high level taming High Level Tames / PvP vs. PvE

[Picolo XL]

The use of high level tames in ARK

 

DISCLAIMER:

All mistakes made in this topic are intentional or because of the fact that I am german and do actually not use google translator (or any other translator out there)

 

Hey everyone,

in this topic I come up with an already old topic, with new ideas on how to deal with it.

As the title already says, I wanne talk about the current use of high level dino tames. With that I generally mean lvl 100+ wild dinos being tamed with Kibbles (and maybe also full prime). I exclude any type of breeded dinos due to their much better stats.

Short Version:

The changes to dino stats and scaling changed the way the game is played. In the long term it is far less attractive to spend alot of time in gathering kibbles and taming high level dinos, because the results, even with additional breeding are no longer worth the time. This is not pointed towards a harder PvE experience (not killing every alpha you see with an OP Rex), it is ment towards the PvP experience you were able to have before patch 231. Flyers pretty much counter any non-flying carnivores and a wooden club is now more useful in an PvP war then a level 200+ rex. I think the game needs another rebalance: while keeping the PvE experience on the same level as it is now, we should have a reason to tame and use higher levels of dinos.

I know there are many different attidudes to this topic and I am open to hear all constructive critics ("Play on unofficials" is none of em'). Let me know what you guys think about it!

 

Long Version:

What changed after patch 231.x+

Before I even get into those changes I want to make clear that I am supporting the way of thinking from the development, creating a more realistic and harder to survive gamestyle.

With patch 231.x coming up in january alot of players were really overwhelmed by the new way the game had to be played. A mid-to-high level T-Rex was no longer able to just rush through an endless amount of wild dinos without even caring about what he is fighting. What generally looked like a good change to balance the PvE experience left behind alot of other factors of the game especially the "PvP" and the "High Level Taming" experience!

To explain this easier, I will just use some examples:

PvP

Pre 231:

Fighting with high level dinos before patch 231 came out was a real massacre. High Health and Damage stats made it very challenging to find good tactics in a war scenario, especially when fighting with bigger groups of those dinos. Flyers on the other side, especially pteranodons where a good way to get players of their mounts but were risky to use, because if you get bitten once by a high damage rex you would have been dead already. Running with high-health dinos into enemy bases was a good way to reach and destroy enemy turrets and other defenses, but double damage on mounts and tripple damage on flyers made this very riskfull and with the release of plant turrets even more dangerous. Good tribes used other tactics to be victorious.

231+

Mounted non-flying dinosaur are in this state of the game no longer usefull for any PvP experience. A pteranodon can easily outscale a high level rex/spino and even gigas due to their low damage and health. PvP nowadays means: Get a fast pter with high stamina and movement speed, grap the enemy from whatever he is sitting on, take out a wooden club, hit him twice till unconsious, then cage him with a wooden cage (12.000hp, made in less then one minute). Then just clear his inventory, cage his friends, have all the time you want to get into their base.

Conclusion:

PvP with big and high-level dinos is pretty much dead at the moment. Even with breeding and a lvl 300+ rex you reach stats like 20k health and 600% damage which is pretty much nothing compared to pre-231 stats. Pteranodons are used as the main tool for any PvP fighting while rexes, once the top tier dinos have lost most of their use here.

 

Taming

Pre 231:

Taming high level dinos before patch 231 took the same time and amount of food but the result was used to be very very attractive. A level 120 wild rex could have up to 10k health pre-taming and if you were lucky enought he got some more points spend into worthy stats. A mid-to-high level rex was able to massacre throught most of the wild dinos and even alphas had no danger for those.

231+

Taming high level dinos pretty much results in spending alot of time and work for an not enjoyable mount (exept the farming parts). Stats are low and every higher level wild dino means a potential death for your mount. There are no tactics needed in PvE other then do or die. Getting the attention of an alpha raptor is actually very often the last thing your mount will do.

Conclusion:

Making the PvE factor of the game much harder to survive was NOT A BAD DECISION AT ALL. The way it was done by nerfing all tamed mounts, was in my opinion the wrong way to go. Getting the same result by BUFFING wild dinos would have made much more sense I think and even evolving new behaviours of certain wild dinos would have made this even better.

 

My throughts and suggestions:

• Buff tamed dino stats to a level where you still get great amounts of stats. Make the level-up system more thankfull (3-6% dmg per level for a kibble-tamed Rex is depressing)
• Evolve the behaviour of wild dinos, buff their damage, add new ways for them to kill you (and tactics you need to counter them with your tamed mounts)
• Nerf tamed flyers and give non-flyers possibilities to counter them.
• Lots and lots of other ideas

 

Generally I know that none of my suggestions are easy to bring out nor are they completely finished thinking about. The reason for me to make this thread is to show you the experience from an older player and the problems I currently have with playing the game. Some may say I cannot leave my past behind and I should fit myselve into the new way on how to play, but I still have hope that we can find a good solution.

Now I would like to hear what the great community thinks about it! Feeld free to leave your throughts below!

 

Greets from Picolo:

 

++ : Wiping servers once a year in periodic cyles would make up a great way to keep players attracted to the game. Do not wipe all servers at once! Wipe some of them (maybe 40-50) each month 

[d1nk]

You bring up a lot of good points with a clear consise view  +rep was a good read

 

Ps: your English seemed fine, keep it up! 

[Picolo XL]

So what is your opinion?`:P