ARK: Survival Evolved borg server?

The last one irreparably crashed and no one had the stomach to start over from scratch. The only reason I would play again was if everyone agreed to work together to actually complete the games objectives (conquer the dungeons and fight the bosses). We made some progress before the server died, but all too often we lost focus in previous attempts and things got boring. Stats should also be tweaked to make the game more dangerous to go it alone. I'm not opposed to the idea of perma-death but it should be tempered with massively reduced XP grind. Personally, I actually like "survival" in my survival game genre.

 

To clarify, the server we had WAS a dedicated server... and a good one for that matter. We played it until the server died with no means of recovering our saved world. It was a tragic death, but because there was a general lack of cohesion and direction with the player base at the time, it was deemed by the admin not worth the trouble to resurrect (or at least that was my impression).

If you intend to make the server experience "not shit", I recommend you to see what water it holds as an officially sanctioned game (the same as we have done for For Honor, Elite, Arma, etc). I fully support any effort that encourages community cohesion (especially with games we already own). As previously mentioned, I have good suggestions on that subject should you wish to pursue it.

 

fluffy and mitlan: have you heard about this:
http://www.theskjaldborg.com/index.php?threads/feb-25-2017-february-meeting-teamspeak.11553/

if no, why are you not paying attention to the A&E (most important of all threads). if yes, why have you not responded to it?

you see the problem here, right?

 

you are still a member, yes?

 

Game officially launches in August. Might be worth relaunching our server since most of us own this already. Besides all the new content added, I have some other ideas on how to make it feel fresh again

 

Since so many of us already own this game and it's finally getting finished, I figured it was time we consider giving this another look.

I would like some input for starting a new server after release date in August.

Click the Spoiler below for a brief list of changes we can expect and share your thoughts with a post after. Expect an update of this to be posted in the A&E subforum as we get closer to the launch date.

Spoiler: Now more than just “Dinosaur Rancher”...

The game is finally getting updates that flesh it out.


Deeper Experience


Unique alien temples and primordial caves to seek out and explore with better rewards for completing them. Find relics of survivors that came before you and unlock the secrets of Ark.


More Hazardous Environments


The volcano is now active. Beware of contracting disease near the swamps. Some areas are now too hazardous to build near. Players will have to be more creative in collecting resources.


Deeper Farming & Crafting Experience


Along with new materials to use and commodities to farm, Players can also experiment with different ingredients to come up with customized recipes that you can name yourself. You can literally make “bronto burgers” now.


Better Production Flexibility


Need a specific ingredient, but no natural source near you? Grow your own! Almost every ingredient can be produced or extracted from at least one creature or crop.





Juvenile Creatures


Eggs can now hatch. Tame creatures young and breed them to be more powerful than anything found naturally in the wild. Some can only be tamed this way… speaking of which...



More “Big Game” Hunting



The T-rex is still a crowd favorite, but it definitely has some competition now. The more exotic, the more difficult to find and tame. Some can only be tamed from birth.

Dangerous Depths


There are now greater things to fear than giant sharks and plesiosaurs. Swim at your own risk in these murky waters, but with greater risk comes greater rewards.


More Unique Animal Behaviors


There are quite a few more pack hunting animals with varying behaviors and quirks. Some are nocturnal. A few even hunt for sport. Taming the more intelligent ones will not be simple.






Toilets and Other Appliances


Because why not?! Many more appliances have been added to help automate production more than ever before. Lots of options for crafting and production allow for many different playstyles. Which leads us finally to...


Jetpacks and Jousting


The new and most advanced “Tek” tier allows players to harness the power of the alien technology found on Ark. Engineer advanced hardware to create technological marvels of both flesh and steel. With great power comes great cost, however. Thankfully primitive weapons have also gotten a lot of love. Go oldschool and be the classic “dragon knight” you always wanted to be!


New Official Map “Ragnarok” and Random Map Generator!


The lines between fact and fiction blur in the land known as Ragnarok. This is the land of dinosaurs and dragons, great apes and griffins. Perhaps the viking legends are more than fairy tales after all. What better place to earn your right to enter the halls of Valhalla? Also, should pre-generated maps become too easy to predict, we can take our (slim) chances on a randomly generated map.



A Harder, Better, Faster, Private Server
Along with all these changes, with a private server we have more control than ever before on creating a content-rich experience. Some new things you can expect:

• Less focus on grind; more focus on exploration, research, and crafting.
  
  
• Increased lethality for both humans and creatures; less damage sponginess.
  
  
• Better defined roles; something for everyone!
  
  
• Smarter hunting and trapping gameplay for combat-oriented players.
  
  
• More advanced breeding, crafting and farming for non-combat oriented players.
  
  
• Weekly PvE objectives with logical rewards.
  
  
• Pre-built gladiatorial arena for both PvE and PvP (location TBA)
  
  
• Pre-built “Safe Zone” for new players to get on their feet (location TBA)
  
  
• Logical and Optional PvP

 

glad you mentioned it. i think a lot of it stemmed from some of us wanting to experience the whole game, but not having the numbers or logistical backing to do it. in turn we tried to encourage the more sedentary players to assist us (either directly or indirectly), but this mostly just frustrated everyone involved. I don't recall anyone being "forced" into anything (certainly not on my end), but it ruffled enough feathers that it wasn't as fun as it should have been.

this time i'm 100% behind allowing people to do whatever they want. the server will be set up in such a way to allow new players time to learn the basics without feeling pressured, but i also plan to keep the experienced players busy with scavenger hunts, quest objectives, and other special events.

If you want to see all that ark has to offer, I will take you to the promised land. If you just want to make castles, build a farm or be a dinosaur rancher, you can do that too. I plan to work out some kind of currency so that trade may be possible even if our ultimate goals may be different.

Keep in mind, dinos will still eat your face off if you try going alone unprepared, but we will have a limited "safety zone" at one of the default spawn points that will allow you basic production and full protection until you are ready for the next step (whatever that might be for you).

I'm actively working on finding solutions to the problems we faced before. If anyone has concerns they feel have not been addressed in previous posts, please share them now while we are still in the planning phase.

 

I want there to be a "main" Skjaldborg tribe, but people are absolutely welcome to make their own as needed. In terms of objectives, the official Skjaldborg Tribe will be focused on exploring the core game elements of the main game. Specifically:

• cave diving and collecting the artifacts
• defeating the bosses
• participate in GM-organized events
• reaching the point of "ascension"

Naturally, we will still do lots of building, breeding, taming, and crafting to achieve these objectives, but those will be our main focus. I fully expect it to take us many months to actually achieve "ascension" (and that's if we are in a hurry) so there will be plenty of time to do everything.

In terms of the more boring stuff, expect some aspects of the game to be helped along by content supplied by your GM (most likely me). Here is a list of things I plan to have pre-built for day 1 of our new server:

• Safezone for new players (basically the newbie-zone).
• Gladiator Arena for (optional) special events as well as impromptu spars between players.
• A few modest abandoned settlements of "those who came before", but now damaged by time and neglect.
• (Optional) Hidden caches of various useful items (with possible clues left for finding more).

 

Don't be alarmed, but flyers got nerfed to hell by a recent official patch. Apparently a lot of the complaints came from the PvP side of things. Admittedly, having good fliers did make it far easier to farm rare materials, but I wish they had addressed the issue differently than simply preventing you from upgrading their speed. As it stands right now, beyond all reason, a good half of the land and sea creatures are faster than the flyers. Even stranger, a basic raft is actually faster than ALL the flyers.

Even if it does "balance" gameplay, it feels completely hamfisted. It doesn't make any "physical" sense at all. The whole point of any air travel is to get you somewhere faster than walking or sailing. It would have made more sense to simply nerf the health, carrying capacity, or attack damage (or some combination of the three) than locking speed to being arbitrarily slow. It just looks very silly to travel slower by air than land.

Here's a video that does a great comparison of current flyer speeds (included with comparison of a fast land dino at the end):


The good news is I have some leads for a better way to balance flyers without nerfing their speed. Alternatively, there is a mod that simply returns flyers back to what we are familiar with. Regardless, I wanted to mention this because I'm open to feedback from you guys.

Does nerfing health, carrying capacity, and attack power seem more reasonable than locking speed to a fixed low number? Or do you want them back to how they used to be (admittedly the easier solution)?