Ark: Survival Evolved continues to progress toward its final release build, and its developers at Studio Wildcard have big plans for 2017. In a new interview with the U.K.'s Daily Express, lead designer Jeremy Stieglitz spoke about upcoming Dino nerfs, the fate of diseases and a possible VR future.
The most immediate topic worth noting is Stieglitz’s thoughts on nerfs to tamed Dinos across the board. “They’re still too damn strong,” he said. To counter this reality, OP Dinos will be progressively nerfed in updates. “Every time we add a new cool feature, we will weaken tamed dinosaurs a little bit more,” the studio man teased. We’ve, of course, made a list of the game’s five best Dinos, and we expect that many of those picks will be tweaked in the months ahead. In other words, the devs intend to disperse nerfs gradually, so that current players aren’t shocked all at once.
Speaking of shock, diehard Ark players might also remember the Swamp Fever epidemic that took over the game’s servers this past summer. The fictional infection got so rampant that inhabitants were being shot on sight or transported to makeshift leper colonies. While the sickness was eventually heavily nerfed of its brutality, The Express notes that Stieglitz and the rest of the team intend to try diseases again in the months to come. Given the strong prior feedback, we’d expect something difficult but more balanced the next time around.
VR support for Ark also exists today on the Oculus Rift, but Wildcard intends to bring that experience to other platforms in the future too. Stieglitz first mentioned Microsoft’s Xbox Scorpio as a system powerful enough to handle virtual reality. “It’s just a matter of getting our hands on the console and seeing what we can achieve with it,” he mused. He also touched on the possibility of doing “something a little different” for the HTC Vive. Above all, it’s made clear that “I do not think the VR support we have now is anywhere near the final implementation.”
As an developing early access game, Ark: Survival Evolved is constantly being tweaked. Before the holiday break, Wildcard released the v253 update that introduced new Dios and a special event. A new Tek item tier has been in the works for a while as well.
Ark: Survival Evolved is available now on PC, OS X, Linux, Xbox One and PS4. New players should check out our beginner’s guide, and veterans might also be interested in our v253 tips.
What do you hope to see from Ark in 2017? Do Dino nerfs and diseases sound OK to you? Tell us in the comments section!
