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How are you meant to find the Artifacts?


InnerTri

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How are you meant to find the Artifacts?

As stated in the title, I'm wondering how one is supposed to find all the Artifacts.

Before continuing, I want to make this clear: I am NOT asking WHERE to find the Artifacts! I don't want the exploration and discovery spoiled! I don't care where they are, I just want to know HOW to find them. Please, again, don't tell me where they are. Thank you!

With that out of the way, this turned out to be a longer post than I intended. Regardless, let's dive into it:

I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to search anything when I'm playing a game. I like to figure stuff out on my own, even though it may not be fast or efficient. For the most part, ARK has supported this kind of gameplay.

However, when it comes to the Artifacts, it seems like the player is pretty screwed. From what I've heard, the Artifacts are pretty important, allowing the player to access some end-game stuff. Yet, despite being important, I can't seem to find any way of tracking them down.

I have so far collected one artifact, while I was out exploring, which is how I learned of them in the first place. Surely the only way to get them can't be through investigating every single square foot of the island? Its size makes that virtually impossible!

I see no engram for some sort of artifact tracker, and nothing on the internet other than tutorials and walkthroughs of where to get them. Surely the design of the game - or at least, this aspect of it - can't be to rely on the internet to find them? A game's functions and elements should be inclusive, explained and/or addressed within itself...right? I just mean that it wouldn't make sense if, for example, the tutorial stage of a video game was just the words "Eh just Google it". Maybe that's a bad example, but I hope you understand what I mean.

I appreciate any help that can be offered, and by all means tell me if I'm overlooking something, such as a function in the GPS or Node tracker that locates Artifacts.

 

Good luck out in the ARK!

 

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16 minutes ago, InnerTri said:

I have so far collected one artifact, while I was out exploring, which is how I learned of them in the first place. Surely the only way to get them can't be through investigating every single square foot of the island? Its size makes that virtually impossible

 

that's exactly how those of us in early access did it unfortunately. you wander around until you find an interesting place, investigate it, find the artifact.  it's either wiki or explore, sorry man.

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40 minutes ago, InnerTri said:

How are you meant to find the Artifacts?

As stated in the title, I'm wondering how one is supposed to find all the Artifacts.

Before continuing, I want to make this clear: I am NOT asking WHERE to find the Artifacts! I don't want the exploration and discovery spoiled! I don't care where they are, I just want to know HOW to find them. Please, again, don't tell me where they are. Thank you!

With that out of the way, this turned out to be a longer post than I intended. Regardless, let's dive into it:

I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to search anything when I'm playing a game. I like to figure stuff out on my own, even though it may not be fast or efficient. For the most part, ARK has supported this kind of gameplay.

However, when it comes to the Artifacts, it seems like the player is pretty screwed. From what I've heard, the Artifacts are pretty important, allowing the player to access some end-game stuff. Yet, despite being important, I can't seem to find any way of tracking them down.

I have so far collected one artifact, while I was out exploring, which is how I learned of them in the first place. Surely the only way to get them can't be through investigating every single square foot of the island? Its size makes that virtually impossible!

I see no engram for some sort of artifact tracker, and nothing on the internet other than tutorials and walkthroughs of where to get them. Surely the design of the game - or at least, this aspect of it - can't be to rely on the internet to find them? A game's functions and elements should be inclusive, explained and/or addressed within itself...right? I just mean that it wouldn't make sense if, for example, the tutorial stage of a video game was just the words "Eh just Google it". Maybe that's a bad example, but I hope you understand what I mean.

I appreciate any help that can be offered, and by all means tell me if I'm overlooking something, such as a function in the GPS or Node tracker that locates Artifacts.

 

Good luck out in the ARK!

 

 

I believe I heard tell that artefacts are commonly inside the caves which are dotted around the map and can be found on the wiki or by exploring though it would take a long while. The caves are hard places though. Was the one you found inside a cave? :)

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The explorer notes are your in-game function and explanation.  They don’t give you locations (although I think a few give rough approximation of location), but from them you can derive the following:

1. There are caves throughout the Island.

2. There are Artifacts within the caves - you may need to search every inch, but they are there.

3. The Artifacts can be used at the Obelisks to fight bosses and acquire keys for the Tek Cave.

The other aspect of the game the notes indicate is that the world is meant to have people, both tribes and single member tribes.  As you pointed out, you were able to stumble across a cave and Artifact on your own.  Add 10, 20, or more people and all caves are bound to be found sooner or later.  Whether this info is willingly shared between players or Artifacts forcefully taken is determined by your server dynamic (notes describe instances of both).

Also, more as an aside: keep in mind, at the beginning, you wake on an unknown island for an unknown purpose.  Your entire play style could be in ignorance of the Artifacts, purpose of the Obelisks, or “end-game” content (some of the notes in Scorched Earth describe exactly this).

I sympathize with your complaint.  Finding all caves/artifacts on your own without outside influence is almost certainly very time-consuming.  However, exploration is very much a key part of the game.

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15 hours ago, InnerTri said:

A game's functions and elements should be inclusive, explained and/or addressed within itself...right?

That's certainly a valid opinion on how games should be designed, won't argue with you at all, but there is never a guarantee that a game will actually do that.

With that said, if you find and read the explorers' notes (which are hard to find in the first place, and can only be found through extensive exploration) you can deduce how to find the artifacts.

The simple reality is that you either have to explore a lot to find the notes and/or you have to explore a lot to find the artifacts. You may find that disappointing from your point of view, but it's just how this game works. Even so, if you like this game enough, I wouldn't let that change your view or detract from your enjoyment. This is a deep game, and like every deep game there are going to be mysteries that can only be solved by players helping each other. I can't remember the last time I was able to play a large, multi-player game from beginning to end without using a wiki or other player created resources.

You're free to make it as hard or easy as you want for yourself, but I think that once you decide how much info you're willing to look up you'll be satisfied with your end result. Even after you figure out how to find them, they will still be hard to get, there are plenty of challenges waiting for you.

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Wow! Thanks for all the help, guys! I really appreciate all the advice and opinions, it means a lot! ?

While I may consider using the wiki to at least find the cave locations, as Peteed suggested, my biggest fallback seems to be that I play on Ragnarok, which doesn't have explorer notes. Regardless, I am extremely happy to hear that explorer notes are the way to immersively find the Artifacts, as that resolves my "games should be inclusive" complaint.

Once again, I greatly appreciate all the advice! I still love the game, and will enjoy it even more now that I know there's no succinct way of going about it. Cheers to you all! ?

 

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This is simultaneously one of the best and worst points of the game. Google and Youtube quickly becomes your friend.

Pros: Its a massive open sandbox game and the world is your oyster with nothing to tell you what to do. 

Cons: Its a massive open sandbox game and the world is your oyster with nothing to tell you what to do. 

Its what I love about the game I can do what I want. My biggest complaint in this regard is the hidden rules and restrictions. I mean how is one supposed to know that you cant use gigas in boss fights or you cant use grapples in certain areas etc etc. 

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8 minutes ago, yekrucifixion187 said:

This is especially problematic since a note explicitly said they used one vs the Broodmother (unless they've corrected that oversight)

 

It still does I think. Had a quick flick through the dossier page on the wiki as I kinda remeber the one I think you are refering too. Found one talking about the megapithicus,  and the Demon King I beleive refers to the giga. Next note talks about how they are ambushed when returning from the boss fight.

Mei Yin Note #26 (The Island)

"Had I let fear rule me and left the Demon King behind, then Helena and I would be dead. Only with his strength were we able to defeat the gigantic ape. His rage cost some of my pack their lives in the aftermath, but that was the price of victory. The price of hope."

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This game is simply not made for single players or people who want to learn the game the hard way...it's a multiplayer online game you are suppose to use tools like wiki, YouTube, Other players to learn stuff...Now if you want to you can indeed read all the dossier and try to figure it all out...but you will just realise it's badly designed...

I wanna make it clear I'm not a Dev or anything I m just a experienced player who is saying.

To answer your question...You can find artifacts in caves across all maps and on island 2 caves are underwater and they are HARD

 

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3 hours ago, yekrucifixion187 said:

This is especially problematic since a note explicitly said they used one vs the Broodmother (unless they've corrected that oversight)

Well.. you used to be able to. Before boss arenas were a thing and you summoned it at an Obelisk to wreck havoc on a server (or trap it and farm spiders for chitin pre-dams)

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36 minutes ago, eli8210 said:

I can't tell you how many times I have walked past a cave or two before I knew it was there. Very true the game will not lead you to each "progression" cave. 

Pretty much. If YouTube and Wikis didn’t exist most people would have never found the caves, fought the bosses, progressed. 

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5 hours ago, samyak said:

This game is simply not made for single players or people who want to learn the game the hard way...

 

I have played this game single player since day one of getting it over 4700 hours. I haven't struggled or felt left out.

I learnt most of what I needed with trial and error, help from YouTube and Google and the wiki. I don't think I missed out on anything not being in a tribe. 

I don't like the multiplayer aspect unless I play xbox with my other half which I probably once a week a few hours, but that's not multiplayer that's just co op.

Mainly because and I have seen it myself with other online games I choose not to engage with it on this one. 

For me I'm happy single player not interested in the least for a server and happy not to have others to get in my way in game. Blocking OBS, griefing, toxic chat, blocking spawns, pillar spam.

I experience a very occasional dashboard after updates a lot less than I see complaints of lag, rubber banding, servers going down. Kicked from tribe, global bans, meshing, offline raiding, rollbacks, cheating and duping or general negative people. 

If a game allows single player I prefer it but that's me. I just wanted to explain how I see it.

Not everyone enjoys talking or interacting with strangers, that's what my retail management job is for.

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16 hours ago, mattj said:

Can you imagine being some poor schmuck who manages to find the 3 artifacts needed for a boss and warps in blind with no info just to get decimated?

 

terrible inexcusable lazy game design

Totally/mostly/kind of disagree; its a sandbox MMO type game.

Do Blizzard tell you how to beat its bosses in World of Warcraft? No. Does any gamemaker give you spefic directions in how to beat it? (well, some do sell walkthroughs like Final Fantasy games) but still, not really.

I like the fact that people have had to work out you cant take Gigas into boss arenas, or that when using the artifacts you get teleported into a boss arena... and if you arent prepared you will more than likely die. 

ARK was also EA, so its evolved as time has gone on, it wasnt a complete idea like a AAA game so there is no real expectation made by WC in that they will tell you how to defeat its guardians, they want players to go out and explore.

There is a Wiki and each dossier gives you a little info but for the main, its go out there and explore - oh, and communicate with others ;)

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12 hours ago, eli8210 said:

I can't tell you how many times I have walked past a cave or two before I knew it was there. Very true the game will not lead you to each "progression" cave. 

When I first started playing on singleplayer on The Island, I set up shop right outside the lava cave in the alcove part on the shore. Made my first main base there. I had no idea there was a cave there for weeks or even months lol. 

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11 minutes ago, Anarki said:

There is a Wiki and each dossier gives you a little info but for the main, its go out there and explore - oh, and communicate with others ;)

I think this is exactly what OP is saying here, though—Ark, for all intents and purposes, does require that you're liberally using the wiki or another crowdsourced collection of information to enjoy. If you want to "discover everything yourself," you're going to be in for a bad time.

That's not necessarily a bad thing and it's true of many games, especially sandboxes. And you can still certainly "play blind" and still have fun; there are just going to be big parts of the game that you will very likely never see or experience. Just like you'd never reasonably find the nether in Minecraft on your own, the odds of you stumbling across the Cave of Lost Faith or spontaneously guessing that you tame a Chalicotherium by sneaking up on it with beer (???) are not too great.

Again, that's totally fine, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that progression in the game is NOT self-discoverable.

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19 hours ago, InnerTri said:

While I may consider using the wiki to at least find the cave locations, as Peteed suggested, my biggest fallback seems to be that I play on Ragnarok, which doesn't have explorer notes.

The wikis have maps, including Ragnarok that just gives you a dot over the general location. So instead of even reading the wiki for the coordinates, just look where the dots are then go explore in that area to find the actual entrances. 

The other option is to simply ask people on the forums to give you a biome type or general area for the location of each artifact. Then you'd at least narrow your search to a specific biome or area, and would still have the work of actually finding the 'caves' yourself. 

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49 minutes ago, Nyrin said:

I think this is exactly what OP is saying here, though—Ark, for all intents and purposes, does require that you're liberally using the wiki or another crowdsourced collection of information to enjoy. If you want to "discover everything yourself," you're going to be in for a bad time.

Remember that one of the fundamental principles of survival, and Ark is a survival game, is strength is numbers. The game doesn't force you to play as a tribe, but it does have to represent that advantages of being in a tribe, including the fact that an entire tribe could be searching for the artifact location, and it has to balance that sufficiently so its a challenge even for a larger tribe. 

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