Ill start by saying happy anniversary. I have been with you guys since release and theres been quite alot of ups and downs. I really like conan exiles and have been playing solidly the entire time trying different servers. I feel Ive seen alot of the evloving of the game and also witnessed a toxic pattern that seems to be your playbook.
I know people dont work for free so i understand that besides the games fee the cosmetic DLC’s help pay the bills. HOWEVER your entire focus since release has mainly been these paid for DLC’s we have not had one true gameplay expansion pack. The crumbs you have thrown us piecemeal of content do not even come close to the same amount. Also much of your NEW content isnt new. A dafari npc with a stupid looking costume mask is not a dagon warrior. Your constant reshading and re coloring of exsisting models and npc’s is lazy and cheap programing and has become your main go to on everything.
We have quite enough options for statues, armor, weapons, ect… what we need is a reason to play. I strongly suggest you contact the makers of The age of Calamitous mod. This mod extends the level to 120 and adds a whole level of gameplay to the endgame. Its more gameplay and content in this one mod then you have given us combined.(and its free) An example of your content is tameing beast is just a small twist on exsisting gameplay of taming thrall…, not new. Youve got nerve calling the scorpion cave a dungeon at all… no challenges, no npcs, no lore, no loot. NOT a dungeon funcom not even a mini one.
I would pay $$$ for an expansion of CONTENT not cosmetics… and no more retools of old stuff. Make a new zone draw some new models and NPC’s but most of all include some end game content thats redooable such and clan control points on the map that give some bonus or currency and some reason for clans to play and fight over. I and my friends are done buying your cosmetic DLC’s and if we cant find somthing to keep us going your game too.
I’m all for additional areas to explore, and more endgame content (the updates to Unnamed City and addition of Sunken City are a great start, IMO).
However, they’ve already said they don’t intend to place new gameplay beyond a paywall because they don’t want to exclude anyone. That’s why all the DLCs have been optional content like new building sets, armors, decorations, etc. Because that approach doesn’t leave anyone out in the cold.
So no, while I have disposable income I’d be willing to pay towards paywalled content, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the game. It also explicitly goes against the altruistic approach they promised and have thus-far cleaved to.
I have no idea what this approach is. Would you elaborate?
And yet I had to pay a dlc to get a set of my liking. They made a dlc that I had to pay for. It didn’t exist in the base game and some people need it, so = more money. To further pay for content so that we feel content to enjoy the game is hardly an option in this sense. Then again I felt good about paying coz I was looking a way to buff the game up a notch in the first place and the price was hardly even a hindrance. Basic marketing math.
Issue is not what’s regarded as optional or mandatory. This perspective is wholly irrelevant. It’s merely a badly worded excuse at best that some of us don’t care about. Me included.
Here’s the real issue:
Not giving expansions is not necessarily a way to show the door to customers who feel good what they have, but it is most certainly a way to turn customers away right at the door who await content filled with “proper survival features” to a sandbox survival game that this is. Now of course the developers are allowed to turn people away at the door if they don’t want to tweak their product no matter what reason they use, but it would be better for them to at least try make an effort to tell a good enough reason; like hardware issues.
Here’s the reason why the above issue isn’t an issue:
Bringing a new feature to the game is essentially a good thing in theory no matter how they provide it (in theory). If they don’t want to do it for free, then they put a price tag on it and it’s a done deal. In time the prices go down and we all get to enjoy from it all or they provide us with a proper announcement in advance so we can prepare for the releases (I like the latter). If there are any insurmountable hardware issues, real bummer. If devs don’t want to make an effort, bummer as well. We can’t order them to do our bidding, but we don’t need to pay them for things they don’t bring to us either, so we’re even.
Life goes on. Like I mentioned in another thread:
Just because I may stick around, it doesn’t necessarily mean my money stays too; and vice versa.
While I appreciate their desire to include everyone, and have kept their promise for the first year of launch, I would recommend that they seriously reconsider. Conan Exiles has been their best selling game, loved by many, and could generate much needed income if they would be willing to invest in it further than just cosmetics.
Put simply, now that they have a working title, further developing it would seem in order - benefiting both players (more content) and the company (more revenue).
And yes, making armors or building sets that fit your fancy is the point. Not having something that looks just so or with the attributes you want isn’t preventing you from exploring the whole world, or joining a friend on a trip into a particular dungeon. You aren’t unable to use archery or block with a shield because you didn’t buy a DLC that unlocks bows or shields, etc.
Cosmetics such as the DLCs Funcom has released are not essential for enjoying the full breadth of gameplay. They’re a matter of personal expression and preference. A newbie who just bought the game and isn’t sure if they like it yet (i.e. before splurging on DLCs) isn’t at any arbitrary disadvantage due to having specific mechanics paywalled from them. They wouldn’t be prevented from equipping some gear a higher level friend gave them and then running all the way to the frozen north or the jungle (like you often find with WoW and Diablo DLCs).
Part of the reason this is important is because the current state of Unreal Engine’s technology is that its pushed to the limit by this game. They don’t have the option of adding extra lands or the popular “filling in the NE corner”. As such partitioning off areas of the world to be pay-only would be capricious indeed.
Hey guys and gals simmer down a bit, some clarification is in order. I normally sit back and silently read forums and never get involved but ive grown to love this game more than most. First off Funcom and Conan Exiles are not as well known as some players seem to think nor is Funcom fortune 500 like other gaming companies. That being said there may be hardware issues preventing an expansion but imo it more likely due to lack of finances and manpower. I fully agree an expansion is absolutely needed, but my guess is the cosmetic DLCs are barely keeping them afloat. So if you really want a content expansion buy the DLCs, spread the word about the game, bring in more players and convince them to buy the DLCs. Based on what ive seen in the live streams they are dedicated to improving the game and giving the fans what they want but its up to us to make that possible. Thank you Funcom and sorry about the long rant and apologize ive said anything offense.
There’s nothing altruistic about making a basic marketing plan that excludes width of expressions behind a paywall. This is exactly the opposite of their goal you mentioned, albeit perhaps in your own words.
My point is that their approach is mutually exclusive. Rather ironic, isn’t it?
I doubt that you said anything offensive. I agree that your conclusion is perhaps the heaviest reason the development isn’t as fast as one might like.
However, I don’t want to buy cosmetic dlcs that I don’t want to utilise. I would buy an expansion though coz it would extend the base game itself. I understand that buying dlcs would give them money, but I don’t want to buy anything that I don’t utilise. Thus it would be good to have accessories on sale for example.
People like soundtrack discs / downloadable music files or services like Spotify, mugs, dimming curtains, sleeping bags, keychains and so on. Some people like Humble Bundle coz they can donate money on their own terms, to a degree, and getting an offered package in return. This way people feel like their choices do matter and that their investments actually shuffle the deck figuratively speaking. Things that are useful.
I’m not essentially talking about what is inclusive and what is not. I do care what they decide to exclude from the base game, but this isn’t the issue (related albeit).
I’m talking about a goal they cannot possibly describe as “altruistic” when they are doing the exact opposite of what altruistic means.
I agree that the DLCs could be more usefull but if they were to make a Dlc that was actually beneficial in game then it would completely contridict their promise to never make “pay to win” content. So the base intention of my comment wasnt that you should buy cosmetic Dlc, it was that you should be patient and wait for others to buy enough Dlcs for Funcom to afford to make the content you want for free.
I had this idea. Since each dlc has a distinct theme, what if they involve us some theme specific progression path instead of the same exact one the base game has? For example we would still have the same pace and tree, but instead of a meteor shower to gather star metal, a frontier pack would introduce a different event and a different node rewarding a different resource to the pool, material that works for the high tier items included in that package. Same for other dlcs.
Then again, instead maybe they could offer a whole new dlc to bring us all sorts of hazardous events to the game; hurricanes, blizzards, volcanic eruptions etc. Anything that would spice up the challenges is appreciated in my books.
This only applies to games that have a specific flow of competitive gameplay that shouldn’t be interrupted. Gameplay of a game that literally has no meaningful beginning or ending cannot be crippled with any kind of added content, especially when one has server settings available to admins.
In other words what is useful to me isn’t necessarily useful to someone else, so the term involves subjective nature. It all depends from what the related context is to make objectivity surface.
We also should discuss what cosmetics are. In essence if power filled items in the proper context are referred as pay-to-win items, then what are items that have visual value? These are called cosmetic items, but I argue that they are no better than their powerbringer siblings. Pay-to-win items are bringers of both power and style while cosmetic items are pay-to-awe items in my books. They only bring style into play, but they both have appeal. Appeal that needs careful keen eye and reasoning to make sure they won’t cross the line of predatorian practise and / or leave room for sloppy business.
Of course. I just wish there was more for me to do as well, without manipulating the statistics that is.
I find myself to running out of things to hold my interest as well and ive only been playing for 3 months. But this type of game is not know for replay value unfotunately. Though there are means in which to bide our time such as Rp, though even that has its limits. Perhaps if they added some UI mechanics that better facilitate Rp. There is also pvp though i find raids and the like distastefull and pointless. My opinion only. But over all I agree that the endgame content is woefully anticlimactic, unfortunately the only thing I can think of to eleviate this with out some sort of full expansion is perhaps some intro quality cinematics when completeing dungeons and other significant story events. But perhaps others have better ideas.
That said perhaps have a “Sequel”/spinoff game? If we want new lands to explore and they can’t give that to us in THIS game, well it doesn’t mean they can’t make another game, same mechanics, same building pieces, same armor, same crafting, maybe some UI improvements and a map designed with the knowledge of how players act and build things in mind with new dungeons and caves to explore, new monsters and so on… Perhaps cities designed with player build zones in mind, maybe some empty caverns that we can move into… Maybe even a whole massive underground zone…
Replay is founded on principles of self-found repetition and cause. If I love a game, I will replay it. Some games involve stretched gameplay, i.e. bloated content, so they take longer to finish. However, those tend to be easier to forget due the innate issue and therefore have hardships building nostalgia value in comparison.
Surely. Been at it couple decades so I’m familiar with the challenges.
That and suitable amount of sliders, noding included. Noding would be the best.
Elaborate further?
Some cinematics could be good. I find it a bit difficult to follow the story imo. I’m used to separate campaigns and once finished, we can wonder off to do our things.
As said its just my opinion but deliberately destroying someones hard work just to get materials and resources you could get yourself with the same effort seems a lot like bullying to me.
Thats why on my server I built a colosseum to handle clan vs clan disputes personal grievance and personal bragging rights or glory. That and who doesnt like to wager a few gold or silver coins on thier favored champion. Lol
