BlakeEIves

I am fond of everything this creature has to offer. Other than the fact that it sounds fun to use, and explore with, to the point of getting a little attached to it on an emotional level, the den idea sounds so appealing. Having a craftable structure that works similarly to the tent, where you could use it as a tent to hide from weather/region effects on scorched, and maybe on extinction, but also baby trough function wherever you place it, as well as the baby growth speed boost if the baby is in the den sounds so nice. Especially for people who have very limited time to play, and cannot commit 8 hours a day for 30 days to raise a giga. With how much value, and added fun user-experience this creature has to offer, I really hope it captures more player's interest. Now if it could also climb walls, and shoot net webs out of its butt, this fluffy buddy would instantly win. Few can resist the allure of a fluffy spider-puppy.

This could be good as an all purpose gatherer. Horn attacks could gather stone, metal, wood, and the tail attacks could gather flint, thatch, spark powder, and charcoal. Since the horns would make big chunks, and the tail would shred what is hit. But with the tail being the ignition starter, I figured charcoal would make a bit of sense. Getting a weight reduction on these would be a nice obvious bonus. Especially if this creature is much bigger than the starter gatherers. This would be more of an end game gatherer. I would even think that it would be cool to be bigger than a stego, and closer to the size of a mammoth. An end game gatherer would be nice. Especially one that has some fun extra features, such as a flaming charge where it lashes its tail in the cloud trail of powder as it runs, creating a halo of fire around it, with a short trail of fire behind it to burn any pursuers. Or doing a puppy shake to disperse a bigger cloud of powder that lingers for a bit, and maybe give enough time to puppy shake another cloud before a tail crack to ignite the cloud around it. Although this idea would require a saddle that protects the rider to some extent. Especially if that second cloud is gun powder. Edit: I could also see using grenades, and torches during the taming of this creature. It becomes attracted to your fire, and plays with you by running around you, and leaving powder trails. It would be up to you to light it without burning yourself. Or it shakes, and you light its cloud for it while it is in the cloud, by using a grenade. Finding ways to utilize flairs, oil jars, grenades, and torches in the taming process would be interesting, possibly fun, and also obviously meant for someone with more experience with the game. Even though you can get those things pretty early. The idea of seeing this creature become happy when it sees its first grenade explosion, sounds cute. And it would be a precursor to how it enjoys being inside the gunpowder explosion move I mentioned. Since it never before experienced that kind of fun without your help.

This sounds interesting in how the saddle would work. As it is now, it could never have an ascended saddle. So it would need to be ride-able without a saddle in its current form. But if there is a saddle, then the shell would either not affect, or slightly affect armor. I would propose that the shell would prevent ALL damage to that crab/player when in stationary protection mode, and would take damage based on the armor ranking of the saddle. It seems that a lot of the shell types could be consolidated into one, or two shell options. Make the base shell have the retaliation spike damage. So this way when pinned, and being attacked, the wild attacking creature would either kill themselves on the shell, or run from low health. That is, if the shell can last through the attack, which would depend on saddle strength modifier applied to the shell. So the better the saddle, the longer the shell lasts through an attack, and the higher chance for the attacker to just kill themselves. Plus with the spiked version already default, it would lend to a few options. The cannonball shot would not have a variable distance based on shell. But without a shell, the distance would double. If you have narcotic in the crab inventory, the shell would already be set up for delivering narcotic through the hollow spike channels. This would mean the narcotic would make dinos run away as a defense from being knocked out, as well as add another layer of torpor application to the cannonball move. The shell would do both instant concussive damage, as well as torpor over time from the narcotic in the crab's inventory. But the spikes in general will add more damage, making the damage to torpor ratio less efficient than other methods. Particularly with the cannonball move. Maybe make it so that in protection mode, the crab can slowly rotate, and the only way you have access to the flurry of attacks that uses every limb of the crab is from the protection mode. So you can slowly target a direction, but the strike itself is quick, and the last limbs to hit would be the claws. the little claw doing more damage than the feet, and the big claw doing knock back as well as similar damage to the little claw. Maybe even charging the attack could do a little more damage, but the big claw attack at the end would do even greater knock back. This way if my previous idea is used, it would be a way for the player to fight back, and hold out longer when they have a lower quality saddle attached/reinforcing the shell. This would also mean that the crab would not have instant access to an on demand multi-strike. They would at least need to quickly enter protection mode before the strike. Even if the strike is not charged at all. Gathering wise, the crab should have a big reduction on resource weight. Probably even a smithy saddle while mounted. As though you enter a hidden little workshop on the back of your crab buddy. The reduced resource weight makes sense for a walking tank that carries its home. So anything that can be gathered with a pick, or a hatchet should have a weight reduction on it. Especially since I doubt this thing would not be carry-able by anything other than a rhynio, and would not be super fast. So it may as well be efficient. The pointy claw attack would be the pick, and the large claw attack would be the hatchet. The pick/hatchet damage modifier would be linked to the saddle armor quality, while also modified by the melee damage of the crab. Which would make for a very competent gatherer. Maybe even a gatherer that is a step above the abilities of the beginner gatherers, such as the anky, and doedic. We have raptors, and we replace our raptors with carnos, then allos, then rexes. But we are never able to replace our doedic with something better. Magmasaur is the only thing that really replaces the anky. But you can carry an anky/doedic with an argent. So why not have the rex level gatherer, with a "non-beginner" taming level of complexity, or difficulty, to replace the beginner gatherers? Especially one that can gather under water, and can only be carried by a rhynio, which only advanced tribes would have access too. An advanced gatherer, for advanced tribes. While also fun to jump around on, and swim on. Maybe also a very slow wall walking ability, just to make sure it does not get stuck anywhere. And make that same ability the one you use to walk along the ocean floor, and make the under water crawl faster because it is easier to move heavy things under water, and that would mean water cliffs would not be the worst thing ever. This sounds fun. And lastly, the shell types I mentioned. The default one with spikes, possibly made of a chitin, and stone in combination, could have only one alternative. The metal version, also with spikes, made of chitin, stone, and metal. This would be similar to the jump in efficiency of switching from stone pick/hatchet, to metal pick/hatchet. And when your shell breaks, you can at least build a new shell, the way a survivor builds their first pick/hatchet, then use that shell to build the metal one, all without having to go back to base, then use that shell to do some REAL gathering. And the saddle reinforcement of the shell would be the only real boosting factor for how effective that process is. This stone shell, versus metal shell could also effect the efficiency of narcotics similarly to stone arrows versus tranquilizing darts. Same would go for the efficiency between using a club, then switching to a cannonball. I hope these ideas help with the final design. This seems to be a good path to take while keeping the crab from being over powered. It would all be about defense, quicker than beginner gatherer movement speed. Fun, but not amazing movement abilities, with cannonball jumps to "boost" speed in straight lines, and basic wall walking, maybe with launching onto a wall, or off of a wall. And calculated attacks that can be strong, and wide, but not quick. All while having a less boring, but more fun gathering experience while you gather what you need along your crab walk journey toward your tribal, and ark based goals of a better, funner, more advanced future. Edit: Side note. Since with this idea, the shell would be a skin for the saddle, or a side skin that is separate, it would be cool if when removing the shell to enter fast swim mode, you could also color the shell the way you would with a skin, or saddle. This way you could do something similar to what hermit crab owners do when they give their crabs fun shells to choose from. That way you can also color a shell that best fits the personality, or look of your new crab friend. Especially if you can custom paint the shell, and not JUST dye based on color regions.

One idea from a sea turtle submission that did not make it into the final ten had a good idea that would work for this submission. The submarine saddle could use gas to give a boost to speed in a similar way to how the tropo saddle boost works.

I hope you submit the Shunosaurus in the future as well. Having a "primitive stryder" that is a higher tier gatherer, rather than being forced to continue using anky/doedic/argent for late game players sounds fun. Especially if in stead of using an argent, you go full late game mode, and make it carry-able by a rhynio. People are underestimating how good of an idea the Shunosaurus is.

"Submitters are only eligible to win the creature vote once." If players do not want a creature, it will not make it into the final 10. If they want it, it will consistently make it into the final 10. Artificially limiting options, and calling it diversity, and giving others a chance to win, is the same as removing fair competition. If that rule was in competitive sports, the next year of competition would be a disappointment, since the ones who win will constantly be thinking, "am I really the best? I did not beat last years champion. So am I really the best when the already confirmed best was not allowed to play?" Then the champions of two consecutive years would not be able to compete against each other. So now you will never know who is the better competitor. If this rule existed, or continues to exist here, you should expect riots in both the real world, and in the Ark community. Nobody wants to be FORCED to settle. We only get a select few chances to vote on new creatures. So they better be the best of the best there is to offer. Otherwise, the players will question the validity of each vote, and what is the point if the best does not even get to compete, thanks to an illogical rule that prevents them from even entering the competition? Fix this rule, by making it go away. If one person ends up being the submitter for all ten creatures that make it to the final vote, so be it. If they do so for the remainder of the future votes, so be it. Anyone that has a problem with that does not believe in fair competition, and is disregarding the opinions of the community, and simply want their way, regardless of how it negatively affects others. Submission submitters should want their submission to win because that is what everyone in the community wants, and not because it is simply what THEY (the submitter) want, and what they think is best for themselves. "They already had their win/chance. Why not let someone else have a chance?" is a pathetic, and crappy way of thinking, and should be rejected EVERY time. I personally want to see the Chimera, the Eurika, the miracinonyx, and the Shunosaurus in every vote until they are in the game. Esspecially the Shunosaurus, since we have low level carnivores, and higher tier carnivores, but we do not have a higher tier gatherer. Everyone is either using the beginner tames for the whole game, or they get a stryder for late game, which is not a dino, and map specific, and the last map at that. The idea of replacing my doedic/anky carried by argent combo, with a Shunosaurus carried by Rhynio combo for late game sounds fun.

"A single person or entity can only win once." Since this obviously does not mean a creature cannot be added to the game twice, this must mean that a creature submission can only be voted into the final 10 just once? If that is the case, this as one of the stupidest ideas I have heard in a while. If the players have to vote on the 5 best creatures they have ever seen, all in one vote, and only one of them is chosen. Then in the next vote all of the good ideas may have already been used, and maybe only 1 creature is moderately acceptable, and nowhere near as good as the 4 that did not win in the last vote. But with this new rule change, those new 4 that everyone would be much happier with, simply cannot enter the vote because of a very arbitrary rule? If players do not want a creature, it will not make it into the final 10. If they want it, it will consistently make it into the final 10. Artificially limiting options, and calling it diversity, and giving others a chance to win, is the same as removing fair competition. If that rule was in competitive sports, the next year of competition would be a disappointment, since the ones who win will constantly be thinking, "am I really the best? I did not beat last years champion. So am I really the best when the already confirmed best was not allowed to play?" Then the champions of two consecutive years would not be able to compete against each other. So now you will never know who is the better competitor. If this rule existed, or continues to exist here, you should expect riots in both the real world, and in the Ark community. Nobody wants to be FORCED to settle. I personally want to see the Chimera, the Eurika, the miracinonyx, and the Shunosaurus in every vote until they are in the game. Esspecially the Shunosaurus, since we have low level carnivores, and higher tier carnivores, but we do not have a higher tier gatherer. Everyone is either using the beginner tames for the whole game, or they get a stryder for late game, which is not a dino, and map specific, and the last map at that. The idea of replacing my doedic/anky carried by argent combo, with a Shunosaurus carried by Rhynio combo for late game sounds fun. We only get a select few chances to vote on new creatures. So they better be the best of the best there is to offer. Otherwise, the players will question the validity of each vote, and what is the point if the best does not win, or even get to compete, thanks to an illogical rule that prevents them from even entering the competition. Posts will no longer merge with similar submissions. Good choice. Each version of creatures of the same name deserve to stand on their own. Especially since players are voting on the proposed abilities, as much as they are the aesthetic appearance of that version. Someones preference could be over looked, thanks to it being a later submission, and being relegated to lower on the thread where it would be difficult to find. So good job on this rule addition. But, Fix the first rule, by making it go away. If one person submits all ten creatures that make it to the final vote, so be it. If they do so for the remainder of the future votes, so be it. Anyone that has a problem with that does not believe in fair competition, and is disregarding the opinions of the community, and simply want their way, regardless of how it negatively affects others. Submission submitters should want their submission to win because that is what everyone in the community wants, and not because it is simply what they want, and what they think is best for themselves. "They already had their win/chance. Why not let someone else have a chance?" is a pathetic, and crappy way of thinking, and should be rejected EVERY time.

If you really base your vote on just how cool the creature looks, then you are over looking the fact that Wildcard has specifically stated that they take inspiration from the creature submissions, and their comment sections, for what to do with the creature if it wins. So we get a close approximation to what we ask for if it is realistically doable. More than a few of my ideas were adapted in the rhynio. And if you base your vote on how fun the creature looks to play, then unless you are assuming every creature plays specifically similarly to the most bland versions of creatures, meaning flyer plays the same as argent, crocodile is sarco, carnivore is rex, and so on for all the most featureless types of Ark creatures, then you are judging creatures fun potential on the proposed abilities on an unconscious level. Ark players see a dossier, and instantly translate the check mark, or XX next to icons, and the little action sketches. Do not underestimate your ability to register abilities you glance over in a submission, and how that affects your judgments. So if you are really just voting based on the pictures, and are not even seeing the abilities, and features at all, then you are missing the point of the vote. We vote on the features we want in a package that we will accept. The rest is up to Wildcard.

I have noticed that some creature submissions have great proposed ability ideas, but few read far enough to see them. I am thinking a very brief summery of the abilities before anything else would be beneficial. Such as for this Chimerarachne Yingi having a smithy saddle because no other aberrant creatures having one was probably overlooked. Since few bother to read the whole submission. So being able to craft high level blueprints on aberration is impossible without a smithy saddle. I am suspecting that people seeing the summary first, before the flavor text would help these more creative, and nuanced creatures to be noticed for their strengths along with their appearance. Short rant... This creature gave the possibility for adding in a "primative" incubator, since we are going to have to wait forever for gen 2 to be released to get the regular incubator. There was an opening for the spider milk mechanic to work on wyverns, and rockdrake, thus making this chimera appealing to all the players that wanted the bison. That is, if the devs took the hint. Plus the net gun feature, or we have to wait for gen 2 for the engram again. Then the fact that you can haul stuff with on demand, inexpensive zip-lines, or wall crawling. I am thinking nobody put all that together in their heads to see how useful that is. Hell, nobody realizes that the Sauropod this vote would have been the only stone gatherer that can HARVEST ITS OWN FOOD TO FEED ITSELF. The only one! That sauropod is basically a primitive stryder with a built in saddle forge. READ PEOPLE!... Rant over.

Gorgonops had a den idea proposed. One where you find dens in, or around caves, and you could use that den that the gorgonops produced to give a growth buff to any baby inside the den, and any baby around the den would have access to the food in the den. It would basically be a temporary structure akin to the tent. But with functionality. So yes, the Gorgonops did have a proposed breeding functionality. Maybe go back and read everything proposed again. There were some really good ideas there.

The proposed breeding help of the Gorgonops was probably going to be more useful. Plus, the ability to find, or track specific things, including discerning wild stats, plus other options that the game still does not have available to the players, is a lot more game play options than a large auto imprinter. So we get another creature with one useful ability, and no other uses? I really hope I am wrong, and they add some of the proposed abilities of the Gorgonops, or other vote creatures. It seems people want the H.L.N.A. stat reading ability, since it was proposed in two creatures this vote. Hell, I am getting tired of proposing good ideas that end up getting used, but also being done in the worst way possible. But here is another idea that will be taken, and should have been implemented long ago. There exists an item in Ark that is such a waste, that it may as well be offensive to veteran players. The electronic binoculars. The functions it says it has, do not work. So since everyone would love to have a spyglass that actually does not suck to use, take away the tek helmet options on it, and add the ability to use it while on the back of any creature, the same as the spyglass. Keep the ability to zoom, and remember the zoom amount, and add the H.L.N.A., and magnifying glass option to it. And since you cannot use the tek leg boost while anything is equipped, make that the button for turning on, or toggling through the night vision, creature stats, and target outline options. Or simply turn them all on at one time when you left click while looking through them with right click. Either way, people want a better spyglass, it exists in the game in a pitiful way already, so just fix it. And I hope people start voting for things we do not have, or badly need, rather than whatever metric people are currently making decisions by. I am shocked that a slower, less powerful, less versatile stealth creature than the shadowmane even made it that far in the vote(Yes it at least had the stat checker ability proposed). While alternatively, we do not have creatures that can help us tame cannon specific tames, or a creature that speeds up the growth rate of babies while also feeding them, rather than simply helping you imprint the babies. Over all, the decisions I have been seeing made recently has been baffling, and confusing with how bad the chosen decisions obviously are, especially when so many can see the train wreck choices for what they are, even before the choice is decided upon. It is frustrating when you see the potential of a prosperous future, but all help is ignored for illogical reasons. Simply frustrating.

It is difficult to fully compare the two structure versions since there are inaccuracies in the UE4 picture. Such as, a fabricator cannot fit under a ceiling that is one wall high, and would clip through the ceiling. Also, a fabricator is just shy of being two foundations long. So it would clip through the stairs. The air conditioner is also the wrong color, and looks grungier than in game. So if there is no honesty in the comparison, how is the comparison to be trusted? Even if the UE5 version is fully accurate, and honest, the reveal is tainted by dishonesty. Since now all that comes to mind is wondering what else may have been altered to look worse in the UE4 version to make the UE5 version look more appealing.

I find it amusing that even though everything is on fire, and they are the ones that caused it all, they still are siting here, pretending, and telling us that "this is fine". I am especially interested in the difference in numbers of how many ASE players there ever was, and how many players in ASA there ends up being. I am guessing that ASA will be a good game, with no players, since everyone that has over 1k hours in ASE, the main, dedicated player base, are now pissed off, and will not play ASA out of outrage, anger, and justifiable protest. I am guessing about 15% of all ASE players will play ASA. Maybe 20%. And ASA will become a huge financial loss, not because of the quality of the game, but because of the quality of treatment the players, and fans have been given, and wholeheartedly received. Anyone else have a guess at the percentage of players that will be lost between game versions, thanks to the treatment of the community/players/fans/Ex-fans?

I am glad my creature mechanics ideas I suggested during the voting were chosen. The organic net gun idea especially. And it seems they also thought the idea to use grappling hook mechanics to carry creatures so it would work on all size creatures, thus removing any animation headaches, will be used as well. Now I look forward to what uses we can get out of the goop the Rhyniognatha makes. I hope this turns out well. Now I just hope we get the "after party" event I suggested. Boosted rates till the day of sunset, and evo events that do not up the rates, but instead have 100% colorful creatures, or all creatures are one specific color. It would really be cool if they use my idea for evo events where beams of light, shine off of all the explorer notes so people can have a little fun exploring the map, while also getting to experience all of the story with their friends while theystill can.

A big part of the problems that have arisen from this announcement is the lack of hope, and the cost of that hopelessness. So make 4 price packets for players to choose between. But do this only AFTER some information is released on how Ark Survival Ascended will look/play. As well as the same type of information on Ark 2. This way there is hope, or something to look forward too, as opposed to the current state of hopeless, amorphous, nothingness we have now. Packet 1: ASA only. For those who have seen ark 2, and are not interested, and are also not willing to buy the DLC again. So maybe $20. Packet 2: ASA with DLC pre-order. For those that want a discount on the DLC at the cost of paying early. So 50% off both DLC bundles. Maybe $20+10+10, for each DLC bundle pre-order equaling $40. Wildcard gets their money sooner, and the player feels they received a pretty good deal. Packet 3: ASA with Ark 2. $50. Packet 4: ASA with Ark 2, and both DLC bundles at 50% off with pre-order. $50+10+10, equaling $70. A bit of a savings when compared to how currently this option would be $90. With these options, Wildcard get the funding to continue their work, and they get it now/early, while the players might feel less... Shafted(?) for having to pay for a game they feel they already own, and may instead feel as though they are paying for an overhaul/upgrade to what they already own. Again, this is only a good idea if the players know what they are buying/paying for.

Here is an idea for you, Wildcard. Start an evo event from now till the shutdown of official servers. Especially if you continue to insist on shutting them down in august. Call the evo event "The after party" evo event. Make it 3x or maybe even 4x, and just leave it on. And when you want to give weekend events, you just offer dino colors. Maybe even do weird stuff, such as every dino is completely pink. Or there are no natural color creatures. Or for the weekend, every boss is free, and requires no tributes/artifacts. You could have explorer bonus weekends where every explorer note has a light beacon shining off of it, so players can make a rush to find all the explorer notes before the game ends. This "After Party" evo event would allow players to finish ark with a bang. They can finish the mutated lines they were working on since they were already forced to wait for evo events to raise babies. They can level up their characters to max level. And if you did that explorer note event I mentioned, they could get a bit more of the story without struggling to find the thousands of notes. This is my suggestion to you. I hope you take it, and use it.

If I am reading this correctly, we have only a short amount of time remaining to play the game we bought to play with friends. Those of us that play that game also voted on a new creature that we will not be able to fully experience with our friends, and may not even see the creature since what is the point of playing any more when all our resources will be taken away already? And the only way we can do all of what I just stated is to buy the game all over again, which we already own, and are currently playing. And we will get to buy it at an increased price to account for the increased "value" of getting an extra game we do not even know if we even want. This all in an attempt to FORCE players to "pre-purchase" a game they know nothing about, which should at least have some form of game play that could be shown, since the first step in game development is creating a mock-up of test game-play, then working on visuals after the game play is solid enough to progress in production (which I now doubt the game play mechanics have been completed given the hints of the "real pipe-line" I am seeing from what has been shown so far). All this just so players can start over from the beginning again, begging weekly for evo event crumbs just for the opportunity to have even half of a chance to get back to the progression we had before, and to maybe reduce the time that is taken from us all over again with the "hurry up and wait" mechanics that are somewhat mitigated by evo events. You want to have imprinted creatures again? Well you better "hurry up and wait" to spend eight hours of your life waiting for imprint timers, and you better hope all your baby timers activate at the same time. That is just one example of the "hurry up and wait" mechanics that we could sit through once, and only when we already struggled to get established enough to not feel the suffering as much. But starting over again in all of it is going to break players, and drive away many players. Maybe even create grudges that will guarantee a drop in Ark 2 sales. Well done wildcard. Your non-committal attempt to be more open, and forthcoming with your plans will only serve to anger your players. All because you thought they would not notice that you are not actually sharing any real information about your plans. You basically just said "leave or stay, it's up to you." all without giving enough information to make anyone want to stay. You could have shown a tech demo of how good the UE5 version of Ark will look, and get them excited about the paid upgrade before telling everyone that the only way they get to play the current version of their game is to get that upgrade. At least then the players would know what is being offered, rather than feeling as tho everything is being taken away, and an amorphous nothingness of higher cost with no added value is being pushed upon them. So tell the players the cost of the upgraded version of the current game, then later, after you release some tech demos of Ark 2, showing it in action, and how amazing it will be, even though the demo is only half as good as it will be when it is done, and get people excited about the prospect of playing the next installment of the Ark franchise. THEN you give the offer of adding a bundle version of getting new Ark 1, and getting Ark 2 at a lower cost if purchased in this "special" bundle. But no. It was decided that it would be best to tell your players that you are taking away years of their life/effort/time/commitments, and saying they get the PRIVILEGE to pay for the opportunity to start all over again, in a game they already spent years in, and had everything taken from them, all without knowing ANYTHING about what makes the cost worth the buy. It is funny how we know the price of the product, before we know anything about the product. And to those of us that have game development experience/understanding, that tells us that you have nothing, and probably miss-used funds on developing really bad ideas, and had to scrap it all, just to start over again. So now you are asking for money, in the form of extortion disguised as upgrades, and promises disguised as a great deal, that is actually a compelled pre-purchase. And gamers are not so fond of promises, and per-purchases these days. Not after the cyber-punk release. Even IF you currently have unreleased information to get players excited about what you just announced, the fact that you instead angered your players BEFORE showing something to give those players hope for the future, means you probably just lost a lot of your players who will have JUST NOW written you off as a waste of their time, and they will just leave, and never return without even giving you a chance to explain, or show what you have to offer. How can you speak to your audience, when the room is empty? If you want help to fix your situation, and need someone who has skills in concept art, story development, game development, and an undeniable skill with "Perspective", and understanding in all things creative, let me know. Though I doubt I will ever be contacted, given the aggressive nature of this post. But regardless of all I stated, I hope you get your deck/act together over there wildcard. Do not mess up what you have built. It would be a shame to see it all burn down from this spark that was struck today.