Source
r/ARK•
martext

I just bought this in the Steam sale and it's nearly impossible for me to survive

The cold makes my food run out immediately, I can't get warm even with a campfire and a torch going. People told me to kill fish or penguins to get meat but I've found a total of 4 penguins in 4 hours of play and the only fish I can find are level 30+ piranhas that kill me pretty quick. I've tried spawning in all available locations. I've tried hiking inland from the shore. The only way to travel is to go from bush to bush harvesting berries. When I do manage to find and take down a dino and get ~10 meat out of it I get maybe 5 minutes of not worrying about hunger to explore and then it's back to hunting.

I gather this is part of the Winter Wonderland event? Can anyone tell me when it will end so I can just not play until then? It seems like the game would be right up my alley if it weren't for this constant freezing and I really want to like it but right now this is just miserable.

Posted Dec 23, 2015, 7:20 PM UTC

1835
hunterk11•

There was a post about this earlier, the snow event is screwing over new players. It is much easier normally. I would suggest waiting until it is over unfortunately.

12
Sleenard•

i think that was me! yes it is kind of unforgiving during the santa holiday thing. [suggestion]at least let cragg island be warm! lol

2
hunterk11•

They put their game on sale then froze the world over so that no new player can get a foothold. Stay near penguins and maybe tame one for portable warmth. They are also easy meat. Craft a bunch of spears and put them in the face of any argeventis that may agro you

2
CthaehYourFriend•

Step 1: Repawn West 3, outside of the snow biome Step 2: Pick a spot for a base, get sleeping bags down immediately. If you continually die it isn't a big deal Step 3: Get hide gear Step 4: Build a small base (4x4 foundations should do) Step 5: Venture into snow biome, tame a wolf. Use this to farm pelt to make fur gear

It is more than possible to survive, but no one said it would be easy. If it was easy to survive, everyone would do it!

5
mkomaha•

If a big dino appears remember to throw several consecutive normal punches at it.

7
Dermacia•

No need for the serious series yet.

2
CthaehYourFriend•

Then hit Alt-F4 and Uninstall the game... /s

-1†
mkomaha•

dude...that joke is so old:(

2
CthaehYourFriend•

Also throw some points into fortitude

3
ShaneSpeaks•

Yep. Pop points into fortitude until you're at 10 or 12, it'll make a huge difference.

2
beserker293•

Fortitude does what? Does it lower the effects of the environment or something ?

1
ShaneSpeaks•

Increases resistance to cold, heat and poison.

2
SaKneeKy•

Helps build a resistance to environment conditions. Definitely worth putting points into!

1
dugant195•

Dude u cant just make fur armor idoit god all u ver players saying this makes us loom retard u have to be wat 35 to get fur? Also there is no escaping the cold right now....all these dumb ass vets need to get the sticks out of their asses....this event is dumb during the steam sale as it ruins the new player experience its not hard it jist not fun for someone who has no idea what they r doing....i died constantly when i started a couple weeks ago but not to freezing every 5 seconds trying to get cloth armor and a fire for warmth....but to excitimg things like exploring and running into a scorpion or pack of 5 compys

-10
CthaehYourFriend•

Articulate and spot on. Thanks for contributing to the conversation! Your input will help players everywhere learn to survive.

8
Corn_Wholesaler•

His reply wasn't very articulate, true. However, your original advice telling new players to go into the snow biome to get pelts and make fur armor is so beyond idiotic.

The snow biome has some of the deadliest carnivores, and wolves are usually found in packs. Someone level 20 would get fucked up by wolves, never mind a new player.

Lucky for the new players on the server I play on, people have been generous enough to donate full fur sets to new players.

Also, a new player wouldn't even be able to craft fur armor, let alone acquire enough pelts.

1
CthaehYourFriend•

Note that getting fur armor is literally the last step. The beginning steps will take new players a VERY long time to accomplish. It isn't like I said, Step 1: Get fur gear

1
Jedimasterferret•

Does a campfire work indoors?

3
thepimpness•

Yes

4
MapleSutory•

I responded to this in a steam discussion forums and I'll post my same response here.

  • Level up to wear Hide asap
  • Kill every dodo you see, every newbie ignores this and complain how hard it is to get meat/hide
  • Kill every fish you see
  • Don't spawn anywhere near North, if you are, then you deserve to die. You can always migrate there, no need to spawn there
  • Always bring more than 2 stacks of cooked meat with you.
  • Last but not least, build at LEAST 3 campfires. One ain't going to do crap. If 3 still freezes you, then add more and on top of that, use a torch. All fire stacks up heat.
  • Make a box house, doesn't matter if it looks crappy, better than dying.
  • CRAFT. CRAFT. CRAFT. Doesn't matter what it is, exp is exp. All these newbies I see, they're saving up their mats for later uses. No. Just no. If you have mats to craft something, then craft it, it doesn't matter if you're going to use it or not.

Add freaking Fortitude and Melee. You can always reset your stat points later on, I don't see why everyone treats their stat points as if a mistake is crucial. Add movement speed every few levels for when you want to start taming that Trike with ease.

Dodos are everywhere, don't say you can't farm hide. Fish are all over the place, don't say meat is hard.

Your first tame should be a Trike. No need for raptors, and all that crap, you're just going to get yourself killed. After taming a Trike, the game becomes 500% easier as you can just hit a few berry bushes for full hunger once a while. Add melee/hp to the Trike and you'll be taking care of Rexes/Alpha Raptors with ease, just avoid Alpha Carnos/Alpha Rex/Giga

Every newbie I see is usually a pack rat and starts farming as if they won't die. You will die, EXPECT IT, this is Ark. Don't hoard all your crap, just craft whatever you have for exp. If you really want to hoard, then make a quick sleeping bag beside your storage, no need for a bed. Your main objective is to level up early asap, not make a mansion or play pokemon with the dinos.

I literally started on a new server today with the new event and had no problem leveling up. If anything, the only things I died from were from the usual BS aka dinos spawning out of nowhere right beside me. Nothing wrong with the event. Sure they upped the temperatures but it's still nothing compared to the actual snow biome. My character on my main server has nothing in fortitude wearing Flak Gear and the highest I get to is just the snowflake icon, which doesn't deplete health.

If you're in that much trouble, I can tell you a safe spawn site that nearly guarantees your life for the first few levels as it has numerous amounts of fish with little to zero piranha, unless luck hates you that much. It's pretty much where I spawned when I just started the game. Now obviously I can spawn North during this event because I know what I'm doing.

I'll be honest. Now's probably not the time to join an official. I don't play officials regardless but this event is the worst time to join an official as most areas are taken up and the low rates just guarantees your death. If anything, even an unofficial server with just x2 rates is enough. Vanilla settings with this event is just horrid.

3
garreth_vlox•

spawn on the south beaches to start until you are leveled enough to build what you need to survive in the north. DO NOT leave the beach until at least level 10, accept that your first few spawns only goal is to level up until you can build at least a wood house. then you can build where ever you want and start trying to play for real. the cold sucks but all you can do is ignore it until you can make fire pits on the beach where you are harvesting which decreases the colds effect.

2
OddJawb•

at this moment... DO NOT PLAY ON OFFICIAL SERVERS... it will be almost impossible for a fresh spawn without the ability to to make fur. The stat "Fortitude" is what will help you survive the cold however, there are far more important stats you should be spending your initial stat points on starting out... this winter festival stuff really messed over new ppl... sorry you joined at a bad time... good thing its only a few days and then it will go back to normal.

You need to find a unofficial server that has a high XP ratio so that you can level up fast and then start making fur coats.

2
garreth_vlox•

This maybe the most misleading post I've seen on this sub. a Few points of fortitude is CRUCIAL early game to prevent repetitive deaths. The combination of a fire, torch and cloth armor will keep you warm enough to avoid freezing damage. Once you hit 20 you can make a smithy and turn the animals covering the animal into fur armor and stop caring about the cold permanently. This event is a walk in the park compared to what Halloween was like to noobs and that's what I learned to play through. This is a Survival game, if you want an easy mode go start your own server and turn it into a theme park.

-1
OddJawb•

and yet on a "normal" setting without the event, those "Few" points your talking about could have been spent on something else... like HP or movement speed. For someone who has played this game on a "Normal" setting without snow everywhere yea surving isnt really a huge deal, you can coop with the event even starting a new toon... however, a dude who just bought the game and is trying to learn the ropes... there is little room for error... hes going to bump into things.. hes going to need to run away from things... having a fort dump at the first several levels is not what most people are going to do... they are going to get some HP or w/e else... most ppl arnt going to intuitively know.. gee everywehre is going to be fucking ice let me buff my fort...

2
garreth_vlox•

Thankfully there is this thing called a "wiki" that will tell you all sorts of things about the game and how to play it, and how to get started. There also a site called reddit, where people offer all sorts of advice about how to play the game. I'm just tired of reading about people saying they can't survive and they didn't even bother to check a site for the info they need or ask in game in chat or on a thread on reedit and instead decide the game is too hard because they don't want to learn how to play the game.

-1
OddJawb•

so for people who want to organically learn the game, fuck em right? they need to read a god damn book and figure this shit out before the even start the game. Please reserve your elitist git gud b4 you play BS for yourself.

2
thepimpness•

Welcome to Ark, hope you're enjoying the climate. I've been living in it for the past few months. Good luck getting fur armor. Ultimately, probably be snow for about a week then you'll be good.

2
jckane5187•

Build a complete shelter. With a shelter it lessens the effects of cold and hunger. (roof and door included )

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

-1†
TommyNobility•

Advertising on here is in bad taste

1
maxkilo2•

sorry i deleted it

2