Healing Changes: PvE & Singleplayer

Conan Exiles General Discussion
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Greetings friends. I do sorely wish that this thread was dedicated to discussing a more positive phenomena, but sadly it is not. As you may well know, Funcom has now unveiled the new Healing System ‘rebalance’. I am genuinely sad to say that I am very dissapointed. And it feels to me like PvE and Singleplayer modes have been shafted by this change.

FOOD:

The regeneration rates for ‘Sated’ are ridiculously low, probably the equivalent to 10-20 hp per food portion right across the board regardless of tier. Furthermore, the very idea that a Handful of Insects or a bowl of Gruel now heals just as well as Hearty Stew or a Feast of Derketo is absurd. It is that bad that people are now pulling the Bracelet just to bypass the god awful grind and time sink these mechanics impose. Its people finding a way to circumvent a bad mechanic, just like they did with the Momentum system. But this has other further reaching repercussions too. It also renders cooking as a form of crafting pointless and utterly redundant, and relegates it to a novelty. Not to mention makes finding Cook thralls and Specialist Cooking recipes pointless. Thats 2 crafting stations, 1 thrall type, and an entire set of Feats now worthless in one fell swoop. Moreover, it trivialises our rewards and devalues our incentive for seeking out killing a whole array of stronger enemies.

ANIMATIONS:

As I have stated in another thread, these generate serious balance issues for Singleplayers and online Solo players. The problems which the Healing Animations present for Singleplayers, much like the ‘Momentum’ system before it, can be directly attributed to movement penalties it applies. And the problem is that for Singleplayers, our movement and manouvereability are the only thing which keeps us competitive in the game, viable as a mode of play, and allows us to overcome vastly superior numbers and opponents. The new Healing Animations already remove our ability to: I) attack using a weapon, II) to defend using a shield, AND III) to evade using a dodge. Thus I ask you, do we really need to suffer either a massive, or complete loss of all movement on top of that…!? I would argue no. It is just a case of overkill.

Overall, this whole package of nerfs masquerading as a ‘rebalance’ was an utterly uneccessary change as a means to appease a vocal minority sub-set of PvP complainers, which as usual, comes at the expense of PvE and Singleplayer modes. There were next to no threads on the forum calling for this change, and even less with with a discernable level of frequency. I love and care about Funcom and Conan Exiles. But they have once again moved the goal posts and uprooted a tried, tested and true system to ‘fix’ something which was not broken. In my point of view it detracts from the flow and fun of the game and manufactures more uneccessary grind time. Simply put, we didnt need to reinvent the wheel.

So in the meantime, please tell me what you all think. Do you agree, disagree, have anything you would like to add…? While PvP players are most welcome to weigh in here to, I have constructed this thread primarily for the PvE and Singleplayer base, as I feel that our feedback on this issue is also important, but seems to be getting buried among discussions around raid time and other PvP issues. HAVE YOUR SAY HERE.

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This isn’t true.

I’ve called for this change since 2018 for both PVE and PVP. And I’ve mentioned that the game was a bit on the easy side in recent PVE oriented threads. I just don’t clutter the forums with new threads when one is already created to suit the purpose. Like we’re supposed to do.

I’m not alone on this. There are PVE players (even those who haven’t stepped into PVP) who have asked for this and do like the change.

This is a case of a meta changing. Its a new system, a new thing to overcome. Much like the dodge changes. Single and solo players have plenty of options available. Also I would say the majority of players who PVE are probably engaging in primarily solo play. Even if they are apart of clans. This is due to the fact they are not online at all the same time, and even if they are they are likely spreading out the clan’s workload.

Why take 3 people to Klael’s when you can send one there, one to winecellar, and one to underwater city? That’s how I’ve always handled it.

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As a PVE player, I respectfully and strongly disagree. I do not think this change is perfect. There’s a lot that can and should be improved. But overall, I think that’s what needs to happen: improvement, rather than rollback. I find the game more fun now and believe that the new system is a step in the right direction, albeit just the first step.

Yep, that is definitely something they should address. Conan Exiles has a wonderfully diverse palette of cooking recipes and the devs should use that to give people more options for strategic healing and buffs.

I’m still in favor of it being done through the “sated” buff and toned down compared to healing items, but there should be a clear difference between a “lasting meal” and a “handful of insects”.

That’s just a knee-jerk reaction of people who don’t want to give the new system a try. On the officials, I don’t even have a cauldron for the potions yet, but the combination of wraps, being careful in a fight, and knowing when to run away is enough to keep me from dying.

The same thing happened with the dodge roll change: it was a paradigm shift and most people got along with it just fine as soon as they realized how the rules changed and how to adapt.

Yeah, that should also be toned down. On the bright side, the fact that your regen doesn’t get interrupted when you take damage is awesome.

Frankly, it’s very disheartening to see someone who I’ve come to admire for his contributions go down that “it’s PVP vs PVE” path. I’ve seen PVP players complain about changes and blaming PVE players on them, and I’ve seen PVE players do the opposite, and both are wrong. This case is no different: PVE players have been complaining very loudly about how the game isn’t challenging and how we can Leroy Jenkins our way through most of combat situations.

And that’s precisely why I like this new system. Yes, it needs improvement. But it’s not a case of “PVP whiners shafting the poor PVE folks”. It’s just a case of Funcom listening to both PVP and PVE crowd and trying to make the game better for both, despite knowing that a deluge of complaints is inevitable.

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LOL

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Agreed. As a PVP player, this makes it harder in a fight. No more heal as you combo/stagger another player. You must now work for time to heal. Before, with vit 4 and aloe soup/potion you could heal 75% of your health back if the other player just dodged and gave you 3 seconds.

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Im a Solo player at the moment and i’m loving it, makes me feel a bit more like a DS game. Not only in this game, but in any game, i find healing through food as a weak point, because food Shouldn’t heal but boost energy and in survival games to keep the player alive, so removing food as a healing item was a great choice in my opinion, the system they implemented is far from perfect but it’s on the right path.

Food and cooking system
The whole Cooking idea in the game has to change tough, because as you said they made it pointless. Food could be a nice way to gain buffs over time. i’m not going to explain how, but there is a game that made an interesting food system where eating “good” foods could help to get stronger as a permanent buff but eating poorly made the character fat and intelligent (for some reason). I can see this game having a similar approach, with foods that boost strenght if you eat them daily or foods that make you more agile, healthy (better surviveability) or chunky (Vitality).

I’ve played in PvE-C most of the time (PvE with some duels here and there), and i rarelly used or crafted complex foods because they had some materials that i didn’t want to search, and eating unapetitazing fish was more than enough to me. Berrys were one of my favorites items to heal, was kind off fast and easy to get, i avoided alcoholic beverages, not a fan to be pursuing temporary buffs my self. To me, Cooking was just as goods as dead as you call it today, i can see it becoming something way better than simple and boring healing items.

Healing and animation
Oh boi, i love this, the animations gives a lot more of immersion, you take time to heal IF you get hurt, so makes the player to pay more attention to their actions in combat and chose their fights before going full comando against 10 enemies (Speaking of PvE). I see this change as a great way to improve and learn how to play.

Yes, you can avoid all combat making your thralls do it all but we won’t talk about thralls in a while, you don’t want to me to get started on that topic again :^). Now, if you actually want to have fun and play instead of playing pokemon with thralls, you get hurt and fear for your life, you have to take time Ouf of Combat to heal, this is a smart move for passive healing while in combat was too strong, too rewarding for just clicking buttons, it was Unrealistic, Nobody in real life could wait that much and don’t feel stuffed and unwilling to move. Now that eating won’t provide a reasonable amount of healing i would say it’s better, now you depend only of potion for a quick heal and bandages that were pretty much useless before this update.

Now speaking of bandages, i believe that they need some rework, i haven’t played too much to test higher tiers but for now i see T1 bandages more than enough to heal up, and i wonder if having better bandages makes much of a difference.

In PvP, you may argue that the animations are unnecesary and force the player to get out of combat to heal, but any serious PvP Game won’t let you heal quickly during combat, you need to find safety first and then heal up. I’m speaking from a BR perspective, i know this game is not one, but has the same combat flow when combat arise. For PvE i find it amazing, for it reminds me to the Estus Flask from DS, a great mechanic from a great game and being this Conan Exiles, it deserves to be know for its brutallity and viceral gameplay, not for being forgiving to players stacking heals from 3 different sources and walking happilly with full health from every fight.

Overall i feel very happy about the changes but they need more work, also i still believe some enemies has weird behaviors and their AI needs a rework for combat to be more plesant to all in the PvE aspect of the game. As for PvP i can’t say much other than in other games seems to work just fine and it could be working great here too.

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I am glad that you are enjoying the new changes Taemien. No I mean it, I really am. I envy you and for that matter CodeMage too. It just sounds a lot more ominous to me. I can only hope that time will show me that I have been worrying needlessly.

It is. Of course there were people calling for it on both sides of the fence. However, threads calling for it were few and far between. And ultimately its was more aimed towards the PvP player base. If you would like to go over my post history then you will see that like yourself I have also been a vocal proponent for more challenge. But as I have pointed out in the past, there are other ways to achieve this without simply nerfing healing, adding handicaps and movement penalties to the character and downgrading players abilities. I personally prefer enhancing or overhauling NPC opponents to be more challenging. For example, instead of weakening we could give enemies a quick lunge attack, a power attack, a taunt which will power up the next attack or allow them to regain a small amount of health, T4 characters could randomly perform dodge rolls, and most of all…speed up enemy NPC animations! That last one has recieved a lot of support from both sides mind you. If you want to make the game more challenging then that is fine, but adjust enemies up, not players down. I hope this makes sense.

I provided my rationale for this thread in the original post. I wanted to discuss this aspect of the changes with my fellow PvE and Singleplayers without sifting through walls of feedback on new in-game features, technical issues, PvP raid times, and so forth. So I compiled the key points of my previous arguments into one succinct, comprehensive critique and viewpoint on the current topic. So if creating one new thread constitutes “spamming” by your conception, then frankly I do not care how you wish to belittle the thread. If Funcom would prefer that this topic were closed, then I humbly accept if they choose to do so. Its their ball game.

Of course. Just as there are already some PvP players who do not like the change. There will always be exceptions to the norm. However if the current ‘like’ count is anything to go by as an early, rudimentary measure, then it looks like more people dislike the change than like it thus far. And I will maintain my personal prediction that it will be a predominantly negative reception among the PvE and Singleplayer base. For the record I take no pride or joy in that statement.

Metas have little relevance to PvE and Singleplayer mode. A weapon needs only have a respectable damage value to be useful. A PvE or Singleplayer can still, given time and skill, defeat in-game NPC mobs and dominate with ANY type of weapon. For example a Two-Handed Battleaxe. Whereas using one in PvP will generally not end well. We dont need to use Yogs Youch or Horses to stand a fighting chance in PvE or Singleplayer.

Such as? Would you care to indulge me. I did not realise that there were alternatives to the new healing system once it is active.

That is speculation, and will vary subjectively from server to server and clan to clan. But I do know that many PvE player cooperate and share resources and workloads because they are not in direct competition with one another. PvE is a about enjoying the journey, not a race to the top.

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Trade threat with a thrall. If they are using dot based weapons (such as daggers or axes, or if you want to get exotic, envenomed or acidic) it becomes very easy for a thrall to pull agro off. Use that time to heal and then go ham.

Let’s quote the whole point here:

As someone who’s had to sort entire dozens of boxes from the loot my friends bring back a thousand times it feels like, I can attest to the cooperation a clan has. But like I said, how often do they go to the same dungeon together? I’m sure they do, but often we go to separate ones for more loot.

Maybe many of you don’t do that. But I’m sure many do. And I could highly recommend it if you don’t.

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EDIT: I play on PC with Keyboard & Mouse.

Hi Everyone.

I’ve been a PvE player for a long time and recently started on PvE-Conflict.
Originally it was fun and interesting to make the different foods and see what buffs / debuff they give. Later however aloe soup seemed best to me due to the amount healed for it’s weight for a stack of 50, I only seemed to use the stove for making aloe soup :frowning: Other players have said on chat they now miss making all the other recipes(not just aloe soup) as they are not worth it now, so this is just my opinion.

On PvE (with Legendary / endgame gear) to give myself more goals I tried to solo without a thrall every dungeon killing every mini boss in there etc… Wine Cellar is the only dungeon I’ve not been able to Solo, It’s the skeleton mini bosses they are so difficult for me, with the wights and normal skeletons joining in. With the healing change, it has made it even more difficult.

The Arena Champion has also become harder to solo / no thrall but is still do-able.

I’m still on the fence about the healing change, for PvP combat on the conflict server, it seems a good change to make fights faster / deadlier, however for other content or PvE content I’m still trying to decide if I like the change. It seems to have made all other content high risk now. If you make a mistake doing what was previously a low risk action there is a greater chance of dying.

It seems the different foods that give sated status heal you for a different amount.
eg with 27 Vit
Roasted Haunch heals a total of 60 HP
Aloe Soup heals a total of 40 HP

I think it would be good to see the different foods heal a different total amount of HP with specialist cooking recipes and recipes that require more effort to get the ingredients healing more.

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its horrible healing arrows are nerfed too,thrall healing takes lot of time thats no fun waiting till thrall is fit to fight again npc is healing complete in shorter time.
i dont like what they call “rebalance” its one of the badest changes since i play conan and i have 500+ hours. i played on a mod server with heavy enemys thats no fun with that changes.
for me its clear no more cent for funcom till they change that rebalance

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Game too easy, thralls OP
“just play solo”
healing changes
can’t reliably heal when solo
just bring a thrall

We have come full circle

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I would like to add that this the FC way. Add items, OP them, then down the road remove them or nerf them. A good example was the lifeblood spear. A very rare drop, some people spent months killing the red mother to obtain it. It healed you almost instantly out of combat. Then the nerf, now its just another trophy on the wall.

Am I saying OP items are good? No, I am saying FC needs to think ahead and stop listening to the vocal minority that dominate this forum. I would hazard a guess that less than 10% of the players ever visit here. I would like stability, plain and simple. The healing system was a bit OP, especially the arrows, but some of us dont live to mash keys in a sweat of drooling excitement fighting a dozen mobs at once.

There needs to be a system that fits the MAJORITY playstyle, plain and simple. It needs to be implemented and kept. I have played since EA day 1 and my EA days are over. I bought the new DLC just to see what it was about and I’ve seen it, not impressed. Changing CE because you want it a certain way in IOS is just imposing EA on us AGAIN. And I would like to see a dozen posts in the last year about healing in PVP as an issue, because you wont find a dozen, so stop using PVP as an excuse to blame this change on.

This was poor execution of an idea poorly thought out, plain and simple. They needed to do a small rollback on this, and I believe they just did a stealth patch that accomplished exactly that. I was just in-game and my aloe soup worked, not as it used to work, but it did tic up. I am not here to discuss your great fighting/rolling/dodging skills either, I m giving MY opinion on the issue.

PS - If the server lag wasnt so bad I wouldnt even say anything, but for the love of God, fix the damn lag before you start ■■■■■■■■ with game dynamics…PLEASE!

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C’est complètement faux !

La plupart des personnes qui n’ont pas apprécié ce changement sont parties et elles sont nombreuses. Et c’est compréhensible tant cela fait partie des fonctions radicales dans un survival qui passe par le combat. Rares sont ceux qui croient au changement ou s’impliquent suffisamment ou ont suffisamment confiance en Funcom pour venir ici porter la critique, même s’ils existent indiscutablement.

Au bout d’un moment elles ont lâché le jeu, et du coup oui, on ne les entend plus autant. J’imagine que c’est bien réconfortant pour les satisfaits de ne plus entendre de contradiction et d’apprendre qu’ils ont (avaient) raisons, même s’ils sont désormais entre-eux…

Et cette évolution, hélas, va dans le même sens selon moi. Elle a le grand défaut d’être clivant. Elle alimente l’idée que le combat est joué d’avance et que par extension, vous devez être sûr de vous avant d’engager l’adversaire. Et il n’y a rien de moins intuitif, et rien de moins fun.

Toutefois, comme l’esquive par roulade, je trouve un aspect positif à ceci, il m’est désormais possible de poser fermement des mots sur ce qui ne va pas (plus) dans Conan Exiles : le système de combat qui est complètement à revoir. Chaque pas fait dans le sens de la réalité nous éloigne inéluctablement du fun.

Voilà mon humble opinion, que confirment mes nombreux contacts jadis viciés à Conan, aujourd’hui ailleurs… Il me semble qu’il y a bien des choses à améliorer avant de faire des choix clivant… toujours aussi humblement !

Google Translation:

This is completely wrong!

Most of the people who disliked this change are gone, and there are many of them. And that’s understandable because it’s one of the radical functions of a combat survival. Few of us believe in change or get involved enough or trust Funcom enough to come here and criticize, even though they definitely exist.

After a while they gave up the game, and so yes, you don’t hear them as much anymore. I imagine that it is very comforting for the satisfied ones not to hear any more contradiction and to learn that they are (had) reasons, even if they are now among themselves …

And this evolution, alas, goes in the same direction in my opinion. She has the great fault of being divisive. It fuels the idea that the fight is over and by extension you need to be sure of yourself before engaging the opponent. And there is nothing less intuitive, and nothing less fun.

However, like the roll dodge, I find a positive aspect to this, it is now possible for me to put firm words on what is wrong (no longer) in Conan Exiles: the combat system which is completely to be reviewed. . Each step taken in the direction of reality inevitably takes us away from the fun.

This is my humble opinion, as confirmed by my many once flawed contacts in Conan, now elsewhere … It seems to me that there are many things to improve before making divisive choices … always so humbly!

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Potions are not bad. it takes like 1 sec for animation, then heal thru taking damage. one is 8 points per sec, so 89 points of heal while you fight.

Just wanted to let you know passive has been nerfed, but some things are now buffed to counter it.

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I would appreciate being able to use food at our character’s base as a means of healing. That would make recipes worthwhile, I think. Potions and bandages for injuries incurred while adventuring, but a roasted haunch or lasting meal at one’s own table could both sate and refresh you.

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@WhatMightHaveBeen part of the problem is non pc players are getting feedback from PC players and not able to see for ourselves. And what can be done with a keyboard and mouse might not work for us. That helps me understand @Croms_Faithful frustration. Added by their not likely to fix current console issues until next year.

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I am using a controller for that very reason. No macros, shortcuts etc. I can flick the potion quick gulp and heal goes uninterrupted after that.

I see myself as the interpreter between condoles and PC’s now:)

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Good to know.

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This is my only real problem with the change, I am ok with having to use bandages and potions for healing but they really need to give food a purpose beyond filling the hunger bar because atm that is all it is for

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I havent used aloe potions in years, but I tested them today and they really work good. The only problem is, they only stack in 10s, and 1 stack of ten weighs more than a 50 stack of aloe soup.

The animation is seamless and fast for the potions, not so much for the bandages. Frankly I could get used to this change, except with the nerf on healing arrows, I have to wait around for my thrall to heal up against the big bosses.

I ran a level 7 Berzerker thru the unamed city and usually I get thru my whole routine in one run, but I had to leave the city after the giant snake almost killed my thrall and I ran out of healing arrows, since you need to use 3x as many now.

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