Scorched Earth Thread

[Airthrow]

**EDIT** Please try and keep this civil, with a minimum amount of "They lied to us", descriptions of alpha, or veering off topic from Scorched Earth in particular. Thanks! **

So figured we could get a thread here to talk about Scorched Earth. Thoughts, feelings?

Personally I'm conflicted in that as much as I love the idea of an expansion pack, it feels like they've abandoned their original child, the island. Also not a fan of so many mythical creatures in a game which I was hoping to have mostly dinosaurs. Not a big deal, but it's the internet, complaining is what we do. 

On the other hand I am excited to start over without having to completely reroll a new toon, since I think I can just transfer my island guy over and back. 
 

[PapaPoof]

... I was happy with their progress on the game.... Now I'm disgusted... They should have spent the time on the original game, that is always stated as "Alpha".

[JoeVandal49]

They released an expansion for a game that we paid money for already. A game that has not yet officially released. A game that i have been told constantly since purchasing that it is in "alpha state" and will be finished.

Im not happy. How about finishing and officially releasing the product people already paid for before you try to reach back into our wallets for more.

 

Outside of that, the release looks awesome. 

[BulletForce]

They said there would be no paid DLC's until release. They've broken their promise and lied to their players. This explains why over the last few months the game has received dramatically less patches. The devs have instead been busy working on this lame DLC instead of fixing their broken game.

[GravitronX]

I agree it was a betrayal of the consumers trust

 

[chevalierknight]

this is just what the game need the old best game was bad so meny problems im only playing earth now

[Housatonic]

I'm personally excited for it.
Sounds like it adds a number of creatures, items, mechanics, ... both right now, and as a promise for what's possible tomorrow.
That it is paid can be argued against in a number of ways, but on the other hand... how many hours did many of us get out of the $20 game already? How much do they keep putting into the game since we bought it?
It's a business, what a business does is invest money into a product that will over time earn them even more money. If they fail to do this, they can't continue to develop the game and ARK goes belly-up.

While I won't deny the points against the DLC, I plan to just enjoy all the shiny new stuff and happily support one of my most enjoyed games ever.

[GravitronX]

1 minute ago, chevalierknight said:

this is just what the game need the old best game was bad so meny problems im only playing earth now

They should have fixed normal ark first people should try to get the best experience when they pay for that experience they even said they wouldn't release paid dlc before release

[GamerGodBen]

I first heard of it and thought oh cool, new map.Then, I heard you have to pay for it. A paid dlc for a game that's not even finished yet? Yeah right, might get it, might not.

[Rickyh24]

Very disappointed they would do this. A couple people here already covered why.

[Galadriel]

So we give them money to make the game we paid for better, and instead they use that money to make another game that they then charge us for? What? 

[Irk]

So, this game isn't getting finished/polished and the official release date was pushed back because WC was focusing their time and energy on finishing off and polishing a $20 DLC pack?

Man, you guys have some nerve.

[Goldenballs101]

How can they justify this when the game is still in alpha ?? How about you release the game then make paid dlc 

[Zahlea]

I agree - I feel quite let down from them releasing a paid DLC before even finishing the game. And them hyping it so much without letting anyone know that they'll have to pay for it seems very unfortunate - it will only annoy people even more!

If I was to get over that, I'm really, really worried about them allowing players to bring animals back from ScE... that will only mean the ones without ScE will be left behind. That decision is so weird to me, except from a business standpoint - it will force people to pay even more money to keep up. Why not just make servers with ScE so that everybody on a server has the exact same possibilities?

Edit: Don't get me wrong, it looks amazing and sure, I could pay money for it. But before the game I've already paid for is finished, it feels a little like a kick in the face, like they don't care about their promise to us (finishing the game).

[CTMalum]

I think it confirms my dubious thoughts about the 'alpha' stage of this game.  It doesn't look like an alpha to me.  I hate that a lot of ambitious games are going down this road.  They release as an 'early access alpha' and often cost money to get a lot of player feedback and infusions of cash to complete the game.  It's becoming more and more common.  Unfortunately, most games have been keen to hide behind the 'unfinished' status that they launched as.  If something goes wrong, you can't blame anyone else but yourself because you know the risks of playing an early access game.  Well, that ruse only lasts so long.  With the reaction to this update, I think the blinders are fully lifted.  Is scorched earth cool?  Yeah, it's probably pretty neat from what I've seen.  Is the timing bad?  Probably couldn't have been worse.  We're stuck in a pendulum of thanking WC for a game that we enjoy, but we implore them to fix the things that are wrong with the game because, though we enjoy it, it can be eternally frustrating.  That is one of the major points of this stage of development, isn't it?  They recruited us to find the things wrong with the game so they can fix them.  They have to understand how frustrating it is when the community who really cares about the game only sees them fixing things that don't need to be fixed while bugs that only hinder gameplay seem to go untouched.  I'm sure they're fixing a lot of stuff without us ever seeing it, but how many times do you see the same bugs reported over and over and nothing happens?

 

I'm sure all of this comes off as ungrateful.  Spiteful.  Petulant even.  The bottom line is that we, as a community, feel like we aren't being heard.  We're talking but no one is listening.  And that hurts.  I know that I'm never going to refer to this game as 'early access' or 'in alpha' anymore.  You can't be serious about that and launch paid DLC.

 

Side note: I'll be keen to check out the new update.  I think positioning water as a crucial resource really makes things interesting.  It also makes defensive strategies totally different- no more plant spam.  All of those bad boys are going to have to be irrigated now.

[PuffyPony]

I'm of agreement with Eichkater. While I agree it is a little scummy that they're asking us to pay for DLC while the base game isn't finished, we need to realize that the paid DLC is going to come out at some point--and while the "base" game is great, it's also gotten a little stale in many respects. Throwing the DLC in now gives them a chance to get a little bit of breathing room to really start hammering down on the base game so that when everyone gets tired of Scorched Earth and returns to Survival Evolved, it'll be fresher and more playable.

And for the record, I'm fine with the payment. I've gotten nearly 700 hours off the $30 I paid for the game, and I'm sure I'll easily crank out another 300 or more on Scorched Earth. That'd make it my second-most played game, and for $10 cheaper than most other games I buy. Overall, it's a good deal

[Irk]

10 minutes ago, Eichkater said:

Everybody complaining about "tha moneyz" is an idiot imo. I`ve spent thousands of hours on a game i`ve spent 15bucks on. So I`ll sure as hell wont complain about another 20 if it offers additional value.

No one is complaining about the money. I'm pretty sure everyone here can swing the $20.

What everyone is complaining about is the fact that we all paid in to Ark: Survival Evolved hoping that it'll become a finished product. It COULD have been a finished product (meaning no bugs, full content, etc.) however, it seems as if the dev's were putting their time and energy in to making a DLC pack instead just to charge us an additional $20.

In other words, your $30 went towards Ark and paying for the dev's to finish the game. They took that money and put out a $20 expansion pack instead (which seems to be a stand alone product, so basically you can consider it Ark 2), without finishing the game you had originally paid for.

Do you not see the issue here?

 

[Rickyh24]

6 minutes ago, Eichkater said:

Everybody complaining about "tha moneyz" is an idiot imo. I`ve spent thousands of hours on a game i`ve spent 15bucks on. So I`ll sure as hell wont complain about another 20 if it offers additional value.

Way to totally miss the point of the complaints.  

[SumNubX]

Wont be buying, at least untill official release of the main game. Also I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of anything for the existing player base, often times first dlc is free if not at a reduced price for the "early access" crowd, at least among pre-release titles that i have previously bought into it was always the case. really turns me off to the idea of purchasing this dlc, or any future dlc in general, especially with the lack of/terrible communication the team already gives the current player base. It almost feels like they are spitting in our faces so to speak.  

[DeweyDecimal]

Just now, SumNubX said:

Wont be buying, at least untill official release of the main game. Also I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of anything for the existing player base, often times first dlc is free if not at a reduced price for the "early access" crowd, at least among pre-release titles that i have previously bought into it was always the case. really turns me off to the idea of purchasing this dlc, or any future dlc in general, especially with the lack of/terrible communication the team already gives the current player base. It almost feels like they are spitting in our faces so to speak.  

We've got two free DLC on xbox, if you think about it. We got the Center map, and we're getting primitive plus today.

I do kind of agree that it's disappointing that the devs resources were spent on a DLC instead of getting the vanilla game finished for release, but money makes the world go round

[Mnkylord]

To be perfectly honest, I'm not even sore that the DLC isn't free. I mean, the content looks beautiful, and worth the money to somebody, I'm sure. BUT... I can get beautiful content anywhere.

My draw to Ark was, first and foremost, the concept of surviving in a world full of dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures drawn (albeit with a few liberties) from the fossil record. Games with dragons and swords and stone giants are, frankly, a dime a dozen, and have been done to death. But nowhere else can I ride with my homies through a redwood forest on the backs of raptors while being chased away from a Bronto tame by a T-Rex. THAT'S the experience I want expounded on. There's something very special about that specific flavor of immersion that makes Ark stand apart from other games, and gets focused attention from this working father of four whose free time for gaming is already at a premium. 

The DLC looks beautiful, and they should be proud of their work. But I'm hoping that in the end, it's just a diversion whose technologies and concepts will be folded back into the core product, and we'll see more dinos, prehistoric mammals, ancient insects and awesome environments soon. Because this particular direction just doesn't interest me. 

[Eichkater]

9 minutes ago, Irk said:

No one is complaining about the money. I'm pretty sure everyone here can swing the $20.

What everyone is complaining about is the fact that we all paid in to Ark: Survival Evolved hoping that it'll become a finished product. It COULD have been a finished product (meaning no bugs, full content, etc.) however, it seems as if the dev's were putting their time and energy in to making a DLC pack instead just to charge us an additional $20.

In other words, your $30 went towards Ark and paying for the dev's to finish the game. They took that money and put out a $20 expansion pack instead (which seems to be a stand alone product, so basically you can consider it Ark 2), without finishing the game you had originally paid for.

Do you not see the issue here?

 

But i really dont care as i`ve paid 15bucks for it. If they need more money to finish the game, they can have another 20. So its 35 then. I paid 2.5cent per hour of gameplay then. Great value in my opinion.

[Zahlea]

Right, so Scorched Earth just came out and made people feel quite strongly about it. Getting past the fact that you'll have to pay for another part of an already unfinished game (this is not what the thread is about), I'm really worried that they say that you can bring back animals to the regular map and as a selling point - that you can still play with people that don't have the expansion. Well.... that will just give the people with the expansion an edge, really pushing people to get it if they want to keep up. That doesn't feel right. Am I just missing something? Why not just make servers just for people with the expansion pack and everybody can play with the same terms?

Personally, I would be much more interested in the expansion pack were it a part of the original map as another biome. I feel this is such a missed opportunity!

But it does look great

[Airthrow]

Well I know many of us have hundreds (if not more!) hours of entertainment from it, so I can safely say we got our money's worth, so extra money for an expac isn't my issue personally. But is the island going to get much more, if any, love? Guess we'll see!

[Jrminot]

I have mixed feelings.

While I am disappointed that a rather large amount of effort was diverted from the core game to go towards producing this offshoot DLC, It does look rather cool.

As for being paid, since I paid such a good price for the early access, the additional $20 doesn't irk me as much.

The timing certainly isn't the best.