Siptah Island is the current expansion of Conan Exiles, but many players don’t agree with the current path of this expansion at all. In this post, we look at why players are upset and what Funcom started with Update 2.3 and Update 2.4 as a countermeasure to getting around the curve with Isle of Siptah. We also look briefly at the historical development of the main game, which is necessary to reach an end result.
Main game development
The flagship game Conan Exiles, which was released in Early Access in early 2017, is currently very popular. Reviews on Steam are mostly positive and have a healthy player base. But this was not always the case. Especially in the beginning, Conan Exiles had difficulties positioning himself next to Minecraft and Ark in its niche among survival games. But with the constant stream of updates that fixed the worst bugs and added new vital areas to the “Exiles Lands”, the game became more and more successful.
The combat system, which was initially goofy and wobbly, was worked on until, in my opinion, in really good condition. Personally, I enjoy the combat system. Funcom has brought new tech trees, rookie battles and many new dungeons to the game. Additionally, new build patterns for every taste are released regularly through DLCs. Through the ability to modify the game, an active mod community has emerged that further adapt the game according to its wants and needs. This is exactly why Conan Exiles has become such an integral part of the survival genre since its release.
Siptah Island
With the comprehensive expansion of Siptah Island, Funcom promises to try new games by bringing us players to a new island full of secrets. The center of the island is a tall tower from which periodically threatening grinding towers emerge. Within these storms we face dangerous enemies reminiscent of the world of Lovecraft, where we throw in powerful new materials. So new monsters, new heavier basements, and new customizable items will be introduced. Funcom also emphasizes focusing on more player content versus player content, as great resources are limited and each party wants to claim the center of the map for themselves.
Isle of Siptah has been playable in Early Access since September 15, 2020 and is currently not in good standing with the rankings on Steam. As of April 25, 2021, only 48 percent of user reviews were positive. But then, of course, we ask ourselves “What is the point”! Let’s take a look at the feedback from the community.
Community feedback
Many players complain about the structure of the map, which aims to ensure balanced PvP battles with an inverted design. It reminds us of a battle royale mode designed somewhat using a map design, as was often the case with strategy games like Warcraft 3. Each resource is manually distributed evenly, which of course ruins the impression of an organically generated map. The inverted map makes exploring the other half of the island simply unnecessary. In addition, many players complain that the map is very empty and lifeless.
Many players are disappointed that they cannot continue their long-ago progress over the exiled lands to the island of Siptah. Hundreds of hours must be sacrificed for grinding back when stranded. Also this grinding turned out to be very difficult, with the difficulty level increasing very steeply towards the center of the map. As a result, players have to spend a long time on the beach while they are working to be strong enough for the indoor area.
In addition, slaves could only be caught in cases of so-called impulsivity, which were considered very competitive. Those who are not well equipped will quickly lose out in PvP. Due to this enormous difficulty in accessing slaves, the full feature loses its relevance to most players.
Moreover, the illusion of new creatures is being marketed, which is ultimately achieved only through the exchange of objects’ names. However, 3D symbols and models of the objects are preserved.
After reading the community reviews, I realized that not having positive reviews is not necessarily because the expansion is worse than the main game in and of itself, but rather because the expansion wants to try new methods. Isle of Siptah would like to introduce a change and possibly also address a new target group, i.e. a target group in the mood for a confrontation with a demanding player.
It turns out that society is roughly divided into exactly two camps. One thing Conan Exiles wants is to play like he always does. They want to build a well thought out base, they want to discover the map with all the dungeons and secrets, experience the story of the game and largely ignore PvP. The second camp finds it refreshing to have new ways to play and also agrees with changes in the game’s philosophy.
Correction 2.3 and 2.4
However, Funcom naturally wants its expansion to be accepted as positively as possible by the entire community and not just by half of the players. So officials are taking notes to heart and addressing some issues with updates 2.3 (March 16th) and 2.4 (April 22nd).
Update 2.3
- The new NPC camps breathed more life on the island and provided more resources for slaves.
- Features of floods, vaults, and windmill tower were previously closely related, as the loot looted for one feature was absolutely necessary to deal with the other features. These relationships have now been relaxed so that each feature can now be tried independently of one another.
- Additionally, purges return from the main game, which provides more opportunities to obtain slaves as well as increased motivation to protect your base from attackers.
- Offline mode is introduced for lonely people among the players
- The aim of the new sprint attacks is to prevent us from stopping when trying to catch fleeing opponents and then striking the void.
Update 2.4
- The map was supplemented with more biomes, so that the total size of the map now roughly corresponds to the size of the exiled territories.
- The introduction of Mystery Green Pools, a special PvE activity mechanism, that allows us to collect figurines of special NPC opponents and then place them on suitable bases in the green pools. And so we summon powerful presidents who will reward us generously.
- The new lighting condition should provide a better atmosphere and make the map look more lively.
- A new religion for Zath including the new, approachable spinning deity. This feature is also finding its way into the main game and the Exiled Lands.
- Recently, Funcom has made some budget changes, which have mostly centered around combat mechanics.
All these innovations have a clear direction. The original focus on player versus player gameplay has been drastically reduced and significantly more content has been added for PvE players. It remains to be seen if this ensures that PvE and PvP players feel comfortable on the map. It might mean that PvP will fall asleep once players only deal with PvE alternatives, but that’s still in the superstars.
conclusion
While researching this article, I was sometimes more liked and sometimes less impressed by the current state of expansion. I haven’t spent € 20 yet on Siptah and I’m not sure yet if I will in the near future. Basically, I have to answer a question about the type of player I work for Conan Exiles. The answer is clear: long pile orgies are horror for me, so I play my Conan on a local server with modified server values that speed up my progress many times over.
Even with the accelerated values, I still haven’t seen and mastered all corners of the main map to a great extent. In the original case with a strong focus on PvP, I would have said that this type of game is not very interesting to me, so I can confidently spend the money elsewhere. However, as more and more PvE content finds its way onto the map, it piqued my curiosity a lot, especially by heading into the world of Lovecraft, which I find quite amazing.
Funcom has just shown with the base game that they can listen to your community and work tirelessly to make the game better. I have complete confidence that Siptah will receive the same attention as the exiled lands. Isle of Siptah isn’t bad despite the negative reviews, it’s just a different way to play Conan Exiles. Anyone who can handle it should be able to access it without problems.
In the video: Community feedback and analysis of updates
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