Official Answers by week

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 05/07 through 05/13

tomduril asks:

Would you consider decaying waterskins (eg by Drink, Fill, Empty ...) like the other tools?

This was added with a recent minor patch.

Would you consider decaying waterbarrels on use (fill, fill from, etc ...)?

This was added with a recent minor patch.

How hard would it be to decay carts (use, unuse, move ...) - the "only problem" I see is what happens to the contents of the cart, when it breaks down ...

The plan is to set up decay that affects a cart's speed until it's repaired. This would not affect contents and players would be able to dismantle broken carts. This is slated as an improvement to 'fit in' over the next few months when there is time.

Drevar Asks:

Will the penalty to scavenging still apply with totems in various stages of decay?

The penalty is reduced depending on the stage of abandonment.

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 05/14 through 05/20

China Asks:

Please give us an idea when all roof structures will be capable of holding containers, and when they will be rentable.

We will try within the next two months. Unfortunately I can't give an accurate time estimate on any features until we are able to expand our team.

I know 2-3 story structures were put on hold but were almost complete. I did not see them in any "rounds of development". Do you intend to put them back on the table soon?

No. We are going to implement a new collision system using NVidia PhysX first. Then this will be added to the development schedule again.

Approximately a year ago I started bugging Guides/Devs about gender correct attire for female avatars....what is the timeline for implementing this ingame?

We are preparing the schemes for about 20 female only armor sets. I plan to add them in game soon after the totem decay phase. They will be released along with revamped schemes for all armor sets.

Have you considered making baskets/bins moveable using the same feature as the water barrels? If so, when?

Yes, but as there are collision problems with multiple story buildings we won't add this until we've implemented the PhysX collision system.

Wainwrights have to level bonecrafting & leathercrafting to make different kinds of carts, this prevents them from choosing the ability to master any other skill since the soft cap was introduced. They can rely on woodcrafters & basketry etc. for some parts & I think the same should be true for bonecrafters & leathercrafters. Would you think about changing this?

The idea is that wainwrights can specialize in one or two types of cart if they wish to have other skills.

What is scrapcrafting?

This is a future craft involving piecing together junk parts to create 'scrap' armor sets.

Hodo Asks:

Will the totem decay update, bring with it basket decay. In other words, will baskets/bags/pouches left out OFF totem land become accessable, no longer locked?

Yes.

I have noticed a lack of pants patterns in Tailoring, any chance of getting some pants, shorts, skirts, and dresses?

We will set up crafting of the basic starter pants with our upcoming round of crafting revisions and we have skirts as part of the coming female armor sets. Other than that, we don't have any additional cloth patterns in the works right now.

Totem safe zones in PvP, will there be a way to have real warfare, with tribal war, in the near future or is it a pipedream and this is just going to become the next Hello Kitty Litterbox?

Removal of safe zones is in the near future. Next will come the ability to fight over expansion totems.

Regarding full tribal warfare: It fits with evolving the game based on the player base, but it was not part of the original design. It won't happen until we are able to expand our team. It won't be imposed upon all players and will be tried out first on outlying expansion areas and it's not going to be made the focus of Xsyon.

On the Forums is it possible to link ingame Character Names with the Forum Account, like Face Of Mankind does?

This is on our suggestion list, but we don't have the staff to do this right now.

Whorlok Asks:

hi..
logging a tree have a realistic timer.
destroying a lying log is one hit!?..
is it difficult to change (the one hit for destroying) to a timer with destroying 10-30 seconds ?(its realistic)

It's not difficult to change, but I don't agree with a destroy timer with the game as it is. This would cause more players to litter the world with cut trees and logs rather than clean them up and attract more griefing.

i have many ideas to bring player events to life:
short look on one Event ALPHA-"Temple of Gods" http://xsyon.de/#buildingtemple.html

Yes! I liked your event idea but it didn't gather enough interest. If you are ready to give it another try, please contact GuideRaguel.

Deacon Asks:

After free time is over....

Will large tribes that have unsubbed members, lose tribe radius, due to insufficent members for current radius status, if their numbers drop below the number required to obtain it? Single member tribe totems will decay if unsubbed member, so in essence, they are losing radius for insufficent numbers required to maintain radius status. If not, how will you justify to 3 man tribes that are limited in space allowed in which to build. Will you implement a different system for determining tribe radius size?

No. For this first round of decay, completely abandoned tribes will be decayed and removed only. Tribe radii for tribes with any active members will not change. We reviewed different ideas for town / totem upkeep required to maintain a tribe's active radius, but we'll see. Right now we're a bit overwhelmed with what is already in progress.

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 05/21 through 05/27

Riverspirit Asks:

Do you plan on fixing the way stats average on bones and leather? I mix a stack of bones with 1.0 with a stack of 1.01 and I end up with a stack of .067. Those numbers don't add up.

This is a bug that has been reported but we've been unable to reproduce in our development builds. Please contact bugs directly so that we can get more information from you.

Caper Asks:

Hi there, I'm new and I have a few questions about the upcoming features which seem exciting.

Questions about upcoming features

1. Cooking
Can you describe how the cooking system will work with the custom recipes? And will that custom recipe thing be in for the next round or is it a future addition?

Recipes will have slots for ingredient types (for example: meat, vegetable, grain, seasoning). The slots available for a recipe will increase with the skill of the cook. The final food product will grant buffs based on each ingredient used. The cook will be able to create and name a stack of the current item created.

This system will be in for this round of development.

2. Healing
Will debuffs such as wounds, sprained ankles (from falling from too high), ailments like sunstroke or cold be in game for healing to remove them or will healing be simply a form of regeneration?

Will healing only be a form of crafting to produce medicine or will you also be able to apply those medicines to the patients and will your chance of success then be dependent on your healing skill?

Healing will first be added simply as a way to regenerate health.

Healing skill will consist of both the creation and application of bandages / salves.

3. Talisman crafting
Can you give us a rough estimate on when talismans will be in game?

How will talisman crafting work? Will crafting consume faith? What materials will be used?

Talisman craft will be like other other crafts. It will not consume faith. Materials will range from hunted to scavenged items.

Talisman won't be implemented for a few months at least. It will come after revenants, crafting revisions and cooking.

Azzym Asks:

Two questions for you, one long and one short.

1) The way scavenging works it doesn't really seem to matter much what your stats are when it comes to the quality of what you find. I bumped my charm and perception by 20 points ea up to 90+ and couldnt notice any difference of quality, nr of items or the nr of recpies found. Spent long hours and wonder if I wasted points in the wrong stats. Can you assure me those stats have an importance for the scavenging skill? (did not try the extreme of minmizing the stats)

These stats do affect quality of found objects (roughly 20% of quality is based on stats). They do not affect the number of items found. I ran some quick tests and this seemed fine. I made a note and we will check this more thoroughly. It's possible that the quality of objects you found were boosted within the same quality range (for example from 91 to 99 quality).

2) Crafting is extemely annoying click-wise and even more so with the thing (bug) that forces me to click 2-3 times to add material for every crafted item. Are you planning on fixing this bug? And even better, are you planning to implement a simple queue-system for craft so we can do a batch of items?

I'm unaware of this and certainly I am unable to reproduce this on my machines. This may be dependent on frame rate. I am going to investigate this tonight.

A queue system is on our suggestion list but is not currently planned.

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 05/28 through 06/03

Qwerty Asks:

I have noticed that with a small player base that with no cart degradation that the market to sell carts to will soon become saturated. I am selling at the moment to mainly returnees and a few rare subscribing noobs and therefore becoming concerned. Is it possible to introduce cart degradation sooner rather than later please so wainwright crafters have some degree of sustainability for their trade?

tomduril added:

I asked the same thing about 2 weeks ago. As I found the market for new carts reducing fast - especially because more players are able to create carts and big tribes seem to provide the carts to their tribe members. So the market really narrows to a few homestadters that are reluctant to purchase more than 2-3 carts. The same is true for waterskins

I second the question (again).

Also see suggestions: http://www.xsyon.com/forum/project.php?issueid=1567

Regarding cart decay, I answered above:

The plan is to set up decay that affects a cart's speed until it's repaired. This would not affect contents and players would be able to dismantle broken carts. This is slated as an improvement to 'fit in' over the next few months when there is time.

Also, the demand for carts should pick up after the first totem decay runs as we are going to launch a promotional push then to get new players.

Qwerty Asked:

Good suggestion tomduril of which I have voted yes with my thoughts on the topic. Also I might have a gripe that having grind-ed up wainwright which as you know is quite a marathon that I find that I'm not able to do all the cart types without one of the supporting skills. A nasty hidden suprise when you have a message come up saying you need for example level 55 in bonecraft for a particular recipe. You may say every trade gets to build their own cart, but I say as a wainwright that I should be allowed to trade with leathercrafters and bonecrafters to complete the relevant type of cart, leading onto the repair suggestion. No good finding a player out in the wilderness when you find you can't repair his type of cart. After all an Architect doesn't need to know masonry or woodcraft to complete his or her projects so why should the Wainwright be severely punished?

It's not intended as a punishment, just a limitation so that players begin to specialize. I personally think there should be more schemes that require multiple crafts so that players do specialize more.

I wonder what the devs think about the above as this one is one of the reasons why some players rage quit wainwright?

It's possible.

Would you be prepared to change this as per my thoughts extending the number of recipes that can be learned by the wainwright to cover all cart types including the future scrappers cart?

Remember reward should equal effort and wainwright is a real tough grind just to put some emphasis on this.

If a craft feels like a particularly hard grind, it can be gained through experience points and experience can be gained through questing and actions. I don't plan to revise wainwright gains at the moment. If players are not using the experience and quests enough I will improve the system further so that it becomes a more viable alternative to 'grinding'.

Deacon Asks:

Actually, the slope check was supposed to work for moving projects also. I've put this on my priority request list as it should be an easy thing to change. I will probably increase the slope for placment, but set the slope check for moving projects to be the same as placement.

If you do this to moving projects, it will be impossible to build some of the stuff we build....we have to move some accross really steep places to get projects in place and to fit. What is the purpose to limit slopes we can build on anyway?

I see. The purpose was to prevent placing buildings such as tents on the sides of hills or half way hanging off a cliff. This should not apply to posts or walls. I see now that this was not implemented correctly. I'll have to spend some time to revise this properly. It's not going to be a quick fix as I thought because this will require more personal planning and testing by me.

1. What is supposed to be the difference between the hiding skill , and item camoflauge bonus?

Camoflauge will reduce the range that creatures detect you. Hiding works against other players.

2. What is the difference between the agility stat (effecting run speed and combat swing speed), and item speed bonus? What is the item speed bonus supposed to influence?

Item speed bonus will apply to weapons only and will increase attack speed with that weapon. It will not affect running speed.

3. When do you think item bonus (armour bonus, damage bonus, speed bonus, etc), other than those effecting stats will function?

In a few weeks. I'm working on a revision to crafts and bonuses right now.

4. Currently bear paws used in "hugaleti bearbone boots and guantlets" give no strength bonus, is this working as intended?

Yes. Paws were not assigned bonuses. This will be changed though as part of our current revisions.
Fyrex Asks:

Please reduce the time it takes for a creature to mature. It is way to long right now, and you can't ask a entire server to stop hunting for a month for creatures to grow up and be worth hunting. Its great to see lots of creature out and about now but they are just taking way to long to mature.

Also is there something wrong with hunting? It seems to be going up very slowly than what other skills do.

We've changed this on the Test Server and now creatures age by game month instead of game year, so they will mature much faster when we patch out these changes.

Osirrus Asks:

how many more 'free weeks' for old players are there to come?

Two more, until June 25th.

totem decay -

will there be a period of time when totem decay is on the test server so we can see how it functions before it goes live?

Yes, we'll test this out next week (week starting June 18th).

will we be able to place an expansion totem of our own over the decayed totem area? will this allow us to terraform and basically clean up the old decayed totem area?

Expansion totems won't be in yet, but new players / tribes will be able to claim decayed areas. (The old totems will be gone).

will there be a period of time where there will be a community discussion of how totem decay will work? / how the differently timed vunerabilities will work?

No. This first round of decay will run quickly.

when is totem decay starting?

when will totems start to disapear?

when will i be able to loot abandoned/decayed totem/tribelands?

will there be a period of time when a totem is still there/visable but the areas it should be protecting are lootable?

I will post the full plan later this week in the Announcements section rather than here so that all players are aware of the stages of decay.

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 06/04 through 06/10

Deacon Asks:

1. We used to be able to make leather scraps from leather, using shears....but we can no longer do this. Tailoring can do this with cloth scraps. Can we get the ability back to do this again ?

Strange. There never was a scheme set up to make leather scraps from leather. I can add this though as we are working on craft revisions now.

2. Before the skill degrade, some people bought schemes for skills they will most likely let decay now...some higher leveled schemes. Will high level schemes still be usable if the related skill drops below the scheme level ? If not, will there be a way to change that learned scheme, back into a trade-able scheme item?

I need to double check this. If a player drops skill, the schemes should remain in place but not be available for use unless the player gains the minimum skill level again. There will not be a way to turn the scheme into a tradeable recipe.

MrDDT Asks:

Is there any plans to add content to the game?
After having 100 in all the skills building a few tribal areas (for no reason other than looks) I'm wondering what is to keep people in the game.

Of course. The next content is as listed as part of the In Development section:

Current Round:
Crafting properties revisions - This will include a few new tools and many new armor sets.
Scavenged resource distribution balance
Death penalties

Totem Decay
Coming of Revenants
Real Estate System completed

Next Round: game immersion and survival.

Cooking, healing and other minor skills
Comfort and weather effects on players
Combat revisions including ranged combat
Ability for tribes to remove safe zones

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 06/11 through 06/17

Marilio Asks:

In relation to http://www.xsyon.com/forum/showthrea...Archive/page44

Health Revisions
- Health is now variable based on stats (40%) and skills (60%)
- The following stats affect health points in order:
Fortitude
Strength
Spirit
Charm
- Skills increase health based on group and individual skill. Only Combat, Resource and Crafts currently affect health.

Is there a defined skill level that we should be looking for? I have new skills since the update at +60, +35, +25 in all the crafts. I haven't seen a single HP increase yet. I'm going to continue grinding to see when I get this, but any additional information would be good.

HP from skills are gained in order from highest to least effect:
Combat Skills
Resources: Hunting, Fishing, Logging, Terraforming Crafts: Bonecraft, Weaponcraft
Crafts: Toolcraft, Leathercraft
Crafts: Masonry, Woodcraft, Wainwright
Resources: Foraging,Scavenging, Forestry, Resources
Crafts: Tailoring, Basketry, Architecture, Firebuilding

You should have gained some hp from your craft gains and we've tested this extensively. Please contact support and we will examine your character to reproduce these gains and see if there is anything off.

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 06/18 through 06/24

banden Asks:

Hello there!

The crafting interface and mechanics have been improved quite a bit in the past dev cycles but what are your thoughts on improving the boring progress bar gathering mechanics of Xsyon?

As per: http://www.xsyon.com/forum/showthrea...ring-mechanics

Thanks

In time yes. The mechanics for basic actions such as logging and scavenging were designed to be as is at this stage, as a step up from similar mechanics in Ultima Online (which was the primary online game I had played at the time that Xsyon was originally designed).

The goal for the future is to improve each action to become more of a fun mini-game that would take more time and provide a unique challenge. For example: a form of 'concentration' game to find scavenged items of what you are looking for, rather than a randomized roll. These type of improvements are not fully designed (nor were they intended to be designed at this phase). Continuous development and evolution of the game has always been part of the plan - the part that appeals most to me!

zoria Asks:
Lots of questions here! I'll do my best to answer them quickly!

- Are there any plans of adding canoes to the game, or any other boat?

Plans, yes, but not set in stone.

- Would it be possible to share/describe a possible increase of population in the Xsyon world (subscription wise)?

Yes. We are finally at a stage where I'm comfortable doing some advertisement (once the Abandonment has set in). With a bit of growth over the next two months we will also finally be set up a system to run and maintain a proper trial server.

- I heard in the past that you were thinking about adding the ability to make tunnels 'alla Minecraft'. This would involve lot's of reprogramming, but how is this plan proceeding?

It's not proceeding until we can really expand the team. It would require a full reworking of the terrain. It's still something we want to do in the future, but it's a ways off right now.

- Ranged combat is the next thing after Totum Decay to hit Xsyon. Are there any plans, and/or sketches, of how magic (both combat and non combat) is going to work?

Ranged combat will include spears and bows. Magic won't be added at this stage. I'm not going to go into any details of what's been designed as far as magic as development is still slow and I want to concentrate on what can and will be done in the next coming months.

- I read the announcement last week stating that there was a search to expand the development team. How is this going?

The search continues. I don't plan to actually add any new people until August. It's difficult to find the right kind of programmer for a project like this (who works very independently).

- The thing that Xsyon is missing at the moment is a stable and fairly big player base. Advertising campaigns are the way to do this, are there any plans, and if so, could you share them with us?

Yes. As stated above we will be advertising soon. This will be in the form of typical banner ads and a Facebook ad campaign. We are preparing a Kickstarter page to raise funds to really push Xsyon to the next level as well, but the goal first is to expand the player base by attracting new players with our ads.

- New players are pretty much screaming for meaningful combat. Revenants would bring some 'probably' meaningful combat. How is the development team intending to add meaningful combat in the game, when a relatively small player base is keeping them from PVP?

I think the creature revisions we've focused on these past few weeks plus the coming of revenants will provide much improved combat.

- For new people, including me, how difficult would it be to kill a Revenant? Will our game be heavily affected with their presence in the game?

They will range from being a decent fight for mid level players to being a challenge for high level players. New players should have to band together or seek the aid of higher level players.

- Recently several Arena's were created, wouldn't it be nice if there was an actual mechanic for this? In a way that people could teleport to an Arena, set the rules and fight..

Please feel free to contact one of our Guides and discuss. We are more than happy to assist with events run at player built arenas.

- Perhaps more of a suggestion, but is there a tutorial in the making for new players? It is difficult to get into the game when you are relatively new, and the low playerbase isn't helping that much, so perhaps a full covering tutorial would help new players to play this game independent at first.

It's something I'd like to do, but would take a lot of time that we currently don't have. I do like the fact that Guides and other players have been around to help new players and I think this has helped a lot with building a community.

- The fact that the homepage of this website hasn't been updated in a long time scares some people away. Are there any plans to make the homepage/website more interactive? Perhaps a blog, release notes page or anything that indicates that this game is alive and doing relatively well would give people are more comfy feeling.

We keep the forums active as that is really our 'face' to the community. We do have some volunteers working on setting up a better home page for us that will update with our latest news.

- Are there any plans, and/or discussions in the team, to increase the experience gained per action and therefor making it easier to level?

No, this hasn't been discussed. We did ask for feedback on this while we were working on balancing experience, stats and skills. I plan to increase experience gained for quests as these should be used more often. For actions, I haven't heard any other requests or comments to increase the experience gained, but I will discuss with the Guide team as they interface more with players directly.

- Last one for today; people are making a huge effort creating two story buildings, cant some love put into this to make two(or more)story building easier?

I was working on a two story construction, until I found out players found tricks to build the two story buildings with a bit more effort. Right now it's not a priority as I like the fact that it's something that takes effort and ingenuity and there are 'bigger fish to fry'. Really, we will get back to proper two story construction after we've revised collision using the planned PhysX system.

Alright, as for now, I have been playing several weeks right now, this game is not solo friendly. For a starter, even with my skills and some leather Armour I made from scavenging, it is still virtually impossible to fight against even the smallest of a deer (1v1 fight). This is frustrating, as bonecrafting and hunting in general is a no-go area for solo players this way. Don't get me wrong, I like to interact with other people, but I heavily prefer to fight and die on my own.

To make my point;
- Will Xsyon be more solo-friendly in the future?

With the latest revisions to creatures, I think so. Part of the goal is to have low level creatures easier for new solo players to fight.

- Can damage of certain animals get decreased? Just the more average animals is alright with me. Being able to kill a deer with 2 spears and leather armor shouldn't be a problem right? I hear it all the time, and it is just very frustrating to get killed by a pack of squirrels when you go into the game. It is very illogical and frustrating from the very beginning.

This has been done and is being balanced. Please check our Feedback Request post and let us know what you think of creatures currently on the Test Server.

- Is it possible to create a Social hub, perhaps on an island in the middle of the game, where both tribes and players can meet, trade and perhaps even challenge each other for a fight? Perhaps teleport is a nice idea. The game is large, VERY large, and going to players can take at least 30 min. It feels sometimes that I am playing a singleplayer game, and that is not where Xsyon is all about, even as a solo player.

Founder's Isle is meant to be a type of social hub and I hope that players will form other social hubs on their own. I believe that with more players coming and a few improvements in the works (trade at totems, real estate rental) these social hubs will come of their own.

- After totems (and tribes) got abandoned, how long will it take to get them *removed*?

Roughly two weeks after we patch the first phase.

MrDDT Asks:

Is it meant to have animals not attack? If so, where is the "survival" at all in this game and why?

Of course not. Feedback on creatures not attacking is best in the feedback thread. Creature AI has undergone a lot of small but important changes these past 2 weeks on the Test Server.

When do you expect your game to be fun?

I think it's fun now, and will only get better.

This game is mostly made for solo players it seems, do you have plans for large objectives for tribes and groups of tribes?

No specific tribal goals are planned for the current round of development.

AI is still doing very bad, and animals are way to easy, who do you have working on this code now?

The most recent revisions have been done by myself and one other programmer.

Do you have any devs that work on PVP objectives?

If by PvP objectives you mean siege or conquering of tribes, we are not currently working on those.

What are your plans for PVP objectives and when?

Again, if you mean siege or tribal conquest: this is something that can only be worked on after we can expand our team. Currently we are not at that point and I'll make solid plans only when I know that I really can.

Economy is still not working very well, I know you keep saying you are working on it, but when is this going to be top of the "to do" list?

As the economy depends on many factors, we can only work on these factors one at time to see how the economy impoves.

Deacon Asks:

a.) Will human bones get stat bonus ?

Yes, they will provide bonuses based on the highest stat of the human (revenant) killed.

b.) Can you raise the max quantity for 'Goal' on totem quests? 100 nails isnt gonna buy much of anything

Yes, noted and can be done easily.

Thanks for the questions and sorry for any hasty answers. As usual I'm in a rush with a lot going on, but I wanted to get a few of these questions answered.

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 06/25 through 07/02

Deacon Asks:

Something that has bothered me for quite some time..

Can you explain the reasoning behind having the windows in pioneer log walls not centered...and all the same height? It would be nice to be able to reverse one wall and butt it up to another, and have windows align correctly, and have round log walls inside and out...like real log cabins.

These were simply up to the artist's creative discretion.

And while on walls Are we gonna see brick walls in future with windows or even arrow slits?

Most likely yes.

Also, some of the roofs are not centered on the wooden frames, and the 8x8 mason brick roof just isnt large enough for the frame...walls dont look right with it.

Please report this to the bugs email so that we can check and adjust. These were checked before, but details do get missed.

Why dont items made with white cloth...come out white?

That's the way the shader shades them when set to pure white material. The textures have grey scale tint to them to bring out details when shaded in other tones.

.................................................. ....................

Now that hiding no longer gives XP, and is in 'Action' section like running ...does it still use perception as a deciding factor of how well you hide, and if someone can see you? And if it does..will it effect the stat when using it?

Thanks

Hiding uses your perception and agility, and it does run stat gain on these. Hiding using the perception of the viewer to reduce the effect of hiding.

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 07/02 through 07/08

Drevar Asks:

A little technical, but....Are there any concerns of differing results when using PhysX with Nvidia GPU cards vs those having to run in software mode? e.g. slower framerates or different level of accuracy on GPU vs CPU? This is assuming you are doing this on the client side and not just server side collision, of course.

Not at the moment. The first implementation of PhysX will be used for normal collision and will definitely be more optimal than our current system.

Also, were there any considerations besides price that made you choose PhysX rather than Havok?

Familiarity by the programmer who'll be implementing PhysX and available assistance from friends at NVidia.

marilio Asks:

Animal Mechanics:
When fighting an animal - If you do a left direct block you can block (on my last test) roughly 74% damage. When you use center,up,down you block about 42%. When you do Right it doesn't show block at all.

The other issue is when you block left, it will block at max twice. It'll hold the block position but continued damage comes through with no block rating.

Is there a way to work this to make it a little more consistent?

Block = Parry - sorry.

We will look into this. This is better reported to our bugs email. Seems odd as I was testing this directly a few days ago with proper results.

Deacon Asks:

Once the majority, if not all...abandoned totems have decayed away, and few if any players unsub afterwards...what will become of revenants? Where will they come from, or will they still be in game...and if so, to what extent?

The revenants don't leave an area once a totem is abandoned, only when land is reclaimed. When land is reclaimed, they look for new homes (other abandoned totems). If there are no abanonded totems, they either go way (are removed) or find empty locations on the map to haunt.

3) We reduce the stat bonus power of creature parts. Creature parts will still range in power base on age and creature power, but I plan to limit a full armor set to increase a stat a maximum of 25 points. Currently a full set of the right materials can increase a single stat too much. This is causing balance issues and sets a priority on gear that I did not intend nor desire for Xsyon. A 'quick fix' limiting the power of armor sets is running on the Test Server, but a proper revision is in progress and armor sets and creature parts will be evenly adjusted. The high end sets and parts will remain as the high end items.

I'm unsure why creature part add to stats at all...the point of armor should be varying degrees of protection weighed against the encumbrance of it. Even with the current change...some pieces of armor still use more animal parts..therefore giving more stat benefits...what does it matter if they max the main stat then spread the bonuses over several other important stats...people will still be using the SAME armor(clone armor syndrome )...so everyone gets the same amount of bonuses. When you have a certain helmet that uses bone, leather, fur and screws, why would some one take a helmet that uses bone and screws only....denying himself the leather and fur bonuses ? (used as example only)

Stats should be a reflection of how you live...your actions (and possibly what you eat)...not what you wear...a man who can barely run for low agil, suddley puts on 16 pieces of heavy bone agil armor, and poof...can run a marathon...or...a man too weak to pick up a short log, but pile on some super bone armor...and he can run with a long log...just doesnt make sense to me...I'm just saying...

Thankse...and if so, to what extent?

I understand your point, but it's a typical game mechanic and it's used to give additional value to armor and components. It's a fantasy / alternate reality game after all. We are revising armor sets and adding Artisan and Master sets so that all parts provide consistent bonuses (more materials required for Artisan and Master sets = more potential material bonuses).

Crokus Asks:

Will the reverents only spawn and stay around the totems, or do you have some coded to wander the map like you do with the animals?

During the abandonment they spawn only at totems. In the future if there are no totems and the population dies down, they will haunt other unoccupied locations of the map.

prokop15 Asks

You are still traveling between your home in the US and your team in Russia quite frequently, spending a fair amount of money, time, and effort, on just being able to work with your team.
Do you regret structuring the team in this way?
Will you make any changes to address this inefficiency?

No regrets and no inefficiency.

During the main development years of Xsyon I made two trips per year on average. This past year I made more trips, but for personal reasons (engagement, got married, and dealing with my wife's immigration).

The costs have been negligible compared to the cost of running a game development company in the US (which would not have been feasible in the first place). The effort of travel is minimal and something I've been doing my entire life. The travel time I use to catch up on tasks like answering these questions.

We've dealt with many problems slowing development: lack of manpower, rewriting code from our original programmers, illness and injuries affecting our very small team and difficulties getting things tested and balanced properly. Having our team in Russia and a few trips back and forth has been the least of my worries. The biggest issue has been the lack of funds to deal with the hurdles that have come our way. This is being addressed with coming promotions and fund raising.

In another tread, you told us: "The goal with revenants is for them to range in power from that of a mid level player to being a challenge for high end players. Newbies in groups of 3 or 4 should be able to take down a normal revenant". It seems to me that this conflicts with the original goal of totem decay: to clear occupied land for players to claim, especially for new players, so that they don't have to run across the world just to find a spot...
By making revenants this difficult, you will have created yet another way that newbies rely on vets.
I don't have a question here, just pointing out the issue. Care to respond to this concern?

A creature that can be dealt with by 3-4 new players is not extremely difficult, but I think this is a small challege that does several things: encourages new players to seek initial assistance from veteran players, welcomes new players to join an existing tribe for a while and then set off on their own if they like, urges players to work together even as a band of new players. All of this creates social interaction in game and helps build a positive game community.

What will happen with revenants when no tribe lands are being abandoned?

Some will disappear, other move on to haunt unoccupied lands.

Thanks for the questions!

[Xsyon]

Questions of Week 07/09 through 07/15

Tesla Asks:

Could you please share with us what primary and secondary stats will be associated with the Cooking skill? Thank You.

Perception and Dexterity. This may change as we balance stat use for Cooking and other skills planned.

Donar Asks:

Specialization Enhancement Request:

With specializations I think it would be beneficial to increase the number of items we can learn. I know there is a craft update coming soon but is this something we can work into the game sooner?

This comes up because I'm currently grinding Tailoring. Specialized for tailor, I can currently learn 75 schemes at skill 79. This doesn't seem like enough as I have chosen to specialize in tailoring.

The number of schemes you can learn is a percent of available schemes. As we add new schemes you will automatically learn more.

numskull34 Asks:

24 hours into game ... just noticing a ton of Revenents making it very hard to get around. Wondering if you are planing anything to help on this as far as maybe being able to destroy inactive totems after a period of time or maybe making them spawn less the more time inactive they become.

We are making a few revisions to Revenants for the next patch.
- Currently you need to place a totem and kill revenants for them to move to other lands. Placing a totem will be enough to clear away revenants.
- Low end revenants will be made easier.
- Revenants will start to leave areas where abandoned totems have been removed.

In addition we are working on creature migration but this won't be ready for the next patch. Difficult creature will migrate to more abandoned and remote zones.

Crokus Asks:

Just curious. What is the health regen rate on animals? Are they different by species and/or maturity?

I have a very strong coyote around my place with 274 hps and 1 health/per second regen rate. I've tested this a few times. I haven't had much trouble with most of the other animals so I haven't paid attention to their health regen until now. I don't know, maybe the regen rates have always been that fast. I can't kill this coyote atm so I just avoid him.

I will check this. The regeneration rate should not be that fast.

Willowhawk Asks:

Exploring The Green Mist
Any ETA on opening up the green zones? If not soon are you waiting for more population? or more content? And when it does open will there be anything out there that we don't already have in game such as old structures and artifacts or any other surprises? Expiring minds want to know! Throw us a bone

There won't be any special surprises but the terrain artists did spend more time on the expansion zones to create some interesting locations.

The few differences will be in resource distribution and toxic pools in these zones where mutants can spawn.