I don’t want to come off as contrarian, but you must know many, not only a few agree with this type of sentiment since you seem to frequent these forums often:
That poll is just a small sample of over 100 people, but there are many many posts being made daily, and the overwhelming slant is negative.
Sure, a case can be made that it’s the vocal minatory complaining, except in this case all of the well articulated complaints match up perfectly with the downward trend in player counts:
https://steamdb.info/app/440900/graphs/
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The game saw a significant spike in players in January and February 2017, due to the game’s initial release on Steam Early Access. However, player counts dropped sharply in the following months.
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Throughout 2017 and 2018, player counts remained relatively stable, with some ups and downs. Updates during this period, such as the “FREE EXPANSION UPDATE” in August 2017 and “UPDATE 34 – NEW PET SYSTEM, DUNGEON, RELIGION AND MUCH MORE” in October 2018, did not seem to have a significant impact on player retention.
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In 2019, player counts began to decline more noticeably. Even the release of the “RIDERS OF HYBORIA PACK” DLC in December 2019 did not appear to help maintain player numbers.
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The downward trend continued in 2020 and 2021, despite the release of several updates and DLCs. The “ISLE OF SIPTAH EXPANSION” in May 2021 provided a temporary boost in player numbers, but this increase was short-lived.
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In 2022, player counts saw a significant spike in September, due to the release of the “AGE OF SORCERY UPDATE” in September 2022. However, this surge in players was followed by a sharp decline in the following months.
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The most recent updates, such as the “AGE OF WAR” chapters in 2023 and 2024, have not managed to reverse the overall downward trend in player numbers. In spite of the addition of the battle pass system designed to entice players to keep playing added with Age of Sorcery.
This suggests that while new content updates may temporarily attract players, they have not been successful in maintaining a stable or growing player base over time. The consistent decline in player numbers indicates dissatisfaction with the changes and bugs introduced in updates, leading to players quitting the game.
Let’s do a detailed analysis around the most recent updates:
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December 14, 2023 (Age of War – Chapter 3 Release):
- November 2023: 9,067.4 average players
- December 2023: 9,533.3 average players (increase post-update)
- January 2024: 9,646.0 average players (slight increase continues)
- February 2024: 6,920.2 average players (significant decrease)
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April 2, 2024 (Age of War – Chapter 4 Release):
- March 2024: 6,845.7 average players
- April 2024: 6,920.2 average players (slight increase post-update)
- May 2024 (projected from trend): Likely will continue to decrease.
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Post Chapter 3 Launch: The increase in December 2023 shows an initial interest spike, due to the update. However, the substantial drop in February 2024 suggests that after trying it out, players were either dissatisfied or lost interest, resulting in a decrease in active players.
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Post Chapter 4 Launch: The minimal increase in player numbers in April 2024 following the Chapter 4 release further suggests dissatisfaction since this update attracted less returning players than any other update. One could argue it could be interpreted as a lack of significant appeal in the new features, if you were an investor who didn’t read the forums or play the game perhaps. I expect that’s the case they’re trying to make to them, but it seems to be a clear case of dissatisfaction to anyone actually playing the game. The reasons have been spoken about ad nauseam by many in the community.
Compare this age of war chapter 1 with an increase of +165.98% in players. They’ve not only retained none of these players, they’ve actually lost players from pre age of war chapter 1 in August of 2022.
There could be a lengthy discussion had about why this isn’t really affecting their business model too dramatically because some of those people popping on after updates spend money before they inevitably get disgruntled and quit, but that’s a longer discussion worthy of another topic.
He can’t. Running an older version of Conan Exiles on a private server, especially publicly, isn’t straightforward. It requires managing compatibility issues, potential security risks, and conflicts with licensing terms. While technically possible, it’s neither supported nor advisable due to these complexities. No one would be able to find his server either.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this game. I just want some more attention to fixing the bugs and creating long-term engaging content to keep players playing, and I get it, for people with certain personality types seeing people complain about the game you love can be annoying, but I don’t think being dismissive of everyone who has a complaint is how we get to the desired goal we all share of making the game better. It’s a personal defect of my own that I don’t always keep my criticism constructive, so I’m not innocent here either, but that’s the reason why I engage at all in these forms; on the off chance the devs will listen to feedback.