Community Crunch 489: Naughty, Nice, or Eaten, Raptor Claus Returns!

Hear that jingle? That’s not your Parasaur. RaptorClaus is back at midnight, dropping gift boxes packed with juicy loot… plus Mistletoe for the nice and Coal for the naughty. Survey the skies, claim the drops, and don’t trust anyone "just watching." Winter Wonderland is live, Survivors!


[center][color]Download in full resolution[/color][/center]

Deck the halls with boughs of holly! Winter Wonderland returns with new presents and goodies for ARK survivors. The epic winter-themed holiday event begins on [color]December 19, 2025[/color] and will be live until [color]January 5, 2026[/color] on Official Servers.

• Dec 19th to Jan 5th
  

• [color]PVP/PVE:[/color] 2x Harvesting, Taming, and Experience, and Breeding
  
• [color]Small Tribes:[/color] 4.5x Harvesting, Taming, and Experience + 4x Breeding
  
• [color]ARKpocalypse:[/color] 5x Harvesting, Taming and Experience, and Breeding
  

• RaptorClaus
  • Appears at midnight (game time) on all maps
• Jerboa Sleigh
  
• Santa's Big Helper Yeti
  • Drops Coal and Mistletoe.
• Abominable Snowman
  • Drops Coal and Mistletoe.
• Pegomastax Grouch
  • Drops Coal and Mistletoe.
    
  • Steals Gift Boxes in return for a special reward.
• Wild Rideable Reindeer
  • Drops Coal and Mistletoe.
    
  • Can be fed Rockarrot and ridden for additional drop amounts.
• Gacha Claus

• RaptorClaus
  
• Hyaenadeer
  
• Chibi-Festive Bulbdog (Green)
  
• Chibi-Festive Bulbdog (Red)
  
• Chibi-Festive Featherlight (Green)
  
• Chibi-Festive Featherlight (Red)
  
• Chibi-Festive Glowtail (Green)
  
• Chibi-Festive Glowtail (Red)
  
• Chibi-Festive Shinehorn (Green)
  
• Chibi-Festive Shinehorn (Red)
  
• Chibi-Gacha Claus
  
• Chibi-Reindeer
  
• White-Collar Kairuku Chibi
  

• Mistletoe Emote [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Holiday Kiss Emote [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Happy Clap Emote
  
• Nutcracker Dance Emote
  
• Shiver Emote
  
• Snow Angel Emote
  
• Jolly Jump Emote
  
• Caroling Emote
  

• Gingerbread Structure Tileset [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
  • Structures
    
  • Seats [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
    • Gingerbread Chair [color]*NEW*[/color]
      
    • Gingerbread Bench [color]*NEW*[/color]
      
    • Gingerbread Table [color]*NEW*[/color]
• Festive Decorations
  
  • Gumdrop [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Snowflake [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Snowman [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Gingerbread man [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Gingerbread Sleigh [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Gingerbread Tree [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Dino Cookie [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Candy Cane [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
  • Lolipop Prop [color]*NEW*[/color]
    
• Candycane Lamp [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Gingerbread Storagebox [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Peppermint Rug [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Hot Cocoa Beer Barrel [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Gingerbread Tribe Tower [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Christmas Tree Ghillie Suit Set Skin [color]*NEW*[/color]
  
• Blue-Ball Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Candy Cane Club Skin
  
• Christmas Bola Skin
  
• Dino Ornament Swimsuit Skins
  
• Felt Reindeer Antlers Skin
  
• Gray-Ball Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Green-Ball Winter Beanie Skin
  
• HLN-A Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Jerboa Wreath Swimsuit Skins
  
• Megaloceros Reindeer Costume
  
• Noglin Regift Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Noglin Swimsuit Skins
  
• Nutcracker Slingshot Skin
  
• Purple-Ball Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Purple-Ball Winter Beanie Skin (Winter Wonderland 5)
  
• Raptor Sleighing Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Red-Ball Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Santa Costume Skin
  
• Santa Hat Skin
  
• Snowy Winter Beanie Skin
  
• Ugly Carno Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Chibi Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Bronto Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Bulbdog Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Caroling Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Noglin Regift Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Raptor Claws Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly Rockwell Sweater Skin
  
• Ugly T-Rex Sweater Skin
  
• Yeti Swimsuit Skins
  
• Full-body Krampus Costume Player Character Skin/Cosmetic
  
• Santa's Workshop Smithy Structure Skin/Cosmetic
  
• Festive Forge Structure Skin/Cosmetic
  
• Gingerbread Person Costume
  
• Snowman Hat
  
• Winter Gloves
  
• Candycane Pike Skin
  
• Candycane Spike Wall
  

• Coal
  
• Festive Dino Candy
  
• Gift Box
  
• Holiday Lights
  
• Holiday Stocking
  
• Holiday Tree
  
• Mistletoe
  
• Snowman
  
• Wreath
  

• ActualBlack
  
• Cyan
  
• DeepPink
  
• Dino Dark Purple
  
• Mint
  
• Lavender
  
• Dino Light Purple
  
• Dino Light Blue
  
• DragonGreen0
  
• Jade
  
• PineGreen
  
• SpruceGreen
  
• DarkMagenta
  
• Glacial
  
• PowderBlue
  
• Teal
  
• DarkViolet
  
• Red
  
• Green
  
• Light Grey
  
• Light Red
  
• Dark Red
  
• Dino Light Red
  
• Dino Light Green
  
• Dino Medium Green
  
• Dino Albino
  
• NearWhite
  
• Yellow
  

• From the Main Menu, select the mod tab.
  
• Search for Winter Wonderland in the ARK Mod list and install it. Mod ID: 927090
• After it's installed, go back to your game setup screen and select 'Mod Settings.'
  
• You will see Winter Wonderland and any other mods you've downloaded in 'Available Mods.'
  
• Select Winter Wonderland and activate it.
  

• If you would like to enable Winter Wonderland on your private servers, please add the mod ID to your server command-line launch arguments (-mods=modID). No other changes should be necessary to activate the event.
  Mod ID: 927090

[hr][/hr]


Survivor, the sun is setting on Arat Prime, and the war for the city has begun.

This is no longer just about survival. It is about dominion.
Three forces now clash for control of the Necrocene.
We want you to bring that conflict to life, through the lens of your chosen faction.
The Faction Art Contest begins.

Pick your side, draw your allegiance, and help your faction conquer the Lost Colony.

• Entries Open: Friday, December 19th
  
• Entries Close: Monday, January 19th
  
• Finalist & Voting Announced: Friday, January 23rd
  
• Winners Announced: Friday, January 30th
  

Choose your muse carefully. Each faction carries its own visual identity.

The Vibe: Scrappy, defiant, warm.
The Lore: You are the survivors. You do not belong here, but you refuse to die. You bring fire to the ice and technology to the ruins. You are the spark in the dark.

The Vibe: Cold, regal, gothic.
The Lore: The Lost King’s eternal army. They are the statues that watch you, and the guards that hunt you. Woven into the architecture itself, silent and deadly.

The Vibe: Twisted, alien, neon.
The Lore: Rockwell’s nightmare has leaked into the city. Spikes, tentacles, madness. They are the chaos devouring all remaining order.

• Create an original piece of art representing one of the three factions
  
• Submit your work in the #lostcolony-submissions thread on the ARK Discord
• CRITICAL: Your post must begin with the faction tag
  
  • [TRESPASSER]
    
  • [DAMNED]
    
  • [CORRUPTED]

We will select a shortlist for each faction, then open voting to the community to determine:

• Best in Class
  
  • The best artist for each individual faction. All Best-in-Class winners and runners-up will receive Lost Colony keys.
• The Grand Victor
  • The single artwork with the most votes overall decides which faction claims the Discord.
    
  • Grand Victor rewards include:
    • Server Banner: The winning artwork becomes the faction’s pinned banner for the week.
      
    • Exclusive Role: The Grand Victor receives a unique “Champion of the Lost Colony” role.
      
• The Grand Prize:
  • TOTAL DISCORD SERVER TAKEOVER!
  • The winning faction will conquer this Discord for a full week.

• Your submission must be on theme.
  
• You need to have the rights to the image you submit. No copyrighted material or artwork made by others without consent.
  
• One submission per user. No multiple submissions or submissions across multiple categories.
  
• Content must follow server rules:
  • No NSFW, derogatory, discriminatory, or disrespectful content.
    
  • PG-13 only.
    
  • No AI-generated content.

Not an artist? You can still fight for your side.

React to [color]this post[/color] with the emoji of your chosen faction in the ARK Discord to gain a special role.

The faction with the most pledges at the end of the contest will receive a special community reward.
[hr][/hr]


We’ve just rolled out a major version update alongside Lost Colony, so be sure to check out the full patch notes.
We’ve identified a memory leak on Lost Colony and the team is actively iterating on a fix, with a patch coming soon. Our LiveOps crew is closely monitoring things post-launch and working through player reports to address bugs and other issues. Your reports are helping us prioritize fixes and improvements, and we appreciate everyone who continues to share feedback.



We’re aiming to roll out a second wave of Official Lost Colony servers later today, alongside a deployment to address a crash. We’ll aim to give at least thirty minutes’ notice, so keep an eye on the announcements in our if you’re waiting on the server drop.

We’ll continue actively monitoring performance and stability, with ongoing updates aimed at improving the overall experience for players.



To meet demand for Lost Colony, we plan to release a small amount of new Official Lost Colony servers on:

• December 19
  
• March 2nd 

There will be a combination of PvE and PvP game modes, along with some temporary “Expire” servers.

These Expire servers will be online until August 11th 2025. We're hosting some additional sessions that players can travel onto to farm, tame, and experience the Lost Colony gameplay. The same transfer restrictions apply in that you are only able to download your character, but you can freely take anything off. This is to help reduce load off some of the other servers, or provide players an option for those who just want to jump onto Lost Colony temporarily.

Please note that these servers will no longer exist after August 11, so if you intend to use them, remember to transfer your items/creatures/characters off before that date as nothing will be saved beyond that time period

[hr][/hr]
[p][/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]Plunge through the icy heart of darkness as you reunite with old legends, while rekindling hope for the next generation. ARK: Lost Colony bridges the gap between Extinction and ARK 2 with the most ambitious narrative experience in the franchise's history.

Find out all the details here!

[hr][/hr]

The Official Network will be receiving bonus rates! It will be active until [color]Monday, January 5[/color].

• [color]PVP/PVE:[/color] 2x Harvesting, Taming, and Experience, and Breeding
  
• [color]Small Tribes:[/color] 4.5x Harvesting, Taming, and Experience + 4x Breeding
  
• [color]ARKpocalypse:[/color] 5x Harvesting, Taming and Experience, and Breeding
  

[hr][/hr]

[center] Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form [/center]

[color][h2]Creator: Serekai Survives[/h2][/color]
Serakai made a comprehensive overview to help you on your way to tame the new Lost Colony creatures, find the Lost Colony armor cosmetics and how to deal with all of the new mechanics.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[color][h2]Creator: The AxeMan[/h2][/color]
Axeman shows how to tame the Aureliax!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]˗ˏˋ ✸ ˎˊ˗ by @WolfTek7[/h2]


[h2]Krampus by @falco_luna[/h2]


[h2]Ark Lost Enforcer by @StudiosGoji[/h2]


[h2]The Auditor by @TekARK_01[/h2]


[h2]I kept wondering about that Gloon's ability in Lost Colony by @zondeeee730[/h2]


[h2]Merry Christmas by @ohatumuu[/h2]



[h2]Photo Mode by .missowl.[/h2]


[h2]Let's have fun at the Christmas carousel by bubu_0815[/h2]


[h2]It's not snowy everywhere at Christmas! by lolsatlance[/h2]


[h2]Photo Mode by the.handyman.builds[/h2]


[h2]Photo Mode by undead.kitten[/h2]


Enjoy your weekend!
Studio Wildcard

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