MaxPower

Read the previous posts. There is a quote from one of the devs saying things are functioning as intended... and it was kind of sorta of in the patch notes. Its related to them removing lawless from being home servers. Resource blocking has always worked in non-lawless are far as I know, its just not an issue since there is no foundation spam. Yes, that is how simple the fix is for anyone that doesn't realize it. Changing a single variable in the server config file. Now, I could understand the need for a wide spawn block range in Ark. People needed to build large dino pens and didn't want trees/rocks in the way. We don't have that need in Atlas and there is a LOT more open land to build than in Ark. There is no good reason the respawn range couldn't be turned wayyyyy down.

Its not specifically a bug. This is exactly how foundations worked in Ark and since this is pretty much a forked version of Ark... foundations are likely "working as intended". The problem is, you use to be able to use pillars to "claim" land in Ark, which was a pain in the ass to deal with but at least it didn't block resources. Its not that simple. Where I live some d-bag spammed foundations for hundreds of yards around his tiny little house. I had no choice but to throw down a couple myself to keep him from pinning me in. There are also foundations someone else placed down which they keeps renewing with less than 12 hours left on them for some reason (they're not really in a buildable area) as well as several other houses built really close together in the area. Sure, we could all demolish everything but a 1x1 hut and some resources would come back but that's not really an option. The minute I demolish my couple foundations someone is going to place down their own. The devs are aware of it. The official response is that resources are being blocked by foundations and its working as intended. This was my biggest fear buying Atlas. Wildcard almost never listened to community feedback on issues in Ark and rarely ever reversed a change that was "working as intended" no matter how much is pissed people off. They'd just keep their head down, ignore the community and do whatever they want. I mean, fair enough its their game... they can build it however they want. Just don't blow smoke up our ass with this "we want community feedback". No, they want streamer and mega tribe feedback. That's it. They don't care about the normal players experience. If they did, things like PvE ship sinking would have been fixed weeks ago.

The peak player count happened during what was pretty much a holiday weekend, so that's something to keep in mind. There are also some pretty game breaking issues right now that are keeping some people (myself included) from playing at the moment. Until other players can't sink my ships in PvE and resource respawning is fixed in lawless, I'm not going to be spending much time in game. Might see an increase in population after those fixes.... if they ever come. You'll also see spikes in player population going forward every time there is a large update. Once the game is stable and not a complete dumpster fire after every update... things will likely improve. For now, so long as Atlas is above 20-30k players, I'd say its population is healthy... and I don't see it falling bellow that anytime soon.

It shouldn't be hard to fix. Resource respawn block range on foundations was a server setting in Ark... and since Atlas is built on top of Ark, I'm sure its a server setting in Atlas as well. You'd think it would be as simple as turning it down or off. Perhaps there is more to it than that for some reason but that seems unlikely. More likely its that this isn't something impacting streamers... so they have no desire/pressure to fix it quickly. Same with PvE ship sinking. Streamers losing their Galleons to SotD sure as hell got a hot fix though.

Its not an issue in claim zones. Its only an issue in lawless because right now lawless is nothing but foundation spam. People are building in lawless because they can't find a claim but now they can't do anything because there are no resources spawning in lawless to build with. Its not a sustainable situation... people will just quit playing.

Its not a time issue. They seem to have enabled foundation blocking in Lawless areas so anything within a certain radius of foundations isn't respawning. The radius is ridiculously high, especially given the massive foundation spam in lawless areas.

What is there to investigate? They are using the same system they've been using for years in Ark. They just turned on foundation resource blocking in Lawless with this patch... and since lawless is nothing but foundation spam right now, no resources are spawning. Either turn it back off or dramatically reduce the block radius (I prefer a reduced radius so rocks stop spawning in my house). Like a lot of the issues they've been investigating for days now, its not rocket science... they're just very bad at setting priorities.

Absolutely. It is entirely possible and relatively easy to sink another players ship in PvE using the weight exploit. Why has this not been addressed? Its a simple fix (ships can't sink because of weight, at least while anchored, on PvE) and for those aware of the problem it has pretty much made PvE unplayable. I refuse to launch anything beyond a Sloop right now after someone sank out Schooner the other day with this exploit. Alpha/EA or not, its unacceptable that such an issue has remained unsolved for this long.

One thing to consider is that there are different qualities of weapons you can craft. If your "Common" pistol can one shot things, what's the point of ever looking for better blueprints?

Well the problem with PvE is that it has too much PvP right now. The reason people play PvE is so they don't have to deal with other players destroying this stuff or stealing from them, yet that's been quite possible. They finally fixed the lack of locks on containers however its still possible to sink other players ships in PvE, which is hilariously messed up. PvP just has the usual issues with PvP in a survival game, so you know what to expect going in.

If you play on PvE someone probably sunk them with the weight exploit so they could salvage them. Apparently its fair game to use exploits to sink other players ships in PvE…

Certainly seems like the respawn exclusion zone around foundations is too large. The area we live in is now barren thanks to the surrounding foundation spam... and I'm going to guess the places I was getting metal/gems from isn't going to respawn either since people had built houses right on them.

The army of the damned have atrocious pathfinding... just find a small hill to stand on and they can't get to you. Just make sure you take out the archers first.

Honestly it was a complete joke that wasn't the case on day one to be honest. The games in alpha and all but its a no brainer that you shouldn't be able to rob other players in PvE. And the ship sinking isn't fixed. You don't need open containers on a ship to sink it since a player can use exploits to carry an infinite amount of weight and still move.

I knew the cost of the Brig keel was different.... didn't realize it actually went up. There might be a tiny reduction in its overall fiber/wood/thatch cost but its pretty much the same. Unless the raft is 50% cheaper or something those patch notes are very questionable.

Yeah I seem to have lost a couple levels as well but have more skill points. As you say I think its just some XP balancing.

I believe its the cost to lay the keel of the ship that's changed. I don't have the costs memorized but it seems cheaper than it was by a little bit. If so, the patch notes are misleading since it would only be the initial cost of the ship that has changed significantly and not the overall cost of the ship.

Yeah if you're on PvE it sounds like someone got you with the weight exploit. This has become my pet peeve issue at the moment and this is why. Its super annoying and a lot of people don't even realize this is how their ships are being sunk. They just log in and find it gone, not even realizing its because some a-hole used a weight exploit to sink it.

A ship with too many crew or too much weight should simply not move. This is not a hard fix and the fact its not being addressed is infuriating at this point.

That's a great question. I'd like to think there is some mechanic in place to prevent claim owners from flipping a switch and suddenly owning everything other people have built in the land... if not, that's a major oversight. Another question is what happens to people building in someone's claim if that claim is captured? Ideally if you were building in someone else's claim and they change the settings or lose the claim your stuff should still be yours but enter a state of decay (the same 4 days you get in lawless would be fine). That would suck but at least you'd have time to get your stuff out. You also shouldn't be allowed to instantly change the tax rate after someone has become established in your claim.

Uhhh neither did I? I never had a Galleon nor did I leave it unprotected at a freeport. Also, the only one freaking out and crying here is you.... you're having a bonafide panic attack because others are expressing their concern over a game breaking bug. If I had to guess, you're one of the guys exploiting this right now and don't want it fixed. And again, we're talking about PvE here. If you have to protect your assets from other players.... its not PvE. Perhaps that's too complex a topic for you to understand though. The unlimited weight exploit certainly is although I'd argue sinking someone's ship using weight (without exploit) would be fair game in PvP. Thing is, it'd be easier to just sink it by other means...

Man I hate dealing with whiny children like you. Perhaps if you actually bothered to read you'd know this topic is about PvE… not PvP. There is literally nothing you can do about someone on your ship in PvE. Being leveled up also has nothing to do with it either. Using exploits players can carry unlimited weight so whatever your ships max weight is, a player is capable of carrying (and moving with) more weight. This IS an exploit. The devs have already acknowledged that you shouldn't be able top use this mechanic to sink other players ships in PvE (and carrying unlimited weight shouldn't be possible in PvP either)…. they're just taking their sweet time doing something about it.

We're not talking about rafts here and the weight level of the ship is irrelevant. Its possible to carry massive amounts of weight (pretty much infinite) on a single player through the pickup exploit. A single determined player could, in theory sink a max level Galleon in PvE. With a few people and some planning? It's easy. Just search YouTube... there are videos of people doing it. That's not a solution to the problem, just something else to do in the meantime.

This is certainly part of early access. Personally, I'm not pissed specifically that someone used this exploit to sink our ship. This sort of thing does happen in early access and I know that going in. The problem is that its a major game breaking exploit that has gone unfixed for several days now and there are no signs its going to be fixed in the near future. Early access or not, that's an issue.

Yup, PvE is pretty much unplayable right now with this exploit becoming more and more popular. Someone got our Schooner last night and while I have a replacement (and a Brig) pretty much ready to go I refuse to launch them until this is fixed. This is the sort of thing you fix with an emergency patch, not something you say you're aware of and then go radio silence on for several days.