Old server rates (2015)

[AscensionVibe]

Please don't ask me why but I really like the grind in Ark

I know that Wildcard changed the server rates on official several (and also singleplayer?) times since release. And I would really like to enjoy Ark like it was back in 2015.

Is there anyone who knows how I would have to tweak my settings in order to achieve that? Already asked on Steam and people told me that todays rate would be around 4x times...

 

[Pipinghot]

15 minutes ago, AscensionVibe said:

Please don't ask me why but I really like the grind in Ark

I know that Wildcard changed the server rates on official several (and also singleplayer?) times since release. And I would really like to enjoy Ark like it was back in 2015.

Is there anyone who knows how I would have to tweak my settings in order to achieve that? Already asked on Steam and people told me that todays rate would be around 4x times...

There are two settings related to harvesting.

HarvestAmountMultiplier=     (the amount of resources you harvest with each strike/grab/swing)
HarvestHealthMultiplier=     (the total amount of resources per node/bush/stone/tree)

 

1) The HarvestAmountMultiplier= has definitely been multiplied x2 twice since 2015 (so a net total of x4). If you want the amount you harvest per strike/grab/swing to be the same as it was in 2015 you want to set this value to 0.25, like so:

HarvestAmountMultiplier=0.25

 

2) I'm not 100% certain whether the other setting has also been tweaked since 2015, but I think it has. This is an educated guess based on how long it takes to harvest nodes. If the health multiplier had not been tweaked then practically every dino would harvest all resource nodes in a single swing which would feel weird and unbalanced. If I were you, I would also set this to 0.25 and then, if harvesting doesn't feel right after you play for a while, change this value to something that feels better.

HarvestHealthMultiplier=0.25

 

[zero064]

You'll have to set the XP multiplier lower as well. You'd need either 0.25 or 0.5 to get it back to the original.

When I set up a server it's the first thing I dial back, because the default rates feel crazy high to me now.

[Joebl0w13]

13 hours ago, zero064 said:

You'll have to set the XP multiplier lower as well. You'd need either 0.25 or 0.5 to get it back to the original.

When I set up a server it's the first thing I dial back, because the default rates feel crazy high to me now.

0.25, the current rates are 4 times what the original game was. 

[Cowgirl]

Taming speed was also affected, in 2015 a 120 (max at the time) bronto would take over 24 hours with berries.

[Pipinghot]

16 hours ago, Cowgirl said:

Taming speed was also affected, in 2015 a 120 (max at the time) bronto would take over 24 hours with berries.

@AscensionVibe I recommend that it will be better for you to think in terms of 2016 rather than 2015, there were a lot of changes happening during the first few months of Early Access that aren't really part of the standard conversation when we talk about rates being changed. There were many small tweaks that almost no one is going to be able to remember or tell you about.

Examples:

Patch 171.8 "Increased the yield of metal ore gained from metal-type rocks with non-metal tools by 3x."  This has nothing to do with the two different times that WC increased harvesting rates by x2 for the game.

Patch 172.3 "Base Food/Water Resource consumption rates reduced by 25% each."

Patch 174.0 "Tripled the metal content of metal and rich-metal rocks"

...and so on. There are lots of little items like that during the first few months of the game.

 

So, if you set your harvesting and XP settings to =0.25 you'll have a pretty good feeling for what it was like to play in 2016, and don't worry about all the little things that happened during the first 6 months of Early Access during 2015.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Pipinghot

[DirkInSA]

@AscensionVibe I have a running copy of the game (ver 1.71.74). I see that  in the .ini harvest and taming speed is set to 3.0, but I cannot remember if I changed those rates, or if it was shipped like that. But the rates are REALLY horrible. A hand harvested bush will give between 0 and 3 berries. A rock with a stone pickaxe will give between 1 and 4 flint. A level 3 Trike took like 7 hours real time to tame.

So yeah nostalgia is great, but if you get it right to reset the stats back to that time, you are in for a really LONG road  The old versions were viciously hard! (This is not to say that some dial back is not in order, because modern rates are in my opinion too high).

Edited May 25, 2023 by DirkInSA

[Joebl0w13]

16 minutes ago, DirkInSA said:

@AscensionVibe I have a running copy of the game (ver 1.71.74). I see that  in the .ini harvest and taming speed is set to 3.0, but I cannot remember if I changed those rates, or if it was shipped like that. But the rates are REALLY horrible. A hand harvested bush will give between 0 and 3 berries. A rock with a stone pickaxe will give between 1 and 4 flint. A level 3 Trike took like 7 hours real time to tame.

So yeah nostalgia is great, but if you get it right to reset the stats back to that time, you are in for a really LONG road  The old versions were viciously hard! (This is not to say that some dial back is not in order, because modern rates are in my opinion too high).

Now let’s go tame a max level tickle chicken with mejos. Cause what’s 8-10 hours amongst friends?

[DirkInSA]

8 hours ago, Joebl0w13 said:

Now let’s go tame a max level tickle chicken with mejos. Cause what’s 8-10 hours amongst friends?

LOL it would take MONTHS real time - cause there were no tickle chicken released them years ..........

Ankylo Argentavis Bat Boa BoaFrill Carno Coelacanth Dilo Dodo Mammoth Megalodon Para Phiomia Piranha Ptero Raptor Rex Saber Sarco Sauropod Scorpion Spider-Large Spider-Small Stego Trike Turtle
is your lot.

But a Rex w raw meat would likely run to close on a whole day. I tried a croc and like 8 hours in ran out of narco, and could not "pick" enough berries as well as kill stuff for meat to keep it going ...... And it was maybe 60% "tamed".

[Joebl0w13]

2 hours ago, DirkInSA said:

LOL it would take MONTHS real time - cause there were no tickle chicken released them years ..........

Ankylo Argentavis Bat Boa BoaFrill Carno Coelacanth Dilo Dodo Mammoth Megalodon Para Phiomia Piranha Ptero Raptor Rex Saber Sarco Sauropod Scorpion Spider-Large Spider-Small Stego Trike Turtle
is your lot.

But a Rex w raw meat would likely run to close on a whole day. I tried a croc and like 8 hours in ran out of narco, and could not "pick" enough berries as well as kill stuff for meat to keep it going ...... And it was maybe 60% "tamed".

Sure they were, I’m talking about right before the game was “officially” released. 2016. Tickle chickens took half a day to tame with berries. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Joebl0w13

[DirkInSA]

49 minutes ago, Joebl0w13 said:

Sure they were, I’m talking about right before the game was “officially” released. 2016. Tickle chickens took half a day to tame with berries. 

Fair enough - my "snapshots" of the game are a erratic - but the earliest reference I have to theries is Dec 2016 - and that is well in line with your chirp. That were a wild time with almost daily releases .... so who would actually know when and what and how much? But I stand by my comment:  Pre-release Ark rates and progression was VICIOUS! (and no - I am not gonna go and spend real time hours to prove that this beta version would take 562 real time days to tame a rex  )

[Joebl0w13]

36 minutes ago, DirkInSA said:

Fair enough - my "snapshots" of the game are a erratic - but the earliest reference I have to theries is Dec 2016 - and that is well in line with your chirp. That were a wild time with almost daily releases .... so who would actually know when and what and how much? But I stand by my comment:  Pre-release Ark rates and progression was VICIOUS! (and no - I am not gonna go and spend real time hours to prove that this beta version would take 562 real time days to tame a rex  )

Oh those days were brutal. Trying to explain to the wife why a 6 hour tame was a thing “so you just stand around and protect this thing for the better part of a day?” Yup, fun huh?
 

And 4 hour imprints… getting up in the middle of the night to load the game just to do a 30 second task. Seriously, who thought that crap up?

Edited May 25, 2023 by Joebl0w13

[DirkInSA]

5 minutes ago, Joebl0w13 said:

Oh those days were brutal. Trying to explain to the wife why a 6 hour tame was a thing “ so you just stand around and protect this thing for the better part of a day?” Yup, fun huh?
 

And 4 hour imprints… getting up in the middle of the night to load the game just to do a 30 second task. Seriously, who thought that crap up?

Yeah and it were a 6 hour tame of a DILLO!!!!!!!    

[DirkInSA]

@AscensionVibe Maybe trying for 2015 rates are not a brilliant answer. As per comments above the "release" of Ark into the wild was somewhere in 2016. Prior to release rates were really not something to build a long term relationship with!

Since release the "gross" change in rates seems to be like 4 times. So a 0.25 rate on the bits that trouble you would perhaps give you close to what "used to be". Sure the devs fiddled with a lot of harvesting this and taming that over time, but 0.25 would maybe get you close.

[Cowgirl]

17 hours ago, Joebl0w13 said:

Now let’s go tame a max level tickle chicken with mejos. Cause what’s 8-10 hours amongst friends?

Omg and you would have to babysit it because the heckin things wake up so fast.