Trading (for beginners) - what is it and how/where ?

[Rest2020]

I am a beginner to Ark, have mastered the very basics.  but there are some items i cant get until a MUCH higher level

- i have heard references to trading, how does it work (how do you transfer between players)

- is it restricted to players on the same map instance (for example, "theisland123" ?

 

[Thyme]

You can just drop your item and let the other pick it up. Players can transfer between maps in the same cluster on official, so a player who lives on another server can come to island123 by transferring via obilesk.

[sjskdjkfa]

You can just ask in global if someone has the thing you're looking for, if that doesn't work out you can make a post here: Cross-ARK Item Trading & Dino Breeding - ARK - Official Community Forums (survivetheark.com)

[sjskdjkfa]

1 hour ago, Rest2020 said:

there are some items i cant get until a MUCH higher level

...on that, there are these notes around the map that give a xp boost, search youtube how to do an ark note run, you can go from like lvl 1 to 80 in some tens of minutes, and if you're combining that with crafting some stuff maybe even into the mid eighties. And if someone were to let you use their industrial grinder to turn a pile of stone into flint... maybe even nineties. 

[Rest2020]

I never thought of there being info on doing an 'explorer notes' runaround, that should be good (at least the the easy places i can get to and survive)

[Dreadcthulhu]

One trick for lower level players to safely get the most out of a note is to stockpile a bunch of basic raw materials, hit the note, and then craft a bunch of foundations, walls, gates, a raft or two, ect, all at once. Ideally you want it to be stuff you will use later anyways, but better to craft unneeded stuff than waste the note. 

[Ganelon]

I am something of a wheeler and dealer. If we are talking PvE, and you are just starting and don't have much in the way of tradable items, you will need to 'join' the map community. What that means is, use global chat to greet the server every tme... note the names of the chatty folk. Participate in their banter. GET KNOWN as a good muthafahkr.

Advise global that you are NEW and don't know things, and ask specific questions(How do I... How does this work?). The map community are the people that talk and play with other people. Always be positive. Never ask for a hand out if you are new to the map community. Sometimes another player will ask for help to get their stuff due to getting ARKED... be the first to help.

Lemme give you my story from last summer...

I came back to scorched earth after being out for about 2 years. Scorched is a hard map to wake up naked and baseless on... even at high level like I was. After dying about 8 times, a map community guy logged on, and greeted the map asking "How's everyone doing?" I LOLed and told him my struggles. He offered to help me with setting up a 4x4 base at a place of my choice... we bantered during the process... I never asked for anything specific, just thanking him for his efforts... finally, left me with a high level Deony(but not his cream of the crop). Again, I thanked him for going well beyond any reasonable expectation. He told me who the great community tribes are and where the public "taverns" are. The next day, he checked in on me and gave me a extra Thyla baby that didn't have his target breeding stats... a bad creature to him... but a monster to me.

In about a week, I was able to put together enough metal to get a few high level Rex eggs. And by high level... I mean boss rex. Here's a secret about those Rex liines... they are EVERYWHERE!!! Anyone who does bosses has them in over abundance. 

I ended up with 1 male and 3 females from those three eggs. I breed them to get a full boss spread. I maved to Extinction and then joined that map community.  I traded about 10 Rex eggs for a couple of tek quetz eggs. Then I breed and raised tek quetzes and traded them for other things I wanted. An adult high level Tek Quetz is preferable on Extinction because they are used in the Desert Titan battle and the time it takes to raise then is a whip... so I increased the value by paying MY time to get them what they ultimately want.

Later... during an event... another member of the map community just decided to give out high level Giga eggs to people he knew. I mean, if you have 100 gigas... why not???

Now, I have a full power spread of tames... all kinds...  all top stats. And I definitely pay it forward. When I breed for mutations, I give away the early base breeders once I move forward on those targets. A level 300 argy is a waste of a cryo pod to me, but is Jeebus Crisp with wings for a low or mid level player.

 

 

[wizard03]

On 4/18/2021 at 11:38 PM, Rest2020 said:

I never thought of there being info on doing an 'explorer notes' runaround, that should be good (at least the the easy places i can get to and survive)

Its a good solid way of leveling up. A bit of advice tho, before you do, try to gather a REDICULOUSE amount of spoiled meat and narco berries....slap them notes, get back home, slam the narco....the result will be an addition 20-30 lvls. And you can always use more narco. 

Once you start getting up into lvl 60 and 70 tho, your best bet will be doing a swamp cave run. Those lvl 400 something bugs will level you up just as quick. I helped get a guy from lvl 0-63 in just half an hour.

[Rest2020]

Quote

Dreadcthulhu said:

One trick for lower level players to safely get the most out of a note is to stockpile a bunch of basic raw materials, hit the note, and then craft a bunch of foundations, walls, gates, a raft or two, ect, all at once. Ideally you want it to be stuff you will use later anyways, but better to craft unneeded stuff than waste the note. 

Darn, i have found 3 or 4 notes and just assumed they help generically raise my level.  if i understand you, i need to click on the note and then it raises points towards levels obtained by building stuff.  Us beginners miss a lot of good opportunities not knowing stuff like this.  THX

[Dreadcthulhu]

Its not just building; any activity that generates XP gets multiplied by when you have a note running - hitting a note before you down an alpha rex is good for higher level players, for example. Building stuff from a stockpile is just an easy way to do it.

[wizard03]

12 hours ago, Rest2020 said:

Darn, i have found 3 or 4 notes and just assumed they help generically raise my level.  if i understand you, i need to click on the note and then it raises points towards levels obtained by building stuff.  Us beginners miss a lot of good opportunities not knowing stuff like this.  THX

It will still help with generic leveling, but it also provides a buff that lasts for a short amount of time. If you get a couple notes back to back, this timer is extended. So if you make a bunch of stuff while the timer is ticking down, you will earn a multiplied amount of experience instead of just the normal exp from crafting

[BubbaGuy]

On 4/19/2021 at 12:30 PM, Dreadcthulhu said:

One trick for lower level players to safely get the most out of a note is to stockpile a bunch of basic raw materials, hit the note, and then craft a bunch of foundations, walls, gates, a raft or two, ect, all at once. Ideally you want it to be stuff you will use later anyways, but better to craft unneeded stuff than waste the note. 

Better...is fiber..stock up as much fiber as you can, then open the note and immediately start crafting CLOTH HATS. They accumulate fats (so might need to drop all hats) and is my go to for a new character. On a normal (no evo/events) day one can go from level 1 to level 50 in an hour with this method. Mind you, if you account for not dying during the process. My other go to is narcotics/sparkpowder/paste but they take more resources to have stashed.