This might come in a small box, but I'm blown away by all the changes and upgrades they've added to the game. I've seen a couple of videos about this expansion now and they really solved the issues that some people might have with the game and they made the game even more interesting and appealing. This is a no-brainer for me.
This video was so incredibly helpful and appreciated. Thanks for the amazing overview, it really is amazing to see an expansion not just release more content for the sake of releasing content but also improving on things from the base, this has me hyped!
I totally forgot about this expansion until I saw it today at my local shop. Ark Nova is my wife's fav game so this will definitely get played a lot. The additions are all really cool!
I have been starving for more information on this expansion! Thanks guys! So freaking excited for this.. (also, the upgraded Animals card allows you technically a "Pavilion" perk without using a Build action or real estate in your zoo to play it.. you're paying 2 money for 1 appeal) :)
You guys have impressed me enough to make you the only board game channel I've re-subscribed to after trying to break away from the excessive barrage RUclips board game content. The first real informative video for the new Revive expansion (watching for a preorder for that) and now for the Ark Nova Expansion (already preordered that months ago)! I hope you have a GWT New Zealand one coming soon, I've got that preordered as well but am dying to see what that new version brings to the table.
It's interesting seeing the old scoring that were adjusted. Hopefully, they'll be a little more balanced (i.e. aquatic and climbing park are viable). I like how sea turtle tank has a marine icon added.
No, unfortunately 1-2 hours is sweet spot for most people. You can playing solo or 2 player games to play within a hour, or add in house rule like +10 CP upon reaching 10CP or TM drafting variant of drawing extra cards at end of every round
@@goldsmeeth2771 Thanks for the reply. I've implemented house rules, but it still takes forever. Another concern I've seen is there are sometimes lulls in the middle game where you have nothing to do. that can be frustrating. I with they made the meeples more useful so that you can use them within the zoo or something.
@troyajohnson26 something is wrong then... maybe you can describe in more detail First, Ark isn't icon matching engine builder. The card designs are mostly time invariant and they always give you a positive effect. There are only a few dead mid game cards, so it's near impossibility that they all appeared, and even if they did, the card row affects all players so you would all break it away to refresh the cards in one go around turn. If you had the problem and your opponent didnt, you might have been outplayed. Its a common tactic to dry off the card row and save cards in hand in case of card droughts. But you had agency in that conflict. Even then, every card gives you a benefit so it's fail forward. Just playing any animal gives you points to propel ahead. Do not restrict yourself to playing only matching cards, it's unnecessary and you arent falling behind. Distinct engines does not confer a large benefit in this game. And you don't need many matching icons either because you get compensations that roughly equals with someone who did match perfectly, full dozen of them, your pultry 5 matches scores the same. Because the rewards are the same, don't spend any time looking for them. There isn't any card you need and once you remove your expectations because now you understand any card works, your frustration disappears I had trying using animeeples from zoo tycoon and serengetti or children's toys even but I find them too fiddly ha and a mismatch with the abstract buildings and meeple art. Plus I need extra time to think in other players turn so it's uncommon that I get to play with meeples. Meeples that allows you to reactivate powers might be cool
How does this new expansion affect the overall playtime? I can see it going either way.. some of the powers speed things up, but some of the decisions slow things down?
Same play time. Increase in drafting time offset decrease in play time If your group is taking much longer than 30 min a player, it's either unfamiliar with the game, excessive AP, or playing the game as icon matching engine builder and not as a race
Great preview of what is coming, thanks! For me, the main area that needed fixing is just do away with the Bear icon! It really isn't necessary! Or, if you are going to have it, at least make it realistic. A raccoon with a bear icon...really? Sorry, but it's my OCD kicking in, and it just seems completely silly to me. In the base game there are 9 animals with the bear icon, including 4 that don't belong to the bear species! I can let the Koala slide, because people say "Koala bear", and it does resemble one...but not the raccoon, coati and red panda! There are 8 different bear species in the world...one of them is replicated in the base game (Eurasian Brown Bear and Grizzly are both brown bears). Just remove the bear icon from the 4 that really aren't bears, include the 4 species that are currently missing, and there you have your 9 bears! No need for the 4 that really aren't bears! Reprint the koala, raccoon, coati and red panda cards without the bear icon, and include North American Black Bear, Asiatic Black Bear, Polar Bear, and Andean Bear! I know that this might be nit-picky and sound ridiculous to a lot of you, but it really annoys the hell out of me! I know it's just a game, but it's much more interesting to me if it was zoologically correct!
Matthias Wigge is German, and in German a raccoon is called a "Waschbär", which literally translates to "washing bear", and belongs to the family of "Kleinbären", which translates to "small bears". Similarly, a red panda in German is called a "Katzenbär", which translates to "cat bear". Similarly, the coati belongs to the family of "kleinbären". So in the original language, the icons make sense.
@@NouddeKroon Thanks, I do appreciate the information on the language reasons for the bear icons on those animals! However, the majority of the people who are playing the game aren't German. I'd have appreciated more true species categorization as opposed to what the names mean in just one language. I apologize if that sounds harsh, but for those of us who aren't German, it just looks and feels silly. Or...maybe it's only me that it bothers! All-in-all, it's a great game...I just have that one thing that really bugs me!
@@Joker-rf8en Isn't that a very American-centric point of view? The game is designed in German first, when you then translate it a few peculiarities are to be expected. Non-English speakers deal with that all the time, for example when watching Hollywood movies that are translated into their own language. Instead of being annoyed by it, you could see it as an opportunity to learn about different cultures!
@@dougradcliffe1466 Probably right, although it still seems ridiculous to me. I can't help imagining some silly scenario where another 5 years down the line we have 4 association boards where each time an expansion comes out, one tiny change is made and a whole new board printed :P
Am i the only one that doesn't like the new action cards? Some of them just seem a bit too OP and i don't care for the variable powers. I'd probably just stick to the old action cards and include everything else from the expansion.
I thought they would make a big difference and they don't. Having a draft means you only get one of the "best" ones and none of them make a big difference. It's not like the maps, where whoever has the lake had a massive advantage
This might come in a small box, but I'm blown away by all the changes and upgrades they've added to the game. I've seen a couple of videos about this expansion now and they really solved the issues that some people might have with the game and they made the game even more interesting and appealing. This is a no-brainer for me.
Yeah, there's quite a bit of changes in this box.
This video was so incredibly helpful and appreciated. Thanks for the amazing overview, it really is amazing to see an expansion not just release more content for the sake of releasing content but also improving on things from the base, this has me hyped!
Thanks for watching! Glad our overview was helpful. 😀
I totally forgot about this expansion until I saw it today at my local shop. Ark Nova is my wife's fav game so this will definitely get played a lot. The additions are all really cool!
Thanks for all the work, guys! Congratulations on your new job, Ryan! Have fun!!!
Thank you for watching!
Thanks for sharing! This looks great! I already have it pre-ordered and excited to get it.
Nice! This one seems like a must-have for any fan of the base game (although I hesitate to ever suggest that sort of thing). 😁
@@meeple Agree!
I have been starving for more information on this expansion! Thanks guys! So freaking excited for this.. (also, the upgraded Animals card allows you technically a "Pavilion" perk without using a Build action or real estate in your zoo to play it.. you're paying 2 money for 1 appeal) :)
You guys have impressed me enough to make you the only board game channel I've re-subscribed to after trying to break away from the excessive barrage RUclips board game content. The first real informative video for the new Revive expansion (watching for a preorder for that) and now for the Ark Nova Expansion (already preordered that months ago)! I hope you have a GWT New Zealand one coming soon, I've got that preordered as well but am dying to see what that new version brings to the table.
Thanks for that comment--it really means a lot to us to hear this. And as for that New Zealand content...you just might get your wish. 😁
Great. Wondering where new enclosures are going to fit in game tray.
Fair question. 😅
It's interesting seeing the old scoring that were adjusted. Hopefully, they'll be a little more balanced (i.e. aquatic and climbing park are viable). I like how sea turtle tank has a marine icon added.
Yes, it seems clear that they put a lot of thought across the whole game into this expansion content.
Can't wait to get my hands on this. Thanks guys!
Wow, this looks amazing, can't wait :)
If something needs fixed or adjusted just fix it in the expansion. Well done
Cant wait!
Love Ark, but the biggest gripe I've commonly heard is, it's way too long. Are there any changes that speed it up a bit?
No, unfortunately 1-2 hours is sweet spot for most people. You can playing solo or 2 player games to play within a hour, or add in house rule like +10 CP upon reaching 10CP or TM drafting variant of drawing extra cards at end of every round
@@goldsmeeth2771 Thanks for the reply. I've implemented house rules, but it still takes forever. Another concern I've seen is there are sometimes lulls in the middle game where you have nothing to do. that can be frustrating. I with they made the meeples more useful so that you can use them within the zoo or something.
@troyajohnson26 something is wrong then... maybe you can describe in more detail
First, Ark isn't icon matching engine builder. The card designs are mostly time invariant and they always give you a positive effect. There are only a few dead mid game cards, so it's near impossibility that they all appeared, and even if they did, the card row affects all players so you would all break it away to refresh the cards in one go around turn. If you had the problem and your opponent didnt, you might have been outplayed. Its a common tactic to dry off the card row and save cards in hand in case of card droughts. But you had agency in that conflict. Even then, every card gives you a benefit so it's fail forward. Just playing any animal gives you points to propel ahead. Do not restrict yourself to playing only matching cards, it's unnecessary and you arent falling behind. Distinct engines does not confer a large benefit in this game. And you don't need many matching icons either because you get compensations that roughly equals with someone who did match perfectly, full dozen of them, your pultry 5 matches scores the same. Because the rewards are the same, don't spend any time looking for them. There isn't any card you need and once you remove your expectations because now you understand any card works, your frustration disappears
I had trying using animeeples from zoo tycoon and serengetti or children's toys even but I find them too fiddly ha and a mismatch with the abstract buildings and meeple art. Plus I need extra time to think in other players turn so it's uncommon that I get to play with meeples. Meeples that allows you to reactivate powers might be cool
How does this new expansion affect the overall playtime? I can see it going either way.. some of the powers speed things up, but some of the decisions slow things down?
Having played it, it took slightly longer because of the draft. But other than that it's the same play time
Same play time. Increase in drafting time offset decrease in play time
If your group is taking much longer than 30 min a player, it's either unfamiliar with the game, excessive AP, or playing the game as icon matching engine builder and not as a race
In my opinion, the man on the right possesses a more impressive beard than the man on the left
All the cards are on the BGG page...
Not everyone wants to use BGG.
Good to know. I hadn't seen them there yet.
Except for replacement cards.
Great preview of what is coming, thanks! For me, the main area that needed fixing is just do away with the Bear icon! It really isn't necessary! Or, if you are going to have it, at least make it realistic. A raccoon with a bear icon...really? Sorry, but it's my OCD kicking in, and it just seems completely silly to me. In the base game there are 9 animals with the bear icon, including 4 that don't belong to the bear species! I can let the Koala slide, because people say "Koala bear", and it does resemble one...but not the raccoon, coati and red panda! There are 8 different bear species in the world...one of them is replicated in the base game (Eurasian Brown Bear and Grizzly are both brown bears). Just remove the bear icon from the 4 that really aren't bears, include the 4 species that are currently missing, and there you have your 9 bears! No need for the 4 that really aren't bears! Reprint the koala, raccoon, coati and red panda cards without the bear icon, and include North American Black Bear, Asiatic Black Bear, Polar Bear, and Andean Bear! I know that this might be nit-picky and sound ridiculous to a lot of you, but it really annoys the hell out of me! I know it's just a game, but it's much more interesting to me if it was zoologically correct!
Matthias Wigge is German, and in German a raccoon is called a "Waschbär", which literally translates to "washing bear", and belongs to the family of "Kleinbären", which translates to "small bears". Similarly, a red panda in German is called a "Katzenbär", which translates to "cat bear". Similarly, the coati belongs to the family of "kleinbären".
So in the original language, the icons make sense.
@@NouddeKroon Thanks, I do appreciate the information on the language reasons for the bear icons on those animals! However, the majority of the people who are playing the game aren't German. I'd have appreciated more true species categorization as opposed to what the names mean in just one language. I apologize if that sounds harsh, but for those of us who aren't German, it just looks and feels silly. Or...maybe it's only me that it bothers! All-in-all, it's a great game...I just have that one thing that really bugs me!
@@Joker-rf8en Isn't that a very American-centric point of view? The game is designed in German first, when you then translate it a few peculiarities are to be expected. Non-English speakers deal with that all the time, for example when watching Hollywood movies that are translated into their own language.
Instead of being annoyed by it, you could see it as an opportunity to learn about different cultures!
Game is modular, you don't need to play with anything you don't like.
Many people have ban list.
Will Jeremy be at Gen Con?
(Salinas - that is)
That new association board is ridiculous 😅, why would you make a whole new board for the one new university.
Cause if they didn’t people would complain that there wasn’t a new association board for one more university
@@dougradcliffe1466 Probably right, although it still seems ridiculous to me.
I can't help imagining some silly scenario where another 5 years down the line we have 4 association boards where each time an expansion comes out, one tiny change is made and a whole new board printed :P
Tricky thing. As someone already said, someone might complain either way. I also view it as a nice touch that they went to the trouble.
Am i the only one that doesn't like the new action cards? Some of them just seem a bit too OP and i don't care for the variable powers. I'd probably just stick to the old action cards and include everything else from the expansion.
Yes, you're the only one.
I thought they would make a big difference and they don't. Having a draft means you only get one of the "best" ones and none of them make a big difference. It's not like the maps, where whoever has the lake had a massive advantage
I ban some of the action cards. Yea they are out of balance.
Really enjoyed this content … and I’m not even going to GenCon! Be safe out there
Thanks for watching! If you're not going to Gen Con, stay tuned. We'll try to have a little daily coverage each day.