‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Doubles Harvesting, Taming, And XP Rates Permanently
Anyone who has played ARK: Survival Evolved on the PC and Xbox One knows the grind is quite real. Players spend hours for collecting resources, taming animals, and leveling their Survivor. Studio Wildcard finally listened to the complaints about the grind by officially doubling these rates Monday.
Studio Wildcard has experimented with double harvesting, XP, and taming rates over the past couple of months during weekend Evolution Events. The last one kicked off last week with the release of the PS4 version of ARK: Survival Evolved. It will not be turned off as double rates is now permanent on official servers going forward.
“This is a decision we’ve made after experimenting with the game’s rates for quite some time. You may have noticed in the last few weeks the Evolution Events have gotten longer, this has allowed us to get a better feel for how it would play out in a permanent live experience,” Studio Wildcard Community Manager Jat explained.
“We have consistently received a lot of feedback from you, and it was very evident that players preferred the increased rates. Thusly, the rates will stay at 2x permanently from now onwards on our Official Servers. Evo Event Weekends will consequently be increased to 3x rates.”
Additionally, Jat confirmed Extinction servers will run at 3x harvest, tame, and XP rates going forward. These are the servers which reset every month to give players a fresh start at battling to be the top tribe.
While PlayStation 4 owners never had to experience the original grind of ARK: Survival Evolved, this is great news for those still enthralled by the open-world survival game. Community members have asked for increased rates since not long after it hit Steam Early Access in July 2015 and the Xbox Preview Program the following December.
It is not uncommon to find player dedicated servers with rates running at 5x, 10x, or more as players attempted to escape the work involved on official servers. In fact, it is recommended for those that play ARK: Survival Evolved in single-player mode up at least the three major rates in the game. 5x can still provide some survival challenges. 10x and above, however, typically remove all challenges.
The next round of patches on all three ARK: Survival Evolved platforms will implement the 2x rates in the game.
“This means that Non-Dedicated Servers, Single Player Sessions and of course Unofficial Servers will also feel the increased rates. Therefore, if you’re currently using customized rates, it’s something you will want to keep in mind before this change is in place — specifically upon the release of the next Major Version on each of your respective platforms, you may wish to reduce your server/game rates by 50% to have the same effective values as before,” Jat warned.
Per the official website, the Xbox One is next up on the patch list. The console is scheduled to receive the 748.0 update on Wednesday, December 14. This will add Procedurally Generated ARKs, Xbox LIVE Achievements, and all content from PC patch 252.0. Studio Wildcard has also made some performance improvements through better memory handling and the use of new PhysX libraries.
This will be followed by PC patch 253.0, which is targeting a Wednesday, December 21 release. Four new dinosaurs will be added along with the first phase of the Tek Tier. Raptor Claus will also return in the Winter Wonderland 2 event.
There is currently no schedule for when the PlayStation 4 will receive the next ARK: Survival Evolved update. Additionally, there is no word on when or if either console will be able to join in on the Winter Wonderland 2 event.
What do you think of Studio Wildcard electing to double the harvesting, taming, and XP rates? Sound off in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard]
