Some ideas to fix or buff the immersion in the game, sometimes with very few work to do :
Game mechanics are too artificial
It’s more a point a view that a precise point. I think the immersion if often broken because many things you’ve created seems unfinished or not polished, because game mechanics (earning points, buying recipes in a big billboard …) are too visible, unavoidable, too artificial. The interface also use too much big billboard where we have to search during long time, which is quite boring (inventory, crafting …).
Predators are too slow
Animals, especially hyenas, wolves or tigers should not run lower than a human. It make them a simple annoyance, and not a danger. All should run faster than the player, to force him to be careful. On the other side, they all should fear fire, like hyenas and have a little reduced aggro circle.
Small dungeons with recipes reward
You have a bunch of unused buildings and ruins in the desert, which could be filled with somes NPC and a simple reward like armor recipes (hyenas, ancient weapons …), construction recipes (trebuchet, explosives …). It would be a good way to make some low-cost content, with a more immersive way to learn recipes in the game.
NPC factions are too statics
NPC Factions should make patrols out of their base, and sometimes fight each other for the control of some places (for example Darfaris and Pirates), or adventuring into some ruins against skeletons. For the moment, they are just sitting in the middle of nowhere, doing nothing, or dancing without any music …
Beginning of the game is far too easy
Darfari cannibals should hunt the player sometimes during the night. The beginning of the game isn’t hard or creepy at all. We can too easily avoid any danger, any predators (croco, hyenas …). Staying in the oasis should be dangerous because of the darfari maneaters, with for example a simple line like “you’re hunted …” to give some chills to player.
Skeletons acts like normal NPC
Skeletons should not proudly patrols in circle like any other NpC, in full light. This is pretty ridiculous (at least they are not dancing without music …) . Make them appear from the sands, or hiding in the shadows of building …
The story is very difficult to understand and follow in the right order
The story of the game is a great mess, because we have no path to follow with NPC or “quest” destinations. We can kill the serpentmen boss without knowing who is he, or what the hell we’re doing here in a volcano, and getting the artefact without knowing his role. It"s pretty ridiculous and break the immersion in the game story.
Rescue thralls instead of always enslave
Some places should give a way to capture a thrall. For examples, we should be able to release a thrall in a pirate or darfaris camp, and take him back to our base, instead of always enslaving everyone. You already have chains and cages, now give them some utility. And remembers that Slavery was always rejected and despised by Conan in all novels.
Thralls need some voices and basic dialogues.
At the moment, thralls are pretty boring, stupid and doesn’t have any role in the game. They’re just grunt standing where we place them, and sometimes doing their jobs. So they need some little emote (you already have them !), some basic lines when you speak to them, something that give the minimum illusion and immersion …
Reduces fatalities / dismemberment
It’s good to have visual violence in the game, not a problem. But at the moment, 2/3 ennemis are cutted in half, even by a club and it’s pretty ridiculous and becoming boring. You had excellent kill moves on age of Conan, who were rare but always satisfying. Take exemple of that or of Skyrim killmoves (quicker and not blocking your character during a pvp fight).
Make an injuried animation
It’s still to easy to run out of combat in full sprint and avoid any dangers, especially in PvP. Character who get slow-down or heavily injured (25% left ?) should not be able to sprint, but only walk in pain. Combat in Pvp would be less ridiculous. And in PvE, it should force the player to be cautious.
Even modders on Skyrim have managed to create some animations, so we expect a professionnal studio like Funcom to be able to do the same.
Example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkZeezTH5-w
To prevent the die and retry logic (if impossible to run away), we could have Perks that reduce that, or move that can stuck a character too.
Important NPC
Create real special looking human boss for every main factions (Darfaris, Black hand …), with somes lines, recipes …
Interface
A second line of hotbars would be cool, because they are many objects we need to have in common game situation (weapons, tools, potions, shield …). An alternative would to be have 2 hotsbars, and be able to switch beetween them by pressing a button like shift.
A visual sign of the degradation of food, like a color in the back.
Create a workbench for construction/building recipes (wall, roof, door …). The main page of recipes is already a mess, with too much things craftable.
Purges
When a Purge begins, a small animated face of an ennemy NPC (Darfari, Exiles …) taunting us to annunce the attack. Would be more immersive or motivating, the game is too much silent. At the end of the purge, automatic emote for all thralls to celebrate victory.
Purge link to the progression in main quest ? For examples, Silent Legion raid after we kill the Black castle boss.
All really good points, I can dodge 7 hyena at once while over encumbered. They need speed and brain cells. One thing I may add is a hold release system for archery. Currently I don’t use a bow because once I press the trigger, some time later it spits out an arrow. And don’t get me started on javelins … You’d need gps to find one again. Imagine your hunting, poised on a rock waiting for that perfect moment to fire your first arrow . You hold the trigger to build the power and a you breathe out and that moment shows itself you let fly! (When I did this it just prematurely ejaculates the arrow at a tree?)
I like it. Especially something hunting you in the night. That’s what made other survival games so memorable in the early stages was that you needed a proper shelter before the first nightfall.
They should really add in a ‘Thrall Merchant’ in Sepermeru (pretty sure this was mentioned in EA). There’s already a great location with a wheel of pain, a taskmaster, and a line of slaves, so placing a merchant that sells you random broken thralls would seem a trivial task. This could easily be played out (by the player) as purchasing that thralls freedom and offering them housing, food and work.
I have noticed my guards shouting profanities at times when they aggro on the local wildlife (or intruders), but otherwise they are just static. It would be nice to have some idle animations for them (even just a random yawn or stretching), like some have in the camps.
Along those lines, dancers need to do more than just the Cimmerian and Aquilonian dances… The best implementation would be if we could choose which dances they do. Aquilonian and Cimerrian for the food halls and taverns, and belly dance or snake dance for bedchambers and throne rooms (war dance for the fire pits).
Adding a passive, aggressive or alert mode for guards would be great. As is, you can’t have anyone over on a PVP server if your thralls aren’t locked away in a dark room. At least if they’re on Alert mode, they wouldn’t aggro until the visitor hit someone or some thing.
The thrall system is so unique, that it would greatly enhance game play with more improvements to their interactions. Working on the AI (in my opinion) should be the highest priority patches that would add the most value. It would totally add to the settlement vibe of a large base or castle.
I don’t use thralls at all, but I don’t think they’re supposed to have any personality at all. They have, after all, been clubbed over the head and turned into a zombie on the wheel of pain. Unless you put in some sort of mechanic where they were able to some how regain some personality it doesn’t make any sense to me. Conan may have despised slavery, but we’re not playing Conan. He released us into the exiled land to fend for ourselves.
My night cycle lasts all of like two seconds via the admin panel. There is just nothing to do at night at all. Dunno how much I’d enjoy a raid in the pitch dark though. I still wish beds and bedrolls would offer a rest function to be used at any time to regain health. I find consuming several rhino’s to regain health to just completely stupid. The only part of the game I really cannot stand is food management. It makes no sense.
Nope, we’re not. But they are working on a single player game where we do play as him (I think somewhat based off of these exiled lands).
Part of what people are asking for was promised during EA. Admittedly, they (Funcom) overstretched what they thought they could accomplish, but there was a promise of a settlement system.
Enslavement is a huge part of the lore. Conan despises it because he was enslaved as a child. It would be nice to find those random few to be saved but ultimately the lore of Conan’s world revolves around slavery get over it. Before they add more thrall reqruitment features they need to fix what is already in place. Thralls still sometimes disappear despite whatever fix they may or may not have done. Thralls are still just useless defenses that can not accurately engage players and even some enemies. Archers are still missing over half the time or not even pulling out bows to fight. They have implemented a feeding system that will need an overhaul as it gets settled in. What I want long before rescuing thralls I want to see resource gathering thralls. Because ultimately we are more a slave to them than they are to us having to feed, cloth, and house them. They might as well pull a little more weight than standing around.
They gotta fix the bugs first. I’m tired of the wolves/hyenas teleporting. Yeah, it’s still not the best, fix that then speed them ok. There used to be more predators and they were sick fast and also real buggy, I mean real badddd. Flying into the air while attacking you, teleporting, dozens spawning out of each other, lag and more.
Aw man, I still remember the first days of EA, when a Hyena would aggro you from 500 meters out, you couldn’t outrun it unless you were lucky, and if it got a hit in your were crippled… sounds fun? It wasn’t, I can assure you! Immersive, maybe, but not fun (at lower levels, anyway). Going anywhere in a hurry was a pain in the ■■■, and you’d end up with a mile-long gangrape happy train of hyenas, turtlebros and whatnot.
Early access was brutal. If a croc got wind of you it was all over.
Since we’ve entered late access I feel that enemies are way to easy. I just ignore them unless I need a resource from them.
There has to be a happy balance between death and dismemberment of ea and the placid patable creatures of now.
