XsyonMaster

Developer Update 09.01.2014

Rating: 4 votes, 5.00 average.
Hello Xsyon Citizens!

A few important changes are coming to Xsyon over the next few months.

1) Tomorrow I will make a formal announcement of the Farming and Cooking update to game sites. I waited until now in order to iron out minor bugs and issues with the update.

2) Starting October 1st, the monthly subscription fee will be raised back to $14.99. Quarterly, bi-annual and yearly payments will be adjusted accordingly.

For those of you with current long term subscriptions, the change will take place upon your first new payment after October 1st.

3) Coming this month, the 'free to play' aspect of Xsyon will be revised.

The standard 'free to play' game model relies on a small percentage of players that pay high fees per month to account for those that pay nothing.

Typical 'free to play' games rely on micro-transactions for either cosmetic and collectible items or items that affect game play ('pay to win').

Xsyon was originally designed long before these systems existed. The standard 'free to play' model does not fit the intended nature of the game and the current model is too restrictive for new players get a real 'trial' of the game. Currently over 90% of new free players are not joining tribes, terraforming or building, which are the game's spotlight features.

This month I am going to try a new 'free trial' system. New players will be allowed one week to place a homestead and build a small town using a limited set of architectural parts. The new player can then enjoy all aspects of the game without joining an existing tribe. If the new player does not upgrade by the time the free trial expires, the player's homestead is disbanded and buildings are removed.

This system will go into testing as soon as possible on the Test Server. I will start a thread for feedback on this system at that point.

This system will be on trial for one month to see if it helps engage new players.

4) Next up I will be focusing on still remaining bugs and balance issues. This will include combat improvements, in particular synchronization issues that must be resolved before implementing ranged combat.

Feedback threads on balance and combat issues will also be posted when I'm ready.

I hope you are all enjoying the new farming and cooking systems!
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Comments

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  1. Sammie's Avatar
    Hello Well am not paying 14.99$ for this game I got 21 paid account at 30$ So 10$ month his ok but not more This game will have more thing had to it then am may be ready to pay 12.99$ month but not 14.99$ Whit steam at that price well not mucht players will play They are complayning about the 30$+10$ month already Good luck to you and hope game wont die
    (farming and cooking not wort the 50% raise)
  2. mikejuh's Avatar
    I have to agree aswell that an increase of 50% is a bit steep.
    It's not so much i can't afford it, but looking at what you get for the game at this moment, i don't think it's worth it yet (for me).

    I know i'm just a newbie to the game, but still, it would be a gamebreaker for me.
    This has been spoken of in game, and i'm not the only one who thinks this is a bit too steep (for now).
  3. MrDDT's Avatar
    Thanks for the update Xsyon. Changing in pricing is always hard choice to make, I hope the past numbers and choices made this choice clear before going into the steam release, because I believe the steam release is almost as important as the release of this game.
    I can't wait to see more players in Xsyon, as it once had.
  4. Tefached's Avatar
    From a marketing standpoint, increasing the "free trial" aspect of this game but also limiting it to a week of...... whatever it is you want to call the system you suggested, and then reverting the account back to ???? While increasing the cost of subscription is a horrible (at best) idea. This will lead to a lot of "new accounts" being made that are quite possibly alternate characters of an original F2P player.

    "a small percentage of players that pay high fees per month to account for those that pay nothing." So we are going to increase the costs? Don't get me wrong, this is a fairly decent game.... but it's not anywhere near ready for a steam release let alone any justification of a price rise. Farming and Cooking were a very nice implementation and have added some depth to the game, but it's far beyond constituting an form of subscription changes.

    In short, I think this particular aspect is a mistake and should have never even been contemplated at this stage of development. (It isn't the amount of the increase, it's the principle of the matter.)
  5. Gruu's Avatar
    O.O

    $14.99...hmm
    1) I remember a cple days after the cooking/farming patch and mind you i was visiting the PVE server and heard that starvation was the last straw for them.
    2) You have a major Game being released in a week...timing is bad.
    3) lets say you still increase subs. if you let a FTP try out the game in essence with no restrictions (for the said week), then you need to make it so that on the PVE/PVP server that there is no way they can build unless they pay...no more tribes holding hands to let a ftp have all for nothing.
    4) I only have 3 accounts but even at 9.99/mo it has been hard for me to re-sub with my current income. moving it up means i prolly will not be staying.
    5) But...gas prices rise, food prices rise...im sure costs for making and maintaining this game rise. so...Ill give you 4 against and 1 for.
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