maxplanck58

I left ASE about a year and a half ago after losing my 3rd character with no support, and every once in a while check back in to see if anything has improved.

I hear that WC has made a new version with a clean code base.  How is everything going?

While Snail Games claims a 2024 launch of Ark 2, Wildcard has said little to nothing about it - only that they will be working on ASA through 2025.  The only mention of Ark 2 that I know of since the 2020 teaser video has been from Snail Games in a recent investor's presentation, and they have a long and consistent history of financial problems. 

Personally I would prefer a focus on getting Ark right with ASA as opposed to making an entirely different kind of game with Ark 2.  While I am not crazy about spending money on the same game twice and WC has yet to deliver a stable, optimized, better Ark with ASA, I am not as interested in a 3rd person souls-like game.

My life with the great Left 4 Dead 2 became so much better when they allowed us to block custom sprays.  I got so tired of seeing salacious anime gifs painted all over the walls of every level.  I would imagine the same for Ark: I would turn off chat entirely to avoid constant trolling at times and miss the ones from players that I needed to see.

Yes, Ark is fantasy: just some reflections of the real fossil record and a few creatures that are consistent with it.  But I do sympathise with some of what the op states: we all might have different ideas on how we would like Ark to be.  I wouldn't mind some more realism in the fantasy game in addition to a more primitive-based experience.  I know some people love the manna and the giga and wouldn't want to play the game without them or tech-gear.  I think my perfect version of Ark would have a lot of changes: all creatures more consistent with the fossil record, like a normal sized giga.  No creatures with too many abilities so that each creature has some unique role to fill.  No technology past the bronze age.  Again, just a vision on what I would prefer, and I have no problem with those that love Ark the way it is.

With few exceptions, almost everything WC has released has been delayed.  Why are you all so shocked?

I would have expressed surprise if it came out on time.

I know two people personally (in real life) that have purchased ASA: one of them has "put it away" for a couple of months until it gets more stable before trying again.  The other got a Steam refund.  Both claim to have computers that are inbetween the minimum and recommended hardware requirements, and both claim that ASA crashes so often as to be unplayable.  I got ASE when it launched in early access, and I remeber a lot of bugs but never as bad as what they describe.

I was considering buying, but I wanted to see what the initial feedback was like before I pulled the trigger.  If I saw feedback that a cleaned up code base and new engine produced a stable, optimized game, I would put some money down.  But the current state seems to me like a big sign: the future of ASA seems to be following the same path that I went through with the realease of ASE: even having similar bugs and exploits. 

The tradegy of ASE was that you had the potential for greatness: a fantastic idea and developers that seemed like they put a lot of love into the game.  But ASE fell short on execution: unstable, unoptimized, and uncompromized by exploiters and hackers.  Their attachment to a publisher with a tainted reputation did not help either, and they really lived up to it.

So it seems like on all fronts, ASA is following a similar tragectory as ASE.  

Has anyone else noticed that WC seems to partner with comanies that have profounly negative reputations: Snail Games, Overwolf, Nitrado.  Only an anecdotal observation, but I don't think I have seen a positive comment about any of the three. 

In a way I appreciate all of the negative feedback: I am looking for as many reasons as possible to resist buying the game (since it would require buying a new computer that can run it).  Stay strong....stay strong....

Before paying for a new version of the same game that I have already bought twice before, I want to make sure that the new version doesn't have the same problems that the first one had: dismal performace issues and exploits.  How is it doing?

I can't believe that I am excited about buying a game that I have already bought twice before.  Damn you, Wildcard!

After losing my character and all of my progress for the second time on an official server transfer and being consistently let down by support, I gave up on Ark a year ago.  Yes, I know some of you who went through the same and carried on, but I am a big-baby I guess.

I have been skeptical about ASA but try to be open-minded about the future of Ark. 

There are a couple of nuggets of transparency in this Community Crunch that give me a sense of hope.  I am still in wait-and-see mode, but I have to admit a dash of excitement and yearning.

Meh - it's ok, I guess....

Doesn't quite look like a $60 upgrade to me.

5 minutes ago, LordKel said:

I was able to find a breeding pair of unusually high level rexes and have been playing with breeding them.   I would never use them in a boss fight as they are too overpowered, but very fun for meat runs.

Similar, but different: I found some crazy high level rexes as well, but I will only use them for boss fights (and alpha genesis hunt missions).  Otherwise I will keep them cryoed - they are essentially little gigas.

Also enjoying the primitive life - it is nice to have a challenge again.

2 hours ago, REIXERPRIME said:

Hi, I'm a Reixer, a veteran Ark player, only about a year ago I moved to the official PVE servers, and now I've lost the character I started with, which means a lot of losses for me and my tribes, because that character he is the only one in my tribe in Genesis 746 / Trade Federation tribe and scorched earth 87 / Dragons Hunters, and i have another tribes, i am the only can enter to take care of the bases, since my fellow tribesmate can't at the moment.

 

Sorry you had to experience this as well.  I hope it turns out better for you than it did for me.  I was a singleton with bases, tames, BPs and all ascensions across 3 official maps.  When my character disappeared in transfer, I put in the support ticket right away.  After a week with just an automated response, I requested to just get the decay timers reset while I waited for resolution.  Needless to say, there was no help to be found: by the time they were willing to put me on a calendar to restore my character, 4 years of bases, breeding lines and gear had decayed or been raided by vault campers.  I have been doing single-player since.

I hope it works out better for you.

On the last day of the event, came across a max level event colored rex.  I wasn't looking for one so I wasn't prepared (that is how it always is - the tames you are looking for are never there until you are not looking).  But I got geared up and got him.  A good way to end the event.

I wouldn't mind some TLC for the gigantopithicus:  it's model design, skin and animations seem a bit rough, and not up to the standard of the other creatures.  Functionally, I think it works well within the mechanics of the game.  Visually it looks like something from an earlier decade.

Agreed.

I have seen some responsible pillaring, like protecting resource areas and traveling choke-points from being built on, but I have witnessed just almost just as much unreasonable territory claiming: for both extortion and griefing.  

13 hours ago, kaprosuchus93 said:

I Hate Both the Bat and Carchar for Two Reasons: the Bat cause the Vote was Rigged and the Fact that Carcharadontosaurus is Added For Free for No Reason and No Justice is Given for the Poor Giant Bison or the Other Creative Votes for Fjordur.

I am sure you would have found the vote completely fair and justified if your preference won.

Are you playing on a non-dedicated server?

If so, resources might not respawn if you log out or crash before they respawn naturally in game after being harvested.

You can set the resource respawn timer temporarily to zero (server advanced settings), log in, harvest something close to that area then leave vis-range.

After that, set the resource respawn timer back to 1.0 and it might be back.  It is a pain to do every time, but it is a way around the bug if that is your issue.

For those that have a character trapped on a server that has been down for several days:

Your server might have been moved to a different space - it keeps the same server number and description but will no longer be visible in your Favorites filter on your server list.  They will have different version numbers if you look up that server name on BattleMetrics.  The old server that has been down will have the server Status: Dead.

To see if this is the case, search for all servers for your game type for your server number, and hopefully you can join in and resume your surviving on the new server location.

After 5 years and over 4,000 hours, the instability and pervasive bugs and exploits are starting to push me away from the game.  I guess I kept hoping that it would get better, but I think it is time for me to retire from multiplayer.  Maybe I will give single player a go.  At least I won't have to worry about getting killed in my sleep or VPN and duper lag and crashes.

The lag and rubber-banding on gen584 makes it unplayable for any mission, and it crashes entirely every 4th server save.  There is no reason to join the server at all if only to check to see if it is fixed.

This is quite literally the worst bug that I could imagine for a game like ark.  That it has been a continuing issue for such a long time is mind boggling.  The customer support response is so sparse and non-sensical.  They will not respond in time before all of your bases disintegrate and tames die.  When they finally do respond, they offer you a level 105 character - that which you can easily do yourself in a couple of days during an event.  What they will not restore, even with all the evidence, are all the ascensions which take much more work and planning.