Apr 25, 2018

Conan Exiles - Jens Erik (Community Manager)

There is a new patch out for the Testlive branch on Steam. If all goes well with these fixes and the version is stable we will consider moving this version to Live as soon as we can.

This patch contains a sizable update to the Purge, changing around which activities grant Purge points, how fast you accumulate these points, and how dangerous the Purge is. We’ve also fixed Purge NPCs spawning beneath and inside buildings.

Purge creators now do a lot more damage to buildings. As an example, a Frost Giant does 67 points of damage to a player, but will do 30x to 40x that against a building. Up against a 100k T3 structure, a single Frost Giant will need some time to destroy everything, but a 10k T1 structure will be knocked down in around 10 seconds.

The Purge now has 6 difficulty settings:

1,2 are used around the southern river (can be resisted with T1 buildings)
3,4 are used in the center of the map and the swamp (can be resisted with T2 buildings)
5,6 are used in highlands, frozen areas and volcano (you should have T3 buildings to resist them)

There’s also a new server commands for controlling the Purge:

“PurgeNPCBuildingDamageMultiplier” is a Purge damage modifier per difficulty level. The default setting for this will be 5x on levels 1 and 2, 20x on levels 3 and 4, and 30x on level 5 and 6.

Secondly, we’ve created a damage modifier for player weapons. This is to prevent regular weapons like swords, spears and arrows from doing too much damage against a building when wielded by players. From now on you’ll have a hard time breaking into someone’s base with a normal sword. The consequence of this is that orbs, explosive jars and trebuchets will be more important for sieging and raiding again.

The new server setting “PlayerBuildingDamageMultiplier” modifies in % the amount of damage a player does against a building. The default setting will be 0.01%.

Purge iteration 2

Changed which activities grant purge points
Changed the rate at which you accumulate purge points from 60 minutes to 15 minutes
Passive players will get a purge at least 1/week while very active players can get purged once per day
The purge is now better at analyzing the player base and finding spawn areas
Purge NPCs can now correctly detect and attack placeables (e.g. wooden barricades)
Purges should no longer spawn inside buildings
Purge NPCs now do considerably more damage to buildings and higher tier Purges can be very dangerous to sandstone T1 bases. You should be careful with rushing too fast to the North...

Optimization

Sanitized replication ranges and AI LOD for some crafting stations and corpses
Optimized stamina & health regeneration code
Weather system tickrate optimizations
Optimized basebpcombat blueprint
Fixed logspam due to land claim
Fixed game items being kept alive indefinitely (reducing memory usage)

Thralls on PvE servers should no longer attack players from other clans on sight
Thralls have realized the futility of chasing the sandstorm if their owner takes damage

Gameplay balance

Outdoor world bosses now have significantly more hit points
Outdoor world bosses drop keys 50% instead of 100% of the time
Gaseous orbs are now enabled again and do finite amounts of damage (instead of % damage)
Player thralls have been buffed with respect to both hit points and damage output
Player character and human NPCs can now be damaged inside protection domes

Bugfixing

Fixed not being able to harvest corpses with ritual tools
RCON system should now work correctly
Encumberance icon should no longer disappear sometimes
Your character should no longer punch the air when placing down the last item in a stack
Fixed missing spawnable camera in Cursed Wall cinematics
Player should now be able to correctly save text on the Wall Sign
Tweaked global corpse limit per player to avoid clogging up server data
Fixed a problem with characters falling through ground
If you fall under the map you will now be correctly teleported away to a safe location
Fixed lifetime of corpses after reloading
Attacking while holding block key now correctly breaks block
Fixed a server crash related to summoning players
Fixed a crash related to deleting a clan with online members
Fixed a crash in the sky/time of day simulation
Fixed a bug where you could duplicate NPCs by knocking them out
Fixed a crash in the building system
Resource nodes should no longer spawn in a player's base after patching to a new version
Changed ceiling pieces to have unified collision on all tiers. As we changed the collision any placeables on tier 1 ceilings have likely been lost when the fix was rolled out. We're very sorry for the inconvenience this will cause. Players on PC live should move any placeables away from t1 ceilings and upgrade them to a different tier, then replacing the placeable until after this fix is rolled out for live.

Apr 25, 2018

Weekly Community Newsletter – Flying Forward

Conan Exiles - Jens Erik (Community Manager)

Good morning you precious pound puppies!

It's been a couple of weeks since a proper newsletter, but this is because the Funcom community team has been up to quite a lot since we last spoke. Hell, there's been huge changes to the game itself in just the past week!

The studio is in full playtesting and bugfixing mode at the moment, so this newsletter might not be as verbose as they've used to be. It's all head down and work hard from here on out.

The game has been updated!

Last week we rolled out Update 33 to PC, and Updates 32 and 33 to Xbox, bringing considerable changes to Conan Exiles. This included the new combat system, farming, the Map Room, updates to the HUD, updates to the Attributes system, updates to the Feats system, quick-looting, war paint, new crafting resources, and a ton of optimizations, bug fixes and crash fixes. You can find the full PC patch notes here and Xbox patch notes here. We also rolled out a quick hotfix for PC and Xbox to take care of some lingering issues.

Now that we’re in the final stretch we are focusing exclusively on stability, performance and optimization in order to make the experience at launch as good as it can be. Also, remember that we're wiping all the official servers on May 8th. This is to make sure that all players start on an equal footing and to clear out any old data or information lingering in the server databases. We're not touching private servers, but we do recommend wiping your server if you're a server admin.

After the updates we've seen the number of server crashes on official servers go down significantly. We were also able to identify and fix several memory leaks and now the memory usage on official servers has been reduced. Currently we are profiling both Testlive and official servers to gather as much data as possible to isolate and fix more performance bottlenecks. We made some good progress already and we will continue these optimization efforts also after launch to give players a smoother experience.

Besides server performance one other area we have focused on is the new decay system (which gets rid of abandoned buildings and floating placeables) to ensure building pieces and placeables (furnaces, chairs, torch etc) do not get removed incorrectly. We fixed several issues before this system made its way to Live and we fixed some additional problems in the hotfix.

However, with the help of the Testlive community we found out that there was a problem with certain types of ceiling pieces: Whenever you upgrade from a sandstone ceiling it will get a different collision box which will cause any placeable on top to lose its connection and be considered a floating placeable (which will get removed on next server restart).

We are fixing this once and for all for the ceiling pieces by making them have a unified collision in all tiers. Unfortunately the most incorrect one is the sandstone ceiling, tier 1, and everything that is placed on top of it will likely be lost when we roll out the fix. If you have lowered your placeable far enough into the ceiling, it should be fine. But to be safe you should make sure to place your placeables on a higher tier ceiling, or not on a ceiling at all (foundation, straight on the heightmap etc) until after the fix is rolled out.

For PC, these will most likely not be the final updates. We still want to use Testlive to further test future patches and these will be rolled over to live when we're satisfied with the performance. For example, The Purge needs some updating, as it is not at full strength, and isn't working quite to our satisfaction.

On Xbox there won't be any more updates before launch. We’d love to patch Xbox more, but we can only have one cert process going at a time. We started certification of the launch day patch on Monday, meaning no other patches to Game Preview will be possible during this process. Thankfully you won't have to wait more than two weeks to play an updated version.

Dev streams

There have been two developer streams since the last community newsletter. The first one, which aired April 10, was a quick runthrough of some of the areas you can find in the new Swamp biome. We also answered viewer questions from the chat. On April 20 we discussed combat meta and potential combat changes we're considering for the future of Conan Exiles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptnLedep15Q

Since we're in the run-up to launch we're up to a weekly schedule with the developer streams. That means that we'll be streaming again this week and the next. We'll also be doing a launch stream with all three community managers and whoever else decides to pop in and hang out with us.

Going forward we are going to do some changes to the streams. We'll still be playing Conan Exiles and keep you updated on what we're doing with the game, but we might also take the odd Friday here and there to jump onto a community server or play a different game entirely. We're workshopping it to figure out what works best for us.

Pre-order DLC

As you know, Conan Exiles comes with pre-order DLC. If you buy or pre-order the Day One Edition you get a key in the box that will unlock Conan's Atlantean Sword in the game. If you buy the game digitally at launch (or already own the game in Early Access or Game Preview) you get Conan's Royal Armor as DLC.

In-game both will be available to you right from the start as crafting recipes. Finding and gathering the correct resources will be an entirely different matter altogether, but we leave that up to you. Once you have the crafting materials you can make the Atlantean Sword or Royal Armor just like any other craftable. However, you should be careful about flaunting such extravagant items. They are easily stolen if you don't protect them carefully.

Final wrap up

That's it for this week. Don't forget that we're streaming on Friday at 5pm CEST, and keep those eyes peeled for more Conan Exiles content coming in the near future.

We're incredibly excited about finally launching out of Early Access.

Sincerely,

Funcom

Apr 17, 2018

Update #33: Combat Revamp, Fast Travel, Farming, and The Purge

Conan Exiles - Nicole V(Community Manager)

Behold! The next big update has arrived, fresh from the oven. There's a lot to unpack and learn in this update, and we're excited to show you what it's all about. Besides the brutal combat revamp, you'll experience the purge, journey across the map with fast travel, learn the ways of farming, and discover the many changes and adjustments made to better your experience in the harsh world. So let's get into it!

PLEASE NOTE: This update does not contain the Swamp or the Volcano areas. These will come out at launch. Please do not be alarmed if you try to go to these areas and find nothing.

IMPORTANT: We are aware that this version may be more unstable than others. We still want to push this out so we can get mass testing/feedback on it.

Also, some players had an issue with the ESC key not working. A workaround for this was resetting keybindings, which we have forced with this update. If you've been using custom keybindings previously they will have been reset.

TL;DR

The keybinding for opening the admin panel is now SHIFT + INSERT.
Buildings and placeables now take damage from any tier of weapon.
You now automatically bind to beds and bedrolls when placing them.
You can now adjust the tethering range in cooperative play to let players move further away from the host. Depending on settings you may need more memory or a more powerful CPU
Arrows should no longer get stuck in your hand!
The game will now default you to 3rd person when first logging in.
Epic armorsmithing stations for epic armors have been implemented.
A number of new weapons and armors and placeables have been added to the game
When swimming, you will stay at the surface. Pressing default "C" will make you dive.
A number of new weapons and armors and placeables have been added to the game
Quick Loot allows you hover your pointer over a body, a loot bag or a machine and quickly loot individual or all items.
The keybinding for opening the admin panel is now SHIFT + INSERT.
Slowed down archers backing away when shooting/reloading.
Warpaints are now available!
You no longer sheath your weapon went sprinting. You can run with weapons again!
Merchants can be found in the neutral city of Sepermeru, where you can now buy a selection of consumables (booze and food) and some hides
New (rare) resources - Gold / Gold Coins / Silver / Silver Coins
Respawning at a bed or bedroll will cut your health down to 50%. This is intended, not a bug. Respawning at the desert will give you 100% health. This is to prevent players from just letting themselves die rather than healing up.

Combat

Yes! It's here! Welcome to the new combat in Conan Exiles. Many of you already know what this is all about from playing on the TestLive servers, but we're finally able to push these live. Here are some basics and things you may want/need to know:

Each weapon type has their own specific attacks and properties.
You will have light and heavy attacks. Heavy attacks, for example, use more stamina than light and are slower, but deal more damage.
Chain attacks of 4 can be made using any variation of heavy and light attacks but watch your stamina!
Dodging can be done in any direction now as well as be done in the middle of your attack to cancel it. This will still take stamina to do.
Once your stamina completely drains, you won't be able to attack or dodge until full again.
Certain weapons, like the dual daggers, allow you flip backwards when pushing the block button (CTRL button by default). Throwing weapons, like the javelin, will let you hurl it towards them.
Kicks have also been implemented and work when you're equipped with a two-handed weapon or one-handed weapon with no shield. Use these to your advantage, as they can interrupt enemies! This is done with the default CTRL button as well.
You can sprint with weapons/shields/tools again! Depending on your weapon, they will have different sprint animations.
Enemies have their health displayed to allow you to adapt and think about your attacks.
Target lock has been added! It can be toggled using the Q keybinding by default. When using this, you will face your opponent and can be switched between different enemies. This works at 20 meters max range. We have also added server settings to turn off target lock on the server so server admins can decide the type of experience they want to offer. But it is not available in this build.
Weapons can deal status effects that can stack up to five times. A yellow trail, for example, will inflict a cripple debuff. We have also added a GUI option to turn off weapon trails completely.

The Purge

If you thought you were prepared before, you better check again! You'll notice in your inventory under your character a purge meter. The more you and/or your clan builds, kill other players/NPCs, and plays the more this meter will fill. You won't automatically get a purge when you go over the threshold, but as long as your purge activity score is above it, you have a chance for it to happen. For example, if you are on a dedicated server or local game, and you are the only one playing, the purge will only pick you. But on a server with, for example, 10 clans, 4 of which are above the threshold, you have a 25% chance to get it if you are among the 4. During the purge monsters, animals, humans, and others depending on the area, will appear and attack your home. Make sure your walls are well protected from the waves of enemies. On official servers purges will only trigger during "purge time" which is a subset of prime time, "purge time" is between 6 PM and 10 PM local time, all days. Admins of private servers will be able to adjust this time either through server setting GUI or modifying the serversettings.ini files.

In general purges become more difficult the further north your base is on the map. Higher difficulty purges will contain special bosses with unique loot, or special crafter NPCs that have unique recipes on them. You will need a combination of smart base design, thrall defenders, higher tier buildings and good teamplay to withstand the most difficult purges.

With this update we are launching purge version 1. This version is missing a balancing pass and also a couple of key features. With iteration 2 we will make the purges more difficult, and we may also add new purge types with other combinations of NPCs. We're doing this in order to get as much feedback and testing on the Purge as possible.

If you find the purge to be too easy or difficult, you can change the difficulty as well as many other parameters in the options-menu. Later on private server admins will be able to modify the purges and customize them to be easier or harder as well as add new purge types.

Farming

By obtaining seeds from plants and making compost through the compost heap, it is now possible to plant and harvest your own crops. In order to craft fertilizer in the compost heap, you will need plant-fiber, rotten meat and bonemeal, which can be obtained by grinding (amongst other things) bone, claws, fangs or ivory in the grinder. For certain plants, you may need potent fertilizer, for which you will need to add ash and blood to the mix. By planting seeds and fertilizer in the planters, your crops will grow over time. In addition to this, should you want to decorate your land, a selection of potted plants have been added to the game, which are much less costly than the planters.

Updated HUD

The first thing you may notice when first logging in is the display. Health and stamina are now shown as bars as they're essential to manage especially in combat. Stamina will replenish over time when not attacking or dodging, but you'll see that health does not! This is where your kicks and dodges will come in handy to avoid incoming attacks. There are multiple ways to gain back health which include eating cooked food, using bandages, using potions, or unlocking certain perks.

You will see the newly added perks in your attribute window. Spending enough points in certain attributes will unlock advantages that will benefit you in the brutal lands; for example, the first perk unlocked in the ""vitality"" doubles your breath timer when underwater.

Your feats window is also newly updated! Objects are now sorted and organized for easier navigation.

A new tab called "stats" has been added. Here, you can get down to the numbers and see how effective you are against the environment both offensively and defensively. It will also display any buffs/debuffs your character has.

The Journey GUI has been extended from 4 to 10 chapters and can be disabled from showing on your screen through settings. This goes as well for gameplay hints, that shows various keys or gamepad inputs for climbing, fighting, building, etc.

Fast Travel

You'll notice a nifty new placeable called the Maproom. Place this in a safe spot within your base and you can travel around the map! You will first have to discover the monoliths scattered across the lands and attune your bracelet to them before you can travel there. Don't stay too long by one though, or you'll gain corruption and end your journey there. It's important to note that this is a one way ticket. You can travel from the maproom to an obelisk, but not the other way around.

Build Abandonment System Update

We've done several big changes to how the building abandonment system works. Firstly, anything placed on or near a building will become a part of said building's decay score and decay at the same rate. This means you can now build smaller buildings in close proximity as well as standalone placeables like wheel of pain, altar etc and these will all be treated as big structure for purposes of decay. Secondly, the system will now check for and remove floating placeables left behind in the world after the buildings they were standing on got removed. Thirdly placeables stacked on top of placeables are now checked and correctly removed. Lasty, the updated decay system fixes a problem with players joining a clan and sometimes not being able to continue building on their existing buildings.

Additionally on all official servers we are changing the decay settings such that max decay value is 6 days after which the structure will be abandoned (any player can interact with and remove the structure), and after 1 day of being abandoned, the structure gets removed automatically by the system.

Patch Notes

We want to highlight that we've completely redone population of the world as well as added world bosses that grant access to legendary weapons. These world bosses drop keys that be used on chests you find and can open at level 60. The chests aren't always near where a key is found, so keep an eye out! These chests will provide some legendary items with custom effects on them.

Avatars

Changed movement speed of avatars. All move the same speed except for Set.
We've made other changes to avatars so they no longer instantly kill everything. They will no longer have their movements blocked by buildings and resources/foliage.
Yog's attack has been reimplemented. It will do damage over time and will be blocked by avatar domes.
Ymir's axe slam now respects damage settings and increased additional interaction radius, so that foliage far away can take damage on the axe slam attack.
Avatar of Set's strafing is smoother and feel better.

Quality of Life and Gameplay Adjustments

The Silent Legion armor no longer requires the heart from the Kinscourge to be crafted (although the weapons still do).
A number of new weapons and armors and placeables have been added to the game.
Creature heads can now be used in the tannery and the grinder to obtain resources from them
New (rare) resources - Gold / Gold Coins / Silver / Silver Coins
Hunting prey animals is now more rewarding - all the good meats come from prey animals. In addition, hitting a prey animal in the HEAD will do much more damage now, encouraging actual hunting
You no longer sheath your weapon went sprinting. You can run with weapons again!
New Tool: Skinning Knife. Use this to gather hide from animals.
Clan GUI has been improved. It’s easier to leave a clan using a controller now.
Realigned some UI elements that were not centered.
New music! Different music depending on the enemy you’re fighting will play.
You now need to be well protected against certain fumes like gas. Make sure to equip something like a sandstorm mask before entering dangerous areas!
Hyper armor has been implemented which allows both players and NPCs to complete their attacks if they take damage
The game will now default you to 3rd person when first logging in.
While in combat, you are forced into 3rd person. You can disable this in settings though.
Added some new emote categories.
Humanoid NPCs now have a pitching attack so they can attack up and down.
New loading screens!
Loading screens now have helpful hints!
Updated navigation in character creation.
Journey steps have been moved on the HUD to allow notifications underneath it.
Feats can now be trained by double clicking them.
Quick Loot allows you hover your pointer over a body, a loot bag or a machine and quickly loot individual or all items.
You can now mute other players.
While using a controller, pressing the Y button will place it to your inventory.
Clan Chat is no longer called Guild Chat and other adjustments to chat.
Merchants can be found in the neutral city of Sepermeru, where you can now buy a selection of consumables (booze and food) and some hides
Javelins, orbs, and throwing axes show the normal dot now instead of the bow crosshair.
When swimming, you will stay at the surface. Pressing default “C” will make you dive.
Sitting in a chair no longer removes the UI.
Updated a lot of graphics with water and wetness.
New obsidian material has been added.
Warpaints are now available!
Ramps and ramp corners have been added.
Heads can now only be gathered from dead beasts using a cleaver or a hatchet.
Buildings and placeables now take damage from any tier of weapon.
You now automatically bind to beds and bedrolls when placing them.
Made adjustments during NPC dialogue to make it look prettier.
You’ll notice the sky gets darker with rain clouds before it rains, and get lighter as it stops.
Respawning at a bed or bedroll will cut your health down to 50%. This is intended, not a bug. Respawning at the desert will give you 100% health.

Optimizations and balancing

Water wells now require a minimum distance between them.
Reduced fall damage.
Adjusted AI so NPCs won’t pick other random targets while attacking.
Reduced the amount of XP received from civilized difficulty.
Weapons and tools have been rebalanced.
Fixed sliding and shaking NPCs.
Cleansing brews no longer raise stamina and health beyond natural maximum.
The repair cost for the Pickaxe should no longer defy the laws of conversation of energy and require more materials to repair than to build.
Slowed down archers backing away when shooting/reloading.

Server settings & Admin panel

You can now adjust the thethering range in cooperative play to let players move further away from the host. Depending on settings you may need more memory or a more powerful CPU
A new server setting has been added that allows admins to choose how long before a player can regenerate stamina again.
Updated the graphics in the admin panel.
Moved the admin panel keybind from CTRL+SHIFT+C to SHIFT+INSERT.

Bug Fixes

Arrows should no longer get stuck in your hand!
Fixed and issue with NPCs not spawning or taking a long time to spawn in singleplayer.
Firing the trebuchet now triggers the correct journey event.
NPCs should no longer stack on top of one another.
Changes to your character’s temperature to reduce inconsistency between temperature status and your location.
Fixed some cases where some text was in a different language than what your client is set to.
Fixed an issue that would prevent your corpse from glowing.
Fixed an issue with dungeon entry triggering between coop players.
Movements of the Rhino and Direwolf have been smoothened.
NPCs should no longer get stuck in doors when opening/closing one.
There were a couple of crafting stations not translated into other languages.
Fixed a bug where you could have new items be spawned in both your shortcut bar and inventory.
Adjusted fiber bedroll so less clipping occurs.
The Barrow King can attack you again.
Fixed an issue that would cause a crash when suiciding.
Entertainer Thralls properly buff your character again.
Fixed an issue that would cause your character to spawn in the north instead of at your bed.
Adjusted spawn rates of meteors so they are more frequent.
Fixed an issue where summoning an avatar killed the player due to encumbrance.
Fixed sated duration to last longer.
Torches should no longer lose durability when in the extinguished state.
Trapdoors can no longer be placed mid-air.
Fixed an issue where crouched players that sat down on stairs would float.
Fixed a crash that occurred from dismantling foundations.
Fixed a crash that would occur with using voice chat with a tether in coop.
Pillars properly increase stair stability.
Elevators no longer push your character underground.
Destroying corpses now spawns a lootbag containing their items.
Death Markers should no longer leave the corpse and update once looted.
Beehives show buzzing bees when they have honey in them.
Fish and shellfish traps no longer gather recourses while held. Now it needs to be placed.
Adding map markers should work correctly again.
Killing human NPCs while cloaked as an admin no longer leaves their weapons in the air.
Fixed a case where climbing would bring you into first person after finishing even if you weren’t using it.

Audio

Changed and adjusted some sounds in the GUI, such as opening the map or journal events updating.
Added lots of new foliage sounds across the game
Added all the new soundtracks which were composed for Conan Exiles

Known Issues

Some two-handed weapons might not to the correct amount of damage on dedicated servers. We're looking into this bug.
Religious items won’t harvest corpses.
Doors, gates and other placeables might get randomly removed
PvE servers are working correctly as PvE servers, but won't show up when you use the PvE filter.

Apr 13, 2018

Countdown to launch begins! New trailer and blog update.

Conan Exiles - Nicole V(Community Manager)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft7yjrpvy0w

The Early Access journey is coming to an end with less than one month left until launch. Big changes and great amounts of new content are coming to Conan Exiles as we are getting close to May 8th.

The game world is increasing in size, new features and systems are being introduced, hundreds of new items are being added and there is an all new and brutal combat system for you to enjoy!

In short, when the game launches it will be much bigger, much better and much deeper.

New Combat!

The new combat system is very different and a huge improvement on the old one. A specialized team of some of our most veteran designers and animators have spent months working on just this new system and finally Conan Exiles will have the brutal, tactical and savage combat which a Conan game deserves.

The first thing you might notice is the new visual style. All weapons (swords, daggers, hammers, maces, spears, great swords etc) are getting their own attacks and animations. The attacks consist of a wide range of lunges, sweeps, jumps, cleaves, slashes and dashes. This makes combat much more fluid and interesting with a host of different attacks to perform.

All weapons have different light and heavy attacks which can be chained one after the other. Every attack in the chain is different, with the finishers often being particularly potent. The different weapons also cause different effects as you keep landing hits in the chain. For example, daggers add bleed, great swords cripple and hammers sunder. You can combine light and heavy attacks as you see fit without breaking the chain.

With a host of new attacks, effects and weapons the new tactical possibilities of combat have been greatly increased. Dash in with daggers and add stacks of bleed, before using the unique dagger backflip to escape enemy retaliation. Sweep away groups of enemies with powerful cleaves of your great sword and cripple their movement so they can’t run away.

Volcano and Swamp

With launch comes two new areas and the map is being greatly expanded.

Above The Frozen North you can see a mighty volcano, still quite active with rivers of lava running down its slopes. If you climb into the volcano you find powerful new resources like obsidian plus a strange cult worshipping an ancient power.

There are ruins in the volcano and you find a ominous light emanating from the Well of Skelos. Drop down the well and find yourself in a dangerous dungeon. In it you can use a roaring forge where obsidian weapons can be created. The dungeon is searing hot and an ancient secret lurks within. Brave the challenges ahead to get your hands on powerful new gear. The volcano and its dungeon has been balanced for max level characters.

Follow the big river east and you will find the swamp. This huge new area offers deep jungles, wet marshes and a sunny coastline filled with pirates. You can build well-protected castles or even entire cities up in the massive trees of the swamp.

There are many new monsters to fight in the swamp and lots of places to explore, from the Pagoda of Boundless Lusts to Jamilia’s Liberty, a massive beached ship which the Black Hand pirates have made their home. There is also the Forgotten City of Xel-ha, the ruins of an ancient Lemurian city being devoured by the encroaching jungle and the Palace of the Witch Queen dungeon. The swamp has been made for characters between level 20 and 40.

With these new areas the size of the game map has been greatly increased and with the addition of The Frozen North last fall the overall size of the map has more than doubled since the start of Early Access.

The Purge

You fight for dominance over the Exiled Lands and control the landscape with the castles and cities you can build. With the purge the environment fights back to drive you from the land. You must ready your defenses as groups of frost giants, locusts, undead, relic hunters, gorillas or any of the many other groups of creatures or exiles in the area will attack your base. The type of purge attacking your castle depends on where you have built it.

The purge does not happen in the southern-most areas of the Exiled Lands, so the first humble homes you build near the great river will not be attacked. You have a purge meter which fills up depending on your activities as you play. The longer you play, the more you build or kill the faster your purge meter will increase.

When a purge is about to happen, you will get clear notifications and you can also see on your map exactly where the NPCs are attacking. They will attack in waves and continue hitting your buildings if no thralls or players are fighting back.

This new feature adds extra depth to the game, especially for those who like to play on PVE servers or play single-player. You must now build your castles with defense against creatures in mind, and having some archer thralls for defense will be more valuable than ever.

If you are afraid that hordes of creatures will destroy your hard-earned base, you do not need to worry. The purge can be completely turned off on private servers or in single-player games, and all the purge’s settings can be tweaked, such as strength, duration, number of waves, how quickly the purge meter fills and much more.

In certain strong purges the NPCs may wield new legendary weapons – defeat them and claim the weapons as your own!

Perks, Gear, and Warpaint

The attributes system is also getting an important revamp. For every ten increases in each attribute you get a unique perk which unlocks a special ability. Ten points in survival allows you to eat uncooked meat without getting sick, fifty points in agility lets you perform a double jump while in the air and forty points in strength makes all your heavy attacks do 25% more damage. This new system makes developing your character and choosing the stats you want much more important.

Along with this system comes the introduction of many new armor sets which also increase your attributes. These are armors from the various cultures from the world of Conan the Barbarian, like Stygian, Hyrkanian, Zingaran and Hyperborean. The further you increase each attribute the more expensive it becomes. Getting those extra bonus points from pieces of armor can be just enough to get you that awesome perk.

In addition, you can also make warpaints which add to a chosen attribute. You can only wear one warpaint at a time, but with the combined bonuses of warpaints and armors you can now make specific builds which allow you to possess the perks you are after.

Altogether there are hundreds of new pieces of gear to choose from, with all new weapon sets, epic armors and tools. There is also a host of new legendary weapons with their own unique bonuses. You can get your hands on most of these through the all new world boss system, where massive world bosses can be defeated for their legendary loot.

Farming, Derketo, Fast Travel, and Content Rebalance

A major change is that players no longer heal over time as they play Conan Exiles. This can of course make many battles much harder as it is no longer possible to just run away, automatically heal up and then just return to the action.

Now you must eat food or drink potions to regain your health and all healing is done over time. Luckily there are so many types of food to eat in the game, from simple cooked meat to honeyglazed roast for example. This makes gathering resources for food and alchemy extremely important as you won’t last long in the wilderness without something to eat to regain your health.

We have introduced farming to make it a bit easier to get your hands on many of these resources. You can now build planters in your base which allow you to grow different kinds of crops, like lotus flowers used in potions or for example hops, leavening or highland berries.

For launch we are adding an all new religion to Conan Exiles. Derketo is the goddess of both fertility and death. Her dual nature makes her avatar a sight to behold, as one half of its body is rotted away while the other is that of a beautiful woman.

With world map greatly increasing in size it can take quite some time to travel from one region to another. To make this process easier we are introducing the map room which you can build in your own settlement. It is shaped like a map of the Exiled Lands and is quite large and detailed. As you explore the world you will discover monoliths which you can attune to your bracelet. Once attuned you can teleport to that monolith from your map room. There is no easy way back, apart from dying and respawning on your bed, but with the map room you will at least be able to quickly travel to remote places in the Exiled Lands.

In addition to all the new features and content coming to Conan Exiles we have also done a major content rebalance. We have changed the areas where creatures spawn and how they behave in the world. You won’t see large groups of random monsters just wandering the map like before, instead they have more specialized habitats and act more naturally in the world. You may notice that only the red shalebacks attack you on sight, as they are the more aggressive males or that when you are in an area infested with spiders you will see their nests and webs along the cliffsides.

The rebalance has also been done to feats, crafting ingredients, where you find resources and crafting recipes. It has been done to make the game deeper and more interesting in all phases. So if you are a returning player you will see that a whole host of little changes have been made.

These are some of the new things you can look forward to as we are nearing launch, we hope you will enjoy them.

Apr 12, 2018

Conan Exiles Previews are in!

Conan Exiles - Nicole V(Community Manager)

Hello everyone!

Hope you are doing well and that Spring has welcomed you with flowers and warmth. As we near launch (less than a month away!) we are getting closer and closer to completing a build for release. Our current internal build contains so much to look forward to and content we’re excited for everyone to play including the Swamp and Volcano biome, new combat, the new avatar Derketo, the Purge mechanic, fast travel, and a ton of new weapons, armor, and items.

Recently, we opened our doors to journalists from all over for an exclusive look and first-hand experience of a recent development build, to give them a taste of what’s to come. Joel presented to them what’s going to be new for the launch version of the game, and they also had the opportunity to spend a few hours playing the latest build with each other and with some of our devs. Additionally, we had the pleasure of welcoming press at GDC, where we showed off this build for them to play on as well.

Check out below for some of their preview articles!

PCGamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/conan-exiles-prepares-to-leave-early-access-with-two-new-regions-and-massive-npc-invasions/

“The build of Conan Exiles I played this week felt like a big improvement over the first Early Access version I played last year. So much has been added and adjusted based on player feedback, and the combat especially feels stronger and more fluid.”

MassivelyOP: http://massivelyop.com/2018/04/06/hands-on-with-conan-exiles-launch-build-farming-frolicking-in-theswamp-and-other-feature-fun/

“…I very much like the new god that will be introduced at launch. Her altar is really cool, with the goddess flanked by two giant cat statues. I have to build one! ”

BleedingCool: https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/03/29/conan-exiles-combat-overhaul-launch/

“I got to play around with the new system over at GDC last week, and the changes made to the game make it a bit more slick and a decent deal more fun. Which is ideal for a game as massive and grindy as Conan.”

Koalition: https://thekoalition.com/2018/conan-exiles-on-xbox-one-x-is-brutally-satisfying

“When the final version releases in May, players can expect several noticeable gameplay improvements across the board. The first major addition worth mentioning is a revamped combat system that is more fluid and reminiscent of how you would fight in Dark Souls.”

NicheGamer: http://nichegamer.com/2018/03/31/conan-exiles-hands-on-xbox-one-x-preview-me-want-murder-for-dinner/

“I was also shown the perk system, which has also been drastically changed in the new update. By leveling up certain attributes, you unlock perks which can completely change your style of play.”

GameInformer: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/conan_exiles/b/pc/archive/2018/04/06/conan-exiles-is-freed-from-early-access-with-a-double-edged-appeal.aspx

TheSixthAxis: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2018/04/09/how-conan-exiles-has-become-more-than-just-a-survival-game-with-willies/

GameSpot: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/conan-exiles-watch-us-resist-a-castle-siege-with-h/1100-6457955/

VentureBeat: https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/05/conan-exiles-will-exit-early-access-on-may-8-with-a-new-combat-system-maps-and-mechanics/

MMORPG: https://www.mmorpg.com/conan-exiles/previews/a-hyborian-launch-is-coming-1000012614

ThumbSticks: https://www.thumbsticks.com/a-month-before-release-does-conan-exiles-have-enough-tools-in-its-box/

GameReactor: https://www.gamereactor.eu/previews/646043/Conan+Exiles+A+Sneak+Peek+at+Funcoms+Future/

TechRaptor
https://techraptor.net/content/conan-exiles-reinvents-itself-for-launch

Conan Exiles is available internationally and is accessible in 11 different languages. Soon to be 12, as Italian is being added at launch! We’re happy to say we’ve had coverage and press come from around the globe and shared outside of the English language.

Netherlands:

Gamer.nl: https://gamer.nl/artikelen/interview/conan-exiles-een-aanpasbare-penis-is-een-verademing/

Norway:

PressFire: http://www.pressfire.no/nyheter/PC/12894/funcom

Gamer.no: https://www.gamer.no/artikler/intervju-mange-utviklere-gar-i-early-access-fella/434199

GameReactor: https://www.gamereactor.no/previews/648973/Vi+har+tatt+en+liten+titt+pa+Conan+Exiles/

Germany:

ComputerBuild: http://www.computerbild.de/artikel/cbs-News-PC-Conan-Exiles-Starttermin-Collectors-Edition-19496647.html

PCGames.de: http://www.pcgames.de/Conan-Exiles-Spiel-56548/Specials/Preview-Neues-Kampfsystem-neue-Gebiete-1253821/2/

GameStar: https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/conan-exiles-der-weg-aus-dem-exil,3328239.html

Mein MMO: https://mein-mmo.de/conan-exiles-neuerungen-zu-release/

SpielTipps: https://www.spieletipps.de/artikel/8793/1/

Italy:

EveryEye: https://www.everyeye.it/articoli/provato-conan-exiles-survival-ambientato-nell-universo-conan-il-barbaro-38188.html

Multiplayer.it: https://multiplayer.it/articoli/197526-conan-exiles-conan-exiles-lultima-prova-del-survival-di-funcom.html

France:

Jeuxactu: http://www.jeuxactu.com/conan-exiles-le-barbare-est-il-toujours-aussi-baleze-notre-verdict-113359.htm

That’s what the press had to say, but we also can’t wait to hear from all our players on your experience with this new content at launch on May 8th. The countdown has started! 🙂

Apr 10, 2018

Stream Notes and Answers: April 10th, 2018

Conan Exiles - Community Manager (Nicole V)

This stream focused primarily on the Swamp biome and answering questions from the chat.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS SO BEWARE

We’ve dubbed it the Swungle, because we’ve called it both a Jungle and Swamp. Though, it is more of a swamp than a jungle since it’s not as dense.
We won’t see Jens in a Derketo cosplay. :(
There is a reason that there’s a swamp there in regards to lore.
We entered the Sandswept Ruins. There is a mystery character sitting in a high chair. An old man who knows about the sandstorm, why it’s there, and how it works. He was not currently there on the version Jens and Joel were playing, but it’s not Conan.
With the swamp will come lots of new resources, armor sets, locations, and such. Lotuses and vines (which can be broken down to plantfiber) will be added.
Fixing decay is a big focus for the code devs. Everything we’re doing right now is bug fixing because we’re on content lock. We won’t be adding more content from what we have on the internal build that will be at launch so we can focus on fixing and smoothing out the game.
There are giant roaming spiders in the swamp. You’re welcome.
We don’t have an exact date for TestLive going Live. The build we played on is an internal build.
There are more buildings and lore to discover and figure out why you’re there in the Exiles Lands.
Private server admins have the option to turn the Purge off on their servers, but we’ll talk more about the purge in the next stream. We’ll also show off the Volcano on a future stream.
We showed off the Pagoda of Boundless Lusts, which houses Yakira, Priestess of Derketo. She’s actually voiced by Fryda Wolff Who you may know from The Park game or Mass Effect: Andromeda as the female Ryder.
We’re doing a on of internal testing on the Swamp and Volcano. Those are completed in sense of landscape. We are doing mechanical stuff though and don’t want to spoil things in it. We’re stabilizing the launch version and it takes time. The plan is to move combat and the purge and lots of new content (building things and weapons) before launch to live.
It’s been on TestLive for a while to help with finding and fixing these bugs before going live.
We want to be clear that the team who works on AI, are not the same team who works on, say, new content and additions. We have different teams working on different things.
We very likely won’t make an Endowment Potion for women. Apparently there is one for men? Maybe one after launch. We can’t add anything before launch than what we have internally due to the content lock.
We walked into Flotsam. It has a camp with a wrecked ship and looks super cool. They have the Blackhand Pirates, who made it out here to the Exiled lands and trying to patch the ship up to leave. They are hostile.
No plans to add boats for players right now.
We can’t add gliders due to lore.
The Purge is when NPCs come to attack your stuff based on where you build once your purge meter fills. For example, if you build in the swamp, you’ll be attacked by the pirates and animals in that area. The desert will be relic hunters, hyenas, and so on. If you build on a mountain, then undead can come from underground. There will be waves and a boss at the end. The Purge will contain some unique NPCs you may want as thralls. No where is safe!!!
Showed some really pretty and colorful hornbill birds walking around in the swamp.
You’ll be able to build in the trees so you can build upwards.
We’ve tried to centralize certain NPCs to certain areas. So Silkwood will have the giant spiders instead of scattered around the map.
There will be world bosses in the swamp. There are 4, Jens thinks.
We entered The Passage, which has a tight cave to walk through. You almost feel a little claustrophobic walking through. However, the passage ends in an enormous cavern. Which has spiders, of course.
No race exclusive items, ever. Joel won’t let it happen. Mostly for roleplaying and backstory. It’s about making the character you want to make, not forcing you to certain stats. Same with having Gods. You can explore all forms of the game and make it free form. We want you to be able to experience it all.
We saw a carrier thrall walking around with a big backpack. He’ll be able to carry extra stuff for you. No word if they’ll carry and hit halves of a coconut together…
If we can get the time and people, we can do magic for the game. It’s something we have to see about.
We can get new beards, hairstyles, and such if it’s something our character artist can do. It’s a wait and see kind of deal.
There are a few developer voices in the game. Some merchants at least.
Unfortunately, you won’t get to have mods on Conan Exiles for consoles. It’s very difficult and we don’t have the infrastructure of it.
Showed off the Derketo Tier 3 alter. The fires on it is witch fire! You’ll be able to dye fires to different colors soon.
Also showed the male Derketo priest outfit. Has a skull face piece and it looks awesome. The female version has nipple covers in case you were wondering.
We’re 100% aware of Xboxers being unhappy about the wait for an update. The plan is to update Xbox before launch. We apologize for the wait but we promise we haven’t abandoned you.
Derketo was summoned on the stream. She looks badass and also half rotting. She can step on buildings and destroy them but her main attack is a breathe attack that does hurt enemies. However, she also has a healing breathe because she is both a good and bad goddess.
Jens killed himself when summoning Derketo the second time and it was hilarious: https://clips.twitch.tv/CrowdedAntediluvianPastaItsBoshyTime
Would you consider removing dodge roll during swing attack animations? Nope, dodges cancel.
Next biome is not Atlantis.
Private servers won’t get a full wipe at launch. That’s up to the server admin. But official servers will be to give equal footing.
Italian language will be available at launch!
Will removing your bracelet be possible in the future: Absolutely is. If you complete the whole story in the game and you do it you will die and never come back into the exiled lands. So you’re basically deleting your character if you do it. Kidding? Who knows! You’ll see!
Crossbows MAY come back but not until after launch.
Joel says he likes where bows are in terms of power. There seems to be a lot of debate on that.
You do not have to buy the game again if you bought it already in early access.
Balliste are not coming for launch. Maybe one day?
Anything about DLC or post-launch stuff, we will talk about after launch since we’re putting all focus on launch at this time.
New music will be added! Some of it is already on TestLive. You can get the soundtrack through the Barbarian Edition.
Jens will be in London for EGX Rezzed. This won’t effect development since Jens is the only one going.
There will not be another biome coming in the Northeast. The map at launch will be the complete map of this area.

You can watch the full stream here to see the swamp and Derketo in their greatness!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrmXu87xQxc

Apr 10, 2018

Stream Notes and Answers: April 10th, 2018

Conan Exiles - Nicole V(Community Manager)

This stream focused primarily on the Swamp biome and answering questions from the chat.

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS SO BEWARE

We’ve dubbed it the Swungle, because we’ve called it both a Jungle and Swamp. Though, it is more of a swamp than a jungle since it’s not as dense.
We won’t see Jens in a Derketo cosplay. :(
There is a reason that there’s a swamp there in regards to lore.
We entered the Sandswept Ruins. There is a mystery character sitting in a high chair. An old man who knows about the sandstorm, why it’s there, and how it works. He was not currently there on the version Jens and Joel were playing, but it’s not Conan.
With the swamp will come lots of new resources, armor sets, locations, and such. Lotuses and vines (which can be broken down to plantfiber) will be added.
Fixing decay is a big focus for the code devs. Everything we’re doing right now is bug fixing because we’re on content lock. We won’t be adding more content from what we have on the internal build that will be at launch so we can focus on fixing and smoothing out the game.
There are giant roaming spiders in the swamp. You’re welcome.
We don’t have an exact date for TestLive going Live. The build we played on is an internal build.
There are more buildings and lore to discover and figure out why you’re there in the Exiles Lands.
Private server admins have the option to turn the Purge off on their servers, but we’ll talk more about the purge in the next stream. We’ll also show off the Volcano on a future stream.
We showed off the Pagoda of Boundless Lusts, which houses Yakira, Priestess of Derketo. She’s actually voiced by Fryda Wolff Who you may know from The Park game or Mass Effect: Andromeda as the female Ryder.
We’re doing a on of internal testing on the Swamp and Volcano. Those are completed in sense of landscape. We are doing mechanical stuff though and don’t want to spoil things in it. We’re stabilizing the launch version and it takes time. The plan is to move combat and the purge and lots of new content (building things and weapons) before launch to live.
It’s been on TestLive for a while to help with finding and fixing these bugs before going live.
We want to be clear that the team who works on AI, are not the same team who works on, say, new content and additions. We have different teams working on different things.
We very likely won’t make an Endowment Potion for women. Apparently there is one for men? Maybe one after launch. We can’t add anything before launch than what we have internally due to the content lock.
We walked into Flotsam. It has a camp with a wrecked ship and looks super cool. They have the Blackhand Pirates, who made it out here to the Exiled lands and trying to patch the ship up to leave. They are hostile.
No plans to add boats for players right now.
We can’t add gliders due to lore.
The Purge is when NPCs come to attack your stuff based on where you build once your purge meter fills. For example, if you build in the swamp, you’ll be attacked by the pirates and animals in that area. The desert will be relic hunters, hyenas, and so on. If you build on a mountain, then undead can come from underground. There will be waves and a boss at the end. The Purge will contain some unique NPCs you may want as thralls. No where is safe!!!
Showed some really pretty and colorful hornbill birds walking around in the swamp.
You’ll be able to build in the trees so you can build upwards.
We’ve tried to centralize certain NPCs to certain areas. So Silkwood will have the giant spiders instead of scattered around the map.
There will be world bosses in the swamp. There are 4, Jens thinks.
We entered The Passage, which has a tight cave to walk through. You almost feel a little claustrophobic walking through. However, the passage ends in an enormous cavern. Which has spiders, of course.
No race exclusive items, ever. Joel won’t let it happen. Mostly for roleplaying and backstory. It’s about making the character you want to make, not forcing you to certain stats. Same with having Gods. You can explore all forms of the game and make it free form. We want you to be able to experience it all.
We saw a carrier thrall walking around with a big backpack. He’ll be able to carry extra stuff for you. No word if they’ll carry and hit halves of a coconut together…
If we can get the time and people, we can do magic for the game. It’s something we have to see about.
We can get new beards, hairstyles, and such if it’s something our character artist can do. It’s a wait and see kind of deal.
There are a few developer voices in the game. Some merchants at least.
Unfortunately, you won’t get to have mods on Conan Exiles for consoles. It’s very difficult and we don’t have the infrastructure of it.
Showed off the Derketo Tier 3 alter. The fires on it is witch fire! You’ll be able to dye fires to different colors soon.
Also showed the male Derketo priest outfit. Has a skull face piece and it looks awesome. The female version has nipple covers in case you were wondering.
We’re 100% aware of Xboxers being unhappy about the wait for an update. The plan is to update Xbox before launch. We apologize for the wait but we promise we haven’t abandoned you.
Derketo was summoned on the stream. She looks badass and also half rotting. She can step on buildings and destroy them but her main attack is a breathe attack that does hurt enemies. However, she also has a healing breathe because she is both a good and bad goddess.
Jens killed himself when summoning Derketo the second time and it was hilarious: https://clips.twitch.tv/CrowdedAntediluvianPastaItsBoshyTime
Would you consider removing dodge roll during swing attack animations? Nope, dodges cancel.
Next biome is not Atlantis.
Private servers won’t get a full wipe at launch. That’s up to the server admin. But official servers will be to give equal footing.
Italian language will be available at launch!
Will removing your bracelet be possible in the future: Absolutely is. If you complete the whole story in the game and you do it you will die and never come back into the exiled lands. So you’re basically deleting your character if you do it. Kidding? Who knows! You’ll see!
Crossbows MAY come back but not until after launch.
Joel says he likes where bows are in terms of power. There seems to be a lot of debate on that.
You do not have to buy the game again if you bought it already in early access.
Balliste are not coming for launch. Maybe one day?
Anything about DLC or post-launch stuff, we will talk about after launch since we’re putting all focus on launch at this time.
New music will be added! Some of it is already on TestLive. You can get the soundtrack through the Barbarian Edition.
Jens will be in London for EGX Rezzed. This won’t effect development since Jens is the only one going.
There will not be another biome coming in the Northeast. The map at launch will be the complete map of this area.

You can watch the full stream here to see the swamp and Derketo in their greatness!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrmXu87xQxc