Love the idea of this game ..... Tried it on the single player mode then tried to hop on one of the "Official servers"....worst experience of my life......I tried some pvp servers- got killed instantly but hey that's pvp for you- not very friendly tribes on that but then when you do some research and find out the behaviour of hte "Alpha" tribes on these pvp servers you figure out then why the hostility....
So thought OK I will give the pve servers a go and see if I can find a nice server to start building my own little empire on with the eventual view on joining a tribe, well....that didn't go well either least to say!
EVERY single Official server ( including the nitrado servers people rent which are then official due to a company hosting them for players) was a cluster of the most selfish players I have ever come across...... in the game they use a technique called " PILLARING" which is putting down wooden or stone columns all along the beaches to prevent other people building there...this is on every single pve server!
I spent countless hours trying to find a pve server that wasn't doing this and when I asked why " For future expansion of our tribe" - heck this one server I joined - one tribe walled off the entire Island - all you could do was run along the beach for a certain distance before they closed off hte beach entirely- this was at every spawn point....miles upon miles of walls then when they got to like a river- they just blocked the beach so you couldn't attempt to swim!
On alot of the others I would find the odd base then miles upon miles of open beach where you could build but its been pillared to death through the selfish greed of these players.
I froze or starved to death countless times on these servers and he excuses I got for them doing this was " noobs putting down thatch buildings preventing spawn locations and blocking resources from re-spawning" or " future expansion of our tribes".
They all told me to go to a unofficial server or go play solo/ host my own server!
This behavior and their attitudes shocked me and this game hasn't even gone live yet- its still in alpha phase!
I really feel that if this company wants a solid launch and keep new players then will need to add a ton of new servers ( which i know a lot of these old players will hop to to -to try own as well with their pillaring"
Or do a complete wipe - as it stands- if you a new player you can forget having that "new " player survivor feeling as you either forced to play solo or join one of these tribes which then effectively ruins the game play as you gain access to all that tribe has including Dino's and such........
On a few servers they wanted me to join them and then wanted to give me free mounts and armor....which I suppose can tempt some new players but I wanted to build it up myself and get the proper experience then get given everything due to some of these players wanting to hog the island and all its resources- basically join them or leave is the message I got on alot of the server, and then the rest its just starve or freeze ot death cause you get no response from chat and cant build a fire at night to cook food/warm yourself!
Overall a good idea of a game...but a terrible mainly hostile selfish community!!!
Not to forget the optimization of this game makes it run like a old dog a lot of the times - can be very laggy and glitchy!
Avoid buying this game in its present form- unless you know a few people in it that you can join their tribe and don't mind getting a big jump start or if you have a few friends who you could possibly make your own server ( nitrado does them for around £8 a month and lists it as official server for others to join- you set the rules though)
Suffice to say...I was lucky and got a refund...will wait till launch to see if they wipe the servers or add more so i can join a new server with other ppl and at-least stand a chance of building my own little empire then join with other people to form a tribe and get the full experience of the game.
Peace
Comments
It's stupid to think that human beings are usually generous no I think human beings are usually selfish when there are no rules to stop them from being so. You are just encountering what is normal behaviour. Once you place rules though you lose the sandbox don't you ?
In ARK, this wouldn't work, at least not at first. For there to be trials and justice, there has to be a society to determine what is right and wrong.
I think if another sandbox comes along with this idea of starting from scratch, they really have to take into account how humans interact and give us tools to build a society. Not sure how exactly to do that, but hey that's why the Devs get paid the big bucks to come up with the framework to make a great game.
I'm definitely going to keep an eye on ARK though. Just watched a 30-minute deathmatch version of the game where a guy spent 20 minutes building a house and furnace so he could make guns and ammo. Then 10 minutes of typical hide and seak deathmatch stuff, having a clear advantage because he had made guns (which took a lot of knowledge and speed to make in 20 minutes), only to get run over by some guy that had tamed a tyranasarus rex lol.
Looked like a lot of fun.
Official servers suck. You simply cannot and really should not play on them. But there are hundred if not thousands of private servers around all with varying rules, set ups and mods.
Mods are another thing that has helped this game tremendously. From maps to better crafting and building systems to dinosaurs.
If this game was a generic "we are gong to make it our way and tough if you dont like it' game it would have failed miserably a long time ago.
Bt as long as they keep it open source, make changes, add content, and add mod ideas/outlines to the official version it will keep getting better.
The major shortfall of this game as with other 'sandbox' games is the only real longevity the game has is inthe community and the events or PvP that goes on. Which unfortunately isnt good in any of these types of games. Thats why server reset and restart so often, because once a foothold is established its nearly impossible for new people to compete.
Its not mutually exclusive to ARK is the problem all these sandbox build your own base, town, city, empire games have. Is why they and none of them have really worked as full scale MMOs.
But yeah, giving all facts might give readers a different idea, and we don't want that do we?
My story:
I am playing since start.
I am a guy that has placed 50 pillars around my base.
Why?
Because I live in a base on the beach.
I have a small strip of resources next to my base where my neighbours and me farm.
Well, untill player, let's call him "John", arrived.
This guy spammed foundations to reserve his space.
np.
Foundations prevent spawns of resources and dinos.
fact.
Pillars however, don't.
Back to "John".
John decided to build on top of the resources, killing the spawn.
John decided to put down a perimeter wall at minimum distance from my base, almost enclosing it entirely and preventing me from doing my stuff.
John decided to log in once/week because he didnt really like the game, but didnt want his base to be destroyed either. So he logged in every 6th day to reset structure timers.
Me and my neighbours had to travel for like 30 mins with slow dinos to farm resources.
Which usually would cost like 5 mins to farm and go back to home.
John lets his timers run out and leaves the game, we destroy his base, resources spawn back.
Yay!
Player "Mark arrives".
Mark decides to build on the exact spot as John did, making our lives miserable.
Mark decides to leave after 2 months, we destroy his base.
This time.....we put down pillars.
Why?
Pillars do not destroy spawns, and we tell others to move along a bit further and build a base, just not on that very spawn.
Then you have caves. Players build gates in front of those caves, preventing other players from leaving or entering that area.
Some even demanded payments for a gate to be opened.
Then you have rich resources on the island. Some players decide to place foundations there to kill all resources to grief other players.
Those players get thrown out, pillars placed so others can not grief there anymore and everyone has a good time and can farm there.
Then you get the 'WoW generation' as I like to call it enter the game.
They spawn, look for the best place on the island to build. Tough luck, veteran A already built there and lives there for 12 months. Move along and find a different spot.
The game works on a "first come, first serve base."
If you want a spot to build on, wait till that player leaves or that spot becomes available at some point.
But back to the 'WoW generation' player.
Now this player is different.
This player does not look for a own spot to build.
This player decides he wants to build on YOUR spot, or right next to you.
This player logs in, and although it is a survival game this player does not want any challenge. This player logs in @ minute 0, at minute 1 he asks on the chat for free highend dinos which cost many hours to find and prepare a tame for experienced players.
At minute 2 he asks to be invited to the biggest tribe ingame so he has access to everything you have at minute 3 and can possibly steal everything you have from them at minute 4.
This player gets told to explore the game first as the survival part at the start is the best part of learning the game.
And no tribe wants a newb that takes all stuff, then logs out leaving for some other game and locks all the stuff he took. They tell him to start on the server, find a spot to build on and go from there.
If they get to know him for a while, he will get invited to a tribe.
But not straight away, they want to see if this player is good for the tribe and a pleasant person.
Back to the player.
Player gets agitated. Then starts walking.
Bases on the beach...'hmm, can't build there. Maybe a bit further, but that spot is a little less perfect then the first one.'
walks further, abandoned base. But then this player has to destroy it. Too much effort, because hey, he wants it handed to him.
Asks questions for free stuff again. No replies. The ones he gets are "start on your own first we will help you if you really need it, but you'll have to put effort in it yourself."
This is not how the player imagined it. Spend time and effort while he could all have it if they just gave it to him?
Player gets really angry now. Suddenly the whole island 'is full of elitist jerks, full of pillars, the game sucks' and the player logs out raging and off to the forums it is.
Complaining about elitist jerks placing pillars outside their base to protect their playstyle and resources.
Weird huh?
OP, who are you in this story?
I know it, do you?
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
Welcome to the world of player driven content where everything just dissolves to third world unregulated building.
This is what happens with any game where you can building "anywhere".
As the others said you need to find someone's private password protected server ( with people ) and make your case for them to let you in.
I have some friends that run a good one, they have built the server up allot let me know and I can hook you up with them.
Edit: And it's funny reading some of these responses, its the old if I don't do it first then someone else will do it and ruin MY experience, so IM going to ruin YOURS first. Hilarious.Solid AF logic.
And how do you explain the other people who does it... And what is the real differecne between Jhon and you.. Well you where a tiny bit smarter.. but beyond that you are the same.
You are a entitled prick and will have to live out your life with other such as your self. Enjoy.
Now i look forward to when the game goes live and they are faced with either stiffer regulations or watch the game slowly wither away in to obscurity thanks yo people like you.
This have been a good conversation