Age of War Evaluation

Conan Exiles General Discussion Feedback
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Ok, I’ve been away for 1 week cause I’ve been “too combative” and … damn, that’s right. I really took it too personally and for this I apologize with both, the rest of the community and Funcom guys.

You see, I really love this game and have been waiting for an update like this for YEARS. When I saw all things that I consider wrong been done … well, I felt like dying. Like you dream for something for years, then it comes true and turns into a nightmare.

I still think that lots of choices are wrong. I just can’t see them making any sense. This does not justify the things I’ve said, I know, therefore I felt I had to apologize.

So, let’s take a deep breath and let’s see what has been done with this update and the game in general:

Treasure Hunt and Coffer System: a total YES. That’s what I’ve been waiting for years. Money to actually have a value. Money to finally be the goal. I really hope Funcom will go deeper with this system. 10/10 even tho there’s still something to fix.

I suggest you check this thread for further details on what to fix: Coin Pile Collision Detection

Clan Emblems: a total YES. Again, that’s great. Players are the leaders of big army of Thralls (and other Players) so why shouldn’t they have their own Banners ? I’d just add more customization (such as background to have 2 colors, instead of 1 - the other can only be white) and improve the look of the bench, as it looks too … raw. 8/10.

New Combat System: MEH. Some things I like: combats are faster and this is not bad. NPCs dealing more damage is not bad too (even tho now Light and Medium Armors are basically useless in PVE … not that they’ve always been useful). New Stamina System: I’ve tried it and it doesn’t make all this difference to me (but it can be a problem for new characters).

But what really is not working here is the new “Stun/Stagger” mechanic: before this update, when NPCs were stunned for more than 3 seconds, they couldn’t be stunned for a brief time, giving them a chance to counter attack. Now this chance is given by the new Stamina System, or this was the idea. Basically, it doesn’t work.

First, players with more stamina and low-stamina consumption weapons can still Stun-Lock opponents. Also, this is now a problem for Player’s Thralls as they can be Stun-Locked if attacked by multiple opponents. It happened to me while I was raiding the Unnamed City and my thrall has been Stun-Locked by skeletons. I had to attack them and kill them myself, cause my thrall wasn’t able to attack for like 20-25 seconds. This is going to be a problem with Purges, Sieges and stronger enemies. 3/10

New Weapons Balance: let’s start with Legendary Weapons made unrepairable. I must say NO to this one. I mean, why ? I understand they are strong (that’s why they are “legendary”), but making them unrepairable ? Why not just making their repair more difficult ? There’re various ways this could happen and that would open to lots of opportunities in game.

Let’s now talk about new Damage/Values: some choices I can understand (Dragonbone nerfed, to say one, even tho it has been nerfed a bit too much in my opinion), some others … no. There are lots of problems and non-sense (like Star-Metal weapons weaker than Ancient Steel ones, Ivory Arrows weaker than Iron ones, etc). Also, bows getting nerfed … in PVE they used to suck and now they suck even more; in PVP they were quite strong (against those who refuse to use shields) but not meta, and now they’re definitely out of meta. In the end, this has to be reviewed.

Finally, let’s talk about the choice to make some weapons not usable by Thralls: I’m talking specifically of Sword of Crom and Warmaker’s Weapons. They are STRONG, even OP maybe, but it’s just fine !

→ Sword of Crom is EXTREMELY RARE: I’ve been playing for 4 years, at least, and never got it … not even once. Should I ever get one I WANT it to be OP, and WANT it to be in my best Thrall’s hands.

→ Warmaker Weapons are not rare, but very expensive to make: they require composite obsidian, which is not easy to get (and requires player to go in the most difficult place of the Exiled Lands) … they HAVE to be OP. And consider that normal legendary weapons are MUCH EASIER to get, and some of them are even stronger (Momentum, to say one). Also, they are one of the few legendary weapons that can be crafted: if they cannot be used by thralls, Blacksmiths (and Bladesmiths) will be even more useless. Make Bladesmiths great again, let our Thralls use Warmaker Weapons and Swords of Crom.

My evaluation for this part is also negative: too many wrong choices overshadow the good ones. While I understand and appreciate the revamp of Legendary Weapons, it came with too many negative sides. 2/10.

New Thrall Balance: eh, this one really hurt me. It hurts me cause, well, it’s not balanced. Nor does it make any sense. We have Fighters that are better archers than Archers, lower tier factions stronger than higher ones (and they level up faster too). I understand the intention to revamp lower tier factions so that they can still be viable Thralls, but what’s been done is not the correct solution in my opinion.

I’ve prepared a simple scheme that would make a good balance and keeps the system simple, clean and easy. It can (and needs) to be improved, but it’s a start.

Please, take a look at it: Better Thrall System
I also prepared a scheme for pets: Better Pet System

I’m saddened to say that the current system is not good. Not even slightly acceptable: believe me, I would love to praise this game and don’t like being the one that complains on everything, but what we have now really cannot be. 0/10 and just because I didn’t want to give a negative vote.

Lack of Refund Procedures: Mind I’m not talking about money refund here. I’m talking about players losing everything due to bugs and not having back what they lost. I know this is not a problem of this update but it is a problem nonetheless. I suggest development teams start working on such procedures so that people won’t lose their work. Well, not due to bugs, at least. 0/10.

Connection Problems Solved: this has been a problem through the whole AoS-3 but now it is finally solved. They kept their word on this. There are still some minor problems, but for the most part they did a good job. 9/10.
So, in the end, I'll give a vote to this update overall: 3/10.

It could have been the best update ever, but there are too many choices I’d define … questionable, to say the least. I hate to say it, but it really needs to be reviewed.

And I’m not the only one who think so: just take a look at the huge amount of complain threads people made. Then go deeper, find out why people don’t like what you did. If you only consider feedback from people playing public beta, you’ll get only like 1% of the feedback you need. Just look at the actual situation: the forum is exploding ! Not a single update has been so criticized yet.

So, please, listen to the people. They are the ones that are going to play, they are the ones that have been playing (some of them for quite a long time now).

Once again I apologize for my past behavior and hope Devs and Staffers will read this, taking it for what it is: a genuine feedback from a caring player. I do love Conan Exiles and only wish for it to be the best game possible.

I also hope for the rest of the community to share ideas and evaluations on this update and these points I raised.

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My only point of disagreement is here, because one good trip in the Well of Skelos and you have enough Obsidian to mass-produce those weapons, which doesn’t sound very balanced to me.
In PvE you would make an amry of thralls with those specific OP weapons and suddenly the updated purge which will come in chapter 2 will be a joke.
In PvP mass-manufacturing the best weapons in the game also sounds very problematic (although neither the Great-Sword nor the War-Hammer are playable in PvP at this point)

Afaik in PvP aside from the usual spear, bows are basically the best weapon at the moment.
In PvE I don’t think bows sucked, and I think they are still very good, but they are never your main weapon unless you’re the sidekick of the story (either with other players, or with an Agility + Authority build and a Thrall doing the job).

But regardless, agree with the general idea of your post :+1:

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What if something like Heart of the Kinscourge (or similar item) is added to the recipe of said weapons ?
So that they cannot be mass-produced.

As for bows, well … yes and not.

There’s a problem with them when used by Players so that people can basically spam light attacks (which is wrong). Thralls, of course, don’t.

Archers are … well, decorations.
Basically, you’re not wrong saying bows are quite strong, but that’s just because they have a wrong “rapid-fire” mechanic.

Realistically, they should work very differently, without rapid-fire but really packing a hit !

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I miss the knockdown arrow perk. It wasn’t very powerful, but it was so much fun to see enemy NPCs knocked on their butts. Same reason why I’m having too much fun with the corrupted kick. The best enemy is one with a floor in their mouth.

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That perk (corrupted kick) I’d see it better as Strength 3rd or 4th Perk (non corrupted).
It’s more something a mighty warrior would do, not necessarily demonic/corrupted

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Speaking of things, don’t you guys think weapons like Telith’s Lament and Telith’s Sorrow should be WAY stronger ?

I mean, they require Heart of the Kinscourge to craft … they’re like the most difficult weapons to get in the game (except the Sword of Crom, which in 1000+ raids in UC I never dropped :joy: )

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Weapons that require Obsidian to craft are probably harder to get, but easier to mass produce.
This includes the Warmaker Weapons in addition to the classic Obsidian ones.

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So … you think Telith’s Weapons are ok as they are ?
I don’t know, they feel extremely unrewarding to me.

I would increase ingredients (Hardened Steel → Star Metal / Obsidian) and so their damage:

  • Telith’s Lamenth: 41 → 58
  • Telith’s Sorrow: 48 → 65

I mean, you get to kill the Kinscourge to craft 1 of these weapons.

Legendaries are like 1000 times easier to get: kill 1 3-skull boss (giant spider/croc to say the easiest ones) and that’s it. Even considering RNG, it’s still much easier to get a legendary weapon of the class you want than kill the Kinscourge.

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No, I don’t think they are fine at all, no craftable weapon is fine at the moment due to legendary ones being extremely easy to acquire and extremely overpowered.

On top of this, Steel and Hardened Steel weapons often have better stats than higher-end material ones…
Dragonbone is kinda okay because Sunder is a super strong effect, but Obsidian weapons are absolute garbage for instance.

My point was simply to bring nuance because it is easier to go kill the Kinscourge than to do the Well of Skelos to acquire Obsidian Recipes and then farm some Obsidian Composite to go back home and craft.

Uhhh, if he was actually difficult, I would see your point.
Problem is that he isn’t hard; of course he is more difficult than a Giant Spider but that’s not feat XD
Honestly, I feel more threatened by a Giant Crocodile rotating his head into me than the Kinscourge, and yet the Croco is easy as well :grin:

Where is my Legendary Great-Axe? The only one is the Scythe of Thag with a more difficult boss and an extremely low drop-rate!

Where is my Legendary Short-Sword? Where are my Legendary Claws? None on the Exiled Lands :frowning:

And the Heart of the Kinscourge is guaranteed while my dear Musashi’s Black Blade is the only Legendary Katana… Also the Tulwar of Amir Khurum is the only 1H Sword that is Agility instead of Strength :catnobanana:

I don’t think it’s more difficult to get Telith’s weapons, aside from the fact you need cold-resistance.
Still, I agree that they feel super weak as a reward for the dungeon they are from, but IMO that’s just everything in the game at the moment…

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Is him that easy ?
It’s been a while since last time I faced it, but I don’t remember him being easy.

But I see your point and agree: crafted weapons should be more rewarding, at least those who have high crafting cost. And some Legendaries are really too rare.

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He was meant to be hard, but AI.

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Balancing PvP and PvE simply can’t happen with the current system of damage. Bows are almost useless in PvE in an attempt to balance PvP. They need to separate the damage weapons do to Players from what they do to everything else.

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To balance Bows both for PVP and PVE they would just need to remove that “rapid fire” mechanic on light attacks. That’s it.

To attack with a bow you have to “charge” the attack, otherwise you’re shooting blanks.

  • Light attacks should have reduced damage (like -50/75%) and also a cooldown of 1 sec.
  • Heavy attacks are fine.
  • Also Archer Thralls should be modified to use quite exclusively heavy attacks with bows (like 80% heavy, 20% light).
  • Restore previous values for Bows/Arrows or maybe even increase them.

That’s it. Bows are fixed.

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Also, he has a two-handed sword with predictable movements, and he broadcasts his special attacks in a way that they’re easy to dodge. The Silent Legion minions are tougher to deal with. The only issue with Kinscourge is that the Black Keep is in an annoying spot. It’s easy to reach because of the obelisk, but getting back home takes a lot of running. So far I haven’t bothered to build a teleporter nearby because I don’t visit the place that often - and with the nerf to Telith’s weapons, even less.

I’d rather they were harder to get than nerfed so bad that at the point where you can even reach Black Keep you already have access to better weapons.

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Let me introduce: Horse :slight_smile: :+1:
Every since I started using a mount, I saw the value and how much time it saves, on top of being able to carry stuff for me. I rarely go out without a horse anymore, only exception is when farming a lot with full encumbrance Beast of Burden build because even if I can run, the Horse cannot :rofl:

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The corridors and staircases in the Black Keep are narrow. I don’t know about you, but my horse has an irritating tendency to get stuck in places.

We’re getting a bit sidetracked here, though.

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You’re right we’re getting sidetracked, so this will be my final answer and we’ll let whoever else posts the next message get back on topic :rofl:
image

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It’s another thing made useless. Sure it’s not hard to get the heart, but even so it’s harder than killing a random world boss and we still have to craft the weapon, on top of that. It definitely should be better than other easily obtainable legendary weapons of the same type. Same goes for weapons crafted at the Temple of Frost. It’s as @Kapoteeni says… why bother? On my SP game I place a chest there with other rewards or a thrall, something that makes it worthy.

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Exactly, that’s what I wanted to point out: The Kinscourge may be easy (but atm every NPC is - except maybe the one in the Wine Cellar) but getting the heart still requires to complete an annoying dungeon and kill its boss.

Telith’s Weapons cannot be mass-produced cause one still have to wait for the boss to respawn to get another heart. And, on top of that, his dungeon is pretty annoying.

Why one should bother doing all this things to get something that is not better than normal Star Metal Weapons (which suck already) or Legendary Weapons (which are even easier to get) ?

Telith Weapons should be stronger than normal Legendary Weapons, especially if crafted with a T4 Bladesmith. That’s because they are harder to get.

Even considering RNG, getting a Legendary 2H Sword is way easier and faster than getting Telith’s Sorrow. Wanna make Telith’s Sorrow even harder to get ? Increase it’s cost: add Star Metal/Obsidian/Whatever you want, but give us a Weapon that’s worth the effort.

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Kingscurge’s dungeon is easy. You don’t need to fight a single thing to get the key and once you have it you don’t need it again. I can run that dungeon in like 2 minutes once I have the key. I’ll give you the heart. Having only one source of it is very limiting.