Explorers! The game was already exciting as it was, but as you probably knew, for the past few weeks, we have been beta testing a major and massive update for Jurassic World Alive and we are now finally allowed to share its content with you as the update is now live for everyone! Be aware, there is A LOT of new stuff and it’s all incredibly exciting!

In short, this update balances the Battle Arena greatly, but also balances the game entirely! What we mean by that, is that free to play players will finally have easier access to resources and Dinosaurs! But enough of teasing, let’s dive into the heart of this update!

First of all, here’s some brief footage of the update! Apologies, we are not professional Youtubers and never realized that we were not recording sound…

New Dinosaurs

First and foremost, you will be happy to know that new creatures have been added in this update.

Brachiosaurus – Epic

Gallimimus – Common

Giraffatitan – Rare

Ornithomimus – Rare

Gryposuchus – Epic

We are also getting some new Hybrids:

And finally, what Ludia calls Superhybrids (Hybrids made from a Hybrid):

Tuoramoloch [Unconfirmed] – Unique – Tuojiangosaurus lvl 20 (500 DNA)+ Paramoloch lvl 20 (50 DNA)

Sarocorixis [Unconfirmed] – Epic- Sarcosuchus lvl 10 (200 DNA) + Einiasuchus lvl 10

Map related changes: Spawns, Supply Drops, etc.

1. Spawns

Spawns have been significantly increased and more adequately spread out over the map. From our observations, spawns could be 2 or 3 times higher than there were previously. This observation is based on the fact that in the previous update, we would see 1 Dino at a location, while with the new update, we can often see 2 or 3 Dinos at the same location.

Furthermore, spawns occur much faster than they used to and are very really separated in terms of Tiers. For example, in the span of one hour with a 150 meters range, while we would normally see one or no Rare/Epic at all, we were able to see with the new update 4 different Rares and two different Epics! Increased spawns for Rares and Epics, who will complain about that?!

2. Overworld Map

The map looks significantly better. Crisp details, better shading, Dinosaurs now have shades, Supply Drops are now orange so much easier to see on the map, etc. Furthermore, we now have access to four different periods in a day as you can see below, in this order:

Dawn;

Day;

Dusk;

Night.

We have yet to determine if Dawn and Dusk influence spawns, but worry not, we will know soon enough! Don’t they look gorgeous? Dusk is without a doubt our favorite!

3. Supply Drops

As stated above, Supply Drops are now orange which makes them much easier to see on the map, and there are also much more Supply Drops than there used to. The image below shows the before and after.

Furthermore, the rewards one receives from them vary more than they used to. There no longer seems to be set amount of Coins, Darts, or Cash, but rather random amount of those rewarded randomly.

We believe that this will be a great addition to the game since it will avoid higher level players receiving so many more coins compared to lower level ones.

New Features

1. Achievements / Missions

One of the biggest new features in this update: Achievements! Unlike some other game, which we will not name, it didn’t take long for Ludia to introduce the concept of missions into the game. Under Player Level, a new menu is now available.

In short, each mission has three stages. Completion of each stage rewards Cash!

Stage 1 completion = 10 Cash

Stage 2 completion = 20 Cash

Stage 3 completion = 50 Cash

Some of the missions are fairly easy, while others will take you more time. The degree of difficulty will increase with each stage. In total, 31 (including the completion of the tutorial) achievements are available, for a grand total of 2600 Cash in reward!

For now, we do not know if these achievements (i.e. new achievements will be introduced) will be updated at some point once completed, but it’s likely that they will. Regardless, it’s really great that players will be provided with an alternative to obtain Cash!

2. Treasure Hunts

Treasure hunts are Treasures spread out over the map (fairly common, but really not as much as Supply Drops). These contain coins, lots of coins! So far, we have consistently been receiving 2,500 coins per Treasure. It is still unclear if this amount increases as you level up, but so far it doesn’t seem like it.

Treasures have a cooldown period of several days, which makes sense since they reward a considerable amount of Coins. However there doesn’t seem to be any limit as to how many you can open in a day. Therefore, get out there and collect these coins!

This feature will certainly help balancing the trench between Free to play players and those able to spare some money in the game.

3. Strike Events

We have very little information about Strike Events since we were only able to complete one during the testing period (a cooldown issue prevented us from completing any others after our first one). As stated in Ludia’s patch notes, these battles take place all over the map, much like some other AR game. They are longer battles and have great rewards upon completing each step. There is a Grand Prize at the end, and a smaller one on completion of stage two as you can see in the video below.

As you can see, you are able to select your Roster of four Dinosaurs in Strike Events, unlike in the Battle Arena. If you lose, don’t worry, you’ll have a set amount of retries you could use. However, as Ludia states, “this team will become stronger with each new battle!” so make sure that you choose your Roster wisely!

There also appears to be various Tiers for the Strike Events, Commons (Grey), Rares (Blue), and possibly Epics (Yellow, to be confirmed). The higher the Tier, the higher the difficulties!

Balancing the Battle Arena

Condisering how lengthy this article will be, you will find all the details (Rewards, matchmaking, nerfs and buffs, etc.) about how Ludia balances the Battle Arena in another article, right here!

Other Smaller Updates

Ludia added an option that will improve the battery life of older devices;

Ads have been removed from Supply Drops to prevent impacting your data plan. All Supply Drops now give increased rewards to compensate for this. Note that you can still choose to watch a video on Special Event Supply Drops to respin them and collect more rewards;

Minor text fixes;

Potential new partner – Apple!

Upcoming Feature

Seasonal Tournament

This feature was not available during the testing phase, so we do not have any information as of right now. However, we do know now that this will not resemble the Bosses from Jurassic World The Game, so we believe it will most likely resemble Raid Bosses from Pokémon GO, where players will have to fight together to defeat a boosted Dinosaur in order to have a chance at collecting DNA for it.

Friends

We asked and Ludia answered! Sadly, this feature was also not available during the testing phase. PokeFodderYT and I tried several times to make it work, but we were consistently unsuccessful… Here’s what it all looks like:

They’ve added Friends and Friendly battles! You will be able to add your friends into the game, invite them over for a challenge battle, check their profile, etc.! These will not affect the leaderboard, and during those battles, Dinosaurs’ level will be set to 26, the standard level for the game. Therefore, there won’t be any level disparities when challenging your friends to a battle! Skills and knowledge will matter the most!

Parting Words

We are exhausted! These past two weeks have been insanely intense! Testing, keeping our mouth shut, trying to work around Ludia’s spontaneous schedule, preparing content for once the update is finally live, etc. We are truly happy that you are now able to experience it for yourself, and we are truly grateful that Ludia allowed us to test it beforehand, provide feedback, and prepare content ahead of time for every one of you!

What are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments and join the discussion on our Discord Server right here! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter for your latest Jurassic World Alive and other AR Game News.