I’ve been playing CE for a little under a year now. Started on Siptah, blew through that in about a month. “Things” happened that made us decide to open our own server and went with the EL map. Blew through that in a few months. So we decided to start adding mods, including some content mods like dungeons. I also plopped down a some quests and bosses of various types, as well as a PVP arena with shops and a Pippi Jack (Black Jack) table. We build…and build…and build.
But lately, I just log in, stand around in the ol’ base for a while and then log out. I have no motivation to go run the same dungeons I’ve ran hundreds of time, or fight the same bosses I’ve fought hundreds more.
I recently added the DMT mod thinking “New items! New monsters! New feats! New workstations! New mechanics! It’ll be a hoot!”, but sadly nope. Just the same mundane feeling when I log in anymore.
The Battle Pass and “encounters” (events) were fun for a bit but that awe didn’t last long.
So I’m wondering, what do long time veteran players do to keep the spark alive? What keeps your interest in CE?
Day one player ps4 my wife and I are playing more on official and on other private server’s were don’t have the administration advantage that does make it boring
I use DMT and it has some new enemies, but as I’ve read through the instructions, they are build around coop/private servers, where an admin can give loot, rewards after killing those monsters. Just admin spawning yourself and getting nothing does not make me feel accomplished, so that’s a drawback if you are playing alone.
Other mods that can spice up the game are PVE Plus ambush, you can configure it, it randomly places enemies (even from Siphat) to attack you. You can set the minimum time between ambushes, the number of attackers, the number of waves, etc.
Or Savage Wilds, a completely new map, kind of combs the two maps together. Has random encounters with rewards, new leviathan bosses (they have a lot of HP tho’), they can add a couple of weeks of play.
Or if you are on the Exiled lands, there is a mod that adds eldarium to skeletons in the Unnamed city and the recipe for the delving bench.
Those are some that just came into mind now. There are probably a lot of crazy mods out there, or big ones that rewrite the Conany feeling (Age of Calamitous), but those are not my cup of tea, probably others can help.
Or do specialized runs, such as nomad (no base), scavenger, one life, one religion/weapon type only, nighttime only, etc.! They are good to switch your mind to another viewpoint for a short period of time. When I’m bored with my current play, I do some sort of run, and return to the original play.
I haven’t heard of the PVE Plus mod, but that sounds cool. I’ll have to check that out, thanks!
I actually added eldarium drops and the delving bench with Pippi. It’s was nice at first but I don’t think we’ve touched it in a few months. And I do have a locked server with Savage Wilds on it, and have never played it lol. Maybe I should hop over there sometime.
And while I don’t technically play solo, our server is open, our population has dwindled horribly in the past 6 weeks or so. Had like 10-12 active players I think and one day like someone flipped a switch, down to about 2.5 (1 weekend warrior). So maybe that has something to do with it too.
As for building, we build. We tear down. We build again. But that gets old too. I’m actually pretty excited for the new Stormglass pieces, but I have a feeling the remodel of our fairly large base will take maybe a week or 2 if I take my time, and then it’s back to square 1.
I also think it has to do with my clan mate and I having end-game…everything. Why go do something to get something that’s weaker than what I’m already toting around?
I’ve never been a fan of PvP in any game. Played PVE-C on Siptah, but it didn’t really do anything for me except make me wanna stay inside during PvP hours
I’ve played for 5 years, have a little over 5,000 hours played. I have NOT spent every day, every week, or every month playing in that five year timeframe. You just can’t keep playing like that. Even with this Age of Sorcery update, its been out for two months and I’ve maybe spent four weeks total playing it.
With that said, Conan Exiles is one of my favorite games. I mean my next highest game played on Steam is 1,100 hours. Nothing comes close. But I supplement Conan with other games. I’ll usually have a main game and then one or two side games. The main game is what I currently focus on, and my side games are what I play when I need a break or a change of scenery.
In the past, my side game was Planetside 2. Recently its been Phasmophobia. Sometimes I will swap Conan in as a side game. Especially if I’m well established and don’t have any new ideas for a playthrough at the time. But once I get a character concept in my head and a build I want to do, I’ll do a reroll and go pretty hardcore as a main game.
One thing that helps is making sure a side game and main game aren’t too similar. Like I won’t play Conan and Empyrion or other building style game together. And when I do make Conan my main game its usually after a major update (Chapter 2 for example has enough for something I plan), or when a new mod has enough content to warrant it.
If you find yourself standing around looking for something to do in Conan. Its time to move on to something else for a bit. Nothing wrong with that. The game will be here when you come back. Though you might want to consider a reroll when you come back. Sometimes you just need a clean slate to try a new character build and a new set of buildings.
I moved pretty quickly from Single Player onto PVE officials and realized that I would get bored there. Tried a few populated private servers and that wasn’t my scene.
So on I went to PVP officials. I’m with @Capt_insano0 on this, never a dull moment as long as population is decent. Always new people to engage in combat or make new friends. I’m still learning new tricks, strategies and how to play the politics game.
I’m like a jill of all trades but master of none so I keep myself amused by doing what is needed. Farming can be both therapeutic and boring, so I switch it up often. For PVP purposes, running dungeons is only necessary for farming and recipes so unless I need those, I don’t bother after having run them so many times over.
I play other games in between. When I start missing Conan’s awesome women, I come back.
Even harvesting is fun when your thrall is gorgeous… for a while at least. Right now I’m quick sniping fools in MW2.
I’ve got more than 7000 hours in CE since beginning of early access in 2017.
At first I played a bit of singleplayer just to learn the basics then I went into pvp and had a blast for some time, in the end I started hating pvp because cheating, exploiting and toxicity became too much, then I went pve for a while, then switched to pve-c, and for the past few years I have been playing a bit pvp on private servers(never going back to official pvp again) but also pve on both official and private servers
During all this time I have taken breaks, started up on a new server with a fresh character, and once in a while gone back to a server starting over with the levelled character I had there.
So while I have a lot of hours in the game over the past-5-6 years, I haven’t played it all of the time, it has simply just been the game I usually returned to again, and it was mostly because of the many friends I had gotten through the game that brought me back, usually a few of us talked about taking another round on a server, and we have had a blast doing this through the years
Sadly most of these friends are now gone from the game and say they won’t be coming back anymore, they sort of dropped out of the game for different reasons(sorcery update, no more char transfer etc.) within the past year or so
I’m not entirely alone, there are still 2 or 3 left that can be persuaded to play for a few weeks, but I have found that setting the game to very hard(barbaric mode on private server) has been a fun experience, also setting some personal rules for what you can and cannot do, adds a bit more fun
However the most important thing is to take breaks from the game and when you do return then do it from fresh, and take you time, don’t rush things, and if you can do it with some friends, it adds a lot more to it
Switch between PvP and PvE with a more analyzing eye. What works in pvp that would be awesome in PvE and vice versa.
I do PvE when I get wiped or just tired of being hounded to get the juices flowing again. PvP in spite of the cheaters, the toxic, the exploiters is how I stay involved.
I switch between online and offline play, online obviously = no admin controls, completely different playstyle/experience. Also, I play a secondary game, currently Injustice 2, for something different to do, but that’s probably not very helpful.
I play, build some bases, get everything I need… Then I discard my game, take a break for maybe a month… and begin from a scratch. I played in EL, then on the Isle of Siptah. I tried Savage Wilds, liked it but I played on easy level. So when I get tired of Siptah I’ll switch to the Savage Wilds again. And after that… I’ll look for another map mod to try.
My own secret is engaging communitty !
I have 5,6k hours , most if them in pve and the vast majority in my starting server
What does the trick for me is communitty engagement!! I play with others, try to ease the frustration, being their guide inside dungeons, organising events, massive hunts, harvesting alongside other people, chatting with communitty, trying to be their online on the spot wiki (ofc i have learned a ton of stuff also)!! , And the big secret: i aint a hoarder!! I do not have millions of hardened bricks or a shit ton of scraps… I need to grind some to replenish my stuff … i almost never take loot, when i co op a dunfeon or a hunt!!! I find motivation in communitty!!! I even support with materials (most recent example a friendly clan that got over half of my building materials, looted , resources and almost every category of artisans, cause they got banned-wont talk here about that), but they were so nice guys that i decided to say screw u to fcs ban policy , and share my time with them(time spent for harvesting ) . Theyy r with me since almost the beggining of my journey , always loyal friends, so what the materials matter?
Maybe when i return home my chests aint always full, but i am more than satisfied, and i believe i have done the correct thing in my heart!!!
I do not log every day , but i make sure to help anyone i can!!!
And i maintain a quest board for the ones that want to do a thing to get some cool rewards!!
And when u get a bunch of people around u playing and enjoying same things , u will play almost everyday!
Just take a break from time to time. There’s no law that says you must play Conan Exiles at least 40 hours every week. If you feel the motivation is gone, move to something else for a while. After some time away you’ll likely feel like returning.
I played pvp since 2018 rigorously (almost 7.000 hours) and some month ago I came to the point where I did not like to play anymore. I logged in, literally standing in our base and didn´t know what to do and also didn´t like to do anything at all. I ran around the base for a couple of minutes then decided to log out again. At first I thought its the game itself. I mean 4 years of Conan is a lot, right? But then I just realized that it was also me. I simply couldn´t stand the pvp anymore. I was tired seeing all those giant blackice boxes. I was tired of rushing through the game over and over again. Building fortnox for the 100.000 time, ending with having a private space of the size of a nutshell. I was tired of people camping obelisks. Tired of not having the freedom to do what I really wanna to do. Tired of always pleasing my teammates so you have another group to go for the next round. And last but not least I was tired of all the toxicity and hate that spread around pvp servers like cancer nowadays.
I simply played until I had a Conan Exiles burnout. And this was entirely my fault. Because I choose to put the needs of friends and teammates in this game ahead of my own. I spend entire nights building and farming just so they could go around the next day bombing the hell out of everybody elses bases celebrating their own greatness as pro pvp players.
I quitted pvp (at least for now) and started to choose my own goals and I play the way I wanna play the game together with my other half. And this makes me happy. We rented our own server, I turned down leveling and gathering to 0,3 and put in some mods. I am running around in light starter armor for 3 weeks now, building a T1 kinda castle with the materials I gather and my iron pickaxe. I have useless pets, my pockets are empty and non of my former “friends” understands how I can play noobish like that. But I am happy. I can login whenever I want to but I do not have to. And this is how it should be. Gaming should be fun. If your not having fun playing a game, you are waisting your time.
I can not tell you what your actual problem is. The game might not be the right one for you for long term sessions or you simply choose to play the game in a way that benefits only your friends.
