Conan Exiles is a very beatiful and cool game with lack of content but also with great potential.
After reaching all content in the game it is no reason for player to open the game except updates and this is ok.
I am waiting new updates with excitment every time but once I forgot to open the game each 7 days and I lost my temple. I was working on it all that time and now I just give up. I wanted to play this game years, but one simple thing turnet me off.
This system is requires from players too much in case this game lack of content. With this system you will never reach high ammount of players.
Think about it, maybe there is better solution somwhere.
Itās not really fair to expect them to keep your structures indefinitely. Especially if, as you say, you really only open the game once every month or two when an update rolls around.
That is the purpose of the decay system. For players who arenāt logging in to play regularly. To free up land for other active players to build on, and to reduce the server lag in keeping those buildings present, when they are essentially derelict.
Now, considering Conan Exiles is MUCH better looking than either Ark, or Rustā¦ there is no reason other than content/function that players would choose Rust/Ark so heavily over CE.
CE has been available for two years, it spikes in population each time new content comes out. So itās not that people are unaware of the game, or unwilling to try it.
There is a retaining problem. And that problem is a mix of low content and the self defeating decay timer. (New dungeon currently has a single(1) recipe in each boss room) ((((Very Underwhelming)))).
As a game, Conan Exiles should afford players a way to have additional decay time up to 2-3 weeks (or even a month). And this does not go for all players.
Example of what SHOULD be done.
New Character starts at current decay timer. Itemās rot in as little as an hour, or last as long as a week.
Lvl 60 Character has a week and a half long decay timer.
Lvl 60 player with (X((alot))) number of hours on server, has a two week timer.
Further, you could allow for DLC that allows a longer decay timers (temporarily). Letās say you going on vacation? Purchase a $5 pack, consumed on use, lvl 60 requirement, that will allow your base to enter a āhibernationā period. Where the decay timer itself is increased to (X) amount. Just make it purchasable only 2-3 times a year. That way it can serve its purpose but not be abused by wealthy trolls. (Surgery/Funeral/Vacation/Moving/Exams/Business)
This is largely the same argument I saw months ago.
Honestly, not sure why you would expect inactive players to get benefits like this. If you donāt care enough to keep playing, why should your buildings remain intact?
And you are trying to make the argument that the decay timer is the sole reason there are less players for this game. Which more than likely isnāt the case, since you have nothing to support this claim.
Given that the devs havenāt changed things before now, it doesnāt seem like this is going to be changed in the future.
Ok you have to remove ark for your argument.
The only people that play ARK on official are people that are 100% ok with short decay timers because they cant leave anyway. You cant have dinos, and babies or a base if you are not on every single day multiple hours a day.
Conan was nice! We have to log in 1 time a week. ONE. You have to live on ark. If you dont live on ark you dont play pvp and you dont own dinos. (excluding cryopods)
Whatever your argument is. Ark has 38k players. Conan has 10k.
They are both build/survive/pvp/pve games that more or less require you to harvest materials and build houses.
The big difference between ark/conan is that Ark has a leveling system connected to the dinoās.
This is called a gameplay loop. That is an example of the ācontentā conan exiles is lacking.
So my argument still stands. Conan needs more content (repeatable gameplay loops that are rewarding) and less self defeating mechanics (decay timer.)
What you might be right about, is that Arkās low decay timer is more acceptable because there is more content (game play loops) to keep people interested in playing the game on a weekly basis.
Currently, in my base, there is nothing for me to do, except build more stuff. Which I donāt want to do, as I want to build a nice, functional, beautiful baseā¦ and not turn it into a blob castle with the passage of time.
Conan Exiles needs a leveling system connected to a multitude of things. A way to upgrade armors/items/thralls/buildings/ect.
They adjusted it upwards during the holidays when people would be on vacation or traveling or otherwise be unable to log in. Adjusting it to 14 days full time may have very different results.
Ark sucks. I never suggested it was a better game, only that it was not chasing away itās player base like Conan Exiles does (with a few simple design flaws).
And I spend my time here to give constructive critique of the game and its systems. As a paying customer, I want my game developers to know what I want. They can listen to my opinion, AND yours, and make a decisions based on what they hear burped out of both our mouths.
Decay system in this game is ruining it, and there are literally dozens of ways to deal with it better than how it is being dealt with now. That does not mean to totally remove the decay system, but modify it so itās not such a blunt stick.
As has been said before, many people have ./rage quit in chat when they logged in to see their stuff vanished for no reason, on a PvE server.
Is that part of the game? Yea. Is it the part of the game chasing players away? Yea, a big part of it.
I think the solution for this is when a building is decayed add an intermediate stage of decay where other players can take it over. Maybe in return for some resources or somethingā¦
Then a ānaturalā wipe decay could be increased to 4 weeks or something more reasonable. 7 days raw is too quick, especially as the game is less active.
I play every day since an year so obviously I disagree with you about the āwithout new contents thereās no reason to open the gameā.
Obviously are opinions, your is valid as mine.
For me for example to play a multiplayer game like this means first of all creating and playing interactions with other players, so itās not so content-related.
I love to play politics, trade, territory wars etc. with other clans.
Obviously you have all rights to dislike it, donāt miserunderstand me.
But what I think is: players donāt have right to occupy territory for weeks ruining* the game for others if they donāt even play.
*= because the map is limited, the drop of fps for big bases is huge even after the last optimization, not mentioning loading times, having more unactive playerās bases on PvE and PvE-C official servers will be the Death of the game.
So imho the decay timer itās not too short.
I hate when they double it during holidays, the map become unplayable in few days and it causes a lack of valuable resources donāt having bases to loot, if you play like me in PvE-C.
Excuse me, but I donāt understand this: if you want to have just a beautiful paradise you built, but you donāt want to have to mantain it (wich is comprehensible), and you want just time-to-time adding or trying new things but you donāt play clans interactions with othersā¦ why donāt you play it in solo ?
I think it will be more suitable for your needs.
I mean: Iād like to play PvP but I cannot be online during PvP time windows nor I have a lot of friends who can do it to defend a base, so I play PvE-C instead because itās more suitable with my needs.
But I donāt ask to change PvP rules because this.
I think the game offers so many solutions for the needs of a great number of peoples, if you dislike the decay system maybe the online multiplayer PvE or PvE-C solution donāt fits your needs.
But being the free territory an issue in PvE or PvE-C itās simply impossibile to think to extend decay timer imho.
I have a private server and long decay timers become a nightmare for new players and admin as we have to keep on top of old builds along noob river and itās like a full time job sometimes as you have the random players that donāt stick around that build a huge ugly sandstone box and scatter fences and torches around it to claim the land this is even worse as if its not on a foundation it has to be bombed by admin to remove because admin canāt remove placeables.
Heck I think the decay timers are too long but I play everyday and see abandoned structures all the time just wasting space and memory to have them drawn in. Iād prefer a 3 day timer. Clear out some of the crap. I agree there needs to be more things to do like I wish the thralls could do more when your not onlineā¦ if you cooked up food but forgot to put it in the fridgeā¦one of the thralls could be like āoh I got thisā and do it for ya. Or if you gave a thrall a pick he would go get stoneā¦maybe you specify what resource and how much you want him to bring backā¦ but being out there is always a risk so he could get killedā¦maybe have another thrall assigned to protection duty to send with himā¦ Now that might make it easier to get resources but now your base has less protection while theyāre goneā¦ So it has a balanceā¦those are the kinds of changes Iād like to see.
Your OP argument is the decay timer, not the game play loop, is what is causing players to leave.
Sounds like you donāt want to be apart of the officials communities, and want to build. And that is fine. But that is why they included SP, so people who donāt feel like playing everyday, for whatever reason, can still play when they get the urge. And on SP, you can just turn off decay. For me it is the opposite. I log in to chat with clan mates while I get my grind on. I donāt want to be on official servers seeing deserted structures on land new players could use because one doesnāt feel like playing for 3 and a half weeks. And On PV /PVE-C it would kill the server pops due to areas claimed by dead beats. PVP, we could blow you off the map. But then those few that did play on PVP would cry offline raided, even though they hadnāt been online in weeks.
I was right about to make a new thread about this topic so just jumping in. Itās an old discussion since people constantly asking for more time to maintain their buildings.
Now Iām running into the same issue. Until now, I successfully avoided the situation to be offline for more than 7 days, but since me having a vacation abroad in summer for two weeks there is no way I can sustain it. Iām not in a clan on the server Iām playing at and since the clunky handling of ownership, joining another player and leaving it afterwards is no real option. This shouldnāt be the solution anyway, since it would put solo players to an unbearable disadvantage. So here I am, knowing I will lose everything in summerā¦
Therefore I like to suggest to increase the decay time from 7 to 14 days with a 15th day before auto destruction. Because it is fitting my need right now? Well, yes and no. The reason for 2 weeks and not for longer is simply because most people I know are doing their ārealā vacation for more than one week to get their heads free of work and daily business. And Iām counting playing this game in at this. For most people a week off is nice but once in a while during the year you need more time to charge your batteries. During this time, it is very likely and reasonable to be away from your computer/console for more than one week and its unreasonable to expect players to align there vacation to a game.
Just imagine someone in front of his calendar in the office planning his vacation with his family and colleagues but it canāt be longer than 7 days, because a game will punish you. For real? Conan Exiles is no MMO, nor is it some open world shooter like The Division but it punishes you harder than both at this point. My point is, that the solution with the decay system is flawed and its one of its major issues as the OP pointed out already.
Just go and take it land if you need.
This is pvp.
Now you can just wait till decay timer do it for you. Very fun!
This game is lack of content and if I will lose my last castle I will never back to this game and never buy any DLC. If devs ok with that good for them.
You think you should punish playrs for not playing but this is not how video games works.
I think extending the decay system to 2 weeks would be perfect if a player canāt be on the game after 2 weeks then itās not anyoneās fault but his own 2 weeks is a good time limit in my personal opinion
If a player can rush thorough content, thereās lack of content keeping them busy. If game lacks content this specific way, it finds itself stretched to accommodate the void (rushable content = stretched gameplay = mobile model = lazy business).
Those who are not playing are not here engaging the conversation. Those who are here have a relatively keen interest in the game until their spark sadly runs out.
Solo / Coop would be great if we could take our Online base and copy it to our private server as a retreat when needed and the original becomes abandoned. This doesnāt help getting it back though coz itās more like a one-way ticket, but if thereās room left in the official servers and devs feel like they want to do something interesting, maybe something can be done to fill the gap.
Iām not saying that this specific game necessarily has issues with content of such proportions. Iām merely stating that in case we face, we should be careful as customers and not buy into anti-customer practises nor design choices. Choices in design in ways reflect the mentality they were built along with and we can read from the features what implications of mood in the company is or at least has been when the product was made.
