As a long-time player of ARK, I've poured a significant amount of time into both ASE and, now that it has become more stable on my PC, ASA. While my free-time has not changed in terms of how much I have, what has changed is the quality of the time I choose to spend. For example, ASA would CTD within an hour of me starting to play... That did not help as after an hour I'm normally "getting into the groove".
I prefer a "vanilla" experience, as in some cases in ASE mods that I found I liked, or sometimes even relied on, either stopped being actively developed, or the modder would change integral parts of their mod I particularly liked and I'd either have to stop using that mod, or couldn't use the mod for the reasons I started using it. But I would use those mods where I saw a need to improve the use of my time in ARK (less time spent on base healing dinos and raising babies and more time exploring, resource gathering, caving for artifacts and higher-end BPs and fighting bosses for Element - the "fun stuff").
To that end, I've found myself wanting particular things, or wishing they'd add things to ASA that weren't/aren't there in ASE (seeing as we have a DLC pack now, perhaps it could be added to that over the base game - to keep the "core experience" as is if people do not wish to buy the DLC to keep their experience 'pure' - or to incentivise buying the DLC):
(These are, for the most part, REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS aimed at QoL improvement)
1. Out-of-Combat healing - A food item that can be used on any dino (carnivore or herbivore - or an item for each type) that heals it for a % of its health, in a manner that is far less button-holding-intensive that force-feeding a Rex, and less resource intensive than Veggie Cakes, but unable to be used in combat. This alone equates to a large amount of time - healing up dinos after a boss fight. You could argue that this would unbalance PvP, however the approach for that is quite simple: make it less effective in PvP compared to PvE/SP to the point where, while it is still viable, it does not impact the general "balance" of PvP (e.g. If it does 10% healing in PvE/SP, it only does 2% in PvP - numbers are for effect only, but they do seem reasonable). This also does not take away from the importance or significance of the Daeodon, as the Daeodon can still heal in combat. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
1a. Out-of-Combat healing (Endgame) - With endgame/Tek, the food item could be replaced with a Tek device that emits a healing pulse over an AoE, fuelled by Element - with the Element drain-rate being tied directly to the amount of damage it is healing per pulse (in essence, out-of-combat Daeodon healing but a Tek device using Element) so if it's healing only 1000HP of damage, it uses 1 Element per pulse (as an example), however if it's healing 1,000,000 (combined) HP it might use an entire Element stack per pulse. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
2. Breeding manipulation (Endgame "Gene Resequencer") - A Tek device and/or improvement to the Incubator (either the Tek device combines the abilities of an incubator, or is used alongside - but for one egg at a time, as an egg-sample... 😛) that allows the player to select stats and colours (based off parents) of a baby prior to hatching/birth. Obviously selecting stats would unbalance PvP, so the device (in PvP) would not have that function. The device would not be able to improve stats in any way but, at the cost of Element Dust (the dust, as a medium, in finer than Shards and allows the dust to be injected into the embryo), in PvE and SP would enable the player to pick the best stats (with cost increasing per positive stat selected) and colour of the offspring - ensuring the baby you're going to raise is as good as you want it to be, or at the very least the actual colours you wanted. This, from a QoL perspective, saves an inordinate amount of "down time" - you're in game, but you're not really playing... At an added Dust cost, you can introduce colours that are not applied to the parents (say both parents are Black and Grey, you can change the colours to Purple and Green for the offspring but it will cost a sizeable amount more Element Dust). The costs could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
3. Tek 'Shield Trap' - The Tek Shield Trap is essentially a Tek Bear-Trap that can hold dinos of any size in place, for twice the time of bear traps - however the trap must be 'loaded' with Element first (an Element stack will hold Giga-sized creatures, with the field being less effective/unable to hold larger creatures with less Element supplied). It projects a 'reverse shield' or 'one way force field' - those inside it cannot get out, but those outside can walk, or fire, through. Single-time use but it can be picked up, if the trap is not sprung. Because it's Tek, it has IFF (i.e. it won't trap a friendly, and will allow them to pass through the shield, even from the inside). The enemy/non-aligned units caught inside the Shield Trap receive a 'Tagged' debuff that enables Tek Tranquiliser turrets to target them (they won't fire on anything that does not have the 'Tagged' debuff). Having it function only when loaded with Element ensures it can't be "cheesed" in PvP - however setting a well-coordinated ambush is still very much on the cards. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line - filtering out anything above or below a particular drag weight, useful for unofficial servers.
3a. Dedicated Tek-Tranquiliser 'Pacifier' turret - Intended for use alongside the Tek Shield Trap, is the Tek Tranquiliser Turret (potentially called 'Tek Pacifier' turret) and the Tek Tranquiliser Rifle (TTR). The turret, using either Element Shards like the Tek Bow, or using Darts/Shock Darts (less preferrable/effective) can shoot at dinos to knock them unconscious, dealing exactly the right amount of torpor without harming the taming progress/efficiency. The turret is limited to only shooting at targets that are specifically marked by a particular debuff tentatively called 'Tagged', which is where the Shield Trap, or the TTR comes in. These could essentially enable 'Automated Taming Facilities' - an endgame Tek upgrade to the veritable 'Taming Traps' used by literally everyone - drop in your tame, tag it (using a Shield Trap in the facility, or your TTR) and watch as the facility drops your tame for you. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
3b. Tek Tranquiliser Rifle (TTR) - A Tek Railgun-type weapon that uses Element and deals huge amounts of torpor at long range, with the ability to use a scope to zoom in on the target as it's primary mode. It also does minimal physical damage to the target. However, in its secondary mode, it applies the 'Tagged' debuff so any Tek Pacifier turrets in range will target the 'tagged' character until they are unconscious. The TTR is less effective on players (to minimise PvP shenanigans) and is only slightly more effective than traditional tranqs on already-tamed creatures (again aimed at minimising PvP hijinks). The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
4. REQUEST/SUGGESTION -Expanding the Game Settings for Single Player/non-dedicated servers within the game. Not everyone is competent, confident, or understands the how/why of editing the ini files. For example there are a number of settings I apply (via ini file) that might seem confusing or even intimidating to others, so having these options available via the in-game settings sliders/checkboxes simply makes sense. Things such as (specific to ASA):
-Enabling/Disabling requirement to be in range of Cryofridges to use Cryopods
-Increasing/Decreasing the range from Cryofridges that Cryopods can be used
-Enabling/Disabling the use of fliers on non-flier maps (Aberration and Genesis Pt 1 - when they are released for ASA, and the Svartalfheim mod - as an example)
-Enabling/Disabling the use of Tek abilities - including flying (example, Genesis Pt 1, the 'Tek Cave' - Boss fights)*
-Increasing/Decreasing the Imprint Quality per imprint (currently only able to be manipulated via the ini)
-Event activation/deactivation (which I believe *was* something at least attempted in ASE?)
* Regarding the Tek Cave specifically - AI pathing, while improved, is not at the point where (particularly as a single player/small group) bringing large numbers (more than 2 or 3, plus your own mount, per person) is viable. Dinos still run/fall off the edges, and because you can't cryopod/un-cryopod dinos, you either run with minimal numbers to reduce that stress, but at the cost of facing large numbers of powerful, high-level dinos with less combat power. By allowing an option to use Tek in such areas, and in boss fights, doesn't detract from the core gameplay on official servers at all but can positively, and significantly, impact Singe-Player/non-dedicated/unofficial servers.
5. Firearm effectiveness (in PvE/SP) - Guns are not as effective against dinos, even when some of them 'look like' they should be. It has been like that since ASE. Certain mods got around this issue by adding in different ammo types specifically for use against dinos... For unofficial/PvE/SP or non-dedicated servers, having the ability to specifically enhance the effectiveness of ranged weapons would be "simple" to implement (effectively 0/false by default, but 'gun damage' could be multiplied by a specific amount entered). The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
6. Tek Suit (Protective Values) - The Tek Suit... It enables the player to do 'superhuman' things, survive in the vacuum of space and everyone feels like Iron Man. Right up until you're in a cave full of noxious gas, or in a radiation zone. When wearing a powered, complete Tek Suit, and a player encounters noxious gas (the Redwood cave on the Island, for example) or radiation (such as the depths of Aberration) the suit *should* draw more power (take more Element) to protect the user from these environmental hazards. This functionality could/should be added into the Tek Suit and configurable either via a checkbox (for SP/non-dedicated) or an ini file (for unofficial servers) - this would have no change on PvE/PvP.
7. Flintlocks/Muskets - Please consider adding (either as part of the base game, or as part of Bob's Tall Tales) a Flintlock (pistol) and a Musket (rifle). Short range, high damage (to players), single-shot, long-reload-time weapons that are made with wood, hide and metal ingots at a Smithy while ammo for them ('Primitive Shot') can be made in your inventory (using gunpowder and metal ore), or faster via a Smithy. As powerful as a shotgun up close, but at a point target, and takes as long, if not longer, to load as the Pump-action Shotgun. Why? Mainly for enhancing roleplaying. Providing a type of firearm that, while powerful, is not going to destabilise any kind of balance nor does it take away the usefulness/effectiveness of other, more advanced weapons in game.
Thank you for reading. Let me know your thoughts and I, and others I know, would really like to see things like this added to ASA to improve the way we play and, after slogging it out to endgame, a way to reduce the time spent doing "the mundane, back-at-base" stuff and more time out doing what we're all wanting to do - survive, tame, breed, raise and ascend.
Suggestion
Cailean556
As a long-time player of ARK, I've poured a significant amount of time into both ASE and, now that it has become more stable on my PC, ASA. While my free-time has not changed in terms of how much I have, what has changed is the quality of the time I choose to spend. For example, ASA would CTD within an hour of me starting to play... That did not help as after an hour I'm normally "getting into the groove".
I prefer a "vanilla" experience, as in some cases in ASE mods that I found I liked, or sometimes even relied on, either stopped being actively developed, or the modder would change integral parts of their mod I particularly liked and I'd either have to stop using that mod, or couldn't use the mod for the reasons I started using it. But I would use those mods where I saw a need to improve the use of my time in ARK (less time spent on base healing dinos and raising babies and more time exploring, resource gathering, caving for artifacts and higher-end BPs and fighting bosses for Element - the "fun stuff").
To that end, I've found myself wanting particular things, or wishing they'd add things to ASA that weren't/aren't there in ASE (seeing as we have a DLC pack now, perhaps it could be added to that over the base game - to keep the "core experience" as is if people do not wish to buy the DLC to keep their experience 'pure' - or to incentivise buying the DLC):
(These are, for the most part, REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS aimed at QoL improvement)
1. Out-of-Combat healing - A food item that can be used on any dino (carnivore or herbivore - or an item for each type) that heals it for a % of its health, in a manner that is far less button-holding-intensive that force-feeding a Rex, and less resource intensive than Veggie Cakes, but unable to be used in combat. This alone equates to a large amount of time - healing up dinos after a boss fight. You could argue that this would unbalance PvP, however the approach for that is quite simple: make it less effective in PvP compared to PvE/SP to the point where, while it is still viable, it does not impact the general "balance" of PvP (e.g. If it does 10% healing in PvE/SP, it only does 2% in PvP - numbers are for effect only, but they do seem reasonable). This also does not take away from the importance or significance of the Daeodon, as the Daeodon can still heal in combat. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
1a. Out-of-Combat healing (Endgame) - With endgame/Tek, the food item could be replaced with a Tek device that emits a healing pulse over an AoE, fuelled by Element - with the Element drain-rate being tied directly to the amount of damage it is healing per pulse (in essence, out-of-combat Daeodon healing but a Tek device using Element) so if it's healing only 1000HP of damage, it uses 1 Element per pulse (as an example), however if it's healing 1,000,000 (combined) HP it might use an entire Element stack per pulse. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
2. Breeding manipulation (Endgame "Gene Resequencer") - A Tek device and/or improvement to the Incubator (either the Tek device combines the abilities of an incubator, or is used alongside - but for one egg at a time, as an egg-sample... 😛) that allows the player to select stats and colours (based off parents) of a baby prior to hatching/birth. Obviously selecting stats would unbalance PvP, so the device (in PvP) would not have that function. The device would not be able to improve stats in any way but, at the cost of Element Dust (the dust, as a medium, in finer than Shards and allows the dust to be injected into the embryo), in PvE and SP would enable the player to pick the best stats (with cost increasing per positive stat selected) and colour of the offspring - ensuring the baby you're going to raise is as good as you want it to be, or at the very least the actual colours you wanted. This, from a QoL perspective, saves an inordinate amount of "down time" - you're in game, but you're not really playing... At an added Dust cost, you can introduce colours that are not applied to the parents (say both parents are Black and Grey, you can change the colours to Purple and Green for the offspring but it will cost a sizeable amount more Element Dust). The costs could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
3. Tek 'Shield Trap' - The Tek Shield Trap is essentially a Tek Bear-Trap that can hold dinos of any size in place, for twice the time of bear traps - however the trap must be 'loaded' with Element first (an Element stack will hold Giga-sized creatures, with the field being less effective/unable to hold larger creatures with less Element supplied). It projects a 'reverse shield' or 'one way force field' - those inside it cannot get out, but those outside can walk, or fire, through. Single-time use but it can be picked up, if the trap is not sprung. Because it's Tek, it has IFF (i.e. it won't trap a friendly, and will allow them to pass through the shield, even from the inside). The enemy/non-aligned units caught inside the Shield Trap receive a 'Tagged' debuff that enables Tek Tranquiliser turrets to target them (they won't fire on anything that does not have the 'Tagged' debuff). Having it function only when loaded with Element ensures it can't be "cheesed" in PvP - however setting a well-coordinated ambush is still very much on the cards. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line - filtering out anything above or below a particular drag weight, useful for unofficial servers.
3a. Dedicated Tek-Tranquiliser 'Pacifier' turret - Intended for use alongside the Tek Shield Trap, is the Tek Tranquiliser Turret (potentially called 'Tek Pacifier' turret) and the Tek Tranquiliser Rifle (TTR). The turret, using either Element Shards like the Tek Bow, or using Darts/Shock Darts (less preferrable/effective) can shoot at dinos to knock them unconscious, dealing exactly the right amount of torpor without harming the taming progress/efficiency. The turret is limited to only shooting at targets that are specifically marked by a particular debuff tentatively called 'Tagged', which is where the Shield Trap, or the TTR comes in. These could essentially enable 'Automated Taming Facilities' - an endgame Tek upgrade to the veritable 'Taming Traps' used by literally everyone - drop in your tame, tag it (using a Shield Trap in the facility, or your TTR) and watch as the facility drops your tame for you. The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
3b. Tek Tranquiliser Rifle (TTR) - A Tek Railgun-type weapon that uses Element and deals huge amounts of torpor at long range, with the ability to use a scope to zoom in on the target as it's primary mode. It also does minimal physical damage to the target. However, in its secondary mode, it applies the 'Tagged' debuff so any Tek Pacifier turrets in range will target the 'tagged' character until they are unconscious. The TTR is less effective on players (to minimise PvP shenanigans) and is only slightly more effective than traditional tranqs on already-tamed creatures (again aimed at minimising PvP hijinks). The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
4. REQUEST/SUGGESTION -Expanding the Game Settings for Single Player/non-dedicated servers within the game. Not everyone is competent, confident, or understands the how/why of editing the ini files. For example there are a number of settings I apply (via ini file) that might seem confusing or even intimidating to others, so having these options available via the in-game settings sliders/checkboxes simply makes sense. Things such as (specific to ASA):
-Enabling/Disabling requirement to be in range of Cryofridges to use Cryopods
-Increasing/Decreasing the range from Cryofridges that Cryopods can be used
-Enabling/Disabling the use of fliers on non-flier maps (Aberration and Genesis Pt 1 - when they are released for ASA, and the Svartalfheim mod - as an example)
-Enabling/Disabling the use of Tek abilities - including flying (example, Genesis Pt 1, the 'Tek Cave' - Boss fights)*
-Increasing/Decreasing the Imprint Quality per imprint (currently only able to be manipulated via the ini)
-Event activation/deactivation (which I believe *was* something at least attempted in ASE?)
* Regarding the Tek Cave specifically - AI pathing, while improved, is not at the point where (particularly as a single player/small group) bringing large numbers (more than 2 or 3, plus your own mount, per person) is viable. Dinos still run/fall off the edges, and because you can't cryopod/un-cryopod dinos, you either run with minimal numbers to reduce that stress, but at the cost of facing large numbers of powerful, high-level dinos with less combat power. By allowing an option to use Tek in such areas, and in boss fights, doesn't detract from the core gameplay on official servers at all but can positively, and significantly, impact Singe-Player/non-dedicated/unofficial servers.
5. Firearm effectiveness (in PvE/SP) - Guns are not as effective against dinos, even when some of them 'look like' they should be. It has been like that since ASE. Certain mods got around this issue by adding in different ammo types specifically for use against dinos... For unofficial/PvE/SP or non-dedicated servers, having the ability to specifically enhance the effectiveness of ranged weapons would be "simple" to implement (effectively 0/false by default, but 'gun damage' could be multiplied by a specific amount entered). The effectiveness could be editable via a Slider (SP/non-dedicated) and/or ini line.
6. Tek Suit (Protective Values) - The Tek Suit... It enables the player to do 'superhuman' things, survive in the vacuum of space and everyone feels like Iron Man. Right up until you're in a cave full of noxious gas, or in a radiation zone. When wearing a powered, complete Tek Suit, and a player encounters noxious gas (the Redwood cave on the Island, for example) or radiation (such as the depths of Aberration) the suit *should* draw more power (take more Element) to protect the user from these environmental hazards. This functionality could/should be added into the Tek Suit and configurable either via a checkbox (for SP/non-dedicated) or an ini file (for unofficial servers) - this would have no change on PvE/PvP.
7. Flintlocks/Muskets - Please consider adding (either as part of the base game, or as part of Bob's Tall Tales) a Flintlock (pistol) and a Musket (rifle). Short range, high damage (to players), single-shot, long-reload-time weapons that are made with wood, hide and metal ingots at a Smithy while ammo for them ('Primitive Shot') can be made in your inventory (using gunpowder and metal ore), or faster via a Smithy. As powerful as a shotgun up close, but at a point target, and takes as long, if not longer, to load as the Pump-action Shotgun. Why? Mainly for enhancing roleplaying. Providing a type of firearm that, while powerful, is not going to destabilise any kind of balance nor does it take away the usefulness/effectiveness of other, more advanced weapons in game.
Thank you for reading. Let me know your thoughts and I, and others I know, would really like to see things like this added to ASA to improve the way we play and, after slogging it out to endgame, a way to reduce the time spent doing "the mundane, back-at-base" stuff and more time out doing what we're all wanting to do - survive, tame, breed, raise and ascend.
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