[2020] Isle of Siptah Producer Letter

Hello Exiles! 

I wanted to catch everyone up on what the team has been working on since the Isle of Siptah Early Access launch and give a preview of what is coming to Conan Exiles in early 2021. 

First thing first, let’s chat Isle of Siptah. We released in Early Access on September 15th, and since then we have been releasing small updates to fix bugs, adjust balance, and address some of the feedback we have received.  We have also been reading the reviews players have posted on Steam, our forums, and social media.   

When we released Isle of Siptah we knew that we were making some risky decisions and tweaking some of the core aspects of Conan Exiles that people have come to love and embrace over the past 4 years.  Some of the features with Isle of Siptah have been well–received, and some of them have not.  Below you will see two charts that attempt to categorize the most common comments we have seen on reviews:

Conan Exiles is a sandbox game where the players can decide how they want to play. We also have different server types which allow very different communities to play and experience the game in the way they like the most. On top of this we allow mods which can take the game in amazing new directions that we never expected. The result is that we end up having a lot of different core user types that expect and want different things. We expect any change to potentially upset some users in the various groups, but it is obvious that we have missed the mark with too many of our customers with Isle of Siptah.  This is something we plan to address. 

One of the main purposes of having an Early Access period is precisely so we can receive feedback from the community and tweak and improve our game as we move towards full launch. 

Improvements to the Isle of Siptah 

Some of the negative feedback we received during Early Access was that the Isle of Siptah seemed emptier than the Exiled Lands (lacking NPC camps for example), that there were too few good places to build, that the storm was too dominating, that the map itself seemed a bit too small, that there was not enough PvE content, that you couldn’t transfer characters between maps and that it was too cumbersome to capture thralls. 

Going forward we will improve the Isle of Siptah expansion significantly in all these aspects by: 

• Introducing many new NPC camps around the map 
• Populate the camps with humans who can be captured as thralls 
• Expand the island map to the south with new content and desirable building locations 
• Tone down the intensity of the storm and make it possible to build within the storm area
• Break the links between the vaults, the storm, and the surge 
• Introduce purges with enemies from the island 
• Introduce new activities and new PvE mechanics 
• Make new and unique placeables for the Isle of Siptah 
• Introduce a new religion and new avatar 
• Open a chamber in the Tower of Siptah, with great rewards to be found inside
• Allow character transfers between the Exiled Lands and the Isle of Siptah 

All new NPC camps 

NPC camps, full of life and activity, greatly increase the richness of the world of Conan Exiles. We will introduce many such camps to the Isle of Siptah. These camps will have a host of different human NPCs which can be captured as thralls just like in the Exiled Lands. 

The camps will vary in size and come from three different factions. Stygian mercenaries have settled on the Isle of Siptah. They are eager to restore the colony their ancestors left behind on the island and view it of great strategic importance as a stop off for traders between Argos, Stygia and the Black Kingdoms.  

Black Corsair pirates have also landed here. Their nefarious purposes are shrouded in mystery, and they do not seem particularly fond of strangers. If you venture too close to their newly formed camps, you will see many bodies impaled on spikes, serving as a warning to trespassers.  

Near the black tower in the middle of the island, a new and especially large camp has formed. Can those who dwell there be survivors of the devilish sorcery of the surges? The terrifying experience of being taken from their homes and dragged though the outer dark to end up on the Isle of Siptah must surely have driven them mad, as they now work side-by-side with the horrific creatures of the storm.

Vaults, storm and surge changed

The Isle of Siptah expansion offered a new game loop consisting of three components: the vaults, the storm, and the surge. The intent was for you to complete vaults to gain sigils and eldarium, use the sigils to kill monsters in the storm to harvest their essence, then finally use the eldarium and essences to summon a surge for a chance to capture thralls. 

We realize that many people find this process too cumbersome and we are responding to your feedback by breaking the features’ dependence on each other.  

Vaults will all be rebalanced to be level 60 dungeons, each with their own unique rewards. Vaults will still be the source of eldarium on the isle, and eldarium will still be used to delve and craft new recipes. 

The storm will become less pervasive, allowing you to build within its area of effect without drawing the attention of the creatures of the storm. You may now hunt these horrors of the outer void for new and unique rewards, and they won’t be the only source of the essences needed to power the surge. 

The surge will largely remain the same as it is now, but the rewards will be changed. Completing a surge may reward you with a Fragment of Power. These fragments can be used inside a chamber in the Tower of Siptah for new and great rewards! The surge will no longer be the only source of thralls on the island with the introduction of the many NPC camps. 

New lands, purges, new religion and much more 

We are expanding the size of the Isle of Siptah to the south, and with these new lands the overland map size of the island will be over 90% that of the Exiled Lands. This area will be divided into three different biomes, with the Ashlands, the Floodlands, and the Savannah. 

There will be many desirable base building locations in these lands plus new NPC cities from two new races. Several mysterious black pools can be found in one of these cities, and they will be linked to an all new PvE mechanic allowing you to test your mettle in brutal fights against monstrous opponents. We are also planning several new activities which encourage exploration of the Isle of Siptah and the opportunity to free human NPCs from camps, making them your followers. 

A new religion with its own unique weapons, tool, priest outfit, avatar and altars is coming. Its avatar is a horrific monster like no other, sure to give those with a faint heart or a certain phobia nightmares.  

In addition, purges (like those you can find in the Exiled Lands, where large groups of enemies attack your base) are coming to the Isle of Siptah. The area you build in will determine the types of purges you can get, some of which come from the hideous creatures from the vaults, the storm monsters, or humans from the new NPC camps. A new mechanic will be introduced to these purges, allowing you to use resources to either prevent or provoke a purge. 

And finally, we know that many of you have been asking for a way to transfer your characters between the Exiled Lands and the Isle of Siptah, and we are happy to say that we are working on letting you do so. A character transfer system will be introduced during Isle of Siptah Early Access to allow you to use your favorite character on the map you choose to play on. 

We would like to thank everyone for their continued support and for all their Early Access feedback, helping us improve the Isle of Siptah expansion. We wish everyone who celebrate happy holidays and a happy new year! 

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