Truths about BoB that nobody tells you (read if you want to play solo)

[Pons]

There is a lot to unpack, so I will be brief. For some reason, nobody is very honest online about the BoB experience, or casually mention some VERY important mechanics that can make-or-break the game for you. This is not a ♥♥♥♥-talking post, but more a eye-opener for people like me, who came from the isle, and who tend to prefer a more raw, combat focused experience. Maybe you saw a video or two online of a close battle, with one side barely winning and the other crushed in defeat. If those things are what turned you on to the game, then read this. The reality is usually very far from any form of fairness.

COMBAT IS ALMOST NEVER FAIR: In the isle, most servers have pack limits, which is supposed to tighten the experience. 2 gigas vs 2 rex? 8 utahs vs 1 shant? Everybody has a chance. This game is fundamentally different. I went in expecting similar balance, but this is absolutely not the case. MOST (I SAID MOST) combat situations are usually sudden, unexpected, or a rulebreak. Either 8 megas swarm you and you have 0 chance, or your pack is nigh unstoppable and nobody will ever try. Almost nobody in this game will risk their dino with an even battle. If you are being attacked, it's because they know they can kill you EASILY. You might ask "but what about another pack of 8 megas?" well unfortunately, that can't help either because:

UNLIMITED GROWTH WILL ALWAYS DISADVANTAGE YOU: It is my favorite mechanic about BoB. Imagine your absurdly large rex, unstoppable to all... except that it isnt. For your initial log in, your precious 3.0 dino that you spent WEEKS building up is the most vulnerable. if your herd isnt at full strength, you wouldnt DARE risk another full herd of rexes coming up and ruining your life. So whats the solution? only take the rex out when the circumstances are ideal. Play your big dino at 2am when nobody is online, right? Except that isn't very fun, it turns out. The bigger my dinos get, the more I stress out every time I log in. I have secondary dinos that go scout the area just so i know my dino will be safe, and even that usually is NOT enough. Remember this: You can only control how big YOUR dino is, and what herd you associate with, not how big your herd is, or what dinos you have the moment you are attacked. If they are bigger and have better stats (which are randomized, and can be affected with breeding), you are just ♥♥♥♥ out of luck, no matter how many months you sank into your lovely lizard. which brings me to:

CLANS RUIN THIS GAME: Imagine an entire section of the map sequestered for unadulterated rex growing. they have their own private sanctuary where all are safe, and rexes grow to 3.0+ (to give you an idea, your dino is considered an 'adult' at 1.2, and stops growing fast after that). This is what clans do to the game. This is gonna make a lot of non-clan 5000+ hour people upset, but know this. if you have under 300 hours, and dont know anybody, NO MATTER HOW WELL YOU PLAY, YOU WILL NEVER BE SAFE. For every friendly group of herbis whoa re willing to give you their carcasses, there is a tryhard group of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ who want to make you cry, and dont hide the ball on it. they are your superiors, and you'd do well to listen to them, or suffer greatly. "but pons just kill them all" You tell me how you're going to grow a 3.0 apa to fight theirs, when they patrol the map killing apas 24/7 with unlimited manpower. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to enjoy going up these people. I'm reminded of ARK: SE, where every time you used to log in, all your ♥♥♥♥ is gone because some gamer group was scouting you for 3 days strait waiting.

TDLR: I went into this game expecting a SOMEWHAT balanced dino battler. thats what all the youtube videos show. What I got instead was a true MADHOUSE of Tryhard clans, rulebreakers, and generally unsavory gameplay that is BUILT to disadvantage people who are not in a group. As a guy who plays games solo, hear me out if you do too: BEASTS OF BERMUDA IS NOT A SOLO GAME. And to those of you who are going to bring up official servers, just go consult every other post on this forum. they are even worse.

I do not think the game is bad, broken, or ♥♥♥♥. Unfairness DOES NOT MEAN BAD. But it is very different than what you see online (2v1 acro rexes, 8v2 meg acros, etc) I do think, however, that this game does a SERIOUS injustice by not making it clear EVERYWHERE that if you don't have a group of people to play with, you are honest and truly not going to have fun. ever. Proof of that: every private server has it in their rules usually (go make friends, or you won't have a good time) Let me know what you think, I might make a short video explaining in slightly further detail.


Edit: A lot of people are commenting things like "bro quit whining just play the game". For the last time, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE GAME. My issue is that the game is constantly compared to "The Isle", and It is much more like ARK, or EVE online, or Warframe. Sure you can be solo and have fun, it's just insanely harder than joining a clan. If that's what you want, GO FOR IT!

[Sargon The Grape]

Originally posted by Pons:

And to those of you who are going to bring up official servers, just go consult every other post on this forum. they are even worse.

Considering most of my playthroughs on official servers are almost as chill as an actual chill server, you'll have to forgive me if I don't put a lot of stock into the complaints of forum babies. And I'm mostly a solo player.

If you're having trouble surviving in one niche, play a creature in a different niche until people start logging out. It's really that simple. Solo play isn't difficult, you just have to be willing to play to its limitations.

[Pons]

Originally posted by Sargon The Grape:

Originally posted by Pons:

And to those of you who are going to bring up official servers, just go consult every other post on this forum. they are even worse.

Considering most of my playthroughs on official servers are almost as chill as an actual chill server, you'll have to forgive me if I don't put a lot of stock into the complaints of forum babies. And I'm mostly a solo player.

If you're having trouble surviving in one niche, play a creature in a different niche until people start logging out. It's really that simple. Solo play isn't difficult, you just have to be willing to play to its limitations.

I'm not really sure you understand the heart of my post, so i'll clarify once more:

This isn't a rant about how the game is unfair to solo players. The purpose is to explain that there are certain mechanics in the game that exist that affect the experience quite a bit (such as stress) It's to explain that these mechanics are not bad, or wrong, just simply that they aren't mentioned in any credible reviews of the game.

I agree that perceived hyperbole can go quite a long way to sway opinions, but It is undoubtedly difficult to play solo on private servers. The fact that every server mentions it in their rules, welcome post, general discussions, etc should be proof enough for that.

I'm happy to answer questions and to clarify further, but I don't have the mind to argue unless you consider the heart of what I am saying here. I should have clarified this at least: Some people may find all of these things appealing! An ultra hardcore experience is very appealing to a lot of people. Just be aware of that before you spend money.

[FlyingSaucer]

Somewhat long winded but I agree with some of the points. Especially unlimited growth, its a cancer in this game. In the last patch they did seem to start tackling mixed packing and pack limits for some of the more broken dinos so I have hope on that front, I am willing to give them some time to sort that out.

Also I think the new resurrection thing is going in entirely the wrong direction. It just allows people who have absurdly powerful dinosaurs grown in a protected environment with unlimited protection to perpetuate the advantage they have even after the rules have evolved to try to close the gap that allowed it.

[McSpanky]

My biggest gripe with BoB is that you really have no idea what you are up against. They made that slightly better last patch, but you still have to more or less guess. In other games I can see a dino and think "Ok I can kill this if I play this certain way." or"Nope, don't stand a chance here." In Bob you never really now just how powerful the person you are going up against is. After a certain point size is not that that much different to tell unless they get absolutely massive, and you can't tell if they were nested or not.

[Chad Thundercock]

Only issue I got is the clans but if a bunch of sweats want to sit there afk at their computer non-stop thats fine by me.

[Pons]

Another point i forgot about: Breeding is very rough for solo players

Take average Rex vs a perfectly bred rex. In this game, you can add +3 points to every ability, say bruiser (makes you do more damage). With breeding, you can get that bonus up to an ASTOUNDING +10 (this is stupid rare but this is why eggs are valuable, 5th generation monster machines). The person with a +3 bruiser bonus has NO chance of beating the +10 bruiser rex, even size cannot outpace this method.

TLDR: As a solo, it's impossible to breed yourself, and it is EASILY the biggest advantage to a group in the game. The inbred +9 tail whip apa is invincible compared to anything you can ever hope to have.

[Pons]

Originally posted by McSpanky:

My biggest gripe with BoB is that you really have no idea what you are up against. They made that slightly better last patch, but you still have to more or less guess. In other games I can see a dino and think "Ok I can kill this if I play this certain way." or"Nope, don't stand a chance here." In Bob you never really now just how powerful the person you are going up against is. After a certain point size is not that that much different to tell unless they get absolutely massive, and you can't tell if they were nested or not.

They have definetly tried in this most recent patch, but the language is weird.

"this para can run very fast downhill"

"this para is unstoppable downhill"

"this para is a godly downhill running machine"

Like what is the meaningful difference between ANY of these? Is the language random, or proportional? Also, it doesn't account things like sharp teeth and thick hide (VERY important to know before a battle) Unless it is the BIGGEST BONUS. Which means a solo player can be spotted from lightyears away, since no clan member would have a para that says "this para has a very tough stomach"

[McSpanky]

Originally posted by Pons:

Originally posted by McSpanky:

My biggest gripe with BoB is that you really have no idea what you are up against. They made that slightly better last patch, but you still have to more or less guess. In other games I can see a dino and think "Ok I can kill this if I play this certain way." or"Nope, don't stand a chance here." In Bob you never really now just how powerful the person you are going up against is. After a certain point size is not that that much different to tell unless they get absolutely massive, and you can't tell if they were nested or not.

They have definetly tried in this most recent patch, but the language is weird.

"this para can run very fast downhill"

"this para is unstoppable downhill"

"this para is a godly downhill running machine"

Like what is the meaningful difference between ANY of these? Is the language random, or proportional? Also, it doesn't account things like sharp teeth and thick hide (VERY important to know before a battle) Unless it is the BIGGEST BONUS. Which means a solo player can be spotted from lightyears away, since no clan member would have a para that says "this para has a very tough stomach"

I think it goes for your highest bonus, which sucks. Because that means if someone has 3 weather resist + an inherit there, that will be what you see instead of the fact that they have more health/damage.

[LarrysDad]

You are too attached to your dinosaurs. So your not in a tryhard clan, and youll never match their power level? Hit it hard like them and make those connections othwerwise, relax and go out on your shield when the moment comes and enjoy the journeys you take.

[MrMorrison226]

Yea sounds about right. Solos is difficult and and you need to be a group to stand a chance

[Pons]

Originally posted by crudestkill:

You are too attached to your dinosaurs. So your not in a tryhard clan, and youll never match their power level? Hit it hard like them and make those connections othwerwise, relax and go out on your shield when the moment comes and enjoy the journeys you take.

Once again, I think some people have a tenancy to scroll through my comments, without actually reading them (totally fine, i'm a long winded guy)

I have no problem with a clan based sink-or-swim type game (warframe, EVE online, Any MMORPG like WoW). This game just simply doesn't market itself that way, and I think that's a shame. They'd probably see more success if they were more transparent with their community about their game.

Your argument is that "This is a ME problem". I totally agree. I wish I knew what the game was really like before I got it. I checked youtube reviews and all of them compare this game to "The Isle" which is insane, knowing what I know now.

[IT WASNT MY FAULT]

I agree, people forming friendships and avoiding killing each other kills the game for those outside the friendship group

[dagooooth]

I would 100% take a official server over a chill server due to drama being even more annoying there also once i got told off for Tbagging lmfao

[Solitary Day]

Everything you said is pretty much correct, I don't even know what's worse, the fact that you are already dead the moment a dino too big, or a group to large spots you, or that unlike in a game like The Isle, when you see another player, there is no gameplan you can form.

You will never have any options to think about, because you never have any idea how strong an opponent is, so you will rarely get into a fun fight.

When you play the Isle you will start to gather a bunch of info on the stats of the various dinosaurs, how fast they are, how fast they turn, how long they can run, how much health they have, how much damage they deal, bleed, heal, and a bunch of other stuff on the side, so you get better at the game by knowing your opponents. This barely happens here, since all you ever need to know is: Am I bigger than my enemy, or is it bigger than me?
And then you either run or kill.

[Chad Thundercock]

Originally posted by Solitary Day:

Everything you said is pretty much correct, I don't even know what's worse, the fact that you are already dead the moment a dino too big, or a group to large spots you, or that unlike in a game like The Isle, when you see another player, there is no gameplan you can form.

You will never have any options to think about, because you never have any idea how strong an opponent is, so you will rarely get into a fun fight.

When you play the Isle you will start to gather a bunch of info on the stats of the various dinosaurs, how fast they are, how fast they turn, how long they can run, how much health they have, how much damage they deal, bleed, heal, and a bunch of other stuff on the side, so you get better at the game by knowing your opponents. This barely happens here, since all you ever need to know is: Am I bigger than my enemy, or is it bigger than me?
And then you either run or kill.

Don't forget if you end up killing them odds are they will come back as something bigger.