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With ARK Survival Ascended coming out, I feel it is the perfect opportunity to TLC the Legacy Creatures from ARK Survival Evolved’s early access. It is imperative that this game comes out feeling fresh and new. This is a good start to that… I have put together what I feel would be the simplest to implement changes while being the most satisfying end result for being on the simpler side. Any additions on top of these changes would be welcomed if they fit into the characteristics of the actual creature. Which I kept in mind through this whole process. In order of importance to myself, we have: Plesiosaur: -New Look / Speedster / Prime Fish - First, please redesign and retexture the model to a more majestic paleo-art depiction. I will probably use “majestic” to describe how a lot of these models should look, but bear with me lol. As far as mechanics go I think leaning into the Plesi’s speed is a good characteristic to stick with. It is already fast but maybe it could be more maneuverable? A turnaround-spin like the Sarco has, plus adding a spin like the Pteranodon has for a boost underwater. Things like that could really make the Plesi a more satisfying mount to get around the oceans. Finally I would add a prime fish mechanic. Allowing it to gather a little more and from more creatures. Like how we can scrape prime fish from the Leed. Maybe the Plesi could take bites of prime from it’s side the same way? Liopleurodon: -Normal Tame / Rarer-Better-Mini-Plesi - The Liopleurodon really just needs to be made a normal tame… it is honestly a waste as it is now… I would honestly be happy if you matched it with the speed characteristics the Plesi has and gave it some of the maneuvers I suggested for it also, like the spin-boost the pteranodon has, etc. It doesn’t even have to gather prime the same way I suggested for the Plesi but it being a rare, speedy mount would still be better than it is as of now. Maybe instead of better loot, it just makes loot crates glow a little brighter to see them better underwater. That would be balanced for a normal tame while still keeping the original idea behind the creature alive. Or even just a light boost to loot crates and give it a harder taming process for balance. Megalodon: -New Look / Breach / Blood Tracker - The Meg needs a cleaned up look. With the experienced artists you have now you could make an amazing new Megalodon model. As far as mechanics go I would really love to have a charged jump out the water to grab and damage flyers over the water. Which you would then drop back to the water which would release the flyer from your grab, but also make the flyer drop its rider if it has one into the water. That would be such a fun mechanic for the Meg and would be so fun to randomly see wild Megs jump out of the water at a Pelagornis once in awhile. Or at you if you fly to close to the surface. I always thought Xiphactinus should of been added to take the Meg’s coastal patrol niche and the Megs should be made a little more rare and more terrifying. So like the Raptors not pouncing on survivors anymore, I would make the Meg’s jump to flyers be a rare occurrence, but still possible. Finally I would just add the Dire Wolf’s blood/smell mechanic to track hurt creatures underwater in the same way to go with the Shark’s known ability to smell blood in the water. Or the ability to shred prey, and make chum in the water, attracting other aquatic predators. Mosa: -Updated Look / Repels water Carnivores - Technically the Mosa does not need that much. A cleaned up model and maybe the ability to repel smaller Carnivores, and the Mosa be the only creature for repelling smaller carnivores underwater. Everything giving the Mosa a wide-birth almost getting out of it’s way as it swims except for small fish following it maybe. Would really fit the Dino and make it a lot more ominous to see coming from a distance underwater. A higher gather rate on special ingredients found underwater (like oil from whales, toxin from jellyfish, black pearls from squids) would be great also. Giga: -Updated Look - The Giga just needs a cleaned up model and animations really and it could be all good after that. Maybe not such a crazy nerf when tamed if it doesn't effect the Carcha balancing. Bronto: (If No New Sauropods) -Stomp / Stairs / Lower - Bronto needs a more majestic look. Or just turn it into the Brachiosaurus model from ARK II. Also it could use a stomp that could be used on walls and structures… we’ve needed it for a long time… Another idea is to use the head and neck as stairs some how… being able to aim the head after you walk up the neck to the direction of the elevated spot you are trying to get to. Could really make for some interesting and hard to reach base locations. Lastly is a “crouch” mechanic for it to lower the base on its back. When you find your spot it lays down or something. Isn’t really needed honestly but it would be an awesome mechanic when you use one as your base. Using the head or tail to get up easier afterwards, or just building stairs the perfectly line up with the ground after it lays down. Obviously this is the one I’ve thought through the least but besides a new model the Bronto def needs something to make it a tad bit more relevant than just being prehistoric scenery. It def gathers berries the best but is that really it’s full potential? Quetz: -New Look / Glide / Fabricator Jet Saddle - The Quetz should be king of the skies but it has never felt like it… A more majestic, paleo-Art looking model. I just feel when it does not have a platform saddle on, repeat, when it does not have a platform saddle on, it should not be so squat to the ground. More elevated and regal like a giraffe. With a much more maneuverable walk. Maybe even being able to actually back up while on the ground. While flying the Quetz should naturally have a glide mechanic that “slightly”, I repeat “slightly” regains stamina. It is only fitting and the big guy deserves it. Last thing the big guy deserves is a jet pack saddle like the Tropeognathus. With all the jets flying around now it has to get one. A 2-3 seater lol. One that also works as a fabricator, like the Argy is a smithy, making it the ultimate end game flyer. While also having a weight buff like the Argy’s. Dilo: -New Look / Spit Commands / Slow - The Dilo’s model isn’t horrible but it could def be updated and made more vibrant. After the first half hour or so of playing it becomes a pretty useless tame but I still love them. I would love for them to spit on command though. My idea is that when you whistle attack target at something, it still chases it like normal, but it spits in that direction, instantly, and every time you whistle attack target, until it is in melee range of the target. Plus for the spit to now slow wild creatures slightly more, or daze it. That paired with a good turret mode would actually make them a great base defense and toggling between attack and stop attack could really slow down fleeing tames in the early game if done right. Would just give them A LOT more utility. Carbonemys: -Retracts into Shell / Mobile Safe - The Carbonemys is ugly but honestly does resemble it’s paleo-art from what I’ve seen. Could still be cleaned up with better walking mechanics. A lot of the legacy Dinos need less derpy walking mechanics like you fixed the Trike, Stego’s, and Sarco’s. What our beach turtle really needs is a useful mechanic. I say “Living-Safe”. First, it needs to be able to retract into it’s shell like you guys have been promising it will be able to do since release… giving it a huge defense buff afterwards. After that it just needs a weight buff and it is a mobile safe. One that could potentially be more useful for holding items than the actual safe which I wouldn’t mind myself. Plus it would make the turtles that no one really pays much attention to, into being a staple in every base. Probably whole floors dedicated to them afterwards. Would be the biggest creature turn around in ARK I think. Lastly this is unneeded but would fit since we never got a sea turtle like Archelon. Allowing it to not be affected my the water shockers or at least not affected by the jellyfish and giving it a buff on the toxin gather rate. They are both very slow so it would make sense they are predator and prey and would give a major resource buff to the turtle. Araneo: -Silk Producer / Wall Climb / Web Grapple - Myself and others have been asking for this and I think the response was the Bloodstalker. Which is loved and appreciated. but the Araneo still should be more than an annoying mob in my opinion… these are all real animals even though they are created by a murder computer trying to make us suffer… My idea has always been to allow them to climb walls, and use its web like a grapple hook that can ONLY go up and down (or back and forth with ARK physics lol) like the grapple hook does to drop down on unsuspecting survivors with the ability to grab them and pull them back up. Lastly they should give Silk as drops like the Lymantria (Moths) do… and honestly should be the only tamed creature that generates Silk in its inventory passively. Allowing us to make Silk farms with them. Onyc: -Perches like Des / Tamed spread Rabies? - Just let it land man… lol these bats have been flapping them wings for 7 years… Desmodus pops in and it can already hang from ceilings lol which is amazing but I know you can add to the Onyc easily now since it has been put into the game. Please do it would really add a lot to them dropping down from the ceiling when you enter a cave. If we could whistle to the ceiling and it would perch that would be a real plus also. And I cannot find a for sure source that can clarify if tamed Onyc pass rabies still? to base intruders or whatever? If not, they def should… and it would be great to use them like a zip line with no cord. Just a gliding decent from where ever you jump from. Would make them actually useful around the base as defense and utility without having them flapping around my head all day lol the Phoenix has that problem too but it makes up for it in Silica Pearls! lmao. Anky: -Updated Look & Animations - Honestly the Anky just needs a new clean model and some better walking mechanics… I just didn’t want to leave it out. Same with the Bronto too honestly but there is still a lot of room for improvement there, the Anky kind of already does what it needs to… it’s just ugly lol. Well compared to new more modern additions to the game. It has just been working it’s little tail club off for us since this game was in early access and I think it should be updated is all… clean up our old friend please. It could look really cool if modeled more after paleo-art. +Anky’s club tail attack should also do torpor damage. Later Additions: the Sabertooth! needs a jump attack. How cats can bounce straight up and do their little flippy move to catch things, It really needs that plus a secondary slash attack that can hit flyers better. A latch on ability like the Deinonychus. Could also be used to latch onto wood structures and only climb wood to sneak into bases maybe. A Sneak or Stealth ability. Maybe a crouched stalking animation we can switch between when walking through foliage. Could have the Shadowmane stealth ability but would be better to set it apart with a crouched stalking mechanic that wild creatures don’t sense as easily but players can see when paying attention. Lastly a weight buff to meat, hide, and fur. - Pachycephalosaurus I know it has an ability, kind of, but it could benefit from a reskin and also having it’s ability made a little more useful into the mid game passed just being useful in the early game. Could have a short range power-headbutt with major torpor damage if you hold down its regular attack button to charge it up (like a 1 second rear back before headbutting), but keeping its quick attack when you just tap the button. Also making the charging sprint headbutt’s torpor damage scale a little more with its level. Allowing higher lever Pachycephalosaurus to do more multiplied damage to a reasonable extent. Last would be to slow larger dinos, like the Rex, when you headbutt their legs by giving them a temporary broken bone status. - Electrophus Eel Just making it more than an annoyance really… Being able to siphon electricity from them would be amazing. To charge batteries, etc. Maybe even making them able to give generators a temporary charge somehow? Maybe allowing batteries to give generators a short charge which could be farmed via Eels? I just know there’s something with the Eels charging batteries lol. And if batteries were made more useful then the Eels become more useful, etc. Plus a radius setting like a mine. Where instead of them moving to attack, on this setting they would just blast anything that comes into their needed radius with electricity. Would be great for traps and base defense. - Compies Cleaning up their model and giving them agile Dodge abilities. Maybe a bleed attack when at full pack buff that is not as severe as other creatures, but stacks with each Compy in the pack. More agile movement animations would serve them well. A sideways or backwards hop from danger, etc. Maybe even a high enough jump to grab Meganuera Dragonflies. Allowing tamed ones to wander around collecting chitin from hunting them? occasionally having rare flowers/mushrooms & silica pearls, or other resources also that we can collect from their inventory maybe? It fits with their curious character to collect shiny things like some birds do today. Also I suggest having them passive tamed with prime meat instead of knocked out as long as they are alone with no pack. Kind of like Baboons. They already come right up to us, it just makes sense. - the Giant Ant giving it Anthills that they spawn from, and a Queen Ant inside that could just be a bigger, meaner version of the Ant, or it could be a new tame that is placed as an Anthill like the Giant Bee Hive, but the Giant Worker Ants could collect random resources you can harvest from the Anthill. They could store Spoiled Meat, Seeds, Rare Mushrooms/Flowers, Resources like Stone and Fiber, as well as a New Unique Fungus Resource growing inside that can Heal Herbivores. - Boa/Basilisk If possible, both just need less stiff models when moving. Mainly just their movement animations and stiffness in the model need to be updated for a smoother more serpentine motion. It would be nice to be able to milk Boas for their venom though. Even if it was just a simple narcotic to save time on creating so many it would help. They should be optimized for narcotic and snake pits as their main purpose. Being able to harvest a narcotic as well as being able to efficiently use them to knock out tames dropped in a pit, or trap of some kind. Would give them a lot more purpose if set up to help with taming and programmed to not ever kill tames after they’ve been knocked unconscious. Even a damage cancel in the code to where if it accidentally attacks after the tame has been knocked unconscious, it would not cause damage or affect the taming effectiveness in any way. Making them actually designed with that purpose in mind. The Basilisk does what it needs to do as a weight moving-war mount, it just needs a less wonky slither like the Boa does. I really hope you guys think about this… New Maps are always great but when you TLC creatures it’s just a different kind of hype. With the updated version coming, this is the perfect opportunity to update the Legacy Dinos and this game has a lot riding on a good release. This would definitely be a high point for that. Please consider it. Thank you all for your time.