So ARK Ascended went up in price

[Szass Tam]

Originally, ARK 2 for the PS5 was listed at $39.99 and ARK 2 with ARK Ascended was $49.99, plus 2 DLC Packs for $19.99 each. That means ARK Ascended was $10 plus DLC, for a total of $50, and ARK 2 was $40, for a total of $90. Now ARK Ascended is $59.99 with the DLC included. So it went up $10. I've got over 1,000 hours logged on ARK and I know many people who have much more, so I kind of understand Wildcard charging for ARK Ascended remake since so many players have gotten it for much less than $1.00/hour of game play, but changing their marketing plan to INCREASE the price is ridiculous. There's no way I'm giving Wildcard money for Ascended if they decide to stick with pulling this stunt. Either they need to drop the price of ARK Ascended by $10 back to what it was originally or at the very least give owners of the original a $10 discount so they are paying the original price, AND they need to guarantee they aren't raising the price of ARK 2 above the original $39.99 price point. It's simply unacceptable to raise the price of a game when you're offering nothing new to warrant the price change.

[🦊 Hermit]

You know what, I had miscalculated my numbers. Initially I had thought that the price for the remaster and DLC was actually slightly lower in this new option than what had been offered before. But now that I read your post and review my figures, it seems you're right, it's actually a little higher in price. Thanks for pointing that out, I appreciate the notification.

[Teratus]

The fact that the game will be imo "incomplete" upon launch due to most of the maps missing until a later date is probably the most disappointing part for me.

There is going to be a hell of a lot "new" in this upgraded version though.
New creatures, maps, features, mechanics etc aside.. the visual and performance improvements alone are going to huge for online play.
There will be better AI and creature pathing as well which I expect will be especially obvious when it comes time to explore ARK's many many caves..
Hopefully the days of spiders, bats and various cave creatures spawning in the damn walls will be a thing of the past entirely.

If i'm not mistaken they're even going to be cleaning up a lot of the code, fixing bugs etc
But yeah the build system is getting improved too, wild baby dinos are confirmed to be a thing and personally i'm hoping for wild nests and fertilised eggs as well.
There's a lot of "new" coming in the ascended version.

That said, like with all games, I need to at least see what i'm paying for before i'm willing to spend money on it.
I don't mind paying for ARK ascended, but im not doing so till I know exactly what im paying for.
If Ascended doesn't feel like good value for money then I'll wait for a discount and get it when it's price matches my own opinion of it's value like I do with most games these days.

[Zera_Fox]

Except you're getting more than just a graphical update in ASA?
How do you know that the $40 for ARK: 2 isn't a discount for pre-ordering an unknown game in the first place? I bet ARK: 2 is going to be more than $40 for sure come closer to release time.

And just because it's $40 for PS5 console doesn't mean that was the price slot intended for ARK 2 on Steam/PC based on a bundle that PS5 users weren't even going to be able to access in the first place.

I'd also like to note that anything they're saying price-point wise is a plan, it's nothing set in stone. Anything can happen that can cause the price to fluctuate for either game, more or less work than anticipated (which means more or less money needed to pay their team) and a number of other things can happen.

I feel they're wrong to mention anything about price-points or the like until they're actually ready to put them in stone. It's just bad PR, which they appear to be very good at the whole bad PR thing since day 1. Though they are getting a little better about it several years later now...

The previous bundle at $50 for only The Island map and a pre-order of ARK: 2 wasn't a hit because not everyone even wants ARK: 2 to begin with. So you couldn't make everyone happy with that, they didn't like the "pre-order" for a game they didn't care about from the start. So they broke it up are now offering a total ASA bundle that includes Island and all the DLCs for a single price, all without an ARK: 2 involvement in any way shape or form.
Now you've got people who are upset that they're paying $60 for a total ASA package because they don't want any of the DLCs.
You've also got the "it was said to be free months ago!" for this engine update too, so you've got people mad that it's going to cost anything at all. Development costs money, that's just how it is and the statement of it going to be a free upgrade rather than a port/rewrite was certainly made in haste and they have apologized for that.

You just can't please everyone.
It's a company, not a charity. You either want the game and will agree to whatever it is they land on to market it's worth at and buy it. Or you don't.

You might get lucky and they break it all back down again into different "passes" like it was when it was originally mentioned to be bundled with ARK: 2 (but without ARK: 2) for those who don't want the DLCs but I would not expect a price drop.

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by Teratus:

If i'm not mistaken they're even going to be cleaning up a lot of the code, fixing bugs etc
But yeah the build system is getting improved too, wild baby dinos are confirmed to be a thing and personally i'm hoping for wild nests and fertilised eggs as well.
There's a lot of "new" coming in the ascended version.

Some of those fixes we have needed in the original game for many years, but they never came. Now suddenly they're available, but gated behind a paywall?

I recognise that some of the improvements, like graphics or perhaps creature AI, may rely on engine assets and so cannot be adjusted without the engine upgrade. Okay, I get that, and respect it. But for example the building system and snap point adjustments - those could surely be added to the base game. Why are they not being so? Especially when WC initially promised that the game's entire building system was a placeholder and would be reworked fully before the game left Early Access. They broke that promise back in the day, and now they are charging us more money in order for them to keep it?

And that is assuming that we actually see these upgrades at all. With WildCard's history of cancelled and abandoned plans, delays, and longstanding unfixed bugs, can we really trust them to deliver on any of this any more?

Originally posted by Zera_Fox:

You just can't please everyone.
It's a company, not a charity. You either want the game and will agree to whatever it is they land on to market it's worth at and buy it. Or you don't.

But we surely have to admit their marketing strategy is at best disingenuous, even downright dubious. First of all trying to bundle Ark 2 in with the remaster, which does rather look like trying to artificially inflate sales and rope people in to supporting the sequel without them wanting it. And when a backlash arose from that, raising the price for the remaster while portraying it as a concession from them and a better deal for us. It's a series of low blows, to say the least. And it adds on to their history of making questionable development decisions and showing a lack of care for their fanbase.

I'm very disappointed at the whole affair. All of this, plus some other issues I've mentioned in other posts, makes me honestly uncertain whether I can trust them. Unless those issues can be fixed and they fully deliver on their latest promises, I really can't justify picking up either Ascended or Ark 2.

[Zalzany]

Originally posted by Teratus:

The fact that the game will be imo "incomplete" upon launch due to most of the maps missing until a later date is probably the most disappointing part for me.

There is going to be a hell of a lot "new" in this upgraded version though.
New creatures, maps, features, mechanics etc aside.. the visual and performance improvements alone are going to huge for online play.
There will be better AI and creature pathing as well which I expect will be especially obvious when it comes time to explore ARK's many many caves..
Hopefully the days of spiders, bats and various cave creatures spawning in the damn walls will be a thing of the past entirely.

If i'm not mistaken they're even going to be cleaning up a lot of the code, fixing bugs etc
But yeah the build system is getting improved too, wild baby dinos are confirmed to be a thing and personally i'm hoping for wild nests and fertilised eggs as well.
There's a lot of "new" coming in the ascended version.

That said, like with all games, I need to at least see what i'm paying for before i'm willing to spend money on it.
I don't mind paying for ARK ascended, but im not doing so till I know exactly what im paying for.
If Ascended doesn't feel like good value for money then I'll wait for a discount and get it when it's price matches my own opinion of it's value like I do with most games these days.

That is how all the open world survial games work even ones with money granted Snail is paying for a lawsuit, probably one of many on competitors, so yeah I get them doing staggered release, the rest are just "we will go bankrupt were new! Help us no one will give us a loan with out bending us over!"

[Teratus]

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

Some of those fixes we have needed in the original game for many years, but they never came. Now suddenly they're available, but gated behind a paywall?

True, though fixing some things in ARK 1 is more trouble than it's worth considering how messy the code is.
Fix one problem, create several more.. we've all seen this in many games with the so called "spaghetti code" problem.

You do pretty much need a big project like moving a game to a whole new engine to really justify massive alterations to such a messy code foundation tbh.. so I can see why this upgrade has provided that opportunity.
Specially since it's also bringing new tech like Nanite to play with so terrain and meshes should be much easier to work with and prevent people exploiting etc.

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

I recognise that some of the improvements, like graphics or perhaps creature AI, may rely on engine assets and so cannot be adjusted without the engine upgrade. Okay, I get that, and respect it. But for example the building system and snap point adjustments - those could surely be added to the base game. Why are they not being so? Especially when WC initially promised that the game's entire building system was a placeholder and would be reworked fully before the game left Early Access. They broke that promise back in the day, and now they are charging us more money in order for them to keep it?

Could be that the build system they're using in the upgrade is different, or more like reworked with new UE5 features so it wouldn't be possible to just add it to the original game.
I expect again that Nanite will be a part of the Ascended build system due to it's ability to significantly lower resource costs and allow for high quality distant rendering.

Essentially in theory, you'll be able to see your base from reasonably far away in great detail without heavy load in or performance drops.. at least that's the general idea I get from what I know about Nanite.

I'm speculating though, I don't know for sure what WC are doing with the build system in Ascended only that they plan on improving it and they are going to be taking advantage of Nanite for distant LOD's stuff.. tree's plant's rocks etc so I wouldn't be surprised if they also use it for player made structures as well, maybe even creatures too.
Though I am not actually sure if it can be use for objects that move like Dinosaurs etc.. I know a little about the tech but not that much lol

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

And that is assuming that we actually see these upgrades at all. With WildCard's history of cancelled and abandoned plans, delays, and longstanding unfixed bugs, can we really trust them to deliver on any of this any more?

Guess that's up to the individual tbh but generally I agree with taking that precaution.

I don't intend to give WC a dime for this upgrade until I see ARK ascended in action, same for ARK 2.
And I would strongly advise everyone else do the same as well but each to their own there.

As excited as I am for this upgrade, the fact remains that right now, if I purchase it.. all i'm really paying for is a bunch of words and promises.
I believe WC intends on giving us a truly great ARK1 experience with Ascended, but i'm not going to put money down on just words and promises.. I need more than that and I intend on keeping my money until I know exactly what i'm going to get for it.

[🦊 Hermit]

Originally posted by Szass Tam:

Originally, ARK 2 for the PS5 was listed at $39.99

So in my first post in this thread, I mentioned that I initially thought the price for the older deal was worse, but after reviewing the numbers in this thread I had changed my mind.

However I'm absolutely terrible at mathematics, and someone else in another thread pointed out to me that I was mistaken in that assertion. And also that this analysis of the numbers in the OP's post is slightly off.

Ark 2 was not listed at 39.99 for the PS5. It was actually Ark Ascended which was quoted at that price. So if you run the numbers for the DLCs and all accounting for that small error, then actually my initial assessment turns out to be correct after all and the newer deal is indeed better value for us customers than the old one.

Ark Ascended did NOT go up in price by 10 dollars. It's actually $20 cheaper than the original deal. I just feel the need to point that out to avoid any further confusion.

I do however stand by the rest of what I said in this thread, about being disappointed with WC and not feeling I can trust them etc.

[Zera_Fox]

Originally posted by 🦊 Hermit:

Originally posted by Szass Tam:

Originally, ARK 2 for the PS5 was listed at $39.99

So in my first post in this thread, I mentioned that I initially thought the price for the older deal was worse, but after reviewing the numbers in this thread I had changed my mind.

However I'm absolutely terrible at mathematics, and someone else in another thread pointed out to me that I was mistaken in that assertion. And also that this analysis of the numbers in the OP's post is slightly off.

Ark 2 was not listed at 39.99 for the PS5. It was actually Ark Ascended which was quoted at that price. So if you run the numbers for the DLCs and all accounting for that small error, then actually my initial assessment turns out to be correct after all and the newer deal is indeed better value for us customers than the old one.

Ark Ascended did NOT go up in price by 10 dollars. It's actually $20 cheaper than the original deal. I just feel the need to point that out to avoid any further confusion.

I do however stand by the rest of what I said in this thread, about being disappointed with WC and not feeling I can trust them etc.

I am bad at math too, add bad memory to boot but now that you've said it and I'm sure if I went to review it for myself (because now I am remembering that ARK: 2 wouldn't be an early pre-order option for PS players at the same time...)
Yes, $40 was for ASA and not ARK: 2. Which was making ARK: 2 a steal. So we lost that essentially.
But it was making $80 for the total ASA package, which has since been dropped down to $60 with this new offer, minus ARK: 2. Since both lacking the DLCs and bundling ARK: 2 whether wanted or not was the majority of the uproar to begin with.

I'll go ahead and put this here though: the original presented deal https://survivetheark.com/index.php?/articles.html/community-crunch-355-ark-roadmap-evo-event-and-more-r2075/

Xbox Series S/X and PC players will only be able to get it via an ultimate-value bundle known as the ARK Respawned Bundle. This bundle includes ownership of both ARK: Survival Ascended AND ARK 2 and will be priced at $49.99. This bundle will be available to purchase from the end of August for up to 1 year (after which ARK: Survival Ascended and ARK 2 will be sold separately). Additionally, the bundle will provide players access to an exclusive 1-month closed-beta to ARK 2 in 2024 before the rest of the general public can play ARK 2.

PlayStation 5 users will be able to get their hands on ARK: Survival Ascended as a standalone next-gen game at launch in August 2023 for $39.99.

All the expansion packs will be sold separately on all platforms:

$19.99 for Explorer’s Pass, which includes Scorched Earth, Aberration (Q4 2023), and Extinction (Q1 2024).
$19.99 for Genesis Pass, which includes Genesis Part 1 (Q1 2024) and Genesis Part 2 (Q2 2024).

Note that says Ark: Survival Ascended and not ARK: 2 at $39.99.
Also keep in mind that none of the offers mention anything about the new exclusive DLC coming to ASA in the end of 2024 either. Smart move on their part, not saying anything about that this early.

Another part of the complaints was that at launch we'd have the base map and the first DLC map. SE.

At ARK: Survival Ascended’s launch, players will have access to The Island, Scorched Earth, and the new revamped game mode, Survival of the Fittest.

Except if we wanted to access both maps we'd be dropping $70 on/pre-launch of ASA just to access both maps soon as we pressed PLAY.
Which is more than $60 they're offering us now for all the DLC's btw. Keeping up with math presentations and so-forth. Nevermind the $20 we'd spend in 2024 for the second DLC pass.

Their PR is terrible, always has been but they are learning. Slowly.

[Chrius]

It's not just "a little higher"...

The previous bundle + DLC would cost $90 for everything, now we are paying $60 for ASA and most likely another $60 (If not more) for Ark 2.

[Zera_Fox]

Probably, but the uproar was about ASA and rebuying a game a lot of us already have thousands of hours in for $80
And that we were having to blindly pay for ark 2 in the process