This is a bit late to the party as Ark: Survival Evolved update 737 landed last week so most of you survivors will probably know the big additions to the recent update, but you may not know a few other things that were added. The biggest additions are the couple of new dinosaurs and the disease update which adds a new mechanic to both PVE and PVP player.
The Diplodocus, halfway between a stego and bronto. But a very playful herbivore
The newest addition to the dinosaur dossier is the Diplodocus, a playful herbivore that will headbutt the player when nearby. This headbutt does not cause any damage but if the player is near a significant gradient, fall damage could be caused. The headbutting is almost an affectionate bonding process, like a boy with his puppy, a 10 tonne puppy that can throw you off a cliff by accident. Diplodocus is both a knockout and passive tame, with the latter being the quicker taming process. Survivors will need Lystrosaurus eggs from the previous update to tame the Diplo effectively. Once tamed, the Diplo can be fitted with a large saddle that can carry a driver and 10 passengers so makes for a fun ‘dino-bus’.
Afraid of swamp areas? Here’s another reason not to go into swamps. The Leech Dossier
I would love to have shown you a screenshot of what a leech looks like but they are disgusting and so annoying. You only need to be in swamp water for a second for one of these blighters to latch onto you or your dino. Leech’s are about the size of the average Coal, so can easily blend in with a shoal of Coal to an unsuspecting survivor. If a Leech attaches to you, make sure you have a campfire (stand in it to remove them) or friendly player nearby to help remove the Leech. Fire is the easiest solution although blades work, your damage may kill your fellow survivor. Leech’s also introduce a new mechanic to the game, diseases.
There are two variants of the Leech, one is a brown-orange colouration which identifies it as a diseased leech. These leech’s carry ‘swamp fever’ the first disease released into Ark: Survival Evolved. Swamp fever can be caught by both Humans and dodos which can make for interesting disease warfare in PVP. Swamp fever can only be cured with the production of a ‘lesser antidote’ which requires you to kill a leech before it latches onto you or your dinos.
The engram details lesser antidotes. Requiringleech blood, narcotic, rare flowers and mushrooms. Quite difficult for new tribes.
Swamp fever affects a survivor greatly. Lowering health, stamina, melee and weight by 20%, lowering food, water and oxygen consumption by 50%. Adversely, the survivor gains a 20% boost to their speed. Bug repellent will stop leech’s attacking you but if you provoke them they will latch onto you as soon as they can for your blood.
Another update feature is the improvement on breeding. When players hatch an egg or rear baby animal they will receive a significant boost from raising the dinosaur. The dinosaur that is raised by a player will gain a boost to level and an affinity with the player when its grown up. Now you can create the perfect Chris Pratt bond with your raptors.
The training dummy finally allows players to test their damage output
Currently the player can view their total defence and can only measure their damage output by looking at an items rarity and its melee damage output. Now you can set up a training dummy and wail away with all your weapons to test the DPS and direct damage as seen by the image above. What I find amusing is none of the weapons damage the dummy so it may be better to build walls from training dummys.
Other features added to the update include the last boss battle arena, the Dragon Arena. The arena can be accessed from any supply drop once the player is over level 30 and has all the requirement items. Players can now also adjust follow distances of other dinos which lessens the chance of dinos running inside each other. Finally, players on ‘the island’ map will notice a big barrier outline in the central swamp. This marking is to show us where the upcoming redwood biome will go.
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