[h1]Your questions our answers![/h1] This week is going to be a little different, when we posted our regular question thread to find out what you guys wanted to know, the majority of the responses were regarding the game, and the future of our Early Access Process. [b]Optimisation[/b] This is one of the key issues that has been often raised all over the discussion boards and different social media platform. We can say that optimisation is the top priority for us, initially during the development phase most of our time was spent on content and game systems, giving players the opportunity to have things to do when they play the game. Now that there’s a solid amount of unique content in the game, hundreds of hours or more, we’re going to shift that technical focus onto optimisation. We have a team of very skilled and equipped engineers ready to perform their necessary updates and changes to ensure that we’re able to get the most FPS and PERFORMANCE out of all your hardware! Through the coming days and weeks ahead you will all see a steady improvement in how well your computer is performing when running ARK: performance will go up, memory will go down. Also we have DirectX 12 to look forward to which will further increase the amount of performance in game by an approximate 25-30%, and on top of that with the introduction of DX12 and Windows 10 we plan to create functioning SLI which will make full use of your blinged-out gaming rigs. The game isn’t capped at 30FPS. We want players to get as high as they want, it just hadn’t been optimized and this is what we’re tackling now. You’ll also see steady improvements made to the visual scaling employed by the lower graphical settings -- the high-end will look even-better as we integrate new rendering techniques, and so will the low-end! [b]Server Connection Issues[/b] This has been a major problem since we launched as we initially did not expect the sheer amount of players that would be picking up ARK. We had thought we were handily prepared but turned out to be the opposite. This mass influx of players seems to mean you guys like our game and we’re incredibly grateful for that, but this also means that work needs to be done to setup much more servers, as well as provide you guys with the tools to set up your own to better host and maintain your custom ARK’s. We’re currently working on miscellaneous the other server issues that exist on top of that so hopefully everyone will be able to log on soon -- until you are all in the game, we will be working on it and at the fastest pace we can! We’ve released some information on our boards to help some of you connect to other servers whilst we’re still in the process of figuring things out. Definitely follow this advice if you’re struggling to connect to a server: [quote]Firstly, if you could open your Steam browser, on the top you'll see an option called View - hit that and then servers. Once you hit servers, a new box will open and there's a filter button at the bottom. Ensure that ARK is being filtered, then it should hopefully load a list of ARK servers. See if you can connect that way. Another option is to use this fan-made website. You just click on the server's IP that you'd like to join and then it should launch the client via Steam. Might not work on all browsers though. Mind you, I manage fine on Chrome with it. http://arkservers.net/ or http://arkserverlist.com/ Another issue could be that you've updated the client and that particular server may not have updated, therefore you're unable to find it because you're on two different versions.[/quote] [b]Patch Notes and Patching Schedule[/b] There has also been a topic created for people to check out the latest Patch Notes here: It’s not so detailed now, however once things calm down and we have more time, we’ll work on creating detailed notes, as well as publishing a Trello timeline for our longer-term battleplan and gathering feedback on it. Alas due to the rigors of launch day, the ARK Trello will be coming online a little later this week. As mentioned, you can expect an update at most every 2 days, and usually every day, and even more usually, multiple times per day. We will take care to not deploy server updates too rapidly, as they require restarting the game servers briefly. Server updates will be aimed towards twice per week, whereas client updates will be every day or every other day. Typically our patches are released in the evening Eastern Time, so, right about… now…..! [b]Forum Changes[/b] We’ve begun work on changing up the forums, so there are now dedicated sections for you to provide your feedback, reports, promote your server services, as well as read the most recent announcements. [b]Transparency[/b] There are a lot of posts all over the discussion board right now. Due to this and the problems we are working on internally there may occasionally a lack of activity on the boards, however keep in mind we aim to provide as much answers as possible. The following threads posted in the general discussion area will contain useful information such as our development plans for the day, how you can connect to servers, custom server command lines and more! So please do check it out. Once things are more calm you will definitely see much more activity, however for now most hands are on deck and they’re working on the game! [url=http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/615086038661685054/]State of the Game[/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/615086038664474477/]Patch Notes[/url] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/app/346110/discussions/0/615086038664572810/]Wedneday the 3rd of June - Developer Plan[/url] [b]Closing thoughts[/b] Those of you who haven’t been able to get into the game yet for various reasons, don’t worry: we’re working on every reported issue, and are dedicated to getting you straight into the game as soon as possible! That’s all for now guys, thank you for being patient and I hope you’re all enjoying your first steps onto the ARK. It’s going to be a long ride, and it won’t always be smooth -- we appreciate everyone’s support, engagement, and feedback in the Early Access process -- but you can bet your last Stimberry that it will be exciting! All the best, Your Community Manager Jat