MrDDT Asks:

Whats your plans to make items in game worthwhile to craft, acquire, or have?
1) Revise recipes so that better tools and armors rely on more rare items
2) Add materials with various bonuses (already done now).
3) Make these bonuses have more noticeable effects (in progress).
4) Add comfort, improve hunger, thirst and other states so that bonuses have more importance (in progress).

AI of animals, is this being worked on?
Yes. One of our programmers is working on combat and AI primarily. AI is being worked on in this order:
Movement synch (much improved now).
Animation synch (in progress).
Finding where the animals are going (a backend animal tracking tool is almost ready).
Animal stats (need to be made more difficult and balanced).
Collision map (it was working well, but there have been recent issues with this, possibly because of the conversion to 512 zones).
Additional AI, especially combat, so that creatures can dodge and parry.

Harder animals like mutants and zombies, or vampires or something is there something we going to see anytime soon?
Yes. We're going to make the current animals more difficult first. We have started some zombie testing already and mutants need fixed artwork which is being worked on right now.

Carts, or sleds? How soon before these items are in game?
I've bumped this up to a priority issue. I'm going to start on carts this week. I don't know how long it will take.

Stats? Right now it would take years to change your stats, is there going to be a change to this or should I just forget it and reroll now?
I'm going to review this within the next few weeks. Some players report that stats don't change, yet some players have definitely gained 10+ points in some stats. It does need to be improved. That's for sure.

Soft cap on skill pools and decay. How is this going to work? Whats your plans on how much limiting this will be?
One overall soft cap. An additional soft cap per skill group. I need to review the current state of player skills and skill gain before I can give more details on this. There currently is a soft cap, but clearly it wasn't enough, as nobody is noticing it.

Skill pools, what do you see for being about what is allowed for people to have per pool?
The goal is a balance, for example: A player can be a great fighter and master one craft, or a great crafter but only an average fighter, or the player can have decent overall skills (jack of all trades, master of none). The master levels (80+ in a skill) should have the most effect both on outcome and the skill cap.

NorCalGooey Asks:

Are you going to give tall characters a buff? Shorter chars have half the size as max size chars and the advantage in smaller hit box is very noticeable.
Tall characters have a longer reach. We will be testing this more as we continue to work on combat to make this a noticeable difference.

Do you guys know how to fix the zone out bug where after passing through 2 zones, all terraforming, trees, totems and buildings disappear? When I relog it all reappears.
This has been fixed and tested. If this still happens for you, please report this as a bug.

When will weapons be better than pre order weapons? I have supreme axes and from my testing they do about 4/5 of the damage a pre order does. Not bad, but still, there should be signifcantly better weapons than pre order. That or just tone down pre order weapons to be equal to a master quality weapon (in damage) or something.
Reducing the power of pre-order weapons is now on our short 'todo' list.

When will we get pole arms, staves, 2handers, archery? At least the first 3 should be pretty easy to implement. I'm a 2handed guy myself and saving some of my skill points for 2handers.
We don't have a set timeline for this. It's not difficult to add, but it takes time and we have other priorities to take care of first.

Architecture with "sims" like customization and ability to free design. How soon will this be implemented? Can you give a ball park (1-3 months?, 3-6 months?) estimate on when this will be patched into game?. I'm assuming this would also come with the multi story construction. I'd be surprised if this came out with the most recent patch, I understand the patch to be just new architecture recipes, not customization with wall building and multi story?
Our latest architecture patch is a step in this direction. We will have more parts and possibly multiple stories within the next month.

Shouldn't low level recipes stop giving XP? Why should it be as easy as grinding thread, string, and twine to 100 in basketry or tailoring?
Yes. Skill and XP gain is modified by the level of the recipe. This will be looked into this week. Balancing craft gain is one of our top priorities now.

Why can ANYONE craft EVERYTHING? this is so wrong on so many levels and is actually one of the major reasons not related to PVP that the game is dead population wise.
This is not as originally intended and balancing the whole system is a now a priority.

[QUOTE]
Terraforming doesn't increase strength. I think it may be broken. Will you look into this? I'm 89 strength and I've terraformed enough to level 3 characters to 100 terraforming.
Will be looked into.

Will we ever be able to move our totem WITHOUT moving the tribe boundary? This could work by simply keeping the center of the sphere that is our tribe boundary at the same point, and having the totem independent from that.
Yes, this is on our list of improvements. I'm not sure when we will get to it, but it will happen.

Also, I know this is likely to never happen (because its the equivalent to permanent death), but if capital totem sieges and capture come into play (perhaps through MUTUAL AGREEMENT only), the tribe should get to choose where the clan stone (so to speak) goes. It should be big and obvious so it cannot be hidden, but can be in an area chosen by the tribe and independent from the tribe boundary center.
This will be considered. As with all suggestions that are not part of our original design, we need to think of all the positive and negative consequences.

You sure about stone wall decay? I hope you give it some thought
I have given this some thought. Right now stone wall decay isn't on our list of priorities. If it will just be something tedious it won't be added. It's not part of the original design, or something I find important to add.

Also, here is a simple idea I had for how safe zone removal could work in CAPITAL totem areas, but still have no capital totem capture...as well as giving Good Aligned tribes some options for SOME safety (too much causes abuse by warring tribes too and cannot work all together)

I guess my question is, could you read this idea really quick and give your thoughts on a system something like my proposal below?
I've kept your original proposal for our Suggestions. In short:

1) I don't plan to add NPC towns at all.

2) The idea of number of expansion totems per level of 'exposure' is interesting and something I will consider, though I think it should be based on safety or exposure and not alignment. (For example a Good aligned tribe could remove it's safe zone to allow for more expansion). We'll see. We're not quite ready to work on this yet.

You said yourself you want evil players to be like the monsters of the world. Wouldn't this work out better if you gave more incentive to evil players to be evil? This would give more PvP opportunity to good and neutral players as well, without the consequence of having an evil reputation.
I agree and I think the steps we've taken recently will encourage some players to be 'bandits'.

Will we ever gain hit points from other ways than gaining combat levels?? This is what I have started calling the level bar that gives 10 skill points and + hit points. Is there a better name than combat levels you could use for this? I can't call it skill levels because that is already taken.
Hit points will be better adjusted based on your combat skills and stats soon, but that's all I have planned.

Jadzia Asks:

The alignment system was a very fundamental part of the game. Do you have any ETA for that ?
It's in game. All of you have alignments, but they are not visible. We plan to work on consequences starting with death penalties within the next few weeks. We originally did have a few differences but they were removed because of player feedback.

VeryWiiTee Asks:

1) As far as I understood, Prelude ended safe zones, with the possible addition that war happens tribes could remove them sooner. This hasn't been altered or anything, has it?
1a) Well you did have an idea that meant permanent safe zones, but is this still the plan to go forward with that specific idea to restrict rather than to give options to protect yourself?
The plan hasn't changed for now.

I have some ideas that have been fermenting in my mind about the possibility of tribes creating safe territories but with outposts that would need to be defended. This could allow a coalition of warring tribes to have 'carebear' tribes under their protection. This is just an idea for now and I don't have the time to discuss the details (I'm sure questions will be asked). I just want you all to know that we have been paying attention and do have ideas for a balanced system when the time comes. We're not there yet. We need to balance what's in game first.

2) Will we be able to build diagonal instead of just horizontal/vertical so that we may utilize more of our area?
We are adding diagonal walls and other parts that will allow for this. (Very soon).

3) Will we be able to get more options concerning permissions, perhaps to keep out common tribe members from the tribe councils ruling area (rank permissions). Or say I have a house, but I only want GuideMihr and myself to be able to enter it and no one else (name permissions)?
Yes, we plan to have permissions on individual homes. This will be tricky for homes built from parts, but it will be added for tents soon.

4) You mentioned a The Sims sort of building 'mode'. Would that include the same effect with walls (but also kitchen tables/bathroom tables) melting together? Right now we have walls with cracks in the corners.
If have walls that don't fit tightly together, please report this as a bug. Walls should fit tightly in general (some, like the branch barricades won't). We can't have walls 'meld together' however. We will add furniture.

Book Asks:

I. Regarding the "keys" part of our inventory:
1) Will these keys allow us to lock / unlock our gates?
This is a place holder intended for future use for buildings and containers, but not for city gates. City gates should work for all tribe members. We'll see if it makes sense to change that in the future.

2) Will I be able to make a spare key to allow a friend access to my homestead if visiting on holiday?
Yes, keys would replace permissions if / when we add them.

3) Will these keys be lootable?
No plans for this.

II. It seems like your interest in Archaeology and Architecture comes through in the content of the game. In order to perhaps extrapolate future updates, and more importantly to make suggestions in keeping with the original design, did you have a main area of interest in Archaeology? The faint circular design in the background of the website's main page makes me think Aztec/Mayan, but thought I'd ask... paleolithic, epi-paleolithic(my favorite), neolithic? New world, old world? Just curious.
I have a degree in Egyptian Archaeology and wrote a book on Egyptian Temples. My interests are in ancient and medieval cultures. I do hope to expand Xsyon someday to have a an Egyptian zone as well as other areas. (Egyptian tops the list though).

unclean666 Asks:

Will you ever change up mats for tools.When I get orders for 20+ tools I find myself pulling WAY to much scrap metal just to find master small metal plates.There just way over used in tools.
Yes, we will revise all recipes this month to balance materials and distribution. It's now a priority.

Dubanka Asks:

Regarding the ability for players to dynamically shape the world.
- What percentage of the world do you envision as being able to be put under tribal control/conquerable?
It's hard to answer. I never envisioned Xsyon as a siege warfare game, as I've stated before. This is something players have been asking for which I agree is interesting and only adds to the original design.

The percentage of the world that is under tribal control and open for warfare is going to depend on our player base. I think it's something we can only see as time goes on. My goal is to provide the tools and see what players do with them. I want players eventually to be both the 'Players' and 'Dungeon Masters' of the world.

- Do you have a mechanic you will use to determine tribal control over an area, ie. how will a tribe establish control over an area?
The same as now, through totems.

- How much area will a single tribe be able to control?
Undecided for now.

- How will players know when they are in an area controlled by a tribe (as opposed to the tribes totem area)?
It will be the totem area.

- How can a tribe prevent another tribe from obtaining control of an area?
- How will a tribe resist being placed under the control of a tribe seeking to control an area?
- Will a controlling tribe have the ability to tax, or otherwise gain some benefit from the tribes in the area under its control?
- How do safe zones factor in this? or will safe zones not be permitted within area that is able to be controlled by tribes?
All that is planned is for tribes to potentially siege and conquer other tribes totems. It seems you are envisioning something completely different, that we do not have designed. As I've stated before, when we get to the point of full on sieges, myself and the other programmers will examine games with working siege systems and come up with a design that makes sense for Xsyon. The first step will be contested expansion totems or the ability for tribes to drop safe zones and be vulnerable to combat in exchange for better resources within their area.

- How do you plan for expansion totems to work? Will they work just like regular totems now - will they be safe zones? How many expansion totems will a tribe be able to place?
Expansion totems will not be safe. They will be claims of land that can be contested. I haven't decided on the totem limit, but it will be based on tribe population.

Regarding Combat
- When will we begin to see gear balancing? Or does the development team feel that gear is currently 'OK'?
Combat is still being worked on. The functions that determine damage are not balanced right and still need adjustment.

- Is there a design (functional) intent, besides weight, behind grass vs. cloth vs. leather vs. bone (armor)? Or is the distinction meant to be primarily vanity?
These all have very different stats, but as stated above, the damage functions need to be corrected.

- Is there a design (functional) intent behind blade vs. blunt vs. axe vs. pick (besides vanity)...furthermore is there meant to be variation within the weapon subsets (ie. axe type a vs. axe type f), or are the different models meant primarily for vanity.
Weapon groups have different stats. Individual weapons are more influenced by the quality and materials. As with armor, the damage functions need to be corrected in order for all of this to be noticeable.

- are there any plans to limit player speed in combat...i understand there is the intent to allow players to get away, but players should not be able to fight and 'get away' at the last minute of a fight...something along the lines of your character speed and stamina decrease along with your health.
Energy will be depleted more during combat and this will have more effects on movement.

- are there any plans to implement equipment that give bonus to player stats or abilitys (hp, speed, stam, armor, etc?).
Yes, and this was added last week. The changes are still in progress.

- I have seen herbs in 'preview' phase that enhanced health rejuvination. These appear to have been removed. Is that correct? If so, are there plans to reintroduce them?
No plants were added then removed from the game, but we do plan to introduce healing which will use herbs.

regarding character advancement.
- As it has been reported that char hps increases with levels, the char with the most skills trained, will be the highest level and will have the most hps, question: Once skill degradation is implemented, will it be possible to lose levels/hps as you lose skill levels?
You will not lose levels as that is simply a hidden stat to track overall skill gain through xp and has no other effect. There are no plans to have players lose hp, but these will be adjusted by stats and combat skills.

- Once skill degradation is put in place, will the game save the 'maximum %' achieved for a skill? Or will i gain experience by retraining it.
Retraining will gain more experience. The maximum skill achieved is also recorded in our database.

Darkviper Asks:

Currently our characters follow the terrain of the land beneath us when we are jumping or climbing on objects. You can not jump over a hill, regardless of how high you jump, if side of the hills slope is unclimbable.

Will this be changed so we can actually jump or walk on objects past impassible slopes?
We plan to add a climbing skill so that you can climb steep slopes, but it will be dangerous with a chance for the player to fall. This won't be introduced for a while.

Can the rank permissions be changed slightly so there is a "Build" and a "Destroy"?
Yes, I have added this to the suggestions.

Krimara Asks:

What affects the bonus provided for wearing tribal colors? Specifically, do you need to be wearing both colors, and would wearing multiple items with tribal colors increase bonuses?
Currently you get a bonus for wearing 50% of tribal colors (either one counts towards this). I plan to revise this soon, however, and we will add the final system to the game manual.

Would you consider adding information on the game play systems to the manual? I love that you're willing to answer these questions, but I think it would help if new players knew exactly how their character will change as they play and how those changes will affect their actions. For example how will their stats raise/lower? HP would probably be important as well.

On that note I've been curious about the end effect of stats.
Most actions are roughly based on 75% skill and 25% stats. We will add more information to the game manual after things are revised and balanced over the next few weeks.