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Community Crunch 393: Simple Game Framework, Oasisaur Concept, and More!


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On 1/20/2024 at 8:53 AM, CervantesMor said:

ehhh not exacty, for example in ASE I didn't have Genesis and therefore I didn't have access to Strider and I found myself in situations where I went to some places to collect something specific (for example the Fjordur cave for NonameVenom) and while I was picking the first node here a Strider passed over me which completely ruined my journey, in the time in which I had collected 2 poisons that Straider had cleaned the entire cave. Is it pay2win? I couldn't classify it..

If we want to give a PVP example, without Genesis (worse if I only had Ark with only TheIsland) I wouldn't have access to Shadowmane-Astrodelphis-Astrocetus-etc. and also to some structures like Ammobox etc.. is it pay2win? maybe..

In ASA the maps and their resources/dinos will be accessible to everyone in the same way, but when a new map is released that I might not want to buy but that map contains some animals or weapons OP and you buy that DLC you are paying2win ?

Between you and me, I think that in Ark this concept is a bit controversial to judge, in PVE I can enjoy the game to the full even without purchasing any package that would create advantages so in my opinion I would completely exclude PVE from this discussion , while in PVP I don't think we can talk about P2W until we can buy something like "temporary immortality" "paid protections" "statistical advantages" etc. etc. that can put any player in a situation not accessible to the opponent without having to pay in turn just to get on par, the addition of Dinos/objects/weapons/resources via a new map is almost at the limit of the concept but each of those However, things can be obtained by anyone who is capable of conquering them through beaten or defeated opponents (therefore through your skill and without a payment behind you) they are not advantages that can be obtained exclusively through payment.

All of this is obviously just my personal opinion.

How do you not consider the strider clearing the cave way faster than you a statistical advantage???

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1 hour ago, craigy said:

How do you not consider the strider clearing the cave way faster than you a statistical advantage???

spend hours farming / transporting metal / any resource VS a strider doing the SAME job in minutes ... yeah no advantage whatsoever ..... 

 

Yes end result is the same but dammmm did the strider make life 200% easier add the skiff and u was in easy mode ark for land based resources.

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1 hour ago, craigy said:

How do you not consider the strider clearing the cave way faster than you a statistical advantage???

As I said "I couldn't judge it" because on the one hand I felt that feeling a little but on the other I knew that I could still get it through barter or even as a gift from someone who wanted to reciprocate my free help: I was always happy to help anyone I met without asking for anything in return, this is how I received my first Shadowmane as an unexpected gift from a boy who needed Cementing Paste and to whom I provided 15k of Chitin for free, I raised Megaterio and near my base there was both the SwampZone and SwampCave, I collected that amount in a matter of minutes and he wanted to reciprocate with a Shadowmane puppy that was born to him at that moment; I tell this anecdote only to make it clear that in reality the DLC exclusives were still obtainable in some way (often through ingame trading), unlike other games that offer "unique bonuses" for a fee or "unique resources" that cannot be obtained in any way which give exclusive benefits only to those who pay.

PS: let's remember that there were also DLCs with animals exclusive to that map made available for free, Denonico, CristalWyrm, Tropeognatus, Amargasaur, Sinomacrops, Desmodus, Fjordhawk, Andrewsarco, many Genesis creatures and engramms placed in LostIsland and Fjordur, etc.. yes, maybe this one note is out of context, but it is to underline that many of the paid contents were available for free even for those who had Ark with only TheIsland without having paid for any DLC.

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18 hours ago, CosmicSkeleton said:

“Don’t ask questions, just consume product and get excited for next product”. This is you. This is how you sound. You don’t reward a company for implementation of practices like this.

You dont get my point. I knew I would get such reactions. What i am saying is:

ASA costs about 50 Bucks incl. all coming Maps. So on average I suggest everyone plays at least 200 Hours and Even Even more. In total.  So why on earth is everyone crying about a fkn DLC?! The 50 bucks for all those hundreds hours of fun is nothing 

it wont hurt to Buy a cosmetic pack. I myself will do it cuz the games great 

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1 hour ago, Legion85 said:

You dont get my point. I knew I would get such reactions. What i am saying is:

ASA costs about 50 Bucks incl. all coming Maps. So on average I suggest everyone plays at least 200 Hours and Even Even more. In total.  So why on earth is everyone crying about a fkn DLC?! The 50 bucks for all those hundreds hours of fun is nothing 

it wont hurt to Buy a cosmetic pack. I myself will do it cuz the games great 

It stops being merely a cosmetic pack once creatures exclusive to the pack are added. Not skins, creatures. Unless they can be claimed by people who haven’t purchased the pack this opens the door to far more predatory p2w features and microtransactions. Prior to this the game’s system was merely a case of ‘buy the map and get access to all the dinos on it’. Now there’s a chance that it’ll be ‘buy the map and get most of the dinos except these exclusive ones that we want more money for’. How on earth has this managed to escape you?

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I do understand and partially agree with the sentiments of those who do not like this new paid DLC package. However, I also don't really see it as being any more p2w than the DLC expansions in A.S.E.

Yes, there is a major difference in that before it was "get the map to play on as well as all the other expansion content" whereas if they do indeed implement this DLC package and continue the trend then it will be "get the map to play on but also you will have to pay extra if you want to get every piece of expansion content for this map".

But, the thing is; is that this only creates a p2w scenario in the case of servers not being transferable servers.

If I were to drop onto a Scorched Earth map that was non-transferable so that all the playing pieces available to me could only be gotten on that map and some people had paid extra for a content package that gave them more pieces to play with which were as OP as this Oasissaur and which they could choose to withhold from me unless I also paid extra; then yes the content would be very p2w and very unfair.

However, within the context of transferable servers where items and creatures and content from all paid DLCs could be brought into the map I was playing on; then someone owning this extra SE DLC package would have no more advantage over me than someone transferring in with some other OP creature from another DLC I didn't own. 

Example: In my early A.S.E. days I only played on The Island map Official Server 39. However, towards the end of my time there (after Scorched Earth had been released) I got to experience the joy of flying around on the backs of wyverns on The Island map without having ever stepped foot on Scorched Earth. Because by that time the servers had become transferable, and other tribe-mates who did have SE brought trade-goods over from SE to The Island for us to use. 

If they implement this creature and the skins in the same way that they have done so for all the A.S.E. content due to the "transferable servers" situation, then that means that everyone who owns A.S.A. will have to download an update containing this creature and all the skins onto their personal computer regardless of if they have bought the DLC package or not. That's why someone who has only boughten the base A.S.E. game with the single The Island map still has to download and install 400GB or whatever it is of information. Meaning that in single player, or personally hosted servers where you are the admin, people will be able to use cheat commands to get this creature and all the costume skins even if they did not buy the DLC package. For Unofficial servers where transfers are allowed this means that people will be able to use cheat commands on their personal maps to get the creature and items, then transfer them to the Unofficial server they play on even if they don't own the DLC just like in A.S.E.

I never bought any of the A.S.E. DLCs for the creatures, items, or engrams; I only bought them for the option of the map; cause I could get all the rest with cheats if I really wanted them.

What this also means, is that anyone who doesn't own the DLC should indeed be able to interact with and see the Oasissaur. I don't know how they could possibly do otherwise considering how they've coded the game; just like in A.S.E. So people should at least be able to see, and where possible, attack the creature even if they don't own the DLC.

If they were smart enough and coded the creature different enough then I could see it being where "only people who own the DLC on Official servers where cheats aren't allowed are capable of causing this creature to be spawned into the world either to tame or already be tamed". I could also see where they might have coded it so that "only those who own the DLC have permissions to ride and direct the creature". 

However, this assumes that wc was smart enough to do so and had a work ethic great enough to create this extra coding. Do you think wc is capable of that? Cause when it comes to the game's coding all I see is absolute laziness and corner-cutting in every area except the terrain design.

Oh, wait, there are floating rocks, grass, and trees aren't there?

So, if not then it is likely that this creature will be tamable and usable by all those who don't own the DLC as well; or at least that those who do will likely be able to un-claim the creature and give it to someone who doesn't. Same as all the other paid DLC expansions for A.S.E.

The only thing I can possibly think where wc could make this creature an exclusive to those who own the Scorched Earth map, but not this new DLC package, is either to create separate servers where one must own both in order to log onto the server to play; or that only those who own the DLC will be able to cause the creature to spawn into the world at all. 

That being the case, the only major criticisms that I personally have for this Oasissaur are that: 

1) The creature is waaay to big to fit naturally or aesthetically pleasingly on the Scorched Earth map. (Unless Death-Worms don't agro to them and you use them mainly in the wide-open sand dunes area of the map, but even then.)

And 2) The fact that it can fly is entirely ridiculous and way over-kill for a creature like this on a map like this. Just makes it look silly. That being said; I would certainly use and enjoy taking advantage of its flight if I did have one. 

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On 1/22/2024 at 6:07 PM, CosmicSkeleton said:

It stops being merely a cosmetic pack once creatures exclusive to the pack are added. Not skins, creatures. Unless they can be claimed by people who haven’t purchased the pack this opens the door to far more predatory p2w features and microtransactions. Prior to this the game’s system was merely a case of ‘buy the map and get access to all the dinos on it’. Now there’s a chance that it’ll be ‘buy the map and get most of the dinos except these exclusive ones that we want more money for’. How on earth has this managed to escape you?

No. „Buy the Map „ is no longer the case. So… How on earth has this managed to escape you?

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On 1/23/2024 at 12:47 PM, Legion85 said:

No. „Buy the Map „ is no longer the case. So… How on earth has this managed to escape you?

“Buy the map, play with the creatures on it” is still the basic business model. Once it turns into “buy the map and get everything but this one creatures unless you give us more money” you’re working with an altogether different situation. While having access to creatures a player that doesn’t have the same map would not creates a sense of powercreep it’s still fair enough in that those that DO purchase the map are all on equal footing by virtue of having the map. Once you reach the point where players who should be on even footing aren’t because player A shelled out more money for an extra creature the dynamic shifts. Either you’re blind or willingly ignorant of this.

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