Ark: Survival Evolved v255 comes to PC later today, so Studio Wildcard has confirmed the patch’s features, new Dinos and estimated release time. We’ve got all the juicy details, and we’re ready to share them.
For those who missed our patch notes reveal earlier in the week, the planned features haven’t changed since then. As such, here’s what’s available on the official Ark patch notes forum thread.
Upcoming Version: v255, ETA: Feb. 25 Approximately 6 p.m. EST
- New Dino: Electrophorus - A carnivorous eel creature that can be tamed to subdue large aquatic creatures [ Dossier]
- New Dino: Microraptor - A small non-avian Carnivore used to take down riders [ Dossier]
- New Dino: Ammonite - Can be harvested in oceans for its shell and bile, but it’s defended by other ocean dwellers [ Dossier]
- New Dino: Thylacoleo - A powerful carnivore that’s rideable and can be used to climb trees. Its abilities make it suitable for ambushes. [ Dossier]
- New Structure: Tek Forcefield
- New Structure: Tek Tileset & Tek Doors
- New additional head head hairstyle and additional facial hairstyle
- 30 new Explorer Notes
- Rocket Launcher & C4 rebalance: C4 now does approximately 70 percent more damage to Structures than Rockets. Rocket Launcher can no longer have Item Stats (though its base Damage has been increased 20 percent to compensate). Rocket Turrets now take a slight amount of damage when they fire, and can not fire under 5 percent HP.
- C4-carrying Flyers now move at a fixed slow speed.
- Item Stats on all Official Servers are now clamped to negate the old no-longer-achievable OP items generated by then-unbalanced Fishing Rod.
- Added option for per-Tribe Dino Tame limit, enabling on Official PvE servers with a max of 500 Dinos Per Tribe (with on-screen indicator of Tribe Dino count). To use it, run with ?MaxPersonalTamedDinos=Number
- Added option to auto-destroy claimable decayed dinos on load, rather than have them remain around as Claimable. To use this, run with ?AutoDestroyDecayedDinos=true. Official PvE servers now have this enabled.
- Various network optimizations. Major rendering and threading optimizations to come in subsequent minor version update.
The Dino tame limit mentioned in the late bullet is meant to curb server load caused by a select few tribes with far more tames than they probably need. That being said, the new 400 limit is still nearly twice the cap that players are already used to on PS4 and Xbox One. Tribes above the cap won’t lose any tames, but they won’t be able to add new ones until changes are made. It should be known that rafts count as tames too.
Unlike the previous few patch rollouts, it appears this afternoon probably won’t be cutting any Dinos from its roster. We don’t know many specifics about the new Dinos, but Studio Wildcard Community Manager Jen Stuber believes the Thylacoleo in particular will soon become a very popular mount.
The patch also intends to expand on some of the features added in update v254. There are a few new Tek Tier items to try and some additional hairstyle choices too. Today’s new build probably won’t be as much of a game changer as the last one, but it should be entertaining nonetheless.
Ark: Survival Evolved is available now on PC, Xbox One, PS4, OS X and Linux. Version 255, however, is currently exclusive to PC.
What do you think of the new Dinos and the tame limit? Will the v255 update make Ark: Survival Evolved better? Tell us in the comments section!
