Wildcard, the developer of ARK: Survival Evolved has launched a new game mode for its open-world, dino-taming, survival sim and it's very different from what it's offered in the past. This new experimental server has no dinosaurs whatsoever.
The question Wildcard is looking to answer with this new server is: do people enjoy the survival elements of the game? This gives it a solid proving ground where if people do just want to play without the threat of being eaten, but still struggling to survive, while crafting equipment, it can concentrate entirely on that aspect of the game and make tweaks specifically aimed at that community.
Those updates and features could trickle down to the main game if well received, which lets Wildcard compartmentalise what it's working on.
"These are a bit different to our standard servers as they do not allow players to tame, ride, or breed creatures. ARK has a lot of core survival elements to it, and we wanted to see how players would find playing the game without the help of their trusty tames. Of course, this doesn't mean we're moving to a non-dino focused environment, it's just another customisation we've introduced for everyone," Wildcard said (via PCGamer).
It also offers a new way to play the game for those who are interested. It could theoretically take a big bite out of audiences frustrated with gaming experiences like those found in Rust, which have open world, survival, base building gameplay, but with less freedom and certainly less pretty graphics than Ark.
To kick things off and to mitigate the fact that dinosaurs traditionally speed up resource collection and other mundane tasks, Wildcard will be adding a 2x multiplier to XP gains on the new server.
Image Source: WCCFTech
