Advice on what to do about a clan member?

[AngryPotato]

Hey folks,

Just looking for some advice on what to do. In my heart I kindof know the answer, but I don’t want to jump the gun.

I added a clan member about two months ago. I was already a veteran lvl 60 with a well-established base, he seemed like a really nice noob (he was lvl 20 at the time). So I added him, equipped him, helped him run some dungeons but mostly he’s just been exploring and doing his own thing - he’s an RPer, and has his own little base around New Asgarath.

In this time he has put not one single item into the “common” benches/chests in the main clan base. I have equipped him countless times because he keeps doing dumb things like dying and not recovering his gear, or taking my personal buffing Crystalline/Lotus Golem to fight against Cimmerians, or letting thralls die from the DNBO system because he lets them take 3 strikes. Each of these times he dies with a full Beast of Burden inventory.

I have asked him on many occasions to log out naked, because although we are only on PVE-C there are many active PVPers and the risk of getting killed in your sleep is high - whether it’s from gas or people glitching through walls or whatever. He’s been gassed several times and lost countless items as a result. I have also warned him several times about the temperature bug*.

Anyways, last night he died again - this time to the temperature bug. A full Beast of Burden inventory of 4-5 complete sets of epic armor he took from the clan coffers, at least 6 legendary weapons, Khari bow, saddles, armor scraps (that never get put into the clan armor bench), pure aloe potions, 20-stack of skeleton keys, etc.

Any time I try and explain something to him about more complex game workings he says he’s just on to play and have fun.
I’ve been playing a long-ass time, and re-farming this stuff is not a big deal to me. I have more than enough gear to keep equipping several players. This is more of a matter of principle - I’m getting tired of people just take-take-taking things that I have worked for and never contributing or even simply asking what they can contribute. Like he’ll just casually take a stack of 20 skeleton keys that took me hours to farm.

So should I just kick him from the clan? It’s an especially brutal thing to do in Conan Exiles and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had to do it in 7+ years. He will lose everything: his base, horse, thralls, etc.
Waiting days to catch him online so I can talk to him is futile since in that time he will have re-equipped himself several times, and he’ll just say he doesn’t want to bother with details because he’s just here “to have fun”.

(*sometimes despite wearing appropriate armour/being in a temperature protected dwelling, you will lose your temperature protection and die. This bug has existed for years)

[Beharion]

Do you have any idea how old he is? Sounds like a teenager to me. I actually wouldn’t accept someone into my clan I don’t know at all. Remove him from your clan and then dismantle his base so you can return the building materials and everything else that was in his base - it may be inconvenient, but it would be very fair to him and honorable of you, Angry.

I wouldn’t do that again in the future if I were you. Giving someone who’s completely new a full set of starting gear upon request is always cool, and I think it should be done frequently on official servers by established players; but it’s completely different than accepting them into your clan right away. And I could also imagine that the boy will stop playing pretty soon once he realizes how exhausting the grind in Conan Exiles can be when you have to earn everything yourself.

EDIT: If you want as many people as possible in your clan to increase the number of your thralls/pets, I’m happy to log into your server and join your clan. My character will then remain a “dormant” character who will definitely not actively play and thus will never require any resources … However, the prerequisite would be that you play on a PC based server.

[AngryPotato]

He’s in his 30s.

The problem is that the clan system is very poorly implemented in CE, for both prospective clan members and clan leaders. It’s a huge risk for everyone.

As a clan leader you are directly responsible for everything every one of your clan members does. If they build an enormous land claim, exploit, harass someone or say something racist the entire clan gets banned. At any time any clan member can destroy all structures, delete thralls, or just take anything they want from any clan container.

As a clan member you face the exact same risk, but also can lose everything but the shirt on your back - including all pets, buildings and thralls - taken away at any moment (even a split-second after joining a clan).

This game has/had incredible potential but is in this sorry state because nobody at Funcom has ever actually played the game on Official Servers, nor have they ever listened to player feedback.

---

*EDIT: Thank you very much for the offer but I would never take you up on it. I can vouch for myself: I’m an honest, fair player that has never built a huge land claim, exploited or harrassed anyone… but by joining a random clan on a random server you are taking a huge risk! What if, for example, one of my clanmates starts posting racist rants in Global chat? You will get banned from Official Servers as well. This is what I mean: the entire clan system is implemented so poorly. FFS, adding a clan member is like legally adopting someone IRL.

[Kikigirl]

I would kick him as a precaution before the following: thank him for joining you but that you’re incompatible, dismantle his base and give him the materials.

If he asks for further elaboration be honest and wish him well.

I’ve done it for similar things, not easy but is what it is.

[Beharion]

@ Angry: Yes, the clan system really isn’t very sexy.

I actually once took advantage of it to destroy a clan on an official PvP server from within. In my defense I’d like to point out that they were a bunch of pretty annoying snotty slobs, and they only let me in because they mistakenly thought I was a “like-minded person”. But in the end it was all just a masquerade of mine.

Do you have a more concrete idea of ​​what you’re going to do now? Perhaps speaking plainly one very last time with him would help? I don’t assume, based on your description, that he would suddenly switch to a completely erratic act of revenge against you and your clan.

[AngryPotato]

No, he won’t do any "revenge’ type thing.

Honestly though at this point I have equipped him so many times that it would annoy the hell out of me to have to do it again.
And I’m not even talking about your “typical” 1 set of Redeemed Legion, star metal pickaxe, stack of concentrated aloe pots and a single legendary weapon - which is what you would expect someone to gear themselves with if they were taking from clan coffers.

He died with about 5 complete sets of epic armor, a half dozen legendaries, stack of 20 skeleton keys, saddles, etc. He’ll just grab all this stuff again with zero consideration for how long it takes to farm. Each time he dies he makes Pride of Aesir for illusions FFS. I guess I should be thankful he’s not RPing in Godbreaker?
My buffing golem he got killed last time (against Cimerians that do 800% dmg to golems) died with a stack of Grey Lotus powder in its inventory and he didn’t even take the time to loot it.

[Kanza1]

Who needs ennemis when you have a teammate like that ?

If you didn’t know, vaults can’t be accessed by teammates unless you upgrade their rank in the clan. so it’s another way you can stop this habbit of him taking what he wants.

But my advice would be to have as much consideration about kicking him out the clan as he has for your grind !

[AngryPotato]

An update:

I went to his base to disassemble it, and put together a “severance package” of some materials and thralls and stuff before I removed him.
But then I saw all the Tier1 benches and the chests full of random junk and I just felt horrible, I couldn’t do it.

Just as I was upgrading some of his benches he actually logged on and I had a talk with him.
So we’ll see where it goes, but he was apologetic and seems to finally get it now.
I think it was simply a case of him being relatively new and not understanding the “value” (or time investment) of some items in the game.

The community is so small and fractured I am hesitant to give anyone a bad experience that can cause them to quit. We already have some @$$hats on our server abusing the offline purge exploit to wipe bases and many longtime players have quit because of it.

[Keldy]

Honestly, with the way the clan system is set up in CE ( and after all, well described above) I never considered accepting someone I didn’t know into the clan.
Our clan was a group of people who have known each other for a long time in real life so we trusted each other , otherwise it just wouldn’t have worked in CE.

I’ve helped a lot of newbies over the years and given out a lot of stuff …but accepting them into the clan with the concept that they can instantly do anything ? No thanks …

[GodlyVoice]

I would kick him too. Being ignorant to what you tell him shows lack of respect for your time and support. He’ll have a better time experiencing the game on his own, maybe learn the value of items he’s so easily discarding.

[Cirkus89]

First of all I wish to say that you have my respect for taking on a fresh player and help him on his journey. And I am glad that it sounds like the situation has resolved itself.