Agreed, it isn’t a great idea to just run blindly in any direction without being aware of your surroundings. At least pay attention to where you go and in being mindful of where you are, you can avoid trouble. It’s not impossible.
But:
Not everybody does that though … especially when it comes to games.
“Sheep” comes to mind.
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“You should head north…”, pretty speciffic. Either way, you will find, as a new player, you can’t really hurry north after many of frustrating gameplay hours. If I were a new, clueless player, it is hard for me to concieve a new player not taking that as a direction on where to go next.
Whether or not it is a good idea because of its difficulty isn’t a problem.
Most sandbox survivals have similar themes including ability to traverse most dangerous areas of a map right from character creation.
There are some players that never speak to him at all before going north.
The effect is to learn from it, pick yourself up, choose a different path and/or do better.
Now imagine if the goal of that dialogue was to elicit experiencing the trials and tribulations of the Exiled Lands.
I get that you’re frustrated and trying help newbies out but all comments are making sound statements. It truly is a choice, not a command, a quest or even required. Demanding Funcom remove NPC dialogue because it has an inconvenient result for newer players that choose to heed it seems like a waste of everyone’s time including yours.
Out of curiosity, having such strong opinions and all, did you give up on the north once you realized you needed to level/get better gear? Did you stay up there? Did you avoid it for an extended period of time? I’m genuinely interested.
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If I were a new, clueless player, it is hard for me to concieve said individual not taking Arco’s direction as a reference on where to go next. Sure, you could go north coming out of the gate, and sure, you can hide-sprint from everything and get to the Frost Temple naked, with enough sleeping rolls; the point remaining the same, this is not about player behavior, this is about a script that was recorded before things changed, obviously, otherwise I seriously doubt it would be there to begin with. Either way, should you disagree, say hi to the hyenas for me.
I understand that. What I’m trying to say is that there’s nothing wrong with this. Yes, Arcos is giving you dangerous advice and that’s exactly what he should do.
The Exiled Lands are a place full of dangers. Arcos is giving you a direction and a goal to aspire to. He’s not giving you a sense of caution, that’s something you have to learn on your own. If the crocodiles around the newb river don’t teach you that, the hyenas will. Or if they don’t, and you somehow end up in the northern highlands, the wolves and the Nordheimers will teach you the same lesson.
Bingo! Those who approach Conan Exiles as if it were an adventure game, rather than a survival sandbox game, are going to have to unlearn some things.
I remember the game as it was “before things changed”. It was incomparably harder than it is right now. Whether you stayed around the newb river or went north, you got your ass handed to you, decisively and repeatedly, until you learned to survive.
I did. Also the crocodiles and spiders and even the freaking elephants. Oh, and the rocknoses, too. I didn’t even have to go far to run into all of those, either. I remember trying to get into the Skittering Cavern and dying over and over, because the spiders there would give me a full stack of poison in a matter of seconds.
The allure of this game has always been that you were placed in a harsh, supremely inhospitable world, and challenged to survive and overcome the difficulties. Dying is part of that process, too. You get used to it.
Some of those difficulties were egregiously hard, like the spiders in the Skittering Cavern. But being told that you should head north and see the cities of Exiles there? That’s just a bit of color. If you’re a new, clueless player, you’ll take Arcos at face value and head north, where you’ll find the most important treasure in this game: you’ll stop being clueless.
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I am thoughroughly confused. Evidently, I play diametrically opposed to how folk approach a game. Is dieing fun? Is dieing over and over, and have your body at a spot where it’s not only deep into an enemy camp that hits hard, and spending hours trying to recover it only to realize all your gear is lost since you cannot possibly live and recover it fun? Do folk like playing a game with a clear design backwards, ergo losing countless hours in recovery mode, not really progressing, just acheing? Do people enjoy fighting enemies far stronger and dieing in two swings? I don’t get it, because I effing hate those things.
I play diferently, my goal is not to die, although I know I will, miserably, several times, but as soon as I encounter enemies that beat the shit out of me, I go back and prepare, grow, and be able to engage them and have a chance, again, my badge of honor in this game is trying to die as few times as possible, play smart, prepare. Suffering through an area over and over again doesn’t teach you much, you learn when you are able to actually engage and have time to learn the patterns of enemies, not when you die repeatedly stubbornly gnawing at content too high for you, hence this post.
My advise to new players in the map is to not rush, to “live” the world, as if it was you, not some expendable virtual body on a pixel screen that’s just gonna respawn however irrational your decisions might be. Explore the south, arm and prepare yourself. Yes, one can learn from one’s failures, but I try my damn best not to fail. I effing dam hate dieing, and turns out, though preparation and timing, I’ve been able to conquer most of the game without dieing so often, and I like that, that’s why going north was the worst direction I have ever gotten in a game.
You can play however the hell you want to play, but if your argument is that Arcos advice is good, and is designed in that fashion for your enjoyment of the game, then I think it is clear we don’t have much to discuss, particularly since it was recorded before the map changed, and should not be there to begin with. It is bad advise, through any prism, and I strongly suggest new players to not go north at start. Hey, but that’s just me, yo do your thing.
Yeah yeah yeah they shall change it to “Go to north BUT take care because Boulderkin died many times in the way because he cant evade some hyenas or crocodiles”.
Again its a survival game and in very begin theres nothing wrong in dying you wont lose so much and you learn with mistakes , how dificult are the places and enemys.
Theres 2 things EASY enogh to farm and use for help you called sleepbag and bed it will save you many time EVERY survival game have it same gameplay so you can respawn back near where you died and even the journey teach it for you.
For most people the south its called “the noob river” and staying here will just slow your advance in the game since all the very good spots for resourses and even some items you can find just in the north also Arcos is telling to go north Arcos isnt telling “rush inside the new asgard or rush in camps in the mid of your way”.
I’m going to give you a secret that will help you achieve this in conan exiles :
Walk away/Run away nothing can outrun you in this game
I wish the game was still as hard as before , but it’s just not , before you needed to really prepare before going north , and I would be ok with what you say ( because the weather would kill you quickly if not prepared for cold/hot ) but nowadays the north isn’t as deadly as you make it sound . Run and you’ll avoid anything dangerous , no weather to kill you . ( where the south still has the sandstorms )
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Maybe? I’m getting mixed signals from your post.
Dying in Conan Exiles is just one of many gameplay mechanics that make up the gameplay loops. Instead of focusing on whether that mechanic alone is fun or not fun, the bigger question is whether the loops are fun or not.
No, that doesn’t sound like fun, but again, it’s part of a bigger picture. I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of us have had this happen to us in Conan Exiles at some point. Even those of us who play online and know people on the server might have gotten into a situation where we bit off more than we could chew and there was no one online able or willing to help us get out of that situation, and we’ve lost stuff that we valued.
Is that particular situation fun? No. Is it part of something bigger, that ends up being more fun because of that situation? I would argue that the answer is “yes”.
A setback like that hurts, but it sets up a challenge and teaches you a lesson. Once you successfully apply that lesson and overcome the challenge, it feels even better than it would have if the game held your hand and made sure to protect you from yourself.
Tell you what I like about this game: I like that it taught me to respect the dangers of the world I play in. I like that I don’t feel like I should rush into a new, unknown situation and know that I’ll win, because the game has my back. I like feeling like I’m in a hostile environment, that everything is out to kill me, and that I’m the one who has to overcome this.
I also like that it taught me that from the very beginning, when the stuff I had was much more easily replaced, rather than springing that lesson on me in the endgame, when I might lose something that takes days of pointless RNG grind. But hey, that’s a whole different rabbit hole, so I’ll avoid it and stick to the topic.
I don’t know about people in general, but if I had an enemy kill me in two swings, it sticks with me and makes it so much more satisfying to come back and kill that enemy once I’m ready to face that challenge.
I’d like to believe that, but then you immediately follow up with:
If you’re “suffering through an area over and over again”, then you didn’t play smart and prepare. You got yourself into a situation where you were overmatched – which can happen to anyone, even those who prepared – and then you doubled down on the losing strategy.
Again, when you do that, you’re not “playing smart”. Having the freedom to access content too high for you anytime you want is meant to teach you to actually play smart. And it’s best to learn that lesson as early as possible.
My argument is that Arcos gives you dangerous advice and that this is good, because it reinforces an important lesson that you should have started learning from the moment you spawned: the Exiled Lands are a harsh, dangerous place, where everything is out to kill you and where anything that isn’t out to kill you is an exception for which you should be grateful.
If you’ve actually read all my replies to you and all you got from that is “I think players should follow Arcos’ advice blindly”, then you’re right, we don’t have much to discuss. 
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Constructive, well written, kind and helpful, thanks. You forgot the part where you are a clueless new players who do not have the information that your argument entails, ergo, you are not argueing the same argument.
If I were a new, clueless player, it is hard for me to concieve said individual not taking Arco’s direction as a reference on where to go next. Sure, you could go north coming out of the gate, and sure, you can hide-sprint from everything and get to the Frost Temple naked, with enough sleeping rolls; the point remaining the same, this is not about player behavior, this is about a script that was recorded before things changed, obviously, otherwise I seriously doubt it would be there to begin with.
You actually imply I am whining about crocodiles and hyenas. Having a pre-frontal lobe is a good thing, it allows you to discern between an example of the perils you will face, how frustrating it would be, and what an irresponsable thing to do is to send a NEW player, who is not even versed on how the combat system works, hasn’t even the gotten the dodge timing well, does not know how the creatures behave and attack or when to attack or when to dodge, and in which direction; let alone how to deal with a camp of Black Hand, and when the person is speaking about a speccific creature or NPC ( Just so you understand, I am not terrified neither by hyenas nor Black Hand, these are generalizations of the kind of threats you will face having zero idea when to set off a combo, when to light strike, or even when to heavy-strike and dodge.)
I shall leave you to your preacious last word, have at it, I shall discreetly exit this senseless argument. You have yourself a good day.
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We arlready had our argument, this was not a reply to any post of yours, you run north and have a ball.
so let’s take a look at the dialogue options of mr Arcos :
Greeting
“ Another new one, eh? I can smell it on you. Veterans tend to smell just a little more like despair. I’m Arcos, once a sailor, now a wanderer. You didn’t think you were the only one, did you? Hah! You should go north, there’s whole cities of Exiles up there. „
“ Back again, Exile? I like familiar faces. Helps me to remember that not everyone dies out here. „
“ Seen enough of the desert? Better get used it[sic], it’s all we have. „
Conversation
“ In the beginning there were only a few of us. But now… seems like fresh faced fools are showing up every week. Not all of them are as friendly as I am, mind you. Watch your step - there are a lot of desperate people out there. „
“ The bracelets? You can’t remove them. Saw one fool cut his arm clean off trying to get rid of it. He bled to death right there on the sand. Nasty business. Leave it on. You’ll start to hear the voices soon enough. Then you’ll start seeing the ghosts. I don’t think the voices are for us. Not for us here and now. I think they were talking to somebody else. Back then. Wherever it was. Whenever it was. „
“ Those pillars keep us confined here. Some call it the cursewall, or the ghostfence or just, the boundary. Doesn’t really matter what it’s called, does it? I walked all the way around it once. Had to be careful not to cross it, of course. Once, in the north, I saw a few people on the other side. Wearing bracelets just like ours but with gems of amber. It makes you wonder… „
“ I’m no scholar, but I’ve met a few who passed through. They all have mad theories about what the ruins scattered around here are. Lemurians, Giant-kings, Khari, Valusian Serpent men - do those names mean anything to you? Never mind. It’s my experience that men who have their minds in the past get eaten by crocodiles in the present. „
Farewell
“ Good luck, Exile. It’s a tough world out there. „
“ Farewell. I won’t pin my hopes on seeing you again. „
So yes , Mr Arcos tells you to go North … but first it is in the context of you seing the cities of exiles ,and second he also states multiple times that the world is not as friendly as he is and to watch your steps . he also informs you of how dangerous it is to try to go through the cursed wall or take off your bracelet , and finaly as a Farewell dialogue you’ll hear him say it’s a tough world out there or that he won’t pin his hopes on seeing you again ( if you follow his advice to go north ? )
so if you have common sense you should take the advice of someone that don’t think you’ll survive the trip with some grain of salt . and not follow them blindly .
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I don’t have common sense, evidently, since in your own texts, it is one of the first things he says, I gathered, sensessly, apparently, that I should head North, that that was the starter area of sorts, speaking of cities, not hostile fortresses, so yeah, evidently, by your Litmus test, I don’t have any sense /shrug.
You might have had it. I’m still having it.
And this matters because… ?
Sure, and you stay here and be dismissive, belligerent, and condescending to everyone who disagrees with a post you wrote on a public forum, no matter how they approach the discussion. See how well that works out for you 
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so you’ll tell me that after seing firecamps with 3 exiles running at you to kill you , and after seing larger encampements with the same intent you thought that cities of exiles would be a good idea to visit with nothing to defend yourself ? and secondly north is quite vague , if you happen to be in the dregs region and go north you might cross sepemeru , which is quite better than the other cities in terms of hospitality , but even the summoning place is north enough to be considered north of the noob river the difficulty didn’t increase dramatically , but a city of darfari ( like the one before the dregs ) is still quite deadly for a new player.
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Hence my post.
So far, so good /shrug, as long as I have a point to defend
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ha so you’re this type of person , sorry I didn’t understand , you see an npc with several dialogue options, but you can’t read past and before " go north ! " . you make me think of this story where there was a bomb alert and the mall closed , because a guy entering the bathroom saying he’s going to “bomb the place” after getting out of chipotle.
Sure, spot on, down to the chipotle; you are good.
You should go north, there’s whole cities of Exiles up there.
Chipotle.
So following specific directions makes you a sheep, I see. Noted.