Veteran player returning

[xspicysnowballx]

Hello there!

Upon certain circumstances, I find myself leaving ARK for a while and being drawn back into Istaria.
I played back in 09 and I know ALOT has changed.

Quick questions:

How is the player base? I remember it was a fairly small tight nit community but with updates, folks may of gotten in Istaria.
That being said, what server is best to play on with the largest player base?

Do you require a subscription in order to play the dragons? I don't mind paying monthy I have a job that can easily support this game.

Hope to see you all on the other side of the installation.

[Machaeon]

Welcome back! Istaria is indeed still small and tightly knit but I think that's part of why I love it so much. Chaos is definitely the high population shard, though I love Order's very friendly community to no end, and Blight is always good if you want to test out the newest stuff for yourself before it hits Order and Chaos. I wouldn't say there's a 'best' shard, they each have their merits and their drawbacks and everyone has their preference.

You do require a subscription to play as a dragon beyond the free trial, and a plotholder sub is needed to own a lair or plot of land if that interests you at all.

[xspicysnowballx]

It's hard to believe a game this fun has such a low player base. Guess not everyone likes dragons. XD

Is Blight the equivalent to the test server?

What are lairs? Like a home base or something?

Old memories are coming back when this game was known as Horizons!

[Machaeon]

Yes, Blight is the test shard. Lairs are homes for dragons that you can design and build yourself. You can build machine rooms, several varieties of rooms designed for storage, shrine rooms that you can bind your character to so you recall into your lair every time, not to mention a huge variety of murals to decorate with.