A Return to What ARK Was Meant to Be
The time is nigh. None of this modern ARK nonsense. We're reviving ARK: Survival Evolved 2017, the version people actually fell in love with.
The time is nigh. None of this modern ARK nonsense. We're reviving ARK: Survival Evolved 2017, the version people actually fell in love with.
This server isn't built for the modern ARK player grinding the latest meta. It's built for those who haven't played in years. For those who remember when bases were on the ground. When cave spots mattered. When obelisk warfare was the endgame. When you'd farm with your tribe of four and feel like you'd earned something real.
This is ARK: Survival Classic - a 90-day wipe cycle designed towards and balanced for people with less time to play, built around slow progression, fair protection, and the understanding that everyone deserves the chance to build a crap pillar base and tame a negative melee giga without getting wiped by day two.
Every rule, every system, every decision works toward these principles.
No cryopods (TBD). No Managarmr. No Snow Owls or Flying Beavers bull$#!t. The creature meta returns to what it was. Tames you actually had to work for and protect. The game is about dinosaurs and survival. We're keeping it that way.
When every base spot matters again, tribes spread out. Caves become contested. Cliff platforms, hidden valleys, and that weird spot behind the waterfall you'd never consider in modern ARK - they all become viable again. We want to see the whole map populated, not just the five meta spots.
Progression is gated week by week. Level caps, building limits, and tame caps increase in increments so no tribe can end-game rush on day one and wipe the server. Everyone gets time to settle, build, farm, and grow - at a pace that works for people with actual lives.
First 24 hours after wipe are open PvP - contest your base spot, fight for your ground. After that, a 48-hour raid lock kicks in so everyone can settle. Auto turrets come online Week 1. Heavy turrets don't arrive until Week 3. The siege phase is earned, not rushed.
Tribe limit of 4. Employed/Self-Employed/Student players can get verified and receive a special shop. This isn't designed for greaseheads pulling 16-hour days. It's designed for the player who has actual responsibilities now.
At the end of the 3 month wipe everyone's character is reset and maps released after 2017 will be added to the cluster each month in the same order they originally launched, inspired by the WoW Classic model. Each month after the wipe introduces another chapter of ARK history as it actually happened. You'll re-live the timeline, not skip to the end of it.
Level caps, building limits, and tame caps increase each week. No one gets to skip the journey.
Wipe day hits. The first 24 hours are open warfare - contest base spots, fight for position, claim your ground. After that, raid lock activates for 48 hours so every tribe can settle in. Auto turrets are available from the start so real defences are possible early. No heavy turret nonsense. Opening PvP feels fair, scrappy, and honest. One base claim per tribe - no spam pillaring areas. Anyone caught foundation-spamming during raid lock earns a 7-day ban.
The war economy begins. Industrial-scale production comes online. Tribes start stockpiling, forming alliances, negotiating trades. Vaults mean your loot finally has real protection. The trading marketplace opens for business - list items, browse offers, fill orders, and negotiate deals through a structured system on Discord that keeps the community connected.
Now it gets real. Heavy turrets arrive, established bases become genuine fortresses, and the server enters the proper siege era. By now, every tribe has had fair time to settle in. Raids are earned through preparation, not through getting online faster than everyone else on day one. This is where alliances are tested and wars begin to erupt.
A brand new map joins the cluster. Aberration opens with its own 48-hour raid lock, giving everyone a fair shot at the underground. New tames, new resources, new base spots. A meaningful progression bump for those ready to venture deeper. The cluster starts to feel alive across multiple maps.
The final stretch. Maximum level reached, building and tame caps fully unlocked. The last weeks of the wipe are the culmination of everything built before - obelisk control, cross-map raiding, territory wars, and the kind of server-wide politics that only happen when everyone's been grinding the same cycle together.
Day 90 hits and everything resets. Characters wiped, bases gone, tames lost. Everyone starts fresh on equal footing. The slate is clean, the land grab begins again, and the next 90-day cycle kicks off. Same rules, same progression, same fair start for everyone.
Simple. Non-negotiable. Designed to keep the playing field level.
You may claim one base location. Build around it, defend it, love it. No spam-pillaring secondary locations, no walling off resources, no land-grabbing empires.
Spam structures outside your base perimeter are prohibited. Only build around your claimed location. Violations during raid lock result in a 7-day ban - no warnings.
Small tribes keep the balance. No mega-tribe alliances steamrolling the map. Four players, that's your army. Coordinate with allies if you want, but your roster stays at four.
This is a community built on respect. Cheating, exploiting, harassment, and NSFW content are zero-tolerance offences. We're here to play a dinosaur game, not ruin each other's experience. Keep it clean, keep it fair, or find another server.
During raid lock windows (24h after each wipe and new map launch), all raiding is prohibited. This is your safe window to establish, build, and prepare. Violators face immediate action.
Building piece limits and tame caps increase weekly. You can't build a mega-fortress in week one. Progression is collective - the whole server grows together.
This supplemental concept aims to not wipe the cluster at 90 days, and instead continue the cluster on, adding all the post 2017 maps each month. A new cluster is created to continue the 90 day wipe cycle.
At the end of the standard 3-month wipe, the old cluster continues with the original maps - The Island, The Center, Scorched Earth, Ragnarok, and later Aberration. Extinction is the first post-2017 expansion to join this cluster, bringing Earth back into the equation - corrupted creatures, orbital supply drops, and titan fights. 24 hours of open warfare followed by a 48-hour raid lock so everyone gets a fair start.
A free official map with diverse biomes, underground cave systems, and the Deinonychus. Valguero expands the cluster with fresh base spots and new territory to contest.
The expansion pass content begins. Genesis: Part 1 introduced a mission-based structure - a departure from classic ARK. Added to the cluster in its original form as part of the historical timeline.
Another free official map joins the rotation. Crystal Isles brings floating islands, crystal wyverns, and a visually distinct landscape to the growing cluster.
The final paid story expansion for ARK: Survival Evolved. Genesis: Part 2 closes out the original storyline and enters the cluster as the last premium content drop.
A community-inspired free map featuring new creatures and varied terrain. Lost Island adds another layer of base spots and resource variety to the cluster.
The final major free official map for ARK: Survival Evolved. Fjordur marks the end of the roadmap - after this, the full history of ASE has been relived. The cycle resets and it all begins again.
This server is built around the idea that you shouldn't need to rot at your computer to enjoy a survival game, especially ARK. Verify that you hold an occupation and you'll receive access to a unique shop to help bridge the gap between you and the players who can grind all day; in a way that doesn't negatively affect the grinders. Prices will be based on in-game time spent.
A structured Discord trading bot. No backroom deals - everything goes through the system.
Post items for sale with category and price. Or browse the marketplace and search by category, item type - weapons, kibble, misc, etc.
Click "Offer" to open a negotiation channel with the seller. Or post "Fill Orders" - buy requests that alert traders when someone can supply what you need.
Private trade channels open between buyer and seller. Accept, deny, or counter buttons. Channels auto-close after 15 minutes of inactivity. No wasted time.
Both parties confirm via trade-success or trade-failed buttons. Reports available if needed. Listings expire after 3 days. Everything is tracked, transparent, and community-driven.
Why Force the System? All trades go through the marketplace. No bypassing it with friend invites and side deals. This keeps the economy visible, fair, and community-facing. Colour-coded UI, searchable categories, and easy item-selection buttons make it fast to use - not a chore.
Sign up as a tribe to our Progression Study. Throughout the wipe, publish your player stats, tame counts, building data, and progression milestones. Your data helps us understand how players reapproach 2017 ARK - what works, what's too fast, what's too slow - so we can fine-tune the experience for everyone.
In return, participating tribes earn shop rewards for consistent, honest data contributions. The better we understand the data, the better the server becomes.
Earn Shop RewardsAlpha Version: Server opened for initial mingling, testing theories and extracting data. This is the foundation phase - we learn, we adjust, we build the experience right before full launch.
This server is for everyone. We will balance every tribe out as best we can. We are not aiming for anything specific like "good PvP" or "good raiding" - we are aiming to mess with the game files so much we replicate the 2017 ARK feel. It's a return to the version of the game that hooked you in the first place - before giant turtles, before Manas, before the game forgot it was about surviving on an island full of dinosaurs.
If that sounds like the ARK you've been missing - welcome home.