In the begging, thralls had 750 hp and served for nothing. They were even worse than today.
Then they got their OP period where they could literally solo all content. I was OK with it because of their optional nature. It’s our choice to use thralls. But I understand a lot of people found that too much. On pvp, they could never hold a candle against a player unless they caught you by surprise and they actually helped in base defense. They were a tough nut to crack if the defender knew how to gear and place them. You had to know your stuff.
Then they were rebalanced and became adequate for PVE. In AoS they were fine, but became useless for base defense as their HP and dmg multipliers were cut in half. Diversity in fighters went out of the window. “95%” of thralls became uterly useless for combat overnight.
From then on, it all came downhill and thralls were never as bad, considering the present requirements of the game. You never had anything as violent as a level 10 purge that spawns too close to your base. Npcs seldom miss and your thralls can be stunlocked to death.
On top of that, they developed Alzheimer.
No… they are really crappy and need fixing.
In case you didn’t get it, soloing a dungeon and surviving on a PvP server are whole different things.
If “minions” aren’t supposed to be useful, what’s the point of them?
I could just as easy play a game without any kind of followers.
You’re aware that we have 2024 now?
I have the game for PlayStation, so i didn’t play early access, but i played since 2018 when CE was officially released and i know what happened over the years.
The nerfs to followers started with AoS (2022) and continued from there.
So from 2018 to 2022 FC didn’t realize the balance wasn’t what they’ve been aiming for?!
It’s always the same with FC they boost things to god tier only to crush it afterwards.
And after so many years they think everyone would just go along with it?!
Stunlocked thralls aren’t supporting by any means, it’s simply babysitting. Besides that a rocknose purge with 2 rockslides at the end was almost impossible to solo (if you didn’t cheese them somehow or took 5 years to shoot them with arrows).
And of course rocknose purge isn’t a thing anymore, it was an example.
I am able to solo everything, but if i want to fight solo i don’t play CE!
If i want “pure PvP” without followers and bases, i don’t play CE!
Easy as that. 
Exactly this.
Pre AoS, RHTS and Berzerkers were basically immortal killing machines.
And this is the essence of things, is this a PvP mode or a TvT mode? Or maybe a PvT mode? 
I feel it’s a game balance thing, the problem is somewhere else, but the thralls should not be tougher than the player (yes AI and things need to improve, but not stats)
I started about the same. It was long before client 2.0 anyway.
From the beginning I felt the game was broken when tamed greater sabertooth was able to 2-hit me. Or when I went on killing spree with one of my new friends and his thrall hit me and shaved like 1/3 of my HP in a single blow and I could do nothing but run until my friend recalled his thrall.
This was seriously wrong and this is why I don’t want the game to return to that state.
Also I believe that all the problems with huge bases and server performance come from the balance issue. The ‘huge base’ exists only because it’s too hard to take it down.
In other PvP games you kill and get killed all the time, in Conan you just keep building up your bunker to the point the server can’t handle it anymore.
This is broken and I think they see it, hence defences are getting nerfed.
Well the game seems to be going in other direction and for me it’s more fun now.
But I accept and respect your point of view.
Well, i didn’t say they should boost their stats to an insane degree again.
Maybe we had a misunderstanding there.
But their performance is godawful, at least they should revert the changes to hyper armor to end the infinite stunlock.
Smarter AI would also be a solution of course (if thralls could dodge, use a shield properly and stuff like that), it would actually be great.
Many much older games do more complex things with the AI of their npc’s.
However we have to be somewhat realistic at this point i guess.
Players ask for better AI for years now and nothing happened.
There is a difference between simplistic but effective and… lobotomized. 
But that is still a weird choice, building yourself up takes much more time than to blow someones stuff up.
If you fail a raid you lose your gear and raid supplies, but if you can’t defend you’re probably back to the desert left with nothing.
(If you didn’t hide some mats and gear somewhere)
And look at how they are now. Decoration.
That was a you problem, @Bathory . Sabertooth was a fantastic pet. You never saw a tiger mauling a person, have you? Sabertooths were double their size. They should be dangerous.
I remember when me and @stelagel avoided their area because you would be fighting five of them, eventually with a miniboss in the middle of it. Those beasts meant business. They had a very decent hp pool and a dmg to match. Now I breeze through the area, leaving a trail of dead cats. As pets they are even worse.
I’m going to the Temple of Frost alone, later on. Do you want me to make a clip of me killing everything in my path without breaking a sweat?
On pvp, both teams had thralls. Besides, they never were a match for any half baked pvper. This only benefits offline raiders. I can understand nerfing them a little, but Funcom went from 80 to 8.
There’s no base defense left. People are BVing because otherwise they’ll lose all their stuff if they fail to be online during raid hours. It’s a job now.
% this!
Yes it was my first raid, first week playing Conan. I raided that base with an experienced group hence I remember everything very well.
But even back then when the thralls were OP we simply blew up the anticlimb wall, climbed on the nearest roof and we fired poison gas arrows until entire crowd of enemy thralls was dead (including mentioned greater sabertooth).
It all came to gathering poison arrows and explosive jars and even OP thralls were annihilated without causing any threat to us. So this makes me think they were useless (as defenders) anyway but the fact that they were OP ruined the experience in other aspects of the game (like mentioned Champion Thrall vs brushwood picker player haha)
But again I’m not saying you guys are wrong or something, I’m just drawing view from my perspective. As you wrote in some other post MarcosC, every player has his own playstyle and perspective.
First defender mistake: thralls without gas masks! 
You could always deal with them. But you actually had to.
Listen @Bathory , if you prefer it this way, I’m totally fine with that. I won’t be telling you how you should enjoy your game. 
I’m glad you have fun. But you play with friends. You don’t need thralls. It’s not the same for solo players.
But I prefered when thralls were better. AoS stats and AI were not bad. They should have left them alone by then.
Did you read my mind? Exactly. We should strive to find a middle ground amicably.
But at this point I just want thralls to function. We see about their stats later.
I Hope the chapter 4 bring something to help thralls get back they strenght or AI ,we need they back in place because many peoples ARE quiting because It Thralls weak and lags and blues screens.
Today i was in sepemeru when event happened i always do all It events Very easy WITH strenght + agility build but NOW i was using thralls build because i was in silver Mine , 20 autority 20 vitality 20 expertise using Just a thrall because i dont wont babysitting for 2 and i like using skelos armor me and the thralls both buffed potion and food thrall using momentum like always void forge chest silent helmet and the New armor in legs hands and boots a danisia.
1st problem SINCE It was the cimerians event they hit hard so i was pulling 3 for time 2 in my thrall and 1 for me what happen ? my thrall Just got stun Lock so i have to kill all 3 NPCs
2nd problem when i lure just 2 NPC my thrall become a MMA fighter and Begin to punch the NPC
3th problem after like 20 NPC kills the thrall become a BRAINLESS Guy i was thinking maybe because was the First time he SEE the big portal maybe he become enchant surprised maybe he drinked in tavern before come help me idk he Just become useless like a manequins tried call he NOTHING happen tried change atack Pattern protect me , all atack , guard place NOTHING he Just become BRAINLESS so i make all the event alone i left he behind Just to he dont die
I waste my time , potions and almost lose the thrall If i get killed for sure my Thrall Will die.
Doing It events with strenght or agility build and no Thrall i dont have to Care about a baby and i can make It event EASY with almost no waste
What we want ARE every build be the same in time waste and reward what i want IS use Thrall build and dont Care about my Thrall dying like a shit or becoming a BRAINLESS guy and SINCE funcom Will never work in AI and make Thralls fighter like true Warriors the best things to do IS revert back Thralls and give they huge life like before If Thralls have aleast 15k life or a best armor they wont Will die EASY and we Will Just have to babysitt sometimes every 5 min.
But right now Thralls ARE BRAINLESS and useless same go for pets we have armors potions foods perks level system everything giving damage and DEFENSE to Thrall and they still useless its a shame waste a Full system to become useless.
They gotta do something, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, buff them with food and potions, buff yourself with food and potions, but in the end permanent stunlock will still be a problem. That and the braindead bug need to be dealt with asap.
Guys I tell you what I think,
watching several previous streams and listening to what was said, for example about 2 skull bosses, 3 skull bosses, these skulls are supposed to represent how many players are needed to kill that boss.
What I mean is, Conan may change and not all PvE content is going to be solo-able.
I’d like to see this kind of change, I like raiding in MMOs and while I love Conan I feel that there is not enough to “do together” outside PvP.
Sepermeru event is great looking and and it’s the hardest one to complete for me.
But I enjoy this bloodbath every time.
Bosses aren’t the problem, even for thralls. Mobs are the problem.
You start killing bosses the moment you leave the desert. My first victim is Valis the Loyal. You need a couple of stone maces and woden shields or bone, if you had the patience to get one. You get his pike and some silent legion armor if you are lucky, going there two or three times. Then, you go to the giant crocodile, then you melt the darfaris on your way to the Dregs, kill the boss komodo and the boss spider. You complete the dungeon and you’ll have 4 legendary items before level 20. Without even thinking about thralls.
Those skulls only mean they are skeleton key containers.
So this is how you pros do it?
I always go straight to the woodlands running past all enemies.
Then at the woodlands I fail to dodge a wolf which 1 hits me, and I have to walk again.
There are many ways to do it and certainly there’s not THE right way, @Bathory . The right way is the one you enjoy the most. I do it like that to make sure I ruin my own fun.
After what I said above, you go to UC and that’s it, game over. Nothing stops you after that. So you have to find things to do to keep it fun. Sometimes I like to play like a noob would, crafting iron gear and everything.
Each player has his thing.
Lol, I’ve definitely been there 
Yeah, I like setting the XP rate down to 0.1 or 0.2 to give me much longer in that noob phase, so the early game material tiers feel worth using. And try (try) not to go after legendaries until I reach 60. It extends the fun (for me) but there’s always a temptation to ‘power level’.
Actually, probably the most fun I’ve had since AoS started was doing the challenges for Battlepass1 with a completely new character and slow-levelling. The challenges actually felt like challenges because it was just me and my horse and what little early game gear I could scrounge together. Dance at the Pagoda or Pray on Telith’s Island felt like really major expeditions, which was cool (I guess I really do need to start over again, lol.)