Just when you thought it was safe on land

[Nutcutt3r 173]

47 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

Weak against players, sure. But I literally just outlined a way that works fine against wolves and shit. 

OP repeatedly fails to realize that instead of being in a location more suited to his skill level, the game should be changed around them and they should be able to sit and eat tea and crumpets wherever they please.

[JackTheWack 10]

@Captain Jack Shadow use dual pistols instead of blunder with the spread blunder has ive done either 34 damage or 300 damage when shooting a wolf in the face point plank. Pistols are better you get the guaranteed hit when shooting a wolf in the face instead of random spread. 

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

7 hours ago, JackTheWack said:

@Captain Jack Shadow use dual pistols instead of blunder with the spread blunder has ive done either 34 damage or 300 damage when shooting a wolf in the face point plank. Pistols are better you get the guaranteed hit when shooting a wolf in the face instead of random spread. 

Yesterday, I shot a wolf with two pistols.  Two hits.  I had to finish it off with my bow and arrow.  This wolf?...it was a level 4.  I was quite disappointed.  One was not a headshot as the wold literally spun 90 degrees to go around something.  Should not matter.  Animals die just fine when shot in the side, or gut area, and can't run when hit in the leg.  Stop making it all about head shots.  And an FYI, lions don't jump 50 or 100 feet in real life.  In fact, they aren't really that good at jumping. 

I do see a difference at times in the level of a wolf.  I was hit by a level 60 as I fled to the water.  It took over half my health in one hit.

This game is completely out of balance.  Animals are unrealistically hard to kill, while ships are unrealistically easy to sink.  Thus, most of my focus is on recovering my metal tools, guns, armor, and what I have mined so far.  I know that the island I play on exacerbates this because it is one of the largest islands in the game, and has a lot of mountains, forcing all of the creatures into the valleys that you must traverse and gather resources in.  As you do this, you often have no warning that wolves, or lions are charging you.  It takes so long to mine one rock, that by the time you get done mining it, a set of wolves that were chasing something else, then aggro to you, and you turn to see fangs.

Meanwhile, as we are taking resources to our base...me and one of the other Company Admins...we see a death message.  As we try to figure out who this level 2 person was that was killed, we see a new message telling us our ship was sunk.  Yeah...we got to go out one day and actually have fun with that ship before ONE guy destroyed it from shore, while none of use were there to operate it.

So...this is our history in the game so far.  We buy the game when it goes on sale.  We set up in a lawless area to build a ship.  We build a Brigantine.  Much PvP happens and we have to repair the ship many times.  We eventually get the ship finished, and set sail to find a claim.  First voyage lasts minutes as we are swarmed by SotD.  Members quit, and some get a refund.  The remainder go to an unofficial.  We find one that turns out to be very toxic, so we leave and find a better one.  We start to get a base going, but before that's even done, people who were there from the start, and thus higher level, attack with superior weapons, and spec'd for combat.  We were spec'd to get things done.  The results are obvious.  So we set up in a different spot, and get into stone, and develop a decent base.  Then we start in on a new brigantine.  We get it done, and fully outfitted.  We set sail, and sink a SotD, and do a little exploring.  Then, the next day (yesterday), our ship was sunk by one guy, while it sat there, near shore.  So now we have to go smash rocks, and wack trees & plants to get enough to build another ship, and cannons, and ammo.  In short, this game is not fun, and not what I thought I was getting into.  If it does not get ORP for the ships...ORP that defends it when no crew is within a set distance, then I will leave it, and make sure everyone I know, understands that it is 99% grind, and 1% fun.

1. Alpha animals need to be moved to boss Islands.
2. Animals need to be more realistic in their weaknesses, not just their strengths.  They should not heal while in combat.
3. AI crew need to expertly operate the ship...near impenetrable defense, or ORP for the ship.  One man should not be able to sink a large ship.
4. Game needs a reputation system, with harsh penalties for earning the title of outlaw, most wanted pirates, etc...
5. Skill tree is an abomination.  Needs totally reworked.  Need to be able to spec into multiple things at the same time.  In other words, skill points only for combat types, and you choose which style of combat is for you.  The skill tree should be divided into an occupation, a talent, and a combat style, with points dedicated to just that tree.
6. Bow and arrows should not be nerfed.  One arrow can kill you the same as one bullet, in real life.  Range is the difference, and noise.  The Bow and Arrow should be mostly silent, while the gun is very loud.  And the bow is faster to reload.  Right now, the bow is nerfed to the point of being near useless.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Captain Jack Shadow

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

19 hours ago, mndfreeze said:

The 2H mace's power downswing (scroll wheel down) wrecks most animals.  Its slow but while you are mid swing they can't knock you back and it has a big AOE so it hits him.  Just swing a second time and most of them die.  The higher level ones will take a third swing usually.  You will get hurt during this but not dead.  Same goes for snakes.

Pump fortitude if you want to be more resistant to snake venom.  It significantly slows torpor damage, and the temp adjustment makes it even better.

Melee does need some work though.  I think a lot of people don't realize or pay attention to all the different attacks weapons have. Some weapons like the pike have a thrust attack that does far more damage to armoed foes for example but everyone always just does the left mouse click swing.

This feat system of special attacks is wonky.  An F key is not the way to go.   It should be one key for all weapons, since you only have one weapon type in use at a time.  Most games do not use the scroll wheel for an attack, so that takes getting used to, and does not come naturally to those of us who have played combat games for decades.  Not saying this is wrong, but it will take getting used to.  But, this does not change the fact that animals are just too aggressive, and too powerful. I did NOT come to this game to fight animals all the time.  It is seriously draining my interest in the game.  And the XP points for gathering, crafting, and building, need to be boosted significantly.  We have paid attention to this, and the only real boost you get when trying to level up, is when you kill things.

7 hours ago, Nutcutt3r said:

OP repeatedly fails to realize that instead of being in a location more suited to his skill level, the game should be changed around them and they should be able to sit and eat tea and crumpets wherever they please.

The game forces you to move to the advanced areas once you reach level 8.  Just an FYI if you were unaware of this.  Oh, and while we have a good stone base now, an Alpha rattle snake somehow got in and killed our lion.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

BTW, I don't think they need to change the bow and arrow much, but they do need to boost the strong arm skill's effect.  I have spec'd that, but the bow and arrow is still pathetically weak.  You should NOT have to use fire arrows to make it worth using.

[Nightstrasza 137]

1 minute ago, Captain Jack Shadow said:

BTW, I don't think they need to change the bow and arrow much, but they do need to boost the strong arm skill's effect.  I have spec'd that, but the bow and arrow is still pathetically weak.  You should NOT have to use fire arrows to make it worth using.

Not sure if arrows are weak (didn't have the game at launch) but just FYI, they are nerfing it, each arrow shot will remove 1 durability, bow will have now 40 insteed of 50 dura and it will do max 50 dmg per stone arrow hard cap or something like that so prepare to have nothing to fight with against animals untill flintlocks.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

9 minutes ago, Nightstrasza said:

Not sure if arrows are weak (didn't have the game at launch) but just FYI, they are nerfing it, each arrow shot will remove 1 durability, bow will have now 40 insteed of 50 dura and it will do max 50 dmg per stone arrow hard cap or something like that so prepare to have nothing to fight with against animals untill flintlocks.

We will fix that with a mod, or server settings.  Stupid dev decisions won't kill the game with the dev kit on the way.

[Nightstrasza 137]

2 minutes ago, Captain Jack Shadow said:

We will fix that with a mod, or server settings.  Stupid dev decisions won't kill the game with the dev kit on the way.

If only knew a friendly server that doesn't have only 10 players online at a time and doesn't make resources 100x gathering. If will ever make/find a server that is resonable and have fixed/changes that should be already on official let us know.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

Join us on Booty Bay.  It is only 3x gathering, but they do give you enough skill points to end up with most or all of the skills by the time you max out, which is important for unofficial, since you won't likely have more than a dozen people in your company.  They also allow unlimited respec.   We play there, and I think we will approach them about starting our own server, and doing a handshake with them, that will allow us to connect the servers.  There's is 3x3, and we will likely do the same.  Honestly, that is huge.  Not as huge as official, but just how far do you think you will actually travel around on official, without getting blasted out of the water?

If you are interested, you can join our crew.

[DattoSSS 22]

7 minutes ago, Captain Jack Shadow said:

Join us on Booty Bay.  It is only 3x gathering, but they do give you enough skill points to end up with most or all of the skills by the time you max out, which is important for unofficial, since you won't likely have more than a dozen people in your company.  They also allow unlimited respec.   We play there, and I think we will approach them about starting our own server, and doing a handshake with them, that will allow us to connect the servers.  There's is 3x3, and we will likely do the same.  Honestly, that is huge.  Not as huge as official, but just how far do you think you will actually travel around on official, without getting blasted out of the water?

If you are interested, you can join our crew.

Have a look at https://www.gamingalliance.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=113&t=179&p=359#p359.  It is Australia based but we have players from US and France on our Ark servers so just try the ping,  The admin has run Ark servers for years and has tweaked a really well balanced cluster for Atlas.  It is a 3x3 PvP map but starter region is PvE and greater increased harvest for the new spawns to establish and set out.  Max tribe is 5 to prevent steamrolling.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

Wouldn't work for us.  We would have to split into two tribes of 5, and then ally, but that then defeats the steam rolling, as we would have 10 to everyone's 5.  Good idea though.  I like the idea of different servers like this to fit everyone's needs.