i pre-ordered this game as a fan of robert e. howards works and of the conan adventures, as a former age of conan player for many years (which i thoroughly enjoyed) it came to my attention that funcoms executives were involved in some unethical conduct and practices, which through their consequences and publicity caused some issues with their player populations the game suffered and ultimately led to my departure (paying) from their products.
that being said i had hoped with new leadership funcom would change and again bring its audience great games! so i puchased conan exiles and impatiently waited for the clock to run down and immerse myself in the world of conan exiles, unfortunately it seems nothing has changed…we all know exactly what is going on here with conan exiles and for those of us who dont please do a little research on funcom and gportal (ochiris gmbh a company of a combined 25 persons) .
i purchased a dedicated 20 slot server for $20.00 USD for 30 days to assess whether or not i would continue to support the game and how it performed while i waited patiently for promised fixes and content. this never came, fixes were sent that listed the same fixes over and over in the patch notes but after playing i realized something…there were NO fixes but future items and sales items implemented, so to support funcoms further continued progress on the game i bought the dlc (also to make sure there would be no problem if players on my server were to use the content on my server. what i found was an incomplete product merely a wireframe shell not only the vanilla game itself but the additional paid DLC . i could describe this in its legal term but at this point its not necessary.
i rented this server because of the errors on the official servers with population (being full 40/40 after first login) i felt like i needed to rent my own server to play the game, and at the same time offer other players a fair , well moderated place to play their game as intended with events and additional content as time progressed…the process was seamless i paid and a few clicks later i was the king of my own server (oh the godlike power xD) i built and built in a frenzied manner awaiting other players assaults on my kingdom and for the purges…they never came.
i noticed also that when i searched for my server scrolling the listings it did not appear (my server was not even listed) i found the server through the favorites tab and it was always 9999 ping 20/20
as were the official servers 9999 40/40. gportal blamed funcom, funcom remained silent and as the days turned to weeks promises of next week and simultaneous release of bug fix and dlc , the promises added up and we were looking at months passing…at the point where they had to do something or say something we hear from them "we are going on vacation (all at once because the law mandates it , is a total fabrication ) and we are sorry for you but those dates we gave and promises made its not going to happen until august ??? some day enjoy!
so with it in clear view i see what has been done, we the players had been taken, well i can accept this it was not out of my scope of reality at the time of purchase, a refund is more trouble than its worth not surprisingly. so i decided i would no longer play nor would i join my rented unlisted server to play alone.
then came the emails: your server is about to be deleted PAY NOW , then again later that day another , and the next day 2 more, i replied to these do not contact me again as there was no way to unsubscribe from these pummeling forceful threatening sales measures. a second reply a fourth 5th and sixth…for 15 days prior to deletion. finally i contacted their support with the same request NO LONGER CONTACT ME I AM NOT INTERESTED IN RENEWING THE SUBSCRIPTION. when i recieved a reply… it was less than professional and i was offended and insulted by the supposed CEO of gportal customer care less than 8 minutes after i inquired as to what they thought they dared to say to me in their response they retorted with a different ticket number assigned and continued to insult my personal character and attempt to question my financial status (which i must say coming from a likely salaried employee of low stature is laughable to say the least). asking what my problem was (they obviously dont read their forums or bother to take interest in customer compliance.) i noted in my response to them what my course of action would be and the resolution i would seek on behalf of their personal statements. so lets move past this.
i would fervently urge the purchasers of this software to research who you have purchased from and what has been promised and what has been delivered and not make the mistake i made in giving my trust, money and a second chance to what is visibly an unworthy set of unappreciative developers(funcom) and providers(ochiris gmbh g-portal) with an orwellian attitude that they can do whatever they want in the interest of making money. conan exiles sales saved funcom from bankruptcy, so they in kind take their money and go on a mass vacation leaving the game an utter wreck and the paying customers on the hook, strangely there are server updates that have been added ingame to direct players to the store to purchase DLC… oh you players just make sure you renew your server credits and buy that DLC k? i wont support the further destruction of gaming and the erosion of a once great industry while funcom and ochiris laugh all the way to the bank. i will also be talking to sony about this situation and i would suggest funcom and gportal communicate better moving ahead. you never know who that person playing your game is but you had better learn to treat them like your bread and butter because without your customers your days of opulance at their expense will soon end.