Corruption in conan exiles

My initial impressions of Conan Exiles, written just about a year ago, weren’t exactly glowing. While I know not every game I play needs to appeal to me, so much of the genre just felt like a repetition of what we’d already seen countless times before: a survival game in early access filled with bugs, naked people killing each other, and nothing that really made living in the game world feel worth it. Character progression felt bland, building was significantly harder than destruction, and the guild recruitment button on day one resulted in axing people in the face. But that was a year ago. MJ has covered in-depth what the game’s done right since then, but even I’ve noticed just how much Funcom’s done to bolster the title. It made buildings more difficult to destroy. More emotes came in. More PvE content. Climbing. New zones. And then the launch announcement about a year after EA, with February’s honest look at the game’s future. … [Read more...] about GDC 2018: Funcom’s Tor Egil Andersen on Conan Exiles’ early access, launch, and beyond

I am no stranger to covering survival sandboxes for Massively OP. I wrestled with dinosaurs before ARK: Survival Evolved was a thing. I got kidnapped and tried to drown myself in a puddle, spent days building a glorified shack before hackers or server admins could destroy them, and got a better understanding of what it’s like to be an Asian gamer thanks to Valve’s social experiment. There have been some good memories for sure, but the cancelled games, broken promises, and fact that most of the genre is in an infinite non-launch state are just some of the reasons I’ve been losing faith in online, multiplayer survival games. I love the idea of PvP allowing for meaningful social gameplay, but in reality, I mostly experience only ganking. But without PvP, I generally get so bored of PvE that I run into the arms of a (J)RPG so I can get drama and permadeath in a finished product, often without kids screaming at me to stop moving and just die. But here I … [Read more...] about First Impressions: Struggling to survive in Conan Exiles

In a world where no game is perfect, I continue to be pleased with the progress Conan Exiles keeps making. I’m also happy that Funcom has been sticking to its promise to keep all content that was expected in alpha free to players. Both of these points were demonstrated in the survival game’s latest major update. But let’s be real, we’re here to talk about the one really important thing. Pets! Yes, pets. That much-desired feature that didn’t make it in before launch was finally implemented, and that makes for one very happy MJ. Along with pets (did I mention pets?) came a slew of specialty arrows, a new religion, a fun (pet-themed) dungeon, new off-hand combos, and more. Or so I’ve been told. I mostly only noticed the pets. Did you see the pets? There may be a few kinks and a few things I’d like to see changed, but I’ve been busy enjoying it all. Mostly pets. Oh we also got a new DLC full of Pictish delights, which turned out better than I … [Read more...] about Chaos Theory: Conan Exiles’ Picts, pets, and pokey arrows

In a world where no game is perfect, I continue to be pleased with the progress Conan Exiles keeps making. I’m also happy that Funcom has been sticking to its promise to keep all content that was expected in alpha free to players. Both of these points were demonstrated in the survival game’s latest major update. But let’s be real, we’re here to talk about the one really important thing. Pets! Yes, pets. That much-desired feature that didn’t make it in before launch was finally implemented, and that makes for one very happy MJ. Along with pets (did I mention pets?) came a slew of specialty arrows, a new religion, a fun (pet-themed) dungeon, new off-hand combos, and more. Or so I’ve been told. I mostly only noticed the pets. Did you see the pets? There may be a few kinks and a few things I’d like to see changed, but I’ve been busy enjoying it all. Mostly pets. Oh we also got a new DLC full of Pictish delights, which turned out better than I … [Read more...] about The Survivalist: Conan Exiles’ Picts, pets, and pokey arrows

Support Massively OP on PatreonWere you too busy gaming this week to pay attention to MMO news? Get caught up every Sunday evening with Massively Overpowered’s Week in Review! As MOP’s Justin Olivetti reminded me this week, there’s are good reasons behind Blizzard’s plan to pre-launch World of Warcraft’s expansion mechanics before its content, and some of those reasons manifested this week – let’s get the rough start and comparisons to old expansions out of the way now, while it doesn’t fully count and before the real hype begins, right? Read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions. THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES WoW Factor: World of Warcraft’s Battle for Azeroth feels like Cataclysm all over again - It took me a long time to identify what felt off about World of Warcraft's upcoming expansion. Something was definitely bothering me, but the thing was is that we know… Trion Worlds has been … [Read more...] about MMO Week in Review: WoW’s seventh go-round on the expansion carousel (July 22, 2018)