An Argument for Scorched Earth

[0sprey]

So for a long time I've understood the common view of Scorched Earth to be a failed WC map, and Ragnarok as the savior of SE gameplay. However, overtime I've realized a number of serious downsides to just having Ragnarok as a complete replacement.

a) Notes/Lore/etc: For some players, the drive to play Ark is not centered around building or taming, but around the exploration of the Ark world. Right now, if you main a character on the Rev cluster you have to recognize that at some point your character is never going to finish the game the way WC intended - by exploring scorched earth.

b) achievements: combined with exploring the Ark world is the completion of achievements... taming all the dinos (phoenix, anyone?), collecting all of the notes, etc. Again, you either have to join another server, or go to single player.

c) Scorched Earth dinos as intended: As we speak, the common understanding seems to be that dinos like the thorny dragon or the morellatops are simply toys. They don't compare to their island counterparts in efficiency or effectiveness; and simply-put, they weren't meant to be. They were meant to build on a very specific atmosphere and set of challenges designed around the Scorched Earth Map.

This all seems to be an unfortunate loss; and I think with the final Ark map arriving in November it would be really cool to see what merit there is in having a "complete" cluster. Additionally, Scorched Earth would give players of having fresh real estate away from the dozens of high-level player bases that dot the existing maps and duke it out with the elements as WC intended.

I realize this map has been tried before, and people flocked to the other maps and didn't give SE a chance. However, I will say that that was then, and things are different. Likely there will be some who still feel that way and the desert on Rag is all they need... However, one wonders about the daring few that would like to pursue fresh challenges within the comradery of of Revenant.

 

[Sipowicz]

I'm not at all opposed to trying this map once again. Indeed many circumstances have changed, especially with our hosting flexibility. That said we would be limiting other map options. I know at one point there was talk about running a RP map. We would need to put that idea on the back burner to ensure we have room for our future goals.

 

[0sprey]

Out of curiosity, what are the future goals for this server?

In my mind, and again, its just my personal 2c on the matter... the main goal people are after is to enjoy the main game: building and thriving on ark. PVP, roleplay, community events, etc are all great but they're extras that are nice once in a while but are not the reason why people play here; and ergo why only a limited number of people play them.

We could do something interesting with scorched earth, like have better loot but have the map as PVPVE, or something to make it more of a challenge.

 

[Sipowicz]

At this point we have tried without success to mix PvP, and PvE. Without strong community support for this idea I am inclined to open this map with settings that match the cluster it will associate with.

The goals I refer to are community goals that involve other games as well.

The only goals we have currently specifically for the ARK community is to maintain our current servers while having room for future ARK releases. We do want to improve events and event coordination to give players something a little more exciting.

 

[0sprey]

Ok, that all makes sense; I wanted to ensure I was on the right page with that.

So what criteria in your mind do we need to meet to move forward with a Scorched Earth map?

 

[DudeAwesome]

As much as I LOVE the map, I feel like opening another server that will be part of the cluster that, to be brutally honest, has content that IMHO most players wouldn't be interested in, since they can get most of it in their own backyard (Ragnrok) in spite of SE exclusives. I think it would be stretching our resources a bit too thin. Especially since Revenant is widening it's horizons to new game servers.

If you were to open a SE server, then I think it would have to be it's own "thing" in order to keep players interested (RP as mentioned, high rate, heavily-moded, or.....PvP....yeah...., ect)

This saddens me, since it offers such a different survival experience that Rag simply can not stand up to.

 

[Kallyra]

Contrary to what Dude is saying, I think this could be a great idea because of all of the new players we've been getting. Opening up more server space now makes a lot of sense and it could bring in more players who are looking for a SE server.

 

[Phillip]

Is there public draw to an SE server? I've never played that map, but already finding issue in maintaining 2 maps without even looking at a 3rd (hardly play island)

I do like the idea of a new environment/SE exclusives. I don't personally play island at all for that main reason - everything is available on Rag for me.

If we can get more than 2-4 people to play it, it could be a fun addition to the cluster.

 

[Kallyra]

Is there public draw to an SE server? I've never played that map, but already finding issue in maintaining 2 maps without even looking at a 3rd (hardly play island)

I do like the idea of a new environment/SE exclusives. I don't personally play island at all for that main reason - everything is available on Rag for me.

If we can get more than 2-4 people to play it, it could be a fun addition to the cluster.

Honestly, I'm not sure if there is much of a draw to SE or not. I know that whoever is looking to play this map won't be coming to our servers, so I'm sure we're losing out on some people but couldn't give a ballpark of how many.

Me being a new player, I wanted to start with Island. Extinction is coming out before I will get to Tek but at least it will be a place where everyone will start fresh (to some degree) so I may check that map out next. But there are so many others I haven't tried and won't get to try for a long time, including ones we don't have yet like SE and The Center.

Outside of regular playing, just this week I found a recipe I wanted to make - propellant. The materials I wanted to gather I had to research and found that they can only be gathered on SE. Otherwise, I need a Tek generator which is not on the near horizon for me. Personally, if we had an SE server this would have encouraged me to make my first server hop to find the materials. But I wouldn't be planning on regularly playing there at this point, or even creating a base.

This is just me though and I think most of our current players may be in the same boat (may consider server hopping but not looking for another map to make a home - especially with Extinction coming soon), that's why I'm wondering about new players who might be looking for a great SE server and could find a home on ours if we had one.

But I could be wrong about our current community's interest in SE. maybe a vote would help?

 

[Sipowicz]

We will open SE with the same configuration as the cluster as soon as i have time to set it up.

I agree with the idea that maps don't have to be a "Home" map. But may need to travel back and forth to obtain certain things.

 

[Jericho/SOG]

Sip, I know you are a busy man. Any timeline on the SE map?

 

[FghtnSpanurd]

i am responding kinda late to this convo lol BUT i have been putting the bug in SIPs ear for awhile now to do a RP server, never really done it before but think it could be new and fun. If SE was made to be a RP server i would have no issues with that haha

 

[JoliStev]

i am responding kinda late to this convo lol BUT i have been putting the bug in SIPs ear for awhile now to do a RP server, never really done it before but think it could be new and fun. If SE was made to be a RP server i would have no issues with that haha

Id be down for RP as well, roaming the blazing deserts providing aid/merch to survivors