I don't understand why people hate on the game like this.

[Domino 48]

On 1/12/2019 at 7:45 PM, Ellentro said:

See. Here's the problem. Wildcard (The studio behind this game) has already done this once. We all thought the exact same thing for Ark. We gave them full throated, complete good will and support. 

Then they released from EA and nothing changed. Every patch and DLC was riddled with game-ending bugs, exploits and issues. Most content released did not function in a gameplay environment. Balance and exploit issues persisted for months, if not years (Some never actually ended up being solved). Wildcard has proven themselves once, already, to be incapable of delivering a complete product, testing their content, listening to their community or any of the basic hallmarks of what constitutes an effective and successful EA company, despite having landed a goldmine in the premise of Ark, and now Atlas, they prove, time and time again, that they, as a company, are incompetent to an extreme. 

People here are, rightfully, upset and frustrated with Wildcard. Your analogies don't work here because they are fundamentally flawed in comparison. 

I always scratch my head at posts like this.  I can't help but wonder, if people have so little faith in a company after buying several products, why do they keep buying more?  I see two possibilities: 1. They're not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  Or, 2. They're full of it, and just like to complain.  I can never figure out which, though.

I've been playing on a private server with about 15-20 others, and we're having an awesome time.  We've been able to tweak some of the settings (like wolf spawns, ghost ship spawns, etc) and things are far more mellow on our server than the public servers (which seem like a hot mess, and overcrowded with far too many players [but not all] that seem childish and toxic, to say the least).  We don't have to worry about some jerk stealing our claim when we look away, or sinking our ship with rocks, or any of the other silly things I hear about.  But we get to build crazy bases and cool ships, team up and go treasure hunting, and get into all kinds of mischief and misfortune together.  And while it's been a really fun experience, I can't help but think of how cool it would be if there was another group of players that we had to keep an eye out for, because you never know when you might see their sails on the horizon... And if they spot you, is there time to sail to the island just a bit further to call in your allies, before the galleons reach your main settlement.... And that's the Atlas I'm hopeful for.  Once all the dust settles and numerous balance issues are addressed, there is so much potential to be a really awesome game.  Granted it won't appeal to everyone (it's going to take a special kind of solo player to be able to tough it out against larger groups, but no reason they couldn't, with their base tucked away in some secluded cove and smuggling silk or some other rare resource they have, that others need for their mythic blueprints...) but I'm sure there are still lots of other players who'd be interested in a game like that.  And I assume from what I know of the game, those are the types of players it's hoping to attract (not a bunch of spoiled, ill-tempered little virtual serial killers).  

[Caldrin 55]

It's the internet people need something to hate on its teh cool thing to do haha.. well seems that way these days. 

[Ellentro 107]

Just now, Domino said:

I always scratch my head at posts like this.  I can't help but wonder, if people have so little faith in a company after buying several products, why do they keep buying more?  I see two possibilities: 1. They're not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  Or, 2. They're full of it, and just like to complain.  I can never figure out which, though.

Or three, that despite being made by a company that ignores everything and does shit wrong, the game is still fun. You realize it can be both badly run/supported, and still inherently fun to play, right?

 

I have no faith that the company will solve their issues, but I still enjoy it. I don't like to complain, but I enjoy the game enough to complain incessantly because I, for some reason, believe somewhere out there, that someone might listen. Or it helps me vent. Likely a combination of the two. 

[Virtual Realms 0]

26 minutes ago, Ellentro said:

Or three, that despite being made by a company that ignores everything and does shit wrong, the game is still fun. You realize it can be both badly run/supported, and still inherently fun to play, right?

 

I have no faith that the company will solve their issues, but I still enjoy it. I don't like to complain, but I enjoy the game enough to complain incessantly because I, for some reason, believe somewhere out there, that someone might listen. Or it helps me vent. Likely a combination of the two. 

I get where you are coming from, but so far Atlas has one other thing in common with ARK.  Official server gameplay has a lot of issues that crop up, however private server gameplay is surprisingly stable and rarely has any serious issues.  Of course Atlas is still very rough around the edges compared to ARK, but the same symptomatology seems to be in effect.  Folks on private servers are having a vastly smoother (and more enjoyable) game experience than those on official servers.

That's why when I see someone in ARK talking about constant game breaking bugs, 99 times out of 100 it's someone that only players on official servers.  LOL, and directly supporting the point you made above, that person also usually has several thousand hours of game time in.  So again, yeah, I get where you are coming from.

[Ellentro 107]

46 minutes ago, Virtual Realms said:

I get where you are coming from, but so far Atlas has one other thing in common with ARK.  Official server gameplay has a lot of issues that crop up, however private server gameplay is surprisingly stable and rarely has any serious issues.  Of course Atlas is still very rough around the edges compared to ARK, but the same symptomatology seems to be in effect.  Folks on private servers are having a vastly smoother (and more enjoyable) game experience than those on official servers.

That's why when I see someone in ARK talking about constant game breaking bugs, 99 times out of 100 it's someone that only players on official servers.  LOL, and directly supporting the point you made above, that person also usually has several thousand hours of game time in.  So again, yeah, I get where you are coming from.

I mean, and here's the biggest issue I have. The devs don't learn from their mistakes.

Let's take Drakes and Wyverns for instance. When Scorched Earth was first released, there was a bug that caused Wyvern eggs to fall through the mesh (at spawn) slowly, essentially making it impossible to get wyvern eggs. They fixed that bug after about a week or so. Then they release Abberation, with Drakes, the same egg mechanic and the *same* egg bug. Exactly the same. 100% the same.

Everytime they have released a Tek Saddle or projectile weapon, it outranged turrets and wreaked absolute havoc on the PvP scene (Private *and* Official). They did it with the Tek Rex. Tek Tape. Tek Drake. Tek Rifle. Then they did it with the Mek. 

Everytime they release gameplay mechanics, it's glaringly obvious that they have never tested them. The Basilisk would get meshed if it fought *any dino* at Abb launch. Ptera's picking up anything in the new-gen dino on Extinction launch. Wyverns eggs on launch of SE. It took them literally 8 months to get the Alpha Broodmother to not one shot 120k HP rexes with 150 armor Saddles. It took them four months to make the alpha bosses in general even possible without exploits. 

 

In fact, and in all honesty, it seems like the more time we give them, the more experience they get making games, the worse they do. It's baffling, and it's a large reason why I am both so angry, and vocal. It's not the only time I've seen a studio get actively worse as time goes on, but it is, perhaps, the one game/studio I am so incredibly disappointed and saddened that they do so. 

[rodarin 17]

People defending how awesome the game is and saying how its doing things 'right' Then all admitting theyre playing on tweaked unofficial servers.

 

Its always about perspective like I said. The severe limitations of Atlas as opposed to ARK are the unofficial servers are all different 'maps'. And no one (that I know of) is running a full sized Atlas map anywhere. Biggest I have seen was 15x15 and I think that one is gone already. But the inherent cost of these servers as well as the amount of people necessary  to make them play 'right' are both fairly large.

 

In the end if the game was as crazy fun and entertaining as people (fans) think someone or a group of someones could have created a sub server somewhere that charges 99 cents or a buck 99 for people to log on to a full sized map and experience the game the way the developers wanted it to be experienced. Of course that would be hyperbole. But they could make a map that had a little bit of everything. But mostly protection from the psychos open games like this attract (whom eventually kill it off). 

 

Seems like there are plenty of people who 'like' the game they just dont like the community or the mechanics that allow certain aspect of the community to do certain things.

 

Basically the fans are saying is if someone ran the game 'better' than wildcard it would be the best game ever. Not true but it would certainly be more appealing than it is now.

 

But of course all the pro 'subscriber' people are never really willing to pay anything when it comes right down to it. Even though this game is a poster child for what a sub based server could be compared to an official B2P  server that has every negative connotation anyone can throw at it, especially the PvP one.

 

[Virtual Realms 0]

8 hours ago, rodarin said:

People defending how awesome the game is and saying how its doing things 'right' Then all admitting theyre playing on tweaked unofficial servers.

Correct.  Just like in ARK official servers are by necessity the most restrictive type of game play available.  This causes problems that are easily eliminated when you have the capability of tailoring a server to your own tastes, and can monitor the individual server easily to eliminate any abuse your chosen looser rules set might otherwise allow.

I'm fairly certain we will see the same player demographics in Atlas that we have seen in ARK.  Where the VAST majority of players are on unofficial servers, and official servers are the domain of the extremely competitive or those seeking to leverage the access to the network of official players to their advantage (market/trading).  I doubt you will ever find a path forward for either game that will draw more players to the official servers than the unofficial ones due to the inherently more restrictive gameplay necessary on official servers.

8 hours ago, rodarin said:

In the end if the game was as crazy fun and entertaining as people (fans) think someone or a group of someones could have created a sub server somewhere that charges 99 cents or a buck 99 for people to log on to a full sized map and experience the game the way the developers wanted it to be experienced. Of course that would be hyperbole. But they could make a map that had a little bit of everything.

Hopefully the way you have phrased this means that you realize that "the way the developers wanted it to be experienced" is any way you like.  That's why you have the option to play official or custom tuned unofficial servers... and why mod support is so actively encouraged.  Again, official gameplay is only a relatively small portion of the game experience available, and this is by design.

Incidentally, while a subscription model may be a bit problematic I'll admit that it is also true that the healthiest unofficial communities I have seen in either game are those that spring up around servers administered by YouTube channels or Twitch Streamers.  Both of which require a small monthly fee to join.  So I can definitely see an argument being made for a subscription model of some type, but then again I can also see a case being made for eliminating the tremendous expense of maintaining official servers at all and relying on players to host their own... as other successful titles have done.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Virtual Realms

[Ransurias 36]

While I certainly don't hate the game, I'm not fond of the bizarre, easily fixable balance issues that plague official servers. Fire arrows are still tremendously overpowered because their AoE deals percentage-based damage, which the devs can't seem to understand as evidenced by pointless band-aid nerfs that fail to address the underlying issue. Alpha animals are completely ridiculous and altogether too common, and firearms were essentially sacrificed in PvE to make them more viable as PvP weapons against armor, which was an unfair blindside for PvE players.

The game is literally in a state where shooting a fire arrow under the feet of an "alpha animal" can kill it within a few arrows while countless gunshots to the head are required to bring them down using firearms. Metal armor is apparently combustible since walking in a fire arrow's AoE causes an insane damage over time effect, even while wearing plate. Many, if not most, animals have no headshot multiplier, so shooting a giraffe in the head is the same as shooting it in the leg. A lowly turtle can often survive a rifle bullet to the face. 

All of these issues shouldn't be tremendously difficult to fix. The fact that they haven't been fixed says a lot about the studio, and if pointing that out is tantamount to "hating on the game," fair enough.

I mean, I don't know. I guess it's harsh to expect so much after just a few weeks, but it's really hard to wake up one day to find that your main implement for dealing with the abundance of predators received a ~40% damage nerf to satisfy PvP players who thought that guns didn't do enough damage to plate armor. 

[Pseejunkie 2]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 9:17 AM, Vhalkyrie said:

I rolled my own dedi server.  It is only 1x1, but it is plenty for me to experiment with the options I want.  It's actually quite fine as a solo experience - I can explore the islands freely, and it feels a bit like Skyrim with ships!  I've been using the npc crew to get around, and after getting a few predator tames, I don't have much issue exploring.  I can dial down the number of spawns, so I don't run into some of the overpopulations of alphas and insane wolf packs on the official servers.

Setting up the dedi is a little bit of work, but there are great guides and vids available already.  I was able to get mine running after an evening, and now I'm just tweaking the settings for my preferences (I don't like the taming speed on the official, so I set mine way faster).  If you don't have the interest to roll your own, then check out the discord channels and see if you can find someone else's setup that will suit you.

I agree I have my own 2x2 Server running on an old personal comp 16gig system setup for just my wife and myself.. and let me tell you  I LOVE IT.. I tried Official and no thank you  my raft sunk by griefers.. then I couldn't find land.. then trollers jumping on my raft harassing me..  then I tried unofficial ... was a lot better but then the person running it took off their server so I lost whatever progress I had.. so fuck it I found several videos and websites on setting up your personal comp as dedicated server. I can explore.. I can setup bases in multiple islands for resources.. I setup quests lines and stone locations and this is running from my old personal comp I am so glad I didn't scrap it. I run most other game servers just for myself on it..but this is the way to go and it took me all day to setup its a bitch but so worth it.. my base is wide open no locked anything.. and its not like I was being social on official or unofficial so the solo play is down right my cup of tea especially when I look into these forums and read all the horror stories about these exploits maybe once the Devs prioritize the fixes I may consider official.. ... nah I am enjoying my solo adventures too much and I'm being spoiled on fast taming and XP and vitamin and food consumption which leaves me to freely explore and enjoy..

[Domino 48]

19 hours ago, rodarin said:

People defending how awesome the game is and saying how its doing things 'right' Then all admitting theyre playing on tweaked unofficial servers.

You say that like it's a bad thing.  It's more like an exclusive club where you get to have more fun, rather than any type of degrading status.  I'm playing on a server with a bunch of people I enjoy playing with, building crazy bases, and generally getting into all kinds of mischief and misfortune.  We don't need to worry about the racist tirades, griefing, juvenial behaviour.  We can say "Nope, you're not welcome to play here.  Good bye."  Sounds like a winning formula to me, especially when compared with the hot mess that are the public servers.