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Beacon dev on Ark 2


sbeltsov

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I read an interesting post from the creator of the (fantastic) beacon app regarding Ark 2. If he is right, and the customization level of Ark 2 will be much lower (including no mods), it will be very disappointing. Here's what he wrote:

"I am concerned that Ark 2 will not offer the level of customization that Ark has seen. The number of options Wildcard gives us for Ark is incredible and the game is still successful because of those options. Without the flexibility given to us, I don't believe Ark would still be driving the player counts that it does after six years. But these options are a nightmare for Wildcard. They are a pain for developers who have to worry about how every one of them affects new systems. They are a pain for customer support agents, who have to play twenty questions with every admin just to figure out what's going on. And they are a pain for the bean counters because admins take the new DLC content and transplant it into older/free maps. It would not surprise me in the slightest for Ark 2 to be far more "locked down" than Ark. Given the Microsoft exclusivity, I'd even be surprised if Steam mods were allowed. My expectation is that Ark 2 will launch on PC exclusive to the Windows Store, meaning we'd all be playing the Xbox version. Steam support may come in the future, alongside the PS4 support, but I expect it'd still be the same Xbox version, just sold through Steam. I hope I'm wrong. I hope Ark 2 will give Beacon 2 a reason to exist. But what we've seen so far suggests Ark 2 will be a very different game."

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/21/2021 at 10:35 AM, Diabolos said:

Ark is a successful franchise, and I doubt they would risk a sequel's success. They have made alternative IP's, and done their testing there. Atlas is a prime example.

While this is a great take on the issue, we see time and time again content creators that just don’t understand what made their property successful. I hope that Wildcard’s executives do not make that same mistake. But yes, it’s far too early to sound the panic alarms. I’m still forging ahead as if Ark 2 is just Ark refined.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Volunteer Moderator
1 hour ago, sbeltsov said:

This is a very toxic comment, and from a moderator no less...

Well, it wasn't meant to be toxic. It was meant to be a funny way to indirectly point out some obvious facts;

  • ARK 2 isn't released.
  • Your source is not credible/official.
  • No need to panic, spread rumours or speculate about something that is unconfirmed and very unlikely to happen.

I mean, the chances they remove modding is very very low. I don't think their stance regarding them changed since then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faweKXUTKgQ

 

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5 hours ago, invincibleqc said:

Well, it wasn't meant to be toxic. It was meant to be a funny way to indirectly point out some obvious facts;

  • ARK 2 isn't released.
  • Your source is not credible/official.
  • No need to panic, spread rumours or speculate about something that is unconfirmed and very unlikely to happen.

I mean, the chances they remove modding is very very low. I don't think their stance regarding them changed since then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faweKXUTKgQ

 

I don't have a source. This is not a leak. This is from a well-constructed post by a person (who contributed a lot to the unofficial/modded community, I spent maybe 100 hours with the beacon app configuring my drops, and most of its features are free to use, btw he replied in this thread too) who shares his thoughts on Ark 2, and he has good arguments regarding it. No one is panicking.  And speculation should always be welcomed, especially when it's done right, and not in a "tinfoil hat" way. It's fun, and it should be welcomed when there's no info available. Freedom of speech, you know.

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ARK is still so popular thanks to mods (if no mods I will probably quit playing ARK after first 1000 hours but thanks to modding community I'm always coming back to ARK). I'm sure devs know that too so ARK 2 will be modding friendly game (of course probably not at launch because of new game engine). ARK is long living game like Arma or Mount & Blade just because of mods so ARK 2 will go the same way.

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On 8/12/2021 at 3:41 AM, invincibleqc said:

I mean, the chances they remove modding is very very low.

You're right, it is 100% speculation. But it's speculation based on a few facts we know. First, there are no mods on consoles. Very few games have tried, none of have particularly successful. _Maybe_ Ark 2 will try it, but I doubt it. Second, Ark 2 is launching exclusive to Xbox. This supposedly includes PC, but this almost certainly means through the Windows store. No Steam, No Epic. It also means we'd be playing the Xbox version, just like Windows store players do today. Because of these two facts, I'm expecting Ark 2 will not have mod support. Not in the first year during the expected exclusivity period, and probably not ever. I don't believe Ark 2 will have a special Steam version like they do today. The original Ark may have launched on Steam and came to the other platforms later, but Wildcard is a very different company these days and they now have juggernaut Microsoft money pulling their strings. The Xbox exclusivity speaks volumes. Aside from giving us the clues already outlined, it also indicates that money is more important than the quality of the game. If they really wanted to make a great game, they'd want to bring it to all of their fans.

 

I really hope I'm wrong. I couldn't mean that more. Because if I'm not, Ark 2 will see short term success, followed by a boredom-driven player exodus.

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  • 4 months later...
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On 8/17/2021 at 9:44 PM, Tekcor said:

it also indicates that money is more important than the quality of the game

This is always what happens when an indie game studio hits the mark with a game and is then bought out by the big boys. The game always suffers.

I can't think of a single instance this hasn't happened. It's no longer a baby pet project that it was to the indie developers, it's a revenue generating stream to the conglomerate.

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