Your Favorite Map

[gfan84]

Hi there I just wanted us to discuss our favorite maps, ranging from the over all design, the unique creatures, and what little and big things that we like about it. So from best to worse map here are mine.

1. Extinction - Now I might be a bit biased about this, but the first time I spawned in there looking at all of the ruined skyscrapers, and the self contained Biomes I loved it.  I looks so cool and unique, and also the Corrupted Dinos was also a unique touch.  This map does feel like an endgame type of map throwing previous and new dangers against you, and having to use about everything you have had to learn previously to full advantage.  The atmosphere and world looks so good I loved exploring this map.

2. Island - Ok this is the map we all started on, and we all have see this thing being filled with all the extra dinos and TLC passes.  The ambient sounds of the jungle to the first time a predator jumps out at you from the bushes, this is were it all started.  This holds a special place for me and I am sure for most of you as well, the first cold night huddled by the fired, thinking the darkness itself was going to swallow you whole, the first time you tamed a ptero, to explore the island relatively safely until you run out of stamina at the worse time, to taming your first Rex thinking that nothing can stop you...until you disturb a Giga on a high mountain and proceed to either die in it's jaws or accidentally jump off the cliff to your doom.  To fighting your first Boss and seeing the Ascension cinematic, these are what make the Island one of the best experiences of the game.

3 Scorched Earth - This map was a pain at first, now thirst, extreme heat and Rock Golems plagued your tenure here.  However once you got accustomed to it you learned to thrive here, making the best of a bad situation.  this map made you think more closely at the things you took for granted on the Island, like if I travel far will I have enough water, will a sand storm come and make it almost impossible to see or move, is my base not only secure but is it close enough to water or a well?  I began to appreciate it the more I was on Scorched Earth that it made the player have to think about every possible scenario even more so than the Island.

4. Ragnarok - This custom map has it all, Scorched Earth, the Island, and new creatures to contend with.  I love the design and the overall size of this massive map, from the Grand Canyon style middle section to an abandoned Lighthouse in the Eastern North part.  This has all the best attributes of both the Island and Scorched Earth, with the added bonus of the Ice Wyvern and the Griffon as new tames.

5. The Center - I like the design of the center the most, it's so unique and it was one of the first official custom maps we got (well at least for Consoles).  However it really is only a revision of the Island, not much else to really add, though it was exciting when it was first released, I now hardly play very much of it.

6. Abberation - Well having the most unique creatures and new ways of traveling (zipline, Rock Drake, Glider suit) this map was great but for me at least was the most pain in all of the maps.  From dealing with the giant Crabs constantly to the hallucination clouds, to the Radiation, this map seeks to break you on every level.  Not to mention that many of the new tames are just ridiculous, (the Basilisk wouldn't target the eggs...like ever, stealing a Rock Drake egg was like opening the door to Hades, getting impregnated by a Reaper Queen was unique, but honestly not worth it, I play offline single player here) I ended up sticking with the Abberation type Dinos for practically my entire time on the map.  I know the design was unique and it had an interesting story, but geez this was more painful than taking on the Dragon with only one Rex...heck I had more success doing that than making though this entire map.

 

So tell me guys which is you favorite to least favorite maps in ARK?

[Snipsnip]

1. Rag- love the variety of creatures, size of particular biomes allowing for greater variety of base location for pvp. 

2. Centre- just a beautiful map.

3. Island- love the map and nostalgia but the sheer amount of alphas in such a small space drives me mental 

4. Aberration quite dislike aberration

5. Scorched earth never played 

[DazzaWilhelmX]

My personal rankings though I would say that all the maps are good in their own respect. And these are all just my opinions, people are free to like or dislike what they want :)

1. Extinction - While just newly released, just the amount of new mechanics and details going on with this map is just amazing IMO. The new crafted Creatures (ie Enforcers, Scouts & Meks) are hands down a few of my personal favourites along with the Manamagar. The boss/titan fights are way better than any of the other boss fights IMO and final boss is no push over requiring a fair amount of coordination with server peers and tribe members alike. The OSDs are also one of the best aspects of the map, I love PvE horde mode style events plus it feels so rewarding after defending them.
    
2. Scorched Earth - I quite thoroughly enjoyed this map, it was quite the departure of the Island in terms of surviving. I enjoyed how this map was more challenging and less forgiving than the Island. Golems are my personal favourite of this map, but Wyverns are also pretty great as well. It also had a few unique spots to build but wondering if it would be worth it considering how you have to use turbines to power your equipment, it did make you think more on planning. The only problem I have is the lack of a endgame/Tek Cave content, would love to see the cinematic where you would ascend to Aberration
    
3. The Center - While most think of it of a scaled up Island map, I would argue it be a water map. The main selling feature of this map is just the real estate, there are so many amazing places to build on this map and you have heaps of room to do so. Also was the first map that introduced ruins I believe
    
4. Aberration - This map is pretty cool and added alot of new things to the game. Basilisks, Rock Drakes, Karkinos and Reapers are some of my personal favourite dinos on this map. This map also has pretty nice ambient lighting, Bioluminescence area of the map was dark but the right kind of dark with the bluish glow that just gives that inviting yet dangerous feel while on the other hand the Radiation area felt very imposing in a good way, made it feel like this was a place you didnt want to hang around in but has vast amounts of treasures (resources, tames etc). The surface I felt was a good mechanic, strategically thinking of when to go up and do loot drops and get some resources was pretty good. Now before Extinction Rockwell was my favourite boss fight, it was more unique and challenging. While the Unique biome features are great I gotta say its also its biggest let down. Nameless spawning anytime anywhere in the Bio chamber can be a super pain and very off putting to build there. The Radiation zone doesnt give you much options in terms of anything, you can only use one set type of armour and buildings have no protection from Radiation and the amount of dinos you can bring into this area is very limiting (shame about Basilisks not being Rad proof).
    
5. The Island - While basic the Island is a pretty good map, it also has the most bosses and caves which earns it a point in my book. It just lacks a few unique mechanics of the newer maps, which isn't a bad thing, it is the beginner/starter map after all and it is always a treat to play again.
    
6. Ragnarok - The idea behind this map is pretty good, It has unique biomes not seen on other maps, it has the Griffon which is pretty useful in its own right. The dungeons are a unique twist on the cave mechanics which is pretty good. The only problems that I think hold this map back are the fact that the underwater has barely any features anywhere IMO, the Endgame in doing bosses on this map to get Tek is a bit difficult considering you have to run the dungeons a fair few times, the amount of high level dinos (while good in its own right) kinda devalues the experience of finding said high level dinos. Also personal opinion here, Ragnarok devalues and makes Scorched Earth content irrelevant somewhat (while it would be good for those people that can't buy said DLC)
   
   I haven't played any of the modded maps yet, but I tend to only want to play maps that are near completion or complete.

[Globy]

I loved the pain of Scorched Earth first, the event ect..
Aberration too, the level design of the map, the progression and all, the music ❤️ probably my favorite map, very difficult, but fair. I loved how vertically the map was.

I really don't like Ragnarok, even if I find it pretty, the map is really too easy, it's like having all the benefit of many maps, but without the pain..

 

I really like Extinction (even if bugs are.. meh..) the mechanic with orbital and vein are really really cool.
First time having top tier dino have utility (except killing boss), Golem have now an utility in PVE.

The thing they did about biome are really cool.

We can now use good item or even tek in "early" game. Before I kept them hide for boss or cave. I never really used Tek, as when I killed boss, I mainly change map after ^^'

 

I really love each of map, they all have something unique, have their own mechanic, their "how to play".
But yeah, imo Ragnarok is really too easy (to get ressource/dinos/everything).
I didn't play that much on The Center (switched to SE when it cames out).

 

Annnnnnnnnd, thank you wildcard for all of theses map, and THANK YOU SO MUCH Gareth Coker for all theses beautiful musics for each map. You're by far my favorite composer.

[Flashock]

Ragnarok. Seemed like the biomes and map itself we're huge and diverse. Everything from the spino canyon, forests, plains, wyvern areas, desert, ocean. All amazing. The desert cave and ice cave are by far my favorite dungeons.

Extinction. The wasteland is kindve lackluster for me but the city is awesome! The dome biomes are pretty neat and so is the underground forest. OSDs and Element Veins are amazing too and wish they were one every map.

Abberition: such a different kind of map. Unique glowing creatures with crazy colored regions. Everything on foot was a challenge but definitely an awesome map.

The island/Center - kindve the same map to me, basically a vanilla experience.

Scorched Earth - no thanks.

 

[Anarki]

I first landed on The Island and it scared the living daylights out of me. It was dark, I could see a big bright obelisk and my friends were trying to direct me to their base up on a ridge not far from where I spawned... I wouldnt leave the beach until they came and got me haha.

I didnt play a lot on the Island as my tribemates were so advanced that I just couldnt get into it - but Ill always remember that first time I awoke on the beach - truly awesome.

I first started - properly on a Prim+ Center map and quickly grew to love it, I love the little islands around the outside and the overall jungle feel.

Aberration - truly learned the hardway of starting afresh after being killed over and over again by ravagers. The map is great and beautiful but runs awfully. I also feel very claustrophobic so I dont tend to play much on their.

Scortched Earth I have spent a while over there and its harsh conditions are really hard at the start - its a slow grind but once you have a base and a few decent mounts its as easy as any other map. I do like the desert though as its so vast and you have to be prepared when venturing far.

Rag - This is where I wish I had spent more time playing but as our main official base is on Center we just dont spend enough time here. Weve a lovely base by one of the lighthouses and its right next to a wyvern trench so we should utilise it a lot more really. From what I have explored, I really like the vastness and the different dinos spread all over the map.

Ext - truly enjoying this map, the underground forest, the city and the wasteland. The snow biome and desert biome seem a little minimalistic for me... snow owls, mags and Velons - only reason to go really. Once youve those, you rarely return.

If I was only allowed to play one, it would probably be Center as I know everyone on my server and I know the place so well but I will be playing Ext a lot more than the other DLCs as its so gnarly and its a lot more of a challenge which is where ARK has lacked in the past.

[Sunnyrayz]

1 Island- feels like home and is beautiful

2 Extinction orbital drops are a new and fun pve challenge

3 Scorched earth nice map lots of variety from other maps

4 Ragnorak Beautiful map

5 Abberation Hard to navigate 

6 Center Havent Played

[blueskies7204]

1. Ragnorak

2. center

3. island

4. abberation

5. extinction

6. scorched earth

[RapidRivers7]

1. The Island. It’s what made me love ark. 

2. Ragnarok. I love that it has all the dinos, it’s huge, and it’s a beautiful map. 

3. Extinction. It’s new and it’s beautiful and it has cool new Dino’s and l think the orbital drops are so fun. 

4. Scorched Earth. The heat drives me crazy but for some reason I actually like the desert. And wyverns. Love the wyverns 

5. Abberation. I loved this map but it got old real fast. The only reason I still play on the map is because all the other maps tend to be full although we shall see if they stay full and because of my beloved rock drakes. Can’t stop getting them. 

6. The center is beautiful but I have not played it besides doing the boss. 

[gnener]

1. Ragnarok - I really like the puzzle labyrinth

2. Aberration - I like the bright colors on the dinos

3. Island - Where it all began

4. Scorched Earth - Wind generators are so convenient

5. Center - haven't played here much TBH

[MotherOfRaptors]

1. Aberration. I love this map, the atmosphere it brings,  the colours (especially ambient colours of radiation zone), landscape (we live underground while the surface is burning during daytime! How much cooler it can get!), new unique  awesome creatures (14 of them!).  Amount of details in every single corner of the map fascinates me, I keep coming back ❤️

2. Island - as many I love the map because it brings the first ark memories, which will always be the best. This map is filled with dinos and for many of us that was the reason, why we started to play this game, including me, a huge nerd when it comes to prehistoric creatures. 

3. Scorched Earth - A beautiful map, but I can not say, that I like it a lot. It feels a little bit small and monotonous.

4. Extinction. I'm disappointed in this map, which I expected a lot from. It feels very very small, I was done exploring it in like 2-3 days. While being the last dlc it gives us just 5 tamable unique creatures (again, in comparison to aberration it was twice more. really?).  On the other hand I like the city and the caves a lot, huge amount of work was put into their design.

 

One thing that is always on point no matter what ARK map we play - music. All tracks without any exceptions in my opinion are truly amazing masterpieces! If anyone is interested, I recommend watching this video about how ark soundtracks are made:

 

[Bowline]

1. The center. Home of so many insane bugs, but damn is it a pretty map there are so many fun places to build and do stuff, and that combined with abundant resources (metal everywhere!) makes it by far my favorite.

2. Scorched earth. Scorched is definitely most people's least favorite map, but i loved the challenge and variety it brought to the game. so many small things that force thoughtful and smart decisions (like building bases just barely out in the deserts so you get full wind power on generators) made it awesome to play for me.

3. Aberration. Giant Crab Bois, need i say more? Aberration was another challenging map like scorched but it had so many unique tames. The only reason i don't rate it higher is because there are no flyers and the map although fairly large, feels much smaller because of all the enclosed spaces.

4. The island. I like many played this map first for a short time, and honestly i can still say it is the least interesting exploration wise, and the second least fun to build up on. Metal and resources being heavily confined to a small handful of areas makes things much more boring in the early stages of the game. Late game When you have flyers and tames to help farm, the map itself in my opinion has a lot less intrigue and exploration then the center, and doesn't provide the challenge of scorched or aberration, although the caves are pretty cool.

5. Ragnarok. To start i don't like how this map is just better scorched earth for endgame pvp. It has everything scorch does (minus the phoenix but not many actually use that for much), and lacks the difficulty and decision making that scorch has. Also it's all mountains. which makes playing on foot/not using flyers constantly almost impossible.

Edit; Haven't played extinction yet but it seems pretty imbalanced for pvp, so i'm gonna wait until balancing gets sorted out before delving into it. 

[KingGalahad]

1. Ragnarok: TO me it is the most diverse map out there with almost a bit of everything.  If it had aberration dinos in the caves, it would be the perfect map. While I do enjoy the entire map, I think the best work was done on the first half. The detail, and little things to find made this map awesome. Although there is some ruins and decent caves in the south, it just doesn't seem to have the little details that the north has that made me fall in love with the map. It does seem to me that the desert was rushed a bit and I wish the devs had spent just a bit more time on ruins, etc. Like others have said, the ocean does lack, but I think it is fine. Definitely more interesting than the ocean on the island. All in all I think Ragnarok is a solid map, and it is my definite choice for starting out and taming most dinos, as the dino spawns are better and make more sense for the most part on this map.

2. Aberration: This map is only slightly in second place, as I find almost as many problems as there are good features. In terms of looks, a lot of this map is simply beautiful, especially the bioluminescent zone. Visually, it is stunning. Another thing I liked about this map was when I first played it, it made ark fresh again. From the first time I stepped on the hallucinogenic mushrooms, to the time we finally figured out what they were, it was a whole new ball game. Ark had gotten stale for me when aberration came out and this revitalized the game for me. Unfortunately this map suffers from a few issues. The biggest downfall to me is that fact that a third of the map is basically a no build zone due to the fact that you require a tek shield in order to build in the radiation zone. To have that much of the map unbuildable just seems like a waste of space. Another issue is the pathways in the map, they seem overly complex and convoluted. The fertile chamber kinda reminds me of redwoods on the center map. The various heights of the fertile chamber should be a little simpler to get around. One thing that bugged me about this map, was during the hype it was said we would be able to mine element, and although that was partly true, the whole crafting of element left a bitter taste in my mouth. Despite aberration reinvigorating ark, after a few weeks, I was bored of this map and took a break from ark because of it. For awhile all I did was occasionally log on to feed my dinos. All in all a beautiful map, but with some serious drawbacks that really held it back from greatness.

3. Extinction: Now this map is interesting. when I first spawned into the city, I thought wow, this is an interesting looking map. then it started downhill from there. The pathways in the city make absolutely no sense in any true city planning sense. It suffers from the same overly complex path system that aberration suffers from. Once I got out of the city, I saw how underwhelming this map was based on the hype that had come for it. I was surprised with how small the map was. Some people say it is a large map, but in comparison to Ragnarok, it is not large at all. In fact the snow and desert biomes seem kinda tiny. Although there are a few interesting areas on the map, it seems kinda dull and lacking detail. For the most part, it isn't easy nor advisable to build in the wasteland and because of this, a lot of real estate just isn't suitable for building. While I like the concept of the corrupt dinos, I think they should be more rare than they are. They should be something out there that are a rare danger, not a common nuisance. Overall their spawns should be reduced to about 20% of what they currently are and they should be strengthened, so when you do see them, you are truly in fear. Now despite all these bad aspects, there are a few things I do like about this map. I like the orbital supply drops and the element veins. They are a fun addition to the game that I wish could be added to the other maps (aside from their emerging destruction to bases). I'm probably in the minority here, but I also like the titans. I like the fact they are larger than anything we have had in ark. All in all, this is a decent map, that could have been better, but still makes for a fun ark experience.

4. Scorched Earth: Like aberration, when scorched earth came out, it reinvigorated ark. It had new challenges, and the caves on scorched earth are some of the most fun caves to go in through all of ark. The downside being there are only 3 of them. All in all, scorched earth is a fun map, but probably half the size it should be with a third of the caves it should have. Would be higher up on the list if it were a larger map with more caves.

5. The Center: When this map first released I thought it was wonderful. It was large, beautiful and had a nice diversity to it. It also had several interesting features to it. I quite enjoyed exploring this map. After it's release, it was the map my dedicated server was on the most until the release of ragnarok. While the map was great in it's initial release, it did add a lot of content on afterwards as well. While some additions were good, some weren't. I liked the addition of redwoods, although the pathing system over there was more than it needed to be. a simpler redwoods would have been a lot better but overall it was still a good addition. I also liked the additional path down to the "center of the earth" and the ice castle down the side of the cliff. The one addition I didn't care much for was the deep ocean area. It wasn't required as the ocean that existed was large and diverse enough before this addition. After it was added, it just took the fun out of going in the ocean drop hunting, as there was far too much area to cover with not much reward for it. The biggest downfall for the center when I played it wasn't the fault of the map, but of wildcard themselves. When they nerfed the fliers, this large beautiful map became tedious to travel across. I believe someone timed the trip from blue obi to the ice castle, and it clocked in somewhere around 20 minutes on a quetz. Although they may have balanced flier speed for the island, it definitely wasn't balanced for playing the center.

6. The island: Despite this map being my least favourite to play, it is no fault to the map. While I quite enjoyed my time on this map as it was the first map I played, I just outgrew it over time. One thing I like about this map is the balance to it. The land and the biomes are probably the best laid out and and most balanced in all of ark. The one thing I think could have been better was the addition of redwoods. Rather than wipe out a good area, they should have added in a new area somewhat similar to the way it was done on the center. I also disliked how they ruined the best metal gathering area in order to make the ascension cave. I think it could have been put in a better spot instead of ruining such a good spot. All in all, the island was the map that got me into playing ark and will always have  a bit of a special place in my heart. The island was the map I played back when Ark was truly a fun dinosaur survival game.

[BlueberryJackal]

To be honest, I really hate Extinction. Because all the bugs make the game unplayable and unenjoyable (im playing on console and cant even enter the game).

Aberation is actually a pretty decent map. There are still some bugs, but even with the extremly hard environment its fun to play, but it gets a bit boring when you play alone and get lost every ten minutes. Trust me, i collected enough experience.

The Center is also a pretty decent map. Sure, its much easier than Aberation, but you NEED a raft or an aquatic dino, if you want to explore the map.

Ragnarok is probably the easiest map (and also one of my favourites), but in my opinion that makes it a bit boring. It takes away the challenge of finding resources and high level dinos. But its still fun to explore Ragnarok.

At the beginning, The Island was the map I liked the least, but now i like it more and more. Because it has things Ragnarok hasnt, challenges. No metal nodes spread over the whole map, no high level dinos and more Alphas for the extra challenge (although it might be slightly too much). Plus, it also has the nostialgic feeling, when we were ARK noobs, who didnt know how to tame a Dodo. 

Havent played Scorched Earth yet.

[NORSEBOY]

CENTER is my fave .  its beautiful and full of resource and so many nice place to make multiple bases . i never played on aberration and only we go to rag for griffin and wyv . but for main base only i love center map .

[LouSpowells]

In order:

1) Valhalla
2) Island
3) Extinction
4) Aberration
5) Ragnarok
6) Scorched Earth
7) Center