Feedback from long-time player

[Boo]

Feedback from long-time player

Hi,

This is an excerpt of somewhat negative feedback I give on my steam account that explain some core-issues this game has right now, I complain there about devs overlooking the reported issues, but I would rather make sure devs are made aware in more "official way" so I am posting this here to their forum as well:

Here is the feedback itself
 

Quote

 

The game is addictive in very toxic way (that's why I have so many hours in it) - you start liking it and playing it and achieving things in it, but in time you realize that if you stop playing for a moment you will lose everything you worked for in a very short time. So many people just keep playing to prevent losing all the items and dinos they spent months getting, even if they already start hating the game in multiple ways.

The official servers offer few game modes, but all of them are extremely unfriendly to people who have an actual life outside of the game. The standard PvP mode will result in you being randomly wiped when you are offline, by some mega tribe. You will never know how it was done, how they bypassed your protections, what you have done wrong. You will just be removed without any explanation.

The offline protection PvP is configured in a way that you inevitably end up the same. While it has its own limitations that reduce fun of the game (no alliances, resource griefing etc.), it provides decent protection from being wiped by players when you are offline. However there is auto-removal system which clean up structures of people who are offline for too long. This concept is not bad, but timers are set ridiculously low. Even with best type of structures, you can't stay offline for more than two weeks. If you do for any reasons (your computer breaks, you take longer vacation, you get sick) - you will lose everything again, complete wipe.

Official servers are also extremely laggy, running on cheap virtual servers and game is still full of bugs.

The private servers, often fix all these issues in some way, but they have own problems - cheating admins, weird mods (I like vanilla game the best), silly rates that make the game too easy and boring and what's worse - when owner of server is bored with it, they shut it down - resulting in you again - losing everything without explanation. So in fact, worse than officials in almost every respect.

You can run your own servers and pay for them, with settings you like, I do that myself, but you will never get enough people to play there for it to be real fun or challenge.

And PvE only mode, that's really boring.

So as I said, this game has great potential to be real fun, but right now it's not. It's a very long lasting struggle.

 

If it's not obvious, what I suggest that would improve the game:

Try to make official servers more friendly for people who have an actual life beside playing ark. Offline protection was a decent start in this area, but it's implemented in a way that ruins the original game -

* the alliances are broken

* people can resource starve others (blocking resources), nobody can use content from expired bases (why not just disable offline protection few days before auto-deleting all their structures?)

* change the timers so that at least metal structures and tek expires after at least a month or two

* implement some option where players who are playing for long time on server can flag themselves "on extended break from game", let say they could use this feature once after 6 months of playing there (for max two months). This flag would prevent offline expiration and also paused all other expirations (food, power, spoiling)

These things shouldn't be way too hard to implement, at least for beginning, increasing the rates of metal and tek expiration for offline protected servers would be great

[Arkaholic]

Try hardcore mode... The way ARK should of been standerd imo.

Hardcore mode is a mode where when you die, you lose your character, you have to make a new one at level 0 and start fresh. Recommended to have multiple characters. My tribe has 3 members and we all have 2 pvp players 1 weight 1 crafter 1 backup.

1. Less players. Theres usually around 5-10 max players on hardcore servers, which make them perform way better. Dinosaurs don't fly away when you kill them, dinosaurs actaully look like they are fighting instead of just biting at the air causing damage. Also, less player interaction means when you do actually find someone, its a heartpounding intense experience of life and death.

2. You actually worry. It's more like a survival game instead of a game of gathering and waiting. You are scared of death, so you don't do foolish things. It's harder to take on dinosaurs because they can actually hit you because of the performance in low pop. You stay on your toes, always scanning your surroundings, looking over your shoulder. It's more intense for sure. Less Raiding. People who are high level got their by being careful. They aren't going to raid often because it's very risky and they could lose everything instead of normal mode where they can just respawn as many times they want an keep raiding you.

4. If you kill someone, you really kill them. If you really hate someone, or want to actually take a clan out, you just gotta kill them and they are gonna have to start from scratch. It's more satisfying to kill your enemies when you know they can't just respawn and come get you. 

5. Better players. The little 12 year old whiners leave quickly, and never come back. You'll find players with more skill and maturity in hardcore servers and less stress overall dealing with rational players.

6. Appreciate the little things. You'll find yourself appreciating something as simple as a canteen or that new shiny 311% damage crossbow from raptor claus very much :] Everything really has a use now. You can't just die to fill your hunger back up and your tames become a real part of that experience.

Give it a shot, it's not for players who can't handle real survival. You need a completely different mindset, survive.