I think it’s about time I weighed in on this since I’ve been tagged and it probably won’t be long before it gets locked, so here goes, from the top;
I fully understand this sentiment 100%. As later replies clarify though, Siptah is still getting the permanent content addition of the golems. What it’s missing is the chapter-locked story and event, as well as access to the new ‘dungeon’, Kurak’s lair. So I’d say 50% estimate is about par.
Am I personally happy with this decision? No, for much the same reason you aren’t. I understand from a purely narrative standpoint why it came down to this, but Chapter 1’s events only further strengthened how tied together the two maps are - on top of the already established link in the form of Surges that came with Siptah. They could have included some cohesion involving this, maybe surges picking up some of Kurak’s inner circle of followers and the story would allow you to use a leyshrine temporaily in a similar way to Mek-Kamoses’ transportory stone to access the new zone.
I do want to highlight this comment as well, as this is also correct. Siptah and Exiled Lands are two sides of the same coin, and each half makes up for the full game experience. It mostly feels disconnected right now because of the lack of transfers, but I hope one day in the near future it becomes whole again. I am a firm believer the best way to play the game would be having the ability to do a solid playthrough of both maps with one character, and I await the day when I can do that again.
This is fundamentally untrue. The current maelstrom is caused by Siptah’s gem, the latest attempt at recreating the Shining Trapezohedron. In the timeline if we follow the canonical Darkstorm chronology and insert in The Gem in the Tower where the author of that particular story says it lies, we know we come here many, many years before Conan arrives on the island and finds Siptah already dead. There’s still time for us to be the ones to do the deathing of Siptah, and see a proper finale to the story for the Isle.
I think you may have mistakenly been looking at the base game + Siptah bundle, the DLC alone has never costed that much.
Yes. I may be too optimistic with this, but I believe we will see a continuation of Siptah’s story in the future. But I do not think it’ll happen soon. Den has been pretty adamant that he wants to focus on improving existing content and revamping old areas first, which is why the original map is seeing so much focus this first Age. From a practical viewpoint, Siptah is just too new to be high on the priority list when we’ve got so many other glaring issues that have been around forever; the severely outdated religious system, the unaddressed power creep of old legendaries vs bladesmith made new gear, things people have been complaining about for years.
In time, I think Siptah will have a finale - but Exiled Lands also is lacking one at this time, and in an order of priority that one should finish first simply because it came out first.
I disagree with this statement. Siptah is very much not new-player friendly. You can get a lot more powerful a lot faster, but the initial starting up it is noticeably harder than starting fresh on Exiled Lands. To me, it’s always felt like a veteran’s New Game+, or once we get transfers an endgame continuation once you finish out EL’s main story content.
Well, you can’t use the devkit to mod anything on Siptah, so it’s not that simple.
Again, you’re an experienced veteran of the game. You know the ins and outs, the metas to help you get to the endgame quicker. Siptah is built to reward experience, but it is punishing for the inexperienced.
I… 
agree with palm
We will see transfers again, and when we do it will change a lot of of the current core issues people have.
Both maps have bugs. I’d say relatively equal, depending on the week. Sometimes the volcanic forge will crash the server, sometimes pools figurines disappear. It’s a six year old game that’s still getting continually updated, it happens.
After doing EA EL, Beta Siptah, and Beta 3.0, I can confidently say; there certainly do be bugs. Most of what I’ve reported over the years has been patched - but not all. When it comes to development, there is no magical fix button. Not all bugs are created equally, some can be fixed by closing a bracket or tweaking a number, others would take total rewrites to systems to fix.
Don’t let bugs dictate your enjoyment of a game, ever. Major issues usually get patched as quick as they’re able to, so credit where credit is due and patience in the meantime. If it’s not game-breaking, that puts it lower on their priority order than ones that are.
Frustrating bugs can and do happen sometimes, like your body disappearing from the circle when recalled; and I think everyone gets a little mad when stuff like that happens. But bugs also teach us to be prepared for uncertainty. When Nyarlathotep throws a curveball, you can either be mad about it, or you can adapt, make contingencies, and find workarounds where possible. Overcoming obstacles will make you a better player in the long run, even if right away it just seems like a terrible thing.
Anyways, I’ve been working on this reply for about a half hour now so lemme close off by re-addressing the initial point;
I’m a bit disappointed Siptah is missing out on some of the content, but I do not think this will be a recurring thing. I hope in the future once we get transfers back in some capacity, the two maps will coexist with each other and offer unique, but fairly distributed after it balances out.
Exiled Lands is the older sibling, and while you may think it’s unfair mom and dad got them a car for their 16th birthday, you’re still only 13. Give it time.
