Game mode: [Online | Singleplayer]
Problem: [Crash | Bug | Performance | Misc]
Region: [USA]
Hey everyone. Just thought to put my two cents in regarding Conan Exiles for PS4.
Now, I have read countless threads in these forums, how someone has this or that issue, the devs reporting this or that fixed or being investigated (Fixed on TestLive, or w/e), but nobody seems to focus on just how unstable the actual game performance in general is.
To quote Funcom’s own words: “We might not always get it right, but we always do it with passion and the desire to create something special and unique.” - With over 24 years in the business and 120 employees on 2 continents, you’d think they’d start getting the first part of that quote better.
Granted, specificity is a must; as in “What exactly is the problem?”, but that list is so long right now, you might as well publish a book about them and have it cataloged into the Library of Congress.
With over 2 months since the game’s release, the game has seen 8 “patches” (a hotfix is not a patch btw), the latest being 1.16 (oddly sequenced), designed to fix certain problems (the devs aren’t that great with patch notes) that may or may not fix the problem, but still creating new ones.
However, with game settings not being implemented when modified, menus/quick menus not working as intended, character/NPC clipping through environment (any environment), disappearing static objects, NPC freezing/vanishing, etc. - these are your base game fundamentals aka game play mechanics - going haywire. Who cares if your thrall is floating midair when you spend 10 hours (if that, with crashes still occurring) on construction/resource gathering only to have all the work disappear because of a crash or improper load? (For me, game play mechanics and game performance are one and the same)
Now, I don’t care whether or not PC/XB1 is being favorited or prioritized. That’s a matter of opinion, and even if that’s true, the only thing that does to PS4 users is delay patch/hotfix drops. I would think that Funcom would have designated teams to cover each platform individually, but these things should be prioritized and sequenced by platform not the actual problem itself.
To clarify what I mean, say you have a problem that’s occurring on PC and PS4 relating to server lists. You fix the PC problem and then immediately port and code for the PS4. Since the PS4 is still having crash problems, dropping a hotfix related to the server list may not be the best solution for it. That patch may create a conflict in coding that could cause problems elsewhere.
However, from a PR perspective, the general PS4 public is unhappy, so I guess any update is better than none.
To fellow users, I say to you: Give it 10 more months, and with enough correctly sequenced and stable patches, the PS4 version will probably be a lot better. Emphasis on probably.
To any devs and community managers reading, I say to you: Backshelf QOL fixes and refocus on game mechanics and performance. We would rather wait for one big update that includes QOL fixes, than a series of tiny fixes that could actually cripple the game more than it is.
Forgive this long post but anything worth saying should take a long time to say.
Thank you for your time.
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