Access to Old Battle Pass Content

Jiggly · 2023-09-23T11:36:46.557Z

Hi all,

I’ve scrolled through the forums and wanted to make a concise thread for the discussion of old BP content.

Many don’t like Battle Passes, but I think they are a current reality for games, and it’s very important for Funcom to continue to make money from Conan. I fully support means of increasing revenue from the game (that also funds more content for us!).

However, I have played a fair amount (1800+ hours), and found that I’ve pretty much walked away from the game and Funcom due to the battle pass. I’m not against the battle pass in itself, but the inability to ever get the content from it once the season ends.

This FOMO has stopped me from playing, and stopped me from spending on the game.

I also find the idea weird of generating new (time-gated) content every season, that players cannot then buy later. AKA, content is produced, can only generate income in a limited time span, and no additional revenue can be earned from it again.

I am no expert in this, though.
I do understand FOMO is part of how players are encouraged to spend money, but it’s also discouraging.

Would it be possible for the old BP content to be made available again in limited “events” or sales, say once a year? Other games/companies have used methods like this to keep this content somewhat “exclusive”, but not completely unobtainable for new players, or players who were unable to do the BP that one season (for me it was PC issues and lack of funds for season 1 & 2).

If I was told I could earn/spend to get that content in time-limited sales later, I would be significantly more tempted to start spending on the game again.

What does everyone else think?

Tephra · 2023-09-23T11:48:43.639Z

I think there should be a time between Ages that gives Funcom the chance to catch up on unfinished content, focus on bug fixes, and properly prepare for the next Age, and a time when players can rerun former Battle Passes.

Jiggly · 2023-09-23T11:53:39.687Z

That’s a really interesting idea! I actually love it!

Taemien · 2023-09-23T13:11:09.854Z

Jiggly:

This FOMO has stopped me from playing, and stopped me from spending on the game.

I’m trying to figure this out, as I’ve had friends who have said things similar. And while I am no fan of FOMO myself, to suddenly quit over it doesn’t make sense to me. Especially after nearly 2,000 hours. Here’s some points that I like to ask about.

First up is if FOMO is that much of a deterrent, what caused you to start playing in the first place? The reason I ask is this game had a pre-order bonus. If you got the game in early access you got access to Conan’s Royal Armor. If you bought the collectors edition you got the Atlantean Sword. Those are are not available anymore from official sources. Some have argued that pre-order keys still exist, but those sources are shrinking and are coming from more and more sketchy origins that its getting more and more possible to get scammed. I mean would we be ok if battlepass items were available through ‘black market’ types where you might get it or might just get scammed? I don’t think so. I know I wouldn’t.

Next is lets say we got all of our updates we’ve gotten since Age of Sorcery but minus anything in the Battlepass and minus any Bazaar items, and no new DLCs, just the free content that we’ve gotten already and all the patches therein. Would the game actually be that much better for you?

Now I hope you don’t take this response as a criticism, because that is not the intention. I want to point out that I have my own issues with how the Battlepasses and Bazaar are handled. And personally I have not spent any amount on Conan Exiles since the Nemedian DLC. I have purchased no Crom Coin what so ever.

I do also agree that old battlepass items should be made available. Not only from a player’s point of view, but I also think that it just doesn’t make any sense to put in all that effort by the artists and modelers, to just make them unavailable forever thereafter. I mean we have some really great items from Age of Sorcery Chapter one and two for example that a new player starting today simply can’t get. For reasons.

FOMO in that case is pointless because fear of missing out doesn’t work if the player is ignorant or isn’t even a player yet. What kind of business practice goes, “if you’ve never heard of this, you will never get to buy it.”

Nintendo still makes quite a bit of money from its older titles developed nearly 40 years ago. Why not make money off of development from a year ago? I don’t get that. I don’t see how the tactic even mathematically makes sense.

Jiggly · 2023-09-23T13:28:11.509Z

Really useful points raised there, thank you.

I believe the FOMO is more from sheer volume of the items and amount I’ve missed, as opposed to 1-2 items. Personally, I did indeed play early access, right in it’s earliest days but have felt no qualms over missing out on the console exclusive preorder item (I was PC). It was only 1 item, and I wasn’t overly fussed by that particular design.

I went on to buy every single DLC released afterwards, though.

I started playing with friends, then moved to a more solo/build playstyle as time went on (most ofc play with clans and on PvP servers as well, so I don’t represent a majority of players). The playstyle I evolved to is more centered around creative builds, than most other aspects of the game. This means the cosmetics are naturally my favourite thing!

I wouldn’t like black market options either, as you say. I’d much prefer a solution that allows me to support the devs etc. I also absolutely love a lot of the new content, and the variety is fantastic. I would not want to remove the BP from the game. As I said in my OP, I think the BP is necessary. It has it’s place and it’s a lovely way to bring out new content, especially if the DLCs aren’t performing well enough.

I haven’t suddenly dropped the game per se (I’ve logged in here and there and still have it installed). I’ve barely touched the game this year, though. My old drive to play just disappears when I realise some of the new content that looks awesome, is completely unobtainable because I missed the boat. My own fault, but I’m aware it’s not just me. I went through a lot of the forums before making this post and found a mixture of old players, and new players that shared my interest to see access to old BP content again for various reasons.

I 100% agree with what you say about the artists and modelers efforts. From a financial point of view, is the exclusivity of these items really where the best money maker is? This is a sandbox after all, so I don’t think that model applies as well to Conan as it does to other game genres.

Exclusivity / Fomo driven purchases are the only reasons I can think of that Funcom wouldn’t want to make that content available again in some way. But is there not some compromise that could work well for Conan?

Taemien · 2023-09-23T13:57:03.044Z

A few things Funcom needs to do on this subject. First being with the bazaar they need to increase the functionality to include a section where you can search for any item that has been released and you can purchase them at any time. The rotating storefront can be kept for bundles and sales. This is pretty much an industry standard in most games. The limited time availability and exclusion (FOMO) practice is just counter productive. You have customers today, with money ready to spend… with no availability of the product they want. Anyone who takes a basic business course learns that this is lost revenue.

Next is add old battlepass items to the bazaar. Even add them as a bundle. Even better is a way for players to purchase and complete them after they’ve run. I mean you’ve effectively making money off of items people originally got for free by this method. Right now if I do Ch 2 Age of War BP without buying it, I get a number of free materials. With no crom coin spent, FC doesn’t make a dime. But a few months from now, if someone were to want those items and they’re willing to pay for it. Then why not? I’m not exactly against the idea of a battlepass, I just don’t like the exclusive way it is handled.

Next is add the pre-order items and twitch drops to the bazaar. I mean like I said in my above post, what sense does it make to let all that effort go to waste? There’s people with money, right now, willing to purchase many of these things. Like sure, allow the twitch drops to go out to help content creators for a while first to drive the hype on their channels and whatnot. But after a while when there’s no way to obtain these things, offer them for sale.

Also I’m certain that those who purchased these pre-orders in the past have well gotten their exclusive feel worn off by now. I have them and have no issue with others being able to buy them. Right now Everquest for example has House of Thule expansion pre-order items for sale as a “Collectors Edition Revival Pack” and they’ve done this with several of their past expansion pack pre-order stuff. And let me tell you… they have ALOT of expansion pre-order stuff they can make money on, its a gold mine considering the game has like nearly 30 expansions over 24 years. There are people who are buying it who literally weren’t even born yet when it was initially released.

FC needs to think about that. You could make money off of customers who aren’t even alive yet with these suggestions down the road. Items that are always available are always selling.

Noqturn · 2023-09-23T14:12:46.576Z

In every single game battle pass works the same as it is in Conan.
You missed out? Too bad.
Battle Pass is a way for us to support the game, and in exchange we get these funny gadgets and also something to do while we grind for them.

If all that was available then what would be the difference between battle pass and bazaar?

If these ever get put in the bazaar then I won’t buy another battle pass. I wan’t my things to be BP only
“I was there in 2023 supporting the game, see this shiny? You will never have it muhahhahha”

Jiggly · 2023-09-23T14:13:01.323Z

I love some of the suggestions you’ve mentioned!

There’s a couple other factors to consider too:

Some people only spend money on a BP if they think there’s no other way to get that item, and they’re not able to sink in the time to get it for free. E.g. Say it’s the last few days of the BP. If you know you can get it very easily later, that destroys that sense of “urgency” to buy (a well known concept in marketing).
Some players will be very angry that they worked hard, or bought content early, to find someone else can get it later very easily.

However, there’s lots of ways to maintain “urgency” and keep some level of exclusivity. The BPs haven’t been out long enough to cause much anger from players who got that content first. If it’s going to be done, it needs to be done sooner rather than later. (Happy to hear opposing views on this ofc).

Funcom has a lot of options here, I just want them to implement one that allows players like me to enjoy the game fully, and feel like Conan is a “good investment”. I’ve spent a lot of dollars on this game and it’s off-putting to find out I can’t access a bunch of the cosmetic content. What is there to keep me playing if I’ve missed the boat on content I wanted?

Tephra · 2023-09-23T14:15:28.037Z

Funcom have already said they will never add Battle Pass content to the Bazaar.

Do not ask them to do something they will not do.

They did say they might reconsider not allowing you to rerun old Battle Passes depending on feedback.

Do ask them to do something they might actually do.

Jiggly · 2023-09-23T14:19:35.474Z

This is exactly the viewpoint I wanted someone to provide on this.

Although, BPs are NOT the same in every game. I would recommend researching a bit more on this. There’s actually a massive variety in how different games do BP, across all kinds of genres.

The “too bad, you missed out” mentality doesn’t solve the problem for anyone. BUT, there are plenty of other solutions other than just making everything easily purchasable via the Bazaar.

Personally I don’t think it should be easily made available in the bazaar. Events or other ways to “earn” that content would be much better. WoW for example has done this with time-gated content. They made the drop-chance of old content extremely low and difficult to earn, but crucially still accessible. This means the “Oh look I have a shiny” value is kept. This isn’t a giant MMO though, so I don’t think that mental attitude is as prevalent among the playerbase (I could be wrong and would love to see more opinions on this thread).

WoW have also done the opposite and released extremely exclusive, and high value content for free. Personally I think that was a big F. Definitely not the way to do it.

Putting exclusivity aside, there may be means to actually INCREASE the revenue Funcom earns from the seasonal content. As we’ve all said, the battle pass is here to stay and that should be the case. Putting everyone on the bazaar probably isn’t the solution either (otherwise what’s the point of the BP?)

Jiggly · 2023-09-23T14:21:16.614Z

Yes! Rerunning the BP or doing some kind of earnable event would be far better, and I’m aware they might do this based on player feedback. Hence, this is my player feedback!

Taemien · 2023-09-23T14:37:49.919Z

Tephra:

Do not ask them to do something they will not do.

I’m going to do the exact same thing this community did with mounts. Not only did they say they wouldn’t add them, but that it would be nearly impossible with the current (at the time) map tech they had.

Tephra · 2023-09-23T14:46:29.937Z

They never said they would not add mounts. Mounts were always an intended feature. They only said they couldn’t implement them due to issues they caused, which were eventually overcome.

heaven13 · 2023-09-23T16:22:22.681Z

I’d love to run an old battlepass (AoS chapter 1; I was gifted Conan right after Chapter 2 released) and would even pay the Crom coins to get the full thing just like we do with the current ones.

Oduda · 2023-09-23T17:32:54.088Z

Tephra:

I think there should be a time between Ages that gives Funcom the chance to catch up on unfinished content, focus on bug fixes, and properly prepare for the next Age, and a time when players can rerun former Battle Passes.

Unfortunately they have make it clear that they are beholden to their Age system and they have to stick to it. Thus, they need to consider an Age of Rediscovery. An Age where they rediscover the lost pieces of missing sets and they rediscover the means to fix broken aspects of the game. 3 full chapters dedicated to fleshing out all of the sets that have been released but were incomplete. 3 full chapters dedicated to fixing known issues. 3 full chapters dedicated to fixing balance issues WITHIN weapon classes (example: Spears - if there are 2 of them are out of balance from the rest, adjust those to make them inline with the rest but not revamp spears as a whole). This would keep them in line with their dedication to their Ages and also allow them to focus on things that they actually need to. This would also allow them to make items for the Battle Pass that were not themed around ONE culture or ONE theme, but just random things that they wanted to or that they happened to have kicking around that they weren’t able to include previously. The BLB can even include some of the early content at discounted prices for newer players who might not have been around at the start of it or older players who simply missed it but might want to consider it now that it’s back and “on sale”.

Noqturn:

In every single game battle pass works the same as it is in Conan.
You missed out? Too bad.

Not true actually. For example, in Gems of War, a game I play as well, they have a battle pass system which has a “free side” and a “pay side”. The pay side includes new troops of legendary and mythic level as well as new pets. If you do not pay for that pass that month, you do not get those troops / pets. Seems like what you are saying right? WRONG! In about 6 months time they start to become available in their crafting method in which even if you are 100% free to play you can eventually craft those troops using in game items and never pay a single $. Sure, you gotta wait half a year, maybe 8 months due to rotation, but the fact is that they WILL become available to everyone. So no, not every game is that way. Though I do agree that the vast majority of them are.

Tephra:

Funcom have already said they will never add Battle Pass content to the Bazaar.

Do not ask them to do something they will not do.

They have said they might add items similar to the Battle Bass items to the BLB but with different skins. I do not know if they ever have or not. Well, I think that Arcane Curio thing was one item, but I honestly don’t really pay any attention to the BLB so I am not really one to say how often they have or have not done so.

Kapoteeni · 2023-09-25T10:37:27.245Z

Tephra:

Funcom have already said they will never add Battle Pass content to the Bazaar.

Do not ask them to do something they will not do.

In my experience, in game development, “never” happens sooner than Soon™.

Also worth noting that releasing earlier BP contents is something Funcom is “not considering at this time”, but not something they would absolutely never do. If I had to guess, they might start selling old BP content after they’ve exhausted the current monetization model, ie. when they stop releasing new battle passes.

Koschgine · 2023-09-25T10:59:02.514Z

If the pass items would be available later on, i believe the pass sales would go down hard. I know i wouldn’t buy it because of 2-3 interesting items if i can get them later without all of the other trash they have put in the passes.

Maybe it’s just me but i feel they should be available only during the chapter, you want it you buy it then. If you start playing later, that’s just too bad.

tin_egg · 2023-09-25T11:52:24.155Z

Tephra:

I think there should be a time between Ages that gives Funcom the chance to catch up on unfinished content

Judging by the latest developments from AoW onward every first 2 chapters of a new Age will be de facto considered “time between the Ages” - a six month gap with little-to-none new meaningful content

heaven13 · 2023-09-25T13:57:31.818Z

But what if you had to play through the battlepass again later and still spend the Crom coins on it? Not “we piecemeal it out” like you’re talking about, just that you can go back to do the battlepass later if you missed it?

People like you, who only want a couple things, don’t feel like you were forced into getting it all early and people who did miss out, for whatever reason, don’t feel like they’re stuck without some of that really nice stuff. (I hate that I missed AoS chapter 1; it’s so far looked like the best of the bunch and even had buildings sets! I didn’t even know Conan existed before a friend gifted it to me, as I’d never ventured into the survival genre.)

system · 2023-10-02T13:58:11.128Z

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