Competition Arkadian Colony Defence – Oratan Marathon Attack!

Once again I say ... Arkadia does it right ... I love that you are introducing storyline with these events, not just putting simple language out there that says there's an event going on. Thumbs up for the continued storyline about the Oratan ... now bring Professor Lee back.

 

Great, tyvm for info!

 

So...lvl 1796 mobs that hit you for 10 damage in unplated viceroy and takes forever to kill, cost you 4-5 times as much as the biggest lancer before but the loot is about the same? Certainly not 4-5 times better loot at any rate...

Regardless of the fact that it's a sneaky way to cheat players of their peds (I'm sure there'll be one or two fat mega-ubers during the event but all in all the returns will be down *a lot* with mobs that cost this much to kill), it actually get boring to just stand and shoot for 15 minutes on the same mob with it doing as much damage as an argo hunter...

And all the while, the "old" mobs keep doing the same amount of damage as before so now a lvl ~200 mob hits you for 250+ damage while a lvl 556756765632443 gazillion hits you for 10...*lol*

Too bad if Ark follows Calys footsteps and choose the path of increasing cost to play to maintain revenue--->less players = less revenue--->increase cost to play to maintain revenue etc, etc in an ever downward spiral...

 

We have to remember that larger mobs require a bigger ped card to hunt, whether you're comparing carabok, nusul, or scoria, and it's true for giant shared loot mobs too. The biggest mobs have a higher chance of dropping the uber items that many players are willing to take the risk for. If you can't afford to kill 50 of them at a loss then you should probably not hunt that size; wait for the smaller ones to spawn. You will get evader skills even if you just stand there, because the big ones do a lot of area damage, but not enough that you die before healing. You can also move to a smaller gun for the giant ones to fit the cost for 50 mobs into your budget.

I like to see variety at one location, but I'd also like to see different levels of events, maybe small, medium, and insanely huge all run at the same time so all players can participate at their chosen level.

 

I'm with Dav - even though I understand Neil's points - I have to say any way you slice it that mob loot was bullshit.
It's not the first time this has happened, no loot Hussk, sand king - and so on.
The fact that we pump out that much ammo and decay and it spits out that crap is insulting to the player base.
The cost continues to be higher and higher. There should be minimum loots on mobs like this IMO. That much HP? 1K minimum loot!
It's a shared loot mob, that is rare, it's something special but gives out a big *bend over players*
it was very disappointing.
I promise I wouldn't be saying this if it was at least over 1k loot (and that is still huge loss)

 

When you take into account the 17k Oratan Lancer Immortal, it's not bad.

 

I've played this game for around 10 years now and have heard that mantra more times than I care to remember, bigger pedcard blablabla, you get skills blablabla, use smaller gun blablabla ad nauseam. With mobs taking 10+ minutes to kill for joint teams of 50 or so people and then those mobs resulting in loot of 500-2.5k ped, it ought to be clear to everybody that the loot is *very* skewed, so with a bigger pecard, all you'll end up with is a bigger loss, most likely.

Skills? Yeah sure, please read up carefully and check prices of ESI's etc and then return and tell us how many pecs you made in skills, net worth. Been there, done that.

Smaller gun? Do you seriously mean that I should spend months (sometime years) to skill up to be able to efficiently use and then buy an UL weapon only to then put it in the inventory and go shoot with a peashooter? And what for, these tyrannousaurus-sized mobs hit you like ants...

I don't think there are that many players that can - or will/is stupid enough to - afford to shoot 50 lvl 1796-mobs just to maybe, perhaps, get a big enough loot so as to get back into "normal" gain/loss. After 49 mobs with 25-50% return one must go take a piss and *bam*, you missed the one mob that could set you reasonably back on track.

Like I said, it's bound to be some fat uber-hof, but we have had those earlier as well. With the *massive* increase in cost to kill per mob now, that 17k ought to have been at least 50k...

 

Yes, I agree you need a bigger ped card. Yes that means bigger loss too. I think people who hunt at a high level realize they will lose more than people who hunt carabok. However, I disagree that the long term payouts are different for different sized mobs, I haven't seen evidence to back that theory up.

I'll take your skills for free then if they don't mean anything to you. My point is that you gain free evade skills just by standing near the big mobs. You don't even have to shoot them, and you do a service to those hunting... they get less damage because there are more bodies to absorb it.

You obviously were not there when there were ~ 6 people trying to kill the Immortal. +600 dmg just isn't quite survivable for most of us who don't have a star above our heads. These are hugely tough mobs, only can be killed by large groups, unlike the Titans who can be taken down by solo uber hunters with a good fapper.

It depends on the loot... If it's all TT loot then yes I agree with you. But these giant mobs also give a higher chance to loot uber Arkadian items, some of which still have not dropped yet.

I'm not sure how much you got from it but the 17k was a good balancing loot for me. A 50k would put me at about 200% profit on the event so far. Hopefully we'll see a lot of these uber balancing hofs... and not have to wait long between.

 

My bitching wasn't about the fact that higher stakes equals higher risc, I'm totally ok with that. But when there is a change like this, the increase in cost to kill should be immediately seen in higher average payout of the same magnitude as the cost increase.

I sold out everything about three years ago, some 188k skills. After all the costs involved (mainly ESI-related costs but also auction costs and more), I could withdraw ~$1.5k, not even 1/10 of what it had cost me to *get* the skills. But it's not really surprising, I guess Mr Timkranz buying of palace-like estates must be paid somehow

Sure it might drop something nice and probably will, even. That same argument was valid before the introduction of these megahigh-level mobs though and is thus not something with which you can justify the hugely increased kill cost.

As I wasn't there I didn't get anything, I only participated in paying for that uber...*lol*

 

Since the Alpha Team asked us to report (to this forum): here are some of my personal views/experiences of the latest Oratan Attack.

First of all: a very nice announcement for the event!
It blends in smoothly with the back-story, and got me interested enough to go and check it out again.
I hadn't joined several events, because my (damage) level had left me feeling unnecessary.

This time, I was pleasantly surprised to see some changes that have been made.
- The blocking off entrances were effective in keeping the mobs from flying.
- There were lower level mobs spawning in a close enough radius, that you could kill them while still being in the healers area of effect.
Very nice for us 'little' people!
- New huge bosses: they looks fantastic. Especially the black ones (Glorious & Illustrious), kudos to the artists.
- The new Axe mobs were quite surprising: they are very fast and seem to actively run around to kill colonists, instead of just defending themselves. Having one pop up every once in a while did spice things up.
The one time when several showed up at the same time (along side a boss), was a bit too much though. It was impossible to even get back to the battlefield, because they would 'guard' the entrances, and one-hit kill everyone trying to pass. Thus making it a tad frustrating.
People seemed quite reluctant to kill them, perhaps they could carry a bit more interesting loot on them next time?

Compared to other events, the drama was not that big. Having bad loot is frustrating to anyone, and perhaps it didn't help that other events were run at the same time in the Universe?
I guess that the bigger the Universe gets, the bigger the chance of having events running simultaneously.
(Of course, I have no idea if that really has an influence on the loot, but that's the feeling it gives.
Regardless, it does force people to choose: I've talked to people that skipped this one, because another planet had an event at the same time.)
But frankly, even though I didn't get any item at all; the overall loot was good for me.
It certainly went down towards the end, but I still was close to breaking even.
If the main aim was to get items, then it might have been a bit disappointing. But personally I never hoped for any in the first place (not with my dmg), so no let down here.

At the start I had a lot of CTD's (and lag) mainly because I wasn't able to play in 'safe' mode. After changing to the other Fire base, with less green dots on screen, it became better.
I had one server crash, where you had to log into another server. So it wasn't all because of my crappy laptop.

Moving location was another a nice 'on the fly' decision: leaving the AFK skillers behind. It gives a feeling of involvement that the devs are present on the scene, and are able to react if/when needed.

The 'clearing up' rounds, with everyone running behind the commando's, I found one of the most fun things to do.
Like an Oratan killing race: a raid across the lands.
And people were even resurrected on the spot. Very nice: leave no man behind.

Again a big thumbs up for the medical backup: it makes this an unique event in this Universe. Thanks, it is very much appreciated.
The Alpha in-character banter was very enjoyable. Little nuggets of information, and conversation that is (mostly) in line with the characters of the commando's in the story.

All in all I really liked this event, and (if the ped card allows it) I will join future Oratan events again.
Tipping my hat to the A(lpha) Team. View attachment 9270

 

Whatever was made to prevent mobs to go inside the bases do work, but mobs still become unreachable and now stay in this state much longer.

 

First of all: a Good Event however some feedback

Nice Redesign of the fire bases Meant there were a lot less flying mobs when attacked however I did spot one mob on the left hand side hill that was static mid air might have just been where it was placed on the outside of the fire base but did have a little chuckle.

Also there seam to be some L20 mobs that were on horse back / oratan back these were pretty cool to hunt solo but damage hits was fun to cope with

CURRENT

2 Fire bases are under attack with healers in both locations


Suggested



IDEA 1

4 Fire bases come Under attack

Fire base 1 - Healer and setup with lower range HP mobs for Lower Professional Level 0 -25

Fire base 2 - Healer and setup with Mid / High Range Mobs Professional Level 25 - 40

Fire Base 3 - Healer and setup with High / UBER Range Mobs Professional Level 40 +

Temporarily Whilst Event is on Block Access by professional level.

Fire Base 4 - Lower Range Event Mobs - Solo Hunters - Team Hunt Groups Player Setup
At this base have Dev Controlled Mob / Healer Switching between the 2.


IDEA 2

Fire Base 1 - As Existing Setup

Fire Base 2 - Lower Range Event Mobs - Solo Hunters - Team Hunt Groups Player Setup
At this base have Dev Controlled Mob / Healer Switching between the 2 roles .
NO FORCED Shared loot in this area.

 

Sally,

There are a couple of problems in having more simultaneous areas involved.

Arkadia Studios has a pretty small team and the numbers required to field multiple IFN medics over the entire length of the event would be very tough to resource. And one staff running multiple npc avatars at different locations might struggle to notice when healing is needed. Plus doing the mob spawn thing. Plus killing douche bags as required.

For the really large mobs to be doable, we need a critical mass of dps involved. If we dilute the player base between several locations then we probably can't have the top bosses.

You also suggest a non-shared mob location. This increases the risk of kill stealing. Tbh, I am not sure what you have against shared loot for events. What is the downside from your perspective?

Regards,
KikkiJikki

 

Oooooo didnt even think about that one i was just thinking out the box I just saw some l20 lancers and thought that would be fun to solo don't have a major issue with shared loot ( although it would be nice if it was ARK Oratan Event ) as the Team Title rather than the generic SHARED LOOT would make it look better on the ATH when it gets up there.

Was just thinking those of us that wanted to set teams up individually might like a seporate area to have a play but didn't think about kill steals or how many people would be needed in the back end doing all the work.

They are after all covered over long periods to cover the globe time as well which i tend to forget been based in the EU

Yeh I get that but I tend to always want to look for a quite server as my poor ickle laptop ( should upgrade i know ) and living in rural area with rural broadband probably isnt a help as it struggles when theres loads of green dots around. was just thinking of a new way of having some shared events and fun on ark rather than the constant grind of the IFN missions that are kill X X mobs currently.

Also we seam to have had quite a few of this format already but then I suppose if the formats working and everyone is happy then why change it

 

No worries. Keep the feedback coming. I am sure Dave and his team appreciate it and new ideas give them options to think about.

 

I expect this kind event one in arkadia and other in arkadia underground ( All owners happy)

 

Well, I am one of those people that got really frustrated in the end, and my apologies to anyone I may have offended or irritated.

I did enjoy the event, lost more ped then I'd want to admit, hehe.
- Really loved the redesigns of the bosses. They looked amazing.
- The Axe, the murdering mob that one shots anyone, running like hell. (and it looks great too, it's not something you want to come across at night.)
- The miners and some other mobs don't seem to attack the crowd when not engaged, was helping us save a little bit on time on boss kills.
- The healing by the dev's, great job on that.
- Jones, nice meeting you. Was fun to see a little bit more RP ingame, event related.
- The wall, great job on keeping mobs out of the base.
- The box to tell people to get off the wall. (when I was frustrated I started dancing on the wall next to the devs, and a window popped up kindly requesting me to get my ass off the wall.

Unfortunately, there were also some bad things;

- Having two lancer bosses spawning, regardless of the ammount of people, they would get stuck a lot.
- Server connections. I have crashed a lot, in safe mode. Any possibility's that for those events you can use the best/new server for it to avoid complications?
- The Axe. I was the only one with a sword on one day, and MAN, lag+mob speed resulted in me watching people die while they killed it. It was sometimes pointless for me to even try.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbgrC1FdsJw Skip to 8:10
- Shame MA controls loot, but it would be nice to have seen more unl items drop.
- The afk skillpoint farmers, but there is not much that can be done about it. Maybe adding a way to report people being afk during the event? (like giving people another action button when right-clicking the player, with a button 'afk' or something. Then at 5-10 reports, depending on the ammount of players, dev's can spawn/move/teleport said player to another place.)

Overall, I did have fun, but felt that it wasn't really worth it. There have been many times where it looked like an item dropped, but I only got oils.

 

Aside from the loot which Ark have no control over, I found this event fun. A few key points for me:

Positive:
Jones "storyline" for want of a better description was really good - took away a bit of the just spawn and kill and made it a bit more about the story for me.
New mobs (excluding axe, see below) were really nice.
The occasionally quiet time to clean up around the camp made a nice break.
Pretty much no flying mobs - great work devs.

Negative:
New Axe Mobs - for me they really became an annoyance. Too small to hit when they are running around a huge number of players, along with too fast and did too much damage. Half the time they were blocked by other players and by the time you had repositioned to have a shot they had moved on. And being killed exiting the base over and over just sucked. Concept is good but needs work for me.
Number of players standing around not shooting or running around and not shooting got annoying for me. I have no problem if people want to scan mobs or just watch, but stop running in front of those of us that are actually trying to kill the mobs.
On a similar line, the people with the 'angel wings' or whatever they are called on I found quite annoying as this makes their hit box pretty big - so kept getting shots blocked. The couple this weekend that combined the above with this were particularly a frustration. Just for the event, taking these off would be appreciated.
Trapped mobs did crop up a few times - the tree at Repulse seemed to cause some issues and the multiple spawn of big mobs caused problems. I think considering disabling the trapped state on these big mobs for the event should be considered. It's not like someone is going to be able to setup a trap in front of the Ark team for all the see.

Overall a really nice improvement and I like where it's heading (hoping underground next event).