Welcome to ARK on console and a gamer's paradise for Jurrasic Adventures! A place to build your survival home, capture Dinos, raise and breed Dinos, and evolve your character into a futuristic tech-age. The ARK game has now a reputation of being "An interesting mix" but that may change very soon if the company can't create a playable game without lag spikes.
Ark is very imaginative and combines a kind of Minecraft and open world Dino-play. Ark with all it's faults though has amazing potential, but real gamers have seen many games with potential who end up in the junk. Be prepared for servers with trash builds from players who no longer play the game or who have moved to other servers, and Wall trolls trying to take over large areas. Get ready as well to be scared in the dark from unknown creatures, attacked from behind, beautiful landscapes, Dinosaurs who fight to the bitter end, advanced housing builds, lag spikes, and to have a neighbor who might ruin your 2000 hour hard built house by building a depressing Prison looking headquarters next door.
Quick Tips:
1. An Official Server is controlled by the game
2. PVE is a game where no one can attack your base and people build
3. PVP is where your base and resources can be stolen
4. Any server that does not say Official is not controlled by the game
Which map to choose?
If you just bought Ark Survival Evolved and wanted to try out the game before getting too serious, then most go for The Island Map in a beginners PS4 server, but note that in beginner servers there is a rank 24 limit and you will have to transfer one day. Watch out for Raptors. The Genesis Map takes an extra $35.00 USD which might be an option (its a gamble, might be less congestion, might not).
How to pick a Server?
The best way to pick a server is by knowing the type of game you want, either PVP or PVE, and which map, then making sure the PING works for you. The Lag will be a big factor in your choice and a big problem with the game is that you have to go to each server and just try it out.
Starting the game
To survive in your first session, begin by combing the beach or an area with water because new characters need a water resource. Death in the game by DINO predators is common, and even though a player may die continuously at the beginning, he or she is still leveling up. Within your inventory by pressing "O" on the controller is where you will find your Health stats, and by clicking the "plus sign" on your attributes, you will level up and get ENGRAMS. Get to know the inventory menu and the options, ENGRAMS are in the upper top mid section, study them to unlock building and hunting features. Once a player has unlocked a few things, start to build a home and begin advancing out of a primal state.
"The game looks amazing when it's not filled with garbage buildings. The creators of the maps did a very very good job. Since there is so much to build and own in the game, 70 players per server is WAYY too much and lags the game. 20 players per PVE server sounds more like it "
" I have a base and the Dino's spawn inside my gates. FIX IT ARK. Whats the point in building a gate if the DINOs spawn inside my f*kin base and kill my new tames"
"When players leave a server, their buildings should auto demolish. but players who are logging in weekly, need their buildings to stay without worry"
"The game spawned a 50 ton BRONTO inside my fully closed DINO pet space"
"This game made my kid very happy but then made him cry for hours. The Official server, not another player, killed alllllllll his 12 pets in PVE - spawned a DINO inside his pet pen in Valguero Map sever 1139. Who does that to kids??? Kids get really attached to pets. This server pin-pointed his pet pen and killed his pets"
"Transferring servers should not be a Mission of it's own. It's unclear for many players how to transfer servers and take pets"
"You'd think the Official SERVERS to be the most reliable, since it says Official. THEY ARE NOT. It's a troll-fest. A smart person will learn quick that the game is unplayable. Most youtubers on the game have to pay for a private server and act like they earned it on official"
"This is why I stick to games made by JAPAN. Any idiot with a computer can make a game that just kills the player. I trust Japanese companies far more to have a pride in their creation, it's part of the culture. If a game's Corporate Headquarters is in an area with cut-throat losers, then guess what the game will be like. The only information on Studio Wildcard Company that owns ARK is that the people in charge are in lawsuits with each other"
"This game should be called SERVER FINDER"
"Think of it like GTA-5 online with moders who spawn things out of thin air, Prisons everywhere,and with Dinosaurs and jungles"
"I have a neighbor who builds like a child in PVE. Now I have to move from the trash. Players please keep your bases neat and use the building techniques to make Home like bases. STOP building prisons! This is NOT Prison Craft people!"
"Taming the Dino I understand takes time, for a level around 145 I can see it taking about an hour, but not 2 hours, no no no, and in no way should it take 3 hours. I caught a 145 and after 1 hour and a half, it was only 30% tamed. That means it would take 3.5 hours total to tame, wtf is this game thinking??? No one has 3 hours, this is 2020!!! So many games online, get your sh1t together ARK. I killed the DINO by the way I did not wait and no one else should either"
"Great Game with great potential, needs work though. I'm looking forward to the game advancing"
"One of the biggest attractions to the game is Taming Pets ~ Here's what will happen, it takes forever and a day to tame, then after your hard earned efforts, the game will kill it. After you've spent days building a secure enclosed pet pen, they will spawn things inside the building to kill your pets. The people who run this game are twisted and it's really a type of sick abuse. I want my money back right now"
"All I wanted to do was start playing and building, is that too much to ask after I just bought the game? I started in an OFFICIAL PS4 beginner server PVE (The Island Map) and was able to build a house after about 15 deaths from Alpha Raptors and a lot patience. Come to find out the beginning server has a rank LIMIT of 24. So I can not advance and will have to switch servers. I'm looking for a new server but all the PVE servers with good connection have been TROLLED to the max with endless WALLS blocking new players from water. Whoever made this game was not prepared for the retarded WALL TROLL, which is a person or clan who just builds walls around the whole map blocking resources"
"This game is awesome and I couldn't stop playing for days, but I was in a beginner server. I want a clear server PVE"
"I think the company that runs this game is AFK"
"WOW, havent seen this much lag since the 1990s. It's bad. How the hell did this game get on PS4? The world of gaming is moving toward VR and ARK can't even manage lag, it's just sad. I would be ashamed to own this game in the condition it's in. It's like an old house that makes the neighborhood look trashy"