Hey guys! My name is CyanicEmber, I am a veteran Solo/Singleplayer since EA launch and I have seen it all.
I’ve been around, some of you may recognize my name from the “Ark: The Story So Far” thread, (which I profusely apologize for never updating.) or one of my expansion concepts that I had on the official Reddit back in the day (Sunken Echoes or Mistborne.)
I have played some Official and some Unofficial servers, played with friends and strangers, all told I have dropped well over $100 buying Ark and its expansions for my friends and family. I have played on and beaten every available Ark except Genesis and the newest free DLCs Valguero and Crystal Isles (working on those). I played official Atlas servers for a period of about 6 months total. Between those two games and SotF I have a total accumulated playtime of 4586 hours. Not as much as some, I know, but it is up there. I like to think that all the play time and experience with watching the developers and seeing all of the community uproars over the years has given me some insight into Ark’s strengths and weaknesses, and it’s potential as a franchise, which is what I would like to discuss with you all today.
With Genesis Part II coming very soon the current Ark cycle is finally coming to an end, and the potential of a sequel built anew from the ground up now looms on the horizon. I know for fact it is something Mr. Rapczak and Mr. Stieglitz have both discussed in various interviews, and it is a concept that invokes both excitement and dread at the same time. For me, Ark has always been a unique and somewhat magical experience, enough that it captivated me, even playing by myself, for well over 2,000 hours. The concept was and is unique, and it is not something that can be easily duplicated or one-upped; but I do believe it’s possible, especially with some of technologies that have recently come to light. (Unreal Engine 5 is amazing.)
So, I wanted to re-iterate some points I made a while back on Reddit and expand on them as well… Kind of create a blueprint for what I personally believe Arks’ best potential moves are in terms of improving the franchise and realizing its latent potential.
Note: I tried to clean up any of the original text that pointed out problems which were fixed with Genesis, but I haven’t actually played Genesis yet, so there may be things I overlooked that the devs have addressed, if that’s the case, feel free to point it out.
So how do I believe we can go from Ark: Survival Evolved to Ark: Survival Unlimited?
First off,
Visuals
Ark as a franchise is a highly visual experience, whether it’s the scenic and sometimes otherworldly views, the sheer variety of creatures available to hunt and tame, or the thousands of animations that go into making the world feel alive. I feel that the main issues in these categories should be ranked as follows;
Graphical Fidelity
In my original overview of this topic I suggested that Ark’s high graphical fidelity had been a detriment to the franchise because it made the game so difficult for large sections of its community to run and ate up server performance. While I still hold that view to some degree, recent advancements in graphical technology such as the Nanite rendering native to Unreal Engine 5 should (in theory) drastically ease that burden. So, with that in mind, I say take it to the moon!
Animations
In this particular area, I don’t have much different to say. I was quite optimistic with the way the animations were being improved in TLC and the quality of animations in the DLC that were being released, and I still feel that way. All of the dinos that have had TLC passes were vastly improved, I haven’t played Genesis yet, but it seems to follow the same trend. That said, there are still a lot of rusty areas, particular in the realm of player characters. None of the first or third-person animations for player characters are even remotely good. I think it’s important to make basic player locomotion and combat look and feel more natural, and to avoid the classic problems of survival PvP games such as strafing, bunny hopping, rapid-crouching, etc… Every action you take needs to feel weighty and have a certain degree of commitment, like For Honor. When I run or walk around in game, it never “feels” like I am running or walking, it just feels like my character model is being propelled through “space” while looping an animation. Modern game engines can and should be leveraged to overcome this. The Mek (since it has a similar structure to the human body) is also worth mentioning. It has always felt extremely clunky to me and difficult to maneuver in.
In the event that a sequel is made and we have a fresh slate, I believe that a great degree of importance should be placed on making the animations feel visceral. That is the key component that makes moment to moment gameplay feel intense. It’s when you pull out of a dive with a Snow Owl and see the wings shudder in the rushing wind, or when you furiously charge forward on a roaring Rex and feel like you can see the muscles and bones working beneath its armored hide, but it’s definitely not the Spinosaur’s two-legged waddling, or the Mek’s stiff-jointed shuffling (could’ve taken a few notes from Titanfall here, especially since the Explorer Notes describe our main characters doing things in these Meks that are 100% impossible with the controls we’ve been given as players.)
For immersion to truly take place, it is the small details that are the most important. Things like the players characters Swan-diving off a high cliff into water with the wind whistling beside them, striking a torch head with a piece of flint when it’s first pulled out, or swinging a sword with actual technique; like it’s a weapon and not just a reskinned hatchet. Things like sabers, wolves, and parasaurs shifting their weight a little when they make turns, or Carnos sliding along the turf and kicking up dirt as they bank a 90 degree turn and take off like the cheetahs of the dinosaur world that we were promised, things like Sarcos and Spinos actually walking on the bottom of large bodies of water and kicking up small clouds of sand or silt with each step, or super predators actually physically impacting each other as they vy for dominance, and even eating and drinking animations for wild creatures. Flyers in particular never “feel” like they are flying, some of the animations are certainly delightful, and again, there has been some improvement in later designs and with the various TLCs, but it’s never been enough to really capture the sensations of flight. There is no immersion there.Compare this sequence from Assassin’s Creed III versus flight on an Argentavis to get an idea of what I’m talking about. Similar issue with water mounts, many of them remain locked on the X-Y Axis while swimming (such as Plesiosaurs and Mosasaurs), which has always felt and looked really clunky and unnatural to me. When a creature in reality swims up or down, it orients its entire body up or down, so it should be in-game. To achieve a truly immersive experience, I believe that things like this are necessary, details are king.
Also the Titans are simply too clumsy and slow to really be enjoyable to ride, and that’s a shame.
UI Theming
For the final section of Visuals, I think the UI definitely deserves a mention. While the redesign was significantly better looking than the original, I still think there is room for improvement. Particularly given the fact that the interface appears to be holographically projected by the Implants. This also ties in a little bit with the Animations section, as actually seeing your characters hands move around and interact with this holographic interface might be a particularly fun way of deepening that feeling of immersion that we’re all looking for.
In my opinion, the best way to go about changing the UI would be to attempt to make it feel as little like a game menu as possible. Change the way we think about its appearance and focus on what such an interface might look like if it were real, what would it display, and where? How would we interact with it? Etc… I think if such a system existed it would be far more likely to group types of material based on weight (example: 22g Flint, 2.3kg Metal), rather than with arbitrary units, which only exist for convenience sake as the game design convention of individual “items” is so hard to let go of. This system would actually greatly reduce inventory clutter as you would only need a single space for each distinct type of material you’re carrying. Similarly, if we’re going to keep Skins and Costumes in play, rather than having them as individual items that spawn in, I think it would be wiser to give them their own Inventory Tab that never changes or empties, and just pull them off “the shelf” whenever you want them.
Next up,
Audio
Unsurprisingly, I really don’t have too much to say on this topic, the Soundtracks Gareth Coker has created (and is creating) for ARK and its Expansions is spectacular, and the sound-design for the individual creatures and actions is not half-bad either, the new sound guy they hired half way through development did a great job with his passes. That said, there are two areas that I still think could use some serious thought.
Dynamic Battle Music
I think a lot of people will probably understand where I am coming from when I say this, but the general combat tracks in this game are very inconsistent as to when they start and stop, and the fact that they phase in and out so abruptly is a type of immersion breaker in and of itself. It’s certainly great to have an epic piece playing in the background of your battles, but at the end of the day I believe more care should be placed into how the music interacts with what you’re doing and how it detects that. Volume, speed, and starting point are all factors that could contribute greatly to the depth of this system.
Atmospheric Soundtrack
To some degree, I understand the design choice Wildcard made in not having any music playing during standard gameplay, a lot of what you are doing is just grinding or performing “chores” for lack of a better term. At the same time, I also think that this franchise would benefit greatly from having atmospheric music backing its beautiful scenery and wildlife, even if it was just every once and awhile and triggered when crossing into a new biome that you haven’t been in for a while, or upon reaching particular areas like the tops of mountains. It would really do a lot to amplify the beauty of what you are probably seeing in each of those areas, or the tension of spelunking or deep-diving. I really hope this change is made going forward, as music is a language that everyone understands, even if their computer can’t render two thousand shadows at once.
Customization
This is an issue that has, in my opinion, hung over ARK like a dark shadow since almost the very beginning. Sure, one might argue that there are tons of customization options available, I mean, dyes, warpaints, skins, costumes, mutations, etc… All well and good, but not the kind of customization that really sticks with players IMO, far more important than any of that?
Character Creator
Seriously, what is with the Character Creator? It is far easier to create avatars with impossible physical proportions which consistently remind you that you’re playing a game full of 12 year-olds with warped senses of humor then to create any semblance of a realistic looking human. The fact that everyone defaults to some sort of steroid infused body-builder does nothing to improve the situation. It should have been fixed long ago, and frankly, never should have been a problem in the first place. One of the most important parts of the otherness that draws us to Video Games is the ability to step into the shoes of another person. To create our ideal representation of ourselves, our feelings at the time, or just to experience things from a different perspective. Our Avatars act as our bridges into the “Otherness” of every video game story and then cycle back to help us relate to other people and to ourselves in the real world. That is why they are so tremendously important. We have to be able to relate to them and form an emotional attachment.
With the current system in place, it is far easier to create a freak of nature than to create an interesting looking character, there is very little opportunity for details, no initial hairstyle choices, no facial editor, no realistic proportioning for torso or limbs, no freckles, scars, or birthmarks, no detailed eye colors. We’re presented only with the most basic of the basics, which results in a world full of Bobs and Janes where everyone looks roughly the same, or outright ridiculous. In a sequel, I think this is one of the most important aspects of the Franchise that needs to be addressed, especially because of the implications repeatedly presented to us by the Lore.
So, for starters, it needs to be impossible to alter the physical parameters of characters to create impossibly proportioned abominations that would die instantly in reality or that lend any advantage in PvP (i.e smaller target or hitbox). For a game like this I would expect a character creator no less detailed than say, Dragon Age: Inquisition. We’re going to be looking at, RPing with, and PvPing with these characters for hundreds to thousands of hours and deserve the right to make avatars that look beautiful, badass, or just plain cool, regardless of gender. Supposedly, we’re taking people from hundreds of different time-periods and parts of the world and placing them in these ARKs, yet our characters only ever look vaguely European with an occasional skin-tone shift that is more jarring than anything, because it is not accompanied by the physical proportions and visual traits our brains have come to associate with different ethnicities. Having the ability to make your character look Asian, Hispanic, Middle-Eastern, African, Native American, Indian, Polynesian and more would go a long way towards making the whole experience more fun and believable and would greatly expand our customization options and potential for immersion both in role-playing situations and in standard gameplay.
Armor and Structural Aesthetic
This issue ties directly into the next topic, which is Progression and Tech Trees, but for now I am more focused on how we as players characters can have agency in the way our characters and bases look. I remember when they first showed off concept art for the Fur Armor, before the Snow and Swamp Biomes were introduced to The Island, every single design looked awesome, and frankly, I wanted them all. I know it is a lot of work to create each individual armor set, but I think it’s worth it to really create a game that exceeds the typical standards of an AAA title.
It would be beyond cool to be able to make different versions of the various types of armor available to further customize our look and immersion in the gameplay. For example, a Flak Armor that looks more like a medieval-style Knight, but with the added aesthetic of Black Powder Weapons and a bit of Primal flair thrown in. Or Fur Armor that has elements of Saber Tooth or Mammoth theming depending on what you use to craft it. Maybe Hide armor that can look scaly if you use reptilian parts. And it would be truly nice to get completed skin sets, or else make things like Manticore Armor and Wyvern Gauntlets craft-able armor pieces. Since you already went to the work of making the 3D Models for these things, I don’t think that’s too much to ask. I was delighted when I heard the Manticore Helmet would become a full armor set, and deeply disappointed when the Wyvern Gauntlets never got the same treatment, that situation was repeated with the Aberrant Helmet and Sword and the Corrupted Armor set.
I would much much rather have craftable variants of the Armor Classes rather than the occasional incomplete skin set. I think this would go a long way towards making the overall experience more fun. And although this might be a bit overboard, I wouldn’t mind having some similar craft-able variations on the Structure Tiers. Perhaps different types of wood, or more jagged cut stone, maybe Tek tilesets that use airlock style doors instead of forcefields, etc…
Progression and Tech Trees
Tech Tree Gaps
Although Ark has a long-standing problem with gaps in its tech trees a lot of those have been closed in Extinction and Genesis or will be in Genesis Part 2 however there are still quite a few that I hope are closed up in any potential sequel. The way I see it, Ark essentially follows a four Tier advancement system, Tribal -> Settler -> Industrial -> Tek
Examples of still existing gaps in the tech tree include Mortar and Pestle -> ? -> Chemistry Bench -> ?, which entirely skips the Settler Tier and offers no Tek equivalent. So players have to invest an enormous amount of resources to upgrade one of the most basic Crafting Stations when a simple yet logical improvement like an Apothecary should be available.
The Refining Forge to the Industrial Forge is yet another example, Settler Tier could easily have been filled in with a Metal Foundry, and Tek Tier could’ve done something interesting like a Magnetosphere that passively produces metal by extracting it from deep beneath the ground.
Similar gaps exist in the Cooking Trees, and between Lighting Fixtures.
The list is quite extensive even beyond that, Saddle Mounted Weapons (never got the swivel cannons we were promised for Settler Tier), emplaced weaponry such as Cannons and Ballistae and Miniguns could’ve used a Tek equivalent, environmental controllers such as Air Conditioners have no equivalent or advanced versions.
Weapons have finally rounded out with at least one Side-Arm, Close-Combat, Long-Range, Heavy Weapon, and Special Weapon for three out of the four tiers, but still has gaps in Primitive (Tomahawk for Primitive Heavy anyone?). Shields also missed out on the opportunities to be Dual-Wielded with one handed projectile weapons such as Pistols, Hand Crossbows, Grenades, and at least Spears if not Pikes, severely limiting their applications in combat.
Character Progression
Now, I respect Wildcards attempt to encourage character specialization using the Engram system, I think it was a step in the right direction but ultimately it became little more than an annoyance and did not have the intended effect with players quite often short on points for Engrams they really wanted or resetting their characters with Mind Wipe Tonics to get around the system. The best way forward in my view would be to introduce skills and perk trees, which I know sounds terribly pedestrian, but hear me out.
I’ll use Taming creatures as an example for what could’ve been and might still be. Imagine a Zoology skill which could be used to study and learn about creatures though hunting, observation, or discovering behavioral patterns, filling out info for us in a kind of dossier equivalent (which we would need in any sequel that takes place after Genesis since Helena is not around to write them). As you improve this skill, you could specialize in Taming, Handling, or Husbandry, and receive special bonuses related to certain groups of creatures such as Mammals or Insects, and perhaps eventually for specific Species within those groups.
Taming would obviously relate to how quickly you can track, down, and domesticate a wild creature.
Handling to how it behaves in conjunction with its rider, what orders it can follow, what abilities it has access to, and whether it receives stat bonuses or not.
And Husbandry to breeding, how long it takes to recuperate after breeding, what kind of imprinting bonds might form and with whom, or how effectively creatures produce by-products such as fertilizer, oil, honey, milk, wool, etc…
Any number of perks could be used to alter all these variables and enable players to truly specialize their characters in meaningful ways, becoming a true master of the Direwolf Pack, an expert Bee-Keeper who produces unparalleled qualities of honey, mead, and royal jelly, or an Aerial Hotshot with a highly organized squadron of support fliers.
Same concept could be applied to the other skills, you could use Perks to specialize in crafting high quality weapons with better durability and damage potential, to become a survivalist with great resistance to exposure in heat or cold and to poisons and toxins, to become an expert at melee combat, or an exceptional architect whose structures boast additional durability and extra resistance to certain damage types. Great potential exists for true specialization, but not within the current Engram system, and that is why I think a traditional Tech Tree and a Skill Based Perk Trees would be wonderful additions to the franchise.
Lore and World-Consistency
Now, in this particular area Ark doesn’t dramatically fall short, but there are a few key areas I’d like to address, some of which do touch on things I’ve previously mentioned…
Creatures as Described vs. Creatures in Gameplay
There are multiple occasions in which creatures or creature groups do not behave as described by Helena, lack certain features they are stated to have, or sometimes do not even exist in Canon ARKs despite being described in her Notes.
Here are a few examples,
Araneo – As far as I know, they have no ability to spit venom as is mentioned in their dossier, have no ability to sense vibrations in dark environments, (at least not one their riders can take advantage of) obviously they can be ridden now when their dossier says otherwise, and despite being described as an excellent guardian for those who wish to avoid killing, it has no abilities that would assist it in this role, it will always kill before it KO’s. (TLC would be great if you’re in the mood, hint hint.)
Titanomyrma – Only appear in small groups, never fulfilling the dreadful promise of a swarming behavior as suggested in their dossier, and have no Queen variant or colony structure, both of which were things that players were expecting due to the way the Dossier was suggestively worded. It may have been unintentional, but it still leaves you wanting. Plus, having random colonies spawn here and there and continuously spawn Titanomyrma until destroyed would mix things up in yet another interesting way and add to the feeling of a living breathing world.
Pulmonoscorpius – Dossier suggests it would be kitted for KOing other creatures but it is absolutely horrendous in this role and has no abilities to assist it in the endeavor. Personally, I think it would be cool to be able to jump at and latch onto larger creatures and continuously inflict Torpor at a rapid rate, only taking damage to Stamina until shaken lose. (TLC? :D)
Beelzebufo – Contestable, but I think the Dossier suggests that Chitin stored in their inventory ought to be converted to CP over time. This would dramatically increase their utility. Plus it would behoove the game to remove CP from Beaver Dams or at least greatly reduce amount that spawns as it is simply too easy to obtain as is.
Carbonemys and Doed – Dossiers suggest they can use their shells for added defensive capabilities, but the features are only soft implemented if at all. Also, what is with the disappearing rider when Doed’s roll? Roll Cage is where it’s at, time for an upsize.
Dimetrodon – Dossier suggests it is useful as a living Environmental Conditioner, but its difficulty in taming and low mobility make this impractical in almost every way.
Pelagornis – Dossiers suggests that it should be rare near coastlines, yet it is prolific.
Ice Wyverns - Wildcard brought this on themselves by mentioning Ice Wyverns in the Managarmr Dossier as though they were a canon creature native to Scorched Earth. My concept for their inclusion would be pretty simple, TEK Caves and Observation Platforms have been shown to be extremely cold in specific areas, if Scorched Earth ascension were added and there were a Tek Cave you could potentially traverse deep beneath the desert into an area that is extraordinarily cold in the opposite extreme to the surface. Here you could have a side path that leads to a large cavern or trench which houses exclusively Ice Wyverns.
Anyway, my point in all this is that I believe each creature that exists and the information available about it should be carefully reevaluated to determine whether or not changes need to be made either to the dossiers, or to the creatures themselves so that both of them line-up.
Actions as Described vs Actions in Gameplay
All the survivor notes in this game suggest a certain degree of intimacy with the world and the way it works that simply is not present in many cases.
Rockwell’s Notes on the Island suggest thriving and diverse plant life which can be harvested in different locations and biomes and used for different purposes, yet the actual implementation of plant-life in the game is severely lacking. I would’ve loved to have seen Plant Dossiers, and biomes in which distinct Herbs, Berries, Fruits, and Vegetables might be found, with an array of hidden potentials only to be revealed by studying their traits and mixing and matching them to create new recipes.
However we have less than 20 Recipes, three vegetables and one fruit, none of which are found in the wild, and six berries, only two of which have any secondary effects. The Rare Flowers and Mushrooms of The Island are a little bit interesting and the Mushrooms in Aberration also do a little to expand on this, but are ultimately just a gimmick with limited uses and little nuance. As quickly as their effects arise, they can be dealt with and they begin and end within themselves, not interacting with other plant-life (if you consider mushrooms plants.)
I’m similarly disappointed with Plant Species Alpha, whose three incarnations (X, Y, and Z,) were similarly gimmicky and presented no natural threat to players or creatures. It would’ve made obtaining Plant Species X a thousand times more interesting if they actually attacked players and other threats to them (such as Procoptodon) in the wild. Similarly, having to watch out for Plant Species Y in Scorched Earth could’ve made that environment even more interesting. And there is plenty of potential for more, like Plant Species V maybe, an enormous Venus Fly Trap that acts like a Torpor Inducing Bear Trap, or perhaps Plant Species A, which grows hardened petals and thorns that can be used as spears and shields of varying quality, maybe even armor, etc, etc…
In a potential sequel, so much more could be done with Plant Life, and I for one would be thrilled to explore and discover it all.
Some other things: Diana, Helena, Santiago, and Mei-Yin’s notes all suggest a degree of control and maneuverability with Meks that could not possibly be further from what we actually get in-game.
Notes on The Island suggest it should be possible to bring certain creatures into Boss Arenas which are forbidden in actual gameplay.
Passive tames are arbitrarily locked behind level walls which only serve to remind you that you are playing a game.
Several Notes suggest herding behavior, yet all dinos wander aimlessly about even if from the same species.
Many notes suggest that the ARKs ought to react to player activity in some way and at certain points, but that never happens.
I suppose you could consider a couple of these point to be nit-picks, but there are even more issues that you could discuss, and I think world consistency is one of the most crucial elements of any fiction, which is why I believe this also deserves close scrutiny going forward.
Creatures
Now here’s something I think everyone can agree the game falls majorly short on. And for me, it would be something I would sacrifice almost any other feature to see addressed.
General Creature Design
Creatures need more nuance, even if it means we get less of them. Many of the DLCs and TLCs have addressed this to some degree, but Ark definitely suffered a certain amount of “Dino Bloat” between Early Access launch and official release. True, you could argue that there are only so many Theropods or Sauropods you can have before you start repeating yourself… But is that really true? The Additional Creatures mod is a shining example of how you can take existing Archetypes and really shake them up and make something new, different, and tactically valuable. Acrocanthosaurus for example is not only one of the most beautifully designed creatures available in ARK even when compared to official TLC designs, it also has some incredibly creative and unique mechanics that thoroughly distinguish it from any other Theropod in the game. The Tropeognathus is another excellent (and official) example of what I am talking about. Its flight mechanics are unique, have incredible versatility and utility, and set it head and shoulders apart from any other flyer in-game. Not that Wyverns aren’t still badass, mind you, but having a grenade launching dog-fighter is fantastically fun.
Which brings up a critical point actually. Tropeo is beautifully designed in terms of colors, patterns, and modelling, right up there with Garuga123’s Acro, but it’s potential is only unlocked based on what we, the survivors, choose to outfit it with. We need more of that. We need multiple saddle designs for some creatures I think, not just generic bridle and rides, but saddles designed with specific purposes and more modularity in mind. The Mammoth War Drum Saddle is great, but where are my Siege Weapon Saddles? When they first presented the idea for platform saddles in EA and showed off the concept art, I thought it looked absolutely amazing and expected a kind of miniature fortress on which we could build some crafting stations and lodgings and mount certain specific siege weapons or utility structures like war drums. I fully expected there to be specific snap points for these, and a limit on what you can and cannot do. What we got instead was an ugly, completely blank slate metal cutting board, which (while admirable in concept) has led to equally ugly, immersion breaking custom designs, and certainly contributed to poor server performance over the years. There is sometimes virtue in limiting what players can do for the sake of immersion and design-balance. A Brontosaurus Saddle with dual back mounted Ballistae or enormous Tek Railguns/Missile Batteries is an awesome concept, but we lost that potential awesomeness in exchange for total freedom to build whatever we wanted. And that is not even taking into account that some creature designs (looking at you Quetzal, Mosa, and Plesio) suffered a lot from having to cow-tow to platform saddle mechanics. Personally, I do not think it was worth it.
To sum up, each creature should have unique mechanics, attacks, and utilities whether natural or owing to the ingenuity of survivor constructs such as saddles or armor; and it’s not enough to just have one gimmick, really take the time to think through and flesh-out each concept and design. (Therizino Tek Saddle with Plasma Scythe Claws plz!)
Behavior of Wild Creatures
As it stands, wild creatures have two states, three if you differentiate between aggressor and defender. You have: wander aimlessly, or try to eat nearest living thing (and if there is a human nearby, team up with literally everything else to eat the human), there are no interesting or natural seeming behaviors present in the entire game, but there is so much potential for it, and it would enliven the experience more than most of the suggestions here combined.
Imagine Stegosaurs or Triceratops moving together in herds, reacting defensively when they spot large carnivores, migrating throughout The ARKs in routes that they’ve been following for generations, imagine having wild baby dinos travelling around with their parents, easier to tame, yet so much harder to isolate and capture. Higher risk, higher reward.
Imagine an ocean ecosystem that doesn’t view humans as the sole and supreme delicacy among all potential food sources, a world where all under sea life hasn’t formed an unspoken alliance against terrestrial invaders and brokered in an age of eternal peace. Imagine Mosasaurs actually hunting other sea life, or grappling with Tusoteuthis for dominion over the Abyss.
Imagine the aeries of the high mountains, dotted by intricately constructed nests and guarded by fierce birds of prey and deadly draconic menaces.
Imagine the deep jungles, stalked by deadly reptiles and mammals, ambush predators who will spring out of nowhere and drag the unwary back into the brush.
Imagine putrid swamps full of dangerous plants and decaying carcasses coated in insect larvae, roiling with deadly diseases, giant tadpoles, and man-eating piranhas.
And perhaps most importantly, imagine carnivores that weren’t eternally hungry and actually had a pattern to their lives, nests to go back to, and young to feed. Imagine them following vulnerable herds waiting for an opportunity to strike and eying under protected settlements.
Basically, what we need in this area is an AI Overhaul, creatures need a life cycle of some sort. They need to have behaviors that they follow, they need to eat and drink, and they need to interact with each other in a way that at least appears interesting if not completely believable and immersive.
Combat could also use an overhaul, barring the occasional special ability, it is rare that anything happens other than spamming the LMB and trying to make the best of knock-back effects, which are almost universally present and quite a pitiful gimmick to rely on. What would really push combat over the edge to the visceral territory I was talking about back in the Animation section would be creatures models that actually collide with each other and have power struggles, similar to Turf Wars from the Monster Hunter franchise. They don’t have to be long or intricate, they don’t even have to have a major impact on the outcome of the battle, it would just be absolutely epic to see a T-Rex and a Spino smack down for a few seconds once in awhile. Maybe sometimes the Spino wins, maybe sometimes the Rex wins, but either way it creates the illusion that these are real super-predators, and that contributes greatly to immersion.
Progression of Tamed Creatures
Another fairly big issue with creatures as a whole is how they gain experience. Those that are ridable have a massive advantage over those that are not because they are utilized far more often and can be controlled in a consistent manner with less risk. Those that are tamed for more passive abilities or utility purposes have a massive disadvantage as they are only occasionally used for the tasks that yield the significant experience, and thus level very slowly.
What I would suggest in this case is to establish an outline of what role each creature is designed to fulfill, and then grant it experience for fulfilling that role. If it’s producing honey, then by producing honey, if it’s gathering resources, then by gathering resources, if it’s acting as a beast of burden or a escort, then by moving over long distances, if it’s combat, then through combat. Basically, make each creature gain the most experience by doing what it’s meant to do instead of skewing the whole process in favor of combat dinos alone because they will inherently have the most action.
Size Classes
Another potentially interesting addition in my opinion would be size classes. They would basically function as armor classes, with larger dinos taking less and less damage from smaller ones as their sizes deviate more and more. It would essentially make large predators a huge challenge for smaller ones and prevent the comical scenes where a survivor with a tiny body and massive head walks up to a T-Rex with a specially levelled Parasaur and gums it to death. I think this would really contribute to making each type of creature useful in specific situations.
If there were say, five size classes, Verminous, Small, Medium, Large, and Titantic. Each size could take, say, 40% less damage with each size class below it, so Verminous Creatures would be unable to harm Large creatures at all, while Small Creatures could only deal 20% of their normal damage. Creatures in the same size-class would of course trade blows as normal, and no damage bonus is really necessary when attacking smaller creatures since the base damage values are already pretty believable in most cases.
The Grind and Player Engagement
What You Imagine vs. What You Get
When you think of ARK and the concept behind it, I honestly don’t know how you could be anything but excited. I mean, you get to ride dinosaurs! With your loved ones! You get to adventure in a world full of sights you will not see anywhere else. And there is a grand tale behind it that is mysterious and intriguing to boot. From the very beginning you are confronted with the question, “what is this place, really?”
From there, you are free as a bird, able to go down any path you choose and set any goal you wish. Whether it’s making a Dodo Coop, or summiting that mountain over there, or maybe trying to find a Wyvern with just the right color pattern and hoping it laid an egg recently. Along the way, you discover more and more clues, develop better technologies, outfit yourself with better equipment, and secure beasts the likes of which no wild creature could ever hope to challenge.
But there is a grinding of gears in the background of all this that gets louder and louder as time goes on. Eventually it gets so loud that it drowns out all the sights, sounds, and magic of what is supposed to be happening. Put simply, there is just too much grind in this game, and there always has been. Though it has gotten much better lately, I will admit. Still, I don’t think it’s necessarily about finding a balance in terms of time and effort, but in terms of interactivity and accessibility.
Nearly all the hardcore features of this game, such as building immense intricate bases, or breeding super dinos and imprinting them, or even taming the best of the best, they take an absurd, and frankly unhealthy amount of time out of people’s real lives. Games are meant to be an escape yes, but they are not meant to subsume the other things we have to do in life. It’s about taking a trip to a world with magic and bringing a little back out with you. It’s not about getting trapped inside.
I think in some cases this matter might even be considered a moral one, as I don’t see how any game studio can justify creating a situation in which someone is forced to choose between losing all the magic of the game world or living their real lives and interacting with real people. I mean, the level of dedication and time that Officials Servers require could be grounds for divorce, and in my view that is simply unacceptable.
Going forward, I believe an essential consideration for this franchise should be accessibility. How much can you accomplish within a given amount of time? How much can you lose? How long does it take to get it back? Is it worth it to get it back? How hard should it be to lose your progress? How hard should it be to work your way back up? And most importantly, is this really fun? Is it really something I believe I can accomplish and have fun while doing it? That is the most important question of all. If a game isn’t fun, it’s worthless. And while I’ve had thousands of hours of fun in ARK, I find myself asking the question, “Is this fun anymore?” too much for comfort.
These are all critical questions that I feel have been largely overlooked, or else assigned arbitrary values and then patched/adjusted as time went on. But not, of course, before serious damage was already dealt to people’s real lives. I think people have a right to expect that they can invest a reasonable amount of time into a game for a reasonable amount of reward. I also think they have the right to expect that their assets in game are in some fashion protected when they are not there to defend them. I am of course referring to the elephant of elephants, offline raiding. It has to end, there must be some solution to it, and if it takes hundred heads to figure it out, so be it, but there has to be a way.
My suggestions? Firstly, Ark needs REDUCED server capacity. While it is great in theory to have 100+ people, I think around 50 would be much easier to manage and a lot healthier in terms of creating non-toxic competition and improving server performance.
Secondly, in order to address offline PvAI combat that almost always favors the attacker and results in thousands of hours of lost effort for the player-base with no chance of defense… I think the option should be presented to players to have their own micro-servers which they can link to a particular Official Cluster and be able to store anything and everything that they absolutely do not want to lose while offline. Essentially like a “private island” that no one except your own tribe and your allies can visit. Of course, the greatest quantity and quality of tames, items, and resources could only be found on the official maps, providing incentive to venture out and have forward bases in the open world.
I love this franchise, I have since the very beginning, and I really want to enjoy playing it, but the magic cannot last forever unless some serious adjustments are made in the future. Again, I love this franchise. I really want to see it reach even greater heights.
Suggestion
CyanicEmber
Hey guys! My name is CyanicEmber, I am a veteran Solo/Singleplayer since EA launch and I have seen it all.
I’ve been around, some of you may recognize my name from the “Ark: The Story So Far” thread, (which I profusely apologize for never updating.) or one of my expansion concepts that I had on the official Reddit back in the day (Sunken Echoes or Mistborne.)
I have played some Official and some Unofficial servers, played with friends and strangers, all told I have dropped well over $100 buying Ark and its expansions for my friends and family. I have played on and beaten every available Ark except Genesis and the newest free DLCs Valguero and Crystal Isles (working on those). I played official Atlas servers for a period of about 6 months total. Between those two games and SotF I have a total accumulated playtime of 4586 hours. Not as much as some, I know, but it is up there. I like to think that all the play time and experience with watching the developers and seeing all of the community uproars over the years has given me some insight into Ark’s strengths and weaknesses, and it’s potential as a franchise, which is what I would like to discuss with you all today.
With Genesis Part II coming very soon the current Ark cycle is finally coming to an end, and the potential of a sequel built anew from the ground up now looms on the horizon. I know for fact it is something Mr. Rapczak and Mr. Stieglitz have both discussed in various interviews, and it is a concept that invokes both excitement and dread at the same time. For me, Ark has always been a unique and somewhat magical experience, enough that it captivated me, even playing by myself, for well over 2,000 hours. The concept was and is unique, and it is not something that can be easily duplicated or one-upped; but I do believe it’s possible, especially with some of technologies that have recently come to light. (Unreal Engine 5 is amazing.)
So, I wanted to re-iterate some points I made a while back on Reddit and expand on them as well… Kind of create a blueprint for what I personally believe Arks’ best potential moves are in terms of improving the franchise and realizing its latent potential.
Note: I tried to clean up any of the original text that pointed out problems which were fixed with Genesis, but I haven’t actually played Genesis yet, so there may be things I overlooked that the devs have addressed, if that’s the case, feel free to point it out.
So how do I believe we can go from Ark: Survival Evolved to Ark: Survival Unlimited?
First off,
Visuals
Ark as a franchise is a highly visual experience, whether it’s the scenic and sometimes otherworldly views, the sheer variety of creatures available to hunt and tame, or the thousands of animations that go into making the world feel alive. I feel that the main issues in these categories should be ranked as follows;
Graphical Fidelity
In my original overview of this topic I suggested that Ark’s high graphical fidelity had been a detriment to the franchise because it made the game so difficult for large sections of its community to run and ate up server performance. While I still hold that view to some degree, recent advancements in graphical technology such as the Nanite rendering native to Unreal Engine 5 should (in theory) drastically ease that burden. So, with that in mind, I say take it to the moon!
Animations
In this particular area, I don’t have much different to say. I was quite optimistic with the way the animations were being improved in TLC and the quality of animations in the DLC that were being released, and I still feel that way. All of the dinos that have had TLC passes were vastly improved, I haven’t played Genesis yet, but it seems to follow the same trend. That said, there are still a lot of rusty areas, particular in the realm of player characters. None of the first or third-person animations for player characters are even remotely good. I think it’s important to make basic player locomotion and combat look and feel more natural, and to avoid the classic problems of survival PvP games such as strafing, bunny hopping, rapid-crouching, etc… Every action you take needs to feel weighty and have a certain degree of commitment, like For Honor. When I run or walk around in game, it never “feels” like I am running or walking, it just feels like my character model is being propelled through “space” while looping an animation. Modern game engines can and should be leveraged to overcome this. The Mek (since it has a similar structure to the human body) is also worth mentioning. It has always felt extremely clunky to me and difficult to maneuver in.
In the event that a sequel is made and we have a fresh slate, I believe that a great degree of importance should be placed on making the animations feel visceral. That is the key component that makes moment to moment gameplay feel intense. It’s when you pull out of a dive with a Snow Owl and see the wings shudder in the rushing wind, or when you furiously charge forward on a roaring Rex and feel like you can see the muscles and bones working beneath its armored hide, but it’s definitely not the Spinosaur’s two-legged waddling, or the Mek’s stiff-jointed shuffling (could’ve taken a few notes from Titanfall here, especially since the Explorer Notes describe our main characters doing things in these Meks that are 100% impossible with the controls we’ve been given as players.)
For immersion to truly take place, it is the small details that are the most important. Things like the players characters Swan-diving off a high cliff into water with the wind whistling beside them, striking a torch head with a piece of flint when it’s first pulled out, or swinging a sword with actual technique; like it’s a weapon and not just a reskinned hatchet. Things like sabers, wolves, and parasaurs shifting their weight a little when they make turns, or Carnos sliding along the turf and kicking up dirt as they bank a 90 degree turn and take off like the cheetahs of the dinosaur world that we were promised, things like Sarcos and Spinos actually walking on the bottom of large bodies of water and kicking up small clouds of sand or silt with each step, or super predators actually physically impacting each other as they vy for dominance, and even eating and drinking animations for wild creatures. Flyers in particular never “feel” like they are flying, some of the animations are certainly delightful, and again, there has been some improvement in later designs and with the various TLCs, but it’s never been enough to really capture the sensations of flight. There is no immersion there. Compare this sequence from Assassin’s Creed III versus flight on an Argentavis to get an idea of what I’m talking about. Similar issue with water mounts, many of them remain locked on the X-Y Axis while swimming (such as Plesiosaurs and Mosasaurs), which has always felt and looked really clunky and unnatural to me. When a creature in reality swims up or down, it orients its entire body up or down, so it should be in-game. To achieve a truly immersive experience, I believe that things like this are necessary, details are king.
Also the Titans are simply too clumsy and slow to really be enjoyable to ride, and that’s a shame.
UI Theming
For the final section of Visuals, I think the UI definitely deserves a mention. While the redesign was significantly better looking than the original, I still think there is room for improvement. Particularly given the fact that the interface appears to be holographically projected by the Implants. This also ties in a little bit with the Animations section, as actually seeing your characters hands move around and interact with this holographic interface might be a particularly fun way of deepening that feeling of immersion that we’re all looking for.
In my opinion, the best way to go about changing the UI would be to attempt to make it feel as little like a game menu as possible. Change the way we think about its appearance and focus on what such an interface might look like if it were real, what would it display, and where? How would we interact with it? Etc… I think if such a system existed it would be far more likely to group types of material based on weight (example: 22g Flint, 2.3kg Metal), rather than with arbitrary units, which only exist for convenience sake as the game design convention of individual “items” is so hard to let go of. This system would actually greatly reduce inventory clutter as you would only need a single space for each distinct type of material you’re carrying. Similarly, if we’re going to keep Skins and Costumes in play, rather than having them as individual items that spawn in, I think it would be wiser to give them their own Inventory Tab that never changes or empties, and just pull them off “the shelf” whenever you want them.
Next up,
Audio
Unsurprisingly, I really don’t have too much to say on this topic, the Soundtracks Gareth Coker has created (and is creating) for ARK and its Expansions is spectacular, and the sound-design for the individual creatures and actions is not half-bad either, the new sound guy they hired half way through development did a great job with his passes. That said, there are two areas that I still think could use some serious thought.
Dynamic Battle Music
I think a lot of people will probably understand where I am coming from when I say this, but the general combat tracks in this game are very inconsistent as to when they start and stop, and the fact that they phase in and out so abruptly is a type of immersion breaker in and of itself. It’s certainly great to have an epic piece playing in the background of your battles, but at the end of the day I believe more care should be placed into how the music interacts with what you’re doing and how it detects that. Volume, speed, and starting point are all factors that could contribute greatly to the depth of this system.
Atmospheric Soundtrack
To some degree, I understand the design choice Wildcard made in not having any music playing during standard gameplay, a lot of what you are doing is just grinding or performing “chores” for lack of a better term. At the same time, I also think that this franchise would benefit greatly from having atmospheric music backing its beautiful scenery and wildlife, even if it was just every once and awhile and triggered when crossing into a new biome that you haven’t been in for a while, or upon reaching particular areas like the tops of mountains. It would really do a lot to amplify the beauty of what you are probably seeing in each of those areas, or the tension of spelunking or deep-diving. I really hope this change is made going forward, as music is a language that everyone understands, even if their computer can’t render two thousand shadows at once.
Customization
This is an issue that has, in my opinion, hung over ARK like a dark shadow since almost the very beginning. Sure, one might argue that there are tons of customization options available, I mean, dyes, warpaints, skins, costumes, mutations, etc… All well and good, but not the kind of customization that really sticks with players IMO, far more important than any of that?
Character Creator
Seriously, what is with the Character Creator? It is far easier to create avatars with impossible physical proportions which consistently remind you that you’re playing a game full of 12 year-olds with warped senses of humor then to create any semblance of a realistic looking human. The fact that everyone defaults to some sort of steroid infused body-builder does nothing to improve the situation. It should have been fixed long ago, and frankly, never should have been a problem in the first place. One of the most important parts of the otherness that draws us to Video Games is the ability to step into the shoes of another person. To create our ideal representation of ourselves, our feelings at the time, or just to experience things from a different perspective. Our Avatars act as our bridges into the “Otherness” of every video game story and then cycle back to help us relate to other people and to ourselves in the real world. That is why they are so tremendously important. We have to be able to relate to them and form an emotional attachment.
With the current system in place, it is far easier to create a freak of nature than to create an interesting looking character, there is very little opportunity for details, no initial hairstyle choices, no facial editor, no realistic proportioning for torso or limbs, no freckles, scars, or birthmarks, no detailed eye colors. We’re presented only with the most basic of the basics, which results in a world full of Bobs and Janes where everyone looks roughly the same, or outright ridiculous. In a sequel, I think this is one of the most important aspects of the Franchise that needs to be addressed, especially because of the implications repeatedly presented to us by the Lore.
So, for starters, it needs to be impossible to alter the physical parameters of characters to create impossibly proportioned abominations that would die instantly in reality or that lend any advantage in PvP (i.e smaller target or hitbox). For a game like this I would expect a character creator no less detailed than say, Dragon Age: Inquisition. We’re going to be looking at, RPing with, and PvPing with these characters for hundreds to thousands of hours and deserve the right to make avatars that look beautiful, badass, or just plain cool, regardless of gender. Supposedly, we’re taking people from hundreds of different time-periods and parts of the world and placing them in these ARKs, yet our characters only ever look vaguely European with an occasional skin-tone shift that is more jarring than anything, because it is not accompanied by the physical proportions and visual traits our brains have come to associate with different ethnicities. Having the ability to make your character look Asian, Hispanic, Middle-Eastern, African, Native American, Indian, Polynesian and more would go a long way towards making the whole experience more fun and believable and would greatly expand our customization options and potential for immersion both in role-playing situations and in standard gameplay.
Armor and Structural Aesthetic
This issue ties directly into the next topic, which is Progression and Tech Trees, but for now I am more focused on how we as players characters can have agency in the way our characters and bases look. I remember when they first showed off concept art for the Fur Armor, before the Snow and Swamp Biomes were introduced to The Island, every single design looked awesome, and frankly, I wanted them all. I know it is a lot of work to create each individual armor set, but I think it’s worth it to really create a game that exceeds the typical standards of an AAA title.
It would be beyond cool to be able to make different versions of the various types of armor available to further customize our look and immersion in the gameplay. For example, a Flak Armor that looks more like a medieval-style Knight, but with the added aesthetic of Black Powder Weapons and a bit of Primal flair thrown in. Or Fur Armor that has elements of Saber Tooth or Mammoth theming depending on what you use to craft it. Maybe Hide armor that can look scaly if you use reptilian parts. And it would be truly nice to get completed skin sets, or else make things like Manticore Armor and Wyvern Gauntlets craft-able armor pieces. Since you already went to the work of making the 3D Models for these things, I don’t think that’s too much to ask. I was delighted when I heard the Manticore Helmet would become a full armor set, and deeply disappointed when the Wyvern Gauntlets never got the same treatment, that situation was repeated with the Aberrant Helmet and Sword and the Corrupted Armor set.
I would much much rather have craftable variants of the Armor Classes rather than the occasional incomplete skin set. I think this would go a long way towards making the overall experience more fun. And although this might be a bit overboard, I wouldn’t mind having some similar craft-able variations on the Structure Tiers. Perhaps different types of wood, or more jagged cut stone, maybe Tek tilesets that use airlock style doors instead of forcefields, etc…
Progression and Tech Trees
Tech Tree Gaps
Although Ark has a long-standing problem with gaps in its tech trees a lot of those have been closed in Extinction and Genesis or will be in Genesis Part 2 however there are still quite a few that I hope are closed up in any potential sequel. The way I see it, Ark essentially follows a four Tier advancement system, Tribal -> Settler -> Industrial -> Tek
Examples of still existing gaps in the tech tree include Mortar and Pestle -> ? -> Chemistry Bench -> ?, which entirely skips the Settler Tier and offers no Tek equivalent. So players have to invest an enormous amount of resources to upgrade one of the most basic Crafting Stations when a simple yet logical improvement like an Apothecary should be available.
The Refining Forge to the Industrial Forge is yet another example, Settler Tier could easily have been filled in with a Metal Foundry, and Tek Tier could’ve done something interesting like a Magnetosphere that passively produces metal by extracting it from deep beneath the ground.
Similar gaps exist in the Cooking Trees, and between Lighting Fixtures.
The list is quite extensive even beyond that, Saddle Mounted Weapons (never got the swivel cannons we were promised for Settler Tier), emplaced weaponry such as Cannons and Ballistae and Miniguns could’ve used a Tek equivalent, environmental controllers such as Air Conditioners have no equivalent or advanced versions.
Weapons have finally rounded out with at least one Side-Arm, Close-Combat, Long-Range, Heavy Weapon, and Special Weapon for three out of the four tiers, but still has gaps in Primitive (Tomahawk for Primitive Heavy anyone?). Shields also missed out on the opportunities to be Dual-Wielded with one handed projectile weapons such as Pistols, Hand Crossbows, Grenades, and at least Spears if not Pikes, severely limiting their applications in combat.
Character Progression
Now, I respect Wildcards attempt to encourage character specialization using the Engram system, I think it was a step in the right direction but ultimately it became little more than an annoyance and did not have the intended effect with players quite often short on points for Engrams they really wanted or resetting their characters with Mind Wipe Tonics to get around the system. The best way forward in my view would be to introduce skills and perk trees, which I know sounds terribly pedestrian, but hear me out.
I’ll use Taming creatures as an example for what could’ve been and might still be. Imagine a Zoology skill which could be used to study and learn about creatures though hunting, observation, or discovering behavioral patterns, filling out info for us in a kind of dossier equivalent (which we would need in any sequel that takes place after Genesis since Helena is not around to write them). As you improve this skill, you could specialize in Taming, Handling, or Husbandry, and receive special bonuses related to certain groups of creatures such as Mammals or Insects, and perhaps eventually for specific Species within those groups.
Taming would obviously relate to how quickly you can track, down, and domesticate a wild creature.
Handling to how it behaves in conjunction with its rider, what orders it can follow, what abilities it has access to, and whether it receives stat bonuses or not.
And Husbandry to breeding, how long it takes to recuperate after breeding, what kind of imprinting bonds might form and with whom, or how effectively creatures produce by-products such as fertilizer, oil, honey, milk, wool, etc…
Any number of perks could be used to alter all these variables and enable players to truly specialize their characters in meaningful ways, becoming a true master of the Direwolf Pack, an expert Bee-Keeper who produces unparalleled qualities of honey, mead, and royal jelly, or an Aerial Hotshot with a highly organized squadron of support fliers.
Same concept could be applied to the other skills, you could use Perks to specialize in crafting high quality weapons with better durability and damage potential, to become a survivalist with great resistance to exposure in heat or cold and to poisons and toxins, to become an expert at melee combat, or an exceptional architect whose structures boast additional durability and extra resistance to certain damage types. Great potential exists for true specialization, but not within the current Engram system, and that is why I think a traditional Tech Tree and a Skill Based Perk Trees would be wonderful additions to the franchise.
Lore and World-Consistency
Now, in this particular area Ark doesn’t dramatically fall short, but there are a few key areas I’d like to address, some of which do touch on things I’ve previously mentioned…
Creatures as Described vs. Creatures in Gameplay
There are multiple occasions in which creatures or creature groups do not behave as described by Helena, lack certain features they are stated to have, or sometimes do not even exist in Canon ARKs despite being described in her Notes.
Here are a few examples,
Araneo – As far as I know, they have no ability to spit venom as is mentioned in their dossier, have no ability to sense vibrations in dark environments, (at least not one their riders can take advantage of) obviously they can be ridden now when their dossier says otherwise, and despite being described as an excellent guardian for those who wish to avoid killing, it has no abilities that would assist it in this role, it will always kill before it KO’s. (TLC would be great if you’re in the mood, hint hint.)
Titanomyrma – Only appear in small groups, never fulfilling the dreadful promise of a swarming behavior as suggested in their dossier, and have no Queen variant or colony structure, both of which were things that players were expecting due to the way the Dossier was suggestively worded. It may have been unintentional, but it still leaves you wanting. Plus, having random colonies spawn here and there and continuously spawn Titanomyrma until destroyed would mix things up in yet another interesting way and add to the feeling of a living breathing world.
Pulmonoscorpius – Dossier suggests it would be kitted for KOing other creatures but it is absolutely horrendous in this role and has no abilities to assist it in the endeavor. Personally, I think it would be cool to be able to jump at and latch onto larger creatures and continuously inflict Torpor at a rapid rate, only taking damage to Stamina until shaken lose. (TLC? :D)
Beelzebufo – Contestable, but I think the Dossier suggests that Chitin stored in their inventory ought to be converted to CP over time. This would dramatically increase their utility. Plus it would behoove the game to remove CP from Beaver Dams or at least greatly reduce amount that spawns as it is simply too easy to obtain as is.
Carbonemys and Doed – Dossiers suggest they can use their shells for added defensive capabilities, but the features are only soft implemented if at all. Also, what is with the disappearing rider when Doed’s roll? Roll Cage is where it’s at, time for an upsize.
Dimetrodon – Dossier suggests it is useful as a living Environmental Conditioner, but its difficulty in taming and low mobility make this impractical in almost every way.
Pelagornis – Dossiers suggests that it should be rare near coastlines, yet it is prolific.
Ice Wyverns - Wildcard brought this on themselves by mentioning Ice Wyverns in the Managarmr Dossier as though they were a canon creature native to Scorched Earth. My concept for their inclusion would be pretty simple, TEK Caves and Observation Platforms have been shown to be extremely cold in specific areas, if Scorched Earth ascension were added and there were a Tek Cave you could potentially traverse deep beneath the desert into an area that is extraordinarily cold in the opposite extreme to the surface. Here you could have a side path that leads to a large cavern or trench which houses exclusively Ice Wyverns.
Anyway, my point in all this is that I believe each creature that exists and the information available about it should be carefully reevaluated to determine whether or not changes need to be made either to the dossiers, or to the creatures themselves so that both of them line-up.
Actions as Described vs Actions in Gameplay
All the survivor notes in this game suggest a certain degree of intimacy with the world and the way it works that simply is not present in many cases.
Rockwell’s Notes on the Island suggest thriving and diverse plant life which can be harvested in different locations and biomes and used for different purposes, yet the actual implementation of plant-life in the game is severely lacking. I would’ve loved to have seen Plant Dossiers, and biomes in which distinct Herbs, Berries, Fruits, and Vegetables might be found, with an array of hidden potentials only to be revealed by studying their traits and mixing and matching them to create new recipes.
However we have less than 20 Recipes, three vegetables and one fruit, none of which are found in the wild, and six berries, only two of which have any secondary effects. The Rare Flowers and Mushrooms of The Island are a little bit interesting and the Mushrooms in Aberration also do a little to expand on this, but are ultimately just a gimmick with limited uses and little nuance. As quickly as their effects arise, they can be dealt with and they begin and end within themselves, not interacting with other plant-life (if you consider mushrooms plants.)
I’m similarly disappointed with Plant Species Alpha, whose three incarnations (X, Y, and Z,) were similarly gimmicky and presented no natural threat to players or creatures. It would’ve made obtaining Plant Species X a thousand times more interesting if they actually attacked players and other threats to them (such as Procoptodon) in the wild. Similarly, having to watch out for Plant Species Y in Scorched Earth could’ve made that environment even more interesting. And there is plenty of potential for more, like Plant Species V maybe, an enormous Venus Fly Trap that acts like a Torpor Inducing Bear Trap, or perhaps Plant Species A, which grows hardened petals and thorns that can be used as spears and shields of varying quality, maybe even armor, etc, etc…
In a potential sequel, so much more could be done with Plant Life, and I for one would be thrilled to explore and discover it all.
Some other things: Diana, Helena, Santiago, and Mei-Yin’s notes all suggest a degree of control and maneuverability with Meks that could not possibly be further from what we actually get in-game.
Notes on The Island suggest it should be possible to bring certain creatures into Boss Arenas which are forbidden in actual gameplay.
Passive tames are arbitrarily locked behind level walls which only serve to remind you that you are playing a game.
Several Notes suggest herding behavior, yet all dinos wander aimlessly about even if from the same species.
Many notes suggest that the ARKs ought to react to player activity in some way and at certain points, but that never happens.
I suppose you could consider a couple of these point to be nit-picks, but there are even more issues that you could discuss, and I think world consistency is one of the most crucial elements of any fiction, which is why I believe this also deserves close scrutiny going forward.
Creatures
Now here’s something I think everyone can agree the game falls majorly short on. And for me, it would be something I would sacrifice almost any other feature to see addressed.
General Creature Design
Creatures need more nuance, even if it means we get less of them. Many of the DLCs and TLCs have addressed this to some degree, but Ark definitely suffered a certain amount of “Dino Bloat” between Early Access launch and official release. True, you could argue that there are only so many Theropods or Sauropods you can have before you start repeating yourself… But is that really true? The Additional Creatures mod is a shining example of how you can take existing Archetypes and really shake them up and make something new, different, and tactically valuable. Acrocanthosaurus for example is not only one of the most beautifully designed creatures available in ARK even when compared to official TLC designs, it also has some incredibly creative and unique mechanics that thoroughly distinguish it from any other Theropod in the game. The Tropeognathus is another excellent (and official) example of what I am talking about. Its flight mechanics are unique, have incredible versatility and utility, and set it head and shoulders apart from any other flyer in-game. Not that Wyverns aren’t still badass, mind you, but having a grenade launching dog-fighter is fantastically fun.
Which brings up a critical point actually. Tropeo is beautifully designed in terms of colors, patterns, and modelling, right up there with Garuga123’s Acro, but it’s potential is only unlocked based on what we, the survivors, choose to outfit it with. We need more of that. We need multiple saddle designs for some creatures I think, not just generic bridle and rides, but saddles designed with specific purposes and more modularity in mind. The Mammoth War Drum Saddle is great, but where are my Siege Weapon Saddles? When they first presented the idea for platform saddles in EA and showed off the concept art, I thought it looked absolutely amazing and expected a kind of miniature fortress on which we could build some crafting stations and lodgings and mount certain specific siege weapons or utility structures like war drums. I fully expected there to be specific snap points for these, and a limit on what you can and cannot do. What we got instead was an ugly, completely blank slate metal cutting board, which (while admirable in concept) has led to equally ugly, immersion breaking custom designs, and certainly contributed to poor server performance over the years. There is sometimes virtue in limiting what players can do for the sake of immersion and design-balance. A Brontosaurus Saddle with dual back mounted Ballistae or enormous Tek Railguns/Missile Batteries is an awesome concept, but we lost that potential awesomeness in exchange for total freedom to build whatever we wanted. And that is not even taking into account that some creature designs (looking at you Quetzal, Mosa, and Plesio) suffered a lot from having to cow-tow to platform saddle mechanics. Personally, I do not think it was worth it.
To sum up, each creature should have unique mechanics, attacks, and utilities whether natural or owing to the ingenuity of survivor constructs such as saddles or armor; and it’s not enough to just have one gimmick, really take the time to think through and flesh-out each concept and design. (Therizino Tek Saddle with Plasma Scythe Claws plz!)
Behavior of Wild Creatures
As it stands, wild creatures have two states, three if you differentiate between aggressor and defender. You have: wander aimlessly, or try to eat nearest living thing (and if there is a human nearby, team up with literally everything else to eat the human), there are no interesting or natural seeming behaviors present in the entire game, but there is so much potential for it, and it would enliven the experience more than most of the suggestions here combined.
Imagine Stegosaurs or Triceratops moving together in herds, reacting defensively when they spot large carnivores, migrating throughout The ARKs in routes that they’ve been following for generations, imagine having wild baby dinos travelling around with their parents, easier to tame, yet so much harder to isolate and capture. Higher risk, higher reward.
Imagine an ocean ecosystem that doesn’t view humans as the sole and supreme delicacy among all potential food sources, a world where all under sea life hasn’t formed an unspoken alliance against terrestrial invaders and brokered in an age of eternal peace. Imagine Mosasaurs actually hunting other sea life, or grappling with Tusoteuthis for dominion over the Abyss.
Imagine the aeries of the high mountains, dotted by intricately constructed nests and guarded by fierce birds of prey and deadly draconic menaces.
Imagine the deep jungles, stalked by deadly reptiles and mammals, ambush predators who will spring out of nowhere and drag the unwary back into the brush.
Imagine putrid swamps full of dangerous plants and decaying carcasses coated in insect larvae, roiling with deadly diseases, giant tadpoles, and man-eating piranhas.
And perhaps most importantly, imagine carnivores that weren’t eternally hungry and actually had a pattern to their lives, nests to go back to, and young to feed. Imagine them following vulnerable herds waiting for an opportunity to strike and eying under protected settlements.
Basically, what we need in this area is an AI Overhaul, creatures need a life cycle of some sort. They need to have behaviors that they follow, they need to eat and drink, and they need to interact with each other in a way that at least appears interesting if not completely believable and immersive.
Combat could also use an overhaul, barring the occasional special ability, it is rare that anything happens other than spamming the LMB and trying to make the best of knock-back effects, which are almost universally present and quite a pitiful gimmick to rely on. What would really push combat over the edge to the visceral territory I was talking about back in the Animation section would be creatures models that actually collide with each other and have power struggles, similar to Turf Wars from the Monster Hunter franchise. They don’t have to be long or intricate, they don’t even have to have a major impact on the outcome of the battle, it would just be absolutely epic to see a T-Rex and a Spino smack down for a few seconds once in awhile. Maybe sometimes the Spino wins, maybe sometimes the Rex wins, but either way it creates the illusion that these are real super-predators, and that contributes greatly to immersion.
Progression of Tamed Creatures
Another fairly big issue with creatures as a whole is how they gain experience. Those that are ridable have a massive advantage over those that are not because they are utilized far more often and can be controlled in a consistent manner with less risk. Those that are tamed for more passive abilities or utility purposes have a massive disadvantage as they are only occasionally used for the tasks that yield the significant experience, and thus level very slowly.
What I would suggest in this case is to establish an outline of what role each creature is designed to fulfill, and then grant it experience for fulfilling that role. If it’s producing honey, then by producing honey, if it’s gathering resources, then by gathering resources, if it’s acting as a beast of burden or a escort, then by moving over long distances, if it’s combat, then through combat. Basically, make each creature gain the most experience by doing what it’s meant to do instead of skewing the whole process in favor of combat dinos alone because they will inherently have the most action.
Size Classes
Another potentially interesting addition in my opinion would be size classes. They would basically function as armor classes, with larger dinos taking less and less damage from smaller ones as their sizes deviate more and more. It would essentially make large predators a huge challenge for smaller ones and prevent the comical scenes where a survivor with a tiny body and massive head walks up to a T-Rex with a specially levelled Parasaur and gums it to death. I think this would really contribute to making each type of creature useful in specific situations.
If there were say, five size classes, Verminous, Small, Medium, Large, and Titantic. Each size could take, say, 40% less damage with each size class below it, so Verminous Creatures would be unable to harm Large creatures at all, while Small Creatures could only deal 20% of their normal damage. Creatures in the same size-class would of course trade blows as normal, and no damage bonus is really necessary when attacking smaller creatures since the base damage values are already pretty believable in most cases.
The Grind and Player Engagement
What You Imagine vs. What You Get
When you think of ARK and the concept behind it, I honestly don’t know how you could be anything but excited. I mean, you get to ride dinosaurs! With your loved ones! You get to adventure in a world full of sights you will not see anywhere else. And there is a grand tale behind it that is mysterious and intriguing to boot. From the very beginning you are confronted with the question, “what is this place, really?”
From there, you are free as a bird, able to go down any path you choose and set any goal you wish. Whether it’s making a Dodo Coop, or summiting that mountain over there, or maybe trying to find a Wyvern with just the right color pattern and hoping it laid an egg recently. Along the way, you discover more and more clues, develop better technologies, outfit yourself with better equipment, and secure beasts the likes of which no wild creature could ever hope to challenge.
But there is a grinding of gears in the background of all this that gets louder and louder as time goes on. Eventually it gets so loud that it drowns out all the sights, sounds, and magic of what is supposed to be happening. Put simply, there is just too much grind in this game, and there always has been. Though it has gotten much better lately, I will admit. Still, I don’t think it’s necessarily about finding a balance in terms of time and effort, but in terms of interactivity and accessibility.
Nearly all the hardcore features of this game, such as building immense intricate bases, or breeding super dinos and imprinting them, or even taming the best of the best, they take an absurd, and frankly unhealthy amount of time out of people’s real lives. Games are meant to be an escape yes, but they are not meant to subsume the other things we have to do in life. It’s about taking a trip to a world with magic and bringing a little back out with you. It’s not about getting trapped inside.
I think in some cases this matter might even be considered a moral one, as I don’t see how any game studio can justify creating a situation in which someone is forced to choose between losing all the magic of the game world or living their real lives and interacting with real people. I mean, the level of dedication and time that Officials Servers require could be grounds for divorce, and in my view that is simply unacceptable.
Going forward, I believe an essential consideration for this franchise should be accessibility. How much can you accomplish within a given amount of time? How much can you lose? How long does it take to get it back? Is it worth it to get it back? How hard should it be to lose your progress? How hard should it be to work your way back up? And most importantly, is this really fun? Is it really something I believe I can accomplish and have fun while doing it? That is the most important question of all. If a game isn’t fun, it’s worthless. And while I’ve had thousands of hours of fun in ARK, I find myself asking the question, “Is this fun anymore?” too much for comfort.
These are all critical questions that I feel have been largely overlooked, or else assigned arbitrary values and then patched/adjusted as time went on. But not, of course, before serious damage was already dealt to people’s real lives. I think people have a right to expect that they can invest a reasonable amount of time into a game for a reasonable amount of reward. I also think they have the right to expect that their assets in game are in some fashion protected when they are not there to defend them. I am of course referring to the elephant of elephants, offline raiding. It has to end, there must be some solution to it, and if it takes hundred heads to figure it out, so be it, but there has to be a way.
My suggestions? Firstly, Ark needs REDUCED server capacity. While it is great in theory to have 100+ people, I think around 50 would be much easier to manage and a lot healthier in terms of creating non-toxic competition and improving server performance.
Secondly, in order to address offline PvAI combat that almost always favors the attacker and results in thousands of hours of lost effort for the player-base with no chance of defense… I think the option should be presented to players to have their own micro-servers which they can link to a particular Official Cluster and be able to store anything and everything that they absolutely do not want to lose while offline. Essentially like a “private island” that no one except your own tribe and your allies can visit. Of course, the greatest quantity and quality of tames, items, and resources could only be found on the official maps, providing incentive to venture out and have forward bases in the open world.
I love this franchise, I have since the very beginning, and I really want to enjoy playing it, but the magic cannot last forever unless some serious adjustments are made in the future. Again, I love this franchise. I really want to see it reach even greater heights.
That’s all. Keep surviving! ❤️
-CyanicEmber
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