Balance, Survival, Challenges - and how super dinos are hurting it!

Misconception: strong enemies add challenge

Misconception: this is a survival game

The problem of super strong dinos

Why this game is not challenging

What needs to be done to make the game challenging again

Step 1: nerf Giganoto

Step 2: change taming mechanics

Step 3: change how dinos level up

Step 4: Reduce the armour values on saddles

[@mods: this is NOT a Giganoto topic! It does contain references to it, but it also talks about Alphas and tamed dinos in general. So please don't merge!]Hi there!With the recent addition of the Giganotosaurus we see a lot of controversy about the direction this game is supposed to take. Of course none of us can really tell, only the devs know. But what we can tell is what we would like to have. And since I am only one person, all I can do is say what I want, and maybe you guys agree with me. Or maybe you don't, which is also fine. But I feel like I should point out a few general things and mechanics some people seem not to be aware of, because I see people posting the same statements concerning the Giganoto over and over, although they are only the result of a misconception. The same problem affects Alphas, by the way, at least to some extent. And it's a general problem of balance concerning the entire game. So let's get started:That's not really true. Yes, maybe charging a strong enemy headlong with whatever you have might put you into a position where you really have a challenging fight, but that's about it. The Alphas already were an attempt to make the game harder, and it failed.If you place a strong enemy on the map, and you want it to be a tough but defeatable enemy, it means only one thing: you have to avoid it until you get strong enough to beat it, and once you are strong enough to beat it, it changes nothing for you. All you people who defended the Alphas and claimed how you could kill them with your 200+ Rexes - how much did the game actually get harder for you? Was it a lot?The only other option is to actually make it so hard that you have to avoid it at all times. And that also accomplishes almost nothing. It's simply an area denial device, and that's it. If you somehow want to enter that area or want to make it leave the area (because your base is there, for instance), then it's easy enough to lure it away with a flyer. And the rest of the game it doesn't affect you. If you know how you can even build a thatch and wood base and be completely safe from any dino which can be put into the game, all you need to do is place enough foundations and spikes around your base to create a safe zone, and you're done. The Alphas did very little in making the game harder, they only caused a few demotivating experiences for some low-medium level players or players who were not prepared or had bad luck. But that's about it.The Giganotosaurus is even worse than that. A wild one is basically just a stronger version of an alpha Rex, that's all. You still have to avoid it unless you are strong enough to take it on, the only difference is that you need a Quetzal and a lot of tranq arrows and time to do so instead of simply a strong predator. So it's the same, just more tiresome and ressource consuming. And it actually involves exploitation of the AI. All in all not a really complelling gameplay addition.But the worst part is that it's tameable! I don't think that I need to explain much, but people complained about how easy the game is with your level 210 Rex, and they are happy that the Rex now finally gets outmatched. But did they ever consider what happens to the general difficulty of the game once they tame a Gigano? It drops deep into the basement, that's what the difficulty does.TL;DR:- Wild Giganos don't add anything which the alphas don't offer already- Alphas did very little to nothing to actually make the game harder, ESPECIALLY not the end game!- Tamed Giganos even IMPROVE the problem of missing challenge MASSIVELY, instead of fixing it- Too strong dinos only create a vicious circle of power creepI know this game is called "Ark: Survival Evolved". But that doesn't change the fact that we can grow crops. Build houses and fortresses. Farm and store unlimited amounts of materials and resources. Build water pipes and reservoirs. Get electricity, fridges, automatic turrets and floodlights. Wear full metal armour and wield sniper rifles and rocket launchers.All we are working for in Ark is not surviving. It's getting rid of survival for the sake of civilization and technological progress. That's not a survival game. I would say Ark is something unique, but it's a lot about building bases and taming dinos. So in my eyes, going "it's a survival game!" is not a really convincing point to make in a discussion. Besides that adding super strong predators doesn't automatically qualify for a compelling survival game.Please note that I don't say this game is not meant to be challenging, or that I don't want it to be challenging. All I am saying is that it's not a true survival game.TL;DR:- Crops, water pipes, fridges, fortresses and auto turrets kinda go against the idea of a survival game- it's more about building bases and taming dinos- this doesn't mean it shouldn't be challengingSome people say the T-Rex used to be the dominating dino for PvP, and now it's the Giganoto, and basically nothing changed. I'd say that's wrong, because it completely leaves out the relation of the dominating dino vs. the inferior ones.In order to have an interesting game with over 70 different dino species, all those species need to have their use in order to remain an actual game feature. If it's useless it's not going to be used, and an unused feature is equal to a non existing feature.Yes, it makes sense that the strongest dino is the Rex. But the fact that a group of inferior dinos can get dangerous for it actually makes the game more interesting and challenging. A Rex is stronger than a Spino, a Carno, a Mammoth, an Argent, a Bronto or an Ankylo. But that doesn't mean those things can never pose a threat. Same as a swarm of high level Dimos. It's interesting, adds depth and gives even weaker tribes or players a chance if they play it smart and the allegedly stronger player becomes careless. Every dino can contribute its part. But the Giganoto completely removes that aspect. Once a Giganoto comes into play, only Giganotos are of interest, and nothing else any more. That dumbs the game down from a range of 70+ different dinos to a single dino which matters. That's simply bad game design.TL;DR:- a game benefits from the possibility that a bunch of weaker dinos beat a stronger one- keeping the power level of all dinos close to each other adds variety, depth and challengeEasy answer: tamed dinos! If you have a strong tamed dino, you don't have to fear anything any more. And the Giganoto actually even increases this problem, by a huge amount! The PvE aspect of the game gets literally obliterated by that thing. The only challenge is a wild Giganoto, but I already said that it can be avoided easily and taken out by relatively simple means. This doesn't make the game challenging.TL;DR:- tames are too strong!The short answer is: nerf a lot of things! Make the difference in power LOWER beteen everything. That way nothing will be overpowered, and that way every fight is a challenge. Pretty obvious, isn't it?First of all we need to bring all dinos to about the same level. That's why I suggest to lower the HP of a lvl 1 Gigano to about 3.000 HP (Rex has 1.000) and the damage to about 80-100 (Rex has 60). Also lower its movement speed a lot (around 50% slower), and maybe tweak the rage meter a bit. That way it becomes more of an equal choice to a Rex or Spino, or maybe only slightly stronger. Letting it keep its ability to destroy stone still makes it a very good choice, and all in all it's the real king of the predators, but it still can be killed by other dinos to keep things challenging and interesting.Make dinos LOSE levels upon taming. For example let them lose 25% of their current level when tamed perfectly with kibble, and make them lose 50% of their levels maximum if everything goes horribly wrong. That means a level 20 dino with a perfect tame would be level 16, and level 10 if it was a bad tame. A level 120 dino would be level 90 or level 60 respectively. In addition to that, lower the the maximum amount of levels a dino can get to the minimum amount of levels a max level wil dino can lose upon taming. "Huh? Wut?" Easy: make it so that the maximum level you can get for a tamed dino is the maximum level of the wild dinos. This means right now the maximum level is 120, so with 25% level loss in the very best taming scenario the maximum amount of levels a dino can make is 40.Unless my info is outdated, tamed dinos level a percentage of the stat they had when they were tamed. So if a dino gets 10% more melee damage per level, it makes a huge difference after a short time, and due to the exponential nature of this mechanic it can get really unbalanced. So for every stat increase the base value of a lvl 1 dino is taken for the calculation, and nothing else!At the same time the random leveling of wild dinos needs to be changed. They need to be about as strong as a tamed dino of the same level, which already gained levels after his taming. There's no point in taming a 120 dino with 400% melee damage, and later let it level up to like 1500% damage and tear any other 120 dino of that species into shreads. That's stupid.This step is pretty self explanatory. Saddle armour, especially that of improved versions, makes a huge difference. Let this difference be tiny at best, to keep things interesting and balanced between wild and tamed dinos.