Disclaimer: Just some thoughts. Long. No real information here.
So there they are, signs of life in Conan Exiles development. Well.
A while ago i (and two friends of mine and of course a lot of other people) lost all progress due to a complete server wipe (#2014 PvE), blame Funcom.
Then I lost a good deal of thralls after reverting the holiday timers (on different servers), blame Funcom.
Then i lost all stuff in benches (PvE!) on some servers thanks to server misconfiguration, blame Funcom.
Ok then, I like this game and prefer official servers for PvE for some reason, so I donāt care that much.
I started a new game on Siptah, this time I thought try something new (for me). No permanent structures other than a 3x3 workshop. No decorations. No senseless thrall collecting, if I find a better crafter the old one had to go. One decent companion is enough, donāt do purges anyway. Explore the world of pets, had them neglected since they was introduced.
First observation: a Cobra Alpha is quite useful. Can survive quite well on its own without babysitting. Does not block your view or get in the way. Unobtrusive. I like it.
Then Turtles: I must have one, just for the soothing effect watching them aimlessly wandering around. But of course a big one. Had luck the fourth try, nice. I build a small (but not to small) pen (thus violating my own permanent structure rule) so I know every time I come back to the base where I have to look at, but then I noticed something.
The big one seems not very happy. He/she bounces his head at one corner and tries desperately to get out. I thought maybe someone at Funcom was actually aware they like to go to the sand/water (my base was super close to some) and programmed a preferred direction of movement. Lets check. The moment I set the creature free it moved quite fast (for a turtle) away, nothing aimlessly here.
Hereās its route:
The turtle wandered determined and unharmed through a fight of twice-drowned and a blood crystal rocknose, ignores the Rotbranch vs. wolves fight
and came finally to a halt at the edge of a cliff seen at the map marker above.
Now how get the critter back? Like cats you can set them to follow but they do what they want and not what you want. I canāt use ārescueā, the game tells me repeatedly it could not find its location.
So pick up and place it is. Which took me a long time because you now, the allowed distance is not very far. And pickup is hard with it constantly moving in the wrong direction and you have to use a gamepad. And i had to take a detour because other players landclaim. And the Rotbranch (No gear, no level, no decent thrall available, and it ignores the turtle but not me of courseā¦)
But why not give it up and simply grow another one? Canāt do it. You are responsible for a pet. Virtual or not. Canāt.
So finally here it is back at home, with family. I decide he is a he and named him Odysseus, given his journey.
So whatās the future? I read that there is a server merging on Consoles on the way. Given my recent luck I would not be surprised when I will lose again some things that reminded me of enjoying the time playing this game. Which is kind of okay because I donāt own or pay for the official servers.
Final conclusion (for now at least): I realised I spend way to much time but not enough money (rent own server) on Conan Exiles. Maybe itās time for me to spend neither (for a while?). I donāt know.