imbalanced Ark Survival has Evolved into... UNPLAYABLE.

[Throttlejam]

Ark is a great game but it's become unenjoyable for some and unplayable for others. As I write this, my avatar on official server 16 has been caged, immobile and unplayable for over six hours. I'd suicide and respawn... but that's not an option.

Changes to Ark have given players the ability to immobilize other players for long periods of time- - - hours, days, or forever, but not given captive players an EQUAL option such as a suicide and respawn.

I paid for an MMO I can actually play and enjoy. Not a game in which other players can effectively keep me from playing for unlimited amounts of time. That "evolved" later. And maybe I just don't "get" the fun aspect of sitting in a cage doing nothing for hours and hours. To me, that's the MMO version of paying $30 to watch paint dry. I don't have a problem with players the ability to abduct and incarcerate other players. It's interesting. I do have a problem with having NO CHOICE in how long that goes on. It makes Ark imbalanced, unenjoyable and unplayable. That's a deal-killer.

And no, you can't do anything about it. Handcuffs don't allow you to use your hands. No punching walls or using anything to suicide with. Your captors encumber you so you can't burn stamina, food and water to kill yourself. And captors are able to force feed you to keep you alive indefinitely.  So you're stuck, unable to actually play Ark for as long as they decide to hijack your game.

Is not being able to play Ark what we bought Ark for?

[ciabattaroll]

If anyone could just commit suicide and respawn then that completely negates the point of being able to have captives though.

[Kaedan]

They have to farm the resources to keep you alive. They have to put effort into to the capture to keep you or you'd very quickly die.

[Throttlejam]

Then there has to be a compromise. They got you, they, have you, but not indefinitely. As of this moment, now SEVEN + HOURS LATER, my game is still hijacked and I can't play.  That's not the Ark I bought months ago. That's the Ark it's become and that's not a game I want. 

[Rickyh24]

This is such a lame part of the game. This and offline raiding is why our tribe will not play PvP. 

[Etihw]

Why is suicide not an option? Because you'll lose your stuff? Are they constantly having your narced? If so that's a constant drain on their resources and worse than baby sitting a tame. If you don't like the way the game works on PVp then switch to pve, single player, or as dedicated server that admins Wount allow this.

[SanguisDiabolus]

Wholeheartedly agree here. Having the mechanics for prisoners is all good and interesting, but when you only give tools to players to imprison people, and NO tools for players to escape, it is quite simply just plain broken and unfair. There should be a lockpick item that you can craft beforehand and have it hidden in your inventory from other players who capture you. At least then you might have a chance to escape. These recent "griefer-focused" updates are what have kept me away from official servers. Eventually I want to get established on a primitive PVP server, so there's less BS to deal with.

[Elundari]

Our server has some griefers that this might help cure! To me it adds more value to being part of a tribe. If I was captured my tribe and our allies would come and rescue me. It's the kind of thing that in a real life a survival scenario would happen, if you play alone play small and smart or become part of a tribe.

[DmpTrkDrvr]

The truth is They've given the Jailers all the Tools and Given none to the Captives..  

Like how about a hidden lock pick  engram.  Or have the handcuffs timeout with a 30minute respawn on the ability to put them on the same captive again..  

I WHOLE heartedly agree with the OP..  WILDCARD has Enabled captors and disabled captives. . 

 This has troubled me about the direction of the interaction of players in the game.. 

This is Even still a problem in PVE as gas grenades still knock players out in pve, also the grappling hook is A VERY trollistic Item in pve as anyone on a quetzal can drag you no matter what your weight is.. 

[Throttlejam]

Ark has now been unplayable for 12 hours. My avatar has been imprisoned on the server I chose and played on long before devs made it possible for other players to immobilize my avatar and hijack my gameplay.  I accept the risk of getting PK'ed and losing my kit while PLAYING the game - because I get to play.  I can't play imprisoned, I can't escape and they can keep my avatar FOREVER. This game is unplayable. This game is broken.

[panteni87]

Well... i heard a way once: turn on your microphone... and start singing everytime there is someone nearby. Maybe they'll get tired of you. 

But i completely agree, this is something that needs a fixing. 

Normally i would say: create a character on another server. But this time i think they gave you the green light to be the most annoying server occupant. Scream, sing and yell. You now have a grief with these people, i'd say: start griefing. Be the annoying player you never wanted to be. And then get kicked from the server and start over. Are there more people in that jail? Do it all together, start a choir. 

[EndR20]

9 hours ago, ciabattaroll said:

If anyone could just commit suicide and respawn then that completely negates the point of being able to have captives though.

So what do you do? Not play the game until that dude in the black coat decides he got bored of you? thats not fun! Maibe you could try add a lockpicking skill or even smashing open the cage..SOMETHING, so were not totally helpless (or i guess people that are actually being trapped, not me :P) and maibe something like lockpicking can be done with doors / gates too, even windows, this will bring back stealth..as using it atm in raiding doesnt seem plausible to me, youd rather blow up the whole thing than try to mine your way thru quietly..

And also, hqve you ever been trapped while playing?..theres NOTHING you can do if they are prepared..

[ciabattaroll]

1 minute ago, EndR20 said:

So what do you do? Not play the game until that dude in the black coat decides he got bored of you? thats not fun! Maibe you could try add a lockpicking skill or even smashing open the cage..SOMETHING, so were not totally helpless (or i guess people that are actually being trapped, not me :P) and maibe something like lockpicking can be done with doors / gates too, even windows, this will bring back stealth..as using it atm in raiding doesnt seem plausible to me, youd rather blow up the whole thing than try to mine your way thru quietly..

And also, hqve you ever been trapped while playing?..theres NOTHING you can do if they are prepared..

The best way to prevent being a captive for life is to make  yourself  so  unbearable to maintain. In other words, if you make yourself so detestable to the point  that people want to kill you, you'll never be a captive.

[EndR20]

1 hour ago, ciabattaroll said:

The best way to prevent being a captive for life is to make  yourself  so  unbearable to maintain.

I guess *-*

[Spottswoode]

A cyanide capsule or a suicide device would be a useful invention, provided you could hide it.

[ProdigyUndead]

PvP and PvE are two totally different things bubba. If you want to relax, and enjoy what the game has to offer, play PvE. On the other hand if you want to go with the risky approach and play PvP, (which backs it's name up quite well "PLAYER" versus "PLAYER") then you have to be ready to die alot, be captured over and over, lose everything(including your base) and constantly be hunted by other players. I don't see that it makes the game "unplayable", but the two game modes have two different player styles. Got to pick one that suites your style. And to me that sounds like it'd be PvE. Hope things look up and you decide to give it another shot! 

[sparcmx]

Know anyone else on the server that could bust you out of jail?

Take all your clothes off and freeze to death?  Starve?

[panteni87]

39 minutes ago, ProdigyUndead said:

PvP and PvE are two totally different things bubba. If you want to relax, and enjoy what the game has to offer, play PvE. On the other hand if you want to go with the risky approach and play PvP, (which backs it's name up quite well "PLAYER" versus "PLAYER") then you have to be ready to die alot, be captured over and over, lose everything(including your base) and constantly be hunted by other players. I don't see that it makes the game "unplayable", but the two game modes have two different player styles. Got to pick one that suites your style. And to me that sounds like it'd be PvE. Hope things look up and you decide to give it another shot! 

It seems to me that his problem is that he cannot play on a PvP server. Keeping someone locked up for 12 hours? Really? Sounds to me that there's people with a power complex. You just give an excuse for people to abuse. Since stopping someone from playing a game for over 12 hours is nothing more than pathetic. 

But then again, i'm a SP person now... it's not mechanics or gameplay that tempered my enthousiasm for this game, it's the humans that use the systems. 

Edit: This game for me just proves why we have a justice system, however broken it is. 

[DESTROYER]

The character can heal from incredible damage like being chomped on by a rex or bone breaking drops so why can't they break their thumb or chew their hands off to escape they will survive.

It's just a joke but you get the point.

[panteni87]

So i thought some more about it (as i probably should have before my previous reaction. also posted on steam forum. 

Well... Why not make it that every hour in a cage (maybe 2 in stasis), takes X% of your max health. It wouldn't be too unrealistic since health deteriorates quickly in bad conditions. Especially when confined. It could still take 12/24 irl hours to die, but at least you have the prospect of death. Like this the captors will be pressed to resolve the issue if they want anything in return, and if the player was put in prison because he deserved it, i would guess 12/24 hours is punishment enough.

Could this be a middle ground?

[DizzyCarrot]

15 hours ago, Throttlejam said:

Then there has to be a compromise. They got you, they, have you, but not indefinitely. As of this moment, now SEVEN + HOURS LATER, my game is still hijacked and I can't play.  That's not the Ark I bought months ago. That's the Ark it's become and that's not a game I want. 

this ^ is what happens when you start adding high tech to a dinosaur based game .-.

all of this problems only started when they added the handcuffs, (not that handcuffs are really that high tech, but i'm pretty sure prehistoric human wouldn't be able to make one, at least not out of metal, can we just stick with ropes

[GeneralNinjaAnt]

13 hours ago, Runic said:

They have to farm the resources to keep you alive. They have to put effort into to the capture to keep you or you'd very quickly die.

u dont die at all and the time it takes to farm all these resources to keep you alive lol wait a sec no it doesnt take time at all when you have big dinos and a grill to cook the food and we all know how easy it is to make narco arrows..there needs to be a suicide button..just like this guy myself 6 other tribes plus 9 other people that i could see. been 2 weeks now still in a cage on server eu 477 pvp there is no need for it if theres no limit on how long

[TimeLostGod]

I recently watched a video where a tribe was harassing another. They eventually captured a member from the weaker tribe. They tortured him in multiple ways. In the chat you could see, "I just wanted to play my favorite game after work, but I guess not now." The tribe came for a rescue mission. However since they were weaker they mission failed and another was captured. The only way out was to permanently change their tribe name to "The Bambi's".  It didn't show if the person ever got out. There really is a problem here. I'm all for having captives and cages but it is way one sided. Sure it adds to the realism, but it doesn't add to the fun of Ark if you are the captive. Someone COULD never let a captive go. With enough dedication they can. A good tribe can easily get resources. It really is unfair. Ark Developers should add some kind of lock picking mini-game when you interact with the change. It would be hard but not to hard. There really needs to be a solution.

[GeneralNinjaAnt]

12 hours ago, Etihw said:

Why is suicide not an option? Because you'll lose your stuff? Are they constantly having your narced? If so that's a constant drain on their resources and worse than baby sitting a tame. If you don't like the way the game works on PVp then switch to pve, single player, or as dedicated server that admins Wount allow this.

if u r handcuffed in a cage u cant do anything...u can only die from water or food which takes one arrow to knock out a little force feed and away you go only need to check on captives every two hours not much babysitting and seeing how the temp is always good i dont see how u die... a respawn option needs to come up if there for more than an hour

[GeneralNinjaAnt]

5 hours ago, ciabattaroll said:

The best way to prevent being a captive for life is to make  yourself  so  unbearable to maintain. In other words, if you make yourself so detestable to the point  that people want to kill you, you'll never be a captive.

then u r hated server wide and cant do anything in that case u dont need a jail anymore... great solution........