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The release of Ark Survival Ascended is quickly approaching, and its launch is highly controversial. With the game initially being announced as a free update for Survival Evolved, the price tag on this remastered version feels a bit off. So, Wildcard has its work cut out to appease fans and prove the value of its remaster. There are a number of features the developer has to nail, but what are they? Well, we think we’ve nailed the formula below, so without further ado let’s review 10 upgrades Ark Survival Ascended needs to prevent its community from reaching meltdown.
10. Structural Meshing
While the ability to get creative with our bases in Ark Survival Evolved is a great one, let’s face it — the building mechanics are clunky and generally a pain in the ass. You can build massive structures, sure. And you can use all sorts of block types to make something truly extraordinary, yes. However, it’s not intuitive and only a few players have found a way around the structural meshing that seems to happen.
While meshing isn’t too bad when it comes to playing on PvP servers and building great defensive bases, it can be annoying if you’re out to raid an enemy base and you can’t seem to find their structures. It breaks the game and makes it entirely unfair to a lot of players. Fixing the structural meshing in Ark Survival Ascended will surely be a game-changer and have players coming back for more.
9. Enhanced Character Customizations
Since the game preview release of Ark Survival Evolved back in June of 2015, there is one thing that hasn’t made any changes. Character creation has been extremely basic since the beginning. It’s not uncommon to see multiple copies of the same player running around in a server, since the character customization is so basic that most players don’t even bother to switch up their looks anymore. Most modern open world games that release have amazing options allowing you to tailor the character’s look to exactly how you want, and looking our best in Ark Survival Ascended is an absolute must!
8. Fantasy Creature Votes
For some time, Ark has given players the opportunity to vote on creatures that we want to see coming in the future of Ark Survival Evolved. The trouble is, oftentimes we’re not able to actually submit the creatures we want to see. The game limits us to extinct creatures when I’m sure many players would instead appreciate the option to wishlist fantasy creatures. Surely, Wildcard has to wake up and take notice of the many fan requests for more exotic dinos. It would certainly be a nice gesture to a passionate community that has long bemoaned the half-hearted nature of this feature, which has so much more potential.
7. Better Hit Boxes
One of the most frustrating bugs in Ark Survival Evolved is its combat mechanics. While the issue primarily affects crossbows and longneck rifles, it’s still a problem that desperately needs addressing. Oftentimes, your hit direction is relatively far off from what you are actually seeing within the game. There’s something about aiming two feet to the left and still smacking a dinosaur right in the face that seems oddly off-putting. Additionally, if you’ve ever been stuck in Reload Limbo with a longneck rifle and perpetually firing blanks, then you know exactly how important it is that we get this fixed.
6. Structure Types Variety
While it’s basically second nature for us to begin with Thatch and work our way up through Metal and Tek structures, there is still so much more potential for other structure types. Additional structure types have been added to the game since the release of the Scorched Earth map that brought Adobe structures. With promises of at least one new structure type, more than one would be awesome. The more variety, the better, since there will be more options for players who like a different look to their structures.
5. Frequent Updates
One thing that we really loved about Ark Survival Evolved is the fact that regular content updates were released. With continued content updates and more small things being added to the game regularly, players would be much more willing to stick with the franchise and play Ark Survival Ascended as well. Big updates wouldn’t be necessary and new and exciting content with consistently be added to the game for players to play with and explore throughout their gameplay.
4. Smaller File Size
Ark Survival Evolved is a massive game, to put it plainly. The base game alone on some systems can take up to 175 – 200 gigabytes worth of space. If you add in all the DLC and extra maps, there are even some instances where players have to have nearly 500 gigabytes set aside just for Ark. Using new technology, we hope to see the game file sized down quite a bit in comparison to the game’s comically large predecessor. It’s surely possible for the game to be sized down, all while still running beautifully and having extraordinary graphics.
3. Dinosaur AI
Have you ever noticed that some dinosaurs are notorious for getting stuck on trees and not being able to find their way to you as they follow behind? This is an issue that absolutely must be fixed in Ark Survival Ascended. We need smarter dinosaurs with improved AI and Pathfinding; otherwise, the game will likely lose many players. However, the developers have announced that they will be working hard to ensure that the game runs better when it comes to dinosaurs’ intelligence. We’ll see if the changes are made!
2. Performance Improvements
Wildcard’s Ark Survival Ascended doesn’t have to do much in terms of performance to be better than Ark Survival Evolved. The game is guilty of crashing on multiple occasions, kicking you out of servers, and even neglecting to show available servers. Changing the way that the game performs overall will be a massive deal breaker for many loyal players. Loads of players would like to have bases at least render in before they fly directly into some turret fire that will inevitably take them out.
1. Dinosaur Improvements
Dinosaurs are almost exactly as they always have been. Over the years, even though new dinosaurs have been released with the several content updates we’ve gotten, the older dinosaurs haven’t improved much at all. In terms of appearance, dinos such as Spino look very outdated compared to newer ones. Additionally, more dinosaurs with abilities that make them special are essential, aside from the usual high attack damage and health or stamina. And wouldn’t it be great to see adolescent dinos, too? Check out our round-up of the best Dinos in Ark Survival Evolved PvP while you wait for these wishlisted upgrades to hopefully occur.
