I think many of the vocal people on the forums reflect a different play style than the common masses. They view the game as an MMO criss between something like World of War craft crossed with Minecraft. They invest time, feel a sense of ownership, and enjoy the building, raiding, etc. To them this is a long term game.
However, to the masses, to those not as heavily invested, this game is just a survival horror game. You play it, you enjoy it, and you move on. It’s not something people sink years into and honestly, Funcom’s pricing strategy doesn’t match a true MMO’s structure.
So I’m not surprised people left. Nor do i think pets or sorcery will pull a lot back. We would need to see some major DLC like a new map area to really pull people back. This game though,it’s running it’s course and the drop in players reflects that.
Yeah, i should have explained that better. It was the feedback i got from talking to the people who played on my server. They say that they will not return to the game because pvp is not fun or there are to many bugs.
I do understand that it could change… i just don’t know if they think that way.
Hi Fingah, you are right about most of the things you say, these game tend to go up and down. The many million copies you are referring to for the other survival games are spread out over mutiple years, so do the spikes in player. However in the case of CE, the 1.5 Million copies are sold over a couple of months with the bulk being just after leaving official EA and entering unofficial EA(or release is how Funcom calls it), to have several thousands players(lets be very generous and say 4%) out of 1.5 Million buyers after 4 months is rather remarkably and not many games have achieved that. And in the games you mentioned they actually have an active dev(who like their game) community talking to the players, not so much here. Simply put: take a look at the dev tracker, look at the frequency they reply, but then look into the content of the replies… You tell me if something is wrong here. Just look at the streams, do you see dedicated people who are proud of their game? Or do you see people being there because ‘it is their’ job, and are actually afraid of answering though questions, even afraid of showing to much because they know it is buggy af. I know what I see, some people see something else and that is their full right, but the numbers are equal to everyone.
I think Azhael’s (very astute) analysis is spot on. Yet this is exactly why I haven’t given up on the future of the game.
What I mean is this: Funcom has to be looking at the same (or similar) analytics. They must know this. And as frustrated and impatient as I am for bug fixes, I am not one of those who think FC is incompetent or stupid. I have to believe they realize that fixing the issues will benefit them as a company in the long run.
Admittedly, I don’t understand why it is taking so long, but then again I don’t know diddly about game coding. Anything more technologically sophisticated than a pop-up toaster is magic to me.
Cynics (and I often struggle not to find myself in that camp) may assume FC management takes the “we’ve already made a buttload of money on the game, let’s not waste much more effort on it” position. But I would think not; if for no other reason than to help sell future titles and/or DLC. Because obviously if they don’t eventually make the game I paid for function properly, I won’t do business with them again. Even the most short-sighted executive must know that as well.
I sincerely prefer to look at (good) examples of games that can be marketed without bugs as an integral part of your “package” and I do not consider that the practice is justified or worthy of understanding. In my history of buying games on ps4, I’ve never been faced with a case similar to CE involving these adversities. And for sure I hope this is never common practice in the gaming industry. It is preferable to postpone certain “official releases” in respect of consumers and the company’s own reputation and credibility.
We will not provide support for Conan Exiles at help.funcom.com/. Many of our customers have become accustom to the type of service we offer for our MMOs (Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, and Secret World Legends). However, this type of support is simply not possible for Conan Exiles for a number of reasons. The biggest and most important factor that contributed to this decision is the size of the player base. We are a small and dedicated support staff, and we simply can’t provide direct, personalized support to everyone.
Should that not be included as a warning to someone buying the game? Is it even legal in the EU to sell a software product and not provide support because you sold more than you can handle? Pretty strange reasoning if you ask me.
Basically what you are saying is that when I create an (unfinished)software program on my own, it becomes a sales success and I sell 1.5 million copies. After that I stop fixing problems and start adding some new stuff to sell even more, and to my customers I say: Sorry, thank you for your money but I’m still on my own here and I cannot give support because I did not hire additional people to provide support based on my sales… And no one can do anything about it?
You are right, It was closed by the automated system after 7 days.
I’m not sure where you see the warning that you will not receive support. You do realize that stopping support was somewhere in July?
You do not believe that people are leaving because they are getting no support? I could dig up multiple posts about people who clearly stated they are leaving the game because they did not receive support. But you are the one not believing it, so I’m not sure why I should bother. You do have the right to believe that, and I cannot be sure that it actually makes people leave, even if they come in here and post it. What would the reason be according to you? That after 4 months of going live the playerbase has dropped to one digit percentages.
You could not be more right, I would even say half of the problems are performance related. But what exactly is your point? We have to live with them and cannot complain because they are not doing anything about the performance that is clearly causing many of the issues players are experiencing? Or we cannot complain that instead of tackling those issues we are getting new content that will even be worse for overall performance? I’m failing to see your point tbh.
No, a good example in this sense is nothing subjective. When you buy a complete game on its official release date, you expect it to offer a stable and satisfying experience without the notable company of various “anomalies.” In short, a game can be really bad or annoying (which may suggest a subjective judgment), but it has to work “right”. It’s the minimum. Already the frequency and severity of these problems are part of a pattern - a bad standard - in the case of CE.
I do not pretend to say that all games should work perfectly always, but rather that bugs can occur occasionally or rarely, as long as the developer does their homework BEFORE marketing their product. But when this is part of the daily life of a game, it is good to evaluate the situation more carefully. Assigning responsibility to the consumer for not being “tolerant” or “patient” is absurd, since a game must meet certain expectations and basic criteria in its own operation.
As I said in another post, if this type of practice were to become “normal” in the gaming industry, this would generate unacceptable mistrust and insecurity among consumers. Every game purchased might or might not work properly on your system. Who in their right mind is interested in this “lottery”? Again, it is good to reinforce: I am not talking about temporary or occasional problems, but facing it every day. Likewise, I do not even consider it fair for you to invest your money in a “game” project that can (a possibility, not a fact) be realized in the future, except in case you are aware of these delicate circumstances.
It is already normal, and tbh I can live with it, every game has bugs. It is about how many, how obvious, how they can be perceived as gamebraking. In this case we speak about being cleary uncompleted at release and all the worst of the above on top of it. Now even here, I can still be ok if you are actually seeing the game being fixed, when you see they are commited, are communicative about it, do not want to hide it and most important that you actually receive support.
Hey man, since I’m the guy who hamfistedly caused that post, I feel I oughtta say something.
I got my hands on my first Apple at 17, and at 18 when I was a sophomore in college I got ahold of a “PC.” Since then, I’ve pretty much been supporting computers. That said, it took me 10 years to even believe I was capable of doing it professionally. Support is tough. I do believe, based on my track record here and elsewhere, that I could provide proper and effective solutions for Conan Exiles with nothing more exotic than a hand-rolled OSTicket or better. But I’m not running their shop, and they’re not in the support business.
With respect, just because they cannot provide support at the site I referenced, their common Help Gateway, does not mean Funcom does not support Conan Exiles. In fact, I have seen some extraordinary support from @Zing, who showed his chops at Steam even before he was hired. For many notable supportable incidents, he and Funcom often go unheralded. But like I said, they’re not in the Support field as a business interest, and he is only one man.
If there is more support from Funcom, in both the playing/consumption/joyfully making the most of the game, and more time spent in the active troubleshooting (thank you Zing for your dox in the Nerfed Vault thread), players will return. And I can confidently tell my friends the harassing bugs and glitches are being stamped out, while new content is being successfully deployed.
Hey Barnes, I might be completely wrong about Zing, but this is all I know: Blockading on servers
Ok my reaction is somewhat salty, rightfully so or not, I do not wanne get into that.
All I can say is that that was his first reply here after not posting anything for over 1 month, and is now no longer part of https://forums.funcom.com/groups/ConanExilesDev
That you should be getting unofficial support makes it even worse imo, that means that even employees are ashamed at the level of support officially given.
It’s cool, man. I wanted to friend him before he was hired by Funcom, he’s not fluffy and he’s actually support. You know it when you see it.
I really don’t think it’s my place to go into detail about support options for Conan Exiles, as I’ve already over-promised their help desk by a month. I think there are a few, in addition to the ad hoc help Zing can peel off.
Personally I don’t think you’re salty. I want my buds to stick around too.
Even considering that players can contribute to some of these problems, I believe that Funcom remains the main responsible because planning is also healthy for the future of a game and I believe that many players are victims of “failures” that simply should not be present in a complete game on its official release date.
I disagree with Skinny and Shadoza based on my purchases on ps4. As I said, CE was an unprecedented experience for me in this lamentable sense. If this were an “acceptable” or “usual” practice, people would not abandon this game justifiably because of their own experience or even simply seek out less “unpredictable” games (after all, there would be no choice or escape). In addition, there would be less complaint or protest in the forum as this would simply be “normal”.
I have higher (and fair) criteria for games bought in these circumstances. Perhaps the idea of this practice being “normal” involves more complicity or condescension of certain consumers… but a bad practice continues having the same character. Robberies can spread through a region as a frequent practice, but they remain thefts. And I’m sure that if this product were “better known” - in its real condition - prior to its purchase (at least on its official launch date) by all, that would drastically affect the number of sales of that game.
Hi Azhael, While I’m playing on PC, I have a daughter and so I also have Xbox, PS4 and Switch. For those platforms I would never accept the level of bugs or incompleteness of a game. On those platforms it is supposed to be finished and polished game, I fully understand that you cannot agree on the level of acceptance compared to PC players.
