English Text: all hail deepl.com
Hello Funcom,
I am angry, and no I don’t write in English because I just don’t feel like it. Why not use the Google Translator! I played on my private “Conan Exiles” server at G-Portal, with about 10 - 12 other players. I have played over 1500+ hours in this game according to Steam. I love “Conan Exiles”, rarely has a game captivated me for so long. I have also forgiven a lot of things, including bugs and update problems. But now the barrel has overflowed…
I like Howard’s world; the books, the movies, even this one Ralf Möller series, the RPG, the computer games. Speak I am a fan! Actually we are all fans, because we love to play it, and with passion!
I really put my heart and soul into the game “Conan Exiles”. Ask my players on the server. However…
On Friday, 07.08.2020, my base disappeared into thin air. Just like that, without doing anything else.
And no, this base was only built from the building elements of the main game and the DLC’s. No load-bearing construction element was made of a mod. Lost due to lack of stability. I was on the server practically every day, the building expiration settings had been disabled.
We built this base with some people in over 500+ hours of play. I myself have spent over 1200+ hours building on this server, sweating, cursing, laughing, and being the admin. I was amazed and enjoyed it. I stood for minutes in the desert, watching the sunrise… and the sandstorm, how it wobbled towards me.
I’ve been using my server for over a year without wiping, and this kind of problem has never happened.
Yes, there are about 23 mods on the server since January, like the Pippimod or Warrior Mutator. And yes, there were also structural mods like Northern Timber.
The last mod update happened on 04.08.2020, without any problems, the mods themselves have been running for six months, and the “bugs” have never caused anything that serious. There were even surprisingly few bugs caused by the mods. And often these bugs were eliminated within hours or days.
Except for Funcom’s legendary live update in July, there were never any major problems. That live update caused players to lose their characters. Servers that no longer appeared in Serverlsite. Servers that had an “Ö”, “Ä”, or “Ü” in their name were not listed for weeks. Some bugs have been fixed. Many that would be more important, but not.
On 11.08.2020 I had to stop the server and put it on ice, because this time a group of players got caught. The whole base was just gone from the clan as if it never existed. This clan had also built their base primarily with Vanilia and DLC content. All they used were Thespians from the Pippimod, and workbenches from the DungeonMaster Tool-Mod. If you now think that these players are still motivated to continue playing, then you have a real understanding problem.
If you’ve invested hundreds of hours in something, then you find it hard to motivate them to continue. It’s like one morning all your data is gone. Would you still be motivated?
And to number 3 from 14.09.2020: Again a base vanished into thin air, again a clan homeless, and everything on which a vanilla foundation stood: Arena, Aquilonic set, black ice, insulated wood, etc. Ironically, the mod foundations like those of the Northern Timber did not get it. Common error messages, same causes, not replicable, or traceable.
My players are angry, I am pissed off, and in general… I don’t think this is ready for print.
Appropos Mods: Why don’t you get those talents like Hosav or the people from the Pippi mod and give them a job? Such people would do at least two things:
A: Keep the game alive. B: Unburden yourselves. C: Create satisfaction. Oh and D: Do a fantastic job. Not that you do bad work…
I often wonder if you are still interested in this game? The last producer letter is dated 10.03.2020. I don’t want to go into the announcement of the “Isle of Siptah” DLC right now.
In the past there were roadmaps, info, etc. If you pay attention to some bugs that have been in the game for ages, you might think that this doesn’t matter at all.
Does something like that really count? That the gamer who invests his money in you is satisfied? Even if a game is over two years old?
Of course you can say it is because of the mods with this bug. However, on several mod-free servers, partly on the official servers, buildings have often disintegrated because they lost the stability of their components. So it is a known bug! One that has been around for over a year. If you google a little bit, you will find enough entries and videos on this topic.
Therefore my question to Funcom: Why don’t you fix this bug?
It is frustrating to go down the drain for hundreds of hours of work just because a company doesn’t deal with known problems. This impression is created. Conan Exiles is a great game, has so much potential. But that bugs have been around for years, come up from time to time, or simply can’t be fixed, it’s not possible.
It damages your reputation, it destroys trust. Surely you can talk your way out with the terms and conditions and the EULA, that the risk lies with yourself, but this company should be aware that nobody will buy their products in large quantities. Mistakes happen, yes, only you should eliminate them. If such a mistake would happen in the automotive industry, that accidents would happen, then the shouting would be big. Wouldn’t it?
Gamers are customers who want a faultless product. Even if bugs do occur - we forgive a lot. If you take care of the bugs, show that you care about the product, we forgive even more. But at Funcom you will notice it even more, because updates and patches are hardly or in very bad intervals of tw weeks or months.
Sure, you can say that this is too much. But when three times a bug appears in the depths of the scum that slashes the Endbos, then I ask myself: WTF?
Or you just fall through the map. Or building elements simply dissolve. Or the enemy simply dissolves or does not get any more damage. Or the flying animals in the desert. Or you suddenly die without any apparent action because the thirst/starvation indicator had been frozen for 30 minutes. There are many oders.
Finally the bug destroyed something creative where buildings, castles, dungeons, puzzles etc. were created. So to speak, I have suffered a loss as a result. Lifetime damaged or lost. By this bug. One can smile at this. But it is a symptom, which partly shows what is going wrong, partly in the whole game industry - in my opinion.
No, I won’t go into it in detail. But bug-heavy games are thrown on the market, unfinished games, etc. just to meet deadlines, just because a lot of money depends on it, or greed. But the customer plays a secondary role. He has to pay. At least that is how it seems to me. Quality is also subordinated. It’s all about sales figures. And the customer’s frustration grows. Yes, the arguments that you have to earn money are all right. But it stops when the quality is no longer right. When everything just has to go fast-fast-fast. As a customer, you think twice about spending money on a game if the company develops a worse reputation. No setting can tear that out.
If a book suddenly has three wrong pages in it, or the author simply leaves out entire contents… what are the consequences?
Dear people of Funcom. I want no apologies. I don’t want any “we’re so sorry” bullsheet either. Do your jobs. And do it well. I like your games, but the way you’ve been taking care of Conan Exiles for a year, the way you’re always talking big, I don’t see any action. None of the players wanted the live system. The problems that arose with the introduction of the system are well known.
I paid money for it. For a product that should work. Sure, there will always be bugs. But in return I expect that they will be taken care of. Even if a game is 1-2 years old. Or older. Look at the people from Owlcat Games, they delivered a 20 GB patch after almost 2 years. And even so there are many companies that still take care of their products, even if they are out of reach.
Maybe the gaming industry should stop selling games and just rent them out. Ah, won’t you become even more liable if you mess up?
I pay for a server, I have people who like to play on it and do great work. Since this bug I’m in regular contact with the server provider G-Portal. At some point we will probably sit there with coffee and cake and call each other by our first names.
But right now we are all frustrated. And sometimes we wonder if we should ever buy anything from you again. When you deliver such “crap”.
And I’m not referring to this bug now, but to all bugs since the release. We have often said, ok is a bug. Report it and it’s good. It’s bound to get fixed sometime. At some point… Other companies seem to have a better quality management system. For some games there are updates 1-2 times a week. Unfortunately this is necessary nowadays.
Unfortunately, I cannot give you all my thoughts on the whole thing here. I don’t want to. Only that one should deliver a good product. That the customer is satisfied with it. That the customer builds up trust in the company. That the gamer buys new games without hesitation, if that company brings something new on the market. That a certain quality standard is maintained. That you play something long and above all you like to play. That you live out your creativity. That one can escape from everyday life.
At the moment it is difficult for me to play Conan Exiles, because so much work has been destroyed. I find it even more difficult to trust Funcom. This time I will think longer about buying something from you. With Conan Exile I did this without hesitation.
“The more I see of what you call civilization, the more highly I think of what you call savagery!”
R.E. Howard
A frustrated man
Ghost raven
And p.s.: Corona is no excuse, as many of these bugs existed before the crisis. And the finder is allowed to keep bugs in the text.
Funcom scheisst auf Fehlerfreiheit! Das einzige was interessiert ist Geld und Bugs fixen bringt keins.
Sie tun nur das nötigste um Leute bei der Stange zu halten. Ich war selbst so dumm und hab mir das neue DLC geholt und bereue es wieder wenn ich von den schon zig Jahre alten Bugs verwöhnt werde. (Thralls fallen durch den Boden?! Ich weiss nicht wie oft die das schon “gefixt” haben. Fahrstuhl funktioniert nicht? Keine Stabilität obwohl nur Foundations benutzt wurden? Ist einfach nur Lachhaft)
Fasst es schön zusammen