Been playing since before the game launched. All through those ‘heady’ days of testing, begging for updates (and getting them), etc. Did the PvP thng on Official. Clearly a toxic environment (mostly) that, back then as there were a lot of areas that were attractive to that type of play. Stumbled into the world of private servers where it was possible to moderate via mods (thank you Joshtech and PIPPI). Since then have stacked several thousand of hours game play - and still playing (on PC).
I think that if I had only been into PvP ;crushing everyone else’, did not enjoy the Conan genre, and had not already been into FRP stuff, I would likely have drifted away. But, I found that I could get a ton of enjoyment playing on servers where others of a similar mindset also played. Where there was a balance of building and some PvP and some proper adventure and that meant making some friendships, seeing some amazingly good builds, and thoroughly enjoying the challenges of the game.
Oh, I’ll play other games here and there, but none with the movement, style, breadth of options, challenges of any of the other games have the same. I now play on modded servers where there’s admin-overwatch. Occasionally there’s the old child’s-play where someone tries to axe-grind with some exploit or the other, or just some odd ‘political’ or personal thing going that makes them try some online shenanigans, but the Admins quietly smooth that over and all sorted out.
I do wish that it was even possibly practical to Admin-watch all the Official servers all of the time, but that would be whack-a-mole to the n-th and not remotely feasible - would take a hundred active admins 24/7 to keep watch (compliments for them trying).
I do feel for non PC-players though. I would likely have found the core game sans mods boring eventually. If it had been possible to bring in these ‘chapters’ back from Launch, I think that would have been amazing, though impractical back then. Also, there are more and more open-world games appearing that draw players away. Expected. But, for my small purposes, Conan Exiles still holds my interest: excellent movement and effects. Great fighting moves and immersive build vs battle vs grind. Excellent (mostly) sticking to the genre. Awesome Modding community.
Whenever I feel I may be getting “burnt out”, I dabble with some other game for a bit, but always find myself revisiting the Hyborian Age and Conan again.
ps: I really do wish that there was a practical, non-abusive way to refresh parts of the Exiled Lands map, Siptah, etc so there was more variablenessess. Bring in more random encounters and wandering purges. Keep those new Sorcerer encounters. If ever feasible, change some of the existing maps so players have new stuff. Finally, thank you Savage Wilds modders, and other map-mod makers, as you have collectively added many more hours of fun and exceitment. Huge thanks to all Modders for your work too.
. I understand you’re in love, happy for you.
