Players in ARK: Survival Evolved often face the question of whether they should play on private or official servers. It doesn’t matter whether they are starting anew or returning to the survival hit. But what are the actual advantages of a private server?
What are private servers? In ARK, in addition to the official servers from Studio Wildcard, there is also the option to rent servers from third-party providers. These servers are referred to as unofficial or private because they are run by individuals.
What distinguishes private from official servers? On a private server, you have the opportunity to customize the gameplay experience to your own needs.
This allows you to increase the taming speed of a creature, reduce the duration of a dinosaur’s maturation, and adjust the farm settings to gather more resources.
Additionally, PC players can install mods on private servers.
The advantages and disadvantages of private servers
The question of whether to play ARK on a private server is not as easy to answer as one might think. While there are some advantages, the disadvantages also weigh heavily. We at MeinMMO summarize what you should consider in your decision.
The case for private servers
What advantages do private servers have? Private servers in ARK have the advantage that you can customize almost everything to suit your personal needs. For example, you can increase or decrease the maximum level of the dinosaurs if the default setting is too easy or too difficult for you.
You can also increase the speed at which a dinosaur is tamed or hatches from its egg. This can reduce the taming duration by many minutes or even hours, which is especially beneficial for survivors with little time.
Furthermore, resource gathering can be adjusted, making building a base significantly faster.
Moreover, mods can help in gameplay, improve certain mechanics, or increase the variety of available dinosaurs or playable maps. Individual settings are comparatively not available on official servers.
The case against private servers
Are there disadvantages? ARK is not only made much too easy by flying creatures but also by completely exaggerated server settings. This is a problem that can arise especially when you join free community servers.
If you play on a server where suddenly there are 17,000x wood from a single tree, you level up 12 levels for killing a dodo or tame a brontosaurus in 21 seconds with 3 berries and 4 tranquilizer arrows, then the server offers no challenge at all. Some want exactly that, but those looking for a challenge in ARK should choose their private server wisely.
Alternatively, you can also rent your own private server, but then you incur additional costs. These are even higher if you want to play on multiple maps because you have to rent a separate server for each map and create a so-called cluster.
So let’s summarize all the pros and cons for private servers:
The advantages and disadvantages of official servers
Just like with private servers, there is also a long list of advantages and disadvantages associated with official servers. Below you will find an overview to help you decide for or against an official server.
The case for official servers
What advantages do official servers have: The biggest advantage of official ARK servers is the price: they are always free. Another advantage is – although this might seem like a disadvantage to many – the interaction with other players. On official servers, you are almost forced to meet other people and join a tribe, which can lead to friendships.
In general, official servers provide the pure ARK experience. Without customized settings and mods, you play ARK exactly as it was intended at the release of the survival hit. Not everyone appreciates this, but it definitely offers a challenge.
The case against official servers
Are there disadvantages? Looking at the disadvantages of official servers, the lack of customization options stands out. You cannot influence taming speed, dino levels, or harvesting through settings and thus raise or lower them.
Playing on an official server is often significantly more time-consuming due to the default settings than on a private server. Taming, farming, or breeding takes noticeably longer than if you set all configurations to x2 on a private server, for example.
So let’s summarize all the pros and cons for public servers:
Which type of server will you choose, private or official? Are you already an experienced ARK player and have a fixed server? Feel free to share with us in the comments here on MeinMMO what makes your server special!
If you want to know what to expect in the sequel to ARK: Survival Evolved and what information Studio Wildcard has already released about ARK 2, you should keep an eye on this post:
