06/27/2024 - Feedback Request - Quality of Life Improvements

[Xsyon]

Hello everyone!

I am currently still focused on the DirectX graphics update, however I have some time to work on minor improvements.

If you would like to see any changes that would affect the playability or overall 'quality of life' in game, please post your suggestions here.

Also, please review the current Suggestions (https://www.xsyon.com/project.php?projectid=4) forum and let me know if there is anything there that you would like to see implemented.

I'm not looking to implement any major new features or anything that would require new 3D artwork but improvements to the interface, interaction and controls and overall balance are possible. All suggestions in this regard are welcome!

I have gathered some suggestions from previous older posts and Steam and will be posting those in this thread shortly.

Thanks!

[fatboy21007]

Personally, i would love to see the ability to be able to craft and do anything with no skill limits again. Many in the past loved this feature., also looking forward to the graphics update, my neighbor has built a massive city. ( though i dont play much, i am still very much around and watching ) :-)

[swexxpt]

hello im new to this games, is this game keep getting updates? if so, they are rare?, im getting trouble with the performance :rolleyes: i think this game is quite good look foward for the develop :D :cool:

[Xsyon]

Hello! Yes, I am continuing with development. The current update I am working on is a rewrite of the graphics engine to update the DirectX code and it is very time consuming. I hope to finish it by the end of the year.

Once the graphics engine is updated I will continue with more regular updates (every 2 months or so) with improvements based on player input.

If you have any input, it's welcome here or in the Suggestions part of the forums.

Thanks!

[xyberviri]

Personally, i would love to see the ability to be able to craft and do anything with no skill limits again. Many in the past loved this feature., also looking forward to the graphics update, my neighbor has built a massive city. ( though i dont play much, i am still very much around and watching ) :-)

yeah this is one other thing i wish would be raised, a lot of mmo's these days have gotten rid of skill limits or increased them dramatically compared to Xsyon. I know that would break a lot of stuff here but maybe just a tiny increase in the number of skill points, pls pls pls :D

[rixk]

Hi!
used to play a bit in beta, before launch.. but after launch fiasco I quit the game:) logged in at some point in the last decade, iirc there was a free weekend, made a character and thats about it.
Don't remember basically anything about the game. So I think I can give you a good overview about new player experience.
Grabbed now the game from sale.
Logged in and cool, my old character was still there (not the one from beta, but from the time i created it during free weekend). Honestly, despite it all looking more or less the same, the building options seem to be more extensive. Starting area looks great.
So I ran and jumped around there, until i noticed arrows on the ground which lead me out.. i had an axe, 4 tools and a fishing rod. Dragged axe into the logging slot as suggested and off i was.
I remembered I was somewhere in the south in beta, thought I go south, swam over the water and first thing i saw was revenant. and then I was dead. Also I realized my axe was gone, asked around and was told, that revenants steal stuff from you.
No biggie I thought, I make a new one... went through my crafting list, in tools crafting list i had 4-5 different types of chalk I could make and in weapons crafting list i had loads of different bows.. but no axe. to this day I have no idea, how to replace it lol.
well, now i was buttnaked and was walking around near the starter area.
Noticed, that my food/water bar were low, so I went to water. Could drink easily and as I thought that as I have a fishing rod, I try fishing, that should fill stomach. :) caught a fish actually on second attempt and realized, that I have to cook it. I thought that I can't cut trees, but there are ton of abandoned fireplaces around .. found few, which had also some fuel in it and tried to light them. Cool, I need a flint. Asked around and was told, that i need to go and try to find it as resource on ground where you can get stone. Well, eventually i found a flint.. was happy, now i can finally cook my fish. went back to the fireplace and tried to light again. "you need a blade", now it became interesting... I didn't have any blade and only blade I could craft required some mats which i had no chance in hell to get lol. So i went to scavenge, hoping to find something.. I found knife blades, saw blades etc. but neither of those helped me to start a fire. So I spent 3 hours trying to cook my fish and couldn't do it. Eventually I found, that I can forage berries..

Lets get to fighting. While I was scavenging, I met a rat. Pfft, a rat, of course i can take it naked. Charged and landed few punches on it. Then I heard chop-chop sound, the rat was fighting back.. in cpl of seconds I had 5-10% health left and managed to run away lol. Then I met a bear, could just think "ooh, a bear".. and was dead lol. Some dog was also starting to follow me.. thought they were not aggressive, but I was wrong. :D

Met some nice people in chat, one told, that near starting area are baskets with tools, so I got some nice tools from there (no axe sadly). Someone told, that he can give me a cart, which he did. He also told me, that "make some baskets in it for extra cargo". Funny thing is, I can't make any baskets. :D Also got some knives.
In any case, I thought that things are kinda tough, and there is safety in numbers, so I asked to join a tribe. That was a small distance away. So I started to run that way.. me dragging my cart. I got pretty close, dodged all the revenants I met, then I met a bloodthirsty doe, which beat me to pulp(is there anything out there, which does NOT want to kill you?). I spawned at my new home, but without cart.

So the next mission was to get my cart back. Ran back towards where I thought I died, met a revenant on the way.. and again I was back at the tribal totem ... with one less knife which I got earlier from that good person, who gave me also the cart. Tribe leader was also online and tried to help, but she didn't have much time, but we went off together. We kinda split up, she had to log at some point as she told, that she only had 10 minutes. But eventually I saw my cart.. niice.. and that deer was back and I had another window which asked me where i want to spawn. Without cart again. Logged off then.

Also beginning to think, that whether joining that tribe was good idea after all, I mean I can't stick my nose out of the village anyway. Not really much to do.. Just was online and a bear was camping a scavenging spot. And as I dont have all the tools and can't make those, which I dont have.

Thats the experience. I have played now 7 hours and i have literally done nothing, besides grass jacket, pants and moccasins. So here comes the suggestion. Don't make everything outside the newbie island a death trap. If you let revenants take away my tools/weapons, there should be a way to replace them. IMO every new player should have lowest tier recipes(not sure if the lowest is scrapper or forager.. doesn't matter tbh) of everything. So I can at least replace my tool and start working myself up again. Right now I am in situation, where I have only limited set of recipes, which means, that I either don't have the recipe for the tools I need. But hey, I can make 4 different types of chalk and 10 different bows (theoretically, as I can't get mats anyway lol) :D And yes, I tried to scavenge for recipes, I actually found quite a few recipes during those 3 hrs I was trying to find something to light fire. But literally 100% of the found recipes were too high level, which I couldn't use. Had to destroy them eventually, as I couldn't make any containers also where to store them lol.

[thurgond]

Thanks for your sad but moving story.

There are a few problems you should be aware of and at least a partial solution to some.

Currently nearly all critters are ancient and legendary. That makes them deadly and difficult for even experienced players to kill. Rats are actually low to mid level foes. New level players should start with chickens, rabbits and hamsters then move to cats and revenants.

The game all but forces new characters to start at Founder's Isle. Once you make it off the huge guides base, you come to an area with lots of abandoned bases and thus lots of Revs. In the south you have to really hunt for Revs to kill and there are areas with no or almost no critters. At my base I have free pouches and sell bins, axes and knives. However, I don't think my Welcome Station has ever been active as a starting location.

A cart is a nice welcoming gift, but a starting character really need pouches and bins. That said, you can start from scratch grinding toolmaking as long as you haven't deliberately forgotten how to make foragers mallet.

The non-obvioius way of moving around safely is to "feed the bears." Use the animal taming skill to make critters friendly by feeding them what ever you have foraged. You will have to raise your taming skill a lot before you can get a pet that will help a lot in combat (hint - man's best friend), but it will be safer to move around if you feed everything you see. The other safe way is swimming as nothing will initiate combat when you are in the water.

My tribe is Animal Crackers in 781. Follow the instructions on the Welcome Station for free pouches and a hat.

[rixk]

Followup :)

I won't take back anything i said in last post, maybe the experience gives insight to what struggles newbies have to face etc..
I doubted earlier, if it was good choice to join that tribe, but right now I am happy about it. Yes, can be dangerous, but it is manageable, as I have now learned a few tricks to increase survivability. :) I was helped to get back my cart, given a tent and right now it has been a blast.

BTW there are also tools and stuff near starting area, I assume you talk about same location, or close one. Interesting is, that without people telling me, I wouldn't have found them. Even though I usually walk around with my eyes closed so to say, not noticing anything.. maybe it needs a bit highlighting etc. Are there signs or something? "FREE TOOLS HERE"

But with combat it is probably tough to balance. I mean if the power difference between new and seasoned players is so big, then how do you balance? make it challenging to newbies, it offers nothing to older players.. make it a challenge to older players.. it is a deathtrap to newbies.
Right now I have done a bit hunting(archery) also and tamed me a dog. Pet system is really cool actually.

The veterans are also really helpful. I have played those small niche games for long time and the smaller the game is, the more veterans put effort into helping new players to stay. :)

So I think, that the "killer" is the tough experience and confusion of first hours. At least for me, let's see how it goes from here as I have managed to get past that. :)

[thurgond]

Glad to hear that you are off to a solid start.

Ancient and legendary critters used to be rare, but now anything less is an exception. That makes it difficult for not only new players but even veterans who are not fully speced and geared for combat.

There are or should be multiple starting areas. Founders Isle is probably the worst place to start.My base is in the SE corner of the lake.

Enjoy your time in the Greater Tahoe Area.