Please fix the building system or hire Orionsun.

[[S.C.] Worsin]

First off since you came out with an entire expansion pack and charged everyone for it im not going to buy the excuse that this is pre-release as a justification for your lack of attention in this area.

As most know, a modder named orionsun created a mod (Structures +) that makes the default building system look like a joke. Im sure many people including yourselves are aware of this by now.

Not only does it fix a crap load of inherent problems with the building system but Structures + makes it enjoyable to build a base not frustrating and tedious.

No offense devs, I love your game and you have done some incredible things but...

When a modder can create a better building system and fix all the broken♥♥♥♥♥♥in the default one, perhaps you should rethink how your approaching it.

After playing with Structures + i won’t even go back to the default game again.

Im not saying impliment everything he has done, but please take notice of the things that make it such a good mod.

Until then I few questions for you on the structures subject.

Why are we prevented from allowing objects to collide?
Why can't we pick up objects after placing them?
Why are roofs not flush with floors when placed? You know everyone extends their building using roofs.
Why are so many of the blocks not snappable when logic would dictate that they should be? IE Ramps snapping to Roofs etc.

I could go on and on about all the things that are lacking in the current system but you can easily see this by just looking at Structures + and what it fixes.

Please look at how your players are using the building system and adjust the current method to accommodate how your players are playing the game.

Some things in the current building system don't make the game more difficult they only make it more frustrating and a game should not be frustrating in that way. Building should be fun, intuitive and enjoyable to do, not frustrating and tedious.

[TomHud™]

i heard structures + may be implemented into ark one day.I know its on the sponsored mod program list.
Also S+ is the must have mod for all modded servers.And his last update just made things a lot better.

[[S.C.] Worsin]

Originally posted by Tomhud™:

i heard structures may be implemented into ark one day.I know its on the mod program list.
Also S+ is the must have mod for all modded servers.And his last update just made things a lot better.

It needs to be. After all, why allow modding during development if you're not going to use the best ideas the community has come out with?

[Tiramisu]

Originally posted by S.C. Worsin:

After playing with Structures + i won’t even go back to the default game again.

^

[NGCaliber]

Actually.... as much as I love structures plus, it's become sorta bloated that it lags the engram page now. If they would do a tiered or categorized engram page then that would be fine. You would have Builder tier, Hunter tier, Blacksmith tier... and all it would just sort out the biggest mess in this game.

[Eightball]

One nice building feature thats not in Structures Plus is the way foundations work in Conan Exiles. I realllly like the ability to mouse wheel the height. This would solve so many of the uneven ground building issues in Ark and also remove a LOT of the need to use ceilings for floors.

As for WC's dev "skills", I've said this before, but as a software developer, their company really feels as if they mainly have graphic designs and 3d modelers on payroll while the coding is either left to a TINY group or even more likely, outsourced. This is shown by the continuous rollout of new dinos but the absolute inability to fix bugs or add truly new mechanics to the game. Its like they receive completed packaghes from a developer but then any issues their package creates with legacy code is only able to be trial-and-error fixed soley by adjusting the code in the package; not by fixing core flaws in the legacy code and engine.

[[S.C.] Worsin]

Originally posted by NGCaliber:

Actually.... as much as I love structures plus, it's become sorta bloated that it lags the engram page now. If they would do a tiered or categorized engram page then that would be fine. You would have Builder tier, Hunter tier, Blacksmith tier... and all it would just sort out the biggest mess in this game.

Or just add it to the game and the bloat would be gone. I do like your categorizing idea though. Search function works for now.

[Natjur]

I can understand some 'balance' issues with the mod (larger container sizes, generators which do not get damaged on SE server, demo gun, Gardner and Herder)

But all of those things are ini settings, at least the 'clipping' and picking up structures could be added as part of the base game.

The only issues with S+ structures is they do not follow server rules, so you can place them in no build locations (rich resources or caves, if the server does not allow this) and then they get deleted from these locations on server restart

[NGCaliber]

Originally posted by S.C. Worsin:

Originally posted by NGCaliber:

Actually.... as much as I love structures plus, it's become sorta bloated that it lags the engram page now. If they would do a tiered or categorized engram page then that would be fine. You would have Builder tier, Hunter tier, Blacksmith tier... and all it would just sort out the biggest mess in this game.

Or just add it to the game and the bloat would be gone. I do like your categorizing idea though. Search function works for now.

I suppose on my own servers I could hide all vanilla pieces and manually remove all vanilla crafting requirements from Structures+. It's the overall lag or scroll of those icons.

[Eightball]

Originally posted by NGCaliber:

Actually.... as much as I love structures plus, it's become sorta bloated that it lags the engram page now. If they would do a tiered or categorized engram page then that would be fine. You would have Builder tier, Hunter tier, Blacksmith tier... and all it would just sort out the biggest mess in this game.

Really all the building and armor components need to be grouped together. ie you shouldn't have to purchase separate engrams to make a thatch ceiling vs a thatch foundation or hide gloves vs hide leggings. Ideally they'd remove engram purchasing entirely and implement a system like they did in SOTF where when you hit a certain level, the engrams auto-unlock.

[Natjur]

Originally posted by NGCaliber:

I suppose on my own servers I could hide all vanilla pieces and manually remove all vanilla crafting requirements from Structures+. It's the overall lag or scroll of those icons.

I did this, but it still has them at the end of the list (so they are not in 'unlock' order) and you can't setup the engrams so you have to unlock S+ wood wall before you can unlock S+ stone wall, so you can bypass all thatch and wood engrams

[retsam1]

Originally posted by S.C. Worsin:

First off since you came out with an entire expansion pack and charged everyone for it im not going to buy the excuse that this is pre-release as a justification for your lack of attention in this area.

As most know, a modder named orionsun created a mod (Structures +) that makes the default building system look like a joke. Im sure many people including yourselves are aware of this by now.

Not only does it fix a crap load of inherent problems with the building system but Structures + makes it enjoyable to build a base not frustrating and tedious.

No offense devs, I love your game and you have done some incredible things but...

When a modder can create a better building system and fix all the broken♥♥♥♥♥♥in the default one, perhaps you should rethink how your approaching it.

After playing with Structures + i won’t even go back to the default game again.

Im not saying impliment everything he has done, but please take notice of the things that make it such a good mod.

Until then I few questions for you on the structures subject.

Why are we prevented from allowing objects to collide?
Why can't we pick up objects after placing them?
Why are roofs not flush with floors when placed? You know everyone extends their building using roofs.
Why are so many of the blocks not snappable when logic would dictate that they should be? IE Ramps snapping to Roofs etc.

I could go on and on about all the things that are lacking in the current system but you can easily see this by just looking at Structures + and what it fixes.

Please look at how your players are using the building system and adjust the current method to accommodate how your players are playing the game.

Some things in the current building system don't make the game more difficult they only make it more frustrating and a game should not be frustrating in that way. Building should be fun, intuitive and enjoyable to do, not frustrating and tedious.

Currently the structures plus mod maker is a fairly likely to be hired by WC in the foreseable future however such a result may not necessarily garner you the desired results you seem to feel to be expected.

Its no coincidence that 2 former modders are wc employees and 15 mods are being stipend at 4k a month by wc... including S+ btw.

However much of your frustrations are in the optimization category. Ark's in alpha. Major optimization passes dont come until beta. We're very far off from getting to beta with so much still to be implemented(after all the ascension system has only been breadcrumb style mentioned and its supposed to be a major core component to the game.)

Your erroneous near release style expectations thus at this point are not in line with the alpha development stage of the game. You either just need to roll with it or shelve things until it reaches a point you can accept.

[[S.C.] Worsin]

Originally posted by retsam1:

Originally posted by S.C. Worsin:

First off since you came out with an entire expansion pack and charged everyone for it im not going to buy the excuse that this is pre-release as a justification for your lack of attention in this area.

As most know, a modder named orionsun created a mod (Structures +) that makes the default building system look like a joke. Im sure many people including yourselves are aware of this by now.

Not only does it fix a crap load of inherent problems with the building system but Structures + makes it enjoyable to build a base not frustrating and tedious.

No offense devs, I love your game and you have done some incredible things but...

When a modder can create a better building system and fix all the broken♥♥♥♥♥♥in the default one, perhaps you should rethink how your approaching it.

After playing with Structures + i won’t even go back to the default game again.

Im not saying impliment everything he has done, but please take notice of the things that make it such a good mod.

Until then I few questions for you on the structures subject.

Why are we prevented from allowing objects to collide?
Why can't we pick up objects after placing them?
Why are roofs not flush with floors when placed? You know everyone extends their building using roofs.
Why are so many of the blocks not snappable when logic would dictate that they should be? IE Ramps snapping to Roofs etc.

I could go on and on about all the things that are lacking in the current system but you can easily see this by just looking at Structures + and what it fixes.

Please look at how your players are using the building system and adjust the current method to accommodate how your players are playing the game.

Some things in the current building system don't make the game more difficult they only make it more frustrating and a game should not be frustrating in that way. Building should be fun, intuitive and enjoyable to do, not frustrating and tedious.

Currently the structures plus mod maker is a fairly likely to be hired by WC in the foreseable future however such a result may not necessarily garner you the desired results you seem to feel to be expected.

Its no coincidence that 2 former modders are wc employees and 15 mods are being stipend at 4k a month by wc.

However much of your frustrations are in the optimization category. Ark's in alpha. Major optimization passes dont come until beta. We're very far off from getting to beta with so much still to be implemented(after all the ascension system has only been breadcrumb style mentioned and its supposed to be a major core component to the game.)

Your erroneous near release style expectations thus at this point are not in line with the alpha development stage of the game. You either just need to roll with it or shelve things until it reaches a point you can accept.

As i said in the first sentence of my post. Alpha is no excuse when you come out with a PAID expansion pack during the so called "Alpha".

I would prefer that they stop charging people for more content and finish these "Core" items then come out with more paid ♥♥♥♥ that is just rehashed content of whats already there.

[Renshaw]

I agree completely.

There is nothing more frustrating than trying to place a foundation or ceiling block, only to have it turn red because there is a single pixel of a rock in the way.

Or when building some doorways, you end up having to duck to go through because of different materials used.

I could really go on all day with problems that annoy me just as much...

[retsam1]

Originally posted by S.C. Worsin:

As i said in the first sentence of my post. Alpha is no excuse when you come out with a PAID expansion pack during the so called "Alpha".

I would prefer that they stop charging people for more content and finish these "Core" items then come out with more paid ♥♥♥♥ that is just rehashed content of whats already there.

Alpha is a term to define the actual state of a games development when architecture, features and assets are still being implemented into a game. That's exactly the state of the game right now. Beta is when minor assets are added but predominantly when opitimization and bug fixes occur.

Perhaps this may help: http://i.imgur.com/qdrCye3.jpg

Ark thus is still (and for the foreseeable future) squarely in alpha and this really isnt disputable.

I get your angst concerning the paid for dlc but there is -no- consumer law, steam rule or similar that prevents them from having done that last summer. Its just a matter of people's expectations only.

Go take an hour and watch Ark's Dev talk at the GDC in March and how their development process is and their philosophy with it. They speak to the paid dlc as well but also say how the teeth gnashing they take with a grain of salt (especially since they're still growing both in terms of revenue and players) although they do say they have made mistakes.

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024229/-ARK-Survival-Evolved-Lessons

So while you may feel the dlc has relevance it doesnt. That dlc was worked on by another team subsidized by snail games(who has owned ark since 6 months after launch) and not wholly by wc folks directly. Primitive plus was a bought out mod. Center map was a bought out mod (for 65k actually). Both mod makers were hired to maintain them and as well do other duties. This all happened in tandem with the final touches at the time(since it was just months before) of that dlc.

As for that dlc having been rehashed stuff. That's silly and inaccurate. At the time of its release it added a new map with new plants and resources, dinos and weather mechanics that had not been introduced prior to that.

However all that was actually required as "paid" was the map itself. All the assets otherwise were available to be modded or spawned in on unofficial servers(where the majority of ark players reside btw) or even in single player. Since then there are mods(volcano map mod comes to mind) that even bake in the best of both regular and scorched earth assets into 1 map. No one forced anyone to buy the dlc. I personally waited until the sale they did to mitigate conan exiles release to get it for under 10 just for the heck of it but I'd been playing on modded servers for over 6 months otherwise that had virtually everything already from it.

But lets again get back to the core of all this: your expectations dont match the reality of the situation with the state of Ark's development.

Again you want your golden goose egg right now but you're just gonna have to shelve it and wait or froth until you hate it so much that you go nuts or just roll with it in the now. I mean there are some other options for you but really those 2 are the main ones.

[[S.C.] Worsin]

Originally posted by retsam1:

Originally posted by S.C. Worsin:

As i said in the first sentence of my post. Alpha is no excuse when you come out with a PAID expansion pack during the so called "Alpha".

I would prefer that they stop charging people for more content and finish these "Core" items then come out with more paid ♥♥♥♥ that is just rehashed content of whats already there.

As for that dlc having been rehashed stuff. That's silly and inaccurate. At the time of its release it added a new map with new plants and resources, dinos and weather mechanics that had not been introduced prior to that.

Its very accurate. Map, Plants, Resources and Dino's are nothing new to Ark, they just made new Map, Plants, Resources and Dino's. The only thing new you list here is Weather.

My original point stands.

The expansion was clearly a money grab and most likely because of the lawsuit.