Ark: Survival Evolved patch v254 adds in the first iteration of endgame technology, new dinos, sheep, and more. Following a bit of brouhaha over the latest patch for Ark, which saw developer Studio Wildcard promise the addition of the Ovis Aries (rideable sheep) for votes in the first annual Steam Awards, Studio Wildcard has released the latest patch with all of its content in tow. Bringing four new dinosaurs, plus the aforementioned sheep, nonetheless, Wildcard stated that the focus of the patch was on the technology within Ark.

The final stretch of development will include more iterations of the technology, entitled Tek Tier, but this first round includes power armor, jetpacks, a new massive crafting station, and the Tek Transmitter, used for server crossplay. Coming alongside this patch is dinosaur jousting, craftable lasers and weapons for your own dinosaurs, and persistent hair and beard growth. Not to be outdone, Wildcard has also announced some of the upcoming features of the next major patch, which adds in underwater bases, four more creatures, generators, and more.

As if that wasn’t enough, Wildcard is also looking at some new server types to be added to the game. In addition to rebalancing crafting and difficulty, this new set of server controls removes the popular dinosaur taming mechanism altogether. For a full list of changes, this forum post runs them down, but hopefully the team behind Ark continues to try out new options for servers and players.

There’s no word yet on the performance for this patch, and considering Ark’s history of running exceedingly poorly on even high-end machinery, it’s likely this trend will continue, until either the community gets too fed up with Wildcard’s shenanigans, or Wildcard improves performance. With all the new technology and interactions, one would think that performance would be first on the mind of the development team, but this appears to not be the case. Regardless, if you want to check out the open-world survival dino simulator for yourself, Ark is currently 67% off on Steam until February 6th.