ladyteruki

Hopefully. But since they rarely (if ever ? at least I can't remember the last time it happened if it did) release things on a Friday night, it's still not a good sign for the anniversary update itself. Announcements are supposed to be ahead of time, not the day of. That's kinda what announcements are for XD Also I can't help but notice this present Community Crunch doesn't mention a release date at all. Much confidence, very trust.

Ah now look at what you've done ! If you want something that's not broken, they're gonna have to delay it

It's just sad how you can't stick to your own schedule. Really, really sad. Not unusual, but still sad. (not even mentioning the problems that actively bother your PvP playerbase is also sad, or cowardly, or possibly both) Final Content Update: In June for ARK’s 8th Anniversary, we’ll release ARK: Survival Evolved’s final content update, which includes the fan-voted Rhyniognatha! Any news about the final content update we're supposed to get in June for the anniversary ? The anniversary that's on June 2nd in theory ? It's supposed to INCLUDE the Rhynio, not be entirely about it. Does it not bother you a little bit to be silent about a thing happening in a few days ? You're really hard to like, sometimes.

Honestly I'd be game for that. Even as a cheap DLC. I was always surprised that a crossover was never attempted for ASE ! Plus I just like the Leatherwing Its little scream when it gets hurt is too cute, and (depending on the mod you use for it) it's a pretty strong mid-game tame.

I don't know, I've seen other studios do it and people loved it, as long as the limitations of the exercise were clear. It doesn't need to be the definitive version of the asset, anyway. Just involving us in the WIP, having the possibility to see why things take time (and as such, why things cost money, which includes paying for salaries ; a lot of people don't seem to have a clear grasp on that), having the opportunity to ask questions out of curiosity for dev work, and/or letting the community take part in the asset upgrade... that's nice in itself. It doesn't have to be the finished product. (I was specifically talking about ASA by the way, not ARK2)

I'm shocked to learn about Hulk. I had heard that he was not going to be able to maintain the mods for health reasons, but I had no idea it was that bad. I didn't know him personally but like many, I used and loved his mods. My condolences to his family and friends. WildCard, where are we on the Valguero shrine update, by the way ? We've had a lot of ascensions this year, and it's only May... The building system in ARK2 is intriguing. I have questions... which probably won't get any answer anytime soon, but the questions are fun themselves (so many roof angles !). This is cool speculation, as opposed to a lot of speculation about ARK2 in the past 2 years. It's still "just" concept art, and of course it doesn't mean everything in it will be in the game eventually, but oh well. (...and that's just ONE tier ?!) You know what would be fun ? If you organized a few dev streams of live (re)modeling some assets or creatures for ASA. Since work is ongoing, it could be nice to see the work in progress, and get us invested in how much time it takes, what goes into it, etc. For assets we already know by heart (like the sleeping bag you presented last time, for instance), there is little to no need for secrecy anyway. Might as well show us the WIP, explain a bit how devs work day-to-day and/or approach the upgrade, maybe ask for feedback live ("too much fur ?"/"what do you survivors like about the current smithy ?" etc.) or, if your team is not comfortable with it, just have some quiet 3D work without looking at the chat with the game's soundtrack in the background.

And if they're tameable... does it replace taming adults entirely or rather adds to it ? Once we have them, is it only to have them grow in our bases or do they bring unique (although temporary) benefits ? Why is it interesting to keep taming wild babies once you can breed your own with mutations ? So many possibilities. So many questions. And, see, the thing is, THOSE are exciting questions imho. This is stuff that gets people excited, and that helps players project themselves into owning ASA. You can start fantasizing about all the things you'll do, and all the ways it'll make the game feel fresh. You don't get that from a new tree or sleeping bag.

My only issue with the mortar and pestle or cooking pot is that we see stuff inside. Especially the mortar and pestle : in the absence of decorative items in Ark (a years old issue...), a lot of us use the mortar as bowls on tables, dinner placemats, and such. Are they at least dynamic, in that it depends on whether there is something in their inventory ? Does it look green when there's spoiled meat or things like that ? Builders always get shafted. This sentiment kinda echoes what I was saying the other day. There actually could be a lot discussed even if we can't be shown gameplay just yet. Which is idiotic but FINE, have it your way. Where I disagree is : I don't stand behind WildCard at all cost ; my being there on release day is not a given. I think WildCard tends to forget we need to be convinced to buy this. Our money is not owed. After the reception the roadmap got ? We are not won. It's a lot of money for me (...assuming my current computer can run it, otherwise I can't switch to ASA, and of course we don't know yet about that part either), in fact it's a lot of money for lots of people, and we are not due to give it to WildCard. Waiting for the last minute to drop meaty previews assumes we're waiting for the release. That's misleading : we're waiting for a proof that this upgrade, which is more than a cosmetic refresh but is also about performance and gameplay, is worth the effort on our part. Everything that has been shown to us so far, we already have it in ASE. And none of it cracks the Top10 of things everyone was asking to be improved. And sure, it might not look as good in ASE as it might in ASA, but it's paid for, and has provably given us hundreds and even thousands of hours of fun (each), as well as communities we are attached to. ASA ? No guarantees so far, none at all, for any of it. If things can't be shown to us, and you don't want to get input from us, surely they can be explained (important Community Crunches are notoriously talkative anyway). WildCard has already announced some gameplay additions, let's discuss them in more details. Say, have a Community Crunch about wild babies, for instance. That can include a preview of new baby/juvenile models if they exist and they're ready to be shown (and 3 months away from release I sure hope that there'd be a couple of them ready...!), but mostly tell us what the babies will do (are they gonna behave exactly like some mods, or have you had an original idea on top of it ?), why the change was decided (it's fun for sure, but, I mean, surely you can elaborate), how it works (if there's new UI options, for instance), the expected impact on the meta, etc. Like, at least pretend that you're trying to make ASA appealing to us. Pretend your self-loathing "we hope you'll trust us again" message in a previous Crunch meant something. Pretend we're customers, many of us adults, who make decisions about what we buy or not. Pretend that you have noticed this community is VERY divided about this release. See how it goes ; I don't know, we haven't tried that yet.

Right. There's just no pleasing a lot of people. WildCard would look absolutely ridiculous if they did. They can't switch their plans in such significant ways all the time. They need to stick to the roadmap now. Whether ASA is delayed (or, well, realistically, if it's delayed for longer than a week or two... we all know it won't be there exactly on time) will determine whether the few of us who hope to still play this franchise a bit longer, despite all its ups and downs, have overestimated how serious the studio is about its future.

Had ARK2 been released this year (as we were supposed to believe up until the roadmap was released), I have a hard time believing that people were not ready to leave ASE official in a heartbeat, whether they had 3k hours invested in it or not. The issue behind this is ASA, not official.

See, that would be assets I'd be less mad at seeing in the upcoming Community Crunches. They already announced some additional building assets (although not a new building tier per se, but it's a start), seeing something NEW instead of just something we already know is in the game would at least feel a tiny bit better. Builders have really gotten the short end of the stick in Ark so far. No new building tier since the initial release of ASE Scorched Earth, that stung, man. And some existing building tiers don't even have a full set (my kingdom for a greenhouse glass dino gate or column !) either. It's all practicality and the building community thrived DESPITE it, certainly not thanks to it. I sure would want ASA and its great new performance capabilities to expand things for us in that regard too. I'm with you on this.

Hey you don't have to tell me, the Moa was at the top of my list and I suggested a herbivore

We need to vote on abilities too. Or at least ONE of the abilities among several. Based on submissions once the creature is elected, ideally. So that it forces any new community creature, even if it's yet another carnivore, to be more interesting than "it kills Gigas" or "it farms more meat than that other creature that farms meat" or "it does bossfights". We already have creatures that do that. Plenty.

I knew the Fasola was gonna win, this community can't resist a carnivore ! Hopefully it's not just a meat farmer like the Carchar... and it ACTUALLY is uniquely useful in PvE too, not just PvP. Very happy for Nyrandil, it's a fantastic map with a lot of creativity, and it deserves the support. Its creator has been working hard on it and IF (big if, obviously) it were to become a free DLC, I really wouldn't be mad at it. Lastly... Noone doubts that WildCard can create assets. The same way we know you have artists capable of amazing concept art. The problem is, you want us to pay for an UPGRADE that is mainly a matter of performance and gameplay. If you can't tell us about why it's something we NEED, something that fixes our issues with Ark as it currently is, something that actually offers novelty... then what is the point of teasing us ? Especially when you're supposedly three months from release ? ("supposedly" being the operative word here) Players are customers, not kids you distract with colorful pictures. I don't mind the pricing or anything like that, but you have to deliver more than "look, this tree has better leaves !". At the very least let us get involved. Tell us how we can suggest QoL improvements. Show us a livestream of one dev working on something interesting that you feel comfortable letting us see (or letting us see being worked on). Disclose the details of a specific improvement that's mostly finished. Give us SOMETHING other than this. The way you communicate with us is so bad. So, so bad. You need to revise your PR policy. It's the worst thing coming out of your studio, at this point.

The Center would/will immensely benefit from a large refresh (including Aberration-like content, potentially), and ideally a unique creature too. In a previous Community Crunch they seemed to imply that only story Arks would get one, but The Center was "born" in a time when unique creatures weren't a thing yet (it only started with Ragnarok's Griffin) and as such has been sorely lagging behind, despite being a great map. It's probably the upgrade I'm looking forward the most in the entire ASA thing.

Can't wait for you to ACTUALLY show us some ASA stuff (four months until release, it's not a minute too early), but we're slowly going in the right direction. Also, that Carno saddle has real potential.

WildCard would narrow it down, I suppose, to things that they already would agree to implement, so being too OP wouldn't be a concern. But you're right, making people vote for a creature's EVERY ability would be a lot. That said, just voting for one of the abilities (to set the general tone of the tame) would be better than what we have now. Especially considering people DO suggest ideas for abilities, and it necessarily colors the way we look at the creatures before voting.

I remain convinced WildCard should hold a separate voting round for abilities once the creature has been elected, but noone ever listens to me 😁

It's a start. Say more things like that, more often.

I think I can speak for almost everyone here when I say that we expected a delay (not that big, but the spirit of it at least). Personally I don't mind. You seem to have a clear vision of what you want ARK2 to be, and I applaud that. Also everything that attempts to save devs from crunch is good. What I do mind is telling us so little about the game for the *check notes* year and a half until its release. We all expected the roadmap to be the beginning of more communication, not a way of stalling and then getting more of the same. As for the rest, it's an interesting choice to make the remaster a separate entity from ARK: Survival Evolved ; it solves a few issues the community was worried about, but brings up a few others. Bundling it with ARK2 is a good call, that said ! I appreciate it. Hopefully in the next few months we'll be hearing a lot more about the long list of things ARK: Survival Ascended will deliver, including those you didn't have the time and space to detail here. Keep the conversation going, please ?

You would think that, but then you start getting hallucinations and it's no better XD

First non-dinosaur creature reveal. Interesting. Horrible, and if I have nightmares I'll hold you personally responsible, but interesting.

The Valentine event is a nice surprise, but the continued commitment to diversity is a solid reminder of what Ark (not just WildCard) is all about.

May the best creature win ! Or best-ish. (I'm hoping for no giant insects XD )

I can only applaud that you are finally telling us more about a game that is (supposedly ?) releasing this year. Even if for now it's concept art and not gameplay, it feels like a reason to be hyped. Concept art is fun. Behind the scenes in general is fun (and can easily be mentioned without showing too much of the more sensitive stuff). Glad that we're finally seeing this. Silence was really a bad strategy. Some answers to accumulating questions would be nice, too, but maybe that's for next week ! They were, in fact, in Ark The First... in the ARKaeology ark event ! I wonder if the two other unique creatures of that event are also going to be in ARK2...