Dev Stream - 08-22-2019 - Written Summary
Hello peoples of the Conan land. For this stream, I’ve decided to drop the bulletin summary’s from my work load. Looking at past streams, only a very small handful of people ever used them, and it always adds several extra hours of work for me to clean up my notes for general viewing. We’ll see what people have to say about that, but for now, here is the written summary for today’s stream. Featured sightings of the Funcom land for this stream includes:
- Alex: Conan Exile’s new Lead Designer
- Jens: Community Manager
- Nicole: Moderating chat from North Carolina
- Robert (Robtheswede): Senior Designer and was very visible in Twitch chat during the entire stream
- Scooper: Funcom Lead Programmer and also made his presence known in chat.
The main focus of the stream today was about weapons. New weapons, new animations, new kits to apply, and how Funcom is starting to think about the specific roles best suited for every weapon. This patch will see just the start of better defined rolls for weapons, more is expected in the future. As usual, the content seen in today’s stream is all free. Here are the full details and links as always.
Alex formally revealed as the new Lead Designer for Conan Exiles (7:52):
It was mentioned in the last stream, but Alex was formally introduced as Conan Exiles new Lead Designer. Big congrats to Alex for the promotion and for all the fun things to come! Since people ask every stream on “where’s Joel,” Joel is hiding and busy with other stuff at Funcom.
Alex has appeared on the stream before, but there was a lot of positive feedback of his explanations and engagement throughout the stream in Twitch chat (he did great from my perspective too).
Not discussing Mounts, Sorcery, or New Maps (9:10):
Quickly getting this out of the way, Jens announced that there is no new information to share on those feature requests.
Blood and Sand DLC Info - Next Week, and When it’s Released (11:01):
The next DLC, Blood and Sand, will have it’s time to shine in next week’s stream. Release will be “Early September.” This is also the timeframe that was given for the actual patch content shown in today’s stream. For testlive to receive this update, this will be coming “Soon” TM
First New Weapon Reveal - Short Sword (12:09):
This is a bran new weapon, different from that of the longsword that we are all used to seeing. It does come with unique animations as well. The shortsword is designed with a specific utility in mind, creating a smaller hitbox. A lot of the weapons are AoE based and it makes it difficult to be precise when you need it to be (like when fighting with your friends and clan mates). The main idea is for it to be more of a single target weapon. While singular focused, it still has closing distance mechanics as well.
Currently, the Short Sword does not have any unique functionality/animation with a shield or throwing axe. Alex clarified that they have this down “on paper” to look at those combos after they have had time to test it out in the game world.
Short Sword will come out of the box with a Iron version and a Star Metal version. The Blood and Sand DLC will also have Short Sword variants. Robert later clarified in Twitch Chat:
Twitch Comment: Are these weapons going to be added to previous DLC’s
Robert: No. However - you get a number of new skins for the new weapons in Blood and Sands
To further clarify, that means that the new weapons will have more then 1 new skin in the next DLC.
2 Handed Battle Axe - New Weapon Reveal (16:01):
I know there are a LOT of players out there that are rejoicing at this news (I know because it gets asked in every stream for the past forever). The 2 Handed Battle Axe is coming! Also featuring new unique animations, this 2 handed weapon is meant to mimic that of a barbarian, wildly swinging at their foes. Both light and heavy attacks are loop combos. Light attack would be described, as some in Twitch chat said, like a wild Lumberjack. While the heavy attack is a spin to win animation. Your character will spin the Axe in a wide arch for up to 19 times.
The stream didn’t have a “CTRL” key function (kick, block, etc), but Alex clarified that in the release version there will be a kick function for the 2 Handed Axe. Somebody also asked on stream if it would be possible to chop wood with the 2 Handed Battle Axe, and that answer is no. It is only a combat weapon.
The 2 Handed Battle Axe does have hyper armor on it’s whirlwind attack. This was discussed on the stream, as well as further mentioned by Robert in twitch chat:
Twitch Comment: Can the 2 handed Axe be interrupted in combat (Hyper-Armor)?
Robert: Not while in full swing, but you can easily move out of it’s range.
Also discussed was Alex’s comment on using caution for now with both of the new weapons in terms of balance. Neither of them have any status effects (cripple, sunder, bleed etc). They want to see how their hitboxes perform, their animations feel, and overall player feedback before deciding what direction to take them.
As with the Short Sword, there is an Iron and Star Metal version of the 2 Handed Axe, and more skins will be made available in the Blood and Sand DLC.
Battle Standards - PvP enabled area (23:40):
Oh boy, where to start on these guys. So there was a lot of information and quotes and questions and just lots of stuff. I’ve included everything from the stream that I possibly could so hopefully people can find the answers they are looking for.
General Info
These battle standards are flags that you throw down in order to create a PvP zone on an otherwise PvE or PvE-C server. This allows players to set up duels with friends, enemies, or clan mates. To enable, you simply place it down like you would any placeable. An AOE field is then generated that creates a boundary.
This Battle Standard is placeable by anybody (admin or non admin). It is only for character versus character damage, building damage will be untouched with this banner in place. Finally, battle rewards are nothing but prestige and battles are meant for the fun aspects. Players do no drop any equipment or loot when they die so long as they are in the PvP zone. On death, a player is spawned back at their bed or bedroll of choice like usual.
Boundary Info
Once a player enters this PvP boundary, there are given an Opt-In choice. They may select the following choices:
- Yes (Just for this fight, ask again the next time)
- No (Just for this fight, ask again the next time)
- Always (I want to fight, don’t ask me again)
- Never (I don’t want to fight, don’t ask me again)
This let’s players decide on if or when they want to fight other players. This required Opt-In will help keep players from abusing other’s with the flag. If a player chooses “Always” or “Never” and decide they want to change their minds, they can do so via the Options/Settings Menu. In order for combat to initiate, all players that enter the barrier must accept the invitation to fight. If they do not, then no damage will occur by players who opted out. The opt out player can swing their swords all they want, but nothing will happen. And vice versa, if a player opts in, and another opts out, the player opting in cannot do a thing to the opt out player.
Another countermeasure to prevent abuse is that the flag must be placed in your own land claim. It cannot be placed in the middle of no where (or near an opponents base) without any land claimed by you. To further clarify, Robert later added:
Twitch Comment: Can there just be floors or must there be walls as well?
Robert: Floors by themselves is fine.
Twitch Comment: I have an arena that is claimed land, walls but on natural/dirt flooring. Will it still work there?
Robert: If you own the land, then yes.
Visual Info
Visually, the border of the PvP zone on the stream was a shimmering effect along the outside. However Alex said they felt this was too “magicky” and it has already been removed internally. The release candidate will have defined grids that only show up when placing the banners, and if connecting multiple banners, you will see the grids of already placed banners while in the placement action.
Twitch Comment: Whats the zone of influence distance? Can it be made larger?
Robert: It’s a couple of foundations wide. If you feel it’s too small, you can extend it by placing more flags.
The Battle Standard also won’t have any sort of map identifiers to indicate where they are (no Icon’s or Beams of Light). Finally, PvP enabled players will have an identifying icon to indicate that they are flagged for PvP. On your character, this shows up as a buff icon and shows up in the standard buff locations. This buff will wear off within a few seconds of leaving the PvP zones.
Twitch Comment: You need to be able to stop players from entering a PvP zone, starting to fight but then turning it off just before death. Maybe once you’re inside the zone, you’re restricted from leaving for a time?
Robert: Turning it off is not instant, so you won’t be able to do that. There are a few seconds after you exit/turn it off where it still is in effect
PvP Server Info
This banner is not enabled on PvP servers at this time. They would like to take time to evaluate that decision and could revisit that idea in the future. Robert later added:
It’s only a visual decorative piece on PvP servers (One of the major reasons for this is because of the potential for many different exploits)
Other Q/A Related to Banners:
Twitch Comment: Can animals or creatures enter the area while people are busy in a pvp bout?
Robert: Nothing stops animals from roaming in there, but if you build your arena carefully, that shouldn’t be an issue
Twitch Comment: Is there a No-PvP flag for PvP servers?
Robert: No
Twitch Comment: If we have PvE server, what about flags for landclaims like permits to loot, use doors and etc?
Robert: Interesting suggestion. Noted
Twitch Comment: Can pets and thrall be affected by the battle standard ?
Robert: No.
Animation Changes - 1H Sword (35:30) :
- You can linger the combo steps with the 1H sword now. This gives players a brief moment to throw off their opponent’s timing by creating a slight pause in their combo chain, and then continuing on. You can also do faster animation chains like usual.
Light Attack Changes are as follows:
- Light Attack 3 is changed to an AoE slash to better define the 1H Sword Combat role. It was also because Light Attack 3 often missed when in combination with how the sword was designed.
Heavy Attack changes are as follows:
-
Heavy Attack 1 and Heavy Attack 2 now travel the same distance on the lunge effect.
-
Heavy Attack 4 is no longer a jump attack, but a grounded AoE Swipe.
Short Sword vs Long Sword - The Breakdown (43:22):
Longsword is about a 180 degree AoE attack. Shortsword is about the size of the player capsule. Meaning the short sword is a lot more refined in it’s attacks and the chances of hitting their fellow player is drastically reduced.
Animation Changes - 2H Sword (41:30):
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Not finalized as of the Stream. Alex commented that the version we see isn’t what they now have internally, so there may be some slight changes. The intent is still there.
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Fastest 2 Handed AoE weapon in the game is the defined roll for the 2H Sword.
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Ctrl Key changed from a kick to an over the head chop
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This attack on final patch release will be about 1.5 seconds for the full commitment and ~ 75% of your stamina bar. Damage “will be rewarding” (damaged bugged during stream, will be changed and fixed for release)
Light Attack changes are as follows:
- Light Attack 4 has changed in it’s animation
Heavy Attack changes are as follows:
-
Heavy Attack 1 changed. Chop attack replaced by an AoE
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Heavy Attack 4 changed. Jump chop attack replaced by a grounded AoE that covers a large area
Animation Changes - 2 handed Spear/Pike (48:29):
Spear/Pike was changed so that it’s roll is more defined. Instead of AoE attacks and single target, the Spear becomes a well defined single target based 2 handed weapon.
Light Attack changes are as follows:
-
Completely overhauled.
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Now a standing still single target looping type of poking attack.
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Attacks are stationary, to initiate the attack your character must hold in place.
Heavy Attack changes are as follows:
- No Changes
-
Considered the top tier weapon buffing that a player can do
-
Does not stack with crafted kits
Where can you get them you ask? Spoiler tags (just in case)
* Purchased from The Archivist in the Unnamed City with Fragments of Power
- Can apply various buffs at the cost of weapon durability (nearly all of the weapon durability). A timer will show at the bottom of the weapon on how long the oil will last. As like other mod kits, oils can only be applied on a completely repaired weapon.
Here is the List of Oils Mentioned in the Stream
-
Oil of Balance (lowers stamina cost per attack)
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Oil of Bounty (apply to a tool to gain more resources)
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Oil of Concussion (more concussion damage for better knocking out of Thralls)
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Oil of Penetration (increased armor penetration)
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Oil of Agony (increased weapon damage)
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Higher tier then what’s already in the game
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Grants buffs at the cost of something else.
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Does not stack with crafted kits
Examples Given on Stream:
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Increase melee damage and armor penetration, but lower durability
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Increased light attack damage, but then heavy attack damage and durability goes down
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Increased armor strength, but lower durability
Twitch Live General Q/A (01:01:10):
- Is the Blood and Sand DLC “Dune” inspired or based?
- No. Blood and Sand references will be discussed next week during the stream
- Will there be more dungeons?
- Yes, they are definitely working on more dungeons.
- Further Combat Changes and General Focus on that
- They want combat to be more engaging for both the attacker and defender. Alex put it that he wants to see it be less frantic and more focused. They want to get player input on the how and the best ways they can do that. Even still further, should they make those changes? Player input is definitely needed and wanted. Patch 37 only will see a small portion of this, more to come in the next patch after.
- We want more stuff!
- More stuff is planned. There are two more DLC’s after Blood and Sand, there will also be content patches to go with those.
- Crossbows? Duel Wield Crossbows?
- They would rather focus on the existing weapons and nail that type of playstyle down. In this case, Bows. They’ve said in the past that Crossbows are unlikely to return.
- You talked about an all new building piece in a previous stream. Any news on that?
- Players will get to see this at another point in time. Alex followed this up by teasing chat on how we don’t know anything about it yet.
- Any more hairstyles planned?
- Not currently planned. They could do it, depending on “how badly people want it.” A thread on this forum was started in a effort to show just that. Funcom does listen to feedback, so that is the best way to draw attention to that feature if that is indeed something you personally want to see.
- Are you nerfing Jhebbal Sag Claws?
- Via Robert in chat: Claws have received a nerf in this patch. Next patch (meaning not this patch but the next one), they may look at changes to them even further (as Alex pointed out also).
Twitch Chat General Q/A:
Below is everything that was asked during twitch chat that was even the slightest bit relevant. I didn’t include every single possible statement as Robert answered the same questions multiple times. Thus, I just filtered out anything that players might find useful or interesting.
Twitch Comment: Is there any kind of moderation for spam claiming on official servers?
Robert: We don’t have an active moderators on any official servers, only rarely do we lay down the smack hammer there
Twitch Comment: Is blood and sand a cosmetic pack?
Robert: Yes
Twitch Comment: Can we send servants to gather resources in the near future?
Robert: Sorry, that idea is not currently in our plans. Although it’s a cool idea that’s been brought up in the past as well and we have made a note out of it.
Twitch Comment: Why can’t you switch which hands the torch is held?
Robert: The TL;DR version of that is “too much work” to rewrite a lot of the core battle code to implement a true duel wield system. Basically, the proper foundation support for such a feature should’ve come much earlier when the game was still in it’s early stages, but there wasn’t enough time for it back in the earlier days of development.
Twitch Comment: Can the torch be fixed so we can switch hands with the torch
Robert: We are unlikely to add this feature, sorry.
Twitch Comment: Hyperarmor: cannot be interrupted, but you can take damage. Is that an official definition?
Robert: Pretty much
Twitch Comment: Will there be a dragon bone 2 Handed Axe?
Robert Not when this patch comes out, but you’ll get a number of really awesome looking ones
Twitch Comment: Will you add lockpicking someday?
Robert: No, sorry. But there are mods currently on the Steam workshop that have such a feature.
Twitch Comment: Will there be Battle Rams or any other type of siege equipment besides trebuchets, gods, and bombs?
Robert It’s something we’re talking about internally but no firm decision or news on that yet.
Twitch Comment: Add butt sliders?
Robert: No
Twitch Comment: What about combat roll balance? I think they are too fast
Robert: Very likely we will look at those.
Twitch Comment: Will there be any improvements to thralls and AI in general?
Robert: We do want to implement that in the future, yes.
Twitch Comment: Can pikes/weapons still hit through walls, or was it fixed earlier?
Robert: I don’t know the status of that, sorry but I believe that should’ve been fixed a while ago.
Twitch Comment: Is it possible that the stone on top of the mountain at 14 D teases the magic update with the tale of the fighting mages further up north past the border?
Robert: No.
Twitch Comment: Suggestion: Waist lanterns so you don’t have to carry a torch
Robert: Noted.
Twitch Comment: Is the Blood and Sand DLC based on any race?
Robert: No, it’s not based on any race.
Twitch Comment: Can you look into the doom hammer? Grit hit chance isn’t actually working.
Robert: We know about it, yes and will get fixed.
Twitch Comment: Water animals please! We need danger in the water too!!
Robert: I would love and hate that at the same time, I have a terrific phobia of sharks. And I would love to put them in.
Twitch Comment: Could we have MMO style raid group bosses?
Robert: We’ve discussed it before. We don’t have a definite yes or no yet on that though, sorry.
Twitch Comment: Why new weapons and no fixes for exploits?
Robert: There are fixes for various exploits as well. Did we catch ALL of them? Probably not.
Twitch Comment: Anything on exploit fixes?
Robert: We continuously fix them - sometimes new ones pop up and then we try to smush those too but playing catch-up is always slow. We’re trying to get ahead on it.
@Ignasi Clarification on Stream Content (Post Stream):
Not all announced and shown on today’s stream is what’s coming in the next patch. On stream, we announced the biggest changes just so you have an idea of what’s coming.
