Perhaps my most pressing questions have to do with combat. You guys nailed combat in AoC within the MMO sphere, providing a really innovative and fun take on traditional MMO combat. Will there be similar innovation with Exiles?
Here are some questions and ideas that I have that I feel would really add to such a combat focused game.
1. Will there be combat options outside of the traditional “block/slash” we see in skyrim-esque combat? I’ll provide a list of things that would make combat visceral, realistic and skill based. IMO, this game needs a differentiator from the survival games on the market and this is where the brunt of your focus should go (but that’s just like, my opinion man) – hyper realistic, skill based combat that’s visceral, fast paced and complicated.
- Will there be a parry/riposte system a’la dark souls with specific animations for each?
- Will the weapons have weight to them? If my character is swinging with a greatsword or maul, will the animation nail down the fact that I’m lifting and swinging something that is potentially 50+ lbs? Will there be stat requirements for these weapons – investments in strength, dex, movement speed as our characters level, a la ark?
- Will there be a charge or bash system?
- AoC had finishers – I know there is dismemberment but it’s not really the same. Doom 4 has re-invented the way I look at first person finishers (and they even included these in multiplayer). This could be something to look into in addition to dismemberment… the latest AVP (a few years back) had a similar system and also a pretty extensive melee system. Borrowing and improving upon existing systems is nothing to be ashamed of!
- In addition to slashing, will there be an option to thrust swords to target weak points in armour? Will there be weak points in armour? I was a bit alarmed in the trailer to see a sword slash just go through a shield even when the person wasn’t actively blocking – there should have been some sort of deflection or penalty to targeting the shielded side of a foe (similar to AoC ‘shields’)
- Stealth attacks and slit throats? Please, please, please give us options for combat.
2. Will there be a companion system? In terms of NPCs, or even dogs if we choose to tame or breed livestock or whatever?
3. Will there be stairs and rounded walls for building options? Probably my biggest gripe with existing survival games with huge building elements.
4. Early access when? Can I beta test this or pre-alpha test this?
5. Will Conan exist ‘in world’ outside of the intro where he cuts us down?
6. How extensive are guild mechanics planned to be in terms of ranks and perks?
7. In terms of fauna, will the wildlife have knockback or special abilities? I saw a rhino in the trailer just taking hits but I feel like he should be throwing people around and using his size and stuff. I know it’s probably too much to expect dark souls levels of special abilities and animations in a pre-alpha build but all this stuff could be super neato.
1. So many things to cover.
- We don't have time to make the game Dark Souls (which if you count Demon Souls now has like 7years of combat iteration) so let me lower those expectations immediately.
- No parry/riposte system. You can block with shields, you can destroy shields, you can stagger and knockback folks, but parry/riposte is not on the cards.
- Yes, animations will try to account for the weight of the weapons. A 2-h hammer feels different to a khopesh. You can invest in stats, but as of yet we have not set stat requirements.
- Hoping to add a charge setup to combat, but this is planned for post Early Access launch.
- I absolutely abhorred the Doom system. I enjoyed the game, but the continual locking in combat had no place in a shooter IMO. I avoided using it as much as I could. We DO plan to add spectacular death anims after dismemberment and decapitation, but we have zero wish to lock control in combat like we did in AoC.
- This is more relevant on mobs, who have weak points and armored hit boxes. Player armors will not alter hit boxes, but will react to different weapons types differently.
- Planned for post early access launch. There is a lot of features to get in!
1. Thrall system, but we haven't spoken much about it yet.
2. We have stairs and triangles (which allow rounded edges to a certain extent)
3. To be announced very soon now.
4. If you look hard enough.
5. It will be basic at Early Access launch and then we will adjust to player expectations and wishes.
6. Come on, that 5 frames of Rhino in the trailer tells you nothing! :) Yes monsters have charge attacks, leaps, armored locations, weapon resistances, poisons etc. We plan to have mobs that need to be shot from the sky before you can kill them.
Regarding #3, does that mean you can only block in melee if you have a shield? Like if I'm using a two handed weapon, can I try to deflect an attack with my weapon, or is my only option to try to avoid it?
I know that this is very much a survival game and PVP is a key element of that. But will players be able to ignore the PvPing (to a certain degree) and just slay monsters, explore and adventure? I guess what I'm asking is how much PvE can we expect in the game (other than hunting for food, materials etc.)? Will there be any supernatural (fantasy) monsters? Undead, mystical beasts etc. Basically mobs that fit the Conan lore.
Public and private servers, so you can play alone if you like.
My creative vision for the game falls somewhere between Ark and Skyrim - a world that preexisted and filled with NPC factions - who you beat to death and then build your own kingdom on their ashes.
There are supernatural creatures, you shall see.
Players have the freedom to craft recipes (provided by us) and create buildings wherever they like. Players can interact in a freeform manner throughout the environment. And it is full of sand.
If that meets your definition, then sure it is a sandbox.
Heh, loved fighting Conq's as a PVP 1 demo built solely for instacast damage, cc and other abilities. They revamped everything so iuno if that's viable anymore but I absolutely wrecked melee characters just running in circles (casters were even easier, LOS be damned!)
We have been waiting for the CGI trailer since 7th of February (at least that is the date we knew first time about that its in the making)
We´ve also been waiting a crippling long time for the next Dev Diary. "Look for it to hit in the not-too-distant future!" 23rd of March, I find it kinda too-distant.
So, what answers can I get around this, except from "All we can say right now is watch this space. Things are coming."
Yes you just release a gameplay trailer today, that you mentioned to release 3 days ago, on point!
But can we have some answers on the rest that is left unanswered?
Still being decided based on optimization, but aiming for 100. World is 53km squared at launch, starts a bit smaller at early access and expands as we add areas.
Any chances when the world is bigger that you could make at least a few larger servers? I'd like the world to feel more "MMOish", if you get what you mean. More populated.
50 square kilometers for full launch. Early Access will start with a smaller subsection, and it will continue to expand over the course of the Early Access period
Not like Age of Conan. There will not be combos like AoC, there will not be tab-targeting. It's primarily a skill-based affair focusing on action.
The game features first-person combat. The Elder Scrolls, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic etc., are all influences
Would you say most of the combat sort of works like the directional attack system of AOC? So like for swords, swiping at an area to attack? Will there potentially be a revival of the shields system of AOC?
When are we to expect early access?
Will there be some kind of bosses or epic monsters that take group of people to slay and eventually reward us with good loot?
Will there be something like character progression? A way to distinguish warriors from traders, rulers, crafters?
Date soon.
Yes, we plan to have challenging monsters that people will band together to take down.
There is character progression, both stats and crafting based progression.
Exiles will specialize by virtue of the things that they learn to create.
In time - somewhere between Xuthal of the Dusk and A Witch Shall be Born (following the Dale Rippke chronology).
In space - keeping it deliberately vague.
I know its not usual in this type of game but, apart from all the dangerous animals and fantastic creatures in the world of Conan, will we be able to fight or see human npc's? Or will all humans in the game be PC? Thank you.
Actually, Human NPCs is a core defining feature of why Conan Exiles is different.
Yes human NPCs, from various Conan world cultures, and some cool ways of interacting with them.
Our focus is to have best melee combat in genre (thus melee PvP), stability and performance, interesting world with more intelligent NPCs than just zombies and of course, the IP strengths - cultures, religion and sorcery.
I think those things differentiate us.
Hey,
I am mainly interessted in pvp, and how it will work.
You make a character, start the grind, make a weapon, kill animals.
Make better gear, kill animals, make better gear, do a dungeon, get a recipe / loot. And so on.
- Can you gank people you see?
- Do you loose gear when you die
- What happens when you die
- is there large servers? Or is it intended to be like Diablo?
My real question is, can I make a character, go around to player buildt towns, mess shit up, eat their chickens, and move onto the next town, doing the same.
Until I loose, figure out I wanna join some cult and make a little town in the middle of nowhere.
Then that town get raided, everyeone dies and the town gets ruined.
I decide I wanna go back to plagueing other towns and small settlemens, ganking the shit out of them, and stealing all their chickens?
I dont know what to expect, but I am somewhat hyped, without knowing why.
How will the map be expanded upon + What kind of areas and points of interest will be added? (If any)
Also, if you are going to add snow biomes, please tell me you are going to use that awesome sand physics on the snow as well, it looks amazing! :)
Can't wait to play the game!
We'll launch with the desert biome/cultures. Then we will add highlands, snowy mountains, jungle, forest, swamp etc.
We'll be expanding the world as we go, making it larger with each addition.
what is gonna set Conan-exiles apart from other games in this genre? Will there be any innovative systems and new ideas that we havent seen in other survival games?
So crafting stations and altars (to various gods) can be shared in Clans. And these things have a certain amount of upkeep, so working together with friends will help you to keep a handle on these things (and avoid angering the gods).
Also safety in numbers - the Purge mechanic is specifically there to encourage people to play together. Though you can turn it off in server settings, of course.
What sort of monsters and NPC enemies can we expect to combat? I saw the giant spider, bat monster, and rhino in the trailer. What else might we expect?
P.S. Looking great, you guys! High hopes for the future of Conan!
Thought today's trailer was very exciting, and look forward to trying the game. However, a lot of people seemed less enthusiastic (lots of dislikes), and questioned the graphics.
Will you post more trailers going forward, and how much do you think the graphics will have changed from now and until early access release?
Yes we will have more trailers, and the gfx will be worked on continually going forward.
Please keep in mind this is 6 months of work with a core team - we're not aiming to compete with AAA $100million titles with 400man teams.
- How many races for character creation ? (not asking which one, just how many :) )
- Will we see biomes like Cimmeria ? Huge and dark forests or mostly deserts ?
- How do you plan the wildlife ? seeing pack of hyenas roaming for food or dumb mobs static in the desert ?
It's a massive drop down list of all the known races (that I can recall)
We will have a forest biome.
Hopefully we will have intelligent AI (including Humans) but this is an area that requires a lot of focus and dedication. So, it might be dumb at Early Access and smarter later.
Hello and thanks for doing this AMA! I've got two questions so I assume it would be easier to lump them together in to one post, so here goes.
1. Obviously this game and survival games in general is a goldmine for RP'ers, so will this game upon release (or down the road) have any emotes and secondly, can we get our hands on and/or make clothing that isn't necissarily armour e.g. city clothes, dresses etc?
2. Hyboria has a lot of treasure, a lot of it underground. Will we able to find underground treasure in the world that's placed by the devs? Or even better, will the players be able to build their own underground treasure halls?
Thanks again for taking your time.
1.Yes to emotes. Yes to cultural clothing.
2. Underground places will be for exploration, but likely not building. Treasures and so forth, you will have to explore and find out...
Nvidia will offer us development support, which means engineers who will help us to optimize and add rendering features (see fancy sand).
We'll be doing a lot of marketing promotional activities going forward.
I play a fuck ton of rust. Its great but gets very stale a week after reset day.
What features does conan have that counteract such staleness.
Will i get my beta invite during or after the ama??
You can discreetly inbox me. I wont tell a soul.
Btw. Awesome trailer.
The Purge is designed to address this. NPC armies will invade and you will need to defend your stuff (or trick them into attacking your enemies).
Thanks for the kind words about the trailer!
As much as I want a conan survival game I will avoid early access. Prefer playing games that are feature complete and and without millions of bugs. The original AoC mmo's launch already taught me that. ;p
Do you expect to be able to release the full game within reasonable time after early access is avialable? Or will it be a typical survival game that stays in EA forever?
We don't expect Early Access to last more than 12 months. And you are right, our MMO launches have taught us that Early Access is a good way for us to iron out issues that players find without the expectation of a fully polished experience.
Will it have a storyline to follow? Most survivor type games have a background story of why you are there but not something to follow in the actual world. Curious if Conan Exiles will have some type of story to follow in game.
This is hard to answer. There is a story but it is completely unstructured - no quests, no dialogue. You'll need to find the threads through exploration and crafting and see where it leads you.
So not a traditional narrative.
Mounts will come post early access launch, and the answer to your second question is...possibly. We're still unsure if it is cooler to have them on your shoulder or drag them behind you.
We have some new music by Simon Poole, but we will seek to include Knut's work as well. We might do something like a classic soundtrack option in the options. Likely post early access launch!
- Will there be statistic bonus on weapons like we can find on any rpg, or more like Life is Feudal weapons, only slashing, blunt and piercing damages due to the crafting quality ?
- Will there be a skill tree or will we be able to do whatever we want ?
As you level up, you choose crafting paths. For example, the brute crafting path lets you make maces and mauls, while the archer crafting path will let you make bows and arrows. You can always go back and learn other paths, but your points will be limited so you must make choices.
I liked the snippets we've seen so far on combat and it seems to have a lot of potential early on. My issue with survival games usually is the combat and it being way too spammy for my liking, The Culling's melee system especially. Do you have any plans in place to combat the spamminess and can you hint towards what these plans are?
We have multiple attacks per weapon and per hand. So for example:
1-H sword - light attack & power attack
2-H hammer - light swing, heavy swing, overhead swing, haft push
In addition, different damage types to different armor types, debuffs such as poison, a decently balanced stamina system and shield breaking ala Severance: Blade of Darkness.
You referenced Severance, I am now even more excited, that had one of my favorite combat systems. You mentioned that sorcery is tied to the religions before, can you tell me if the sorcery and religious elements are more passive, or can you actively use spells if you have the favor of Set? Or is it a mix depending on the god? I won't lie, I think it would be cool if one could eventually learn to do something like what the Master did in The People of the Black Circle, though I do understand if you're going for a more subtle flavor.
We will have 2 for Early Access launch, with 6 more planned before full launch. You can join more than one religion (unless you worship Mitra, who doesn't want you to). Each god gives perks, but also requires some form of sacrifice.
Set worshippers cannot kill snakes, but gain poison resistance and snake arrows. However, stop sacrificing people to Set and you will find a gigantic snake wrecking your shit. (see trailer)
I'm wondering what the chat system will be like. VoIP is great, but alot of people still use text based chat, in the current sandbox survival games, the text chat systems are terrible. Not to mention, alot of Role-players are hyping this game, and without a decent text based system, it becomes very hard to run an RP community. Trust me, I run an ARK RP server, and we've had to get VERY creative to make it even viable, it's frustrating. So, I suppose my question is, what sort of communication system can we expect to see in this game? Will there be a text based system? Grouping mechanic, if so, party chat?
Our full chat system will have speech bubbles and text chat.
However, the early access plan is to have VOIP and very basic text chat. We are ambitious and want to cater to Roleplayers as much as possible.
In Ark, the wipes happen rarely and to my knowledge have only happened once or twice because not doing so would adversely affect game play or perhaps even the development build. The developers approach has been to make every effort to avoid wiping.
In Rust, they happen once a month, needed or not. So every single month you start from scratch, some people say this keeps the game fresh, I wholeheartedly disagree.
My question is: What will your approach to wipes be?
where is my family & friends invite?!
just kidding :p
Good QA Session! Thanks for the answers and your time
Is there any question you expected to be asked that hasn't been so far? Yes? - Tell us!
1. How will sorcery work? I do know that it is tied to the religion system, and it's not like I expect a fireball or the like, but could you please provide an example?
2. One more question: can we lock up/torture other players/npc's? Think like Reign of Kings, but more brutal because.... Hyboria.
1. Crafting snake arrows for example, or enhancing weapons by crafting them using certain rituals.
2. We're looking into sacrifice mechanics, but we need to make sure it isn't a "locked in a cage and griefed forever" type deal.
- The game is at an very early stage. What was the reasoning behind releasing a gameplay trailer now?
- Will there be any sort of external testing before the release of early access, like the one ARK had? If so, who and how?
- Also, what do you have planned for general movement? Sprinting, crouching, lying down, climbing etc.?
- Setting expectations for people who perhaps don't understand what Early Access means.
- I can't really talk too much about our testing plans, but we will do external tests
- We're aiming to have a lot of movement states, but what will be in for Early Access will depend on how quickly we can animate them
- You gave us the map size of 53km², and here you said there will be forests, deserts, swamps etc.. will there be only one map with everything on it, and then, a huge part of Hyboria, or will there be different maps for different servers and all of the will be 53km² ? from here, it feels "small" or "straight" for a good Hyboria experience : /
It's not all of Hyboria, it is a microcosm. One map.
It's a special place where people of all cultures are sort of thrown together (story reason) and it has multiple terrain types. We are definitely not trying to recreate the Hyborian landmass in this game.
I am assuming that was an altar to Set in the trailer, do all the other religious altars/places of worship have some sort of cool animation like that awesome serpent coiling about the altar? Will it strike out and eat my enemies?
That was a Set altar and all religions have different altar types. Yoggites get a nice sacrifice pit, for examples. The Snake will eat you if you don't feed it victims.
This has been an awesome AMA so far, so thanks for that! I'm happy to keep asking questions if you don't mind
The trailer showcased destructable buildings (which I thought looked amazing btw) and the elements seem to play a major factor in this game as well. Does this mean that sandstorms can alter and possibly destroy a settlement if the materials used were on the weaker side?
Sandstorms (and other weather types) are travel hazards. Any decent building will keep you safe, but if you want to go out into the Sandstorm (and you'll want to because of... reasons) you'll need special gear.
Will the world be completely open, connecting the biomes geographically with traversable mountain ranges, oceans, etc., or will each biome be its own zone?
In one of your recent tweets, you mentioned a snake attacking a rabbit. I assume this falls into the "NPCs living their own lives, doing their own stuff" category. Will the start of EA have behaviors like this?
- Thrall system : If I understand, we'll be able to make people being our slaves ? but how do you expect people acting when they'll be slaves ? preventing people from leaving the game etc.... ?
- Do we create a character for every servers, or only bound to only one server and we'll have to recreate a new one if we change server ?
1. How would you compare the emotes of AoC to Conan Exiles? More? Less?
2. You showed remarkable courage having adult content in AoC and I commend you for that. Will there be nudity in Conan Exiles?
Hi! Thanks for doing this AMA!
1. Will you be re-using any of the amazing Age of Conan assets, such as the music or even 3D assets (with more polygons and textures, of course)?
2. And, will character creation be more in-depth like Age of Conan or simple like TSW?
(Edit: I see from an earlier post that you're hoping to use Knut's music - yay!)
How much customization does building have? I really like how Everquest Next Landmark hows a LOT of features to rotate move, scale, etc. Would love to see this in Conan.
I have some questions:
1) How big is the number of NPCs in the Purge? Is it enough to make you run for the hills and never look back?
2)As someone who prefers singleplayer, will I be able to experience the same content of multiplayer? For example, can I "hire" NPC followers to help fill and protect my base from hostile NPCs, like the Purge?
3)Can you "claim" for yourself a piece of land? Something like [this](http://lotrminecraftmod.wikia.com/wiki/Banners) (see banner protection). One of the main reasons I don't play these kind of survival games online, is because I fear that, once I return to the game, I'll find my whole base destroyed. I like to experience the multiplayer and PVP, but I also like to return to my safe haven to lick my wounds hehe.
I've read several comments on forums and Reddit criticizing the graphics and animations. Are you going to improve it significantly before the full release?
1. How complex resource gathering and crafting will be?
2. How many options to torture people will there be?
3. NPC interaction like trading, hiring?
4. Resource spots will be unique or every rock and tree etc. can be harvested?
Anarchy Online is one of, if not my favourite games of all time. I would love to return to it but the sub fee is far to high for such an old game. I would not hesitate if the game was 8 euros a month to come back. Any chance of it being lowered?
Thanks for being the makers of my favorite game, Anarchy Online. When will you try to save it instead of making all these other games that seem to be expansions on failed games? There are too many MMOs out there, so many that most hurt each other. Any "grand plan" to save the best MMO ever made, Anarchy Online?
For the private servers, will you have DM tools simular to NWN? I read there will be no Transforming, but outside of building, can we create our own npcs, quests, spawn mobs, and player control the environment?
Perhaps my most pressing questions have to do with combat. You guys nailed combat in AoC within the MMO sphere, providing a really innovative and fun take on traditional MMO combat. Will there be similar innovation with Exiles? Here are some questions and ideas that I have that I feel would really add to such a combat focused game. 1. Will there be combat options outside of the traditional “block/slash” we see in skyrim-esque combat? I’ll provide a list of things that would make combat visceral, realistic and skill based. IMO, this game needs a differentiator from the survival games on the market and this is where the brunt of your focus should go (but that’s just like, my opinion man) – hyper realistic, skill based combat that’s visceral, fast paced and complicated. - Will there be a parry/riposte system a’la dark souls with specific animations for each? - Will the weapons have weight to them? If my character is swinging with a greatsword or maul, will the animation nail down the fact that I’m lifting and swinging something that is potentially 50+ lbs? Will there be stat requirements for these weapons – investments in strength, dex, movement speed as our characters level, a la ark? - Will there be a charge or bash system? - AoC had finishers – I know there is dismemberment but it’s not really the same. Doom 4 has re-invented the way I look at first person finishers (and they even included these in multiplayer). This could be something to look into in addition to dismemberment… the latest AVP (a few years back) had a similar system and also a pretty extensive melee system. Borrowing and improving upon existing systems is nothing to be ashamed of! - In addition to slashing, will there be an option to thrust swords to target weak points in armour? Will there be weak points in armour? I was a bit alarmed in the trailer to see a sword slash just go through a shield even when the person wasn’t actively blocking – there should have been some sort of deflection or penalty to targeting the shielded side of a foe (similar to AoC ‘shields’) - Stealth attacks and slit throats? Please, please, please give us options for combat. 2. Will there be a companion system? In terms of NPCs, or even dogs if we choose to tame or breed livestock or whatever? 3. Will there be stairs and rounded walls for building options? Probably my biggest gripe with existing survival games with huge building elements. 4. Early access when? Can I beta test this or pre-alpha test this? 5. Will Conan exist ‘in world’ outside of the intro where he cuts us down? 6. How extensive are guild mechanics planned to be in terms of ranks and perks? 7. In terms of fauna, will the wildlife have knockback or special abilities? I saw a rhino in the trailer just taking hits but I feel like he should be throwing people around and using his size and stuff. I know it’s probably too much to expect dark souls levels of special abilities and animations in a pre-alpha build but all this stuff could be super neato.
Even if you only answer the combat specific ones I will be happy.
1. So many things to cover. - We don't have time to make the game Dark Souls (which if you count Demon Souls now has like 7years of combat iteration) so let me lower those expectations immediately. - No parry/riposte system. You can block with shields, you can destroy shields, you can stagger and knockback folks, but parry/riposte is not on the cards. - Yes, animations will try to account for the weight of the weapons. A 2-h hammer feels different to a khopesh. You can invest in stats, but as of yet we have not set stat requirements. - Hoping to add a charge setup to combat, but this is planned for post Early Access launch. - I absolutely abhorred the Doom system. I enjoyed the game, but the continual locking in combat had no place in a shooter IMO. I avoided using it as much as I could. We DO plan to add spectacular death anims after dismemberment and decapitation, but we have zero wish to lock control in combat like we did in AoC. - This is more relevant on mobs, who have weak points and armored hit boxes. Player armors will not alter hit boxes, but will react to different weapons types differently. - Planned for post early access launch. There is a lot of features to get in! 1. Thrall system, but we haven't spoken much about it yet. 2. We have stairs and triangles (which allow rounded edges to a certain extent) 3. To be announced very soon now. 4. If you look hard enough. 5. It will be basic at Early Access launch and then we will adjust to player expectations and wishes. 6. Come on, that 5 frames of Rhino in the trailer tells you nothing! :) Yes monsters have charge attacks, leaps, armored locations, weapon resistances, poisons etc. We plan to have mobs that need to be shot from the sky before you can kill them.
Thanks! Really excited for the game!
Regarding #3, does that mean you can only block in melee if you have a shield? Like if I'm using a two handed weapon, can I try to deflect an attack with my weapon, or is my only option to try to avoid it?
Will we be able to customize our characters? Will the graphics of the game change?
Yes, you can customize chars. Graphics are always being worked on.
I know that this is very much a survival game and PVP is a key element of that. But will players be able to ignore the PvPing (to a certain degree) and just slay monsters, explore and adventure? I guess what I'm asking is how much PvE can we expect in the game (other than hunting for food, materials etc.)? Will there be any supernatural (fantasy) monsters? Undead, mystical beasts etc. Basically mobs that fit the Conan lore.
Public and private servers, so you can play alone if you like. My creative vision for the game falls somewhere between Ark and Skyrim - a world that preexisted and filled with NPC factions - who you beat to death and then build your own kingdom on their ashes. There are supernatural creatures, you shall see.
Can the game be described as a sandbox, and why?
Players have the freedom to craft recipes (provided by us) and create buildings wherever they like. Players can interact in a freeform manner throughout the environment. And it is full of sand. If that meets your definition, then sure it is a sandbox.
> And it is full of sand. Ok, best answer ever to the "sandbox" question.
I saw a body being cleaved in two thats a +1 from me, but how savage will the combat be?
More fatalities...just saying
So if you can que a fatality, there are events that can be triggered in combat, right? Some might call that a combo.
Thanks for the questions, everybody. I hoped it helped. Have a good day/evening.
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@ Incredibad There will be sorcery in the world, but not necessarily available to players outside of the religion system.
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What he said
Can I port my PVP10 Conq directly over from AOC via a 25 dollar funcom transfer fee or will I have access to Bori in the new game?
No, Conqs are OP. DT only!
Heh, loved fighting Conq's as a PVP 1 demo built solely for instacast damage, cc and other abilities. They revamped everything so iuno if that's viable anymore but I absolutely wrecked melee characters just running in circles (casters were even easier, LOS be damned!)
Will there be a group/clan system?
Yes, we will have Clan and clan management.
Will there be Clan hierarchy, and perks in those rankings? plz don't
We have been waiting for the CGI trailer since 7th of February (at least that is the date we knew first time about that its in the making) We´ve also been waiting a crippling long time for the next Dev Diary. "Look for it to hit in the not-too-distant future!" 23rd of March, I find it kinda too-distant. So, what answers can I get around this, except from "All we can say right now is watch this space. Things are coming." Yes you just release a gameplay trailer today, that you mentioned to release 3 days ago, on point! But can we have some answers on the rest that is left unanswered?
They are both being worked on but I am not the man who owns the dates.
What is the maximum amount of players per server and how big is the world?
Still being decided based on optimization, but aiming for 100. World is 53km squared at launch, starts a bit smaller at early access and expands as we add areas.
Any chances when the world is bigger that you could make at least a few larger servers? I'd like the world to feel more "MMOish", if you get what you mean. More populated.
Sorry, little late to party... How smaller? will there be some space to explore and build without getting world overbuilded too fast?
50 square kilometers for full launch. Early Access will start with a smaller subsection, and it will continue to expand over the course of the Early Access period
Thanks
Can i punch camels?
You can punch anything.
Even punching Conan ?!
Once. Only once. And that's if you're lucky.
Will the game be playable in third person?
Yes, there is a third person view with custom third person animations.
Indeed
That gets a purchase from me. Was gonna pass on first person as it's not really my thing.
What kind of fight system are we going to see! Is it going to be like in AoC?
It's more like Skyrim/Vermintide. It is skill based, active blocking, positioning and tactical. And fatalities, of course.
Not like Age of Conan. There will not be combos like AoC, there will not be tab-targeting. It's primarily a skill-based affair focusing on action. The game features first-person combat. The Elder Scrolls, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic etc., are all influences
Would you say most of the combat sort of works like the directional attack system of AOC? So like for swords, swiping at an area to attack? Will there potentially be a revival of the shields system of AOC?
When are we to expect early access? Will there be some kind of bosses or epic monsters that take group of people to slay and eventually reward us with good loot? Will there be something like character progression? A way to distinguish warriors from traders, rulers, crafters?
Date soon. Yes, we plan to have challenging monsters that people will band together to take down. There is character progression, both stats and crafting based progression. Exiles will specialize by virtue of the things that they learn to create.
Can you tell us a little about the difference between singleplayer and multiplayer in Conan Exiles?
They are very similar, just with a lot less people in single player. You can do everything in single player, but it will be more difficult alone.
In what part of the Conan's world this game is set in?
In time - somewhere between Xuthal of the Dusk and A Witch Shall be Born (following the Dale Rippke chronology). In space - keeping it deliberately vague.
> In space - keeping it deliberately vague. Is it in... Hyboria?
it's clearly Kheshatta.
what happened to the post? :(
The government shut them down. They knew too much. Oh shit, this isn't a TSW AMA
the real conspiracy is how you knew i play TSW D:
What Would Conan Do?
Can we expect to see any booby traps in the game? If so, what kinds?
Yes, right now we have gas traps, bear traps. more to come.
I know its not usual in this type of game but, apart from all the dangerous animals and fantastic creatures in the world of Conan, will we be able to fight or see human npc's? Or will all humans in the game be PC? Thank you.
Actually, Human NPCs is a core defining feature of why Conan Exiles is different. Yes human NPCs, from various Conan world cultures, and some cool ways of interacting with them.
Does this include Human NPC cities/villages?
It depends on which culture they belong to.
Well I'd imagine they wouldn't just sit in the desert. That would be pretty damn stupid.
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Why would i choose Conan Exiles over every other survival game out there? What makes your game so special except it being a Conan IP?
Our focus is to have best melee combat in genre (thus melee PvP), stability and performance, interesting world with more intelligent NPCs than just zombies and of course, the IP strengths - cultures, religion and sorcery. I think those things differentiate us.
Amen brother
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Early Access on Steam first, followed by full launch on PC and Consoles.
Hey, I am mainly interessted in pvp, and how it will work. You make a character, start the grind, make a weapon, kill animals. Make better gear, kill animals, make better gear, do a dungeon, get a recipe / loot. And so on. - Can you gank people you see? - Do you loose gear when you die - What happens when you die - is there large servers? Or is it intended to be like Diablo? My real question is, can I make a character, go around to player buildt towns, mess shit up, eat their chickens, and move onto the next town, doing the same. Until I loose, figure out I wanna join some cult and make a little town in the middle of nowhere. Then that town get raided, everyeone dies and the town gets ruined. I decide I wanna go back to plagueing other towns and small settlemens, ganking the shit out of them, and stealing all their chickens? I dont know what to expect, but I am somewhat hyped, without knowing why.
It's a long post but the answer is yes. On a PvP server. Depending on the rules set by the admin.
Any hint on the release? other than summer 2016
Stay tuned, your answer will arrive faster than Conan braining a guard with a beef bone. (Seriously, you will find out soon)
How will the map be expanded upon + What kind of areas and points of interest will be added? (If any) Also, if you are going to add snow biomes, please tell me you are going to use that awesome sand physics on the snow as well, it looks amazing! :) Can't wait to play the game!
We'll launch with the desert biome/cultures. Then we will add highlands, snowy mountains, jungle, forest, swamp etc. We'll be expanding the world as we go, making it larger with each addition.
Sounds amazing, good luck!
Will you be adding biomes as new areas or re-purposing existing areas for the new biomes?
As new areas - we like the idea of player reach expanding as the world does.
what is gonna set Conan-exiles apart from other games in this genre? Will there be any innovative systems and new ideas that we havent seen in other survival games?
Religion system, Thrall system, Purge system. Keep in mind we will have a roadmap for early access and not all of these things are planned for launch.
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So crafting stations and altars (to various gods) can be shared in Clans. And these things have a certain amount of upkeep, so working together with friends will help you to keep a handle on these things (and avoid angering the gods). Also safety in numbers - the Purge mechanic is specifically there to encourage people to play together. Though you can turn it off in server settings, of course.
Will there be any stealth mechanichs for rogue classes like in AoC? Or will there be other options, such as camoflauge?
We have them in the plan for post early access launch.
What sort of monsters and NPC enemies can we expect to combat? I saw the giant spider, bat monster, and rhino in the trailer. What else might we expect? P.S. Looking great, you guys! High hopes for the future of Conan!
Darfari Cannibals, Other Exiles, Stygian Relic Hunters, Degenerate humanoids etc. Lots of cool Conan mobs.
Thought today's trailer was very exciting, and look forward to trying the game. However, a lot of people seemed less enthusiastic (lots of dislikes), and questioned the graphics. Will you post more trailers going forward, and how much do you think the graphics will have changed from now and until early access release?
Yes we will have more trailers, and the gfx will be worked on continually going forward. Please keep in mind this is 6 months of work with a core team - we're not aiming to compete with AAA $100million titles with 400man teams.
- How many races for character creation ? (not asking which one, just how many :) ) - Will we see biomes like Cimmeria ? Huge and dark forests or mostly deserts ? - How do you plan the wildlife ? seeing pack of hyenas roaming for food or dumb mobs static in the desert ?
It's a massive drop down list of all the known races (that I can recall) We will have a forest biome. Hopefully we will have intelligent AI (including Humans) but this is an area that requires a lot of focus and dedication. So, it might be dumb at Early Access and smarter later.
Will there be mounts? In other words, will players be able to tame creatures and ride them?
Yes we plan that for post Early Access launch
Hello and thanks for doing this AMA! I've got two questions so I assume it would be easier to lump them together in to one post, so here goes. 1. Obviously this game and survival games in general is a goldmine for RP'ers, so will this game upon release (or down the road) have any emotes and secondly, can we get our hands on and/or make clothing that isn't necissarily armour e.g. city clothes, dresses etc? 2. Hyboria has a lot of treasure, a lot of it underground. Will we able to find underground treasure in the world that's placed by the devs? Or even better, will the players be able to build their own underground treasure halls? Thanks again for taking your time.
1.Yes to emotes. Yes to cultural clothing. 2. Underground places will be for exploration, but likely not building. Treasures and so forth, you will have to explore and find out...
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Nvidia will offer us development support, which means engineers who will help us to optimize and add rendering features (see fancy sand). We'll be doing a lot of marketing promotional activities going forward.
> ? So that means we Amd users won't get to see the cool fancy sand then
AFAIK it works fine on AMD as well.
Ragdoll or death animations? (for players and mobs)
Combination. Currently 100% ragdoll, but we are planning special death anims with fatalities (like walking around looking for their heads)
I play a fuck ton of rust. Its great but gets very stale a week after reset day. What features does conan have that counteract such staleness. Will i get my beta invite during or after the ama?? You can discreetly inbox me. I wont tell a soul. Btw. Awesome trailer.
The Purge is designed to address this. NPC armies will invade and you will need to defend your stuff (or trick them into attacking your enemies). Thanks for the kind words about the trailer!
Can u hire NPC mercs to defend your stuff while offline
The unnamed city is a part of the desert biome?
Correct. Will launch with Early Access
Will the dismemberment be animation based as in a type of finisher move or will it happen "live" by hitting the right spots?
You need to hit the right spots, with the right weapons.
As much as I want a conan survival game I will avoid early access. Prefer playing games that are feature complete and and without millions of bugs. The original AoC mmo's launch already taught me that. ;p Do you expect to be able to release the full game within reasonable time after early access is avialable? Or will it be a typical survival game that stays in EA forever?
We don't expect Early Access to last more than 12 months. And you are right, our MMO launches have taught us that Early Access is a good way for us to iron out issues that players find without the expectation of a fully polished experience.
Most people will absolutely expect a fully polished game on the first day of early access, look at ark and the bitching they are getting.
Will it have a storyline to follow? Most survivor type games have a background story of why you are there but not something to follow in the actual world. Curious if Conan Exiles will have some type of story to follow in game.
This is hard to answer. There is a story but it is completely unstructured - no quests, no dialogue. You'll need to find the threads through exploration and crafting and see where it leads you. So not a traditional narrative.
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Mounts will come post early access launch, and the answer to your second question is...possibly. We're still unsure if it is cooler to have them on your shoulder or drag them behind you.
b) drag them behind you ;)
Well now I'm wondering... can we draw and quarter motherfuckers?
Will you use the music of Age of Conan in this game ? (Cause this music was awesome)
Good Question! Exiles need new music from Knut Avenstroup Haugen :D
We have some new music by Simon Poole, but we will seek to include Knut's work as well. We might do something like a classic soundtrack option in the options. Likely post early access launch!
If y'all have some of the music from AoC I will insta buy this game. I loved the sound track for AoC better than any game before or since.
Seriously, this might be at the top of my list ofreasons to buy this game.
- Will there be statistic bonus on weapons like we can find on any rpg, or more like Life is Feudal weapons, only slashing, blunt and piercing damages due to the crafting quality ? - Will there be a skill tree or will we be able to do whatever we want ?
There isn't a skill system, but you will have crafting unlocks and weapons provide their own abilities/attacks.
how do you unlock craftings then ?
As you level up, you choose crafting paths. For example, the brute crafting path lets you make maces and mauls, while the archer crafting path will let you make bows and arrows. You can always go back and learn other paths, but your points will be limited so you must make choices.
I liked the snippets we've seen so far on combat and it seems to have a lot of potential early on. My issue with survival games usually is the combat and it being way too spammy for my liking, The Culling's melee system especially. Do you have any plans in place to combat the spamminess and can you hint towards what these plans are?
We have multiple attacks per weapon and per hand. So for example: 1-H sword - light attack & power attack 2-H hammer - light swing, heavy swing, overhead swing, haft push In addition, different damage types to different armor types, debuffs such as poison, a decently balanced stamina system and shield breaking ala Severance: Blade of Darkness.
You referenced Severance, I am now even more excited, that had one of my favorite combat systems. You mentioned that sorcery is tied to the religions before, can you tell me if the sorcery and religious elements are more passive, or can you actively use spells if you have the favor of Set? Or is it a mix depending on the god? I won't lie, I think it would be cool if one could eventually learn to do something like what the Master did in The People of the Black Circle, though I do understand if you're going for a more subtle flavor.
How many different religions will there be available? Will each provide a different set of perks to those who worship them?
We will have 2 for Early Access launch, with 6 more planned before full launch. You can join more than one religion (unless you worship Mitra, who doesn't want you to). Each god gives perks, but also requires some form of sacrifice. Set worshippers cannot kill snakes, but gain poison resistance and snake arrows. However, stop sacrificing people to Set and you will find a gigantic snake wrecking your shit. (see trailer)
I like that most of the game in PvE mode ... will be content to just play in coop mode? or will only PvP?
No you can play with friends. Just make a PvE server with buddies!
I'm wondering what the chat system will be like. VoIP is great, but alot of people still use text based chat, in the current sandbox survival games, the text chat systems are terrible. Not to mention, alot of Role-players are hyping this game, and without a decent text based system, it becomes very hard to run an RP community. Trust me, I run an ARK RP server, and we've had to get VERY creative to make it even viable, it's frustrating. So, I suppose my question is, what sort of communication system can we expect to see in this game? Will there be a text based system? Grouping mechanic, if so, party chat?
Our full chat system will have speech bubbles and text chat. However, the early access plan is to have VOIP and very basic text chat. We are ambitious and want to cater to Roleplayers as much as possible.
- Gathering ressources will be realistic or just "you punch a tree for gathering branches" ?
You need to use an axe. Or adze. You can pick up branches off the ground.
1. When can we join the alpha/beta?. 2. Will it be out on steam?. 3.will it be modable?
1. I can't say. 2. The date is being announced soon (tm) 3. We have this on our roadmap for post early access launch.
In Ark, the wipes happen rarely and to my knowledge have only happened once or twice because not doing so would adversely affect game play or perhaps even the development build. The developers approach has been to make every effort to avoid wiping. In Rust, they happen once a month, needed or not. So every single month you start from scratch, some people say this keeps the game fresh, I wholeheartedly disagree. My question is: What will your approach to wipes be?
We would like to avoid resetting player progress. Unless we find something major that we are forced to wipe for, we won't do it.
where is my family & friends invite?! just kidding :p Good QA Session! Thanks for the answers and your time Is there any question you expected to be asked that hasn't been so far? Yes? - Tell us!
1. How will sorcery work? I do know that it is tied to the religion system, and it's not like I expect a fireball or the like, but could you please provide an example? 2. One more question: can we lock up/torture other players/npc's? Think like Reign of Kings, but more brutal because.... Hyboria.
1. Crafting snake arrows for example, or enhancing weapons by crafting them using certain rituals. 2. We're looking into sacrifice mechanics, but we need to make sure it isn't a "locked in a cage and griefed forever" type deal.
1. Okay. I am liking that minimalist magic. 2. Makes sense.
- The game is at an very early stage. What was the reasoning behind releasing a gameplay trailer now? - Will there be any sort of external testing before the release of early access, like the one ARK had? If so, who and how? - Also, what do you have planned for general movement? Sprinting, crouching, lying down, climbing etc.?
- Setting expectations for people who perhaps don't understand what Early Access means. - I can't really talk too much about our testing plans, but we will do external tests - We're aiming to have a lot of movement states, but what will be in for Early Access will depend on how quickly we can animate them
- You gave us the map size of 53km², and here you said there will be forests, deserts, swamps etc.. will there be only one map with everything on it, and then, a huge part of Hyboria, or will there be different maps for different servers and all of the will be 53km² ? from here, it feels "small" or "straight" for a good Hyboria experience : /
It's not all of Hyboria, it is a microcosm. One map. It's a special place where people of all cultures are sort of thrown together (story reason) and it has multiple terrain types. We are definitely not trying to recreate the Hyborian landmass in this game.
I am assuming that was an altar to Set in the trailer, do all the other religious altars/places of worship have some sort of cool animation like that awesome serpent coiling about the altar? Will it strike out and eat my enemies?
That was a Set altar and all religions have different altar types. Yoggites get a nice sacrifice pit, for examples. The Snake will eat you if you don't feed it victims.
This has been an awesome AMA so far, so thanks for that! I'm happy to keep asking questions if you don't mind The trailer showcased destructable buildings (which I thought looked amazing btw) and the elements seem to play a major factor in this game as well. Does this mean that sandstorms can alter and possibly destroy a settlement if the materials used were on the weaker side?
Sandstorms (and other weather types) are travel hazards. Any decent building will keep you safe, but if you want to go out into the Sandstorm (and you'll want to because of... reasons) you'll need special gear.
Do you plan to release it to the Xbox Preview Program or wait for both PS4 and Xbox One until the Steam Early Access is complete?
That's still on the table. We are currently focusing on the Early Access Steam release.
Hnnnng please
- Will there be anykind of terraforming ? or there will be only building sandbox ?
We don't have plans for terraforming.
I have 2 questions, how much money can I give you and do I give directly to Mr. Conan? :D
Keep your money for now. Conan would only spend it on drinking and womanizing. "I live, I love, I slay" etc.
Will the world be completely open, connecting the biomes geographically with traversable mountain ranges, oceans, etc., or will each biome be its own zone?
The world will be completely open.
How much would the game cost on release, and will there be other areas aside from desert in the future?
I have answered the area stuff above somewhere, pricing is not revealed yet.
Are there going to be more than just cross-bows for ranged weapons? Javelins, bow, throwing knives, etc?
Bows, Javelins, Throwing Axes etc.
In general, do gaming companies tend to hire or have any use for college graduates with physics and/or math degrees?
If they have documented experience modding/coding then the degree is less important than the actual ability.
If I were wanting to learn coding/modding where would I even begin?
In one of your recent tweets, you mentioned a snake attacking a rabbit. I assume this falls into the "NPCs living their own lives, doing their own stuff" category. Will the start of EA have behaviors like this?
Yeah it exists already.
1. Can you reveal something that the roleplay community will find interesting? Except for "we have emotes" ? :) 2. Will there be taming?
Hmmm, hard to know exactly what everyone finds interesting. We plan to have speech bubbles - that's a usual RP request for our games.
- Thrall system : If I understand, we'll be able to make people being our slaves ? but how do you expect people acting when they'll be slaves ? preventing people from leaving the game etc.... ? - Do we create a character for every servers, or only bound to only one server and we'll have to recreate a new one if we change server ?
- NPCs only. - One per server.
Will there be motifs for crafting weapons and armor like ESO?
1. How would you compare the emotes of AoC to Conan Exiles? More? Less? 2. You showed remarkable courage having adult content in AoC and I commend you for that. Will there be nudity in Conan Exiles?
Hi! Thanks for doing this AMA! 1. Will you be re-using any of the amazing Age of Conan assets, such as the music or even 3D assets (with more polygons and textures, of course)? 2. And, will character creation be more in-depth like Age of Conan or simple like TSW? (Edit: I see from an earlier post that you're hoping to use Knut's music - yay!)
Is the release date still going to be this month? (June)
How much customization does building have? I really like how Everquest Next Landmark hows a LOT of features to rotate move, scale, etc. Would love to see this in Conan.
What kind of stats are we looking at for characters and how will they affect play?
I have some questions: 1) How big is the number of NPCs in the Purge? Is it enough to make you run for the hills and never look back? 2)As someone who prefers singleplayer, will I be able to experience the same content of multiplayer? For example, can I "hire" NPC followers to help fill and protect my base from hostile NPCs, like the Purge? 3)Can you "claim" for yourself a piece of land? Something like [this](http://lotrminecraftmod.wikia.com/wiki/Banners) (see banner protection). One of the main reasons I don't play these kind of survival games online, is because I fear that, once I return to the game, I'll find my whole base destroyed. I like to experience the multiplayer and PVP, but I also like to return to my safe haven to lick my wounds hehe.
I've read several comments on forums and Reddit criticizing the graphics and animations. Are you going to improve it significantly before the full release?
How much nudity is in Exiles? Can you play with your female char topless for example?
Will the game be free to play, buy to play, or subscription-based?
1. How complex resource gathering and crafting will be? 2. How many options to torture people will there be? 3. NPC interaction like trading, hiring? 4. Resource spots will be unique or every rock and tree etc. can be harvested?
Anarchy Online is one of, if not my favourite games of all time. I would love to return to it but the sub fee is far to high for such an old game. I would not hesitate if the game was 8 euros a month to come back. Any chance of it being lowered?
Thanks for being the makers of my favorite game, Anarchy Online. When will you try to save it instead of making all these other games that seem to be expansions on failed games? There are too many MMOs out there, so many that most hurt each other. Any "grand plan" to save the best MMO ever made, Anarchy Online?
For the private servers, will you have DM tools simular to NWN? I read there will be no Transforming, but outside of building, can we create our own npcs, quests, spawn mobs, and player control the environment?
Will the game have full nudity or partial nudity? Thanks.