Hey Survivors, Phew... that was a ride! ‘The Last Stand’ Tournament ended today in a blistering 5-hour marathon of poo-throwing monkeys, questionable referee decisions, nerf-batted bosses, numerous failed box-men attempts (THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!), and a partridge in a pear tree. Before we discuss our mistaken referee call, let it be written that when the dust settled and the last dino fell violently to the ground in a series of grenade explosions, Tribe ‘Terra Nova’ (fun TV show btw) was left standing above all others. Here are the winners of ‘The Last Stand’, and congratulations to them and all the participants for fighting tooth and nail to survive! [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=541453569][img]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/574566418103196896/48E454AD94DEDB7B55584C0D4A740DA4EB5604A1/[/img][/url] Now about [i]that[/i] referee call: Approximately midway through the match, one of our GMs was notified that there was someone hiding on top of the dragon. This in itself isn’t an exploit or glitch, but the GM was informed that this individual could not be damaged. The GM tried to damage the clever player -- appropriately-named ‘Brainiac’ of the venerable ‘Goon Squad’ Tribe -- and seemingly also thought Brainiac could not be damaged. Thus the GM, after conferring with the devs, decided to teleport Brainiac off of the Dragon, believing it to be an “embedded collision” glitch that renders a player invincible to any outside projectile. Upon reviewing the records it appears now that the player COULD in fact take damage, and what had been thought to be invincibility was in fact just mild de-sync of animations that can occur when a player is on such a large moving object. Brainiac employed a novel tactic that was surprising! We made a real-time call based on the information we had available at the time, but in hindsight - it was the wrong call. So that we’re clear: [b]Hiding on top of the Dragon, or any other creature, is not a glitch in Survival of the Fittest, should not have been grounds for the GM to move that player, and will not be so going forward.[/b] ‘The Last Stand’ results remain standing; as a live sporting event the referee’s call does not invalidate the entire 5 hour gameplay -- all the Tribes that participated played very long and hard for their victories. However, we do want to address it - we made the wrong call and that ought to be dealt with. Furthermore, let’s be frank, those poo-flinging monkeys were devastating at such an early point in the game - we hadn’t seen them appear so early before, and weren't aware of how much they could hurt unguarded players. So with the referee’s call being mistaken, and so many excellent Survivors eliminated early via The Monkey Reign of Terror, we’re going to host one last Mini-Championship Round to see how events play out with improved balance and without GM mistakes. We thus present to you: [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=541448284][img]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/574566418103156597/2D29E7C616616FDFF88D0A2303E8D9A590F5501E/[/img][/url] The ‘Bonus Round’ will be a 3-hour SotF match hosted next Sunday, November 1, from 2pm EST to 5pm EST, and will be livestreamed by our dearest caster, the most excellent BikeMan! All the Contestants and Streamers who competed in 'The Last Stand' Championship Finale game are invited into this high-value Mini-Championship, and the prizes will be as follows: [h1]1st Place[/h1] $12,000 cash In-Game Golden SH Custom Trophy with your names [h1]2nd Place[/h1] $6,000 cash In-Game Silver SH Custom Trophy with your names [h1]3rd Place[/h1] $2,400 cash In-Game Bronze SH Custom Trophy with your names We can't go back in time and change the past (even with a souped-up DeLorean travelling at 88 miles an hour), but we can change the future -- and will do what we can to make it fun for those who played and those who watched. The “Last Stand Bonus Round” SotF build will be deployed on October 25, so Tribes will have a full week to practice without fear of last-minute balancing changes. We will continue to iterate and refine SotF as a competitive experience, and we'll get better with our casting techniques, infrastructure, and how our GM’s interact with the game. We really appreciate everyone's support of ARK and SotF, and we plan to grow the mode along with players' interest in it. We look forward to seeing the contestants from 'The Last Stand' Championship in next Sunday's Event to show us the truly epic gameplay and strategies that we know they're all capable of. And we’ll promise you this about the ‘Bonus Round’: among other things, you won't be viciously murdered by feces in your face, nor will GM's be crimping your ingenious strats! We love you Goon Squad! All the best to ARK fans and SotF fans alike, Wildcard Jat and the Studio Wildcard Team