Game Unplayable for New Players

[BrockSamson400r]

New players be warned.

I bothered to write this because I am done playing this waste of time game.  It is nearly impossible for any new player to start off on their own in this game anymore with their own tribe.  The lands are claimed with wooden posts at every square inch and if you do get a foot hold you will be "griefed" into moving to another server or quitting the game all together. I have given the game multiple tries on different PVE serves and always the same result. The only solution is to get the griefers banned, but this will not solve the real issue in PVE; there will always be griefers it's a characteristic flaw of "assholes" and they are everywhere.  Griefing is fine in PVP...duh its PVP, but PVE should be entirely different.  At least players can't shoot and kill you, but there are so many exploits in this game that make it too easy to screw someone up.  I haven't had a good size (Trike and up) dino last more than 24 hours cause of some jerk coming along with there big flying dino and taking off with my stego or agroing Brontos that destroy my home and other dinos.  The game caters too much to those who were there at the very start of alpha and screws any new potential players/customers over.  Get a hold of this issue or don't ever release an official version, because if you officially release the game before fixing this griefing poop you, Wildcard, will be facing a class action lawsuit for denying equal access for new players.  You've stolen enough of my time and money (taming a dino for 4 hours only to have someone swoop in and take it away or bring in a wild bronto to destroy everything) and I won't be playing anymore.  Enjoy your future success....

[SallyAnn]

We're these official servers?  If so they should not have been able to pick up any of your dinos.

The lesson a lot of the people learned from the start was to find a nice Unofficial server with good active admins, it will make the world of difference.

Foundation spam and kiting wild dinos is definitely a big PvE problem and there's been lots of discussion to try and suggest ways to fix this on these forums.

[BrockSamson400r]

Yes, these were official servers.  The dino picking up thing is new as of the last update...obviously a screw up on WIldcard's part.  Still, I'm am the type to give you so much of my time and if you throw it in the trash then I'll have to reciprocate.  I have put in my last hour/min/sec in this game unless MASSIVE changes to PVE are made.

[BrockSamson400r]

Why should a player find a "nice unofficial server" when new implements will be made that only benefit those on official servers...

[SallyAnn]

Everything new will be available on both Official and Unofficial servers - there is no difference apart form how the server owner wants his settings and rules.

Other players from outside your tribe should not be able to pick up your tames in PvE Official servers so you should definitely submit a ticket to report that bug - https://support.survivetheark.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

 

[SebastianB]

Play on unofficial servers. There are several hosted by big online communities that pledged to no favioritism/admin play etc. They play essentially like official servers with the difference being having active admins and much stricter rules(like no pillar spam, no griefing etc).

[EndR20]

2 hours ago, SallyAnn said:

We're these official servers?  If so they should not have been able to pick up any of your dinos.

The lesson a lot of the people learned from the start was to find a nice Unofficial server with good active admins, it will make the world of difference.

Foundation spam and kiting wild dinos is definitely a big PvE problem and there's been lots of discussion to try and suggest ways to fix this on these forums.

So you get official Servers up then tell a new player that i theyre basicly not good and that he should find an unofficial...soooo, then are your official servers supposed to not welcome new players?? With this youre keeping the bad guys in and the poor guys that want to play the game properly for once out..ok then, im gonna take your advice and stay on my non dedicated...actually wait, it already ate my world and dinos once..maibe SP then?...i dont really want to because its frustrating as h***...i guess ill go on an unofficial..but wait the last one was raided by a guy with a lvl 2000000 wolf, it was always baren anyway...soo...GG to me then...

I guess ill look for another unofficial BUT i cant find one english, and not ridiculously buffed up server in the dang list! And the ones i find are either pass protected or full...

So basicly either pay for a server monthly and spend another bunch of money on it or dont play..

Ive been actually thinkinh to reboot my old non dedicated withcour latest world but its gonna eat it aswell...got no other choice tho..

I guess i gotta reinstall too cuz since it ate my world i can also respawn in a week..

All of that to just PLAY THE GAME...the frustration is OTT for me at this point with ark...im gonna die if this keeps going

[Coggage]

Official Servers aren't worth the bother.  Unofficial PvP and PvE are better in every aspect - lower populations mean more dinos to tame, more places to build, no foundations/pillars all over the place, mods to spice up play, admins who actually care about their server and will take action.

[rpicardi1]

The problem with bullying and server claiming by players with way too much time on their hands has always existed regardless of what multiplayer game is being hosted on official servers.

Either play single player until you are comfortable with how things work or host a private server for you and your friends. That way, you can freeze the game when you and your friends are not playing.

[SebastianB]

Its a fact of life that any place where people interact anonymously will become a cesspool unless heavily moderated. Official servers are not heavily moderated because thats too time consuming(time=money), unofficial servers are moderated by the owners/volunteers that spend a significiant amount of their time addressing issues on their server.

 

Im sure we all agree that it would not be a good idea for wildcard to fire some devs so they can hire some server admins, but thats literally what it comes down too. Volunteers on official servers with admin powers obviously doesn't work, they would still have to oversee things and check on the volunteers.

[Coggage]

1 hour ago, caastor said:

i agree except mods aren't fun to play with theyre boring some of them atleast because it can make the game 110% overpowered

I agree about some mods spoiling the game, so I don't use servers with mods like that.  I just like mods that feature new building parts and new gadgets, etc. which add to play rather than dominating it. 

[SebastianB]

The thing is, i agree pillaring is a problem. For one you shouldn't be dependend on someone be online an willing/able to help just to be able to built a small structure at the beach and survive the night.

The thing is im not sure what the solution would be, cause ideally the solution would be a game mechanic, not a constant supervision by a human admin.

Something i have been kicking around in my mind was a much stronger/faster structure decay that gets mitigated by having supporting structures nearby. For example a lone pillar would be gone in a day, but a pillar thats part of a building with half a dozen structures attached would have the current decay mechanic. Mechanically that could be a additive 20% buff for each connected structure or something, so you would get 100% decay resistance at 5 structures. So bases and even resource outposts would be unaffected, but pillar spamming would be less easy, atleast for vast areas of land.

The more i think about it decay should be the solution. The game already knows where resources spawn, how about having these areas apply some sort of debuff, something that hastens decay to discourage new players from building on resource spawns?

[BrockSamson400r]

@caastor, you need to read my comment again. I did switch servers 5 times after getting to around level 30 and then being griefed off.  I agree the game should be hard, but it also shouldn't be a massive time sink that leads to nowhere; 4 hours to train a dino and it dies in less than a day...I'm not playing this game just to tame dinos all day.

Your comment makes you sound like you are one of the griefers.

[zTom]

All this switching server bullpoop just doesn't address one simple and obvious thing: there are no rules in this game.

Even unofficial "well adminned" server is only good until the server admins discover, that somebody figured out how to use the "unofficial" rules they have set to their own advantage. Then you are reminded again, that THERE ARE NO RULES TO THIS GAME.

So basically keep that in mind. There are no rules. Even if you get some form of "police" in this game, it's just the latest assholes who aimbotted the previous assholes, and you will survive only until you are small and pointless and regularly admire their huge.. dinos. As soon as you dare to shine light to what they really are or just smell like you may have the capability to soon maybe protect yourself, let alone attack anybody, you are paid a visit from same 'police' and reminded, that THERE ARE NO RULES TO THIS GAME.

So basically all you pay for is the opportunity to get killed by anything that can get you as unfairly and exploitatively, as their cheat-engines allow them, while still staying undetected by any anti-cheat mumbojumbo, as building some rudimentary player-action possibility checking into server side is just too much work to bother. I understand, how it's not how games usually work. It's also very far from how the world has worked last few hundred years, but this is the whole idea behind this game, apparently: NO FREAKING RULES

 

Even after all that 'careful' rulelesness, it STILL manages to be unfair!! And the main source of unfairness is not about how it doesn't have any rules, but how even the physics and item-logic it DOES have, can be broken in special cases, that new players have no way of finding out, until they are frustrated out of their minds, since all these glitches and errors actually benefit already overpowered players on top of everything else, making griefing even more trivial and low-effort.

At this point I don't believe it's even about the game any more. I'm pretty sure some mayor universities have jumped on board at this point and are only keeping ARK running as a global psychological experiment, not unlike the Standord prison experiment. I mean basically this is what happens in a world of NO RULES, when you release people in it.. ok, and maybe give them instant reincarnation abilities, but whatever, little bit slower reincarnation just makes it closer to hardcore servers.

So yes. New players: enjoy the game first two weeks in local server. Then go to official to get rekt and griefed out of your mind. then go find private server to be welcomed with open arms, get good at game and blown to pieces, because you got too good too fast.. THEN come to forums to write it all out as therapeutic healing process

 

[SebastianB]

The problem isn't lack of rules, but ironclad rules working to your disadvantage.

For example the pillar problem on PvE servers preventing your from building even in spawn areas. Its due to three very unforgiving rules:

1. Not allowed building near other players structures.

2. Not allowed to damage other players structures.

3. Players can built everywhere they want without structure limits.

 

Thats three problematic rules right there, and there is no way around them. Also you can't figure a way around good rules, because they are vague and meant to be judged on by an impartial power(the admin). Rules like don't harass other players or don't obstruct resource spawn nodes are pretty clear.

[zTom]

41 minutes ago, SebastianB said:

The problem isn't lack of rules, but ironclad rules working to your disadvantage.

If anything, this game is a reminder of why humanity invented all-seeing all-knowing gods, that can punish you even after you're dead. Because we can all see, what happens, when there are no consequences to any of the poop you can do to other people. Correction: when people THINK there are no consequences. Obviously the consequence is, that you will never have a fair fight this way. But who needs fair fights, if you can just rocket noob huts from flying metal fortress with no chance to even get a scratch on your armor.

PvE is just a sad joke of "local server with other people". And all the pillaring happening is a reminder of how sad of a joke it is. The servers that swap between PvE  and PvP are also just sad excuse of offline raiding fix.

Real issue is, that the game is utterly and pointlessly unfinished and unbalanced. Currently only "big and mighty" have nice toys. Apparently tek tier promises some cloaking and whatnot, that could give a chance for being small and impossible to find, so the mighty have also a reason to hold themselves back, unless they want to be hit with something they can't just go and steamroll regularly.

[JuanGoTeM]

I think PVE servers certainly have a problem with the pillaring. I suggest giving a PVP server a try. I've played only on Official PVP my whole time on Ark, and I've been just fine.

 

Of course you can be raided on an official PVP server, but in the right server with the right politicking on your behalf, I think you may have more fun than your experience on a PVP server.

 

To give you an example, someone built a large metal structure in the center of the Volcano on our server. It blocked the metal spawn. We blew it up.

 

No more having to worry about not being able to build a base due to having no place to build that's not pillared. No more having to worry about not being able to destroy another tribe's structures.

 

 

 

I personally think, based on my research into PVE, that PVP is more functional than PVE in regards to people "claiming land" with pillars or foundations on PVE servers. Although your base can't be raided on a PVE server and your dinos killed, I think it would be more annoying not having as much of a choice where to build, and not being able to attack the tribes that are doing this "claiming."

[Danouk]

10 hours ago, SallyAnn said:

We're these official servers?  If so they should not have been able to pick up any of your dinos.

The lesson a lot of the people learned from the start was to find a nice Unofficial server with good active admins, it will make the world of difference.

Foundation spam and kiting wild dinos is definitely a big PvE problem and there's been lots of discussion to try and suggest ways to fix this on these forums.

Unofficial are nice but at any time the person may decide he's quitting the game and now you find yourself on your ass and need to start over again and find a new server. That is why the promise of no wipe at the official release I find that impossible if they want new players to join the game. I agree with him that new players do have problems to settle somewhere on official servers but unofficial server you are at the mercy of the owner of it who may decide anytime to call it quits. I hope the devs do find a way around this problem for new players.

Part of the reason you see pillars everywhere is do to the fact anyplace you build that means spawns for resources and Dinos is stopped completely. Some new players a lot of times decides for example to build inside the volcano or on Carno island. These places are important places for resources and if you build there there goes the resources. Then you will see players pilliards it so nobody can build there. 

Another problem is you start building your place. At the beginning you don't need much space so it's small but you are planning to expand later when needed. What happens? Someone comes and build right next to you and your expansion well forget about it you won't be able to. So people protects their area with pilliars. That is why you see those also everywhere. But of course some people do exaggerates. 

It won't be an easy solution for the devs but if they don't wipe then they must find a way for new players to join or this will happen  to other like it happened to this person.

[JustAnotherGamer]

Been playing this game for a while now, and I can't comment on any PVE stuff because I don't see the point in playing that mode. I play PvP and every craft/building game I have ever played is the same. If you are playing solo, you better be a commando and not an architect. Logically, one person cannot out-build, out-militarize, a tribe of multiple people, and you shouldn't be able to. You can still play and enjoy the game as a solo commando, but you can't try to run out and tame a bunch of animals and build a fortress because it ain't happening. And why are all of you solo players playing on official servers without improved gather rates anyway? You are just asking to have your time taken away from you. Go play on a server with 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x gather rates. At least then when your base is raided, the sting of the loss isn't that bad. 

"Wildcard, will be facing a class action lawsuit for denying equal access for new players."
This......This is just ridiculous. New players have just as much access to the game as older players. I just got on a server 4 days ago and I'm doing great. I keep to ambush tactics and small, spread out, concealed bases, but hell, I'm playing solo, so of course I'm not going to draw the attention of big groups to me. It's not Wildcard's issue if you don't like this type of game. Not all games are for everyone, and yes, this is a very frustrating game for new players, especially those going it alone, which is why game research prior to purchasing is so important.

[D4u2s0t]

On March 12, 2016 at 6:44 AM, EndR20 said:

So you get official Servers up then tell a new player that i theyre basicly not good and that he should find an unofficial...soooo, then are your official servers supposed to not welcome new players?? With this youre keeping the bad guys in and the poor guys that want to play the game properly for once out..ok then, im gonna take your advice and stay on my non dedicated...actually wait, it already ate my world and dinos once..maibe SP then?...i dont really want to because its frustrating as h***...i guess ill go on an unofficial..but wait the last one was raided by a guy with a lvl 2000000 wolf, it was always baren anyway...soo...GG to me then...

I guess ill look for another unofficial BUT i cant find one english, and not ridiculously buffed up server in the dang list! And the ones i find are either pass protected or full...

So basicly either pay for a server monthly and spend another bunch of money on it or dont play..

Ive been actually thinkinh to reboot my old non dedicated withcour latest world but its gonna eat it aswell...got no other choice tho..

I guess i gotta reinstall too cuz since it ate my world i can also respawn in a week..

All of that to just PLAY THE GAME...the frustration is OTT for me at this point with ark...im gonna die if this keeps going

Don't confuse "not good" with "inexperienced".  Experienced players can go into a server that has already been established and make do.  Newer players are obviously going to have a hard time competing with people that may have many members, and have several months of work already done. 

 Put a post up on the forums, I'm sure if you ask you can find a server that has rules and settings that you like.  At some point, I bet MOST of the players will be on unofficial servers, because they like to play with an active admin who has rules, and enforces them when someone tries to ruin your day.  

 

[Vensolin]

I like how a lot of the populated official servers are basically owned by corrupt tribes. Sounds similar to real life issues, haha. Just because you have the power, doesn't mean you have the light.

[TylerTheDoctor]

I think it's ridiculous how the only "rules" are:

1. No harassing other players.

2. No hacking

Especially when very little things are considered "harassment". Heck, if you destroy another player's base by luring a bronto in and killing them, and spamming pillars around their base, that's not considered harassment and nothing gets done about it.

[PhantomDragonX]

I came here about to complain about pillar spam, but I have finally come to my senses.  Yes, on official servers, it will happen, it's the easiest places for trolls to find and do that kind of thing.  Who's there to ban them?

I used to believe that the only legit way to play was on an Official Server-- Once you start viewing servers in a way similar to how Minecraft FTB servers are, you'll know there's good one's and bad ones.  

Suggestion, find an unofficial server that has no mods.  They are advertised on these boards.  Enjoy logging in, and being able to enjoy the game as it was meant to be played.  Most admins are happy to curb foundation/pillar spam.

[c7occ]

I'm on Xboxone, I purchased the game a month after the latest servers came out. I'm currently and so far since on 7 servers all pvp, three of them hardcore. I have all the same issues between players claiming dedicated servers, Massive tribe alliances with 100+ members, pillaring the whole map everywhere. I understand the frustration, for me it's even more difficult because even though nobody would guess it I'm a introvert,  anti-social fella. None the less I had the expectations for this game to be taken with a grain of salt, or fear the stressful frustration. I've only been in one tribe on pvp588 and after leaving definitely was griefed to this moment by a 100+ alliance. Either way man that'd the game, if you're like me and aren't a social butterfly, try joining player servers or grinding hard between 5+ servers. Also as one player you can cause alot of issues by attacking large tribes, get your melee to 400 and health to 300, trust me all you need is a friend to drop you into their base and some skill and they will wish they didn't mess with the lone wolfs

[Digitus78]

On Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 0:43 AM, SallyAnn said:

We're these official servers?  If so they should not have been able to pick up any of your dinos.

The lesson a lot of the people learned from the start was to find a nice Unofficial server with good active admins, it will make the world of difference.

Foundation spam and kiting wild dinos is definitely a big PvE problem and there's been lots of discussion to try and suggest ways to fix this on these forums.

Sally if you take out ability to kite or pillar block other tribes on pve then say goodbye to your pve user base.  Just because it's PVE does not mean it's all flowers and sunshine.  We pillar post to keep other tribes new or old at bay or keep resource spawns going.  This is not the creation of users griefing this is wildcards fault for not making resources more accessible and still working on the code to load godly huge structures right without dashboarding or the framerate lag out due to badly loaded or coded game resources.  If this is considered griefing then I'm a griefer.  

 

 New users need to be respectful to day one tribes trying to keep YOUR OFFICIAL servers running peacefully.  So many new users stroll into a established official server and see pillars then cry to wildcard.  Most likely didn't even ask if they could get space where they wanted or ask for help to get started.  "Hey guys im new on here. Would like to build and play." Then report for griefing. I don't know about other servers but 448 is always helpful and yep 90% pillar posted.  But new users ask to remove pillars in a non resource intensive spot without being all "you guys are land hogs or griefers"  they get their land as much as they want and usually resources with a few starter dinos that tribes are donating.  

 The basic point is we are PVE and treat it as such. More often than not that "new" user reporting is either to shy or still hurt from the PVP server that killed them multiple times then assume PVE is like that because we have alpha tribes too.  Also that since the day one tribes claimed most of the map we will grief them or kite little red gifts to their base.  Not even close to true.  Newcomers develop a better economy on PVE servers. 

  If kiting is considered griefing on PVE once again wildcards fault. You give limited resources to us and know as the island grows those resources slowly vanish to scarce amounts.  OK so now what? We have a tribe who is... we will just say is jacka**** and park their butts on the volcano or thatch pad a whole metal resource mountain.  We ask politely hey PVE man not PVP.  But they throw immature remarks and a day later you have a alpha ran through a 3 hour tame half done.  You better believe I will kite every single red nightmare to their base.  Along with high level brontos and ankys.  The rest of the server will back me too because we are as a PVE community "policing" YOUR official servers.  So stop kiting or ways of controlling PVP washouts or plain a**** I suggest hiring server monitors to keep peace.  Until then kiting and pillaring to save resources or keep the bad apples out is a game feature and does not break TOS or the "no rules" gameplay.  

 

  To the new guys wanting in PVE or got your butt handed to you in PVP hit LB+select then tell them your new or had a bad time in PVP if the tribes offer no help or respond to you badly you don't want on that server anyways.  Our server always welcomes newcomers.  It means more trading or alliances to help further us along.  Unless your a bad seed and actually grief people then we're all full of little red surprises.  Most of the time quiet though just taming building helping others with their goals.  So don't judge PVE based off pillars or a few bad servers.  Don't listen to people who say find a good private server unless you seriously know the sever owner.  Their ideas may not fit yours and most have a I'm god tude.  Official servers are online for us to use and push to the limits to help wildcard continue developing this great game.  Try the servers again or a few times. Some tribes are pm players and some are am players.  You might get the helpful ones at one time or that troll the server can't flush out because he isn't breaking TOS as wildcard puts it.  All in all if you took the effort to report or post on the forums then you can take the effort to ask for space or help on one or multiple servers.  The day one tribes are either big due to merging or alliances or they are small but respected.  If this is sounds rude I apologize but they earned their place on that server.  I wish wildcard would post total user hours combined stats just to see effort made towards this game.    So you need to earn yours and it starts with a hi or hey I'm new to the server.

Another long winded post but people need to know wildcard created this enviroment.  We have just adapted to it.  Plus there are always bad apples so don't throw them all out.