After the Hype is Gone Lets Talk About Aberration

[=Sarsante=]

As the title says after idk 100hs my hype is gone and Im getting really irritated with the Aberration.

Pros:
- Ravagers are good, Im ok with the bleeding effect being removed after taming otherwise they would be super op.

- Crabs are good too, little bit too slow but they're a good tame that you can use for a bunch of stuff like farming, taming, tanking stuff.

-Megalosaurus not unique on aberration, but its the best tame hands down. Good hp, awesome meleee, not so great stam regen. But after you get a high level imprinted one you're done. There is no need for anything else.

Cons:
- Roll Rats, the only wood farmer is terrible. Everytime I need to use it I rage. They are ok at the easy area but at the blue one the trees are all close to rocks and then the problem starts. It doesnt turn, its super slow. I feel like the video below all the time, so I only use it when I run out of wood completely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aULRhgG_Az8

-Rock Drakes are very underwhelming and disapointing. They are super glitchy, low base stam, hp, melee. They suck on all aspects! I do understand they need to get fixed first because they work really bad, they do what they want. They can climb giant rocks and get stuck on small ones doesnt make any sense. The 'flying' ís kinda cool for the first 30 minutes then its meh. I got a max level one and dont use it for nothing its just a wall paint inside my base and only consider taking it out makes me angry already.

The Map

I think its fun but could be better designed. Its painful to move around, the zip-lines we can attach are super short, so you must go walking with a tame and takes a long time to go to point A to B. In the begining that you can actually die it adds some tension and its cool. But now I wont die, any tame wont die then its just a boring journey.

So I dont know, I feel its becoming super boring. Sometimes I play for hours and dont even leave my base just because its annoying walk around and anything is really close, so takes a lot of time to move around.

Am I the only one who feels that way? Leave your thoughts about it!

[Wutelgi Toes]

Yup, all the same for me. Played 1k hours on Ragnarok PvE ( Dont really like PvP on Ark dont bash me ), was waiting for the new DLC, now there it is, I got my base, a rock drake, a lvl 225 baby Reaper, a few dinos, and I already feel like theres nothing else to do. ( Again, I might be limited because I play PvE )

Crafting element system is total crap anyway cause you dont have some engrams ( Same story over and over, make a lot of -randombrokendino-, waste your time, go at the boss, eventually fail and do it again ) dinos are fine, nothing too exciting, a map without flyers is a pain in the ass, plus its on different height levels, of course, exactly as you said, its nice and all but ends up being " painful ".

To be honest the game without flyers is just so boring, Idk how the PvP players feel about it, but as a PvE player that likes to explore, do PvE ♥♥♥♥, its horrible.

Rockdrakes are the worst dino ever created. Not even talking about the bugs or glitchs, lets face it, what if they were a lot better to play with? It would still be a LOT worse than having an actual flyer, it just feels wrong to me.

Also the map isnt so big after all, its just " deep ". Ridiculously deep.

I'd just say Aberration is great, but this has nothing to do with " Ark ". Its just a different game. With a lot of the fun missing. Everything in Aberration ( Including the difficulty ) is fun at the start, and you're bored pretty quick.

Now I'm thinking about going back to Ragnarok, even tho I just know the map too much now after +1k hours, I'm missing so many dinos, like Griffins, Theris, Allos, dinos I like that I cant have on Aberration. Might just end up playing another game.

One last note tho, I think the fact that you can find a lot of unofficial servers on Ragnarok/The Center with Aberration dinos is a huge fail.

[D-Rat, King of Rats]

Basilisks are amazing mounts imo. GOod health, Stam, Weight, Melee.

[KinkJobSnusso86]

I also felt this way about abberation,

The map was designed in a way that forces you to use the ziplines to get around between different levels which is cool, however they only created 1 dino (ravager) which could use them, so it forced everybody to tame, (it's really boring to see everyone with the same tames). There was just such a lack of diversity in the tames available on abberation.

Secondly with PVP it was just ridiculous, wingsuits led to players being able to flee any battle at any point with ease. Raiding was just non existent as most base locations are physically impossible to raid. The high platforms prevent any tames from getting up (except for ravs) and generally the platforms are so high crabs cannot throw anything up. This completely prevented soaking of turrets which meant turrets were impossible to get past. Leading to no raids, except those that were on ground level.

Every PVP fight ended with no rewards and all loot from raids was terrible (as you couldn't raid good bases)

Also roll rats are terrible, their turning circle made me want to shoot myself.

I overall felt like abberation was a disappointment
for:
-Bad pvp
-Lack of diversity in tames
-Incredibly hard to raid base locations
-Badly designed maps (looks cool thou)

[=Sarsante=]

Originally posted by Jotaro Kujo:

Basilisks are amazing mounts imo. GOod health, Stam, Weight, Melee.

I didnt care to tame one yet, thats why there is no pros or cons :)

[SaltyBurst]

This xpac has its own pros and cons just like everything else. Playing PVE on this map allows me to gain a better understanding of items, drops, ways in and out of the map that I still dont have knowledge of on others with 1k+ hours on each map. It's another SE but underground. It gives a different atmosphere.

I completely disagree with people complaining about drakes. Flying one imo and how I play games feels amazing and does exactly as I want it to. I can glide across the map with knowledge of where to start and where I am ending, plus I like the area where the drakes actually have eggs and where the boss is.

Only thing I felt bad about knowing is that you don't gain element from killing the boss. The cosmetics are cool but I spent 80% of my life on breeding spinos for bosses.

Crabs are awesome. They allow you to actually solo farm with an anky or doed or even ROLL RAT in order to farm. You just have a few extra steps if you aren't with people. You just have to drop them where you want, jump off, jump on whatever, then farm, jump off and then back on your crab and repeat. It's boring but isnt farming always?

Exploring the map or even the red zone was a lot of fun with a buddy of mine and 2 spinos with bulbdogs just walking around trying to find the hatchery for drakes. After drakes ( just like with flyers) it makes the map feel incredibly smaller then what it actually is. I can see why people feel that way in compared to other GIANT maps like Island and Rag.

Basilisks are amazing at holding weight. If you're playing on a very heavy gather rate server they are nice for that fact but you ride in the front of the snake where its main hitbox comes from the middle of the snake. It's weird feeling but its cool to cruise around on a giant titanboa.

[Tiramisu]

A nice post for a change Sarsante ^.^

I think the 2 major downfalls mentioned so far (PvP and travel) dont affect me. I dont PvP so that aspect has no bearing for me personally, and as for travel, I use a teleporter mod. Its pad only, was set for high level unlock, and limited number. So Ive done the slog of getting around on foot/crappy tames, loved the struggle and exploring etc, and now Ive done that and leveled up, I have some pads to get around quicker.

Ive still a bunch to do within the DLC, only got 1 drake egg (not yet fully matured, so not gotten to use it yet), but if it really does feel lackluster in dmg, that can be fixed (assuming WC doesnt do it - and that I feel that way myself about it). Not gotten a Reaper or a Basilisk, done artifact caves, or boss. So I still have a bit ahead of me.

I can see its going to burn out tho, its not a map I would play for a very long time. But its a contained experience and a very good one. Comparing it to SE, that was a great change of scenery initially, nice difficulty to begin with, new challenging elements, but then it was just a hazy wavey beige uninspiring map. Altho its design lends itself better to long term play in a way, Aberration has more wow up front and more interesting items.

The map design in Ab is gorgeous, has a great tiered progression, but it is only that way on a fresh experience of it. It will get old I think. And if there was a map that I ever really really wanted teleporting on, its this one! I also dislike the limited variety of dinos I see around. It was rushed for sure, but imagine how pissed people would have been if they pushed it into 2018 (which it could have really done with to get right).

So worth it IMO. But at the end of it all, once Im done with Ark after however many hours that ends up being - Im sure most of that time will be spent on a more normal style map, playing with a bunch of mods.

[=Sarsante=]

Originally posted by Pickle Rick:

I also dislike the limited variety of dinos I see around. It was rushed for sure, but imagine how pissed people would have been if they pushed it into 2018 (which it could have really done with to get right).

So worth it IMO. But at the end of it all, once Im done with Ark after however many hours that ends up being - Im sure most of that time will be spent on a more normal style map, playing with a bunch of mods.

Thanks, I sometimes lose my temper with the trolls thats why most of my posts are garbage :p

I also feel it was rushed, the way its now and what it could be let me think they should have released in may/june 2018. A lot of things seems unpolished like zip-lines, climbing pick and specially the rock drake.

Im not saying it doesnt worth it, playing 100hs on it its a lot of bang for my buck so Im fine with it. It just feels underwhelming you know?

[Brax]

I'll give my two cents. Not allowing grappling hooks is STUPID. It's a vertical use map with a high cost of getting to the upward vertical use pants skin, the zip motor. GRAPPLING HOOKS ARE ALREADY EXPENSIVE they should work on this map. Second gripe: why do NONE of the "redwood" style trees not accept a tree platform but actually accept sap taps?

[Snow]

My only gripes with abberation are:

Climbing Picks:
Who the ♥♥♥♥ designed these things? There high quality, metal and hide pickaxes, that snap after like 15 feet.

Ravagers:
Again, who thought of this.
Id rather go hug a giga than a pack of wild ravagers, their bite is atrociously overpowered.

Ziplines:
There essential to the entire map but only ravagers can use them? Makes absolutely no sense imo.

I haven't even gotten into the blue yet since it depends on you having either a spino or a Kakrinos (which you need a cannon... and where im at im really far from metal so thats awful, im considering just spawning one since im in SP).

[Vantus]

For the record, this is all my opinion and opinions are subjective and I play from a PVE perspective. I've split it into 2 sections "Map" and "Dinos" with pros and cons.

Map

Pros

• Wildcard have gotten better at making maps look interesting, with less same-old copy-paste forests. I don't think it's quite Ragnarok-level but it's still much prettier to look at and most zones feel unique.
  
• The fact that there are no fliers is awesome - no more lame "Fast-travel". It means you have to actually plan a route and travelling from one end of the map to the other is an adventure. It reminds me of Dark Souls with each zone looking very different and with (for the most part) different enemy spawns. The vertical challenge is nerve-racking!
  
• Environmental Hazards are an interesting addition. The changing Day-Night rotation is something I haven't made my mind up about yet. It's both good and bad. I like the concept but find the 90% Night moments to be YouTube time and that's arguably not good game design. Still! I'm neither here nor there on it so it can sit in the Pros section.
  
• The Nameless ambushes add an element of surprise and keeps you guessing.

Cons:

• Environmental Hazards... Even though I listed them a "Pro", the frequency of Earthquakes makes them less interesting and more annoying. Trying to access a radial menu while you bounce around...*Strangles monitor*... They could have been more dangerous and less frequent. The Mushroom and Gas poisons are pretty much death sentances for the majority of the game and you can't seem to remove the harmful mushrooms without triggering them. Some zones give no indication that there is a hazard until you hit them but by that point it's usually too late.
  
  
• Where the map has been more intricately designed, the contours, sharp edges, and overall vertical nature all make for a NIGHTMARE getting your dinos to follow you. If you thought rocks and trees on The Island were annoying for the A.I to navigate, you haven't seen anything yet!
  
• The split between Fungal Wood and normal Wood is an obvious tool to prevent Aberration engrams from being crafted on the Island - I get it. But splitting wood materials when there is a lack of wood gatherers is just cruel!

Dinosaurs / Enemies

Pros

• I really like all the Aberrant versions of the dinos! Very well suited to the visuals of the expansion. Some glow, some don't. But man are they pretty.
  
• The new Dinos seem very well designed (visually) and suited to the map. I still get a little creeped out by the Karkinos. A good blend of Alien and terrestrial.
  
• I like that most of them are zone specific as well. It means if you want to tame one, you must travel to that zone of the map. Conversely, if you want to avoid those dinos, you avoid that zone!

Cons

• By far my biggest complaint is the sheer lack of variety. So many of the existing Dinos did not get added to Aberration. I appreciate it was probably to keep things "thematic" and require less work giving all the dinos glow textures. But the repetition of Dinos just dampens the mood and makes for less strategic taming. Removing options is never good!
  
• Wildcard still struggle with balancing. Ravagers are annoying, OP in the wild and too frequent. In a matter of in-game days you will find most other wild dinos to be wiped out by Ravagers leaving your map sprawling with them. One alone can solo a Paracer with that nasty Gnash ability. It also makes no sense that they get material weight reduction. That would have been better with the Roll Rat. A bit Mary-Sue.
  
• No wood gatherers. Thankfully I'm playing this solo, so I've upped the Wood and Fungal Wood gather rates to 1.5. Take that Wild Card! *Two Fingers*. But joking aside, I shouldn't feel the need to do this to counter what I believe to be an oversight or bad design choice. Don't get me wrong, I like a challenge! However, there is a metal gethering dino and a stone gathering dino. I see no reason what the absense of a wood gathering dino adds to the situation beyond unnecessary tedium. Make the Role Rat a wood gatherer and Bob's yer uncle. (I'll even return my wood gather rates to 1.0! I promise!)
  
• This one is a bonus, just because. Revist the Dino A.I please! I spend more time nannying my dinos around simple waist-high rocks and shin-high steps than I do getting killed by Ravagers! And I get killed by Ravagers a lot.
  Like.
  A lot.

Summary

Abberation literrally means "departure from normal". This is definitely very different than what we've seen before. Not just visually, but how the game is played. Previous maps and DLCs have been focussed on collecting dinos Pokemon-style and filling your collective pockets and containers with sh*t loads of resources. Maybe fight players if you PVP, maybe fight bosses if you PVE. Grab yourself a flier and just do metal runs in minutes or fly around Becon hunting all day.

Not in Aberration.

There is less focus on Dinos and more on the environment. There are no flying mounts. Navigating the sometimes impossible terrain, scaling (and base jumping) from cliffs, looking out for bad shrooms, LSD Walls (not official name but im taking credit if it sticks), Gas pockets etc. As mentioned previously, Aberration very much brought back memories of Dark Souls. Travelling on foot through different zones, each with different visuals and enemy presence.

At least in this game I can make my own damn bonfires.

[tag545]

its a nice change of pace but feels too small scale for this game. it pushes heavily towards a cookie cutter play style by adding restrictions to previously viable items and creatures while not providing satisfactory substitutes for the ones missing. only one creature can climb ziplines, only one can carry a platform saddle, only one gives a flyers level of mobility, only one is decent at collecting wood, only one for metal, ect.

its fun for a while but at least for me lacks any form of replayability as im pushed to do the same thing with the same 3-4 creatures in a bite size map. in a game that demands hundreds of hours to make any form of progress without serious tampering with the settings, this just doesnt really mesh well for me.

i do enjoy playing on this map but its a one time deal for me. once i get what i want transfered out i will most likely delete this map to clear up some space as i doubt ill have any reason to come back.

[Brax]

Originally posted by Vantus:

. . .

Many good points - the seasonal rotation compared to youtube is particularly apt. I don't want to have three hours of night but someone making a "SURFACE REAPER KING CRAZY TIME BANANAPANTS" video loves it
Also shoutout to not changing the damn AI for a map where literally every step could potentially grant you a 20 minute fall into the depths of hell... but for dinos they're just like BONZAII

[Vantus]

Originally posted by Brax:

Also shoutout to not changing the damn AI for a map where literally every step could potentially grant you a 20 minute fall into the depths of hell... but for dinos they're just like BONZAII

Hahaha! Yes!! Especially those damn Roll Rats and their train-level turning circle.

BONAZAAAAAIII!

Gonna name my next one "Bonzai". He can be friends with my other one "Geronimo".

[BattleSquirrel7]

I'm a little confused by the comments about not having a wood gatherer, since a decent roll rat can bring home 7500 wood per run? The rock blocking issues and turning are just more mechanics to make it challenging I think, and I like that it's not so easy to just dominate this map. They're catering to a different crowd with this DLC, and that's okay as long as they give it the time it needs and balance a few things out better. I can imagine the next one being tek-heavy and that'll be harder for some folks to accept, since this game started with humans taming dinosaurs in the beginning.

[Brax]

Originally posted by BattleSquirrel7:

I'm a little confused by the comments about not having a wood gatherer, since a decent roll rat can bring home 7500 wood per run? The rock blocking issues and turning are just more mechanics to make it challenging I think, and I like that it's not so easy to just dominate this map. They're catering to a different crowd with this DLC, and that's okay as long as they give it the time it needs and balnace a few things out better. I can imagine the next one being tek-heavy and that'll be harder for some folks to grasp, since this game started with humans taming dinosaurs in the beginning.

Well there's two problems with that really - 1) this game is in release so mechanics issues that stem from copy/pasting a doedicurus roll should not even occur - and 2) they are OUT OF TIME the game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ released now, no more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ excuses about "sooner or later they will optimize/fix AI/TLC pass" it's past time
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