Create a trial or lower the price during beta.

[zombieturtle01]

Yes, I've read some threads on why there is no trial; "because it is in beta", alright, so lower the price of the beta. Minecraft did it, Natural Selection did it, and Overgrowth did it. You should do it too.

I am genuinely interested in this game. I just tried out the 14 day trial of Mortal Online and thought it was so interesting I decided to purchase the game at a full $40 dollars, largely in part to support the developers, even though the game is unfinished. I recently heard someone talking about how Xsyon is even better, and after reading about it was eager to try it out. Unfortunately, the game is priced at a whopping $40 dollars with no trial.
I understand that the game developers don't want to have a broken trial out to the public, that's not a big deal. What bothers me is that they are still charging $40 dollars plus a subscription fee for beta content while trying to justify the fact that there is no trial.
As a possible customer, this has already left me with an uneasy feeling about this company, it's game, and it's motives. Most of the betas I have supported are relatively generous and thankful to the participating customers, offering a significant discount until the game is ready for a full release. This makes me a happy customer, and this makes me proud to support a game and it's developers. Xsyon on the other hand is giving me the opposite impression. Charging full price, full subscription, no trial, for only a beta. This certainly seems like a good way to lose any potential customers. Even though Xsyon is not interested in being the next WoW, it seems it is pushing away a lot of people who might be potentially into this sort of game.

[Jadzia]

The game is not in beta. It launched in March.

[zombieturtle01]

Then they have no excuse not to offer a trial now :p

[Shaggy]

The game is not in beta. It launched in March.

As much as we both love this game Jadzia (if you still do, that is), you're lying to yourself. The game is nothing close to a full release and we both know it.

[Jadzia]

As much as we both love this game Jadzia (if you still do, that is), you're lying to yourself. The game is nothing close to a full release and we both know it.
I agree that the game is far from being finished, I simply informed him that it is officially released.

[tzoapi]

I just started the game so i'm not expierienced in xsyon but i think that a trial could give an energy to the game because there are many ppl that want to test what they are gonna buy.
I was playing another mmo and the trials where very helpfull to regenerate the activity of that game...not always but there where times that the noob areas were full of players....
My opinion is that the same could happen here since the game is new (comparing with other mmo's ) and if 20% of the trialers continue the game then it could be more alive and could have more fun.
Trying a trial makes ppl to look for updates or patches or discusions on forums even if they don t continue to play after the expire of trial...because they get the idea of the game...

[MrDDT]

and 75% of the trial accounts mess up the game for the other 100% of the paying players.

[inhabit]

In order to have a trial they would need to figure out a way so that trial accounts can't place totems and terraform, as the game world is already limited for current players due to inactive non decaying indestructible totems.
I would rather they spend their time fixing current issues so until then I vote no trial.

[L0rd0fIvIetal]

why not let them try it out on the test server

[MrDDT]

why not let them try it out on the test server

One major problem with that is the support for the new trials. Guides and stuff.

Sure they could just say "Well we wont support them with guides" but comes really is those people will see that as the true game, and people will have a bad taste and its not right. Plus the time for the devs to put it into place.

[jefferysauto]

One major problem with that is the support for the new trials. Guides and stuff.

Sure they could just say "Well we wont support them with guides" but comes really is those people will see that as the true game, and people will have a bad taste and its not right. Plus the time for the devs to put it into place.


agreed the way gamers are today they would bash this game as its not finished everyone knows it, and they would never come back, 40 bucks is cheap for any game , when the time is right , they will release a trial but no is not it, we all know that.

[Kebal]

A trial would of made me more confident about my purchase, but then i am a minority and i now this.

I dont think the game in its current state would benefit from a free trial as some UI elements are not functional and this gives a "not finished" feeling to the game which most gamers will be turned off by.

I am personaly loving the games current content and altho there are some niggly things, the game still provides hours of fun every day.

I also agree that if a trial on the live server ever do's come out, the trial accounts should be limited to a small section of the map ( possibly the area we have atm ) and/or not be allowed to place totems/terraform.
Why allow them to leave a lasting impact on a gameworld until they decide they will stay in it.

Once the non functioning UI elements are implimented i think a free trial would be of benefit.

[Larsa]

I'd have to agree: there's no point in making a free trial now. It would only cause bad press and even worse word of mouth.

Yes, we're playing a paid beta. That's what it is, no need to hide the fact. Everybody can decide whether he wants to pay for a game that is still heavily in development. It's still the better method for Xsyon than to have a free trial of an unfinished game.

[NorCalGooey]

Just thought I would say, so many people would love to try this game out if it weren't for the price. Just look at comments on all the youtube videos...a lot of them are recent even

[MrDDT]

IMO the game isnt ready for a trial, it doesnt have the safe guards, and it doesnt have a lot of the content / features.

Once they have the game smoothed out, the public is active and wanting to play. Safe guards like totem decay, permissions on stuff, etc. Also AI needs to be a lot better. I can see allowing trials, I would hope on another server.

[Kazkid]

Trial with landscaping. roads ect that do not decay. NO! not only no HECK NO! What about all those who get the trial and landscape an area, or create roads just fo rthe heck of it that destroy resources, or run around and elimiate entire forrests.

Sorry. I have to stand with a resounding NO until decay and a few other 'cleanup' options are in.

I too questioned purchasing without a trial first. However, I couldnt be more satisfied with my purchase. Yes it is still incomplete, but the experience is well worth giving them my cash to further their development getting it to a stage where trials become a viable option.

I also agree with DDT Trials should be on another server. The ability to change the face of the world necessitates this IMO.

[CouldntDeal]

A Trial would be simple. All you would need to do is create a mirrored map and put ocean around it. Use it as a "Trial Island" or something. In this, you could mess around. Every time you logout, your items on your player will be released. Every 2 days, or 3 days, or whatever, you could reset the trial island. With all your work "Not being saved" and items "Not being saved" purchasing the game would be a must. Especially since if you have friends, word spreads fast.

[Jupidor]

I emailed support, and asked if I could try the game and they enabled me for a week trial.... all you have to do is just ask and most developers are more then happy to accommodate you.

The real reason I asked for a trial is to mainly see if my laptop will run it smoothly (most games do, although some don't especially if opengl is used).

That being said, support answered my promptly and I am very satisfied with the companies response, I can not wait to play (downloading game right now)

[Niburu]

The game isn't as unfinished as some might claim. The Prelude phase is to build up a civilization so we don't have to walk through a boring green world without buildings. Atm the world is very interesting to explore with all the stuff that is created. This will get even better once totem decay is in.

[Azurfale]

I was hesitant, because as previously stated its still prelude, but I'm glad I spent the money, I have not felt so accomplished in a game in a long time and I have only been playing 2 weeks. Devs seem to care about their game and 1 thing at a time patches are fine with me as they haven't seemed to buggy(get it right the first time ftw).

[Mahkia]

I admit, I'm one of the people who hasn't tried the game yet because of the lack of a trial. I've been playing Wurm Online and looking for similar games, and Xsyon had me excited for a really long time, but upon seeing it's not only $40 with no trial, but also has a monthly subscription of $15, I just don't know if I can get on board with that, especially if the game isn't even in a "finished" state.

It looks like an amazing game, and I would probably love it, but there are similar games out there at a much lower price, and I would need to know definitively what Xsyon is bringing to the table that these other games are not. Obviously, people who are in love with the game are going to insist that the price is worth it, but why? What makes Xsyon special?

Again, I say this as a person who would love to jump on board, but I'm apprehensive. I stopped playing stuff like WoW because of the monthly fee and the lack of feeling accomplished; sandbox games are where it's at for me. But WoW was a finished product.

[MrDDT]

To me, what is "Finished"?

If the game is fun, and takes my time to play (meaning I want to play it each month) I would spend the money. To me people asking for a free trial are 1)People that wouldnt buy anyways, 2)People that dont want to bother looking at a video to see if its what they like or not.

There are 100s of videos of Xsyon now. Heck even people live-streaming it. Take a min to look at the videos and make the choice. Adding in a trial will break the game, or remove most of the freedoms making the trial just a pain for both the trial player and the devs.

[aliksteel]

With so many Free to Play games(like Wurm) out there, And people being able to jump in and out of games with nothing to lose. I'm glad this little game went with a Sub. I have played both types of games, And one thing that I found for myself is that when I sub games. I feel ownership of it, And want to play and learn all I can. And when I play F2P games, There's nothing. I play for a week or two and move on. I know not every one has $40(like me) for a game, But when it comes to buying a game. It's cheap, Also when it comes to $15 Sub. I spend way more than that on them so called Free to Play games I only spend a few weeks playing.

Also
Of all the Buy/Sub MMO's that I have played non of them have ever had a free trail this soon. And when it comes to this small team dealing with this game, I don't see them having time to ever think of a free trail within the next year. So unless you ask and have them give you(If they will) a free weekend/week play to try it out. All I can say is do what MrDDT said and watch the Vid's to get a feel, Or hunker down in Wurm and wait till things change here.

[Mahkia]

I guess my issue is that a lot of the videos I've seen for Xsyon are outdated. People say, "Oh, it's not like that now." So it's difficult to gauge what features are actually currently in the game, and what the combat might be like now compared to "back then", etc. I can watch videos all day long, but it's hard to tell what the game is actually LIKE right now without being able to give it a go. And I may very well end up paying in the future. This game looks amazing, like I said. But I don't entirely see what it offers that a game like Wurm doesn't, is what I'm trying to say.

[MrDDT]

http://www.youtube.com/user/gavinXT
(http://www.xsyon.com/forum/www.youtube.com/users/gavinXT)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Saintbob001

Either one of those are updated, just look at the ones in the last 4 months.