Purchase the season pass to unlock this content - IN GAME

[Decado]

Have to say - i was really quite taken aback by this.

I dont really care too much about the season pass. To me it's optional, and those extra things while pretty cool, I dont really need them, nor could i see myself using them, so chose not to buy it.

But they're also pretty much out of sight/out of mind.

Until I came across the new little spider in Abberation. Now this little guy looks super cute - i went up to take a look, and was presented with a message, "To unlock this content purchase the season pass" or words to that effect.

And im like, nope.

That to me is utter bs.

Having it as an optional out of the game add on - sure, but now starting to add little purchase gates in the game world itself? This is f*cked.

Imagine if they take this further how uttery terrible that could become, roaming around a game world that requires selective purchasing per content piece.

[𝓝𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓫𝓸𝓲]

in ASE you could just spawn in a tamed one or play on a map that had that DLC creature; fully tamable.

In ASA they just decided all paid DLC is now locked and cannot be used until purchased.

Your only option if you want 0 engagement from P2W DLC is to edit the engrams for BTT and make them level 999 and add .ini edits for the creatures to not spawn.

[Smurff-a-thon2k]

You are absolutely right, this is the scummiest of scummy practices.

Right now the steam page for ASA is lying about required hard disk space for the game.

Report the game to steam in the hopes it gets removed, and maybe it will slap the devs in the face and get them to actually listen to players.

Also:

There are a total of 3 creatures now that you can run into that will give you that pop-up about going to a store page to buy access to them.

That spider is one, there is a fire cat with a ton of overpowered abilities on the center map, and there is the giant flying island that can bring your dead dinosaurs back to life in scorched earth.

the spider and the flying island-saur are part of the $30 dlc, and the fire cat is a single $5 dino seperate dlc........

I don't know if anything has changed but the fire cat was supposed to be the first in a (probably long) series of "fantastic tames" very likely each costing $5 per single dino, until every 5th creature you come across in the game pops up a message about going to buy access to it.

ALL THIS AFTER WE PAID FOR A FULL PRICE GAME.

[Guard1an4]

I have to disagree. The game included all the maps from ASE included in the price. Any additional content like Bob's Tall Tales or the Pyromane wouldn't be included.

I purchased both honestly. I absolutely feel the price for Bobs Tale Tales is already worth it. For me, the two dinosaurs in the packs are just neat but not the attraction for me. I love the structure and players skins the most. I haven't tried all of the stuff that they added Bob's Tall Tales 2.

My prediction which I might be right or wrong in the future is we will see a total of 12 such dinosaurs. We know there will be three with the three parts of Bob's Tall Tales. I further make the assumtion that each of the non-story maps will get a $5 dinosaur like the pyromane was.
I also figure that there will be another Bob's Tall Tales style DLC for the rest of the story maps which will each contain 1 dinosaur, structure and player skins and anyone's guess about anything else.

According to the wiki, there are 195 creatures currently in Ark so if we assume there will be 12 altogether and nothing else though there will probably be 2 dinosaurs per map 1 free 1 paid so probably more than the 195. So, if there are 12 out of 195, that is only 6 percent of all creatures in the game.

For me, I will honestly state that I don't mind packs like Bob's Tall Tales and the Pyromane conditionally.

Price:
Bob's Tall Tales is effectively $10 a map. $30/3 I don't mind that because the maps in ASE were around $15 so it is cheaper than a map.

The 'free' DLC maps from ASE, have a $5 dollar dinosaur is okay not great but okay.

Power Level:

This is a concern of mine with Bob's Tall Tales 2 specifically. I tamed an Oasisaur and honestly didn't feel that it was all that great. Cosmo is interesting but doesn't feel overpowered. The new structures though might be a little overpowered.

Also, do we get a new dinosaur at some point that will invalidate several older dinosaurs? I certainly hope not. The could change my opinion a lot.

Lastly, I will say at these price points it doesn't concern me too much. If the prices stay at $10 a map for the 'season pass' and 5 for a single dinosaur that isn't too bad. Also, as long as it stays 1 per map.

[Benna]

Originally posted by Guard1an4:

I have to disagree. The game included all the maps from ASE included in the price. Any additional content like Bob's Tall Tales or the Pyromane wouldn't be included.

Except that ASA costs 45 euro (i don't know about USD) while ASE+ all DLC costs 35 euro and it has no "purchase the DLC to unlock this content" in the game.
So it isn't really as good a deal as you think, the only reason the DLC cost as much as they did when they came out on ASE was because they had to spend years making new content and thinking of what new to add while here it is just a graphical upgrade with some very minor tweaks and they are charging you more for it.
Also on ASE even if you didn't own the DLC maps you could still use commands to spawn in creatures and items to test them out and play around with them to see if you wanted to buy the map, while here it is all locked

[Semirotta]

Imagine paying for this game. You people are so stupid and reason why gaming industry has become a cash grab milking game for the "developers" (using the word developers very loosely here)

[Smurff-a-thon2k]

Originally posted by Semirotta:

Imagine paying for this game. You people are so stupid and reason why gaming industry has become a cash grab milking game for the "developers" (using the word developers very loosely here)

Fully agree, I know I'm just as guilty, I bought the game knowing it was a simple code copy paste from the old game but the beautiful engine upgrade was worth supporting, not thinking they could go to such insane scummy depths... then I bought the bobs tales thinking I still have 1 strand of faith they will fix the game and make everything worth it, not thinking the dlc stuff would be pay-to-win and lock people out of actual in-game mechanics and gameplay. was proven 100% wrong.

I am part of the problem too, and hope I can take some of it back by informing others to not give them any money.

[Decado]

I dont regret buying Ascended itself, it's been a bloody great game so far - far better than the original ASE to me. The season pass can GF'd however.

[Neferet]

At some point in the distant future, after much more purchasable content has been added, you will probably be able to set up a subscription to survive in-game without ads

[Guard1an4]

Originally posted by Smurff-a-thon2k:

Originally posted by Semirotta:

Imagine paying for this game. You people are so stupid and reason why gaming industry has become a cash grab milking game for the "developers" (using the word developers very loosely here)

Fully agree, I know I'm just as guilty, I bought the game knowing it was a simple code copy paste from the old game but the beautiful engine upgrade was worth supporting, not thinking they could go to such insane scummy depths... then I bought the bobs tales thinking I still have 1 strand of faith they will fix the game and make everything worth it, not thinking the dlc stuff would be pay-to-win and lock people out of actual in-game mechanics and gameplay. was proven 100% wrong.

I am part of the problem too, and hope I can take some of it back by informing others to not give them any money.

I also need to point out the trait system is no longer behind the Bob's Tall Tales. There is a mod out now that gives anyone access to it and that was approved by Wildcard. It even says so in the mod description.

I think that this was a fantastic move by wildcard. As this is a game-changing system that was previously a pay to win mechanic. This particular one was a definite problem prior to the mod.

As far as the other buildings in the mod being pay to win, I haven't used all of them yet so i don't know about all. Several of the ones that I have, are nice but not pay to win at all. They are more a convenience than anything.

For the 2 dinosaurs in Bob's Tall Tales, the Oasisaur I don't think is very good at all. It's best feature for me is crop growing. The ability to resurrect dinosaurs isn't even good. If you resurrect your dinosaur, you get a baby version with no levels and nothing equipped. So, you have to raise it from baby to adult, imprint it, get it a saddle, and then get it levels after all that. Personally, I think I would rather just go tame a new one. Also, you can only do that once a real time not in game day.

The cosmo is kinda fun but I don't find it overpowered at all. It isn't even a proper light pet. Web slinging around the map can be done but you only get so many webs based off the level. So a low level Cosmo isn't going to get you far at all.