This forum post expresses my personal feedback regarding the current state of the game Conan Exiles. In my view, after recent patches and changes, Conan Exiles is NOT FUN. After Gabe Newell, I define fun in video games as the degree to which the game recognizes and responds to the players choices and actions. In my view, there are four main issues which render Conan Exiles LESS FUN than it used to be in the past. Thus, I hope this feedback will contribute to preventing Conan Exiles from becoming a dead game like its predecessor, Age of Conan (unless this is the ultimate objective of the developers).
First, fighting thralls are NOT FUN. Taming, equipping, and leveling thralls up consumes a considerable amount of the playerās time. Unfortunately, this effort is not adequately rewarded by the game, as thralls typically die within seconds after encountering a group of enemies. Having even a well-equipped thrall or not is unlikely to change the outcome of large, challenging fights. Therefore, this is NOT FUN. If a functionality in a game exists, it should not be frustrating and useless but rewarding a viable. Hence my conclusion: BUFF THRALLS.
Second, the new purge is NOT FUN. Since players can decide when to trigger the purge, the unpredictability and danger that incentivized players to build well-thought, strategically placed bases is now gone. As every purge wave looks almost the same, the player has no incentive to start the purge other than gaining mediocre loot. Simultaneously, the new purge can be easily exploited by creating dedicated structures intended for decimating the attackers. Apart from providing a spawn point for attacker waves and loot after the purge, the Stygian war camp does not provide any substantial improvements to the gameplay. Worse, because the war camp often does not spawn or spawns incorrectly, many players are prevented from this part of gameplay whatsoever. Once we summarize these factors and add that Age of War removed world bosses and different attacker factions, it becomes clear that the new purge system has made the game LESS FUN than it was before. Once the Age of War ends, ROLL BACK to the previous purge system featuring world bosses and the purge timer.
Third, combat is NOT FUN. The outdated combat system has been among Conan Exileās greatest flaws since the gameās launch in 2017. However, while aiming to make the combat more āsouls-like,ā the recent patches forgot to add iFrames to rolling and hyperarmor to medium and heavy gear, which are critical factors in such a combat system. As a result, combat has become even more frustrating and unfair, and forces players to adopt the same, repetitive builds and strategies when fighting enemies. This effectively limits build and gameplay variety and prevents players from playing the game the way they want. Hence, combat has become LESS FUN. I am not referring to the impact of the changes on PvP though, which remains outside the scope of this analysis. Nevertheless, ADD IFRAMES AND HYPERARMOR to make combat less frustrating and repetetive.
Fourthly, the Bazaar is NOT FUN. I understand developing and maintaining a game requires a budget. An in-game shop is one possible means of securing that budget. However, the current FOMO mechanism that changes items in the bazaar every few days is outright predatory, counterproductive, and NOT FUN. Most Conan Exiles players have lives of their own and have better things to do than follow a shop in a video game. When I find two hours of my precious time to play your game, I want to start building my Stygian pyramid right awayānot when the Bazaar algorithm graciously permits me to do so. Preventing players from obtaining optional in-game assets they want to use in their gameplay is NOT FUN. Let your players have FUN by allowing them to buy on the Bazaar whatever and whenever they want.
To summarize my point, right now, Conan Exiles is LESS FUN to play than it used to beāand the developersā changes and patches from the past 1,5 years are directly to blame for that. Thus, allow me to conclude with a call to MAKE CONAN EXILES FUN AGAIN! Dear devsāstart playing your own game and listen to Gabe Newell on YouTube defining what fun in video games is. You might learn a thing or two.
itās like watching a 5 year old throw a tantrum in a shopping mallā¦ and this is like your second big episode of doing this with the small in-between bursts here and there.