Pillar Spam

[sokiexio]

WildCard please do something about the issue of using pillars and foundations to reclaim land. It is not normal that in less than a week the new ASA PVE servers can no longer be built by tribes of 2 people that fill the entire map with foundations and break 70% of the dino spawn, I had hoped that in this "new" ark, you would have solved this, but I see that not.

Edited December 3, 2023 by sokiexio

[SCrews]

Remove "To close to enemy foundations and or gates" on PVE. It doesn't make sense. We can't declare war, we can't harm each other's bases without using a wild dino (which is not allowed and can get us in trouble if we do it), and with all the pillars around it makes it hard to build. Just change it to where we're allies without needing to ally, keeping the option to ally incase we don't want to speak in global chat.

I understand why it is in place for PVP, it makes sense as they do declare war and can cause harm to structures that aren't their own. In PVE we don't have that option, so not being able to build next to someone's pillars when they have placed them over an entire square of map doesn't make sense.  I understand it means changing some foundational coding in the game to implement a suggestion like this but please consider it moving forward. A lot of new players get screwed over because some people feel the need to place pillars up to a thousand meters away from their bases so new players can't build or are limited in their builds.

Pillaring over large areas was a big problem in Evolved and it continues to be a problem in Ascended.

[bolosnif]

I have recently returned to Ark after a short break, and boy was I in for a shock.

My first impression of the Island was GREAT! There it is, in all it's glory. Until it came time to place my first foundation: the defining moment where one stakes his claim to his own piece of Ark real-estate - [ ! Can't place wood foundation: Too close to enemy foundation or gate. ]

It soon dawned on me that there were pillar cities stretched far and wide with very little room for anyone new to join in. A stark reminder of what was, and still is. Excruciating, dread and sometimes, with a bit of luck, Fun!

These little setbacks are anything but new,

However, should it continue to be a thing that goes unpunished? Perhaps not.

 

Anyway, the point to make is that there are still those who think it funny to troll by way of tactic on PVE servers. 

[Tylanater]

Specifically in PvP, but also applies in PvE. ASA servers are fully spammed already with like 600+ ping. It's so awful that spam is used as a balancing tool for pvp/raiding. They really need to change something. I feel like it's not that hard to address, would shake up the meta a bit, save them huge headaches I'm sure with massive server issues and costs, etc.

Example that comes to mind would be to just make a certain radius around the base where you can spam all you want but anything outside the radius only last for 12-24 hours (that doesn't get refreshed on rendering). That allows for building traps and getting into fights where you can spam an area quickly to defend but it would be impossible to keep a map fully spammed at all times. Plenty of other options could be explored.

Spam is like the first deterrent to people playing this game. "hey friend come play this cool game". They buy it, log on, and see foundations and pillars as far as the eye can see lmao. It's so bad.

[TonyTempah]

If you are on a good PVE server without jerks, Pillaring can be ok. Usually removing one or two can be negotiated to accommodate a new player or base expansion. Foundation spamming is what kills spawns though and I do not understand why there is the need to have masses of space gated in. It's just dead space. The thing is that people want to play the way they want to play and some of them are kids. 

Finally, Devs aren't reading this which is a shame because there are some good ideas up there.

[Ardeth]

Please note this is in regard to Official PvE servers. Not PvP or unofficial servers. Don't have any desire to play on those servers or on PvP for various personal reasons. If you want to know why, send me a DM and ask. Otherwise, without further adieu:

05/20/2024 (or so). Came back after several months of not playing ASA due to toxic players on servers and other issues, hoping that with the release of SE some tribes/players might have packed up and moved on from The Island and some spots might have opened up. Couldn't have been more wrong. Searched across many, many servers for a decent spot, and despite an occasional tiny spot in a random place that, in all honesty no one has any business attempting to build a base on top of, EVERYTHING was claimed and built on or pillared.

 

In other words, there's still the issue of land and no places to build despite this issue having occurred long ago in the past and at the launch of the new version of the game (as was largely the case upon the full version release of ASE).

 

I've been playing since BETA release on Xbox One back almost a decade ago now (can check my profile as I shortly joined this forum after buying the BETA back then), and despite issue after issue combined with failure after failure, I have kept coming back to play and trying again and again, never giving up on the dream I had of getting far in the game. Yet, somehow no matter how many times I try to work through this game's issues, hopes held high and coming back because there's no game quite like ARK, the issues remain persistent and only seem to be worsening as time goes by.

 

As soon as some issues get worked on and resolved, though not seemingly often as player satisfaction and feedback has readily been at the bottom of WildCard's to-do and care list, more issues present themself, or, like this one, go on being ignored.

 

How is it that a company can be allowed to take people's money for a product, and many times over at that, but be allowed to not care about whether everyone gets to enjoy said product and have it work like it should? Long ago this was taboo with a business as everyone eventually and quickly knew if something was bad, causing it to get tossed aside like trash (if it was the equivalent of such) in addition to community pressure setting the standard of demanding such. (1900's and thereabouts).

 

At least it was that way in the business world when I grew up as a kid (late 1980's to early 2000's. Wish something could/would be done to stop this incessant lack of uncaring companies, especially game comepanies, have been doing and are being allowed to get away with. Half-baked games that barely work, products charged top dollar for but being cheaply made/poorly designed and what-not. 

 

Agree with my thoughts or not, in the end all I really want is the ability to play and have the same opportunity others have been given on a steady basis (albiet it feels like only the select few get this privilege). Not something that anyone else wouldn't want themselves. I would dare to ask what is going to be done about this issue that has persisted down to this day, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer already -nothing, just like what was done in the past to resolve such issues... nothing.

 

Seems like all the bad reviews mixed in with a few good ones this game has been receiving are justified, as it's both an incredible idea that, in ways, has been beautifully executed and one with a seemingly infinite number of flaws. Just my thoughts.

[jh160005]

I have been playing since 2016

One of the biggest issues i have seen is the pillaring

it adds to player frustration and server performance

My suggestion is to limit the amount of land  by using Land Claim block ( like 7DTD)

Each player/tribe can have a land claim block that allows claim to a limited size

[jtsuki]

It's to express my disappointment to this game. 

[CptYarrr]

That's always been the case. For a decade now. 

[yarnevk]

2 hours ago, Blackmage2015 said:

Been several years with this issue only good fix is a land claim plotting system. Something that doesn’t reduce creativity but limits to a degree the amount of land you can claim. It’s not conducive to a good playing environment for one tribe to claim the whole map and then sell land for real cash. It needs to be addressed before scorched earth comes out or that remake of a map with paid expansions is going to be pointless if we too can’t build or play how the game was intended. I came up with a suggestion for this maybe vote for mine or come up with one you think is better to try and get votes for we need to bring this issue to a close. It’s been to long 

You really should have played ATLAS if you think it is a good system.  As you know WC is incapable of writing bug free code and its radial flagging claim system was a bug ridden mess and exploited badly.  Even when they rewrote it and fixed all the bugs, all that happened was the large mega tribes split into affiliated tribes of mass alts so they could still claim servers (despite the much greater magnitude in map size)

Edited December 6, 2023 by yarnevk

[Kizmiaz]

1 hour ago, Creativesoul said:

as a community we need to address the biggest issue in ark. the spam that blocks spawns and players building.....

[...], say like 20 structure items snapped together would count as a full structure. [...]

do you any idea how many structures of that type you'll see in case this idea might be picked up ?
 

[Creativesoul]

1 hour ago, Kizmiaz said:

do you any idea how many structures of that type you'll see in case this idea might be picked up ?
 

limit the number of full structures a tribe can build

[aikkam]

why not put a limit on the foundations, pillars and gates a tribe can place? 

[gundown777]

Also, I have a buddy that was very much into ark on ps4. Refuses to even play the ps5 version because of this very issue. You can't build anything anywhere. No wonder the servers look empty compared to when the game first came out years ago.

[aikkam]

a limit on the foundations and pillars would really be necessary for this game disaster  

[LittleXMan808]

In my opinion they should add a structure limit (lower for pillars than all other structures) to limit this.

[aikkam]

17 minutes ago, gundown777 said:

Vediamo mai risposte da qualcuno sui problemi o è solo una perdita di tempo anche solo inserire suggerimenti qui.

Inoltre, il mio suggerimento è stato aggiunto a questo thread, quindi sembra che qualcuno li stia guardando ma non gliene frega niente delle opinioni dei clienti????

I'm sorry to tell you but looking at how they treat people who ask for pvp orp and hardcore servers I'd say they don't care, so far the only thing they've done is add the cryos just to avoid having their servers screwed and they've limited the ini commands or console whatever you want to call them just because after 3 months they realized that they are like legal hacks 

[neocirus]

Pillar/foundation spam is one of the top 3 Ark gripes from every player.   My suggestion is to Give every player claim flags.  Tribe leaders get a "Large" flag for main base and each tribe member get two small flags for things like minibase, traps etc.  You will not be able to place these flags if you already have them down.  Picking up the flag add a 12 hour timer to any stuctures that where built in it's zone.   Large claim flags are 30-50 foundations wide/long buildable area, small are 15-20 foundations.  Devs have unlimited small claim flags they can place on major resource nodes or no build areas like caves.  Only the player who placed the flag and tribe leader can removed the flags.

For launch day servers being full my suggestion is to set a 4 hour limit with 10min. warnings the last 30 min.  After the servers hit 55 or less average players the limit is lifted.  If the servers hit 60/70 average for 3 days in a row the limit is placed again.   Also adding an afk warning for players who havent moved for more than 15min.  After 5 more min. they are logged out.

[Austria]

now we have Railroad on official to block the full Map....

[Cailean556]

1 hour ago, Austria said:

now we have Railroad on official to block the full Map....

Do the railroad blocks/foundations actually prohibit building/resource respawns within an area as large as most other structures - ala pillars and foundations? I don't play multiplayer, and I haven't built a track or anything yet so I'm not sure what to expect from it.

Most of the videos seem to have trees, bushes and rocks close to the railroad so it kind of gave me the impression that the 'resource respawn'/'enemy structure' distances were lower than typical.

[Austria]

49 minutes ago, Cailean556 said:

Verbieten die Eisenbahnblöcke/Fundamente tatsächlich das Respawnen von Gebäuden/Ressourcen innerhalb eines Gebiets, das so groß ist wie die meisten anderen Strukturen – also Säulen und Fundamente? Ich spiele keinen Multiplayer und habe noch keinen Track oder ähnliches gebaut, daher bin ich mir nicht sicher, was ich davon erwarten kann.

In den meisten Videos scheinen Bäume, Büsche und Felsen in der Nähe der Eisenbahnlinie zu sein, sodass ich irgendwie den Eindruck hatte, dass die Entfernungen zum Respawn von Ressourcen und zur Feindstruktur geringer waren als üblich.

u need foundation support for Railroad.

now on new maps everyone pilla a base spot and a circle around the map for train...

https://www.xbox.com/play/media/LPYp7YaLdW

Edited April 4 by Austria

[Lids]

Yeah it’s honestly always been ridiculous 

[KBLucifer]

At this time, even on small tribes this is still an issue. on top of this the map is now litted with cryo fridges, how can you hope that new players will come and stay playing with this happening, or even buying DLCs and the long awaited Ark 2.

 

This would be so easy to fix, unless you have 4 walls, a roof and say a camp fire or gen running it gets demolished in a set location distance, or something similar.

 

That image was on a small tribe server, the amount of resources and time. This was spanning the entire central section of the map.

 

With steam offering a refund if customers who are not happy within the first 24hours of playing the game it will be refunding a lot.

[CptYarrr]

Lol, you really think humanity learns from history?

[NinjaSub]

As the title says this is simply a question, not me trying to be a jerk, but I just don't understand why this is the case. The PvE servers on both Survival Evolved and Survival Ascended are so broken due to the players. A server will have a very small number of players in it at almost anytime of day but if you try to join the players have put up pillars everywhere so that you can't even build a campfire. When you go inland enough you can find room to make a campfire but the pillars are still around so you can't even make a rudimentary base. If you go far enough inland to where you can finally make a base it's in an area that a new character with hand made stone weapons can't even survive. I love Ark but I can't play PvP anymore, I can't just be sitting around all day at work or with my friends wondering if some guy is blowing up all my stuff, but I want to play online with people to interact with and not just on single player. Why is it so important for PvE players to take over an entire official server just so about 20 players max can be on the server. It's not fair, I spent my money on the game as well, but also from what I've seen the server rules don't allow structure spamming on PvE servers that is meant to disrupt other players game experience but mods don't do anything about it. Yet again I'm not trying to make you stop doing what you're doing, I literally can't, but I just want to know why PvE players insist on monopolizing areas that aren't even near them. These are not resource areas BTW, I understand why you block people from building on resource areas as long as you don't block the resources themselves.

[Zapha]

Make a raft base until you find your base spot. That's what I do when playing on a new map.