how much time needed?

[Rodrick]

Is the game viable at all if I dont have that much time to play? i'm in college, so I wont be logging 8 hours every day. Should I still get this on sale?

[KitsuneShiro]

Official servers (settings) are super time consuming.


If you are willing to play unofficial or SP game, there is tons of customization available to gear the game for the time limited player.

[Endel ✦]

Single player only progresses time while you're in-game. Otherwise, if you're playing multiplayer, you'll want to be in a tribe with other people who can take care of things when you're not line.

[retsam1]

Ark has:

1. Official servers(huge time sink and only a minority of people play on them because of that and so many other infamous issues. There are less than 850 of them and soon they're culling another 123 of them

2. Unofficial servers- many have custom rates, and use the crown jewel of what ark entails=modded content. There are over 20,000+ of them and if you choose one(s) that cater to your flexible needs, then your concerns are a non issue.

3. Single player- You can play and adjust settings as you please and add modded content to play with there as well. Basically when you log out as well, in this case the game pretty much goes on pause(unlike servers).

So you've options 2 and 3 to work with. Just be aware with option 2 that many servers do have timers for tames and structures enabled and if you dont log in for 3 days(thatch structures) to 2-3 weeks(metal or tek) then your structures will either be demolishable by players or auto deleted by the server(depending on the server owners settings choice) tames 1-2 weeks on most of those servers as well(its rare to find higher timers... most just leave at default).

Additionally on servers logging out for many days may cause tames to die of starvation due to not keeping food fresh in the feeding troughs. However -many- servers have stacking mods or mods that have refridgerated troughs or lower tame food consumption settings which thus make 1 stack of food last for a month or more in some cases.

Therefore, its really just up to you. Your wants can be accomodated so you just have to decide if you want to buy it on the current sale now or not.

[Rodrick]

hey thanks so much for the info you guys.
so is SP worth the sale price? maybe start with that and move to an unnoficial server. I dig the idea of an MMO without subs and the ability to ride a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fire breathing dino, but not if all i do is endlessly grind with no end in sight just for some other guy to come and destroy all I did only because I went to my courses in college.

[=Sarsante=]

Originally posted by Ruricus:

hey thanks so much for the info you guys.
so is SP worth the sale price? maybe start with that and move to an unnoficial server. I dig the idea of an MMO without subs and the ability to ride a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fire breathing dino, but not if all i do is endlessly grind with no end in sight just for some other guy to come and destroy all I did only because I went to my courses in college.

It does, Ive played over 1k hours most of it solo or with couple friends on my dedicated server.

[KitsuneShiro]

You don't have to play PvP unless you want. Different unofficials have different rules regarding PvP.

PvE is fun. And lots of people play single player.

The amount of grind is easily changed with mods and settings.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by Ruricus:

hey thanks so much for the info you guys.
so is SP worth the sale price? maybe start with that and move to an unnoficial server. I dig the idea of an MMO without subs and the ability to ride a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fire breathing dino, but not if all i do is endlessly grind with no end in sight just for some other guy to come and destroy all I did only because I went to my courses in college.

I recommend not thinking on this like Wow. Its not a subless mmo in those terms.

Given your time limitations I think you would get many hours out of ark no problem, especially if you get into modded content as well. I'm over 4k hours myself and there are many with well over 1k hours too.

However, here's potentially the deal killer for you:

Do -not- buy ark if your computer is on or just barely at or just barely above the min reqs to play the game. Ark is one of the most demanding games out atm as even cited by pc gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/ark-survival-evolved-is-the-new-crysis-of-pc-hardware/

If your rig is on the low end for the game, you will encounter both graphic fidelity and performance issues and then return to the forums complaining about the state of the game. One of the things I severely fault wildcard on is their lowballing the requirements to play.

So again, if your rig is in question for playing, dont get it.

[Ghost]

Try it in single player. Its at your own time and the world pauses while you are logged off.

[KitsuneShiro]

With a college schedule where all your projects and exams likely happen on the same week, SP might be the better way to get started. Since you can log out and come back weeks later if you need to.

[Rodrick]

okay, gonna get it guys, thanks. And I dont think i'm on the low end. got a 1060 with an I5 and I can run any game, mabe not at max but I still haven't found a game I can not run at 60fps comfortably

[Rodrick]

Originally posted by KitsuneShiro:

With a college schedule where all your projects and exams likely happen on the same week, SP might be the better way to get started. Since you can log out and come back weeks later if you need to.

this. there are weeks I cant play at all, maybe a match or two in rocket league but not much more

[KitsuneShiro]

If you go SP mode. Make sure you backup your save files.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by Ruricus:

okay, gonna get it guys, thanks. And I dont think i'm on the low end. got a 1060 with an I5 and I can run any game, mabe not at max but I still haven't found a game I can not run at 60fps comfortably

You evidently didnt read the link I put there then. Again dont compare ark to the demands from other games. Night and day difference. Unless you're playing on the lowest settings with sliders dropped to nothing and boxes unticked on fidelity settings you're going to have subpar fps(fps-o-philes hate ark btw). Dont say you werent warned...

Also going on congested servers or ones with lots of mods and raised dino numbers will kill your fps in a heartbeat with the rig you have.

Your 1060 will have to be in the medium and lower(maybe a few high) settings with various performance/graphic fidelity sliders droped and boxes unticked in order to to be able to play without various issues.... on smaller community servers with reasonable mods or dino counts. If you ignore that and play higher than what you're rig is meant to and in the context of the server played on, you will get crashes, severe slowdowns etc.

If you've less than 8 gb ram that's a no go.

Also if you play the game on an HDD loading times will be pretty log(especially with modded content). A server or single player iteration of the game with say 8+ mods will take you upwards of 7-10 min just to load into the map while an SSD will take a well under a min.

Again caveat emptor.

[Rodrick]

Originally posted by retsam1:

Originally posted by Ruricus:

okay, gonna get it guys, thanks. And I dont think i'm on the low end. got a 1060 with an I5 and I can run any game, mabe not at max but I still haven't found a game I can not run at 60fps comfortably

You evidently didnt read the link I put there then. Again dont compare ark to the demands from other games. Night and day difference. Unless you're playing on the lowest settings with sliders dropped to nothing and boxes unticked on fidelity settings you're going to have subpar fps(fps-o-philes hate ark btw). Dont say you werent warned...

Also going on congested servers or ones with lots of mods and raised dino numbers will kill your fps in a heartbeat with the rig you have.

Your 1060 will have to be in the medium and lower(maybe a few high) settings with various performance/graphic fidelity sliders droped and boxes unticked in order to to be able to play without various issues.... on smaller community servers with reasonable mods or dino counts. If you ignore that and play higher than what you're rig is meant to and in the context of the server played on, you will get crashes, severe slowdowns etc.

If you've less than 8 gb ram that's a no go.

Also if you play the game on an HDD loading times will be pretty log(especially with modded content). A server or single player iteration of the game with say 8+ mods will take you upwards of 7-10 min just to load into the map while an SSD will take a well under a min.

Again caveat emptor.

wow, that is taxing. I got 16 gb of ram but I do have HDD, and my 1060 has 3g vram, not 6, so maybe this is not the best game for me. Thanks man

[KitsuneShiro]

If you want amazing graphics and 60 fps, then not the game for you.

I run the game with custom settings, but closer to medium. 1050ti card.

If you are willing to adjust settings (sacrifice perfect graphics) a bit to get better fps, then the game is fine.