Quick Disclosure... As I was having internet issues that prevented me from joining you all last week, I am not privy to exactly what was discussed. That being said, I have been in close communication with Solo and I think it's safe to say we are both pretty much on the same page. That being said, there's a few elephants in the room I want to address briefly: Why Ark again? Didn't we already do this? Didn't we kind of give up on it in the end? If you are asking this, I think a little reminder is in order. Actually, Ark was fairly popular with our group the last time we played. The biggest issue we ran into was lag and server stability. We didn't really know how to fix it at the time and so we shuttered the server until better solutions were found. We were hoping future patches would address some of these issues. What's different now is that the game has truly reached maturity in its development cycle. With Ark 2 announced, this game is about as good as it gets. Recently there has been a fair amount of enthusiasm from the community to give the game one last try. We are also now better informed on how to manage the server efficiently and our very own Solo is gracious enough to host on his server so we don't have to pay a third party. Basically, all the planets are in alignment this time. But what is there to look forward to in Ark that we haven't already done? Actually, last time we played, we were so busy building figurative sand castles that we *barely* scratched the surface on the more interesting content. There's over a dozen unique boss battles we have yet to fight. Whole maps we have never explored. New methods of exploration and technology some of you don't even know exist. I could give you a long list, but that would be spoilers! Best of all, some of the WORST gameplay mechanics have been fixed or improved. Hated how taming worked? Have I got great news for you! Hated the more mindless grindy aspects? You are in for a treat! Long story short, we were playing in the dirt as cavemen ignorant to what lay beyond. So with this new server, I want to stay laser focused on exploring the full depth of content in the game and I hope you will join us. But what about other games we've talked about? This is a fair point. Just off the top of my head, here are some of the other games people have discussed: Avorion Battletech RPG Carrier Command Deep Rock Galactic Hell Let Loose Mechwarrior Valheim So here's the good news, we can still do all of this! However, as we have discussed at length before, some of these games are on standby while we wait for major updates (Valheim especially). Other projects we still plan to do, but have not shown as much clear and present interest either due to people's schedules or people just being busy (BT RPG and Avorion). Especially Avorion, I still want to return to it, but the people have spoken and the timing just feels right for Ark right now (especially since Ark 2 is still far off). Other games such as Carrier Command, DRG, HLL, and Mechwarrior we are actively looking for people to play right now! We have a weekly schedule you can find here for what days we play (some are new additions and have yet to be added). Last but not least, Ark is still popular enough that we can use it for recruiting (which we really need to get back to doing at some level). In summary... Ark fills a very special niche in our community event catalog that few other games can. This is a game that all of us can play together without limitations on player count and can theoretically be enjoyed together 24/7. It offers the maximum amount of flexibility for peoples schedules. Can't join us for a weekly meet time? Join our Ark server during off-hours with a friend and help us towards a common goal. Don't want to grind for materials and structures? No problem! Join us for just the fun community events we will be planning every 1-2 weeks! I will keep some armor and a shotgun on the side with your name on it! But don't take my word for it... Still not convinced why this is the perfect time to return to Ark? Here's a list of NEW content since the last time we played. (No Spoilers) Better balance with Dino tames and progression, old and basic dinos got lots of TLC! Better logistics and management options (less mindless grind)! Better combat mechanics with an emphasis on "fighting smarter". More realistic (and less boring) taming mechanics! Real NPC humans you can fight, trade, and (maybe) ally with! New mechanics for vertical climbing (including ziplines). Better flight and glide mechanics. Spoiler: And some spoilers... Actual, factual ground and airborne vehicles. Cybernetic guardians you can turn into allies! Supercharge your creatures with mutagen! Giant mechs vs kaiju battles! "StarFox-like" gameplay with cybernetic space whales! (pew pew) Races and timed events! (remember Wave Race 64?) The list goes on!... Do we have any community goals for this server? Yes! The details of which I will post later, but here is the short version:Community focus on exploration and unlocking ALL of the game's content. Completing ALL of the storyline (yes, there is an actual story!) Less focus on building server-crushing giant castles = less grind / skip to the good stuff! Organize weekly or bi-weekly events such as manhunt, apex predator hunts, boss fights, etc.
pw = ass Not open to public. Not yet anyhow. Skjaldborg & a few of the LANScape crew. While we want to discourage griefing. Such as leveling someone's base. We do want people to be wary of each other . If your outside of your base. You are fair game.
What Solo said. Also, that depends on you guys. There was some talk about "areas designated for PvP". We do have the means to setup "safe areas" as big as we need them to be (ie. no base destruction). Nothing set in stone yet. It really depends on how many people join us. Obviously, we won't tolerate anything overtly predatory or unfair. Ultimately we play these games to have fun and we are open to suggestions.
I'm not asking because I want to run around and PVP. I was mostly asking because if you let the public in and it's PVP you will need to build things VERY differently than you do for PVE or friendly maps with gentleman's agreements like "No offline raiding." or "No raiding bases." Also, playing on a PVP server becomes a full time job really quick.
The map is Fjordur and it is very ROUGH to get started. If you haven't tried the map, yes, it is that hard. There are Alphas, and Raptors, and Carnos, nearly on top of the easiest spawn locations. It's brutal. So yeah, I think there's a point where PvP is something we can do, but right now everyone is just struggling to not freeze to death and/or get eaten by the local fauna. As far as hypothetical PvP goes. I don't really have any patience for people that want to flatten bases to the ground. We are already planning to dial way back the block count for server stability so super fortresses are out of the question. For many, it's also too hard to come back from losing everything for most people. Especially when it wasn't warranted. But you know... if you see someone wandering the woods and they got nice stuff, that's fair game. I think a certain amount of "gentleman's agreement" is possible with the admin tools we have available. But when we are ready for PvP, I don't foresee extremely complicated rules that will be impossible to manage. They will be simple. Something like, "outside this or that region, it's all fair game". As far as griefers go, I'm not worried. We have all the admin tools (thanks to mods) we need to make griefers miserable. Let them come.
