Please buff thralls for godsake

Conan Exiles General Discussion Feedback
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@MarcosC do you remember our neighbor on exile lands :rofl:.
MarcosC is a smart player!
He was using shield when all the exile lands community (and still) was saying that shields are for pu
s. Then the stone mace is fast on combos with shield and stacks sunder to the opponents. Mace do not require great stamina pool to complete a combo.
Shield is a good gear for a lvling weak character, so we better use it, it’s a smart choice, life and potion saver. Then again shield can save you from multiple agro, sometimes we get cornered from many mobs or npcs, so shield in these cases is your best friend.
All the weapons have reason for existence, shields are in this equation 100%.
Late game shields literally melt your worst fears in this game, a rockslide is a kitten if you use a shield.

Acid arrows melt their gas mask pretty fast. A thrall can literally loose all the gear from acid arrows, but since pvp players didn’t use durability armorer and master reinforcement kit on gas masks, in less than 5 minutes the gas mask was destroyed and the thrall was dead before the gear melt.
Nothing could, can or ever will save thralls on raid off. Yet it’s correct, thralls in pvp must stay low, it was really annoying to see people hiding behind thralls and wait a lag to save them. Some guys were giving the claws on thralls with the old animation and the thrall was very difficult to be defeated in melee fight.
Then Teimos with Nortis or Ajas bane was literally omg, a freaking arena champion.
Pvp was not so fun with God thralls.

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87

Indeed, but that’s another step that buys you time. Thralls can never defend your base alone, as you know . All you can ask for is time, and now there’s even less of it. :blush:
On the battlefield, thralls on one side, thralls on the other so things even out
As followers if devs improve the AI, they’re fine. As guards, that’s a different story. I think they took a decision reversed to what it should be. Guarding thralls should be stronger. I believe they got affraid of numbers, as you easily find bases capped. They could have drastically reduced the cap and made guards stronger. What do you think, @stelagel ?

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They could have done things, the problem is that they have not been done.
This game has a huge potential, but between what would have had to be done (pus) and what they do, it has a huge ditch .
I am to accort to say that our enslaved NPCs do not do the job in our place, they are just an aid (precious in the case of cases), but it is clear that: they are useless .
We are going from one end to another, from war gods, they have become statue.
Where is the right medium? .
Note that he does not only have bad, with the archer pots we finally have archers who behave properly
Thank you to our friend @erjoh For having had this idea (I think I remember that he knows him who proposed this), too bad that Funcom is not coding his archer NPCs so that we are due to this artifice to fill this shortcoming.
Let us recognize that they are listening to the players, hopeful that they are continuing to listen to us in the future

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I am trying to break for now a myth. How many thralls someone actually needs for the greatest pve event this game has, purge lvl 10. The last four days i do a session, only great axe and in purge only two thralls allowed, except the cauldron thralls of course. So far, until lvl5 i keep my purges alone. Tomorrow i raze to lvl 6, and maybe lvl 7 too. From lvl 8 i will start using the two thralls in it. The goal is not only to win, but to keep them alive as well.
As for guarding thralls stronger?
There should be something expensive to keep them boosted while guarding.
A religious food, a sorcery spell? Something, but not easy.
Yet although this would give advantages to pve, to pvp “new players” wouldn’t have advantage from it, old players would have all their thralls buffed from it.

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Fantastic test, @stelagel .
Well, you are not the average player, so we need to take that into consideration when evaluating the results, but that’s definitely a challenge I’ll keep my eye on.
You should definitely make a topic telling us how it goes. I’ve been keeping things small too, because of performance mainly. The bigger the ship, the heavier the storm

I’m looking forward to it, mate!

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It’s a very nice idea. On owned land, maybe we could have something that gave them a buff, but something that weared off with time. However, pvp is grindy enough as it is, so it had to be on the simpler side, and on pve
 unless they brought the old purge back, the only danger is someone summoning a purge near your base. But I like the idea.

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The thing wrong with the thralls and human enemies is the same thing that’s wrong with bosses and other AI. They have no options to choose from.

Human players can utilize the full movement and combat moveset the game provides efficiently, but the thralls with the same human weapon moveset have the same combat AI that bosses have - and you know that AI very well.

Rockslide, Goblin, Wolfman, Drowned, Crocodile, Skelington, etc
you know the behavior. Thralls are that same thing, but with your weapon.

Bosses in combat:

  1. Swinging one of their 2 predictable attacks (or that 1 bulls* attack with no windup that catches new players off guard) that you will either dodge or it WILL knock you back (even if it looked like it physically shouldn’t have)
  2. Just standing there unnaturally for 10 seconds letting you do your thing for game balance reasons (until they decide they’re not taking it anymore also for game balance reasons).

Thralls in combat:

  1. “You got no chance mate!” (intense battle drum music)
  2. Just standing there

There is no in-between in combat. Neither have options really, no retreating or repositioning. Just closing the gap.

For thralls, if you want them to reposition, you have to tell them and micromanage their movement at the cost of not dealing damage yourself for a few seconds while commanding them. No disengaging or repositioning, just either moving to where you clicked, or moving back to aggro.

Bosses are the same. They kinda have the “get-off-me” move, that looks cheap and sends you flying if you didn’t see it coming (and you should have, they all only have 3 moves. The bat boss can disappear and reappear, but I guess that’s a cool attack rather than repositioning), but thralls do not seem to have such a disengage move.

They need a way to disengage when not hitting or at least when under 30% HP and move backwards for a few seconds, then strafe a little. That’s the simplest solution maybe, if they could do it without sheathing their weapon and running back like an ice skating Forrest Gump. Even thralls using a shield sounds simple in our imagination, yet in reality


P.S.
My actual least favourite thing about thralls? Branches and rocks! Trying to command them to move, but picking up a bloody Branch (1) instead.

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0

The answer is 0.

The best solution for Purges of any level is the mercenary banners.
They do not count as thralls for determining the size of waves and are even better at standing there and taking hits while you deal with the demolishers and orb lobbers.

This one suggests protectors, because they will sometimes raise their shield and the enemy may spang off of it and tend to have lots of hp Also, they uses maces which sunder every so often.

After that, Golems.
Especially the brimstone ones. The passive miasma will do the work, while they stand there absorbing hits. But sometimes Golems malfunction and turn against the other servants of their master, be aware.

Also, If possible, Wild Elephants.
They can do a number in the purge camp for you.

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:smile: I have to try that!

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This one knows a few spots, mostly on Siptah, where about a quarter to a half of the time the purge bases will spawn right under the feet of some elephants.
The pachyderms don’t last terribly long, but they often crush a wave or two as well as some of the elite guards in the base.

This one is still trying to get Rockslide to fight a purge, but has had a couple of instances of drawing one close to a Rotbranch.

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96

I’m thinking about the savanna on the EL, on SP mode, just for fun. I can already imagine Thunderfoot wrecking havoc in the purge camp, @LostBrythunian . :smile:
Even if the camp doesn’t spawn near it, I can try to lure the beast there. :smile:

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Lure by kite or pull and kite → over the map has been patched/nerved.
The aggro range is sometimes frustrating, so it even happens that just taking some space may trigger the disengage mechanism and the NPCs begin to return to their spawn points.

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Let’s see this reply a bit.
Every banner needs a distance between them. I believe the radius is like the religious Altairs, 8 foundations away. That means that you need an enormous arena to place all the banners for a lvl 10 purge.
Yet i have done it on single player and all the banners lasted 5 to 10 minutes, the rest 20 was mine to deal with.
Plus you need a large amount of gold, which is something to consider.
Worth to mention that my fortress architecture was not in favor for banners, yet they wouldn’t last more than a couple minutes extra. The npcs that come in a lvl 10 purge are magnificent fighters, working together excellent to isolate, round and terminate everything in their passage. To this devs need compliments!

Golems are magnificent, simply magnificent protectors, fantastic defense. Yet again in a lvl 10 purge, no matter the number of your golems, top 10 minutes before they fall.

In the official server i build next to a dragon :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:. Yes, wild can help a bit :rofl:, but i don’t use it on high purges because i am afraid of crashing.

My brother, i want to learn what a calvary fight, or a sorcery fight can do in a purge, is this wall of fire working, i don’t know. How golems with the lightning spell react and damage, is it op? I don’t know.
Many things to test and learn.

True, absolutely true! But you flip coin here! These npcs are in masses and work together outstanding. If the purge spawn in front of your door, no matter how good fighter you are, you’ll die or loose all your gold.

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That’s true @tarazuri . I’ll try. If all fails, I can always spawn a thunderfoot in there on SP just to see some Stygians flying. :smile:

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The thing to keep in mind is that the purge swells based on the number of thralls you have defending your money bin.
Therefore the fewer the thralls the better. Not only will there be a smaller number of enemies, but it will also be a quicker process.

This one has never needed more than three Merc banners and Death Metal (Death Metal is the name of this one’s Golem. Doesn’t matter what it is made of, it is always Death Metal)

Then again, this one does not place their money bin in the open. There are a few lovely plateaus that have only one direction to approach from but many valid spots for bases to spawn at, most of which give a long run for you to harass them.
In this, we embrace the strategy of the bear.
The Salmon must swim up steam, we need only wait at the top of the most burdensome ascent to receive them.
Make the ascent more burdensome. Lay some spike walls out. Not blocking, but funnelling, enemy AI will touch it from time to time. This one likes to think it is because the Stygians are horrible masters and their soldier just want to die to be free of this horror.
Anyway, the banners have space which is fine. They are just there to slow and soften the enemy. Enemies already softened by running thru a trail littered with spikes and raining gas arrows.

Oh, always use poison gas. It is very rude not to poison Stygian guests. They are so used to it in their serpent haunted home that to not offer them poison is the height of bad manners and indicates one does not respect the Malevolence and Resilience of their guest, perhaps even implying Set doesn’t favour them

Anyway, the Mercs sit outside the very basic rat maze.
Did you know Stygians love rat mazes? Serpents often eat small rodents, so by running thru the maze, they can emulate the hunting patterns of their patron god. Be certain to leave prizes in the maze, especially Stygians’ favourite food, poison! Party favours like that can be in pressure plates, thrown as bottles of joy, or reined upon them with all the attention they deserve.

In the mid point of the maze-
Oh, make certain the maze isn’t actually a maze, instead being three or so paths that all lead to the destination. We don’t want anyone to feel left out, everyone’s a winner today! :wink:
In the mid point of the maze is disco floor and Death Metal. The Dance Dance Revolution Party Machine. It provides it’s own ambiance for the guests, and when they finish dancing, it has a spicy parting gift. Afterwards, the guests may be all tuckered out.
Let them sleep

This is important. To make the Stygians feel more at home, they need to be stepping over the fallen bodies of their camarades. It’s how they do it in Khem, and we must be good hosts. Many will stop and admire the progress their predecessors make. They may even just stop and stare at people whom they had hoped to be the one to take out.

You can use Sorcery if you want

But it’s not that useful.
See, if you talk to any Yoggites, you know, Stygians don’t actually taste good. So undead don’t really bite at them.
Also, they aren’t afraid of the dark, so the turning off the lights doesn’t matter.
About the only thing that they do notice is the Electric Bugaloo, and even then the lightning is just as likely to strike your money bin and atomize the party favors as it is to make it to guests.

Also, as a good host, you will be splitting your attention between raining party favors on the guests already in the club, and showering those still approaching so they find their way. Just kept the path full of green mist as much as possible so they know where to go.

If any of them survive to the actual main promenade, congratulations, you get to dance with them directly.

Unfortunately, a level 10 party, like many other such things, often overstays it’s welcome. What would be fun for about 5-10 minutes drags into the 20+, and everyone gets foul tempered, the party favours run out, the bouncers leave. But by then, the guests should also be just about spent.

Yes, this sort of celebration is expensive.
It has to be, the entire purpose is to flaunt wealth.
So don’t be stingy.
Hire the best bouncers, stock up on more party favors than you need.
No one has fun at a miser’s party, least of all the miser.

This one hasn’t successfully hosted a gospel party yet.
Everytime this one invites an Avatar to join, the game passes the cluck out. No Yog cleaning service to go chew up stragglers, no Jhebbal Taxis, no stomping parties with Mitra, no pole dancing Derketo, Can’t even give them a taste of home with a still born snake god.
In fact, the last time this one attempted, it fully baked their PStato. The poor thing had the most horrific case of device asthma and got heat stroke soo bad they had to have a database rebuild.

Ultimately, it’s an unpolished subsystem, and due to the specifics of it, is not where Thralls could ever shine.
But then again, anyone who leaves a thrall to guard their base in PvP knows the slaves secretly hate their masters and will let anyone in.

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101

Exactly my brother :blush:. Two high leveled and high geared thralls is all you need to take a breath, heal and head back in to the fight. You can leave the demolishers almost dead to pass, the thralls behind you will take care of them with a couple swings.
I started this way and you know it, but i don’t di rat maze anymore :rofl:, it’s unnecessary! All we need is a good hallway, a straight line to keep the fort, exactly as Leonidas kept masses with small numbers. You need a good height too, so the archers will not have visibility because of bad angle.
Still working on it, thanks for your replies my brother :blush:, i find them really educational and helpful :metal:.

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102

That is effective and efficient.
Your sweet spot is 2.

However, this one has one quibble.
In emulation of Leonidas, if we set the battle at a location as easily defended as Thermopylae, the purge would just give up and not show up at all. The Hot Gates would be too hot for the Stygians to handle.

Which is another frustration.
This one experiments to find what the craven Stygians think is an easy enough target, to try to find the factors that tip greed to dominance over their cowardice and gelatinous spines. It’s so inconsistent tho.

Half the time a purge camp can be spawned in the volcano and the bandits all jump in the lava to their deaths without a single act of defense on the part of the player. Other times, a thousand golden bars are in the middle of a baren plain and all we hear are crickets.

Then there is the anti-fun of the current combat system. This old fossil, with only modest combat training is able to wield weapons with greater endurance and reliability than their characters. Now we cannot even pivot like a second year student and instead maneuver like a cargo ship, and that’s not even touching on how when the pixels of this one’s attacks pass right thru the pixels do the enemy’s body, there is frequently just no affect.

Yes yes yes, the line is held, the raiders are dead

But to what ends and for what purpose?
The rewards for the purge are almost never equal to the repair cost afterwards.
The highest level ones are long.
Far too long.
This one must find some way to squeeze some joy out of it. Even if it is putting on a garishly coloured outfit and prancing around like a fool.

This one rambles.
Back to the point.
This one thinks there is no task that a thrall performs in a purge that is not better performed by mercs and golems. The hours spent leveling them isn’t worth the likelihood losing them in the purge, or even participation.
If one wants to go for the purge, don’t squander time on thralls. Golem parts are easy (not to mention undismantlable junk anyway, and Golems frequently just ignore damage and aren’t stunlocked) and Mercs, while expensive, are less expensive than the time to level thralls. In that, this one can acquire 4500 gold coins in less than an hour, easily. Leveling thralls is more burdensome, altho this one could use a shortcut, it’s still mildly obnoxious.

If this one gives advice to the general populace, it is to spend what is worth less.
Digital coins are less valuable than precious time, and golems are assembled random drops.
The Purge is of dubious value in PvE.
It is content, it is something to do, and mid levels have new recipes. But that’s about it.
The Purge is arguably more useful in PvP, but that is definitely being very flexible in what the mechanics as intended are. Taken at it’s intended merits, it’s not a PvP draw.
In PvE-C, the only good purge is the one that someone else summoned, you looted, and perhaps opportunistically slew the summoner during.

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Let’s bring this metaphor to reality! When the stygians are too many in this narrow path, they start blocking each other, the game becomes too heavy and it’s very possible to crash.
I am very sure that the crash experience i have on exile lands single player, is exactly for this reason. When i fight and terminate the waves correctly, then everything flows well.
Yet sometimes the AI of the game, even in lower purges will create a small gap of attacks. When this gap is happening the wave that will follow is enormous. If you won’t be efficient and fast to this wave, crash is almost certain

I know my dearest brother that this conversation went too far from the topic and i will stop here. I believe that this feedback is more precious in a topic that’s focusing on purge feedback, and not here. But these conversations are helping us see more clear what we experience and in a players way try to locate problems and provide feedback for fixing.
Please open a topic for purge issues, to speak about our experiences if possible.
Always a pleasure and after all this time this is a win win for me.
Thank you brother :metal:.

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I dont understand why funcom since they dont know How to fixe AI why they dont buff Thralls life and defense or Just upgrade the thrall level limite to 100 im Very saddly today another friend moved to Ark ascended he was waitinv the teaser from chapter 4 hoping funcom maybe bring something to help but he got tired he Just Tell me “funcom dont Care about players they Care about money they might be focused in dune and forget about us” he now ARE playing Ark together with 8 friends sending me screenshots making jokes talking look It dino he IS more expert of a human in Conan exiles 


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But Ark has no thralls
 only dinos and stuff, right @AndersonKain ?
It’s like going from the adults section to the kids zone.

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