Dear Funcom Team,
I’ve had my eye on this game since it’s release on May 2018. Once I finally got my hands on it about 2-3 months ago, I’ve had a hard time putting it down.
That being said, your beautiful games has a lot of issues on console.
I understand that many players are on PC and I’ve seen a lot of improvements to the game on that platform. However, the love feels a bit lost on our side. Many players, including myself, have become increasingly frustrated with aspects of the game. Most notably the slow load times (before and during gameplay) common lags and frequent crashes. I understand this is still a new game and perfection takes time. However, when hot fixes and updates hits for PC we are right to assume that the same effort will be applied to the other platforms. I’ve done my best to keep up with the game on all fronts and stay as optimistic as possible. Alas, seeing what seems like favoritism is a bit discouraging. Feel free to prove me wrong (i’d like to be wrong in this case)
Building in Conan Exiles is such a joy for me! I can get on the game and spend hours just building nonsense only leaving to collect materials and kill for food or find thralls/pets. (More on that latter) However, there’s a catch to this. The game space it MASSIVE. So naturally we want to go big. Whether it be right away or over time. In the case of my family and I, we like to build what we call “The Compound”. This culminates to a huge base every time we’ve built it. (Total of 5 times now between all of the servers we’ve been on. Private, Official and Custom) Whenever we return, loading of The Compound takes ages. The wall commonly appears to have holes in it, witch really triggers me as I am the one who spearheaded that particular project. Often, this slow load will cause the game to crash and in some cases you cannot load back into the server after this crash. You have wait upwards to five minutes before you have a solid chance rejoin. This kills the immersion outright and really ruins gameplay and in the case of not being able to rejoin, can easily end the gaming for the day or longer. Sometimes this slow loading / lag / crash will result in items vanishing or being moved such as my friend’s trebuchet that vanished off the top of a tower. Or the time J. J. was relocated to under 2 runs of foundation in the spot he was last standing. Or better still, my brother’s naked carpenter thrall working without his bench.
If we are allowed to build big, it should feel like a punishment for doing so.
Combat it awesome, when it works. Every time I log into the game, my normal practice is to stand next to my bed and remove the bracelet twice. I do this twice because the first death after you join the server is always bugged. The game freezes, skipping over the countdown and option to pick your respawn point. This causes us to respawn in the desert. This is why I remove the bracelet again to trurn home and collect my things. Then it’s breakfast. After all of this, I set out on my adventures. I always take J. J. the Greater Jag with me. He tends to save me in battle because even in a 1v1 I tend to get beat out by the lag. He’s a good boy. God forbid I end up in a moshpit. If i don’t have my guard on point for the lag, it’s an ‘L’ for me. Boss fights? Forget it. I wont even attemp them cause they cause so much skip I spend most of the fight in guard or standing still eating hits. I wont even know I’ve died until I respawn after the freeze. I may have found ways to combat the lag but for some of my friends and family that play like the Spartans they are, this is a HUGE turn off. There are other games, older and more recent games, with similar combat without this issue at all.
These battles are more often than not, epic. That feeling is ruined when the game decides its had enough of you and throws ice on your screen.
I’ve watched loads of gameplay on YouTube. interviews and patch notes reviews. Updates and the like, yet I’ve noticed one common tidbit in it all. Their on PC. Reading the forums and tweets from other console players, the call is loud and clear. Please give console platforms more effort and attention. We like this game too. Hell, I LOVE it but it’s these details that are slowly ruing the experience. I want to pull more players in as the server we play on has all but died. (Witch is a bitter-sweet thing really. Much more peaceful but less people to enjoy the game with) I want to have the an experience as smooth as my PC counterparts. It doesn’t have to be the same as one another but it shouldn’t be night and day like it is. An update / hotfix should be released on all platforms with the same amount of love and effort. If not together, within weeks of one another. It pains me to see / hear people say they hate this game because it “freezes too much” or because of the lag or even because no one else is on.
Iv’e reached out on the game’s twitter pages @ConanExiles and @ConanExilesPS4 asking about these topics in a very respectful manner with no reply. Only to see not even five minutes later they have posted or replied or retweeted something else. Being that I have worked in a similar field, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed here. All feedback should have a response to it in a professional manner. You may not agree or even like what is being said or asked but every customer deserves attention. This will help your image and may even help your product and brand. No one is ignored, word of mouth and your image on social media is huge.
I’ve seen so much down talk on this game but in the same threads so much praise. Yet the one thing no on can deny are these issues. There is more baggage to this but I will not address that here. I just want to make my case to you Funcom. Please, show console some love. Give us all the same level of attention. Save this game that WE ALL love and put a warming blanket on it.
Happily Exiled,
RedDSW01 - PSN