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Future for the Servers


Captain

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I have been thinking about this for a while, and I do not have a 'perfect' solution.

What will be the future of the servers?

Here are several scenarios as to what I mean:

1. Servers get wiped at release. Everyone will be back to square one, and all 500-600 (maybe more with the future of the game) will be a clean slate. Obviously, the players who've invested hundreds of hours into their specific server will not like that.

2. Keep adding more servers. I do not see this one as possible, due to the money factor. New and fresh servers cannot be released every month because it'll be way too costly for Wild Card. Also, if Wild Card plans to add more maps, they will need to add more servers. Again, being costly. Seeing it as the fact that the main source of income is the initial purchase of the game, adding more servers does not increase revenue.

3. Delete 'old' servers and add 'new' ones. New players will join a 100's server and some will enjoy it, and some won't. The ones that enjoy it do because they like the game for how it is, and enjoy the challenge to rise to the top. The players that do not enjoy it will not because they do not like starting months behind the grinders. So why not add new servers but save money by deleting the old ones? Again, players that grind countless hours in these 'old' servers just to have it taken away do not deserve this.

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So how can you keep;

-the new players feeling as if they are not far behind everyone else

-the long-term players keeping the servers they worked on

-not losing money by adding more servers

It's tough. And with thousands and thousands of new players each day, how can you keep everyone happy? Maybe you can't, maybe you need to make sacrifices, who knows.

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A potential compromise could be that players can keep their character levels on their respective servers or all early access players start at level 30 with (x) amount of engram points. Veteran tribes may have to rebuild from scratch, but they'll have a leg up in what they have access to right away, as well as, in-game experience, alliances on particular servers, etc. At the same time this allows newer players who read up on the game to have a shot at their desired base locations.

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I think it's something we'd all love to know as players.

It will probably depend on if transfers are finally allowed Official to Official - which for PC means they get saved on Steam instead of locally to avoid manipulation.

I prefer Unofficials as they are normally good communities with space for both PvE and PvP in harmony but most Unofficials require extensive clean up operations constantly by admins to keep the excess of buildings down, sometimes regular wipes to keep performance up and they currently almost impossible to Admin efficiently without detailed admin logs.

Guess it all depends on if there's something that can be put in place to clean up PvE pillar spam and make old servers inhabitable again and how much optimisation improves performance, there's only so much lag/DC/rubberbanding people can handle.

There are a lot of potential new players who wait for full release that have been burned by early access before and those on a break waiting for wipes/cleans up.

I'm expecting a lot to change as we move through into Beta and then release.

 

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Just add in new servers that are "Extinction" servers that are wiped monthly or so, then everyone is happy. The people that want to dominate a longevity server should form a giant group on forums or something and attempt to stage a takeover. People that like starting on even ground can keep doing it every month.

Everyone will be happy with this solution. The only possible unhappy people are the ones that illogically want infinite populated servers, which will never happen. If they wipe the servers once, you know the same problems will just come back again. So separating permanent servers and resetting servers is the strongest solution.

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I'd prefer them not to wipe the servers clean considering how many hours we've all put in to the game so far.

They could:

A) Leave the servers and player base alone. Newer players will start the game in the shadows of Early Access players. I don't see this becoming an issue in PvE, however the PvP folks will take advantage of the fresh meat.

  • Solution: Create a "starter area" for newer players to gain a few levels in and get an understanding of the game. Kind of like a tutorial of how to play. Once they finish the tutorial, and have gained a few levels, they can be let out in to the world of Ark to survive. This wont protect them from higher level players but it'll help them understand that they need to be careful.

B) Merge servers to allocate the player base and re-use current servers instead of opening up new ones. Take any server that has ~## of players and merge them with like servers. Allow the players to keep their levels in the process.

  • Solution: Wiping the servers clean but allowing players to keep their levels will only slightly annoy most players. Sure, you'll have to redo those 3+ hour tames but you don't have to grind all those levels again. Allow us to keep our levels, "Mindwipe" our characters and merge servers.

C) Wipe all the servers and have everyone start over. This is the move they're most likely to pull, but this is also the move that I foresee will raise the most hell and stir the pot in an unfavorable way. These forums will be flooded with hate spam.

I just wish they'd give us a heads up instead of just keeping us in the dark.

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1 minute ago, Tsundere Dragon said:

I agree wipe is most likely, I'm trying to spread my extinction server idea to enough people to make it a reality though.

The extinction idea is interesting for the players that may want something like that but it's definitely not my cup of tea. I like the idea of "Legacy" servers instead.

Don't wipe the servers, stamp them with a "Legacy" tag to let new players know that it's an Early Access server and let the newer players decide if they want to play with the EA population or on a fresh server.

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2 minutes ago, Irk said:

The extinction idea is interesting for the players that may want something like that but it's definitely not my cup of tea. I like the idea of "Legacy" servers instead.

Don't wipe the servers, stamp them with a "Legacy" tag to let new players know that it's an Early Access server and let the newer players decide if they want to play with the EA population or on a fresh server.

I like that idea as well, considering it is pretty much guaranteed official release will bring in many more servers. But that won't solve the problem in the long run for new players.

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If you played 500+ hours you will Unicorn new players no matter what. Even if you whipe all servers we will eat the newbies alive. Because starting in Ark is hard. There is no tutorial, you need 2 learn most stuff the hard way.

If i would restart now i dont think any new player could keep up. Simply because i already know how to do it ...

Having said that, you should expect Ark to be run alot like Minecraft. Dont expect too many official Servers. If you want to play serious i think you need to host your own server.

I play on official PvP and as much as i like the social interaction the lag are game breaking.

It is nearly unplayable and if they wipe all servers i will turn my back on official servers i guess.

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6 minutes ago, sal said:

If you played 500+ hours you will Unicorn new players no matter what. Even if you whipe all servers we will eat the newbies alive. Because starting in Ark is hard. There is no tutorial, you need 2 learn most stuff the hard way.

If i would restart now i dont think any new player could keep up. Simply because i already know how to do it 

True that, when xbox released I built up an alpha tribe with only 5 people because I had prior knowledge from playing on pc, we dominated up until one of the members we started out with couldn't take the pressure of fighting off people, went crazy, demolished all our stuff while I wasn't on, unclaimed all our dinos and had our enemies come claim them and then quit the game =P but you learn, don't trust overly emotional people

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I just keep playing knowing that I'm probably going to get fully wiped in a few months.  I'm spending more time exploring different base ideas than actually setting them up.  I'm killing off old tames just so I can practice on new ones (I have 8 dung beetles - official xbox server).  Just hope for the best, and plan for the worst.. that's all we can do as testers.  Even if they do end up wiping each and every player and server.. all of us in early access will still have such a leg up on the newer players.  Just try to enjoy the game, don't create anxiety about the servers.  From what I've seen so far, whatever decisions the developers make will be in all of our best interest.

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I guess my pov is that this is their game and while we are the customer and an important source of revenue.. It is early access and a total wipe is probably best.. I don't get the entitlement of players who think just because they stuck all their gaming eggs in the ark basket and spent hundreds of hours that they deserve to keep it all. You've definitely got your money's worth even if this game doesn't release and you'll have the most important resource that new players don't have... Knowledge that came with experience/learning... You'll level, tame, and build back up in no time

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8 hours ago, Irk said:

A) Leave the servers and player base alone. Newer players will start the game in the shadows of Early Access players. I don't see this becoming an issue in PvE, however the PvP folks will take advantage of the fresh meat.

  • Solution: Create a "starter area" for newer players to gain a few levels in and get an understanding of the game. Kind of like a tutorial of how to play. Once they finish the tutorial, and have gained a few levels, they can be let out in to the world of Ark to survive. This wont protect them from higher level players but it'll help them understand that they need to be careful.

In my personal opinion PvP servers can "self clean" more easily with the new Tribal Alliances.  It's PvE servers that have a huge issue with pillars, that includes people pillaring the entire beach on their map which is for all intents and purposes the current allocated "starter area".  Our "Pillars and Junk" thread is the biggest suggestion thread to want a solution by a long way.

There is also the issue to consider that if an Alpha tribe holds an Obelisk then others on that server might not be able to "Ascend" and if like Jesse pointed out that's a lot of content to be added then it seems unfair to block 80% of users on a server from that game content.

After watching the DayZ saga unfold including all the follow on with Mr "Big Rigs" and the disaster WarZ this is the first Early Access I've ever gone in for, I was 100% expecting for their to be wipes once a month with all the changes in development.  I'm still in shock now that there's only ever been one wipe.

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