I'm not used with ass kissing so I'll be as direct as possible here; just hope that you won't get offended and you'll actually understand that this is positive criticism.

The game is good. Really good. My sister was completely hooked and I'm impressed enough that I'll probably make a second subscription for myself too. I may even have some friends coming by. (And by the way those 50+ votes on Steam Green Light from Romania are from my friends)

Yet the only thing that worries me and prevented me to jump in far now is that the game looks half abandoned for me and I wouldn't like to buy a game just to see it closing doors in a few weeks / months. And here's why I say that:

1. The Launcher - is the one place which every player sees (as opposite with site / forum which, in most games, is checked by less than 10% of the player base). What info we have on it? A call to action for a vote which has ended on January 6th!!! Why not a call to action for voting on Steam Green Light program? Why not a link to the latest news? And really... it's not one or two days, but 10 days by now.

2. The Site - there is absolutely no easy way to see that the game is free to play. Check lotro dot com if you want to see an example of how the free to play model is clearly advertised.

3. The Site - there is no easy way to download the game. You have to actually log in to the site, go to your account and download from there. Why all this hassle and not a simple download now button?

4. The Game - I understand that's a sandbox game and I like the concept. However not even knowing how to harvest when you start the game is not something to keep the new players hooked. And no, it's not that I'm idiot, I saw a lot of players asking the same questions over and over again. Just implement a short tutorial which would help the player get started - like "press resources tab to activate it" and a big red arrow pointing to it, then "move around till you see a resource appearing in your resources tab" and have the screen flash when this happens, then "right click on the resource icon in the resources tab to loot it" and have again the big red arrow pointing to it, then "now open actions / professions and transform the resource you just gathered" and have an arrow pointing to actions button, then an arrow pointing to a profession related with what you gathered (like you gathered grass pointing to basketry, if you gathered a rock pointing to tools) then point to the correct recipe. From that point forward they at least know how crafting works. The complexity of the game should come from the multitude of picks, not from determining how to do things.

5. The Game - This is a MMO, people are supposed to interact with each other, yet the chat system simply doesn't encourage this - the chat window can't be resized and all whispers come in the very same window. I challenge you to try to enter the game and chat with only five people at the same time. Then tell me if it's doable or not. Really the only thing needed would be separate tabs for each chat window.

6. The Customer Support - I understand that it's a small company, but when I send a message to support I expect at least an acknowledgement that you got my message and an estimate time line to respond something like "We received your message and we'll get to you in 72 hours." I sent you a message offering you help you FOR FREE with some of the SEO of the site if you needed (and considering I normally charge $25 per hour my offer was actually one of a really high value). Maybe you don't need it. That's totally fine. But I expected at least a message simply stating that "Thank you for the offer, but we have this covered.", yet not a single answer in like one week. My sister offered to help with the translation of the guide in Romanian language (not a major language, but still it was offer for free work). Again not a single answer. And all this in the conditions where we offered free help, not requested something. I don't want to imagine how it would be if we would actually have needed something.

As I said, the game seems to be a really good one, especially considering that it's an indie game, but these small things drastically affect the retention among new players. And if, far now, while it was pay-to-play, it was normal for people to try hard to find their way since otherwise they would just loose the money they spent, you can't have the same expectations from the free-to-play players (which could later convert to a subscriber) - for these people it's easier to quit then to stay - and you actually have to do something to get them hooked.

Please note that all the things are suggested are not requiring massive development work. 1-3 require maximum five minutes each, six requires less than 30 minutes per day and could be delegate to a trusted guide and 4-5 require probably like one day of development work each at most (and I know what I'm talking since one of my customers is actually a MMO company).