Suggestions for expanding the world and bringing new content to Conan Exiles

[ValhallaBr]

Suggestions to Expand the World and Bring New Content to Conan Exiles

Hello, Funcom team.

I would like to share some ideas that I believe could contribute to a major expansion of Conan Exiles. My goal is not simply to suggest changes, but to present possibilities that could make the game even richer, more diverse, and more exciting for both PvE and PvP players.

I have a great deal of affection for this game, and I would love to see it continue evolving and receiving increasingly ambitious content. I have even contacted a few game development studios to explore the possibility of creating a professional mod based on some of these ideas. Unfortunately, however, the costs would be far too high for me. Because of that, I decided to bring these suggestions directly to the community and the Funcom team.

1. New Flying Mounts and Dragons

One of the biggest possibilities I envision for Conan Exiles would be the introduction of flying mounts, especially dragons.

Besides providing a new way to explore the map and improve mobility, flying mounts could create completely new possibilities for both PvE and PvP.

Dragons could have different sizes, characteristics, power levels, and hierarchies, creating a progression system between different types of creatures. This concept could be inspired by the variety and hierarchy of dragons found in major fantasy works, while still being adapted to the unique identity of Conan Exiles.

It would also be very interesting to introduce an aerial combat system, allowing players to fight while mounted on flying creatures. Games such as Century: Age of Ashes and Crimson Desert could serve simply as references for exploring this concept.

2. New Ground Mounts, Including Large Felines

Another possibility would be to expand the ground mount system with large felines.

There could be different species and variants, each with its own characteristics, such as speed, stamina, combat ability, and behavior.

Besides being visually impressive, large felines could provide new options for exploration and combat, especially for players who prefer fast and agile mounts.

It could also be interesting to introduce rare or legendary variants that could be obtained through quests, bosses, or special challenges.

3. More Content Inspired by Greek and Norse Mythology

I believe Conan Exiles could explore even more elements inspired by Greek and Norse mythology, introducing new characters, warriors, creatures, followers, and bosses.

Some possibilities could include:

• Amazons and powerful female warriors;
• Warriors and heroes inspired by demigods;
• Hercules as a powerful demigod-inspired warrior;
• Different Valkyries, each with their own combat styles and abilities;
• New gods and characters connected to Greek and Norse traditions.

Freyja and the Valkyries

One idea that I find particularly interesting would be the introduction of Freyja, one of the major goddesses of Norse mythology.

Freyja would not simply be another Valkyrie, because she is a goddess. However, because of her strong connection to war, death in battle, and fallen warriors, she could receive a special representation inspired by the aesthetics and concept of the Valkyries.

For example, there could be a major quest or adventure in which players face Freyja or earn her trust, eventually allowing her to be obtained as an extremely powerful legendary follower, with unique abilities related to warfare and magic.

The Valkyries themselves could have different classes, visual styles, and supernatural abilities. As an aesthetic reference, some concepts similar to the Valkyries portrayed in God of War could be explored, while still adapting them to the identity and universe of Conan Exiles.

4. New Weapons and Abilities

It would also be interesting to add more weapons inspired by ancient cultures and mythology, particularly Greek and Norse traditions.

In addition to weapons, there could be new abilities and combat effects, allowing players to create more diverse character builds and playstyles.

This would increase build diversity and give players more reasons to experiment with different combinations of equipment, abilities, attributes, and followers.

5. A Major Expansion of the Magic System

I believe the magic system could receive a significant expansion.

It would be interesting to have true combat-focused mages, capable of using different types of ranged magical attacks, elemental effects, area control, and other abilities.

There could also be healing and support mages, especially useful in PvP and during major PvE challenges.

This would allow for more diverse group compositions, with warriors, archers, offensive mages, healers, and support characters, making encounters against powerful bosses and other players more strategic.

6. Major Expansions and New Maps

All of these ideas could serve as the foundation for one or two major DLCs, accompanied by new maps and regions.

For example, one expansion could explore a region heavily inspired by Norse mythology, while another could explore a region containing elements inspired by Ancient Greece and its myths.

Each expansion could introduce:

• A new map or large region;
• New creatures and mounts;
• Large felines as mounts;
• New weapons and armor;
• New abilities and magic systems;
• New bosses and enemies;
• New followers;
• New architectural styles;
• New stories, quests, and challenges;
• New possibilities for both PvE and PvP.

7. I Would Be Happy to Contribute Ideas and Visual Concepts

In addition to these suggestions, I have many other ideas for the game, as well as some visual models and character concepts that I have developed or imagined to better represent some of these possibilities.

If Funcom is interested, I would be very happy to contribute voluntarily and free of charge with my ideas, concepts, and visual references to help develop or present some of these proposals.

I am not necessarily looking for financial compensation. My main goal is to see Conan Exiles evolve, receive incredible new content, and reach the full potential that I believe this game has.

Naturally, if the team were interested in using any concepts, models, or materials developed by me, I would be happy to discuss the details beforehand in a clear and professional manner.

Final Thoughts

I understand that some of these ideas would be large projects and would require a significant amount of development work. However, I believe they could bring a huge evolution to the game and create completely new experiences for the community.

I do not expect every idea to be implemented exactly as presented. My intention is simply to contribute suggestions and show how much some players would love to see Conan Exiles continue growing and receiving increasingly ambitious content.

I sincerely hope the Funcom team receives these suggestions with an open mind and considers some of these possibilities for the future of the game.

Thank you for your work and for continuing to develop Conan Exiles.

**I hope I can contribute in some way to the future of this game that I care so much about.
**

[MutantArtCat]

While coming up with these ideas, did you consider the setting in this? Because the flying mounts and dragons and such and the mage system you are suggesting do not fit within the overall sword and sorcery setting that is Conan. You mention to adapt it to something that fits the background, but I think you’d start to look from what actually exists and how to expand on that in stead of forcing stuff from other genres into this. That’s something to mod really and has actually been done.

[Cultist]

I was thinking something similar myself but wasn’t able to express it in a way that wouldn’t be considered harsh or unkind. I’m all for expanding Conan exiles but in the end it needs to fit the lore before anything else.

May Set smile upon you

[MutantArtCat]

I like fantasy overall, but I’m much more a fan of low fantasy and magic having consequences and such. I enjoy a world that doesn’t have all the fancy stuff, there’s other games for that really. And for Conan there’s mods if you really want/need it.

And if you read the books, there’s A LOT that can be used one way or another. I mean, aliens! There’s a whole universe that can be used without having to resort to high fantasy really ^^

[Cultist]

One of the things I like about Conan’s magic system is with it’s lovecraftian influences magic in some ways can be boiled down to a sort of Esoteric science that breaks or bends the normal laws of reality.

Set be with you

[illutian]

A lot of this is already ‘in the game’…‘a modded game’.

[MutantArtCat]

The biggest selling point if you ask me. A great base game with a full on devkit to turn the game into whatever you want.

[MutantArtCat]

Although I’m more of a “add to it” in stead of “change it” modder ^^

[XninjaPIX]

I think that you need to add a little more dev language to your proposal i.e. £€¥$

I like point 3 of introducing viking/Norse and greek content. I predict that armour and building sets in these areas would sell well in the bazaar.

As for new maps I think it would be great to add new maps but maybe just one map of each type to each platform. Then for example all players from Xbox could come together from all servers to fight over resources on one map before returning to their own servers. There could also be other things to lure players to these maps such as armour and weapons that could only be crafted at unique crafting benches similar to what already exists at the Frost Temple. This process could help to create alliance and enemies and keep things active.

[MutantArtCat]

On mobile now so I haven’t figured out quoting yet.

Flying transportation does exist in a way. But it is iirc always related to sorcery and/or shapeshifting. I remember a few cases were something like that would occur but in every story it would be related to a sorcerer and never an actual animal. There is talk of a few animals doing human’s biddings but besides horses this is more like common pet relationships or some kind of bond (witch that has a wolf and an eagle hanging out with her f.e, crows/ravens sent/summoned by a sorcerer to follow someone).

So the fact we can summon a demon bat glider with sorcery in the game is pretty much spot on.

And you are correct, to incorporate Greek or Nordic or anything that touches real mythology, you’d have to reinvent it, rewind it towards an age that existed before our current knowledge of history and mythology. Which should be pretty doable. You are not going to be able to create a one on one Heracles or Freya, though Howard’s stories contain their own myths, like Atali, daughter of Ymir. There’s a lot of possibilities overall, in The Tower of the Elephant Conan basically meets a creature that came from a different place in the universe, so with a bit of creativity you can spin a lot of narratives that could have been the inspiration for mythology that would happen later.

Add in all the Lovecraftian overlaps and there’s much to explore beyond the “generic” high fantasy checklist.

[DanQuixote]

@dharu

@ValhallaBr

flying mounts, especially dragons

Are they in the books?
Frankly i don’t like this. It’s too generic fantasy.

No, they are not in the books. And they do not belong - you are correct.

@dharu

So a mount + fighter hybrid? I guess cool. But how?

When mounts were originally added to the game they could fight. Not like the Rhino mount where you can have it attack while you are riding it - but to defend themselves when you were on foot. This led to problems in PVP, because it meant people had a fighter and a mount that fought (so two fighters). So they tried different solutions - initially they tried ‘yopu can have a mount or a follower’ - so no one used mounts, making them a pointless addition that had taken a lot of work. So they settled on the current situation where mounts don’t fight at all. Adding combat mounts would re-create this problem all over again.

@dharu

The character of Freya that’s already in the game is just a human, who is of the Vanir tribe (of other humans, not gods).
And this is how i personally have been thinking of her so it can be complete nonsense, but i think this Freya is exactly what the old Norsemen created the whole mythos about thousands of years later. It might have started as stories about her bravery and such, which slowly turned into myths about a goddess during thousands of years of the initial stories getting lost in translation.

You have this exactly right. And you are correct, there is no room in the game to add Norse or Greek gods or demigods. They are already present in the only way they can be - the way that you have interpreted it.

More weapons, moves, combos - sure - always good to add variety. Shortswords and claws/punch daggers/chakrams were the most recent additions (I think Katanas were a bit before that if I recall correctly) - but it’s been a while, maybe something new could be added. Balance issues can make this difficult, but not impossible.

@dharu

@ValhallaBr

true combat-focused mages, capable of using different types of ranged magical attacks, elemental effects, area control, and other abilities.

This sounds like a typical fantasy MMO slop.

Precisely. Magic in the lore does not work the way people want combat mages to work. If people really want that sort of thing, there are mods that provide them.

@dharu

@ValhallaBr

new maps and regions

People generally want this.
I’m just not sure how much more the Exiled Lands can be expanded and how to justify either direct EL expansion or addition of Siptah-like islands.

Yes, this is a common request - but also a lot of work. There are quite a lot of map mods (at least on UE4) - many of them aren’t particularly good. Even some of the very best, like Savage Wilds, fall into the same areas that went wrong with Siptah - they are very hard to explore because you keep running into cliffs in your way. The Exiled Lands was a very careful design to be so good for exploration.
Technically UE5 means the Exiled Lands can get bigger - but, like you say, that’s hard to justify in the story. Plus would need to be done very carefully.
New maps would cause fewer problems - but that’s a lot of work to do well.

@dharu

Maybe there could be some potential in adding a new map connected to the Ring of Set that has been lost forever? (“You will not recover the ring as long as you are trapped in these lands”)

The reason the Ring cannot be recovered is because it’s location is known for certain in the lore - Thoth-Amon has it, and no player character can survive trying to take it from him. Allowing that would break the story - it would be like a Star Wars game allowing the player to kill Darth Vader.

[DanQuixote]

@dharu

Though i’ve seen an old video showing a Boss spawned via admin console that isn’t normally in the game, some sort of Toth-Amon’s servant that would drop an essence of the ring.

Yeah, the mummy of the ring can still be spawned in via the admin panel as far as I know. But like you say, they never finished adding it.

Yeah, possibly something following old traces from Thoth Amon - so long as it never gets too close to him - could work.

To be honest, if I was designing a new map, I probably wouldn’t tie it to closely in to the Exiled Lands - it might be better having its own story. (Though, outside of Siptah, I’m not sure where else would be good for any sort of tie in to the elder races - so that sort of leaves mostly just human enemies, which could wind up boring.) I feel like the bracelet quest is kinda done with - it doesn’t really lead anywhere anyway - not only is there the ‘in game’ element of it ‘ends the game’, but also in the lore it probably just kills you (the Staff is a liar sent to betray whoever listens to it, and it openly tells you it has tricked you - Jimbo can explain more, but it is almost certainly Nyarlathotep talking through the staff - so as you can imagine, following its directions probably won’t end well…)

[MutantArtCat]

Small addition on the lore of the ring. In the books Thoth Amon lost his ring (stolen by a thief) and is currently working for someone plotting against king of Aquilonia, Conan.

Of course he gets it back in the story, but as Conan is no king yet in the game, the ring of Toth Amon could disappear around this time.

Additional, at the ending in the Cyclopean Halls, the guy mentions Natohk the Veiled One. This is also a direct reference to a story, Natohk being a reincarnation of some kind of Thugra Khotan, a sorcerer who escaped retaliation by sealing himself away in some magical sleep.

Sounds like a promising path for lore and expansion on sorcery. And we know that Set worshippers and certainly the sorcerers see no problem in getting the upper hand by destroying others in the process. I see some opportunities there.

[MutantArtCat]

@DanQuixote

I feel like the bracelet quest is kinda done with - it doesn’t really lead anywhere anyway - not only is there the ‘in game’ element of it ‘ends the game’, but also in the lore it probably just kills you (the Staff is a liar sent to betray whoever listens to it, and it openly tells you it has tricked you - Jimbo can explain more, but it is almost certainly Nyarlathotep talking through the staff - so as you can imagine, following its directions probably won’t end well…)

Fun fact, I only discovered the staff’s function after having spent 3500 hours of playing and about 1500 hours modding the game. But I also never played towards getting the bracelet off, did collect everything and all, used the altar, but never felt like “ending” the game. I treat Stranded Deep the same btw, I’ve managed to explore the whole map once, but I never feel like beating the bosses and end it.

If the staff was created to mislead, then following the staff’s instructions sounds like getting me killed though. It fits my mindset about the end at the Cyclopean Halls, dude, you wanna summon a bloodlusty god into this mess? Ehhhh…

Anyway, something else I encountered (I’ve taken to scour the devkit for lore I’ve still not discovered, especially since I kept missing stuff on Siptah. It’s why I created Glowing Notes and Lore in the first place) are the mentions of the Khari. Apparently the fleeing Lemurians came across a coast to the east before escaping and hitting the shore of EL, which were inhabited by the Khari, people they used to trade with. They expected to find refuge, but their landing was taken as an act of aggression and they were brutally attacked and enslaved. To add to this, there’s the Khari steel to be found in the winecellar. Before I noticed the Lemurian lore about the Khari, I though it would be a nice expansion to mod, a society based on the Khari, more use for the steel. In the books, the Khari aren’t mentioned, but Thog/Thag is and the society surrounding it is wearing a lot of purple (to be linked to the purple steel in my head). However that society was somewhere buried deep in some desert, living in the city of Xuthal and wasn’t really active into attacking and/or enslaving. They were mostly stuck in some kind of dreamworld occasionally being targetted by Tha/og. And they had some serious magic/conjuring/science skills going on. But that would not fit the Lemurian lore about the Khari then.
On top of that, Siptah is being mentioned as having ancient bloodlines (Khari mentioned). So overall, maybe not really easy to be linked to the society described in the books, the Khari would still be interesting to explore for an expansion.

[MutantArtCat]

On the topic of the ring being stolen: Bel (god of thieves) could be added and a whole storyline involving preparing the theft (by someone else) could be set up. Getting the Essence of the ring for someone to be capable of actually stealing it.

[Myrdhim]

Not realy conan compatible, all theses things.
No feline mount, or flying mount in this universe (only one time for limited time what inspired the spell bat demon…)

I recall that in the Kull adventures, he has a vision of a distant past when dragons filled the skies, but they weren’t around during Kull’s era—let alone Conan’s.
Honestly, that would be taking too much liberty with the setting and the time period.
As for introducing a god directly from Norse mythology, that’s not really how the universe works, either.
But yes, they could add elements involving the Argosians, Aesir, and Vanir… who are the equivalents of what you’re asking for (albeit without the exact same pantheon of gods).

[Myrdhim]

Great additions—compatible with the Conan universe and inspired by the novels—would include: new maps featuring major civilisational cities as well as isolated, self-contained settlements where civilizations are in decline (like BioShock); a piracy and navigation system; and mechanics for theft and stealth.

[Myrdhim]

@ValhallaBr

It would be interesting to have true combat-focused mages, capable of using different types of ranged magical attacks, elemental effects, area control, and other abilities.

Lot og magical stuff in books…So, why not. lot of people don’t like idea. but why not.
I think lot of stuf would be disable in server settings for more different servers experiences (like teleportation map, sorcery etc) adding this sorcery with possibility to disable it would be a good stuff.

More weapon and abilities would be good things too, yes.

[DanQuixote]

Yeah the Khari, having been driven westwards by the uprising of their former slaves (the Lemurians) ended up falling on a ‘pre-human’ civilisation and destroying them (apart from some remnants). They then founded a new civilisation and called it Stygia. There is good evidence that this ‘pre-human’ civilisation was the Giant-Kings (for instance ‘God in the Bowl’, where the Diadem of the Giant-Kings has been found in one of the ancient pyramids in Stygia (that pre-date Stygia itself)).

“Far to the east, the Lemurians, levelled almost to a bestial plane themselves by the brutishness of their slavery, have risen and destroyed their masters. They are savages stalking among the ruins of a strange civilization. The survivors of that civilization, who have escaped the fury of their slaves, have come westward. They fall upon that mysterious pre-human kingdom of the south and overthrow it, substituting their own culture, modified by contact with the older one. The newer kingdom is called Stygia, and remnants of the older nation seemed to have survived, and even been worshipped, after the race as a whole had been destroyed.” - The Hyborian Age (REH’s essay that establishes the history of the Hyborian Age) (highly recommended, if you haven’t read it)

"‘A sort of sarcophagus, such as is found in ancient Stygian tombs, but this one was round, like a covered metal bowl. Its composition was something like copper, but much harder, and it was carved with hieroglyphics, like those found on the more ancient menhirs in southern Stygia. The lid was made fast to the body by carven copper-like bands.’

‘What was in it?’

'The men of the caravan did not know. They only said that the men who gave it to them told them that it was a priceless relic, found among the tombs far beneath the pyramids and sent to Kalanthes “because of the love the sender bore the priest of Ibis”. Kallian Publico believed that it contained the diadem of the giant-kings, of the people who dwelt in that dark land before the ancestors of the Stygians came there. He showed me a design carved on the lid, which he swore was the shape of the diadem which legend tells us the monster-kings wore." The God in the Bowl - REH

There are some circumstantial connections between Xuthal and Stygia - mostly based around the Black Lotus. Basically, when Black Lotus first comes up in the stories it is deadly poisonous and grows only in Khitai. Later, however, Xuthal has Black Lotus plants that cause hypnotic dreams. Later still, Stygia has this same version of Black Lotus. So either there is a trade connection or something else. Given the relatively close proximity between the two, it is not unreasonable to think that Xuthal may have been founded by some offshoot of the Khari who founded Stygia.

The biggest problem (for me) with a Khari expansion, is that most of the more thorough information about them comes from Dale Rippke, rather than REH directly. I’ve made clear many times my dislike of Rippke (though Funcom have certainly based stuff on his work) - he is often presented as ‘the foremost REH scholar’, but I find he makes no distinction between what he can ‘prove’ from the texts and his own headcanon, which means that anything he says has to be thoroughly researched all over again before it can be trusted. (A lot of what he says does turn out to be correct, it’s just that lack of distinction means you can never be sure whether you are getting fact or headcanon until you have done all the work over again for yourself…)

[MutantArtCat]

@DanQuixote

“Far to the east, the Lemurians, levelled almost to a bestial plane themselves by the brutishness of their slavery, have risen and destroyed their masters. They are savages stalking among the ruins of a strange civilization. The survivors of that civilization, who have escaped the fury of their slaves, have come westward. They fall upon that mysterious pre-human kingdom of the south and overthrow it, substituting their own culture, modified by contact with the older one. The newer kingdom is called Stygia, and remnants of the older nation seemed to have survived, and even been worshipped, after the race as a whole had been destroyed.” - The Hyborian Age (REH’s essay that establishes the history of the Hyborian Age) (highly recommended, if you haven’t read it)

I found this part yesterday and considered mentioning it, but decided against it for some reason

But I like your approach to Xuthal. Could still become a cool mod ^^

I don’t have any knowledge about authors that expanded on REH really, I only picked up the OG stories this year, including buying the bundled works.