Changed my Steam Review to Negative

[Taemien]

@DeaconElie

@Taemien

First thing is they should never have tried to offer their own servers.

Which would have killed the game the first year; IMHO.

Why do survival games without such servers do so well? Because their playerbase doesn’t know any better and just play the game because they like to and don’t worry about silly tags. Ignorance is bliss in that regard.

@DeaconElie

Now do you honestly think changing a steam review is going to make a difference? 1K a day might, but not just 1.

Nope. 6 years of subpar servers and negative reviews due to it already proves that. People purchasing stuff is the only metric that matters.

@erjoh

Do any of you private server folks remotely think privates would work in the scale of hundreds of players bouncing in and out in packs of 5-30 players that are non-committal? Do you seriously think the same methods used to manage the players that voluntarily submit to the rules will work for the masses of folks that would come to these servers if officials die off?

I’ve managed servers in games where there were no developer provided servers. Its not hard to manage 5-30 player packs on a daily basis.

Besides looking at the numbers in game right now.. if the FC servers turned off for good, right now. And everyone spread out. There would be an extra person for every dozen or so servers. A 1 in 12 chance for a server with say.. 30 people to have 31. Oohh.. .really tough to manage.

Some of the more popular servers will see longer queues, since popularity breeds popularity. But they will do as they always have, either tighten up on joining restrictions, or open a sister server.

@erjoh

They need to take some of the revenue and invest more into the servers to ensure it runs in their condoned and approved servers (Because that is what officials are. They are supposed to be the pinnacle of how the game’s system and function should behave and not the ugly step child that lives in the basement) Truth be told, that mentality had probably far more effect on the relative stagnated player numbers than anything else.

Have you ever thought of joining the priesthood? Your faith is far more than mine for sure.

Call me cynical. But after six years, the track record shows it will only get worse instead of better. There has been hundreds of forum posters just like some in this thread in that time explaining in detail over several thousand posts why FC should improve their servers.

It never happened. Anyone here want to explain why they think its ‘different’ this time around?

Muiltiple restarts a day. Daily server crashes. Frequent disconnects. That’s the status of a server set today. I’m predicting limited uptime.

But like I said before, you all have way way more patience than I do. I didn’t have patience for the garbage they were six years ago. And they were pristine back then compared to now.

[erjoh]

@darthphysicist

If there were no funcom servers, they would still have singleplayer and co-op to try out the game. A funcom server is not required.

Technically, true. Functionally, not fun at all as when I am on console, and the game is off, the timers all stop. I can’t come back to having iron bars done. I originally started with offline play and it was taking me days literal days to get a stack of iron done. It’s the main motivator to going online. Games running always? Don’t mind if I do.

@Taemien

Have you ever thought of joining the priesthood? Your faith is far more than mine for sure.

Call me cynical. But after six years, the track record shows it will only get worse instead of better.

Oh don’t get me wrong. I figured out decades ago that people instinctively don’t do what they should do and do what is convenient for themselves in that moment. Doesn’t negate the validity of what they should do and so I preach. Now data that proves my way is dumb? That’s totally different and after I clean off the wounds of my ego, I learn and get better.

[darthphysicist]

@erjoh

Functionally, not fun at all

This exactly describes my 5 min experience with funcom servers my first day on ps4, and that had nothing to do with server performance (wasn’t on it long enough to notice). I logged in, saw spammed Ymir altars, logged off, played co-op with a buddy for one evening, then rented a server the next day.

I actually don’t believe the majority of players like crowded public servers. I really wish we had the total breakdown from FLS because I suspect single player is a HUGE component of the player base that is largely silent. The reason I suspect this is because as of right now, there are 640 subscribers to my map, and there are only 8-10 servers in the list active that have the map, none of which are gigantic populations. Where are those players then? They must be single players. That’s just a snapshot, which is why I’d be curious to see the data. Funcom has that data. They know where people are playing. If there was a need for more public servers with the majority of BP/Bazaar sales coming from those players, you can bet they’d open more/make a better deal to have better servers (since they also know what players are staying there, for how long, etc). Funcom has all that data. Questions and suggestions can be made here in the forum based on our guesswork, but I can guarantee you, Funcom already knows the answer.

[Frillen]

@Realight

One can only hope, and hope people see I do it and follow suit, if more people went and changed their reviews to negative maybe funcom would listen

If it worked like that then it could be a solution, but I highly doubt it would do anything for the game, also please remember that pc players and especially steam players are a tiny part of of their playerbase, I think consoles are way bigger - Also people should review as they experience a game, not because of what others say or do

@Megaton238

I seriously doubt that the new player who jumps in, starts with a PvE server to learn the ropes and is immediately greeted with a gigantic borg cube at the Shattered Bridge is having a quality game experience.

It’s hard to say how people start, but every time they have a freeplay weekend, I see a ton of new players on the official servers I play on, actually that was also pretty much how I started my journey in Conan Exiles many moons ago.
I think most people that start out in a multiplayer game they may get their feet wet and perhaps learn the most basic stuff in singleplayer for an hour or 2 before they pick an official server to play on

@erjoh

Are we really saying that the new user will buy the game and immediately tag into someone’s server to start playing? No, the majority would not and most would just return the game. If you drop officials, you drop new customers and this would be a dead game walking as the rest of the community just walls themselves off in their own private gardens and then wonders why the game died.

I agree, although it probably wouldn’t die fast, but it would likely lower the influx of new players… by a lot - Conan Exiles isn’t a well known game to most gamers like for example Ark, Rust, The Forest etc. it is more of a niche game for certain players with some knowledge of the Conan universe

[erjoh]

@darthphysicist

I actually don’t believe the majority of players like crowded public servers.

I 100% agree except of the PVP folks…which then it’s the competitive PVP folks that @SirDaveWolf etc vs my more RP PVP (base at risk but it’s not about win vs loss as much as just enjoying the standoff)

I purposely chose for my first server one that didn’t have lots of action because I knew this game was going to be a grinder and didn’t want to have to restart every day.

[darthphysicist]

Ive seen anecdotal evidence in the forum that more people pvp on privates than public servers… it could be wrong, idk, but even pvp is not for sure dependent on public servers.

[Taemien]

The sum of the top 3 Public servers (94) doesn’t equal the population of the top PVP private server (100/100).

The sum of the top 10 PVP Public servers (244) equals the sum of the top 4 Private PVP servers (244). If you add in queues (3 for public, 8 for private). Then they still get edged out.

These are real numbers anyone with the PC version of the game can see for themselves. Your anecdotal experience is actually a fact. A stark one at that.

The one server with 100/100 has a sister server with 47 online as well. Another note, and I’m going to give credit where credit is due. There is around 10-15 public pvp servers doing decently well with population. The rest are ghost towns. 194 PVP servers (on PV) and only 11% of them boast online populations of higher than single digits.

People still get disconnected on the ghost servers too. The experiment failed.

[DeaconElie]

@Megaton238

the official servers are a hot mess and that would be true even if the game worked perfectly with the

Wish I could argue with you on that. But I think that is more poor moderation and low cost servers.

@Megaton238

the new player who jumps in, starts with a PvE server to learn the ropes and is immediately greeted with

Usually some one more then happy to help out a newbie. Like they live to hand hold.

My question is where would ALL the players on the public servers now, go? If they closed the public servers, I’m of the opinion Funcom would lose 90% of those players. In my opinion if, after 6 months of play, you are still on a Conan public server you either haven’t found a private you like, can’t pay to be on a private or rent your own server, you like the public servers{ }.

Now I am a patron of neebs family servers. They manage servers for quite a few games. I joined 1: Because I am a neebs gaming fan. 2: A selection of game servers. There for a bit I played 7D2D. Big selection of ARK servers and… ya, a private Conan server. Hard vanilla with mods.

But not everyone has that option. I still maintain a small foot print back in the jungles on the public server I’ve played on since 3.0 hit.

@Megaton238

I was watching a poor guy and his friends playing on an Xbox official server and in the span of about 20 minutes was disconnected 5 or 6 times.

That is an issue. yes it needs to be solved but it’s not like PS doesn’t have similar issues. But if you ever played some of the crap ports of Xbox or PS games to PC, this is the same issues going the other way. I mean if you are persistent you can get a Dodge carburetor to work on a Ferrari but…

@darthphysicist

If there were no funcom servers, they would still have singleplayer and co-op to try out the game. A funcom server is not required.

Don’t think they would have the players they have if they hadn’t had public servers.

@Taemien

Why do survival games without such servers do so well?

Besides the forest, name 3. That are doing as well as Conan exiles. Single and co-op don’t count.

@Taemien

People purchasing stuff is the only metric that matters.

Whales swim in the open ocean. Hard to show off in a private pool.

@Taemien

Muiltiple restarts a day. Daily server crashes. Frequent disconnects. That’s the status of a server set today. I’m predicting limited uptime.

Which in no way describes my time on the public servers. Restart once a day. If I get disconnect I am disconnected.

@Taemien

But like I said before, you all have way way more patience than I do. I didn’t have patience for the garbage they were six years ago

So don’t play on them, problem solved.

@darthphysicist

I actually don’t believe the majority of players like crowded public servers.

The issue isn’t the crowed, it’s the mega builds.

@Frillen

also please remember that pc players and especially steam players are a tiny part of of their playerbase, I think consoles are way bigger

You know and can prove this or just really, really want it to be true?

[Taemien]

@DeaconElie

@Taemien

But like I said before, you all have way way more patience than I do. I didn’t have patience for the garbage they were six years ago

So don’t play on them, problem solved.

100% True.

[Coyote0903]

I’ve only every played on the public Official servers since day one of the game. First PVP and now PVE for the last few years. I’ve taken breaks here and there but always come back and enjoyed the game more than any other I’ve ever played!

This “Lost Connection” issue is like nothing else before it, and while I could pack up and start anew again, I’d rather they make an attempt to fix this major issue. If they can’t, I’d probably move to Single Player over joining a Private server.

My main issue right now is the very minimal communication about the issue. They’ve seen these posts for over a month now, and it took very long to even address them (reports just get replied with the same message over and over).

Since they asked a question or two (server #, internet connection), they’ve gone silent for two weeks or so. The issue is very easy to replicate; and at this point I’m assuming (hopefully incorrectly) they simply have no idea how to fix it, which really sucks for all those users on Official servers (we do exist!).

Just figured I’d add a different perspective

[darthphysicist]

@DeaconElie

Don’t think they would have the players they have if they hadn’t had public servers.

On the one hand, if someone starts in single player, and then joins a server/sets up a private server, they will have the most positive interaction with the game from the start, because it will eliminate all the server related issues from their first game experience, and potentially entire experience if they join a well run server with good hardware. This of course would lose any player who wants a free public server to play on.

On the other hand, if they start on a public server and have a bad experience (either server performance/landclaim spam/hackers/etc) they may leave the game thinking it reflects the total game experience. This still risks losing the players who want a free public server if the performance isn’t good enough or it’s not policed enough. There is no changing the provider, and people already don’t like the policing method, so I don’t know where to go from here on this one.

I know which scenario I would choose of the two above for retaining players without some essential data, but fortunately for funcom, they have the necessary data; what environment do most new users start in and where do they go from there? If the majority started in public servers and left the game, it stands to reason they would address the servers. If the majority start in single player and wind up in private servers or public servers and don’t leave, well… why spend any time/money on the public servers, especially if the bulk of the sales come from single player/private servers? As stated above, no one was promised a public server experience at any time, it is assumed. That may be a very poor assumption.

[biggcane55]

Because the officials keep disconnecting lol. And what are the rule sets. Apples and Oranges. It is known PVP officials lose player from offlining, uackers etc.

[Dzonatas]

@biggcane55

PVP officials lose player from offlining, uackers etc.

The other day one of the raids on my base started when I found dead bodies in the walkways of my base. Well, they were suppose to look dead, but I killed them off. It seems they made sure it wasn’t offline, and they just waited for me.

[DeaconElie]

@biggcane55

Because the officials keep disconnecting lol

Not my experience on PC.

@darthphysicist

This still risks losing the players who want a free public server if the performance isn’t good enough or it’s not policed enough. There is no changing the provider, and people already don’t like the policing method, so I don’t know where to go from here on this one.

We keep pushing funcom to do something about it.

[darthphysicist]

@DeaconElie

We keep pushing funcom to do something about it.

Well, I can understand that. If it’s something I felt passionately about, I might keep pushing for it too. But here is my big “but”. Has it not been discussed so many times over the past updates that if Funcom were going to do something about it, they would have? From my perspective, the last round of server merges and the fact that a couple patches ago, there were changes made to DBD that I thought for sure, if ever a change were going to, would be flowed to public PVP servers. It wasn’t. What has been the only comments regarding public servers in recent memory? There are two. One was an fairly lengthy post about the rules and a guide on how people should build in spirit, without drawing firm lines. That said to me, those rules are set and they felt that pushing a guide was the outreach they were willing/able to give on the matter. The next point was was on DBD when the answer was “no plans to make changes to the servers at this time”.

In light of that, I’d say the public servers are not quite being ignored, but their utility as a play environment is not their point. They are probably useful for collecting low end server crash data. If the game can run stable on those servers with slightly elevated player counts in some cases, then the game can run on most private servers. If that were true, and that’s the only value they have (just me thinking out loud), why improve them? Remember there are consoles out there too, that must run Gportal, even for their private servers.

In a way, this has brought me around a bit on keeping the funcom servers, simply as data collection and test. I don’t know if all of that is reality (no one here really does), but if that were true, or even was remotely true, I would keep my powder dry for other suggestions regarding the game. The second Age is probably in stone considering how close we are to July. Whatever mechanics are coming, whatever encounters are planned, those are probably all set and being worked. If I wanted to see something in the following Age, I’d be throwing out ideas for that. I’d put together a lengthy and reserved critique of the Kurak encounter (minus “it brak bruh! fix ur game!”). I’d say what I liked, what I didn’t care for or what didn’t excite me, and say “this thing would have made it epic!”.

I’m just afraid discussions of the public servers are the forums metaphorical windmills.

[Gloatingtomb6]

@DeaconElie

You know and can prove this or just really, really want it to be true?

It is funcom on live stream said console is over half of their players base don’t remember which stream it was one of the age of magic (autocorrect won’t let me put name) stream so yes

[Megaton238]

@DeaconElie

My question is where would ALL the players on the public servers now, go?

Honestly, I think the single player experience is genuinely better than one on public servers. As long as you have the self-control to not cheat, it is more challenging and you get to experience more of the game and lore as designed.

Aesthetically the game looks better in SP (no sandstone spam), it plays better, and you’re surviving on your own. No looting decayed bases, no one handing you star metal tools from the jump, etc.

[DeaconElie]

I was sick of single player games before the internet was a thing.

[donbzm]

I used to complain a lot on this forum, but today I’ve come to understand that it’s better to take a deep breath and accept reality. Face the four truths and make a decision based on them:

1. Official servers are technically problematic, crowded with buildings, and lack clear rules (I myself have read the TOC several times and still have doubts about how I should behave on an official server). You’re likely to encounter toxic players, many of whom are knowledgeable about how to exploit server flaws and ruin your gameplay. You can report them, but Funcom never responds about whether or not a problem has been solved, only that the case will be investigated. I recommend playing casually to experience the online mode without much expectation. In my opinion, this is where the most toxic players gather.

2. Third-party private servers may have rules, but they’re theoretical and there’s no guarantee that they’ll be enforced. If the admin doesn’t like you, you’ll have more problems than on the official server. Private servers have hierarchies, and if you’re not “buddy-buddy” with the admin, you’ll probably feel unfairly treated or disadvantaged at some point. Moreover, the server can be shut down or wiped out at any time, and you’ll lose all your gameplay (this risk also exists on official servers, but I think it’s lower). Remember that no one will pay for a private server to keep it open just because they’re nice. Usually, people who do this like to have the power to rule and dictate the rules. It’s worth noting that just because a server is private, it doesn’t guarantee its performance. I’ve entered private servers with much worse performance than official ones.

3. Playing offline, you’ll enjoy the game’s performance, but you’ll miss out on its best feature: online play. It’s not just about finding other players, buildings, etc. It’s about being out of the game and knowing that that world still exists, that your character may be in danger, that a purge may be approaching your base while you savor a vegan pie, that your blacksmith is still making steel reinforcements and that the coal in your furnace is still burning even while you binge-watch a series on Netflix. For me, playing offline means missing out on the best the game has to offer.

4. Finally, the option of having a private server of your own! This option is by far the best, especially if you have a group of friends who are willing to join in and share the costs (don’t be fooled, even if you set up your own infrastructure, you’ll still have costs to maintain a server). Of course, if you can afford to do it all on your own, it’s even better, as it guarantees that there won’t be any disagreements and you’ll really be able to run the server your way. The problem is that your server will be a “third-party server” for other players, who will have reservations about playing on it, maybe the same that also push you away from this type of server. This puts you at risk of being alone on your server.

Face these realities and decide how you prefer your experience with Conan Exiles. Fighting to change these scenarios will only wear you down. Trust me, I’ve been banging my head against the wall on this forum for a while now.

[Coyote0903]

I’m a little confused by this long back and forth going on here. It seems the point the OP was trying to get across was that the game has been broken on Official servers since the most recent update, and Funcom doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. Sure, they said “unplayable in ANY online environment” and that isn’t 100% true, so? The rest of the back and forth seems a bit pointless in my opinion. “Lost Connection” is a very serious issue on Official servers, and the solution isn’t for everyone to just leave those servers. Either fix the game or don’t, but let us know what you are doing.