MMaas

Funny to see how in other threads WC is defended with frases like "ARK made billions so WC is doing a good job" but meanwhile is too cheap to hire a full support staff and leave the forum to "volunteers".

Of course the first option is most realistic [TrollMode=off] We kind of tried the second option but you need a 3rd device to act as server or join another server. So we joined official servers but that killed our couch coop game completely and playing official servers introduced us to the world of rubbebanding and lag like even our worst nightmares are getting scared of. I'm afraid with all the focus to ARK 2 we will never see this fixed anymore.

What made you think they would not release an early acces? Look at ARK, never left eraly acces.

Some people gave me advice after that update how and where (not magma pitt) to go to farm shards. They all complained the spawn was broken. My experience however was that with just an Anky there was more to farm than what they told me to expect while the magma in the same area did not do anything and the doedi was rather dissapointing.

Depends on the platform I gues? Steam, Epic, Xbox//Gamepass, and maybe someday in the distant future PS, all have their own policies.

Thanks to the desmodus I can skip 7 imprints on my Giga's, feels like a permanent event As does the incubator for taking away the timer on eggs, as does the maewing for not handfeeding babies anymore... It actualy sucks: Mass breeding "difficult" babies is not an accomplishment anymore. (Wonder what the next lemmon will be...)

No. You need a Unicorn! Your chem bench won't lasso those dodobunnies in to your egg dispensor and neither will your morter and pestel

No one is stopping you from making direct donations instead of through organised charities that are mostly tax deduction constructions.

That is your opinion. In all fairness, the poor performance of the game is for quite a few people a reason to give up on ARK. Several tribe mates did, I've put ARK on hold a few times for that as well but kept comming back. I did not come back for the colours, I gave up on Farmville long ago and never liked My Little Pony or the Carebears. I never came back for the boosted rates and people claiming they only can breed during events just breed either too much or to dumb. In my opinion ARK took away it's own meaning by replacing specific dino abilities by simple tech, unlimitted server hopping and overpowered dino's. Dimetrodons are useless now, who need argies when you just can teleport yourself all over the place or drag a magma all over the place with a skiff? Who needs smart planning if you can do minibosses with just one half decent Giga and most Alpha bosses with only 20 top rexes and no support? ARK has been catering to mass breeders and speedrunners more and more, trading has taken over the actual gameplay and that is just getting boring. Even base building is simplified with ocean platforms and huge flat area's on new maps. Every idiot and his granny can build a mega base within no time now. New maps with closed servers are the best part of the game to me and many others and the moment servers are open first there's a boom in imported topstat dino's and then people start spreading thin when there is not enough dealing going on. (Note: This is all said with official PvE in mind as It seemed to me OP is not even considering PvP for competitive purpose.)

I know by now you are about as stubburn as I am, but you are kind of loosing what this discussion was about and are just spamming replies. The numbers you throw around now have not much to do with the ammount of people playing ARK. Do the math: Grossed revenue diveded by the cost of 1 copy... It is just not relevant. This discussion was intended about how transparency could improve the game experience. A positive experience should be reflected in a consistent growth of players, not the rollercoaster the graph is now. Steamcharts and personal experience on the PS platform indicate the current player numbers are boosted by freeloaders that drop the game as soon as next months giveaway is announced. Whatever the busines model may be, it does not depend sold copies and returning players.

BS and you know it. Point is not broke or rich, point is that sales in the past do not reflect the current loyal playerbase.

History. That's not realy relevant to the current playerbase See Steamcharts: Almost 100k higher peak than at a paid new map launch, 60% of the growth is already lost...

Several people on our PS server got DC'ed and could not come back, that was how we were warned about an upcomming update. After the update there was the server maintenance, it was very ARK to get the "... 15 minutes..." warning when just back in the middle of giga hatching...

What sales? It's been a giveaway game on most platforms recently.

I share the hope but am afraid that is a leadership issue. Also the announcement of partnering with a studio that recently showed a huge lack of quality assurance by releasing the GTA trilogy in the state it was is a sign nothing will change for the better.