# ARK: Survival Ascended Community Crunch 505: Deep Dives & Technical Strides. What’s Surfacing Next!

- Product: ARK: Survival Ascended (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/ark-survival-ascended)
- Vendor: Studio Wildcard
- Date: 2026-05-02
- Original notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2399830/view/694259874864825057
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/ark-survival-ascended/releases/2026-05-02-community-crunch-505-deep-dives-technical-strides

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

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- **added** — Palaeoctopus aquacaptor joins Genesis Ascended Part 1 as a new rideable ocean creature with tentacle-based combat and ink production
- **added** — Equipment Traits can now be upgraded in the Megalab by combining 10 lower-tier traits into 1 of the next tier
- **added** — Added Repeatable Global Milestones after completing all standard Global Milestones with scaling XP rewards and creature XP from mounted completion
- **changed** — On Lost Colony, reduced the size of entrances to Ruins of the Ascendant Cavern, Cavern of the Whispering Needle, and Cavern of the Sapphire Cascades to improve PvP viability
- **changed** — Gigadesmodus can now walk backwards to improve control smoothness
- **changed** — Malwyn now has access to a traversal teleport ability to improve mobility
- **changed** — Solwyn's Ice Bridges can now be placed near enemy structures and destroyed via the MUW on PvE servers to prevent griefing
- **changed** — Ossidon Taming reduced the number of creatures required to roll up during taming by approximately 30 percent with greater reduction at lower levels
- **changed** — Player characters can now perform a larger jump while stuck or sliding on an incline to help get unstuck in terrain
- **changed** — Gloon's chargelight can now be toggled remotely using the player Clap emote

This week’s a big one. We’ve just rolled out a major version update for Lost Colony, packed with a mountain of fixes, improvements, and under-the-hood tuning. A lot of what you’ve been flagging, reporting, and asking about has been front and center for us, and this update is a direct result of that ongoing back-and-forth. Keep it coming, it’s making a difference.

Just as importantly, existing content, systems, and long-standing issues are still very much in our sights, and this update continues that work. We’re committed to refining and improving the live game alongside new content, with more fixes and improvements planned as we move forward.

We’re also looking ahead with a refreshed roadmap for the rest of the year, giving you a clearer picture of what’s coming next.

But before we dive into all of that…

Let’s take a closer look at the Palaeoctopus.

Thought you were safe on that cliffside? Think again.

The Palaeoctopus is officially joining the roster for Genesis Ascended Part 1, and it’s bringing a whole new level of 'nope' to the ocean.

Outmaneuvering it is a losing game. This calculating cephalopod uses the environment as a weapon, dragging its weight across the verticality of the map to corner the unsuspecting. It thrives on chaos, seizing and holding anything within reach until the battlefield is under its complete control. If you’re near the water, you're on its turf.

Prepare yourselves. The community’s choice enters the fray in ARK: Survival Ascended with the arrival of **Genesis Ascended Part 1**.

**[Download in full resolution](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10eDgKXiqSbzhCXY-s1nG8lmC-3cxmIZl?usp=drive_link)**

**Species:** _Palaeoctopus aquacaptor_
**Time:** Late Cretaceous
**Diet:** Carnivore
**Temperament:** Mercurial and acquisitive

It seems we Survivors have delved too far, and roused a phantasmic new sea-monster from the depths. Paleoctopus aquacaptor uses its chromatic camouflage to strike from out of nowhere, seizing the unwary in its crushing tentacles, two at a time. Its fearsome beak can crack the toughest shell or armor to devour the soft innards of its captives.

In the rare event it needs to retreat underwater, Palaeoctopus can use its siphon to blast a threat backwards and jet away with surprising speed. Those tentacles let Paleoctopus scale sheer cliffs to drag itself out of the sea, though it’s understandably much less agile on land.

Its natural toxicity makes Paleoctopus especially difficult to tranquilize and tame, so sedating one isn’t for the faint of heart… You have to let it drag you in close for a crushing bite, and feed narcotics into its maw while keeping clear of that deadly beak.

Manage to tame a Palaeoctopus, and you’ll never want for ink again. Your new cephalopod supplier can be gently coaxed to provide any color of ink your heart desires.

While it may not set any land speed records, Palaeoctopus can get you up cliffs and over walls… or onto a moving Ship or platform saddle. Above or below the sea, this formidable mollusk can take a lot of punishment. Just make sure to hold on tight if it uses its underwater jet-propulsion.

The Lost Colony major version update is now live! This patch focuses on tightening up several key areas of the DLC, with specific critical bug fixes to the boss fight, thralls, outposts, and performance. We also included a range of general fixes affecting various gameplay systems and stability improvements.

**Gameplay Changes, Balance & QoL**

- On Lost Colony: Ruins of the Ascendant Cavern, Cavern of the Whispering Needle and Cavern of the Sapphire Cascades have had their entrances reduced in size

- _Note: These entrances were very open and easily accessible, particularly for larger creatures, so this change is intended to improve PvP viability and make them more defensible_

- Equipment Traits can now be upgraded in the Megalab:

- 10 lower-tier Equipment Traits can be combined to create 1 of the next tier

- _Note: We’ve seen that lower-tier

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2399830/view/694259874864825057]_