Single Player Mode

[White Lion]

I know this is an old question. But the latest post for this question was 6 months ago. So I assume there were multiple updates after 6 months. Hence it is nice to highlight it again, especially for new comers like me.

Just to give you background, I spent 200+ hours on Ark: Survival Evolved. I've spent multiple sessions on various official servers with a total of tens of hours playing multiplayer mode. It sucks real bad! Very slow pace. Too much grind. After spending countless hours of grinding, all of my possessions will eventually be wiped out by other players or clans in just 1 night of sleep. I tried to rebuilt again in different servers, they all resulted the same. So I've wasted tens of hours of my life just to feed those cruel players online.

After that tragic experience, I totally hate playing survival games in MMO mode. So I played Ark: Survival Evolved for the remaining 160+ hours on single player mode and I had a blast. I felt I was in paradise, living among with dinosaurs, buidling my own castle, and creating a full army of dinosaurs. In short survival games in MMO mode was hell for me.

So based on my background above, does Conan Exiles have the same experience in MMO mode?

Can it be true paradise by just playing single player?

Is the NPC very dumb or just descent enough to keep the game quite interesting?

[Veld']

I only play this in single player offline and have over 400 hours according to steam and enjoy it single player, would it be fun with a few friends on a private server sure. But with thralls and a very customisable single player game (xp and gathering rates, durability, etc etc) setup i think you'll enjoy this game. Doubly so since you enjoyed Ark (i have over 3000 hours in Ark for context) For me, building in this is better but ark has a better environment and the combat is about as janky in both games (for slightly different reasons).

This game is (like Ark) very modable too, which is a big plus for me.

[thurgond]

CE servers are not a strictly PvP. There are PvE servers and PvP-C servers where you can be killed and the stuff you are carrying taken, but your base is safe. You can play in single player, but you might find paradise on a server with other players.

Human NPCs are dumb like most games, but is varied enough to keep you on your toes. You may be raiding a camp that hasn't given you problems before when 3 NPCs come at you -- one with a spear, one with a sword, and one blocking with a shield. Just swinging normally might get you killed in that situation.

[Aeekto]

Originally posted by Death Star:

I know this is an old question. But the latest post for this question was 6 months ago. So I assume there were multiple updates after 6 months. Hence it is nice to highlight it again, especially for new comers like me.

Just to give you background, I spent 200+ hours on Ark: Survival Evolved. I've spent multiple sessions on various official servers with a total of tens of hours playing multiplayer mode. It sucks real bad! Very slow pace. Too much grind. After spending countless hours of grinding, all of my possessions will eventually be wiped out by other players or clans in just 1 night of sleep. I tried to rebuilt again in different servers, they all resulted the same. So I've wasted tens of hours of my life just to feed those cruel players online.

After that tragic experience, I totally hate playing survival games in MMO mode. So I played Ark: Survival Evolved for the remaining 160+ hours on single player mode and I had a blast. I felt I was in paradise, living among with dinosaurs, buidling my own castle, and creating a full army of dinosaurs. In short survival games in MMO mode was hell for me.

So based on my background above, does Conan Exiles have the same experience in MMO mode?

Can it be true paradise by just playing single player?

Is the NPC very dumb or just descent enough to keep the game quite interesting?

Singleplayer runs a lot better than any multiplayerserver.... in multiplayer NPCs act weird, rubberband and teleport. nothing of that happens in singleplayer.
And there is enough fun to be had in singleplayer.... build you castle, catch some slaves, fight some bosses, etc.

[Vulgar Little Puppy]

I have over 1000 hours. I HIGHLY recommend this game's single-player experience. It's fun to build castles and staff them with your thralls, and their defenses matters thanks to the Purge mechanic that sends monsters after your base in large hordes. Better still, with human purges they include rare named NPCs that if captured will give you crafting bonuses or VERY powerful companions to aid you in battle, so you'll be looking forward to them. The animal ones are alright too since you can basically build your base to tackle boss-level monsters for uncommon resources.

The downside to this game is how grindy it is, even after you climb the tech tree and reach max level. The amount of stone and wood needed for construction gets absurd quickly, especially for tier 3 buildings which consume TONS of resources to build. There's also the taming/enslaving mechanics that were clearly intended for a persistent world server, where you could place a thrall in the wheel of pain to process them into a thrall, log off and do something else, then come back and use your new companion. Instead, you have to STAY IN GAME the whole time. Do yourself a favor: if you play single-player, crank up the harvest rate and set the thrall crafting timers to minimum. (Not doing that is WHY I have over 1000 hours...)

[thurgond]

Thrall crafting times have been cut way down in AoW.

[YUGIMAX]

I hear you my friend same happen to me, that why recommend single player unless you create you own server and play with friend and family

[Sloey]

for anybody
is it same with the coop experience
wanna try to play this with my buddy but a little bit skeptical because as far i know the coop is really bad

[P.]

Ark player here. Conan main differences:

- crafting and building are cheaper = less griding
- most enemies can be easily cheesed
- enemies can't damage your structures
- enemies don't pursue you to the end of the map (they get teleported back to their spawn "zone")
- enemies cannot attack while sprinting (you can outrun every enemy)
- there are no enemies like microraptor, pegomastax, icthyornis, troodon, cnidaria, purlovia, thyla and etc.
- enemies can't reach you in the water, crocs are a joke, they can't swim, Ark crocs tear you apart in the water
- your stamina regenerates in the water
- there is no giga and titan equivalents
- there is no mutation and imprinting, you just need tier 4 thralls
- mini-bosses (alpha equivalent) are weak, compared to alpha dinos
- bosses are far easier (you don't need days of preparation)
- caves are far easier
- iron runs are easier
- pets are useless
- you can reach the max level in a single day
- there are two mounts: horse and rhino
- horses are tanky
- rhinos have glass bones, paper skin and the cowardly nature of moschops (devs really don't like pets)
- PVP combat is double-jump + blood-mad berserker or double-jump + overencumbered
- PVP raids are offline
- there is no cold waves and hot waves, the snow area and the volcano are only places you have to worry about temperature
- there are a purge system, it's similar to this mod and purge enemies can damage your structures
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2140170832

[White Lion]

Originally posted by P.:

Ark player here. Conan main differences:

- crafting and building are cheaper = less griding
- most enemies can be easily cheesed
- enemies can't damage your structures
- enemies don't pursue you to the end of the map (they get teleported back to their spawn "zone")
- enemies cannot attack while sprinting (you can outrun every enemy)
- there are no enemies like microraptor, pegomastax, icthyornis, troodon, cnidaria, purlovia, thyla and etc.
- enemies can't reach you in the water, crocs are a joke, they can't swim, Ark crocs tear you apart in the water
- your stamina regenerates in the water
- there is no giga and titan equivalents
- there is no mutation and imprinting, you just need tier 4 thralls
- mini-bosses (alpha equivalent) are weak, compared to alpha dinos
- bosses are far easier (you don't need days of preparation)
- caves are far easier
- iron runs are easier
- pets are useless
- you can reach the max level in a single day
- there are two mounts: horse and rhino
- horses are tanky
- rhinos have glass bones, paper skin and the cowardly nature of moschops (devs really don't like pets)
- PVP combat is double-jump + blood-mad berserker or double-jump + overencumbered
- PVP raids are offline
- there is no cold waves and hot waves, the snow area and the volcano are only places you have to worry about temperature
- there are a purge system, it's similar to this mod and purge enemies can damage your structures
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2140170832

wow, you rock dude! Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

[Nailes]

I have 1600 hrs in this game and barely ever touched PVP. Its as you say; spend hours/days/weeks collecting resources and gear and then login to find everything was stolen by a burglar. No battles, very little fighting. It never sounded fun and engaging.
On top there are the regular updates that change everything. Thats not just FC, lots of developers come back to their game years after and change everything because they felt like it.

So I've always played singleplayer/coop. I used to be on an active PVE server for a very long time. Its really fun to delve into a dungeon with other people. Visit eachothers bases and show off your basebuilding skills or creations.
Server I was on went down, so now I play in singleplayer/coop where I can set everything to my liking. So I can make certain things harder or easier(faster thrallcrafting for example). Also allows me to install mods and add stuff or alter mechanics I dont like.

I was around back in Early access and Funcom initially believed that PvE was nothing.
They focussed entirely on the PvP side. It was only after a while that they started to realize that there was a PvE community and even longer to realize that the PvE community was worth paying attention to. They have changed the game up through the years. Now it seems the PvE community is the one that sticks around the longest.