‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Gets Rare Sunday Xbox One Update With Loads Of Crunch Fixes And Tweaks

Studio Wildcard released an extremely rare Sunday patch for the Xbox One version of ARK: Survival Evolved this morning. The studio is in extreme crunch mode as it tries to get the game ready for its official August 8 exit from early access and into an official release.

ARK: Survival Evolved update 759 is now available to download for the Xbox One and comes as two separate files. There is a 22.16 GB download for the main title plus a 5.4 GB download for those with the Scorched Earth expansion. The large size is due to Studio Wildcard replacing older textures and other files with better optimized versions, per Community Manager Jen via Twitter.

The update itself is another blast of seemingly random bug fixes and gameplay balance changes. There’s a total of 130 changes in all with the update.

PlayStation 4 owners of ARK will have to wait a bit longer as the update must be passed over to Studio Wildcard’s partner studio, Abstraction, to port over to Sony’s console. There is currently no ETA on when it will be released beyond “July.”

Meanwhile, the Ragnarok map currently has a July 19 ETA for release on both consoles. Another delay is a safe bet, however, with Studio Wildcard in a serious crunch mode to get the game ready to print to disk. The modding team behind the map has hinted as much during Twitch livestreams showing their work.

Here is a breakdown of the major changes implemented with the ARK: Survival Evolved 759 update. These are the same changes implemented for PC patch 262. Read the official patch notes for the full details.

Dinosaur Changes

Tamed Ichthy (aka dolphin) has seen a 15 percent reduction in its run/swim speed. Meanwhile, wild versions of the creature will no longer spawn in underwater caves.

Players worried about wild Troodons now only need to equip torches on their dino saddles to scare away the aggressive carnivores who hunt in packs. Meanwhile, the food stat for the beast has also been increased across the board.

Additionally, Baby Wyverns will no long consume too much milk while the Yuty now has a faster turn speed.

One of the more annoying changes is an increase in the Eel spawn rate. Some additional changes were made to the PC version, but it’s not clear if those changes made it in with this Xbox One update.

Boss Fight Changes

The boss fights have been tweaked with some fixes. For example, the level of the boss will no scale based on the game and server difficulty. Meanwhile, there are various fixes, such as teleporting players so they don’t get stuck when returning to the obelisk and removing the ground shaking with the Megapithecus.

For Scorched Earth, Studio Wildcard fixed the problem with Wyverns now teleporting to the Manticore arena again.

On The Center map, the Dragon boss has been removed and all damage generated by bosses on the map has been reduced by 33 percent compared to The Island.

Also notable is the addition of the Rex Bionic Skin and the Giga Bionic Skin across all platforms. The former is obtained after ascension while the latter is earned from defeating the end bosses on The Center map.

Map Changes

Leeches have been added to the Swamp Cave on the Island while the Artho spawn amount has been reduced significantly. Meanwhile, the Kairuku spawns are now exclusively on the icebergs.

Nighttime is now darker on The Center. There are also various fixes to cave spawns, music, and graphical effects on the map.

[Featured Image by Studio Wildcard]