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We are excited for ARK 2 and have high hopes for it, but many wait with bated breath. Please read this for consideration and debate: I played ARK since release, after a few months my wife of 20+years who had always refused to play games was enticed by watching me play ARK, especially the taming and breeding. I turned her into a gamer using ARK as a steppingstone. She has played many different games now but still only has LOVE for ARK and we would grow old playing it... IF NOT FOR THIS: HEAR OUR PAIN.... As a husband-and-wife duo we have been daily marathon players for years straight and then casual players after returning from frustration quits. We finally quit for good, we still frequently get the urge, no the calling to come back, but knowing that nothing is different we don't even log on. It is utterly deflating to deal continually get wiped, eventually. Defending against big tribes, alpha tribes or even a motivated small tribe eventually it always ends in tragedy, especially when for whatever reason you're on someone's radar or hitlist; they will make it their goal in life to seek and eradicate you anywhere on the cluster. It is also deflating dealing with players/tribes/alphas who control artifacts or try to prevent "unauthorized" boss fights if you manage to fight your way to an artifact or find people to give access or trade artifacts. These game Nazis make it impossible for game progression even if your tribe survives. We are no strangers to the tricks of the trade, and we have tried many things: big tribes, small tribes, mature tribes, mods, offline raid protection, hiding like a rat, secret hidden start over stashes and even alphas over the years; we've been in long term tribes full of great people; but at some point, immaturity, defections, insiders, internal politics, toxicity and even real-life intra-tribe dating burns it to the ground and ends in soul-crushing tragedy with us standing on the beach naked with no possessions, not even the clothes on our backs. We got tired of spending months/years building bases, gear, dino breed lines etc. just to start over or to find a new cluster and start over. PVE gets boring quickly, PVP is lots of fun but not when it costs you everything, months of grinding and your sanity. So, we stopped playing, our kids loved it also but lost interest for the same reasons. We know many other people including other couples we talked into playing that feel the same way; others quit because they can't always log on due to work, vacations, families and life in general and continually lose everything due to decay. Obviously, lots of people love it how it is and that's great but include a game mode for those that find PVE boring and sick of PVP that becomes unplayable. PVP hard core players love to shut down the idea of a middle-ground game mode/type, citing things like the PVP player base will be diluted by adding another PVP game type. Legions of people quitting all together is way more devastating to the player base, especially considering the masses of casual PVP players that get ravaged and will never hang around long enough to gain experience, knowledge and skills. Surely the tracking numbers show the rate of attrition for PVP and the majority bailing on PVE after a moderate time period. Maybe it's a lot of whining and griping but these are realistic reasons the player base has shrunk and doesn't replenish. Servers are largely ghost towns, a timebomb to getting erased or toxic hell holes where even beach bobs get tormented. THIS POST MIGHT NOT GET MUCH AGREEMENT, BUT THATS BECAUSE THE LEGIONS THAT QUIT DON'T LOOK AT THE FORUMS ANYMORE We want to love ARK again! Give us the tools to love ARK 2! HIGH HOPES FOR ARK 2 HEAR OUR PLEA !!! A SIMPLE ADDITION Below are some suggestions that attempt to solve the problem of getting utterly wiped out due to the myriad of reasons listed, including unreasonable decay timers. Obviously decay timers are vital to unclutter the servers and other reasons but the repeated decay of possessions also causes casual players to quit. Some people just can't feasibly get on regularly enough due to work, family, vacation or the multitude of demands of life resulting in decay wipe of prized possessions. Losing structures is one thing but the valuable rarities and possessions is too time consuming to keep grinding and repeating. A SIMPLE ADDITION OF ONE OR A COMBINATION OF THE FOLLOWING: * Our favorite; a community town where you could own an apartment or build a small personal house/property with limited crafting and storage. * A game mode similar to 'PVE conflict' in Conan Exiles. A base that can't be damaged. Or has very limited things or scenarios that damage. * One main base on one map in the cluster that can't be damaged, and all other structures are fair game. * A small safe area somewhere in your base that's un-wipeable * A bank for limited items that lasts a very long time (no decay) * A no fight/no grief zone where you could store a few of everything

We cannot report them cannot see their ID. They pull a wyvern down on us. How report someone when you get killed and your base and pets are being destroyed. I was just putting in the water system to feed plant x but they are pulling high level wyverns to my base. Can you disable the wyvern's agro'ing for three months so we can build in peace on pve? FJORDUR MAP

TL:DR; Massive amounts of pillaring / gate fences / mega bases near every spawn on 90% of servers with a heartbeat(active players), completely discouraging new players from making a home on servers that are barely alive to begin with. So I recently started Ark, and ngl, it was ROUGH. Thought about quitting many times in the last week since I started but decided to just power through in an attempt to see the full potential of this game. People obviously play it, A LOT. I was sure there was a good reason and wanted to discover it for myself. Well I'm more or less there now. Started on a beginner PvE server and things were ok. Not great, but ok enough to keep me engaged and entertained. Love the taming aspect of the game. Encountered some butt-hat claiming the ENTIRE beach near our humble little base on the lower right hand side of the map. Reported him, he seems to have poofed but his buildings still there sadly(banned/suspended?) bit I digress... I recently discovered that beginner servers are routinely wiped every now and again. To keep things "true" to the beginner experience. I get it. Kind of a downer that we have to move elsewhere but I was happy to read about transferring characters and ready to travel to a more permanent home on Ark. I began the arduous task of searching for a new The Island Ark to call home... First server: Massive bases at almost every spawn or within spitting distance of said spawns. Toxic amounts of pillaring along all shore lines/spawns. Oh well, on to the next. Second server: Massive bases at almost every spawn...ok. Third Server: Toxic amounts of pillaring along all shore lines.... *sigh* Fourth server: Massive bases/gates/pillaring at almost every spawn... Fifth Server: ............................................................................ Sixth server: 2 people online... Some very minor pillaring... But will probably try to make it work because I refuse to let these kinds of people run me off a game I was starting to enjoy. I feel like asking why people do this, but I already know the answer. Because they can and because WildCard lets it happen and continue to happen. In other games, if you spam land claims like this, they(admins/devs) jump on the server within a week or so of a report, see the evidence and immediately delete ALL of the offending clan's structures. All of them. Everywhere on the map. They then hand out a 2 week suspension or for more egregious/repeat offenders: Perma-bans on ALL official servers. So as per my tag on this post: Why is this a thing?

Real Life Context The Platyhistrix 'Platyhistrix Rugosus' Is a small Temnospondyl that lived in the Permian 300mya, Temnospondyls were early amphibians and are related to beasts like Koolosuchas and Diplocaulus. It is primarily known for its unusual sail, similar to Dimetrodon or Spinosaurus although it is not closely related to either and its purpose is just as mysterious. Its back was covered by hard scute like plates but it has been identified as a true amphibian so may have been moist and smooth skinned like modern amphibians. In its hey-day it could be found throughout the USA in habitats similar to lush floodplains or marshlands which was crucial since like modern amphibians they are thought to be reproductively tied to the water and go through a tadpole metamorphosis phase like modern frogs and salamanders. Appearance Should the 'Platy' join the ARK ecosystem, it would resemble a small Dimetrodon with the body of a Lystrosaurus with a large frog-like head with big yellow eyes, a bright blue tongue splayed out clawless legs and a long salamander like body with a medium length yet stumpy tail (see image above) It also possess the iconic sail, unlike Dimetrodon it is taller in comparison to its flat body and resembles a bright sea shell. It would have 4 main color regions. It is a small creature, not big enough to ride probably a bit larger than a bulb dog (see image above) It could be small enough to be a shoulder pet but could just as easily work without being a shoulder pet. They would often be found naturally in bright colors similar to a poison dart frog. region 0: Stomach/shell lines region 1: Body region 2: Sail body region 3: Back spots/scutes region 4: N.A region 5: N.A Movement The Platy would move in a crawling salamander motion, swaying its body will it walks, it would be able to run but not efficiently, it would probably run as quick as a bulbdog if not quicker. It would be as quick in the water as on land, still able to get around at a decent speed but not quick enough to escape some water predators like Piranna's Sounds Sound designs, it wouldn't make much sound, maybe the sounds of bubbling or creatures gulping for air in a bit of a chirping medium to high pitch. Maybe some low grumbling included but nothing too grotesque. Behavior Platy is a low tear predator, and would eat meat just like any carnivore, In the wild It would be a passive predator similar to Dimetrodon, it would not attack other animals or survivors aside from its special features (SEE MORE INFO BELOW), instead It would be skittish similar to Mesopithicus. It would be an uncommon find, not rare but not as common as say a dodo, but to find one that hasn't been attacked by another creature is another endevour, they would be solitary and spawn alone but you could find 2 that have blundered into each-others range by pure chance. In Game Meta Stats Being a small creature, a survivor is not able to ride it, but it could be used as a shoulder pet. It would have generally low stats as shoulder pets do, low weight and health, but a dump stat would be for a Platy as designed in this post would be mainly stamina and oxygen despite being semi aquatic it would still need oxygen. In game meta, it would be a cute little utility tame, useful for all kinds of tribes, from low tear to alpha tribes. Breeding Like other amphibians like Beezlebufo and Diplocaulus, it would only reproduce in water, the eggs would have to stay underwater and the babies would hatch as tadpoles before becoming adults as they mature. Poisonous defense The Platy is designed to appear poisonous, with bright colors warding off 'potential predators' inspirations taken from Blue tongue lizards and Poison dart frogs. The mechanic built around its design involves its defense. When attacked or startled, it would release poison in a gaseous form, possibly similar to a lymantria or an Ammonite, I personally would akin the ability to a walking mushroom from Abberation, with the small portable spore-field inducing similar dizzy, health/oxygen draining and increased Torpor in tames and players. These could be deposited in areas like Lymantria for a short time or (I like more) form a protective bubble around the Platy as it flees from danger following it wherever it goes, this would make a startled platy potentially dangerous to any survivor or wild creature unprepared. Additionally, a creature biting a Platy or harvesting a dead Platy could induce this same sensation so dino's eating a Platy similar to getting hit with a Cnideria or something, so best beware, unless the player was protected by a hazard suit or gas mask, harvesting a dead Platy could be dangerous but would be rewarded with biotoxin, hard to get outside of Cnideria in the standard META. Taming Method The Platy would be a PASSIVE tame, but a challenging Passive tame, but still doable for even new ARK players. The taming food of a platy would be specific, something poisonous like bio toxin or organic polymer. Like any normal passive, you would feed it its taming food and wait until its hungry, but it would release its poisonous gas/spores even if its not startled. During the taming process and will not stop emitting these spores until either the taming bar is at 0% or when the taming process is completed. This needs to be mitigated with a gas mask or hazard protection suit giving use to the otherwise unused gas mask if you haven't learned the hazard suit engram from Aberration. Tamed Utility The Platy is undeniably a useful creature for all tribes, even the most powerful Alpha tribes would find Platy's useful. The Platy would first be able to release the poision on command at the cost of stamina, making stamina an important stat to boost. A tamed Platy would not be toxic to tames and ally survivors. However it would still induce the poisonous effect to other creatures and enemy survivors should it be startled or commanded to do so. If this was a shoulder pet, this combo could be devastating in pvp as you would become a walking sporefield as long as the staminia lasts, but easily prevented with protective gear like hazard suits or gas masks. in PVE if the torpor induce is powerful enough it could be used for KO-ing other tames or allowing for a getaway should you find yourself biting off more than you can chew, this makes it good for low to middle tear tribes at least combat wise, but still valuble in certain situation should higher tear survivors decide to use it, its basically a renewable poison grenade. Resources Harvesting them and taming them are both ideal for a survivor, obviously getting past its poison defense, harvesting a Platy would provide Biotoxin along with some hide and meat, Biotoxin otherwise is hard to come by aside from harvesting from Cnideria, making them a good source of Bio-toxin for players not as confident in the seas or in a location where Cnideria don't spawn very often. It also creates the dilemma of obtaining the bio toxin to tame it, (break a few eggs to make an omelet situation lol) Mutating Toxin The most important part of the Platy (its MAIN STAT and should really be considered if bringing it in) is the mutation factor. Having a Platy around for breeding its a GAME CHANGER especially for console players like myself who are unable to get MOD's that add items like the TEK mutator. To put it simply, if a tamed Platy is in range of creatures during the breeding process (2 creatures mating before gestation starts), it can pretty much double the likelihood of random mutation. This could take the form of a buff similar to the Oviraptor and would only be applied if the Tamed Platy was releasing its poison (again at the cost of staminia) in range. This utility makes it valuable to all tribes basic or alpha that are trying to breed the best creatures possible in their arsenal. Im no developer but this would really be a useful stat and save some really frustrating time trying to breed dinos with mutations for days on end. Possible Uses - Its got these big dumb eyes, big smile, and a cute lil blue tongue DILO wouldn't you want one around. YES they would probably be able to wear hats - Biotoxin farm - its a good way to get Bio-toxin without venturing into the oceans, although Biotoxin is still best harvested from Cnideria - PVP, they are walking spore fields, and poison grenades to creatures and enemy players if they are unprepared for them it could be a deadly combo for 1v1 PVP or when raiding a base, putting unprepared foes at a massive disadvantage, they are also a challenge in the wild to change, making them difficult to tame, but not too difficult since they are easily countered by obtaining Hazard gear, a gas mask, or if a player with no gear just runs in sacrificing their stats, hopefully re-spawning before it gets too far away - Breeding, these would be a game changer in regards to breeding random mutations at least in the current meta WITHOUT MODS, which is hard enough as it is. It would really benefit players of all types, those just starting out, experienced players trying to get the best mutations on their tames, or people just wanting dinosaurs with insane color variations. Having one of these guys around would really save a player trouble. - Adding variation - another amphibian in the game would be interesting (I say as a lover of Beezlebufo and Diplocaulus) the breeding mechanics and mechanics I suggested above would make for a very interesting creature indeed. VOTE FOR THE PLATYHISTRIX

Dossier: Common Name: Ichthyostega Species: Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus Time: Early Paleozoic Diet: Carnivore Temperament: Short-Tempered Wild: I never expected a tetrapodomorpha to ever grow to the size of an elephant, but yet Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus exist. The unique mineral that inhabits the waters must've caused Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus to grow to titanic sizes. Not only that, but it gathered some evolutionary traits its later relatives would have, most notably is poisonous glands in its mouth, which also seems to secrete arounds it's skin. The skin of the Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus clings on to water better than most cold blooded animals, which in turn keeps its skin hydrated for longer periods. It has powerful hind legs, which allows it to swim in most currents, making it a pretty fast swimmer. While observing these magnificent creature's behaviors I noticed the gargantuan semi-amphibians nested around the same minerals that caused its gradual evolution in the first place. The many monsters of the deep go after the Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus eggs, but often fail after seeing the parent, which immediately terrifies the fearless creatures. I thought I was done with my observation until I discovered the underwater cave system, and saw Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus crushing bats to death with a highly powerful water blast coming out of its mouth then jumping away with its meal. Domesticated: If you are willing to steal an offspring from Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus then you'll have yourself a highly effective beast of burden for both land and sea with it being able to carry a high amount of weight, and it largemouth can also carry a medium size creature in it. Its most underestimated trait that many untrained Ichthyostega Toxicuslactus could provide to its tribe is its water blast. This water blast, mixed in with its toxins, disables a lot of creatures' advantages, such as flight, acids, fire, electricity, and physically demanding ability, such as climbing, throwing rocks, and even roaring. This, alongside its high mobility and high weight captivity, makes it an excellent creature to protect yourself and your other tribemates from war mongering tribes. Wild information: Ichthyostega, being around the size as a Magmasaur, will spawn in groups of 5-6 deep underwater and will spawn solo in underwater cave. Underwater, they won't attack anything unless something gets too close to their eggs, which the Ichthyostega will surround. The ones in the caves will attack survivors and other tamed creatures. Basically, they're spawn and behavior will be similar to the Rock Drake. If aggroed, they will use their water blast and will attack one close enough. Creature Stats: Ichthyostega will have a high HP, weight, and swim speed, with it stamina and hunger being average. It lacks in mediocre melee damage and slow land movement speed and turning radius. Oxygen will be replaced with water. If Ichthyostega is attack with a melee attack , it will apply Ichthyostega Poison, which make a creature deal 10% less damage and will apply torpor. The Ichthyostega will also have a hydration effect that last for 60 sec, and can be reactivated once its water stat is increased. Creature ability ( I will be using Xbox controls) -First Ability, or RT: Bite: Deals mediocre damage, but also applies Ichthyostega Poison. If held, it will pick up anything an Argy can pick up and put it in its mouth, which will completely protect the creature from anything. -Second Ability, or LT: Water Blast: Ichthyostega will have a meter HUD that will show how much water it has. The more it has in its water stat, the more water it can use for its ability. Once using the ability, it will shoot out a blast of water that arcs and that can be held down for a constant arc. The water will do a little less damage than a Managamr attack, but will apply the Toxic Drip effect, which causes all creatures to lose any ability they have besides their bites. It will land any flying creatures and can put out any fire. This effect will last for 8 sec, but after the 8 second, the creature will receive a 10 second immunity to it. Once hydrated, the beam also pushes back smaller creatures and deals more damage. If used with something in its mouth, it will launch the creature. While underwater, this attack will have no arc, and be more like a Managamr ice breath in range. -Third Ability, Or L Stick: Water Explosion: Ichthyostega will use 1/4 of its max water reservoir and do a gigantic explosion around itself. This radius will be an 8 by 8 foundation radius around itself. This will do Medium-Large amount damage, will apply Toxic Drip, and damage any mounted survivors. This attack is also boosted by Hydration and will deal major damage and knockback any creature in its radius, but will also get rid of the Hydration effect. This will have a 30 second cooldown. -Jump, or A Leap: Ichthyostega will do massive leaps a lot like creatures such as the crab and kangaroo, but will do little landing damage. This jump will require a decent amount of stamina to perform. Other Information: The creature will also have a similar breeding mechanic to the Beezlebufo, and will need to be raised underwater. Its breeding and raising will be similar timing wise as a Magmasaur. It will also be saddled which will be unlocked at level 79. It can not be picked up by anything but the Skift Gameplay Uses: The creature will be amazing for material runs and as an overall support creature. For PVE purposes, it has high mobility, high weight, and the ability to pick creatures up, which makes it an excellent partner for the Anky, Doedicaurus, and Mantis. It also will be able to travel all terrain, with it also being really fast underwater. It can deal a decent amount of ranged damage with it also being hard to kill. When it comes to PVP, it will be really good for the same reason as it is good in PVE, but it will also be good for defending yourself against any resources run counters, with it having the ability to disable it's attacker, grabbing its resource gathering creature, and running away. It will also be good for larger scale battles, serving as a wall that can disable other creature abilities and being able to grab anything medium sized, friendly or foe, and relocating them to somewhere they'll be protected, or shredded, by turrets. This creature still has counters however. It can still be shot at with no damage reduction besides the one given to it by its saddle. It also relies on its water stat, which means it will have to refill it with canteens quite often. An average Giga or Therizeno can also get the job done. Overall this creature would be pretty fun to use and would change the meta up by temporarily disabling key creatures ability, such as wyverns, manas, snow owls, shadowmanes, astrodelphis, and mantis. Some inspiration for this creature comes from its later relatives, including the Gila Monster, which inspired its poison. it hind legs inspired by its other relatives, such as frogs Pictures: (None of these are mine and in game they will big bigger and have more distinct hind legs)