It feels impossible to return when you have lost everything from being away… If you ever want ppl to return that should be one very important thing… Think fallout76 settlement system how you can put back down blueprints of what you had previously after you left. I’ve lost everything, I wanted to return pretty badly see the new changes… See if gems were still impossible to get. Everything is gone tho, all my chests and machines, all the grindy annoying work… reset. I’m not going through that hell again, and I doubt anyone else is willing either. So it doesn’t matter that the game is improving… the people you lost have no reason to return. Thats why numbers are dwindling…even when you fix things, those who got expired…have no reason to come back. Not through all that grind. items are far more important than lvls are. They can make the difference between a 10 hour grind and a 1 hour grind, and losing all those machines, items, its just like when my house decayed on UO. No matter how badly I wanted to come back: I never did, because it wasn’t worth it.
One thrill of mine in the game is to beacon hunt. I know many others who do as well. It’s pretty easy to fuel your beacon if you play AND If you don’t. Four months on one fuel cell. One case someone was gone on duty. We got his beacon fueled by James.
What level were you and what did you lose? I’m sure I can help you out and give the important items to you. You will need to build a new base tho!
I was actually able to buy GC for the guy that was on duty 
was narcissisticanick from anvil. Was my home town. Still have a base or two there.
Amen my Brother if not for the burned out beacons hunt I would quit.
Hey I was watching that one thanks for the heads up I can move on now.
If it’s smoking again I’ll have to see what’s up. I bought it a few months back for 3 months. I know he was playing again just a week ago saw him talking in guild chat.
No I just used to watch him and figured he quit but if you got it thats cool. Im still a lil salty you beat me to VerucaKatt lol jk
Yea just checked with him and he’s got GC for at least the rest of the year. So it’s a visual bug.
yep known bug then GC member see flame
no GC members see no flame on certain beacons
pretty weird stuff
when i was having trouble with this i have a feeling its the beacons that had low flame that where put on to GC
but can be totally wrong though
I just keep my beacons underground, harder for people to camp them 
I agree with OP though. I played ARK for ages, and then there was a week rollback on the server I played, and I didn’t know because I was off for a few days, and it messed up my logging days to keep things active…and I lost everything. I haven’t really played since.
I had this issue but i decided to sell my land before i knew i was going.
That way i had some cash on hand if i ever was returning.
I was strolling around yesterday for the 2nd time this year and noticed i could get all my coils, and a start up materials for very cheap now… so there is that.
Should be able to pick most of them up for less than 1,000 each
just find a active group off players and your up your feet in olmost no time
people are very inviting to new players and even might offer things for you to join there build its actually quite easy
i think if you shout anybody got a spare house on this forum it would probably work lol
I think it’s bad when someone describes a problem with the game and those still here tell the person they don’t think it’s hard to keep a beacon fueled, so its their own fault they lost their stuff, and besides, those still here like it when someone forgets to fuel a beacon so those still here can take all their stuff.
I agree it is a problem contributing to people leaving and not coming back.
I think it feels bad to people who lost their stuff, and even if someone gives them a house, it might not feel like their own place.
It would be far better for the game for all the expired beacon hunters to quit if it meant easing the pain of players who lost everything to regeneration. The vast majority of those people who lost significant resources are never coming back.
It may be simple to fuel beacons, but it requires you to play the game. That itself is a significant hurdle. There’s probably a psychology term for it. People who haven’t played the game for a month are not thinking about it and don’t necessarily even know that they will want to come back in 6 months.
I mean no disrespect here at all, so don’t take it bad… but, isn’t it the game by design? If I remember in a description I read once says that builds can expire and regen, leaving them there for people to raid?
I have gleam club, but the greater beacon fuels last 3+months. I would suggest putting an alarm on your phone as a reminder, especially if you take breaks.
That being said, I would be devastated if I lost everything to regen… but I would consider it my own fault. If I took a break I would ask someone to fill my beacons or I would log in myself. Also, I’ve found people really helpful in “taking care” of beacons for players who take a break. I’ve also seen people rise up and help people out who have lost everything.
I know a lot of people explore planets and watch beacons that are going to expire. It’s just another way to play the game.
I guess what I’m trying to say, is I see your point that is discouraging for people, but it’s the game by design so I don’t think it’s fair to treat it as something bad. One persons bad day could be someone else’s great day!
Oh… one option that people can do if they need to take a break and they can’t or don’t know when they can log in… you have 10 character spots available. You can fill each ones inventory with all the things that matter… coils, machines, high value blocks, crafting mats. You might not be able to hold everything, but definitely what you need to restart.
Of course it’s by design. By now I think it’s evident that it’s a bad design.
Setting alarms (and taking action when (if) you see the alarm go off), getting help from other players, paying for gleam club indefinitely, planning your leave in advance: these are all actions of hardcore privileged players.
The typical player, and some percentage of hardcore players, will do none of these things, and lose everything. Sure, it’s their own fault, and most of them probably recognize that. But that doesn’t change the feeling of devastation and dread at starting over, leading a player that might have returned to abandon the game entirely.
not really hard to post here and ask someone to keep eye out to be honest
def will find volunteers the system will never change thats for sure