From what I understand you can thank the PVP community for the state of the game, the limp d**ked cyber bullies amongst them drove of the majority of the player base, which pretty much killed off the game.

Jordi has been fighting hard ever since just to keep the game alive.

them same limp ****** cuber bullies are the ones that are built up crazy on pve, they were first to move after the s*** storm they caused, now they kill people pets, when they new server was made it ws just a copy of the prev server so they just totemed same areas they had to begin with, my proof is now on pvp there is no bullies no killers or real griefers even, those of us there regular just build, talk and occasionally spar each other (cos thats an option on pvp as are many more event types when you can attack eachother)

People need to know that just because you can pvp dont mean you have to its not cod, like in real life you could kill anyone you meet but you dont (or i should hope you dont anyway) but if someone is griefing you at least you can defend yourself an if you wanna spar an increase your fighting skills you can. Still all them nasty people moved to PVE and many have since quit.

And to keep game alive would help if disgusting sound effects like the eating one was changed to one bearable (a friend i have just dont eat an dies instead to avoid the sounds and i myself mute it to eat as the lip smacking makes my ears bleed) and a relaunch of somekind that at least makes steam reset all the old pointless revies (like sub complaints) that are puttin people off, adding totem time and such makes the game more dead than anything encouraging people not to bother logging on as they are safe anyway.

I'm not going to delete the Peace Server. That would certainly kill the game. I've posted in depth regarding the Peace Server decision before but I will briefly respond to your concerns here.

The lowest point for Xsyon was the 6 months or so leading up to the Peace Server launch. Launching the Peace Server saved the game, increased the active population and most importantly quelled most of the conflicts that had been a constant distraction to development.

Unfortunately, we did lose some of the PvP population at that time. Some went as far to deliberately cause problems on the War Server as if to make a point about the two servers instead of welcoming new players and encouraging them to participate in PvP. Overall though the numbers increased significantly.

This was not a new problem. As mentioned above by Bejaymac, before the Peace Server launch, many players and entire tribes quit playing due to PvP griefing and conflicts. Those conflicts not only drove away players but continuously hampered development during a time when I could have progressed a lot faster than now. In retrospect, my biggest mistake was launching Xsyon without a Peace Server on day one. But, that's the past.

The current subscription 'totem time' feature is definitely not affecting the game. It's rarely used, mostly by a few players that log in anyways and simply want to provide a bit more support for development.

Now to address the current slow progress and low population...

As mentioned in several updates, I was injured earlier this year and recovery took a long time. During that time I read a lot regarding code optimization and AI systems.

The real main reasons for things slowing down though are unfortunate changes with how Steam calculates our review rating, how reviews are displayed and how the game is shown and recommended to other players. A few changes happened over the past few months.

- The review rating does not consider reviews from players that bought the game outside of Steam and used a Steam Key. This is not good for Xsyon as many happy Xsyon players signed up here first and obtained a Steam Key later.

- Highest rated reviews now are more prominent even if they are old and obsolete. This means that negative reviews complaining about subs are seen first and drive off potential players.

- Steam is now more targeted and I believe Xsyon is being categorized too narrowly and incorrectly.

Lately I've been working at a very productive pace, implementing what I've learned and finishing tasks that had long been put aside. I've chosen deliberately to complete many upcoming features (both major and minor) and optimizations rather than release patches as they're ready.

This deviates from how I've worked in the past and the main reason I'm doing this is so that when I do start releasing these updates I can keep the momentum going with regular interesting updates and build on that momentum.

Retention is lower than I would like but it is within reason and typical for a game like this. Attracting new players is a bigger issue. I do have some ideas for improving retention but they will come after my current updates in progress are done.

The updates alone should do a lot to increase active population, bring back old players and increase retention. So, my focus right now is getting my updates done while I can work diligently without distractions. Once I have my planned group of updates ready to roll I will be working on improving the situation on Steam by using available 'visibility rounds' and ultimately removing Early Access.

I hope that addressed your concerns!

Thanks for the update, this IMO should be in your blog.

I really hope we see some new stuff content wise to keep people playing and give them a reason to strive for something in game.

we stay with you XSYON...all things would be good..;)

A lot of people who try the game, come here for the same reason I did. They are tired of Quests and quest grinding. Yes you still have a grind in Xsyon but it is different. The problem as I see it is that these people are so attuned to instant gratification that they are expecting it here also.

Currently this is my Third round with Xsyon and again I have come back because I hate questing. I can do what I want here and when I want to.
If my financial status were better, I would Sub. to help the game and am glad the option is there.

I do agree that this should have been put under the blog.

Glorp

Well mostly addressed but i still think the sub feature should not be on pvp, rather than just making the lego server why not just address the griefing and get rules and if need be bans in place for it to stop the griefers,
For one i remember alters (people with a bunch of alt accounts) would totem around peoples tribe stopping them growing or to pull up their whole scrap pile, those people should have been stopped:

- A growth period for new players before they can be attacked and/or totem.
- The bigger the tribe the further you must be to totem near it with maybe an option if allied to be allowed to build near them (so friends can join next to each other in different tribes).

And an abuse of game mechanics (eg toteming a chain around someone or taking advantage of a bug to get extra stats or resources) should be banned (time based) or perm banned if overly serious.

Also i missed the updates you said you was injured, the forum has posts from so long ago and things from 2010 are top of some category`s its hard to read through an find it all, is there also nothing that can be done with Steam to categorize this game better or clean up the old reviews like sub complaints and such ?, maybe a poll to see what the players would categorize it as ? .

Regarding the 'totem time' feature: As I stated above, it is definitely not affecting the game. It's rarely used, mostly by a few players that log in anyways and simply want to provide a bit more support for development. Removing it, even for just one server, would be an unnecessary complication that would only upset the few players that do use it with no benefit to the game.

Regarding griefers: Before splitting the server, dealing with conflicts as fairly as possible was a near daily task for the Guides and ultimately myself. This often involved time consuming digging through chat and action logs to determine the truth of reported situations. It was a thankless task. We did warn players. We did ban players temporarily. We did ban players permanently. I did implement many changes to prevent, reduce or alleviate griefing. So much time was spent on this that it set back development over and over.

Things have been much better since launching the separate War and Peace servers. Most of our players just don't want PvP or conflicts at all. The Peace Server is for them. Players that want conflict and war can play on the War Server. The only group left out are players that want to force PvP and conflict on other players that want nothing to do with it. I'm not going to cater to that type of player.

Regarding the forums: I asked this in another thread I believe, but what forums exactly are showing posts from 2010 at that top? For me, none are. The forums are (and should be) sorted chronologically with the most recently updated threads showing first (below the stickied threads of course). This order, however, can be changed in your individual forum settings. Possibly your settings are sorting threads with the oldest threads first?

The most pertinent information from me is almost in the News Section which also shows in abbreviated form on the Home Page

In addition, when things are ready for testing or I want to open a discussion, I post in the Developer Zone

With these links you shouldn't miss any info. :-)

Regarding Steam: The situation is not good or fair right now. I have some ideas, but I'm waiting for responses on the developer forums there. I will post regarding what I think can be done (with the help of players) in the Developer Zone and as part of a larger update in the News Section once I have some more information.

I hope that answers all your questions!

You also left out on PVE the type of player that wants to break in and grief my tribe or kill pets and not be able to be stopped even if online youd have to just watch.

All those links are bookmarked =P