I see this as a common thing that comes up. There’s arguments for both sides, and I can easily play devils advocate for each.
Keep it 100% pure Conan (if not in the books, it isn’t in the game)
- Keeps it different from other games
- Makes it immersive to people familiar with the books
- Very unique atmosphere
Non-Conan content (either allowing conan-esque content OR allowing “kitchen sink” fantasy eg Skyrim)
- Appeals to a wider audience
- More flexibility for devs
- “Funnitivity” can be more easily addressed (and less “No, because of cannon reason X…”)
I think there’s a way to please both crowds, though. Of course, Funcom has the last say, but here’s a few ideas.
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Have a few “unsupported but official” Age of Calamitous servers. I don’t think the mod is anywhere near “perfect” or “amazing” but it would at least help some players scratch that itch (and some would move onto private AoC servers). Basically, this would be the equivalent of Funcom paying for a couple of “survivalservers.com” boxes and listing them in a special section (Kind of like how Ark has official servers with different maps running).
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Create a “Branch” product. Call it something like CE: Fantasy (Removing Conan from the name, effectively). This “Branch” product is still 99% the same game and launcher… going back to the Ark analogy, it’s like a different map. However, it can use the same map(s). The difference is, on “Fantasy” you are just a generic human, but you can buy a DLC that has skins for fantasy races (like one of the other current suggestions). You can buy a DLC that has saddles that fit all kinds of other creatures (literally already exists in the game devkit, but I was told by a community manager it wasn’t included because it wasn’t Cannon). You can buy a DLC that adds magic-y things. To keep with current Funcom policy, each “DLC” would have to have some basic item everyone on the server has access to (Like a fireball shooting staff) but the DLC would add different ones (Staffs that shoot ice, lightning, etc. but are equivalent to the fireball staff).
The second option would require a few other changes that (in general) would be good for Funcom to have. Like the opening cinematic should just be skipped on the “fantasy” branch… but that option is long overdue in general.
Both of these options only make sense if it can bring in enough money from new purchases and DLC, to justify more developers working on the game. If either option did bring in more players, I would think that would also help the “cannon” game grow, as they’d still be 99.8% similar.
Anyways, it’s an idea I had after seeing so many “Why can’t we have X?” or “Please add Fantasy thing Y” posts both here and many other places.
I personally just want the game to thrive, whatever it takes. I like it far more than most other survivals I’ve played… it’s the #1 for me in the non-voxel category, even over Ark (despite it’s popularity).