I was thinking about this:
- a lot of work got into terraforming;
- only tribal land will be terraformable;
- terraforming grants will be bestowed only to some tribe members (most probably only the leader+officers).

This is a GREAT waste of work! Terraforming is a way of interacting with the virtual world and its inhabitants (the players). This is actual game content. The restrictions above make me think that I won't terraform much because the tribal territory will be managed by my fellow leader and officers. But I want to enjoy it, too!

I'm totally okay with the fact that the tribal territory should be "protected" from all tribal members messing around... this would be chaotic. There has to be control over it. But somehow it does not feel really "fair".

So, here comes my suggestion: go to http://www.minecraft.net/ and look at the two modes of play: multiplayer, singleplayer and "creative".

Try single and creative to get an idea about what I'm talking about.

It would be great to have similar "modes" in Xsyon. Besides the actual MMO, "another world" (server?) with "relaxed" gameplay rules where everybody can build stuff, just for the fun of it.

This may sound simplicistic, and it is! There should obviously be some "rules" or concerns that make it worthwhile. The "another world" could be a "housing" server, where you can go to from the actual MMO.

In this "another world" there should be no pvp at all, and everybody should have his patch of land to terraform or cultivate in any way he sees fit. Other players can come by and look around, but not modify it. It would be cool if "trophies" can be exposed here. Travel should be instant and death impossible. It really should be a surrogate world that just serves the above purposes without interfering with the "real world" gameplay.

I think there are many other things that could be added to this. The only purpose would be just to have "fun with the engine".

Also, APB will have two sides or ways to enjoy it, a social/customization/marketing zone and an FPS/PVP zone. I think the terraforming engine should be leveraged more, or the majority of players won't have a chanve to enjoy it!

TL;DR: you won't enjoy terraforming because you will rightfully not be allowed to mess up the tribal territory.