Gather 'round everyone, for on this day, October 4th, we’re releasing the next update for Conan Exiles! Well, sort of.

We’re releasing half of the Pets Update, meaning you’re getting the Midnight Grove, the Jhebbal Sag religion and thrall hunger system. The pets system will be released at a later date and we’re currently aiming for next week.

The Midnight Grove & Jhebbal Sag Religion

The Midnight Grove is where you learn the Jhebbal sag religion path, the sixth and final religion in Conan Exiles. You have to traverse a labyrinthian maze, facing down many dangers along your path before you make it to the end and discover the final challenge: Jhebbal Sag’s champion.

Defeating the werewolf and consuming its flesh will give you the knowledge of Jhebbal Sag’s altars and religious items. Followers of Jhebbel Sag are all about controlling and hunting beasts. Special bloodletter knives allows them to extract blood from their victims and sacrifice it to their bloodthirsty master.

They are also able to craft special lures that attract animals and other beasts to wherever they’re thrown, making them deadly and implacable foes out in the wild. The magical Mark of Jhebbal Sag will offer any creature caught within it up as tribute to the Lord of Beasts. In return he may send one of his champions to see if you are still worthy.

Reaching the highest level of worship with Jhebbal Sag will grant you access to the deadly Claws of Jhebbal Sag. This devastating weapon allows you to truly tap into your inner beast and unleash furious swipes with razor sharp claws, much like like Jhebbal Sag’s champion.

Thrall Hunger

As part of this update we’re rolling out thrall hunger, which requires you to feed your thralls in order to keep them alive. The objective of this is to add nuance and flavor, not grinding, and we’ve gotten a lot of valuable feedback from our Testlive audience when tweaking the numbers. We feel we’ve arrived at a reasonable balance for this mechanic, but we always welcome more feedback.

You only need to feed thralls that have been placed out in the world (fighters and archers). Thralls at your workstations and altars have no inventory and won’t require feeding

The amount of time a companion can go on without eating, from fully fed to hungry, will be 7 days

Companions will be able to eat pretty much anything that’s even remotely edible

If you match thrall’s preferred diet, they will gain a bonus buff. This way, if you do care about the specifics of each companion type, you can get a temporary short-term advantage. You can still feed them whatever you want to prevent them from decaying. This also means you can buff your companions right before battle. A server setting (disabled by default) will allow you to make diet matching mandatory if that’s what you prefer

Food dispensers (Thrall Pot for thralls and Feedbox for pets) will push smaller amounts of food to each companion before moving onto the next companion. The net result of this is that all your companions will be more equally fed and you’ll need smaller amounts of food to reach them all

The Thrall Pot is unlocked when you make a Wheel of Pain. You craft it at the Carpenter’s Bench.

Food will decay very slowly when placed in food dispensers

There will be server options to enable/disable the feeding system separately for thralls and pets. There will also be server config parameters to adjust other aspects of the system, including if your companions should die when they are hungry or only be reduced in health. This means your server can adjust the system to a level of commitment/consequence that you want, including disabling it entirely

Known issues

We have been getting reports that some players with mods installed are experiencing crashes when placing thralls. Disabling nameplates will fix this.

Even if you disable thrall hunger, the hunger timer will still tick down. Your thralls won’t die once the timer runs out, but we know it can cause confusion

Character hitbox can sometimes bug out when you log out on top of a foundation. A server restart will take care of this

Server settings

Private server admins should be aware of the following:

StarvationDamagePenaltyCap=n where n is the percentage of maximum damage that a thrall can take if going hungry for 7 ingame days

StarvationDamagePenaltyCap=0.0000 would mean taking max 0% damage over time

StarvationDamagePenaltyCap=1.0000 would mean taking max 100% damage over time and potentially killing the thralls

Changelog:

HIGHLIGHTS

New Dungeon: The Midnight Grove

New offhand combat mechanics

New Specialist Arrows: Light Arrows, Tar Arrows, Poison Arrows, Ivory Arrows, Explosive Arrows, Healing Arrows

New thrall hunger mechanics

THRALLS/AI

Fixed a bug that would cause thrall health to reset to 100 HP

Thralls have now 50% increased health. That is to bring them in line with some of the greater pets and also make it more interesting to take a thrall out for exploration/hunting

Entertainer Thralls now provide buffs after having been on follow mode

The Crocodile boss near the N’batu’s Pack is no longer stuck and attacks the player

Fixed an issue where NPCs would stop aggroing after a player teleported several times.

Pets and Thralls that get stuck will now teleport back to the location they were deployed.

PURGE UPDATES

Optimized database cleaning to remove inactive clans

Better randomization for Purge spawn options

Distracted Purgers will no longer get sidetracked by random Points of Interest.

Set initial purge countdown to 15 minutes

NEW CONTENT

New Dungeon: The Midnight Grove

Added Werewolves

Added Nightvision Potion, allowing players to see more clearly when it’s dark

Added new offhand combat mechanics

Added new Specialist Arrows: Light Arrows, Tar Arrows, Poison Arrows, Ivory Arrows, Explosive Arrows, Healing Arrows

Thralls will now need to be fed in order to survive. Place food items into their inventory to feed them, or use the Thrall Pot to distribute food automatically. It will take a companion about 7 days to go from filled to starving

Added the option to visually remove text on signs made by people outside your guild. You will only see it if you click on it.

Added the option to visually remove text from all signs. You will only see it if you click on it.

Beehives now require Queen Bees to produce honey

ANIMATION UPDATES

Added new combat animations

– The Sword/Axe/Mace and Shield heavy chain will now incorporate shield bashes

– Throwing axes are now a part of your heavy chain combos when wielded with Swords, Axes and Maces

– The Sword/Axe/Mace and Shield heavy chain will now incorporate shield bashes – Throwing axes are now a part of your heavy chain combos when wielded with Swords, Axes and Maces Added new attack to the Spider Tarantula Boss

Added new attack to the Crocodile Boss

New knockback setup and animations for monsters

New Rocknose animations

Added new idle and threat animations

Updated surface swimming to work with a glowstick

GAMEPLAY CHANGES

We have added the ability to use bait to force a specific result in fish traps. For example, if you want Unappetizing Fish, you can force that outcome with insects. Grubs will catch Exotic Fish. No bait means you get a random fish, which is the way they work in the Live servers.

Preservation box’s inventory space is increased. Food will not decay in them if there’s ice in the box

Beehives behave differently: They still collect honey over time, but Worker Bees and Queen Bees will produce a lot more honey than an empty beehive

UI CHANGES

Moved Sunder debuff to the right side of the nameplate, where it belongs

Darkened the opacity on the background panel for container inventories

Added button to the server list where players can report downed servers

Added coordinate grid to the in game Map

In-game Map can now be zoomed out further

The menu can now be accessed during Character Creation

Implemented a confirmation prompt upon exiting game from Dedicated server

The map navigation is no longer inverted when inverting the Y axis on a controller

The “Cycle Filter” button no longer becomes unresponsive when cycling through all filters

Solved an issue with password protected servers not being displayed properly

Fixed an issue where resetting Video settings to default wouldn’t apply changes to Windowed mode and resolution

Fixed an issue where the in game map would be cut off in 4:3 and 16:10 aspect ratio

BALANCING

Vaults have now much lower hitpoints and will decay faster

Vaults max inventory size increased from 200 to 300

Glowing Standing Torch should now have the correct HP when placed down

Added more building and climbing blockers to areas where players aren’t supposed to build/climb:

– The City of Votaries of Skelos

– The Exiles’ camp between the Sandswept Ruins and Drifter’s Rest

– NPC village in Deckswab’s Retreat

– The City of Votaries of Skelos – The Exiles’ camp between the Sandswept Ruins and Drifter’s Rest – NPC village in Deckswab’s Retreat The Epic version of Conan’s Atlantean Sword is now more durable than its Mid Grade equivalent, as it should be

Fixed swapped ingredients for Ugly and Unapetizing Fish Tropies

Re-balanced armor bonuses to stats

Acheronian Longsword, Spear and War-Axe should no longer be more powerful than Star Metal equivalents

Fixed Corrupted Spiders so they’re not killed in one hit with Star Metal Greatsword

Avatar special attacks now damage buildings with the correct amount of damage. This is not a total fix for avatars as they are undergoing additional changes and updates as part of the siege system re-balancing. Set is still being difficult!

GENERAL BUG FIXES

Fixed some bugs related to NPC patrols around camps

Bossonian Bow can be repaired again

Status effects, journey steps and crosshairs should now be temporarily removed when cinematics trigger

Fixed an animation bug where animals would turn away from you after attacking

Fixed a bug where the player character would clip through solid structures when re-logging after sitting in a chair

It should now be possible attach fence foundations corner-to-corner at a right angle

Fixed a bug where Reinforced Wooden Awnings couldn’t be placed

All sloped wall pieces now detract the same amount of stability

Aquilonian Braziers, Hanging Braziers and Khitan Lamps should no longer be placeable underground

Fixed a bug where the sound of footsteps in water would play when walking on the edge of the Large Water Well

Fixed Iron Brazier in Deathwhisper Camp so it doesn’t float anymore

Fixed a bug where low tier items would lose all durability after having damage kits applied to them

Fixed a bug where the Noxious Gas debuff would wear off, even when standing in gas

Hatch Frames now snap to walls, door frames and frame pieces

Statues of Refreshment can now be placed near any of Mitra’s religious buildings

Giant Snakes and Alpha Snakes should now drop Reptile Hides when harvested

You should now be able to harvest Crimson Lotus Flower with Sickles

Jungle Birds now drop heads

Glowing Sticks should now be usable underwater

Fixed a bug where the expiration timer on Purified Flesh would display a negative value

Players should now be able to place walls next to stairs

Fixed an issue where the Witch Queen could be engaged behind the magical barrier

Fixed a bug where gamepad and mouse would lose functionality after controlling an avatar

Ostrich egg clutches under ground in the middle of the desert are are now above-ground

Fixed an issue where placeables would disappear if the base of the item was slightly below-ground

Fixed a bug where you could override the corruption limit by drinking Corruption Brew

Fixed a bug where bedroll map marker would disappear after respawn

Helped a Shaleback out from inside a tree by moving his spawn point

Fixed a bug where you wouldn’t do damage when jumping on another person’s head

Fixed a bug where the Palisades’ placement brush would give the “Spikes” debuff and cause lag issues

Fixed a bug where The Kinscourge would lose aggro if the player stands on a balustrade

Fixed an issue with re-binding the CTRL key

Fixed a bug where dismantling a Wheel of Pain would cause it to drop an unlootable loot bag

Fixed a bug where Star Metal Pickaxe cost 0 points to unlock

You should now be able to change fuel type with a controller

Avatar Lifetime option is no longer missing in a single-player game

Fixed an issue where the clan member sub-menu wouldn’t appear on a 4K monitor

Carpets should now disappear when foundations are destroyed

Fixed an exploit where players could push themselves under the map using ceilings and climbing

Fixed a bug where the UI would disappear for the host of a co-op session when a client summons an avatar

Corrected HealthPool l for Hyenas and Shoebills

Fixed an issue with wolves not using all their available attacks

Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to refresh the server list

Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to queue crafting processes

Fixed a tooltip issue when a player character is unarmed

Fixed an issue with Sandstorms damaging players in the Swamp Area

"Show your religious Zeal’ Journey Step now unlocks at Jhebbal Sag altars

The player can no longer climb into the model of the Palace of the Witch Queen

Fixed an issue where after unlocking a new arrow type, the arrows wouldn’t be used up when used from the radial/quickbar

Brought item requirements for building the Altar of Ymir in line with the other Altars

Fixed additional issues where the player could get stuck in terrain

Njoror Battleborn should now spawn as intended

EXPLOIT FIXES

Fixed an issue where thrall inventories could be exploited to carry more items than intended

Fixed a bug where Archer Thralls would produce infinite amount of special arrows.

QoL UPDATES

Merchants now have names and are marked as “Merchant”, rather than “Fighter”

White placeholder icon for teleportation buff is now no longer visible

Various audio fixes

It should now be easier to place items on the Wall Hanging Shelf

Planters are no longer semi-indistructable when attacked with a trebuchet

Archpriests of Yog should now use the correct weapon rather than a Yog Cleaver

Removed the ability to apply Weapon Damage Kits to torches as it was causing bugs

Fixed missing collision on chests placed on the roof of The Well of Skelos

Items that are currently being used as ingredients in a crafting process will no longer be displayed as an available resource

Honey now stacks up to 100

Attempting to clan invite a player that is already in a clan will not trigger a popup with a warning

Fixed a bug where NPC’s hairline was not textured correctly (hairlines are important!)

Warpaints now also cover forearms

It is now possible to clear your Admin Password

Implemented SFX for highlighting Finalize Character in Character Creation

SOUND IMPROVEMENTS

Added SFX for looting via the inventory preview

Fixed an SFX issue on the difficulty screen

Added SFX to Reset Attribute button

DEDICATED SERVER LAUNCHER: