How Funcom can reward early adopters without punishing new players

Conan Exiles General Discussion
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As someone who has put many hours into CONAN EXILES (mostly on public servers), I am happy with all the new updates and development, as well as the upcoming “official release” date on May 8th.
And… I understand that with such major changes, a system-wide “RESET” of all public servers is going to be necessary.

HOWEVER… wiping out hundreds or even thousands of hours of work for the loyal customer-base, without any type of (in-game) compensation, is NOT good customer service… and will NOT cultivate further loyalty, nor will it result in positive reviews for Conan Exiles.
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A simple solution would be for Funcom to offer in-game reward packages, for early-adopters, who helped grow the game and community, to show appreciation for supporting the game early on. The different reward levels could be based on hours in the game, as well as when the game was purchased and activated.

This would not only strengthen customer satisfaction for the loyal customer-base, but would not punish those who adopted the game later on… as the “wait and see” attitude is becoming more common among gamers today. But there still needs to be some type of benefit to those who invested their money and time into Exiles early on, as early-adopters help improve the product.
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Examples:
(1) Kevin purchased the game 10 months ago, and put 1500 hours in the game, so Kevin would get 15x the loyalty reward package for his hours, plus 1x Alpha package for purchasing the game 9-12 months prior, plus 1x Beta package for purchasing the game at least 6 months prior, plus 1x Omega package for purchasing the game at least 3 months prior to official launch.

(2) Tom purchased the game 6 months ago, and put 700 hours in the game, so Tom would get 7x the loyalty reward package, plus 1 Beta package, plus 1 Omega package.

(3) Jessica purchased the game 3 months ago, and put 100 hours in the game, so Jessica would get 1x the loyalty reward package for her hours, plus 1 Omega package.
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Suggested reward-package contents & how to redeem them:
Alpha Reward Package = some legendary weapons and armor set
Bravo Reward Package = some flawless weapons and armor set
Omega Reward Package = some exceptional weapons and armor set
Loyalty Reward Package (100 hours) = some various resources such as… 10 stacks of iron ingots, 5 stacks of steel ingots, 50 stacks of wood, 10 stacks of shaped wood, 100 stacks of stone, 10 stacks of brick, 50 stacks of plant fiber, 10 stacks of twine, 1 stack of silk, 5 stacks of brimstone, 10 stacks of tar, 10 stacks of hides, 10 stacks of thick hides, 1 stack of ichor, and a little food & water… essentially nothing fancy, and nothing you couldn’t easily accumulate in a fraction of that time… but still something
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Delivery system could be similar to how in-game content would be delivered to anyone purchasing a premium CONAN EXILES package, that includes in-game content.

For example, one method that has worked in the past, is when you choose a server, and create a character, you can then go back into the main menu, use your redeem-codes you received, and redeem your earned rewards.
Then when you log back into your chosen server, there will be a vault in your inventory. When you place the vault down, you can access the contents of your reward package(s). The vault can be dismantled by the owner at any time, but gives no deconstruction salvage, and will expire after 30 days, if not redeemed (emptied) during that time.
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I welcome commentary on this thread, but NO flaming or trolling of any sort.
If you agree, explain why. If you you disagree, explain why. And try to use logic and sound reason (not emotions or ego please). :grinning:

And if you just purchased the game, and feel you are “entitled” to the same rewards as people who have put in some serious time and effort, you are wrong… the real world doesn’t work that way either… otherwise you could get a job as an intern tomorrow, and become vice-president in a month or two, with a 2000% increase in salary. The world doesn’t work that way. Also, purchasing the basic package, doesn’t entitle you to the same rewards as the premium package… so PLEASE don’t try to make an argument for such.

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If this was the official release, I would agree with you, but this was Early Access in the beginning as it is right now and will be until the official release date in May.
It would be unreasonable to expect compensation based upon Early Access where things change during development.

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Vahlok, I understand where you are coming from, however, that would make more sense, if the game was free back then… or if we were being paid to beta-test the game for the development team.
OR… it would make sense if the game was NOT released to the public, and was essentially a non-paying alpha or beta, for gaming enthusiasts.

However, since the game is the same price then as it is today, and it has been in public release… then it makes sense that early adopters and loyal customers would get some kind of benefit from it.

What happens in a year or two, if they have to do another full wipe and reset?
I guarantee some new player then, would argue the same thing… that because there is new content and DLCs (and possibly an increased price), that there should be no compensation to previous customers (players), as they purchased it BEFORE the new DLCs.

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Enjoying the game has been its own reward.

I never “worked” for one second while I played the game. I would never expect any compensation, in-game or out-of-game for the time I spent willingly.

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I’ve done all my serious building in SP knowing that servers will get full wipe at release. I have several saves backed up.

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One of the other reasons they’re wiping servers is because of the issues that would be caused by attempting to keep everything on the new build. For example they changed a lot of areas to “no building allowed” that previously allowed building, so all those bases and stations that are still there would cause problems.

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Heck, more than a few of the ongoing bugs we have NOW are due to those issues, and I expect many of them will persist until May 8th, when they’ll vanish with the wipe.

I’ve been here since the first month, and I’ve been on 3-4 servers now. I’ve enjoyed each one, and I don’t feel recompense is needed for the upcoming wipe. I’ll be back at 60 and full base again in less than a week from launch, I’d bet.

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Ran-san… I agree completely, that a full wipe is necessary… no argument there… just that it wouldn’t hurt Funcom or the new players, if the veteran players got a little something for the time & effort they’ve put into their account(s).

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TwinCrows, we can argue semantics all you want… call it work or play… but its still an investment of time & energy towards an end goal (definition of work)… and if you invested a lot of hours “playing”… and your sandcastle gets knocked down (because its necessary)… that still means that someone who joins the same server on May 8th as you, can take all your favorite spots, and its essentially like nothing you did in the past ever happened.

Anyone who has invested real time into building, designing, upgrading, etc… their bases… can’t help feel a certain amount of attachments and personal investment into their bases. And its one thing if you choose to leave a game because you’re no longer into it… but its quite another when its taken from you.
The same thing is true if you decide to give your old car away… versus someone takes it from you, and you get nothing… not even insurance money… letting your car go doesn’t hurt… but haven’t it taken from you hurts… even if its necessary.

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xx_alucard… I agree complete that a complete wipe is necessary… no argument there… just the fact that those who have invested real time & effort into building their bases, are left with nothing… not even the clothes on their backs… a fine “how do you do” for purchasing the game early on.

If you’ve invested some real time into playing Exiles, you will feel a certain amount of attachment to your creations. And to start over again, on the same footing as someone who just purchased Conan Exiles just 20 minutes ago, is like all your effort never happened… very demoralizing for many.

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PShivers… I have also played & experimented in SP mode a good amount… but was told that any save files, would be incompatible after May 8th… and the person who told me this has never been wrong on any point regarding Exiles thus far… even when everyone else was saying something else, he has always been right… so I’m skeptical at this point, if saving in SP will actually do any good… I would like it to be, as I have many nice bases there… but I’m prepared in case this isn’t the case, as I know in some areas, there will be some major changes to terrain, which will render some pre-release bases inaccessible (or incompatible & glitchy).

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I understand where you’re coming from but even if you and a new player start with nothing on launch it doesn’t exactly mean you’re on the same footing. All that time put in before launch is experience and game knowledge that new players won’t have. You’ll level up and build stuff a lot faster than they will. It really doesn’t take as long as you think to get your stuff back or rebuild the ultimate base-- especially if you play with friends. I’ve made countless different characters across both Official & Private Xbox, PC, and Testlive servers. It’s not so bad.

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Having restarted a few times trying new updates from scratch. It doesn’t take long to get 60, it doesn’t take long to get structures built and bases established. Remember this game is designed around you losing everything in an instant (Avatar) if unlucky.

That means its balanced around the idea of making a comeback in a short amount of time.

With that said, yes it can be a little frustrating to lose a creation you spent a few hours on. And I’m not going to disagree with getting some perks for getting into the game early.

But legendary weapons to start? There’s issue with that. You say it wouldn’t punish new players. But I guarantee I could punish ALOT of new players if you give me a 40dmg weapon to start with.

And then what happens if you start, and slip and fall off something and someone loots that weapon? If you make it craftable by early adopters, then we become a special class of player, diving out weapons to those we see fit to serve our agendas.

No… if we’re going to be rewarded, it should be something cosmetic, nontransferable, and not something we could lose from dying.

Stuff like unique titles in the forums, maybe an ingame icon next to our names. Non-lightsource glimmer to weapons or armor (that can be turned off). Things like that. Stuff that is intangible, nontransferable, and only cosmetic in nature. No stats, no lightsources, no special weapons/armors, ect.

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Spent 1 and a half years building an empire on legacy servers on ARK under the promise that it will never get wiped… it got wiped in the end.

After that, I never took early access progress seriously ever again.

Not wiping on early access is a promise no game company can keep, much less care about.

The only companies rewarding early adopters seem to work in the space-sim industry. (Star Citizen / Elite: Dangerous)

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tl;dr I want free gibs outside of the free armor set I’m getting for the game I purchased

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While I’m all for rewards for players that are around from day 0 and have been one for several titles over the years - even here at FC, I can’t say I agree with the OP.

We all knew from the moment of install it was beta and there were never any promises or even a tease of keeping anything for the live switch. It was clearly understood by me that it was all a crash and burn experience and the reward was the ability to provide input into the development of the game via these forums and maybe influence the direction.

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For most consumers (like me) early access is a compromise for impatience.
I do not expect to be rewarded for my impatience.

…I do however expect not to be baited into buying a second copy. Cuz that’s just Electronic Arts grade audacious.

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I firmly agree with you on the baiting.

With that said, back in the day I purchased three copies of AoC and I was good with it because I did not mind giving FC all the money as I’ve been a life long Conan fan. I even got lots of points post-launch but when they took AoC F2P I lost all interest in playing as I did with all titles which went that corrupt epic fail of a development path.

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I don’t feel that any compensation should be given for a wipe. We went into early access with the understanding that there may be technical issues, and that includes wipes. Heck, I’ve built a freaking highway going from the noob area to the cold area up North, and I’ve always been aware it might not be permanent.

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I would be fine with a server wipe but leave character levels intact…