‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ Xbox One Updated: Disease, Dino-Bus, And Performance Improvements

ARK: Survival Evolved for the Xbox One was updated Wednesday with the 737.0 patch. Studio Wildcard brings the console up to date with the PC version of the open-world dinosaur survival game with this update with new creatures, a disease feature, and a Dragon boss to battle. Some welcome performance improvements were also included plus a much-needed feature for those that host their own dedicated servers.

The ARK: Survival Evolved 737.0 update weighs in a 1.9 GB and gives the game and its servers a 15 percent performance boost. The game is notoriously unoptimized, which is to be expected due to it being an Early Access title in the Xbox Preview Program. So, any performance improvements are welcome by the fan base.

Meanwhile, those hosting their own ARKs will have new server options available to them, such as being able to fly in caves. Player Dedicated server owners will also be able to back up their saves now to prevent unfortunate situations in the past where saves were lost after an update.

Content wise, the headliner is the Dragon Boss and Dragon Arena. Similar to the Brood Mother and Megapithicus boss fights, players will need to collect artifacts and gather at the Red Obelisk to perform a ritual. Once the ritual is complete, every Survivor involved and their tamed animals will be transported to a custom built arena to battle the flying, fire-breathing dragon.

The Dragon is joined by a new, transport-focused dinosaur, the Diplodocus. This massive ancestor to the Brontosaurus can be equipped with a saddle that holds up to 10 other Survivors and can be used to transport them around The Island or The Center (guide). It’s pretty much an overly-friendly dinosaur bus and a passive tame. Interestingly, the beast does no damage when it hits players or other dinosaurs, but does knock them back.

Meanwhile, swamps get even creepier with the addition of giant Leeches, a.k.a. Haementeria. These creatures will attach to players and drain them of hunger and stamina. They also can give players a disease known as “Swamp Fever,” which is a permanent affliction, even after respawning, unless cured. The good news is the creatures can be harvested to make antidotes, as well as anti-venom.

Diseases (guide) are one of the new features added to ARK: Survival Evolved with patch 242. The new mechanic even allows players to deliberately infect Dodos with a disease and launch them into enemy bases to infect the players there.

Breeding Mechanics Phase 2 has finally been introduced with this patch as well, following many delays. Players now have additional options to raise their dinosaur babies with the added bonus of “extra benefits and greater affinity” for those who raised them.

Some controversial changes to ARK: Survival Evolved were also introduced with this update. Players will no longer be allowed to build Auto-Turrets or Plant X turrets on platform saddles for the Quetzal, Brontosaurus, Mosasaur, Plesiosaur, or Paracer. Manned turrets can still be placed on platform saddles for these animals, but the decision has been made to limit the amount of overloaded flying, walking, and floating turret platforms in-game. Rafts and bases will still support Auto-Turrets and Plant X turrets.

Additionally, Plant X turrets now consume fertilizer with each shot to further reduce their effectiveness. The exact amount of fertilizer consumed per shot is 50 fertilizer per shot. Each bag of fertilizer holds 54,000 fertilizer, so that is 1,080 shots per bag minus whatever is used to keep the plant going.

Another controversial change involves the experience gained from killed Alpha creatures in ARK: Survival Evolved. The amount of XP has been reduced by 45 percent, which is apparently meant to stop players from power-leveling through the game. On the flip side, the ocean has received its first Alpha variant with the Alpha Mosasaurus.

Note that the PC version of ARK: Survival Evolved has a patch targeted for June 22 with the Redwood Biome update. That patch will be available for the Xbox One a week or two afterward with the Primitive+ update planned for July 28 on both platforms.

Here are the complete patch notes for the ARK: Survival Evolved update 237.0.

• Approx +15 percent client and server performance boost! Major CPU and GPU gains due to increased multithreading.
• All PC Content up through v242 (Diplodocus, Leech, Dragon Arena, Training Dummy, RPG stat mode, Offline Raiding Prevention Option, Baby Imprinting, Everybody’s Favorite Diseases, Adjustable Follow Ranges, Exploit Fixes, Biome Area Update Markets, etc). Details:
• All extended PC game options exposed through Host Settings menu (Flyers in Caves, etc etc)
• Likely fix for Player Dedi Server crashes, but also an auto-backup/restore for Player DediServers to avoid ever totally being locked out of your save data in the future.
• Likely fix for certain PlayerDedi’s not appearing in the Sessions List

[Image via Studio Wildcard]

[Edit: Corrected typo on Primitive+ release date.]