I got nothin’ much to do today, so I thought I’d elaborate a bit on some of the ideas I put forward in this thread, on the subject of a hypothetical new map for Conan Exiles.
Basically, in this hypothetical scenario either Funcom releases a new map as paid DLC, or some dedicated modders create one on their own time. Either way it would be entirely separate entity from the Exiled Lands map, only accessible through the main menu in single player and hosted on separate servers for multiplayer. So basically, the way Ark handles its different maps. What this means is players cannot just go back and forth between maps all willy-nilly (really? that’s censored?), which let’s be honest if the Exiled Lands are such a bad place then why would you want to go back anyway. So it would probably be a one-way trip.
Okay, now onto how this map would work within the game’s story, such as it is. So as it stands, once you complete your journey and remove your bracelet, all you get is an underwhelming cutscene of your character walking off into the desert and a one-way trip back to the character creator. I don’t know about you, but that gives me zero incentive to actually try to finish the game. Running around exploring and decorating my digital dream house is way more fun than busting my hump collecting a bunch of stuff so I can spend ten seconds watching my character walk across some sand from a half a mile away before starting all over again with someone new.
SO! This map would change that. First of all, in my hypothetical scenario where everything happens the way I want it to the cutscene is replaced entirely. Rather than just walking off into the desert where they’ll certainly die of dehydration, the player’s character instead goes to the eastern coast, gets into a boat or on a raft, and sets sail for home. At this point your character’s data is saved, allowing you to simply load it up upon starting the new map.
Side note: this is based on my theory that the Exiled Lands are on a separate landmass somewhere to the west of Hyboria, which itself is based on this sentence from the 1933 story The Pool of the Black One:
At times he talked to Sancha, wildly it seemed to her, of lost continents, and fabulous isles dreaming unguessed amidst the the blue foam of nameless gulfs, where horned dragons guarded treasures gathered by pre-human kings, long, long ago.
And now we get to the new map, which is unlocked upon removing your bracelet in the Exiled Lands. Following an opening cutscene in which the player’s exile (or, if they want, an entirely new character) is caught in a storm and their flimsy boat/raft destroyed, they wash up on the western shore of a large, mysterious island. Like, I’m thinking “Ark’s Ragnarok map” large, this map is big. From there, the goal is to survive the island’s threats and uh, I guess level up enough to where the game will let you set sail again or something. Until then, rather than having a magic wall that kills you if you try to cross it, the game can keep players on the island by having sharks or sea monsters or something rise up and devour anyone who travels too far out to sea. Kind of like the shark that eats you if you go swimming off of Dead Man’s Hand in Age of Conan.
Aside from new scenery and biomes, this hypothetical map would also feature new recipes to learn, resources to collect, and beasties to fight. Tired of building with the usual materials? Why not build something out of bamboo and thatch? Sick of clubbing people unconscious? Use blowdarts tipped with a natural sedative! Tired of fighting boring old humans all the time? Aside from the island’s human natives there’s also ten-foot-tall “Black Ones”, carnivorous plants, Frazetta Man proto-humans and other new enemies! Heck, since it’s an entirely new map it could even be made to allow mounts. The possibilities are endless (within the limitations of the game engine and staying true to the Conan 'verse)!
Would this map be hard-mode only? No. What I have in mind would be intended to accommodate all players and play-styles, from the hard-core “every moment should be a grueling fight for survival” types to the more casual “I just wanna take in the scenery and work on my house” crowd like me. Also, since players would also have the option to start the map with entirely fresh characters it wouldn’t make much sense to throw level 60 monsters at them right out of the gate. So, much like the Exiled Lands, certain parts of the map would be home to differing levels of things to fight. Starting out with someone new? The beach is a relatively safe area to get leveled up. Starting out with a level 60 stone-cold killer? Go…uh, I don’t know, up into the mountains or the jungle or something.
So that’s my idea for a new Conan Exiles map. Will it ever actually happen? I’m not holding my breath. But I can dream.