ARK: Survival Evolved

With Aberration, Ark: Survival Evolved's third expansion, now released, developer Wildcard is turning its attention back to the core game, and addressing some of its longest-standing issues. As part of that effort, it's unveiled more details on its long-promised TLC update, designed to beautify, and improve, some of Ark's oldest, and weirdest looking animals.

The aim of the multi-part process is, essentially, to add relevance to some of the game's earliest creatures, whose basic functionality has long been superseded by newer, more exciting additions. As a happy bonus, Wildcard is also taking the opportunity to update some of the Ark's older, more rudimentary creature model.

Four such creatures will be getting a TLC overhaul as part of Ark's Phase 1 update, which is expected to arrive in the week of February 18th: the Direbear, Procoptodon, Gigantopithecus, Direwolf, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. Wildcard has also shared a few details on Phase 2, which will seek to improve the Argentavis, and Spinosaur among others. Look!

Read more…

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jen
Dino TLC Phase 2 Preview!

In our previous Dino TLC updates we showed you our progress on Phase 1 of the Dino DLC pass, which includes the: Direbear, Procoptodon, Gigantopithecus, Direwolf, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. We are targeting the release of Phase 1 to take place during the week of February the 18th on PC. The plan is for the Dino TLC pass is to role out these changes in multiple phases. Throughout the next few months, some creatures will receive visual changes, as well as functional/gameplay changes.
http://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/2730738399330442820
Today, we'd like to share some screenshots and provide some insight into what we're planning for Phase 2 of the TLC pass. We've been reading all your feedback and suggestions regarding the creatures; our artists and gameplay team have found it to be beneficial in the decision-making process. Something to keep in mind is that not all creatures will receive a visual update, but we will cover ones we feel (with your feedback) need it. Sometimes there may be function gameplay changes which weaken certain aspects of creatures; however, if we take anything away, we always plan to add to it through another dimension.

Please remember that these are still works-in-progress and are therefore subject to change before final release, which includes both visual redesigns, as well as gameplay changes. 

The Argentavis!



The Argentavis has long since been a favourite flyer to many. With its high health, weight, and stamina it's an essential air mount that now will be getting a bit more love. The Dino TLC will grant the Argent a new saddle that will receive reduced weight capabilities on obsidian and various other materials, and the ability to craft smithy items within the saddle.

The Argent will now be able to carry two additional passengers, one with its claws and one in its beak. The Argent will be carrying heavier than current creatures in its talons, while its beak will be able to support the weight of smaller creatures.

Lastly, upon consuming a corpse the Argent will receive rapid health regeneration, making this vulture a formidable aerial tank!

The Spinosaur!



The quadruped stance of the Spinosaur has been a hotly debated since it first joined and ever since. Those for the stance enjoyed its dog-like run while those against felt like it was not true to the real-world version of the dino. With the TLC pass, the Spinosaur will now be able to operate in both a bipedal and a quadruped stance. When on two legs the Spino will move slower but be able to bite and use its claws to do increased damage, while on four legs it will be able to move faster.

Due to its affinity to water, the Spino will receive a buff which applies a bonus to movement speed, turning radius, attack damage, and health regen when fighting in water, and will last for some time after exiting the water. It will also prefer prime fish for taming (over prime meat) and have an increased chance at gathering prime fish meat.

Patch Notes!

But before we can do all of that in Phase 2, we have to get through this upcoming patch first! 

TLC Phase 1/v277 Tentative Patch Notes: ETA Week of February 18th

Please keep in mind that these notes are tentative, some parts of it may change before release (such as the values for creature-balance), as well as more general fixes included for Patch Day.

Dino TLC - The Procoptodon!
- Receives a model update, animation update, sound pass, and some new abilities:
- Will take reduced fall damage
- Carry weight will be noticeably increased
- Can carry small creatures and baby dinos in its pouch
- A knockback kick which can affect significantly larger dinos
- Added an aimed jump which can be used by holding down the Jump key
- Carried characters in a pouch have reduced food consumption rate when carried by Mate-Boosted Female Procoptodons.
- Babies imprinted while in a carried Procoptodon pouch receive more affinity

Dino TLC - The Gigantopithecus A.K.A Bigfoot!
- Receives a model update, animation update, new fur, sound pass and some new abilities:
- The Bigfoot will receive an armour-degrading attack; this means when it fights, it'll do more damage to your armour's durability. It is important to note that the armour-degrading attack will not affect the Yeti creatures found in the game.
- Added the capability to climb ziplines (but not jump between them)
- Added a jump
- It can now carry and throw small creatures
- Throwing has been made more accurate, similarly to crabs with targetting cursor

Dino TLC - Direbear!
- Receives a model update, animation update, new fur and some new abilities:
- When riding a Direbear, players will be immune to bees. They won't be able to knock you off your bear, and they will target focus the bear instead of the player.
- The Direbear will also be able to harvest honey from wild beehives without attracting bees or hurting the hive. Plus the amount of honey it receives will be 2x the standard amount.

Dino TLC - The Direwolf!
- Receives a model update, animation update, new fur and some new abilities:
- Howl now activates a pack buff for 5 minutes (with a minute cooldown). When the Alpha howls, the pack also howls. The pack buff strengthens the Alpha, as well as its pack (reduced amount vs Alpha)
- Hunter's Instinct passive buff which will allow it to sniff out people/creatures with less than 50% health
- Sniff tertiary ability to indicate nearby explorer notes, or to detect buried/stealth creatures

Dino TLC - The Rex!
- Receives a model update, animation update,  and some new abilities:
- Its roar should receive a CD and make non-allies (under a certain dragweight) poop to act as a small stun/interrupt. There will be a cooldown on victims so that they cannot be pooplocked continuously.
- The roar will not be able to scare anything above its level
- Roar will cause players to poop but not stun them
- Rex's ability to climb over small rocks and steeper slopes have been improved.

Creature Specific Bug Fixes & Balance Balance
- Dragon's Fire Breath direct impact damage reduced by 50%
- Fixed a bug which caused Rock Drake and Wyvern eggs to sink below their nests over time.
- Added Rock Golem Saddles to Scorched Earth Loot Table
- Added Basilisk and Rock Drake Saddles to Aberration Loot Table
- Uploaded Creature stats now display Movement Speed and Melee Damage
- Fixed a case where certain creatures would get stuck under the map/inside the map when colliding with larger creatures (most noticeably seen the Rock Drake and Basilisk)
- Fixed a case where certain creatures would get stuck under the map/inside the map when colliding with larger creatures (most noticeably seen the Rock Drake and Basilisk)
- Fixed an issue which was causing a desync with the Reaper's collision
- No longer need pheromone to claim Reaper Kings
- Moschops will no longer flee when told to harvest dino corpses
- Fixed a bug where some creatures would not be able to attack at low server FPS
- Bronto's and Paracer's breeding time have increased by 50% (equivalent to Quetz)
- Reduced Bronto HP gain per level by 33%
- Reduced Bronto base HP by 10%
- Reduced Paracaratherium base HP by 10%
- Reduced Paracer HP gain per level by 25%
- Reduced Tuso Base HP by 20%
- Reduced Tuso HP gain per level by 25%
- Reduced Dunky resistance to bullets to 40%
- Reduced Dunky other resistances to 60%
- Stego Plate Resistant reduced to 30%
- TEK Tapejara no longer inflicts raid damage (how you inflict torpor on titan, krab, and golem)
- AI Option for Dinos to only attack conscious targets added to Titanboa
- Skittish Stance added to tamed dinos

General
- Creative Mode building
- Server option to disable fog
- ARK will now scan your steam achievements and update your local profile accordingly to restore any lost skins/hairstyles.
- Add messages to tribe logs with information about uploading and downloading creatures
- Made a respawning player not targettable by Wild AI
- Option to hide learned engrams
- Players can now directly go from Proning to Crouching position
- Ambient Sounds have their own volume slider
- Right Click Context option added to folders to equip everything insider, allowing for rapid gear switching
- Created a "Use Last PIN Code" so players can quickly access secured structures
- Silencer now hides the name of the player who has killed you from the kill message and tribe log
- Server Option to make Supply Crates random (?RandomSupplyCratePoints=true)
- Option to enable NVIDIA Ansel on Servers (-ServerAllowAnsel)
- Prevented specific graphical flags from being invited via .ini files
- AxisMapping is now taken into account when underwater
- Cooldown added to tribe's changing their name
- 5 Second character and base immunity added to ORP servers when first logging in
- Fixed a collision issue affecting some dino gates that allowed unintended entry
- Fixed multiple unintended mechanics (will explain in a bit more detail after the update drops ;))
- Fixed an issue where the Tek Teleporter built on pillars/ceilings would push players and creatures beneath it.
- Fixed a crash caused by using ForceTame when riding a Dino
- Improved Red Crystal collision so they can be harvested more efficiently by Anky
- Corrected the Aquatic Mushroom description
- Removed collision from glowsticks which would cause movement problems with certain creatures
- Fixed multiple client/server crashes
- Fixed an issue where some zip line anchors were outside of replication range, preventing them from being used.
- Fixed a case which would allow players mounted on certain creatures to throw/place C4 a lot further (e.g. Stego)
- Corrected an incorrect icon with the Seeker Dossier
- Fixed a case where teleporting outside of a large base with the TEK Teleporter would show foliage that was harvested
- Fixed multiple map issues (holes and collision)
- Fixed a case where some foliage would not replicate appropriately on Aberration

Evolution Event



Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Tuesday the 29th of January at 3 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate

-------------

To read the rest of the Community Crunch this week, check out our announcement post on survivetheark!

Keep on surviving!
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jen
Dino TLC Phase 2 Preview!

In our previous Dino TLC updates we showed you our progress on Phase 1 of the Dino DLC pass, which includes the: Direbear, Procoptodon, Gigantopithecus, Direwolf, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. We are targeting the release of Phase 1 to take place during the week of February the 18th on PC. The plan is for the Dino TLC pass is to role out these changes in multiple phases. Throughout the next few months, some creatures will receive visual changes, as well as functional/gameplay changes.
http://steamcommunity.com/games/346110/announcements/detail/2730738399330442820
Today, we'd like to share some screenshots and provide some insight into what we're planning for Phase 2 of the TLC pass. We've been reading all your feedback and suggestions regarding the creatures; our artists and gameplay team have found it to be beneficial in the decision-making process. Something to keep in mind is that not all creatures will receive a visual update, but we will cover ones we feel (with your feedback) need it. Sometimes there may be function gameplay changes which weaken certain aspects of creatures; however, if we take anything away, we always plan to add to it through another dimension.

Please remember that these are still works-in-progress and are therefore subject to change before final release, which includes both visual redesigns, as well as gameplay changes. 

The Argentavis!



The Argentavis has long since been a favourite flyer to many. With its high health, weight, and stamina it's an essential air mount that now will be getting a bit more love. The Dino TLC will grant the Argent a new saddle that will receive reduced weight capabilities on obsidian and various other materials, and the ability to craft smithy items within the saddle.

The Argent will now be able to carry two additional passengers, one with its claws and one in its beak. The Argent will be carrying heavier than current creatures in its talons, while its beak will be able to support the weight of smaller creatures.

Lastly, upon consuming a corpse the Argent will receive rapid health regeneration, making this vulture a formidable aerial tank!

The Spinosaur!



The quadruped stance of the Spinosaur has been a hotly debated since it first joined and ever since. Those for the stance enjoyed its dog-like run while those against felt like it was not true to the real-world version of the dino. With the TLC pass, the Spinosaur will now be able to operate in both a bipedal and a quadruped stance. When on two legs the Spino will move slower but be able to bite and use its claws to do increased damage, while on four legs it will be able to move faster.

Due to its affinity to water, the Spino will receive a buff which applies a bonus to movement speed, turning radius, attack damage, and health regen when fighting in water, and will last for some time after exiting the water. It will also prefer prime fish for taming (over prime meat) and have an increased chance at gathering prime fish meat.

Patch Notes!

But before we can do all of that in Phase 2, we have to get through this upcoming patch first! 

TLC Phase 1/v277 Tentative Patch Notes: ETA Week of February 18th

Please keep in mind that these notes are tentative, some parts of it may change before release (such as the values for creature-balance), as well as more general fixes included for Patch Day.

Dino TLC - The Procoptodon!
- Receives a model update, animation update, sound pass, and some new abilities:
- Will take reduced fall damage
- Carry weight will be noticeably increased
- Can carry small creatures and baby dinos in its pouch
- A knockback kick which can affect significantly larger dinos
- Added an aimed jump which can be used by holding down the Jump key
- Carried characters in a pouch have reduced food consumption rate when carried by Mate-Boosted Female Procoptodons.
- Babies imprinted while in a carried Procoptodon pouch receive more affinity

Dino TLC - The Gigantopithecus A.K.A Bigfoot!
- Receives a model update, animation update, new fur, sound pass and some new abilities:
- The Bigfoot will receive an armour-degrading attack; this means when it fights, it'll do more damage to your armour's durability. It is important to note that the armour-degrading attack will not affect the Yeti creatures found in the game.
- Added the capability to climb ziplines (but not jump between them)
- Added a jump
- It can now carry and throw small creatures
- Throwing has been made more accurate, similarly to crabs with targetting cursor

Dino TLC - Direbear!
- Receives a model update, animation update, new fur and some new abilities:
- When riding a Direbear, players will be immune to bees. They won't be able to knock you off your bear, and they will target focus the bear instead of the player.
- The Direbear will also be able to harvest honey from wild beehives without attracting bees or hurting the hive. Plus the amount of honey it receives will be 2x the standard amount.

Dino TLC - The Direwolf!
- Receives a model update, animation update, new fur and some new abilities:
- Howl now activates a pack buff for 5 minutes (with a minute cooldown). When the Alpha howls, the pack also howls. The pack buff strengthens the Alpha, as well as its pack (reduced amount vs Alpha)
- Hunter's Instinct passive buff which will allow it to sniff out people/creatures with less than 50% health
- Sniff tertiary ability to indicate nearby explorer notes, or to detect buried/stealth creatures

Dino TLC - The Rex!
- Receives a model update, animation update,  and some new abilities:
- Its roar should receive a CD and make non-allies (under a certain dragweight) poop to act as a small stun/interrupt. There will be a cooldown on victims so that they cannot be pooplocked continuously.
- The roar will not be able to scare anything above its level
- Roar will cause players to poop but not stun them
- Rex's ability to climb over small rocks and steeper slopes have been improved.

Creature Specific Bug Fixes & Balance Balance
- Dragon's Fire Breath direct impact damage reduced by 50%
- Fixed a bug which caused Rock Drake and Wyvern eggs to sink below their nests over time.
- Added Rock Golem Saddles to Scorched Earth Loot Table
- Added Basilisk and Rock Drake Saddles to Aberration Loot Table
- Uploaded Creature stats now display Movement Speed and Melee Damage
- Fixed a case where certain creatures would get stuck under the map/inside the map when colliding with larger creatures (most noticeably seen the Rock Drake and Basilisk)
- Fixed a case where certain creatures would get stuck under the map/inside the map when colliding with larger creatures (most noticeably seen the Rock Drake and Basilisk)
- Fixed an issue which was causing a desync with the Reaper's collision
- No longer need pheromone to claim Reaper Kings
- Moschops will no longer flee when told to harvest dino corpses
- Fixed a bug where some creatures would not be able to attack at low server FPS
- Bronto's and Paracer's breeding time have increased by 50% (equivalent to Quetz)
- Reduced Bronto HP gain per level by 33%
- Reduced Bronto base HP by 10%
- Reduced Paracaratherium base HP by 10%
- Reduced Paracer HP gain per level by 25%
- Reduced Tuso Base HP by 20%
- Reduced Tuso HP gain per level by 25%
- Reduced Dunky resistance to bullets to 40%
- Reduced Dunky other resistances to 60%
- Stego Plate Resistant reduced to 30%
- TEK Tapejara no longer inflicts raid damage (how you inflict torpor on titan, krab, and golem)
- AI Option for Dinos to only attack conscious targets added to Titanboa
- Skittish Stance added to tamed dinos

General
- Creative Mode building
- Server option to disable fog
- ARK will now scan your steam achievements and update your local profile accordingly to restore any lost skins/hairstyles.
- Add messages to tribe logs with information about uploading and downloading creatures
- Made a respawning player not targettable by Wild AI
- Option to hide learned engrams
- Players can now directly go from Proning to Crouching position
- Ambient Sounds have their own volume slider
- Right Click Context option added to folders to equip everything insider, allowing for rapid gear switching
- Created a "Use Last PIN Code" so players can quickly access secured structures
- Silencer now hides the name of the player who has killed you from the kill message and tribe log
- Server Option to make Supply Crates random (?RandomSupplyCratePoints=true)
- Option to enable NVIDIA Ansel on Servers (-ServerAllowAnsel)
- Prevented specific graphical flags from being invited via .ini files
- AxisMapping is now taken into account when underwater
- Cooldown added to tribe's changing their name
- 5 Second character and base immunity added to ORP servers when first logging in
- Fixed a collision issue affecting some dino gates that allowed unintended entry
- Fixed multiple unintended mechanics (will explain in a bit more detail after the update drops ;))
- Fixed an issue where the Tek Teleporter built on pillars/ceilings would push players and creatures beneath it.
- Fixed a crash caused by using ForceTame when riding a Dino
- Improved Red Crystal collision so they can be harvested more efficiently by Anky
- Corrected the Aquatic Mushroom description
- Removed collision from glowsticks which would cause movement problems with certain creatures
- Fixed multiple client/server crashes
- Fixed an issue where some zip line anchors were outside of replication range, preventing them from being used.
- Fixed a case which would allow players mounted on certain creatures to throw/place C4 a lot further (e.g. Stego)
- Corrected an incorrect icon with the Seeker Dossier
- Fixed a case where teleporting outside of a large base with the TEK Teleporter would show foliage that was harvested
- Fixed multiple map issues (holes and collision)
- Fixed a case where some foliage would not replicate appropriately on Aberration

Evolution Event



Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Tuesday the 29th of January at 3 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate

-------------

To read the rest of the Community Crunch this week, check out our announcement post on survivetheark!

Keep on surviving!
ARK: Survival Evolved

Ark: Survival Evolved spinoff PixARK will come to Steam Early Access this March and officially release later this year. 

PixARK is being developed by Snail Games, who describes it as an open-world sandbox survival game. Ark: Survival Evolved developer Studio Wildcard provided "design and technical input," Snail Games says. 

The voxel-based spinoff builds on the base building, dinosaur taming formula of its predecessor with the addition of structured, RPG-like content. There are procedurally generated quests to go with its procedurally generated worlds, Snail Games says, as well as a focus on character progression and customization. Its announcement trailer also hints at more traditional fantasy elements like magic.  

PixARK can be played in singleplayer or multiplayer survival modes, as well as a creative mode that allows players to build without limits. Outside of crafting and building, players will also be able to train and ride "over 100" dinosaurs, many of which will look familiar to Ark: Survival Evolved players. 

Last November, Studio Wildcard creative director Jesse Rapczak said Ark: Survival Evolved "needs to have a sequel at some point." One wonders if this is what he had in mind. 

PixARK comes on the heels of Ark: Survival Evolved's latest expansion, Aberration, which introduced new alien-like dinosaurs and subterranean biomes last month. 

ARK: Survival Evolved

PixArk, an official Minecraft-inspired Ark: Survival Evolved spin-off, is heading to Steam Early Access and Xbox Games Preview this March, developer Snail Games has announced.

PixArk was unveiled late last year and is the result of a licensing deal with original Ark developer Studio Wildcard. It's an open-world sandbox game that takes the core elements of the main Ark series - survival, dinosaur taming, crafting, base building, and co-operative tribe living - and re-assembles them as a more casual, Minecraft-esque experience.

According to its Steam Early Access page, PixArk will feature a robust character creator and progression system (complete with skill trees and customisable stats), a voxel block building system, procedurally generated quests, an "infinite number" of voxel based maps featuring deserts, jungles, caves, and more, plus 100 voxel-ized Ark creatures to tame, train, and ride.

Read more…

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jatheish


Dino TLC Update!

At the end of last year, we were very excited to share with you the early progress of our Dino TLC update! We know it's something you guys have been looking forward to for a long time, so here we are with another update!

The plan is for the Dino TLC pass to role out in multiple phases. Throughout the next few months, some creatures will receive visual changes, as well as functional/gameplay changes. We are targetting the release of Phase 1 to take place during the week of February the 18th. In addition to Dino TLC Phase 1, we will also be rolling out our turret limit to all Official Servers.

Today, we'd like to share some more screenshots and provide some insight into what we're planning for Phase 1 of the TLC pass! We've been reading all your feedback and suggestions regarding the creatures; our artists and gameplay team have found it to be beneficial in the decision-making process. Something to keep in mind is that not all creatures will receive a visual update, but we will cover ones we feel (with your feedback) need it. Sometimes there may be function gameplay changes which weaken certain aspects of creatures; however, if we take anything away, we always plan to add to it through another dimension.

Please remember that this is still work-in-progress (especially the fur!) and therefore will be subject to change before final release, which includes both visual redesigns, as well as gameplay changes. Anywho, without further ado!

The Direbear



We believe the Direbear is in relatively secure place at the moment. Though, we're still planning on making a few changes to it!

When riding a Direbear, players will be immune to bees. They won't be able to knock you off your bear, and they will target focus the bear instead of the player.

In addition to this change, the bear will also be able to harvest honey from wild beehives without attracting bees or hurting the hive. Plus the amount of honey it receives will be 2x the standard amount.

The Procoptodon



Right now, if you're using The Procoptopdon, it's primarily for transportation. We don't see it as a highly combative mount, more so a utility creature with its fantastic jump, and ability to carry a second person.

Here's what we're planning:

The Procotopdon will take reduced fall damage; its carry weight will be noticeably increased, and it will gain the new ability to carry baby dinos and small creatures in its pouch.

We figure that puts the creature in a decent spot, and the suggestion of using the pouch to carry babies was excellent, thanks /r/playARK!

Ah, we've forgotten something...

Oh yeah! We're going to give it a kick! It'll be a pretty tough, and even be able to knock back some significantly large creatures!

The Gigantopithecus A.K.A Bigfoot!



We had quite a few ideas pop into our heads when coming up with some additional abilities for the Bigfoot. Did it need more strength and fighting abilities? What about how well it moves? Could we provide it with some new features? Ultimately, here's what we've settled on:

The Bigfoot will receive an armour-degrading attack; this means when it fights, it'll do more damage to your armour's durability. It is important to note that the armour-degrading attack will not affect the Yeti creatures found in the game.

Its movement needed some work! So we'll be giving it the ability to jump, which is kinda critical, considering it will need to know how to hop on and off all the zip-lines it's going to climb! Yup, that's right. It'll be able to use zip-lines!

In addition to those changes, we'll also be improving it's throwing ability, so it's more accurate (similarly to the Crab) and providing it with the ability to carry (on its shoulder) small creatures and throw them!

The Direwolf!



It's a wolf.. and what are wolves good for? Hunting. Now if you're a wolf, and you're hunting, what exactly are you going to rely on the most? Your nose!

In Phase 1 of the update, we'll be introducing a new ability, a passive buff, as well as changing how it's howl and pack buff currently work.

First of all, the howl will activate the pack buff for a duration of time (we're thinking 5 minutes right now). This means it won't be active all the time, but to compensate, we'll be strengthing the buff to make the wolves stronger. As a little bonus is that when the Alpha Wolf howls, so will all the others! We're also planning for this mechanic play out with wild wolves too.

As for its nose, we're doing two things. We're providing it with a passive buff which allows it to sniff out people or creatures with less than 50% health, and this will be indicated via an icon. Think of it like the hunter's instinct.

Secondly, we'll be giving it a 'Sniff' tertiary ability to indicate nearby explorer notes, as well as detect stealth or buried creatures.

and finally...

The Tyrannosaurus Rex



It's in a pretty strong place at the moment; it's considered one of the top-tier creatures. It is used continuously to fight bosses, as well as often seen in PVP. So we didn't want to give it too many changes to avoid making it overpowered, here's what our plan is:

We're going to improve it's movement/climbing ability so that it doesn't get stuck behind small rocks and can climb up steeper slopes.

We're also planning to change the Roar. When targetting an enemy and using the roar, the enemy will be forced to poop. There will be a cooldown on both the Rex and people who have recently pooped, so you can't pooplock them with 10 Rexes.

That pretty much covers it for Phase 1 of the TLC-pass, let us know what you think, whether we're missing anything glaringly obvious! We're also planning (not definite!) on carrying out more visual changes to the following creatures: Spino, Sarco, Carno, Raptor, Female Deer, Plesio, and Argie. Let us know what you'd like to see improved with those, as well as any other creatures you think may need some love that we're overlooking.

NVIDIA Freestyle: Customize Your ARK’s Appearance In Real-Time

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1263948262

Check out the latest NVIDIA GeForce® Experience™ and #GameReady driver for exciting new ways to customize the look of your ARK with NVIDIA Freestyle! There are 15 available filters, 38 different settings, and many possible combinations, enabling you to create a truly unique look for your gameplay with just a few clicks!

Freestyle game filter and Ansel photo mode features will be available in beta. Just download the latest GeForce Experience app (release 3.12) and Game Ready Driver (release 390) and enable Experimental Features in GeForce Experience settings. Join the beta and be the first to try these new features in GeForce Experience today

Check out this articles for all the latest details and how to use the Freestyle filters on your ARK!

New Freestyle Contest!

We'll also be introducing a new category to our Nvidia Ansel contests for all Freestyle entries! You can submit images or a video (up to 1 minute long) using the new awesome filters for a chance to win 200$ (double our normal Ansel reward). Check out our contest submission thread for all the details!

Evolution Event++



Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Monday the 15th of January at 12 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate
2x Maturing
2x Less Breeding Interval
2x Mating

You can check out our full crunch for all the latest news here!

That's it for this post guys! As always if you’ve got anything to share please get in touch and be sure to follow us on:

Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Instagram

All the best,
Studio Wildcard
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jat


Dino TLC Update!

At the end of last year, we were very excited to share with you the early progress of our Dino TLC update! We know it's something you guys have been looking forward to for a long time, so here we are with another update!

The plan is for the Dino TLC pass to role out in multiple phases. Throughout the next few months, some creatures will receive visual changes, as well as functional/gameplay changes. We are targetting the release of Phase 1 to take place during the week of February the 18th. In addition to Dino TLC Phase 1, we will also be rolling out our turret limit to all Official Servers.

Today, we'd like to share some more screenshots and provide some insight into what we're planning for Phase 1 of the TLC pass! We've been reading all your feedback and suggestions regarding the creatures; our artists and gameplay team have found it to be beneficial in the decision-making process. Something to keep in mind is that not all creatures will receive a visual update, but we will cover ones we feel (with your feedback) need it. Sometimes there may be function gameplay changes which weaken certain aspects of creatures; however, if we take anything away, we always plan to add to it through another dimension.

Please remember that this is still work-in-progress (especially the fur!) and therefore will be subject to change before final release, which includes both visual redesigns, as well as gameplay changes. Anywho, without further ado!

The Direbear



We believe the Direbear is in relatively secure place at the moment. Though, we're still planning on making a few changes to it!

When riding a Direbear, players will be immune to bees. They won't be able to knock you off your bear, and they will target focus the bear instead of the player.

In addition to this change, the bear will also be able to harvest honey from wild beehives without attracting bees or hurting the hive. Plus the amount of honey it receives will be 2x the standard amount.

The Procoptodon



Right now, if you're using The Procoptopdon, it's primarily for transportation. We don't see it as a highly combative mount, more so a utility creature with its fantastic jump, and ability to carry a second person.

Here's what we're planning:

The Procotopdon will take reduced fall damage; its carry weight will be noticeably increased, and it will gain the new ability to carry baby dinos and small creatures in its pouch.

We figure that puts the creature in a decent spot, and the suggestion of using the pouch to carry babies was excellent, thanks /r/playARK!

Ah, we've forgotten something...

Oh yeah! We're going to give it a kick! It'll be a pretty tough, and even be able to knock back some significantly large creatures!

The Gigantopithecus A.K.A Bigfoot!



We had quite a few ideas pop into our heads when coming up with some additional abilities for the Bigfoot. Did it need more strength and fighting abilities? What about how well it moves? Could we provide it with some new features? Ultimately, here's what we've settled on:

The Bigfoot will receive an armour-degrading attack; this means when it fights, it'll do more damage to your armour's durability. It is important to note that the armour-degrading attack will not affect the Yeti creatures found in the game.

Its movement needed some work! So we'll be giving it the ability to jump, which is kinda critical, considering it will need to know how to hop on and off all the zip-lines it's going to climb! Yup, that's right. It'll be able to use zip-lines!

In addition to those changes, we'll also be improving it's throwing ability, so it's more accurate (similarly to the Crab) and providing it with the ability to carry (on its shoulder) small creatures and throw them!

The Direwolf!



It's a wolf.. and what are wolves good for? Hunting. Now if you're a wolf, and you're hunting, what exactly are you going to rely on the most? Your nose!

In Phase 1 of the update, we'll be introducing a new ability, a passive buff, as well as changing how it's howl and pack buff currently work.

First of all, the howl will activate the pack buff for a duration of time (we're thinking 5 minutes right now). This means it won't be active all the time, but to compensate, we'll be strengthing the buff to make the wolves stronger. As a little bonus is that when the Alpha Wolf howls, so will all the others! We're also planning for this mechanic play out with wild wolves too.

As for its nose, we're doing two things. We're providing it with a passive buff which allows it to sniff out people or creatures with less than 50% health, and this will be indicated via an icon. Think of it like the hunter's instinct.

Secondly, we'll be giving it a 'Sniff' tertiary ability to indicate nearby explorer notes, as well as detect stealth or buried creatures.

and finally...

The Tyrannosaurus Rex



It's in a pretty strong place at the moment; it's considered one of the top-tier creatures. It is used continuously to fight bosses, as well as often seen in PVP. So we didn't want to give it too many changes to avoid making it overpowered, here's what our plan is:

We're going to improve it's movement/climbing ability so that it doesn't get stuck behind small rocks and can climb up steeper slopes.

We're also planning to change the Roar. When targetting an enemy and using the roar, the enemy will be forced to poop. There will be a cooldown on both the Rex and people who have recently pooped, so you can't pooplock them with 10 Rexes.

That pretty much covers it for Phase 1 of the TLC-pass, let us know what you think, whether we're missing anything glaringly obvious! We're also planning (not definite!) on carrying out more visual changes to the following creatures: Spino, Sarco, Carno, Raptor, Female Deer, Plesio, and Argie. Let us know what you'd like to see improved with those, as well as any other creatures you think may need some love that we're overlooking.

NVIDIA Freestyle: Customize Your ARK’s Appearance In Real-Time

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1263948262

Check out the latest NVIDIA GeForce® Experience™ and #GameReady driver for exciting new ways to customize the look of your ARK with NVIDIA Freestyle! There are 15 available filters, 38 different settings, and many possible combinations, enabling you to create a truly unique look for your gameplay with just a few clicks!

Freestyle game filter and Ansel photo mode features will be available in beta. Just download the latest GeForce Experience app (release 3.12) and Game Ready Driver (release 390) and enable Experimental Features in GeForce Experience settings. Join the beta and be the first to try these new features in GeForce Experience today

Check out this articles for all the latest details and how to use the Freestyle filters on your ARK!

New Freestyle Contest!

We'll also be introducing a new category to our Nvidia Ansel contests for all Freestyle entries! You can submit images or a video (up to 1 minute long) using the new awesome filters for a chance to win 200$ (double our normal Ansel reward). Check out our contest submission thread for all the details!

Evolution Event++



Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Monday the 15th of January at 12 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate
2x Maturing
2x Less Breeding Interval
2x Mating

You can check out our full crunch for all the latest news here!

That's it for this post guys! As always if you’ve got anything to share please get in touch and be sure to follow us on:

Twitter
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Reddit
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All the best,
Studio Wildcard
HITMAN™

It took our Bitcoin mining rig two weeks to spit out the solution to 'what is the hardest GOTY award to be mad about,' but our unscrupulous power consumption was worth it. Divinity: Original Sin 2 is the first uncontroversial Game of the Year award we've given in years. We finally did it!

Of course it couldn't last, though. After just a few days of basking in positive reinforcement, we also published awards for PUBG and Destiny 2, prompting questions such as: 'Are you drunk?' The answer is: probably. But we must press on. The end of the year is for awarding awards, and no number of incredulous reaction gifs and all caps emails can stop us. So before calling it quits, we grabbed a handful of rejected award ideas from our award box (after paying our office manager $1.99 for the key) to bring you the 2017 Looties, our other GOTY awards.

Best Mass Effect Game

Winner: Mass Effect: Andromeda

However you feel about Mass Effect: Andromeda, you have to admit that it's the best Mass Effect game that released this year, and at least the fourth best Mass Effect game of all time. Not too shabby! —Tyler Wilde

Most Effective Word of Mouth Marketing Campaign 

Winner: EA for Star Wars Battlefront 2

Wow! EA pulled off quite the marketing stunt for Battlefront 2: even politicians are talking about it. To make this word-of-mouth magic happen, the marketing savants at EA constructed a business model that it would be impossible to look at, even on paper, without saying: 'Excellent! Everyone is going to be very mad about this! In fact, even Disney will be mad. We'll definitely make Belgium's Justice Minister mad.' And like clockwork, that's what happened—literally anyone could have predicted it, which goes to show just how airtight the plan was. Nice one, EA! —Tyler Wilde

Most Unexpected Death

Winner: Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider

It was a closely guarded secret all through the production of Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider: The Outsider would die. The efforts taken to hide the death of the Outsider were extreme, with several fake endings to Death of the Outsider, in which the Outsider did not die, being fully produced and animated. The Outsider's voice actor spent days recording dozens of lines of dialogue intended to throw off any suspicions in case of a pre-launch leak, lines like "I am glad I did not die!" and "I, the Outsider, continue to live" and "There sure are a lot of deaths but thankfully none of them are of me, the Outsider." These efforts were completely worth it, because we were completely stunned when we got to the part of Death of the Outsider where we experienced the death of the Outsider. In fact, we feel a little bad not including a spoiler warning before this award, because now you know the Outsider, in Death of the Outsider, dies. —Chris Livingston

Most normal house

Winner: What Remains of Edith Finch

As evocative as the Finch's family home is, it's the realistic slice-of-life details that make it so compelling. For instance, there's the subtle inclusion of secret tunnels that only small people can fit through. We all know where ours are! (Though we must never find out what's behind them.) And rooms with entirely different colour schemes that perfectly show, down to the smallest detail, who lives there? These are the details I expect when I walk into a family home, not the unrealistic detritus you see in most so-called 'true to life' portrayals: mouldy pizza boxes stuffed down the side of a bed, embarrassing Star Trek tie-in novels in people's book collections, dad's copy of Band of Brothers on Blu-ray. As if we're not going to notice that the family dome is missing from that picture? Props to Edith Finch for getting it right. —Samuel Roberts

Wait, a Survival Game Left Early Access? 

Winner: The Long Ark

Wait, what? A survival game left Early Access this year? Wait, again! And what, again? Two of them? Ark: Survival Evolved and The Long Dark both left Early Access? Holy crap. I didn't know that was a thing that could happen. I thought maybe Steam forgot to make a 'Leave Early Access' button for survival game developers to click on, or maybe that they had to cut down a real tree using an axe made from a stick, a stone, and 'plant fiber' before they were allowed to leave Early Access and no one could actually do it. Well, good for Ark 'n Dark! May your stomach meters be full and your supply of firewood be plentiful. —Chris Livingston

Saddest Child

Winner: Little Nightmares

It's never been a better and worse time to be a sad child in a game, what with Inside and Rime showing that kids have it tough in service of entertaining players. Little Nightmares, though, offers the saddest child of 2017, as grotesque people regularly attempt to eat your character on a horror show of a boat while your character slowly starves to death. If it's not that, you have to avoid giant toy men who want to mess you up real bad. Will 2018 be another banner year for sad videogame children? I would expect so. This sub-genre is flourishing right now. —Samuel Roberts

Saddest Robots

Winner: Nier Automata

Have you met the member of the resistance group who reprograms a Yorha android because he's desperate to start a family? And then did you read the email afterwards that explains in cold detail how he and his new robot relations were killed? Nier features some deeply sad robots, all trying to figure themselves out in a box-y world where people no longer reside, but human feelings live on in their creations. Everyone's having a bad time. Except the robots having an orgy—they're loving it. —Samuel Roberts

Corporate Good Guy of the Year

Winner: Yosuke Matsuda, Square-Enix

It's rare to see major publishers behave with magnanimity when the big bucks are involved, so I was moved if not to tears, at least to substantial surprise when Square-Enix decided not to be jerks about the whole not wanting to make more Hitman games thing, and instead let IO Interactive walk away with the rights to their slap-headed, murderous creation. Credit for that has to go to big boss Yosuke Matsuda, who explained: "I believe it wouldn't be Hitman unless it was Hitman made by IO… I love the game, and I believe the fans of Hitman think it's only Hitman if it's made by IO. So I thought that was the best way for the game to continue, and that's why we were supportive of the MBO and of course didn't mind if they continued to use the IP." Imagine, Bobby Kotick at Activision saying something like that. You can't. Because he's buried under that pile of loot boxes. Shhh, Bobby. Let the darkness come. You're safe now. —Tim Clark

Corporate Bad Guy of the Year

Winner: Also Yosuke Matsuda, Square-Enix

Goddamnit. No sooner had I hung the garland on Matsuda-san than I realised he was also responsible for this year's greatest single moment of villainy: Ignoring the noble and righteous campaign led by our own Wesley Fenlon to have Final Fantasy Tactics finally ported to PC. I mean, I can't be sure this is entirely Matsuda's fault, but I also can't be certain he isn't to blame. So here we are. I mean, c'mon Square. You've jammed every other Fantasy onto Steam except that one about the hot boys riding around chasing chocobo tail in a black cadillac, why the hell can't we have Tactics? It's literally one of the best turn-based strategy games ever made, and would be an absolute delight to play with mouse and keyboard. To be honest, if it was between this and letting the Hitman devs families' starve… —Tim Clark

Also, you can literally fight him in Nier: Automata, which makes him a true (but extremely cool, dammit) bad guy. —Wes Fenlon

ARK: Survival Evolved - Jen


Happy Holidays!



Happy Holidays, Survivors!

As this year draws to a close, we're going to end off 2017 with a little holiday-themed event! Though smaller than our previous Winter events, we hope Survivors enjoy their holiday time on the ARK. Survivors will experience Santa's Elves inhabiting the ARKs, spreading joy to all those who tame them.

This holiday-themed event brings the following changes to the ARKs (available on the holidayevent branch for dedicated servers):

- One-time Wild Dino respawn
- 5% chance of new wild creatures being Xmas coloured
- 50% chance of white-coloured Dire Bears
- All hat-wearing wild dinos are wearing Santa hats and Megaloceros have been replaced with Reindeer
- 12 AM through to 5 AM provides a temporary buff to live connected players which boosts loot crate quality by 40% (over base values, 15% over LioMagic values), drops more loot, and adds more cosmetics to loot crate drops.

Be sure to send us all your holiday-themed screenshots, videos, and artwork as we'd love to see them!

The event will begin at 12 PM ET on Saturday the 23rd of December and runs until 12 PM ET on Sunday the 1st of January.



ARK Winter Sale!

Happy Holidays Everyone! For those who've yet to experience the joys of ARK, nows your chance to get in as we have a huge host of discounts with the Winter Sale!



ARK will be participating in this year's Steam Winter Sale! It runs from now through the holiday until the 4th of January!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/4462/ARK_Survival_Evolved_Explorers_Edition/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/696680/ARK_Survival_Evolved_Season_Pass/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/512540/ARK_Scorched_Earth__Expansion_Pack/

Evolution Event



Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Tuesday the 26th of December at 12 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate

-------------

To read the rest of the Community Crunch this week, check out our announcement post on survivetheark!

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we'll be back at the beginning of the New Year!

Keep on surviving!
ARK: Survival Evolved - Jen


Happy Holidays!



Happy Holidays, Survivors!

As this year draws to a close, we're going to end off 2017 with a little holiday-themed event! Though smaller than our previous Winter events, we hope Survivors enjoy their holiday time on the ARK. Survivors will experience Santa's Elves inhabiting the ARKs, spreading joy to all those who tame them.

This holiday-themed event brings the following changes to the ARKs (available on the holidayevent branch for dedicated servers):

- One-time Wild Dino respawn
- 5% chance of new wild creatures being Xmas coloured
- 50% chance of white-coloured Dire Bears
- All hat-wearing wild dinos are wearing Santa hats and Megaloceros have been replaced with Reindeer
- 12 AM through to 5 AM provides a temporary buff to live connected players which boosts loot crate quality by 40% (over base values, 15% over LioMagic values), drops more loot, and adds more cosmetics to loot crate drops.

Be sure to send us all your holiday-themed screenshots, videos, and artwork as we'd love to see them!

The event will begin at 12 PM ET on Saturday the 23rd of December and runs until 12 PM ET on Sunday the 1st of January.



ARK Winter Sale!

Happy Holidays Everyone! For those who've yet to experience the joys of ARK, nows your chance to get in as we have a huge host of discounts with the Winter Sale!



ARK will be participating in this year's Steam Winter Sale! It runs from now through the holiday until the 4th of January!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/346110/ARK_Survival_Evolved/

http://store.steampowered.com/bundle/4462/ARK_Survival_Evolved_Explorers_Edition/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/696680/ARK_Survival_Evolved_Season_Pass/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/512540/ARK_Scorched_Earth__Expansion_Pack/

Evolution Event



Survivors across ALL Platforms will be receiving a special Evolution Event perk this weekend! It's already live now and will remain active until Tuesday the 26th of December at 12 PM EST. All Official Servers will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

2x Harvesting Rate
2x Taming Rate
2x EXP Rate

-------------

To read the rest of the Community Crunch this week, check out our announcement post on survivetheark!

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we'll be back at the beginning of the New Year!

Keep on surviving!
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