be needed to defeat them easier. Normal arrows and bullets wouldn't have much effect and missiles and bombs would not be as effective as on structures. They would have a saddle but it wouldn't be required to ride. They wouldn't be breedable. During the day they would be statues and during the night they will be deadly, expanding upon the idea that follows the megalosaurus. They would have a divebomb like the griffin but it would take damage due to them being made of stone. They don't heal naturally as they erode (very slowly) and would require the user to have a mixture with clay to add HP back. The statue effect wouldn't happen immediately upon day, but rather would start at a particular time and over several ingam hours would eventually lose flight (could still walk/sprint) and slowly become totally immobile. They would take 1/10 or some seriously reduced damage during the day and if no damage was taken during the day they would heal up to 50-60% of health back per day cycle. They will be similar to the rock golem in many areas. The rock golem would be involved with taming directly or indirectly but wouldn't be required. Instead of a kibble that would be the most effective method to tame a gargoyle. 

[WildlandsGaming]

The tribe I am in on ps4 is the alpha on the center and besides going to blue ob to transfer in and out we never really go to the east side of the center map. We all love the map, but ask ourselves why is there not much stuff on the east side, besides the ocean trench. I think it would be cool if there where a another land mass on the east side such as giant columns that come out of the ocean and could have griffins, wyverns, or a new center only flyer that navigates in and out of the columns. 

[SirPeter]

@WildlandsGaming ok updated list above with your idea to add another landmass. Thanks for input! Really hope everyone on the forum chimes in with their idea(s) maybe Wildcard will put some more time into Center map. It has serious potential.

[Umber0010]

i think you guys are overthinking this. While i do agree that the center could use some unique creatures, we don't need to make it a DLC all on it's own. what i reccoment is

-Upgrading the underworld to have aberration content.

-adding natural land bridges to the center island, sense going here is incredibly impractical

-give it a third boss that drops the dragon's engrams

-add one or two unique creatures. perhaps instead of a water wyvern there could be a "sea drake" that acts like a rockdrake, but exchanges stealth and rider weaponry for full, perhaps even improved functionality under water. maybe even the ability to use large amounts for stam to  pseudo-fly under water.

[SirPeter]

27 minutes ago, Umber0010 said:

i think you guys are overthinking this. While i do agree that the center could use some unique creatures, we don't need to make it a DLC all on it's own. what i reccoment is

-Upgrading the underworld to have aberration content.

-adding natural land bridges to the center island, sense going here is incredibly impractical

-give it a third boss that drops the dragon's engrams

-add one or two unique creatures. perhaps instead of a water wyvern there could be a "sea drake" that acts like a rockdrake, but exchanges stealth and rider weaponry for full, perhaps even improved functionality under water. maybe even the ability to use large amounts for stam to  pseudo-fly under water.

Not sure where DLC came from I said TLC. 

Like first suggestion. Not certain about second and like the third and fourth suggestions! Thanks for the input! Added some of your ideas to list above.

EDIT: I think I see where you got DLC idea from. I edited my OP to make it more clear not all of those should be added just what has been suggested so far.

[Umber0010]

5 hours ago, SirPeter said:

Not sure where DLC came from I said TLC. 

Like first suggestion. Not certain about second and like the third and fourth suggestions! Thanks for the input! Added some of your ideas to list above.

EDIT: I think I see where you got DLC idea from. I edited my OP to make it more clear not all of those should be added just what has been suggested so far.

the thinking behind DLCs was because you where talking about giving it unique items and structures, akin to the gass collector and wind turbine. 

 

Also, the reason i said "natural land bridges" is because the center island is kinda a pain in the rear to get to. The only things that can get to it on there own are Fliers, which means that it's going to be much harder to get rexes, or anything that can't be grabbed by a flyer over, and practically impossible to get Gigas over.

[SirPeter]

3 hours ago, Umber0010 said:

the thinking behind DLCs was because you where talking about giving it unique items and structures, akin to the gass collector and wind turbine. 

 

Also, the reason i said "natural land bridges" is because the center island is kinda a pain in the rear to get to. The only things that can get to it on there own are Fliers, which means that it's going to be much harder to get rexes, or anything that can't be grabbed by a flyer over, and practically impossible to get Gigas over.

Oh I see what you mean by DLC. Yeah I guess in a sense this much TLC may turn into a DLC haha. 

Yea I’m torn on the floating island. One hand yes it’s a pain but on the other it also allows for interesting dynamic for PvP since certain Dino’s wouldn’t be able to get there. It’s just a nice difference. It also makes it harder to move a force to and from. I think the dynamic is a nice change of pace. Plus there is plenty of other places to build so it’s not like anyone HAS to live there. 

[Royalstar]

Here are some of my ideas:

1. More islands/landmasses. Part of what makes the Center stand out atm is that the map is comprised of many smaller islands, as opposed to one giant landmass (as is the case with the other maps). I’d love to see more of this, they don’t have to all have different biomes, just a little something to set them apart from one another. Maybe some can have a new, unique biome, not sure what, I’ll edit my post if I have some ideas.

 

2. Explorer notes and ascension. Same with Ragnarok, The Center needs a story. I don’t care if it’s related to the canon ark lore (maybe the center is just another ark) or if it’s something completely new. The Center was heavily inspired by Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, maybe the story can have something to do with that? Ascension would also be cool, possibly involving the floating island?

 

Other than this, I agree with a lot of other ideas posted so far. I don’t know if wyverns are necessary, maybe a new kinda dragon, a tameable reskin of the dragon boss? I also disagree with adding Aberration content, sure, maybe a few assets for the underworld, 1 or 2 creatures (shinhorn and featherlight would fit in nice enough), but otherwise nothing else. I love the other ideas I’ve seen so far, especially the “Tiamat” idea. I’ll add more ideas to this post as I come up with them. 

 

 

 

[SirPeter]

@Royalstarthanks for the input. Added your more islands idea, tamable reskinned dragon boss, and a couple of Aberration assets added to map to list above. Other ideas were already listed. Really like the idea of more islands. If you don't want Aberration in underworld do you want any changes to it would you leave it as is with the possible few assets from Aberration?

[Frogspoison]

21 hours ago, Umber0010 said:

the thinking behind DLCs was because you where talking about giving it unique items and structures, akin to the gass collector and wind turbine. 

 

Also, the reason i said "natural land bridges" is because the center island is kinda a pain in the rear to get to. The only things that can get to it on there own are Fliers, which means that it's going to be much harder to get rexes, or anything that can't be grabbed by a flyer over, and practically impossible to get Gigas over.

You don't need every single space accessible by every single dino. It's impossible to get Giga's inside the Underworld, short of teleporting/trasmitting them in. Similar case for the underwater domes.

 

I think it's perfectly fine that the Center island can only be accessed by fliers. And on the top of a Giga, have you actually been in there? Bringing a Giga inside the Center island is impractical, with numerous narrow movement points, sudden drop-offs into the giant caldera below... Not too great.

 

Do note that with the right Queztal platform build, it is quite possible, and downright easy, to get a Giga inside there.

 

 

[Default77]

Making the underworld an abberation area would be nice

[Umber0010]

does anyone here mind if i do a full thread on giving the Center Aberration content?

 

[SirPeter]

On 2/24/2018 at 7:22 PM, Umber0010 said:

does anyone here mind if i do a full thread on giving the Center Aberration content?

 

I am okay with it as long as somewhere in your post you link this one and mention for people to post any and all ideas here so we can keep all upgrades/additions/changes/etc for the center in one place. Thanks!

[Jamage007]

The Center needs some love or at least bug fixes. Can't believe it gets released as an official map but they dont bother to even fix the problems with it and how long has it been out? Like a year and a half or something.

[WildlandsGaming]

17 hours ago, Jamage007 said:

The Center needs some love or at least bug fixes. Can't believe it gets released as an official map but they dont bother to even fix the problems with it and how long has it been out? Like a year and a half or something.

What are your suggestions? 

[Malko]

I'd like a cave revamp, making them more fun to do.  Making storm, an actual weather with unique features example causing tornadoes that would disturb flyers. 

[SirPeter]

On 2/26/2018 at 6:22 PM, Jamage007 said:

The Center needs some love or at least bug fixes. Can't believe it gets released as an official map but they dont bother to even fix the problems with it and how long has it been out? Like a year and a half or something.

What kind of love would you suggest/like to see? What bugs do you know of. I would love to update my bug list above.

13 hours ago, Malko said:

I'd like a cave revamp, making them more fun to do.  Making storm, an actual weather with unique features example causing tornadoes that would disturb flyers. 

Added cave revamp and weather which can affect flyers to my list above. Thanks for input.

[MancoBr]

An update to increase the amount of dinos and resources in certain map locations. So people end up failing to build. It would be good at The Center.

[SirPeter]

3 hours ago, MancoBr said:

An update to increase the amount of dinos and resources in certain map locations. So people end up failing to build. It would be good at The Center.

What do you mean exactly by fail to build? Do you mean more dinos and resources would prevent people from building? Feel free to elaborate. Also which specific areas?