Hey survivors! It’s time for our monthly update, where we look back at what’s been happening and share what is coming up on Astral ARK.
Preparations for The Center
We are all set for the release of The Center on June 4th! As a reminder, every new map will come with the same set of transfer restrictions as explained below:
- Characters can be transferred in and out
- Items & dinos cannot be transferred in to the new map
- Items & dinos can be transferred out to other maps
- All other settings are identical to the rest of the cluster
- All other maps continue to run alongside the new server
- Points build up as you play, but the shop is initially closed
- Starter pack, QoL dinos and some basic cosmetics are available at launch
- Quick start packs are available for purchase on our webstore
- Some webstore purchases can only be redeemed on maps where the shop is fully open
- This is specified on their respective webstore page
Transfers restrictions will typically last for around 60 days, more or less aligned with officials.
An Update on PVP Servers
Our PVP servers are currently facing a very low and unsustainable population. We’re also far from reaching the monthly donation goal needed to maintain these servers long-term, let alone building the funds to purchase additional hardware required to host all official maps. Many of our PVP players have expressed concerns about the staleness of PVP, mentioning the lack of maps and the current state of the game.
We will proceed with launching a fresh PVP server for The Center as planned. However, we will review the situation in about a month. If things remain the same, we will look to close our PVP servers until the game is in a better state or there is more interest.
Donation Goal Progress
We hit our monthly donation goal once again on PVE! However, we didn’t quite make it for PVP for the second month in a row.
Wild Dino Level Distribution
We have rolled out the first iteration of the new wild dino level distribution across all servers! It may take a few more days to fully take effect due to our gradual wild dino wipe system. This adjustment reduces the number of lower-level spawns and increases higher-level ones, keeping the current max levels as they are. Our goal is to create a better balance, making it easier to find high-level dinos while still allowing all levels to spawn naturally.
The current set up roughly doubles the amount of high-level dinos, and halves the amount of low-level dinos. We will review it regularly over the next few weeks and may make further tweaks until we’re satisfied with the level distribution.
PVE Solo Farm Introduction
Solo Farm is now live on our PVE servers! This feature has been enabled for tribes of any size, with a limit of one dino used for solo farming at any time. To activate solo farming, simply type /farm in chat while looking at an eligible dino, and it will start auto-attacking when picked up.
Eligible dinos: Anky, Beaver, Doedicurus, Thorny Dragon
Shop Additions
We have re-added Black Pearls to the shop based on player feedback, and Unicorns as they were missing from the dino list. Plus, the two newest dinos, Ceratosaurus and Xiphactinus, will be available in the shop from next restart!
In addition, console players can now type /shop and /kit directly in chat in-game to browse the shop, so we will be retiring the shop commands page soon. You can type /buy ID and /buykit KitID to purchase shop items or kits respectively.
Decay Timers
With the game having a quieter player population, the introduction of more maps, and regular transfers required to refresh bases, we have decided to extend the default decay timer from 10 to 15 days. Supporter tiers now get an additional 5 days of decay, up to 30 days for Ascendant!
Tribe Tame Limit Increase
After reviewing player feedback, we decided to increase tame limit on PVE and PVP to 250 and 300 respectively.
Beaver Dam QoL
To ensure there’s always cementing paste and other goodies for you to collect, we have implemented a system that automatically empties wood-filled beaver dams.
Server Restarts
We improved server restart times significantly, especially for the most populated servers. Restarts now take about a minute at most, down from around 4 minutes. This is a great improvement which translates in less downtime for you!
What About Trains? (PVE)
After taking some time to test the train system, we decided to keep them disabled on our PVE servers. The main issue is that only the tribe that built a train system can interact with it, leading to potential spam and rule enforcement issues. As it stands, we believe keeping it this way will help maintain server performance and space for all players.
A Note About Arena (PVE)
To wrap up this roundup, we want to address one of the most common questions from our community. We know many of you are eager to see events return to the cluster. We are excited to announce that we are beginning to plan what Arena will look like in the future. For the time being, we will run it on PVE on an ad-hoc basis rather than on a set schedule. Considering that creating a new events map is not an option currently, Arena will either be hosted on a separate small map or within the existing cluster when it starts up again. More details will be announced closer to the time.
We wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who have shown patience and understanding this year. We’re doing our best to manage the servers while going through significant changes in our lives, so your support means a lot to us. Thank you for being part of our Astral ARK community!