In ARK: Survival Ascended, players have lost several hours of progress due to a rollback, and an exploit is to blame.
What is the nightmare for MMO players? In ARK: Survival Ascended (ASA), there was a rollback on the official servers of the survival game on Tuesday, January 2, 2024. This reset the progress of all players on the affected servers by eight hours.
A rollback is considered a nightmare for MMO players because it results in the loss of time invested and progress made. Many developers want to avoid a rollback for this reason.
If a reset of progress does occur, it is often a sign that something seriously went wrong and drastic measures had to be taken.
ASA conducts rollback due to players exploiting an exploit
Why was there a rollback in ASA? As Studio Wildcard, the developers of ARK: Survival Ascended, explained on X.com (formerly Twitter), they executed the rollback to reduce the damage caused by an exploit.
Additionally, the developers stated that they would take action against tribes that exploited the exploit. They did not disclose what the exploit was.
It was likely an exploit that allowed players to duplicate their resources. For instance, a user commented on X.com that he had used the exploit for a month and possessed millions of black pearls – a relatively rare resource in ARK.
Why is an 8-hour rollback even tragic? In ARK, much of the gameplay revolves around pure grind. This includes farming resources, crafting items or ammunition, and building and upgrading the base.
So if players actively played during the 8 hours that were reset, they have to repeat the grind of those hours.
This is particularly frustrating if a new creature was bred or tamed during those hours. Breeding also requires some luck to get a creature with the best possible stats or mutations.
However, luck can also come into play when taming. You don’t always find a high-level dino of the right gender at first to be able to breed afterward. The search can sometimes take some time, and once you find a suitable creature, you don’t want to lose it through a rollback.
If you want to know which creatures are particularly worth taming in ARK: Survival Ascended despite the rollback, we have a small list for you on MeinMMO: ARK Survival Ascended: 10 Creatures You Absolutely Should Tame
