How easy is this to play?

[ThisAdamGuy]

I'm thinking about getting this game. The survival genre has always sounded cool to me. But I'm worried about the learning curve. I just tried 7 Days to Die and gave up because everything felt so cumbersome and unintuitive. How does Ark compare? Is it easy to jump right in and play, or am I going to have to spend hours/days figuring out how everything works before I can actually start having fun?

[retsam1]

Originally posted by The Flaming Squirrel:

I'm thinking about getting this game. The survival genre has always sounded cool to me. But I'm worried about the learning curve. I just tried 7 Days to Die and gave up because everything felt so cumbersome and unintuitive. How does Ark compare? Is it easy to jump right in and play, or am I going to have to spend hours/days figuring out how everything works before I can actually start having fun?

It has a steep learning curve but that is part of what survival games are intended to be as its experiential learning required to survive and thrive.

That said there are TONS of videos and online resources on how to better learn how to play and survive.

Additionally you can either play in single player with much much more relaxed settings(even making yourself or dinos you tame in god mode), or you can join unofficial servers(majority of players play unofficial servers as unlike other games, Ark official servers are just demo servers that offer limited options and game play) with not just relaxed settings but also robust modded content that can ease things(or make them more challenging) respectively.

For most though the fun comes from the learning and figuring out otherwise but again settings and mods can be used to make that more accomodating to those who are just starting out and not keen on the default settings or game play.

[ThisAdamGuy]

Thanks. I don't have a problem learning the game as I go. I'm more concerned with how easy it is to do so. Are the menus clunky? Is it easy to tell what I'm looking at? Do I have to look up the Wiki just to figure out how to craft something? My biggest complaint with 7DtD was how cluttered everything was, both in the game and in the menus.

[Fate (-{SoH}-)]

To build make the item,
Press e/right click click use,
Click on the ground.
Congratz you'v mastered building,

To tame hit dino with fists,club,transq arrows,darts til it's out,
"unless it's passive then put in slot 0 and press e on it while it's awake"
Put the food it likes in it's inventory along with nacos or narcotics to keep it out "press e on them"
and wait til tamed.

To summon bosses find the 8 caves inside each is an artifact using that you summon bosses.

Congratz you have now mastered ark.

https://ark.gamepedia.com/Spawn_Map_(The_Island)
That shows you all spawn locations and a map.

Last tip grab notes/clues/scrolls for mega xp.

Welp you now know everything.

[Emperor's Champion]

This is no where near as bad as 7 days to die. Ark is pretty straight forward. It follows the minecraft logic. Punch tree's get wood make a pick axe /axe hit rocks tree metals etc. The advanced stuff can be learned when you get there I doubt you'll get there your first play through.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by The Flaming Squirrel:

Thanks. I don't have a problem learning the game as I go. I'm more concerned with how easy it is to do so. Are the menus clunky? Is it easy to tell what I'm looking at? Do I have to look up the Wiki just to figure out how to craft something? My biggest complaint with 7DtD was how cluttered everything was, both in the game and in the menus.

1. Yes and no. Depends on the menu.

2. Yes and no. Depends but also there are mods that also make it easier(like super spy glass so you can see info on things more detailed from a distance.

3. Yes and no. Kibble for taming dinos(advanced faster taming food) and other advanced recipes have recipes you can find randomly as drops to tell you how to make(you dont need the recipe note to make them) but wiki and mods make such things easiler/not needed. Also eventually using over and over you remember.

The vanilla of the game has some complications and some ease, it just really depends. Some you can figure out on your own but yes other you will need to take time and 3rd party resources to better grasp. Once you start playing on servers that use mods or in single player with mods, this will become more complex too.

Just remember this game is consistently in the top 10 steamcharts for concurrent players so obviously it is not a serious issue for your average player to not figure out in some capacity and over time.

Also to vette a good small community server that is friendly to help new players and much of your meta issues may also be alleviated if you're better suited to others telling you what to to/how to learn.

[MolitovMichelle]

If you plan on playing solo then dont waste your time. This game is terrible solo.
If you have a few friends or a tribe you can jump into though then this game really opens up into something great. Loads of fun times to be had with a tribe and fully recommend it for tribe based play, just solo is garbage.

You can get so far solo but at the end of the day expect everything to be destroyed and for you to start all again. This can happen still to tribes but not near as likely. Also there is the fact that some of the dino require a lot of care to tame or even take down, doing them solo is not impossible but very tough and could all be for nothing at the end of the day. With a tribe this is all made a little easier.

The game is fairly simple to pick up though, nothing major to learn, once you learn what to harvest from what its pretty straight forward. Feed dinos meat or berries and eventually they are tamed for you to ride. Build, survive and tame

[Warm Fuzzies™]

Originally posted by MolitovMichelle:

If you plan on playing solo then dont waste your time. This game is terrible solo.
If you have a few friends or a tribe you can jump into though then this game really opens up into something great. Loads of fun times to be had with a tribe and fully recommend it for tribe based play, just solo is garbage.

You can get so far solo but at the end of the day expect everything to be destroyed and for you to start all again. This can happen still to tribes but not near as likely. Also there is the fact that some of the dino require a lot of care to tame or even take down, doing them solo is not impossible but very tough and could all be for nothing at the end of the day. With a tribe this is all made a little easier.

The game is fairly simple to pick up though, nothing major to learn, once you learn what to harvest from what its pretty straight forward. Feed dinos meat or berries and eventually they are tamed for you to ride. Build, survive and tame

That's why the devs added the Singleplayer Settings option so that the game is easier when playing singleplayer.

Or did you miss that update?

[MolitovMichelle]

Im not talking about singleplay, or did you miss that part?

On a online server(not all) that has a population this will all apply.

[Warm Fuzzies™]

@OP

Singleplayer is not garbage. Not sure why people think that.

With the new settings options you can make it easier if you so choose.

People's biggest complaints about singleplayer tend to be about time spent grinding.

This is no longer an issue as you can increase the harvest yields for everything in the game.


Beyond that, only real downside to singleplayer is having to create your own challenges and goals, rather than relying on some randoming thing occuring in multiplayer.

[Imperon]

I think previous posters have mostly covered things, Squirrel, but having someone to ask questions of will always make a game like ARK easier. I've been playing this game for years now and I'm more than happy to help you out however I can. Feel free to add me on your Steam friends list and I'm available for advice anytime I'm online.

[MolitovMichelle]

You cannot change settings on multiplayer servers unless they are your own or you know the admin. Playing singleplayer and playing solo on a multiplayer server are two totally different experiences, one you can control and will never be raided EVER and the other is exactly how I described.

[Furyion]

simple u get what u give u give alot of time u get alot of time worth..in pve.. pvp ..fcking all things are temp and u will loose all sooner or later. Worth playeing yes but forewarned it isnot altogether .you will experiance bugs glitches and the comunity ..untill you make friends. ..if they dont sback stab you lol.

[Serangel]

Its easy to jump into. Controls are fluid. The crafting is simple, hovering your mouse over the blueprint will show you what resources you need to make it. Kibble is the only thing not included in the game, but there is a great wiki that lists all of them.

Difficulty is what ever you set it to, or what server you join. If you want a casual experience, join/make a server with increased tame speed, more resources ect. If you want a challenge, join an offical server where everything is 1x. The setting are very detailed, it not just "easy medium hard".

You can set things how ever you like. Building is good, lots of snap point to make stuff look crisp, but still allows you alot of freedom in placements. You can also build on platforms on dinos and rafts.

If there is aomething you dont lik or would like to have, there is a huge modding community, more than likly you arnt the first and there is a mod for it

[TheyCallMeGunny]

Squirrel. I don't generally advertise. But Most of my Ark specific followers are there because I sidetrack to teach a lot. So if you find it's harder than you'df like,swing by and I'm sure to have some tips to get you going:

twitch.tvtheycallmegunny

[Lupin III]

Originally posted by Warm Fuzzies:

Originally posted by MolitovMichelle:

If you plan on playing solo then dont waste your time. This game is terrible solo.
If you have a few friends or a tribe you can jump into though then this game really opens up into something great. Loads of fun times to be had with a tribe and fully recommend it for tribe based play, just solo is garbage.

You can get so far solo but at the end of the day expect everything to be destroyed and for you to start all again. This can happen still to tribes but not near as likely. Also there is the fact that some of the dino require a lot of care to tame or even take down, doing them solo is not impossible but very tough and could all be for nothing at the end of the day. With a tribe this is all made a little easier.

The game is fairly simple to pick up though, nothing major to learn, once you learn what to harvest from what its pretty straight forward. Feed dinos meat or berries and eventually they are tamed for you to ride. Build, survive and tame

That's why the devs added the Singleplayer Settings option so that the game is easier when playing singleplayer.

Or did you miss that update?

It has a pretty huge page of settings just for tweaking single player and I think further tweaking can be done through an .ini file, plus you can hit up the workshop and find a good amount of mods to further tweak it.