Conan’s Royal Armor was available for a limited time only to those who pre-ordered, while Conan’s Atlantean Sword is still available, but only to those who purchase a physical copy of the game.
I understand the desire for companies to entice early customers, however using time-limited exclusive items/content to do this is an unfair and anti-consumer practice.
It necessarily disadvantages later customers, including those like myself who were unaware of the game’s existence until well after release, or simply those customers who prefer to be more discerning and wait for post-release reviews/word-of-mouth. Note, I don’t mean ‘disadvantaged’ in the sense of pvp competition, but rather in that some people are forever denied access to content that others are not, through no fault of their own.
It’s worth noting the absurdity that (presumably) this content is already on my hard-drive, yet forever inaccessible to me. And although I’m willing to pay for access to it, Funcom will not let me.
Another, more equitable way to use exclusive content as an enticer, is to do what Firaxis did with Civilisation 6. Those who pre-ordered were able to access some exclusive content, which after a period of time was then made available to everyone for free. Civilization 6’s Aztec civ is the least-evil kind of pre-order bonus
Alternatively (depending upon the type of game and nature of the exclusive content), it could be acceptable if the exclusive content became available to everyone later as paid DLC. This is what I am proposing Funcom should do, given that Conan Exiles’ exclusive content was advertised as being a truly time-limited exclusive, so it wouldn’t be fair to those who pre-ordered on that basis to make these items freely available.
Since the game has been officially released now for over 9 months, I would suggest that making the exclusive items available as paid DLC is a fair compromise that would redress the present absurd injustice while also earning Funcom some additional money (hint, hint). I know I’d buy it.
So, what do people think?