So restart it.
This game would be more populated if a longer decay timer was in place. That’s a fact that can’t be disputed.
But, go ahead, make a stick in the mud out of yourself.
I will dispute it really quickly.
You are saying people left because they weren’t playing a minimum of once every 6 days, which would have kept the decay timer reset and no “exploding” bases. Taking into account if the decay timer was upped to 14 days, 99% of the time the server population would be as it is now. (20145 minutes out of 20160 minutes of decay time…15 minutes to refresh). Reality is, a lot of people left just because that is what gamers do, move on to other games once they have finished end game stuff. Conan needs more in game reasons to make people play, outside of RP or all out war PVP. Decay timers would be near unnoticed, because people would log on daily to enjoy the new in game stuff and challenges.
Conan is very niche. It is a hamster wheel game of grinding/building, with PVP destroying mixed in. I have always stated, that to keep gamers’ immersed, the game needs to throw in game curve balls at us. Purge working would help (especially if the loot off the purge thralls was on level with the Halloween event 
). Making it harder to offline raid is another. But the decay timer??? if they can’t log in to refresh every 7th day, then they really weren’t gonna play anyways. BTW, most people that have quit the game i know of, just didn’t like the fact that a person grinding 16 hours a day had a big advantage when it came to pvp siege gameplay. Destroying half a base, only to see it rebuilt, 8 times, with no real retaliation and melee fighting kind of gets boring after a while. Some people don’t wanna chop trees and beat up rocks 3 hours a day. They want more action oriented game play.
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Servers without decay timers are nearly dead. Those with them on are populated. Disputed.
Try again.
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Much shorter and more concise than my disputed reply 
We had an influx of new people 2-3 months ago. A significant portion of those quit the game after they had the decay mechanic explained to them in the chat - usually after losing some or all of their belongings and asking wtf happened. Now we’re down to 1-3 online players again. Official server, ie default Decay settings, so the idea that the decay timer keeps a server populated is absurd.
Whether a longer decay timer would help I can’t say for sure. I personally believe so, but by definition I can’t prove it. But the mechanic needs to be explained in big, bold, gigantic letters and repeated at nauseum since we’re stuck with it. Springing it on people who are unaware is, well, it’s a dick move and more likely to cause “quitting in disgust” syndrome in players.
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I agree, decay timer doesn’t help keep it populated. I believe there are more intricate things. And, yes it needs to be explained more thoroughly up front. But the idea that people who don’t play enough to keep it organically refreshed will drive up population daily on severs is, tbh, mathematically inaccurate.
I personally belive these are the reasons in order
- Offline raiding
- Lack of melee interaction
- Lack of NPC impact on max level characters
- Hamster wheel of grinding/building
- Griefers/Trolls.
- Base decayed due to inactivity.
- All day grinders ( a lot of people just don’t see the end game/reward in fighting them)
The RP and Solo gamers’ may not agree, but tbh, the general public is more attune to quick gratification from there gameplay. RP and Solo players tend to be in it for the long haul. Thus casual gamers’ want to build, blow up, or melee right after they log in. They don’t want to grind for the 300 bombs. The 4500 steel reinforcements for a base. They don’t want to find the armorer that makes there favorite armor for melee.
I would disagree. And before the counter-posts start, my disagreement is not with what’s posted above in anyone’s text, but rather with a fundamental expectation of the game itself.
For a PvP server, I would expect tribes get wiped every so often (be it one month or three months or six months). And I don’t mean raided. I mean the Exile lands being so turbulent that every base gets massively Purged to the point that no base could survive. There should be an expectation of a “reset” every so often. So whether its by a decay timer, an NPC invasion, a player raid, or even an environmental disaster, all the bases should experience a constant reset. Maybe that’s too hardcore?
On a PvE server, the “reset” should be more relaxed. Maybe the purges can be survivable if all the players stand together?
And on a RP server, perhaps not even be there at all. RP servers are more for the building and role-play than anything else.
So, the idea that a clan can set up camp on a server and reign supreme unchallenged by anyone or anything just doesn’t really seem to fit with the descriptions of Conan’s harsh world.
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Oh yeah I like all of that so much. What comes to mind is the map itself – look at that big rusty bulge of what used to be high-rent arable land, a busted desert and a misguided river with cataracts of ill proportion and size. Bottom line is if somehow the aqueduct water flow were re-established, a great number of lower-map buildings in obstruction might simply blow apart. Or something similar to the Tremors monster has been suggested: a yuge drilling beast that occasionally wends its ways through passages, and if you’re not online to protect your Spillway-blocking monstrosity, too bad! 
For a cleansing mechanic, Decay is a bit too much like putting Dran-o in a neti pot. The best you can say is it works.
For all the times I’ve played on official servers, I’ve never once heard a new player cry out and say “I sure am happy the decay system cleaned up that 2x2 I’ve been relying on for the last week.” I don’t buy the idea decay brings in more blood. It simply keeps bested players zapping in from time to time to renew their claims until the heat is gone. There will be a better way.
How about other players can vote on decay, some Buildings are nice and good for the server. map roms and Buildings that make the server beather, you can use then or they just lock good and every one like it and its frends you like and want to keep the building. So you can vote to pospone the decay!
5297+ servers listed (still counting) and only 46 had 10 or more players on. That is LESS than .9% of the servers having at least 25% server population.
And many (most) of the server’s that are listed (46) are the ones that people have fled to, because their servers died and they were seeking other players to interact with.
It’s not working well, it could be working better. I, by myself, can list a slew of strangers that have LEFT the game when their buildings crumbled. And I know anyone else who has played this game for any length of time, can also list a slew of people that quit, because of this failure of a mechanic.
Conan Exiles is too much of a time sink to have all your shi* decay instantly with only 1 week as a buffer.
1 week decay system in Conan Exiles makes as much sense as a feeding yourself to a shark so it’s not hungry enough to eat you.
Edit:
https://steamcharts.com/app/440900
Conan appears to average about 5,000 players at a given time for this month. Spread across 5300+ servers.
https://steamcharts.com/app/252490
Rust is averaging 38k this month.
https://steamcharts.com/app/238960
Path of Exile average 37k.
https://steamcharts.com/app/440
Team Fortress 2 (It’s so old!) averaging 50k players (per day!)
I don’t say this to troll, or embarass CE, or be mean, or be “non constructive”. I (and others) say this cause there is a real, observable problem, both in game and outside of it! Atlas is coming out tomorrow!
I wanna stick with this game, I wanna see it grow, I am gonna come back to it again and again. I just don’t wanna regret it each time.
Conan Exiles is doing something wrong. And it’s not the graphics, it’s not the movement/combat system. It’s the lack of content, and the way too short decay system.
Shame on anyone for arguing otherwise, helping the game commit suicide. It’s got so much potential otherwise.
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You have access to this and can have unlimited amount of time if you wanted:
This is why no one is taking you seriously.
I like to play on vanilla servers, with other humans. (That’s what the internet is all about) Thanks for stating your opinion.
P.S. Conan Exilies population has trended downward (since official launch in may) by, alot.
| Month | Avg. Players | Gain | % Gain | Peak Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 30 Days | 4,576.7 | -240.6 | -5.00% | 7,858 |
| November 2018 | 4,817.3 | -1,050.6 | -17.90% | 8,678 |
| October 2018 | 5,867.9 | +878.3 | +17.60% | 11,885 |
| September 2018 | 4,989.6 | -1,689.1 | -25.29% | 8,646 |
| August 2018 | 6,678.6 | -3,071.7 | -31.50% | 13,839 |
| July 2018 | 9,750.3 | -3,251.1 | -25.01% | 18,273 |
| June 2018 | 13,001.4 | -8,555.4 | -39.69% | 30,233 |
| May 2018 | 21,556.8 | +17,903.7 | +490.10% | 49,230 |
Don’t take me seriously, I know you are taking me personally though. Try not to.
Have a nice day.
Sorry, no, “make your own server” is not a reasonable answer to this, no matter how many times you repeat it. Official servers are most players’ first - and often only - point of contact with the game.
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Here’s the thing. Private servers will be running long after Officials shut down which seems to be likely in the near future. You’re going to be hard pressed to prove that wrong.
And when that happens, the Irony is you will be courting people like me to provide you with a place to play since you will not be willing to do it yourself. Or you can jump ship. I mean the numbers provided proves that the playerbase is declining (I say culled). So your stuff is coming down anyway, even if you do login every week.
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I am wondering where you heard or read that official servers are going to be shutdown … could you please link/quote the source / publication / forum post that states this is under consideration??
Not flaming, but concerned as I like the PvE official server I’m on … we have a small core of people I’ve played with since launch maintaining buildings and get a few newcomers every so often.
Source, please?
I’ve stated many times that I’m leaving this game if/when my stuff goes away. That’s no secret. I can assure you I will not rely on you to provide anything for me however, the only case where I’d consider playing on a private server is the one where I own the server, which seems to be a very common thing, which is why we have more servers than players.
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Its unlikley they will shut down all official servers. It is likley they will shut down some (at this rate) unless they plan to grow. If they plan to grow (obviously) they need to start with decay system being too strict, and impliment repeatable, long term, rewarding content. Leveling for thralls. Items, upgrades for items, more armor slots and according gear, real shops, mounts, trade, ect. Regardless of your opinion, Funcom wants to be successful, and to do that they need to fix some pretty glaring issues.
P.s. the forest, rust, and ark all have more players than conan exiles. Devs have already made a quality game, it just needs finishing and some better managment regarding retention of players.
P.s. feat system and lack of levels feels extremely limiting. The stated purpose (to encourage trade) is not functioning correctly with low server max population, low population anyway, and the additional reality that they chase everyone away with decay system.
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I started playing early release, then upon launch, I keep grinding and building for months. I went abroad for my father funeral and stayed with my mother for an additional week before having to return back for work. I knew it would decay. I have a laptop but not powerful enough to run conan exiles, also “babysitting” a game was really not appropriate for the time. When I returned back about 2.5 weeks, I knew everything would have decayed. I couldn’t get anyone to babysit either, because I had to buy a ticket right away and leave next day for my funeral preparations. When I came back, I logged in just to try to refresh it, hoping that they might have increased decay time while I was done. Everything was gone. Closed the game and never looked back.
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This game is too hard, and too time consuming to be played on a week long timer. Reality (imo) is that survival games should transition into a semi MMORPG type system and focus on long term building solutions. So people can create homes and work/upgrade them for years. The freedom in this game is amazing, but people need to take long, hard breaks from this game every once in a while for numerous reasons. Casual players even more so. Punishing your consumers for not stopping by your shop once a week, is a bad way to keep consumers.
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