Single player Siptah review in PvP and PvE-Conflict servers (personal experience with suggestions)

Conan Exiles Isle of Siptah
#1

Intro
When Siptah was released, I was thrilled for new content for many days… however, yesterday I came into realization. I will open up these things. Overall I think the siptah is aimed in group play in mind rather than any solo gameplay.

Map
Siptah looks nice and there’s no empty spots like in old map. There are still good building locations but its well planned area and doesn’t feel dead. Pretty much all cordination spots have some sort of major or minor meaning. Well done on the map part. For me personally the map has been the best part. Also it’s bit smaller and you get to encounter players and pvp is more present.

Eldarium
Eldarium is a new resource. First I liked the system. Day one I saw some videos about the new weapons and it seemed first that there was 4-5 weapons in each weapon category. Cool! I love new weapons and the system seemed nice. However… soonish I realized its more of 10-11 weapons in each category. I didn’t give much thought, was even happier for the diverse. But last night I came into realization… I’ve played the game 8+h each and everyday. Most of my day I grind Eldarium. I would even say I grind 4h AT LEAST eldarium only each day. Some days significantly more, specially on PvE-conflict server. After my realization, I realized… I’ve spent all and every eldarium into axes, just wanting that Annoying shard. My schematics on 1h axes is atm 9/11 completion and no annyoing shard. I don’t even want to know how many hours I’ve spent to try get this. I feel like a clown. If I wasn’t solo, this would be so much easier… only one needs the schematic anyway to be able to craft it.

Grinding eldarium on PvP server is nice! I like the pvp in vault and such for gains. You also see from the door if theres potentially a player inside. However on PvE-Conflict… on PvE hours… excuse me? It’s speed race who gets to F the last chest first. There’s no competition or anything. Could you just make vaults 24/7 pvp on conflict servers? It’s so stupid that theres nothing you can do against other runner. I also feel stupid doing this myself. Feels like griefing. The guy clears 60% of the dungeon and I just run past him “chill clear over, its time for speedrun”. It’s plain stupid…

Thralls
I also realized I have t1 crafters. I do know what you are required to get t4 crafters. Known that since like day 1… but for solo player… yikes! That sounds hours and hours of personal investment. Also its super visible in the map and on PvP server… yikes. For solo player I think it’s just so much better to try and “steal” some thralls. You are a clown and crazy person if you use the hours to make calamity on PvP server as solo. You cannot defend the spot against 4 guys from single clan + other people.

What about PvE-Conflict?.. same problem as PvP servers and if u do it off-PvP time… o boi… who stuns thrall first and clicks the capture button first… and nothing you can do after that. ITS STUPID! On previous Conan map you could find t4 thrall, slap it in peace. You still had to care for players if there was, specially in hot spots like Asgard. Then the whole run back to wheel was dangerous too. And on PvE hours you could just do the thrall in peace. Staring contest and then E button spam is just not Conan gameplay for me…

Engagement > Fun
My strong believe is that Siptah mechanics; new thrall system and eldarium is simply made player engagement in mind. It really sucks the fun out of the game, specially if you are solo player. The amount of hours you should invest is enormous… and if you play on PvP server, you can get raided and bye bye for the hours of work. In old map this would’ve been fine. But in Siptah as solo player it just hurts so so much more if I would get t4 thrall by some miracle and then loose it. I think the engagement and fun was much better balanced in old exiles map.

Overall review on Siptah
It starts with glamour and beautiful places… but when the true grind hits a solo player… yikes. I was unlucky I think with schematics, I can give that but still… you have a chance to be left feeling as clown after weeks of grinding because the eldarium literally goes to nothingness if you aim particular thing. The weapon breaks, eldarium is gone etc. I think they want higher engagement in the game… imo its now too high and hurts fun.

PvE server players will still continue doing what they do best; build houses and show around stuff and wonders they are able to make with the magnificent system and tools Conan offers. PvP server players will still continue raiding and annoying each other. Always looking for next day to show that they are the alpha and not someone else. I think these things are the core why PvP and PvE people play this game! I don’t think the eldarium or thrall grind enhances those experiences. Not a bit! I highly hope that Funcom nerfs the amount of aether (??? stuff) you need in order to make calamity and make some sort of “bad luck” mechanic in delve rolls with eldarium. With current system its just yikes to delve your favorite weapon! Also make some sort of system for the vaults… specially in PvE-C where is pvp but no raiding, the pvp shouldn’t be all that spooky. The speedrun is stupid.

I seriously hope that Funcom would realize why players play this game and try to enhance those aspects of the game rather than try to make these huge grindfests to keep us engaged. All they are now doing is to increase the gap between solo and group players. As a proof that they didn’t think solo players, I bring the original wild surges. Were they possible alone? Yes. Were they easy? Absolutely no… ofc you can cheese them with ingame mechanics but c’mon. If you played with group, you got some good battles with npcs. I like that they changed this into the form it is now and thuswhy I think and hope they will make adjustments to eldarium and thralls.

My suggestion would be: increase the amount of eldarium you can get from everything. Make literally anything you do to give eldarium. Killing random deer and harvesting it has like 10% chance to give 1x decayed eldarium. Killing npcs in vaults give much more higher chance that 1x decayed eldarium so it would encourage into clearing the dungeon rather than speedrun it. Make wild surges to give t1-3 crafters and lock t4s only into calamity. T4 is what people really want and what really matters. Making t1 only from wild surges is just bit yikes and smells like more grind and player engagement rather than fun. Siptah feels promising as it is but I don’t think its properly adjusted and ready as it is.

Background
All of this is done in solo perspective. I started in PvP server, played for bit over a week. Then hopped into PvE-C because I wanted to really get into the mechanics of Siptah and how long stuff takes and if there are shortcuts etc. Just overall to gain first hand knowledge on top of videos about “end game”. In PvE-C I pretty much got small sandstone hut and I’ve only farmed eldarium and essences.

5 Likes
#2

Yes, please! I don’t mind when this “vault intrusion” happens during PVP hours – it’s an excellent source of conflict, as opposed to “I’m gonna attack you just because”. But during PVE hours, that’s just toxic.

On a ranty side note, I have a somewhat unpopular opinion that PVE-C servers should have 24/7 PVP hours. There are no raids on PVE-C, and the whole reason for choosing it over PVE is because you want the danger and conflict, so why would you want to have PVE hours 3/4 of the day?

This needs to be fixed, but I’m pessimistic about the chances of it ever being prioritized.

Right now, on PVE-C servers, we have a choice between doing it during PVP hours and hoping that some guy with an overpowered lottery tiger and 5 other buddies doesn’t show up to slaughter us all, or doing it outside PVP hours and hoping that some jerk doesn’t come in to play “who can press E faster”.

If we can’t get 24/7 PVP on PVE-C servers, then perhaps they could simply make the Leyshrines erect something like a “magic force field bubble” (but pick a nicer name for it) during PVE hours and only people from the clan that activated the surge get through it. And the same thing would happen on PVE servers.

I don’t think it’s simply the engagement. I think it’s the usual corner-cutting that they do. The cheapest solution is always RNG, so let’s gate everything behind RNG. I’m hoping against all hope that, since we’re in Early Access, they’ll gradually phase out some of the “slot machine” mechanics and turn them into proper dungeons, quests and discoveries. But maybe I’m too much of an optimist.

I don’t know that I would like killing random wildlife to give a chance of eldarium, but they should definitely either increase the amount of eldarium you get from the vaults, or decrease the eldarium costs, especially for the damn slot machine delving bench – that thing is cancer.

One great idea I’ve read somewhere on the forums is to increase the drop rates – and perhaps the difficulty, too – proportional to the number of active sigils you have. Maybe that could help, too.

Ehhhh. I think that people who are focusing on T4 exclusively are still in the “make Siptah a smaller version of Exiled Lands” mindset. I’ve never had to appreciate how T1s actually speed things up until I started playing on a map where a T4 isn’t just a short hop to Sinner’s Refuge away.

That said, I definitely think that wild surges should have T1s and T2s, and perhaps a very rare chance of T3.

2 Likes
#3

Hey Silverbandit,

I have moved this thread to the Isle of Siptah subforum, as it provides feedback on the Isle of Siptah DLC. The thread will be seen regardless.

1 Like
#4

Tyvm! Wasn’t sure which and where should I put this thing so I chose suggestions instead of Siptah. :sweat_smile: But nice that you fixed it!

2 Likes
#5

I totally agree with you on the 24/7 pvp on conflict server! Think it’s number one reason for people, at least was for my friends group back in the day, to join conflict server. We wanted to pvp but didnt wana get raided and worst case scenario… start from zero on base perspective.

You give good and valid extra points. I do also agree with your thrall system, that was kind of what I had in mind. T3 from wild would be really really rare but possibility.

Happy to see someone gave so much thought for my review!

1 Like
#6

I tend to agree with most points.

  • The grinding is insane.
  • The lack of T4 crafters makes that an even greater problem, as you require more mats - in effect, usually twice as much - to craft anything.
  • More recipes is a great thing. Some grinding is okay. But the amount of effort you have to put in for just a chance to get a recipe is too much.

I want to add:

  • There’s a lack of content. No dungeons, no interesting NPCs to discover, no purges to defend against, no rare spawns to hunt. The easiest way to fix that would be to introduce a way to travel between maps. Maybe disallow to bring thralls or some items from one map to another. But it seems unwise to exclude content you’ve already created from the game.
  • The flair isn’t there. The Exiled Lands had atmosphere. There was a mystery to discover: What the hell happened here? Who did build these roads? Why was it all destroyed? The map was a big hunt for clues and lore pieces, all culminating in a pretty surprising revelation. In Siptah… well, somebody build a Star Trek transporter and randomly teleports people into the sky, from where they fall down to earth to miraculously survive, only to be cut down by the next player running amok. No settlements, little lore, just a big, empty place.
  • The island’s fauna and flora and atmosphere don’t match. Siptah is a lush, green place, almost a paradise. There are little monsters; the chance to be attacked while traveling is much, much lower than in the Exiled Lands. Resources are abundant and require little traveling except for some things not properly implemented yet. And yet, it is supposed to be the place where a genocidal war of survival is supposed to have happened. But except for some Stygian ruins, there’s almost nothing left from that.
  • The map lacks variety. There’s basically only two areas: lush mountains and lush forest. No desert, no savannah, no tundra, no arctic, no volcano. Funcom, you created all these build sets - use them! Else, it’s an investment not used! Especially with limited resources, recycling is mandatory.
  • NPCs from the Exiled Lands get randomly teleported to the island. Why in the hell don’t they build settlements once they arrive? Each is a survivor of another a much more dangerous hellscape and should be able and willing to start a life on Siptah. Instead, they just stand around, waiting to be attacked.
  • The whole Surge mechanics breaks atmosphere. The suggestion made in another thread to make ships crash into the island would be much, much more fitting lore-wise and might be more interesting lore-wise, as you wouldn’t know the precise location of where everything will spawn.
    If one may dream…: Make the tower crash ships into the island. From the crash sites, the surviving NPCs travel onto the land, attack player settlements and build their own camps and fortresses over time.
    Or just make “Surge” NPCs spawn on the beaches instead and add static camps with NPC “survivors” all over the map. Less inspirational, but admittedly less effort and error-prone.

There are good things, too, though. The new monsters look great, e. g. the atavistic elephants. The map itself, while lacking life and variety, is pretty nice, too - in fact too nice, see above.

It would be very helpful if Funcom gave a written overview of what is still planned for the map. Will they add more dungeons? Map travel? NPC camps? Because people won’t be willing to invest time into a map that currently feels dead if there’s no fact-based hope that it’ll become better with time.

#7

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