Quite a few things happened in the last two years.
I’ve grown to like different things and since this years january, I’ve been playing on RP servers.
Without those omnious things happening, I would still stick with playing solo/duo on official pvp.
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I’ve tried to experience Conan Exiles from multiple options: Solo/Singleplayer, RP, PvE, and PvP on both private and official servers. At the time of this writing, I have over 2000 hours into the game and I’ve been playing ever since Early Access (yes, ever since ‘crossbows’). There are aspects that I enjoy and aspects that I don’t.
I love the setting of Conan. The map has much to offer, with multiple biomes, strange and familiar creatures, and starting stone tech at the beginning. The NPCs actually look “human” (I just wish they had more “life” to them). The game graphics have been pretty good with the terrain, weather, animals, and water. The ability to build a custom-designed base anywhere has been a huge joy. And being able to stock that base with “people” has really scratched that “empire” building itch so many other games lack.
I really enjoy the company of dedicated players who like to adventure and build, too. So I enjoyed the cooperation of other players – being able to quest together, gather resources for constructing armor, weapons, bases elements, and so forth, do a dungeon together, and work towards mutual goals together was fun. PvE has been a huge joy in both online and solo versions.
For me, PvP base raiding was sorta fun. If it had been an NPC base, I would have really enjoyed it. But raiding someone else’s hard work just wasn’t as fun as I hoped it would be. But that’s just me. I did not like that “my fun” was at someone else’s expense in PvP. Nor did I like taking someone else’s armor or equipment as a reward for victory before my opponent came back to reclaim their body (I stopped doing that). It just didn’t “feel” right to me (except when the player was harassing my base and at least that would ‘buy’ me a little peace for the day as he had to go remake his armor and weaponry). At least, that was my experience in PvP. To an NPC, it was no problem (after all, he’ll spawn in again with his “stuff”, but not to another player who was out to have fun playing the game, too. And on the receiving end, if the player received a “copy” of what I was carrying, that’d be fine – but having to start over with nothing after being killed or raided (especially when they didn’t take what you had in your base because they needed it – taking what you had is one thing, but just pulling it out and letting it decay on the ground – destroying workbenches just for the ‘fun’ of it) – that’s just petty and mean and it got old pretty fast.
I did not like that in online versions, guards (whether animals or NPCs - whether mine or an enemy’s) would become unrespondent during certain times of the day. Its like they were Union workers who were on an ‘official’ break. Another player could have a hundred guards all throughout their base, but if it was early afternoon, I could climb in, walk around, get a layout of the castle to plan an attack, and they wouldn’t bother me. They might move and walk near me, but only stare at me because it wasn’t raid time yet. And if there were any workbenches out in the courtyard, well, I could just help myself and nothing could stop me. That broke the immersion. What good is a guard if it doesn’t guard? But then, in private servers, turning off the raid timer only invited offline raiding. And that broke the immersion, too. Guards needed to be functional all the time and offline raiding needs to be curtailed, too (but just about every rule I can think of to stop offline raiding also has ways to abuse it as well).
Single player gameplay has been a joy, too. I get to build anywhere, mod the game as much or as little as I like, and play at my own pace trying out new builds or exploring sections of the map for new base locations. And I like that I can even adjust the game (Admin panel) as my mood changes – whether I want a challenge and feel the struggle for survival or just relax with farming resources and building a dream castle. I can even do it in mid-game if I want to change something up. And if something glitches, I can quickly go the Admin panel and fix it (usually) so that I can keep playing like I was. I can even use the Admin panel for fun (like one time seeing how the Set citizens would react to a Red Dragon appearing on the streets of Sepermeru.
So overall, I would say I’ve had the most fun in Cooperative multiplayer (clan) PvE gameplay (with single player PvE as a close second). I wish NPCs had bases to raid in PvE. And I wish NPCs had siege capability for Purges (I enjoy the ‘human NPC’ purges most). And I also wish guards would actually guard against both players and other AI (NPCs and hostile wildlife). Oh, and having played on the same map for quite some time now, I wish there were other maps to play, too (whether hand-crafted or procedurally generated).
TL;DR – Cooperative (multiplayer) online PvE and Single Player PvE
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This game feels real to me in PvP. The first time I ever died was right after Launch, 3v1 while out farming, remember my story of autorunning and dropping my inventory like a reverse Pac Man? That’s what I signed up for, masochistic as it seems to some.
I personally would only amplify your snipped statement above by saying with Conan Exiles you can build defensively and beautifully, at the same time. PvP brought me here, the real ultimate power has kept me. We’re immortal and we can build anything.
You ever thought about teaming up with me to make some things happen on our server, to make it ours and to put the butts in the seats? It just occurred to me right now.
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As far as servers go one of my biggest pet peeves is “Connection timed out: could not find server.”
Even though you saved the server as one of your favorites they never show up. “Favorites” is always grayed out. (Even after saving it on Steam as a favorite.)
Cannot, in most servers, access “Admin without a password not given.”
Therefore, I prefer to play in single-player / co-op.
Just sayin’.
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Yea, so I prefer solo/co-op because of a few things.
- Still figuring out the game, so it’s less stressful for me.
- I don’t have much time to play. You know job etc…
- If I wanted a GTA-esqe experience I play GTA and not Conan.
As far as server size? I don’t care much as long as the other players aren’t acting like the northern end of a southern bound horse. Based on life, official servers would be more appealing just because they tend to be more permanent than private ones.
Just my $.02
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Well, it’ll come as no surprise to anyone on these boards that my chosen mode of play is online, official PvE. I tried single-player in the beginning, but the game feels empty and somewhat lifeless that way, at least to me. I tried online PvP for a while, but my prejudices were swiftly confirmed (rampant and unchecked assholery, lowbie ganking and sandstone structures razed) and I decided it was not what I would call fun (others do, and more power to 'em for that).
I then tried private servers, but while I’m sure there are some good ones out there, my experiences were of capricious admins at best, outright cheating at worst. So even without the “could be gone tomorrow” feeling, they were not for me either.
Logical conclusion: PvE officials. It has its own set of issues, not least that I can’t shake the feeling the game was not really designed for PvE at its core, but it’s still the ruleset that works the best for me. I also lucked into a server that, while it’s had its trolls and landspammers, works pretty well - so the worst shortcomings of the no admin/PvE combo are alleviated.
Granted, between my limited and off-peak playtime and a rather depopulated server, it’s almost effectively singleplayer these days, but not quite.
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I do PVE on my private server because I like playing together with others. Sometimes I organize a treasure hunt or I put up a want-ad at the guardhouse to my castle, like “Bring me XY and you’ll get a thrall of your choice.”
Of course, as an admin, I could spawn that wanted item, but where is the fun in that?
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Private RP-PVE on my end ^^ great community among the players on the server I’m on.
Understandings and helpfulness and everything.
PVP has never been for me. The recently introduced “Battle Standard” showed me as much.
4/5 duels were lost at my own homebase XD
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I used to play on a rented PVE server, just me, my husband and a couple of friends. Unfortunately due to life busyness they all stopped playing and since we only have one PS4 me and my husband couldn’t play together and I’m more of the build kind of player while he’s fighting kind, so we won’t play by himself, so it made no sense to keep paying for the server just for myself. Been busy on my single-player rebuilding everything we build on the PVE server. I love the building aspect, but I had way more fun when I played with friends and we had ideas together.
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RP-PVP. There are so many players who roleplay in this game and yet our playstyle is pretty consistently overlooked. But if you’re a roleplayer I encourage you to check out Conan Exiles RP where you can find that there are a ton of RP private servers in every possible playstyle imaginable.
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As most people would by now be acutely aware, I am a purely Offline Singleplayer. I have have tried to play PvP, and to a lesser extent PvE online at friends houses on a number of occasions. However I just found it wasnt for me.
By far my preferred gaming genre is Survival Horror, where its usually always stressful, challenging, high stakes, misery, dank suburban areas. By contrast, I find big scenic beauty of open world games such as Conan Exiles and Skyrim relaxing. The whole reason I started playing Conan Exiles was because I wanted a game to play which would substitute my Skyrim experience until the Elder Scrolls 6. I wanted to be able to journey and explore, and lose myself in the lush aesthetic landscape, and immerse myself in an epic sense adventure. And oh boy did Conan Exiles do just that for me. I found that this game not only parallels that solitary journey experience I got from Skyrim, but in some departments, outright surpasses it. For example, the diversity of environments (eg- theres no volcano, jungle, desert, etc in Skyrim).
I play gems such as these to lose and immerse myself in a tranquil and immersive natural environment. Unfortunately, my online experiences have been anything but this. Trolls running around everywhere insulting people, inane player/headset chatter constantly in the background, people winning dishonourably on the back of exploits, ugly structures everywhere ruining the beauty of landscape like walled off towns and Obelisks, ugghh…!! I could go on for hours. It quite literally kills the immersion for me. For me personally , PvP reminds me too much of a third person battle royale/deathmatch system found in CoD and Fortnite style games, except with building elements. I do not for a second scorn or begrudge players their decision to play PvP; as long as they are having fun, that is all that matters. Its just not my cup of tea. Besides I like the nomadic desolation.
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PS- Why is the Poll set to only show results upon voting…!? Because the second part was not applicable to me, I didnt vote in it, and therefore cannot see the results. Could we consider changing this? Or alternatively, could someone please do me the kindness of telling me what the percentages currently rest at?
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Since you only play single player that pretty much makes you a PvE player by default. Which currently sits at 49%. PVP 31% and SP/CoOp at 20%. I’m not sure why SP/Co-op is listed together. Doesn’t make a lot of sense.
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Singleplayer is by definition a PvE playstyle, CoOp would probably be too, but it’s not inconceivable to run that as a PvP experience I suppose, if one felt like it.
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Khajiit has mods, if you have coin time.
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Single player offline. I only play a few hours a week, so thats the only way I can enjoy the game without getting endlessly merc’d by gangs of no-lifers.
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Favorite way to Play: Official Server PVP
By far my favorite way to play Conan is Official Servers with official rates with full loot PVP. The sheer adrenaline rush you get when your fighting for your life, your things and the name you make for you clan is like no other in any other game. Every item you own you either killed for, pain painstakingly gathered and crafted, or received through alliances formed with other clans. Items have value. It can be a roller coaster ride of emotions from one day to the next. One day you plan out a careful raid on an imposing clan and defeat them in fights including their thralls and escape with a majority of their goods. A wonderful feeling, especially if you play with friends. On other days you may get raided when your not online or someone may greatly outplay you in a fight and crush your moral to keep going. Either way strong memories are formed and it’s fun to reminisce about how far one was able to get.
Greatest drawbacks to PVP and maybe why so many favor Private RP servers over Official PVP servers may be because it require lots of commitment. PVP servers tend to favor the clans who spent the most time in the game. You are required to meet certain “benchmarks” as you build up your clan on a server. For example, If you are upgrading your base, you must finish upgrading any and all possible weakspots otherwise someone will discover it and raid you while you are not active. In comparison, RP servers with heavy set rules may prevent people from raiding at all, allowing players to build at their own pace.
Personally, I find RP servers rather boring. I can see how it would appeal to a casual player or a newer player. But they lack the value factor of items, the intensity factor and the freedom factor. The fact you can get attacked at anytime or attack anyone else is just so much more exciting.
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Love single player
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Ok @Alexandria and @Mikey, in need an honest opinion here. Any others who want to weigh in may also. So do do you think I should elect PvE for the second option, or leave it be…? I mean would it even be ethical to do so? I dont want to skew the data here. Have any other Singleplayers done so thus far? @Kapoteeni did you? It just feels like there is a voice in the back of my mind telling me it is wrong. Anyone?
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Yeah, the option to choose “PvE” (or any other option, for that matter) is weird for solo players. I did pick “PvE” as my answer to the second question, assuming that whoever looks at the poll results can figure out the number of individual replies.
That said, those numbers won’t really matter, so we’re not breaking science by answering or leaving the answer empty. As Ignasis said, they have the raw data already available, so what really matters is our comments in the thread rather than the buttons we click.
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