Swamp Fever - The Facts

[Kraken:1]

OK guys, I see a lot of disimformation and scare mongering being, ahem, spread about the new Swamp fever disease, so let me lay out the facts for you guys.

How do I catch Swamp Fever

Swamp fever can be contracted in 2 ways. 1) being bitten by a diseased leech and 2) getting too close to an infected player or dino.

Can dinos catch swamp fever?

Tamed dinos with the exception of Dodo's can only catch it if bitten by a diseased leech.
Wild dinos cannot catch it at all.
Tamed dodo's can catch it the same as players, ie, getting too close to an infected player or dino.

What are the effects of swamp fever? Will it kill me or my dinos?

You cannot die from Swamp fever. You can however die from not removing a diseased or normal leech in time as it will continue draining your health until it is removed. Remove leeches from dinos by holding E over them and selecting remove leech from the wheel. You can remove leeches from other players in the same way, or remove them from yourself by standing on top of a forge or cooking pot. However, I repeat the Swamp Fever itself will not kill you

What it will do however, is give you a permanent stats reduction, slowed stamina regen and movement, and increased water consumption, an annoying overlay, and some regular coughing sfx until it's cured.

Diseased dinos have the reduced stats and stamina regeneration.

Diseased dinos and players are signified by regularly coughing, and having a green cloud floating about their heads (this is quite hard to see on smaller dinos so take care taking them into the swamp)

The disease is permanent until a cure is administered. for players this means that killing yourself and respawning will not get rid of it. You must take your medicine.

So what's the cure then?

You must administer any infected dinos or players with a basic antidote. This can be made by learning the engram and crafting in a mortar and pestle with 10 Rare Flowers 10 Rare Mushrooms 1 Rhino Horn and 5 Leech Blood. If you have a chemistry table use 4 times the ingredients and you can make 6 vials at a time. Leech blood is obtained of course from wild leeches. Using a hatchet is the best method to obtain it, but obviously the most hazardous as you risk being attcked by other leeches whilst you harvest.

When administering the cure, make sure to treat any infected dinos first before treating yourself.

How do I prevent myself or dinos from catching it?

Well, first and foremost, avoid the swamps. Leeches can be found throughout it. Diseased leeches which carry the disease are labelled as such, and have a slightly red colouration. They also give a higher drop of leech blood so if you do have to go looking for them for the antidote they're worth looking out for.

Avoid any players or dinos that you see with the green cloud above their head.

Up your fortitude. Higher fortitude will give you a percentage chance of avoiding contracting the disease, but will not prevent it entirely. The highest available chance is 80% with 120 fortitude.

OMG, I play on PvE, can someone come around and infect me?

No. If you play PvE, then you can only be infected by players and dinos from within your own tribe.

This sucks, the devs suck, the game is ruined forever and I'm never playing it again.

Ok, you're in game right now, but ok ;)

[Bolo_Bob]

should remove able to ride birds too, i bet that will lead to more accidental suicides when people try to ride a vulture off a cliff.

[Detale]

Desertworld a écrit :

Ilind a écrit :

Pretty sure killing your game by making it impossible to be removed for low lvl player is not a good idea marketing wise

i wouldn't say impossible. the diseased leeches shouldn't be that common. also if you play on an unofficial server or singleplayer you can just disable their spawns with

NPCReplacements=(FromClassName="Leech_Character_Diseased_C",ToClassName="Leech_Character_C")  

where do you insert this code?

[Dex]

I can't even fathom starting as a new player. Between alphas, the new biomes, gigantosaurus and now leeches, I'd probably quit after a few BS deaths lol.

[ღEasily amusedღ]

Thank you for the post

I've been looking for info all day ~ I feel much better after reading this post. I don't mind new challenges but it def makes it easier having a bit of information.

Has anyone figured out the infection radius?

Thanks again,

Lantana

[Desertworld]

T-Rex on Adderall a écrit :

Desertworld a écrit :

i wouldn't say impossible. the diseased leeches shouldn't be that common. also if you play on an unofficial server or singleplayer you can just disable their spawns with

NPCReplacements=(FromClassName="Leech_Character_Diseased_C",ToClassName="Leech_Character_C")  

where do you insert this code?

game.ini as you can see here
http://ark.gamepedia.com/196.0

[Kyris]

If there ever was a reason to thatch foundation the swamps, and make them a desolate waste land Now would be that time.

[Rocksalt]

Haven't tried playing just yet, but the only thing that will make this suck is when you catch this disease and then cure it, one minute later you are diseased again. And the cycle repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats... that would make it an ANNOYING mechanic.

[☬ Crow ☬]

We NPC replaced the diseased leeches on our server with the non-diseased ones. I plan on releasing a few diseased one here and there to freak people out and possibly start an epidemic or two from time to time to make the cure relevant but I dont want that annoying cycle happening on our server.

It's a brand new long-term primitive fantasy dragon project. Anyone is welcome to join now while theres still only about 10 of us on it so far. (growing very quick)

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/arkdragons

For info ^

[GarysMomsGrandma]

aphexcoil a écrit :

So explain to me how any lower level players are ever going to get the cure? This is just a huge nuisance. Games are supposed to be "fun." How is this remotely fun? Why should anything persist through death? The only option for any players under a certain level is to restart with a new character, so the game might as well just be hardcore mode for anyone who doesn't have the ability to get Rhino horns.

Also, with so much going on in the world related to the near extinction of Rhinos because horns are valuable specifically because of places like Vietnam believing they can cure cancer. So Wildcard introduces a game mechanic in their game that parallels something completely politically sensitive and Wildcard doesn't see the awful parallels?

This game used to be enjoyable to play but the last two patches have shown that Wildcard doesn't really respect current players (by introducing changes into the game that aren't in patch notes and outright wiping official servers without any advanced notice to players).

WORD. This is the worst update ever. STUPID idea that only make this game worse.

[GarysMomsGrandma]

Also....my dinos take so muhc food to just fly across the map its unreal. Not realistic at all.

[Hamm]

My base is all the down on south beach just below the swamp. ( 80,82), I sized down after they nerf the amount of meat would get from a kill. I have gave away around 300 to 340 tames so I have just two of each species, most are gone except for mid size veggie eaters nothing I would mount up and make a trek to great white north on.

[Zavult]

Omaeka a écrit :

Takasugi a écrit :

A well trained spy is a pro at gaining trust of the enemy and thus would not be suspected of any foul play. You having the disease and bringing it to them is exactly the point!

What kind of sad little mongoloid would sit and talk with somebody to get them to trust them just to give them a disease in an online game...

Dude! do you even internet? those kinds of people are a dime a dozen!

[Kyris]

I have to agree upkeep is now starting to really outwiegh enjoyment , I hope they will remove this mechanic on all honestly is a noval idea , but if we all were starting out again fresh on a brand new wiped server. this would be crippling any reason to play.

I bought this game to enjoy taming dinos and living out the jurrasic park dream , now it feels like that dream is rapidly decending into a cesspool of grinding , ever increasing upkeep and now completely pointless annoying mechanics that make the game more of a grind.

[☬ Crow ☬]

Kyris a écrit :

I have to agree upkeep is now starting to really outwiegh enjoyment , I hope they will remove this mechanic on all honestly is a noval idea , but if we all were starting out again fresh on a brand new wiped server. this would be crippling any reason to play.

I bought this game to enjoy taming dinos and living out the jurrasic park dream , now it feels like that dream is rapidly decending into a cesspool of grinding , ever increasing upkeep and now completely pointless annoying mechanics that make the game more of a grind.

Join our server. :P We won't be allowing this to happen.

[Ragnorok]

Bullwinkle a écrit :

Yeah, 25% reduction in stats is pretty harsh. If it was 5% reduction in stats, that wouldn't break the game. There could be a daily chance of it getting worse or spontaneous cure. But 25% instantly and forever is pretty harsh.

But it's not forever