Something needs to change.

[Liquidblade]

I would have to say that I am constantly checking this site and also Legions. I love the game but my hands are tied, I am bored with building, with out people to help its even worse. The ones that are on do not want to get together cause they have worked hard in building their cities so we pretty much are stuck where we started at.

Pvp for me is pretty much out....would have to work really hard to catch up to DDt ...but my ideal is working with tribe to build a powerfull tribe, but with out people, you cant do nothing. I agreed the game needs to be free untill the next chapter (after prelude) am watching and seeing what is gona happen, and Im sure there are many doing the same thing.

[Rothkur]

But yes, it must be the players fault for not understanding what a great game Xsyon is...

Pretty much. If you want themepark content, dungeons, and carrots on a stick to get you to play an MMO you are everything wrong with MMO players. You are entirely defeating the point of what xsyon is by wanting content on rails. This isn't LoTRO or WoW or SWTOR or EQ where the game dangles loot or a generic rehashed quest in front of your face and you play forever to get it.

In fact I'll list out some of the different ways Xsyon can be revitalized without resorting to generic themepark MMO features:

1.) Spawn rare and region specific resources that are required to make items and structures. (It will be impossible to build a totem anywhere near these resources unless conquest/siege mechanics exist)
2.) AI/NPC enemies that regularly attack players/tribes/structures, requiring players to work together and use a steady supply of materials, items, and structures to survive.
3.) Allowing players to attack other players/tribes/structures, requiring players to work together and use a steady supply of materials, items, and structures to survive and conquer.
4.) Giving tribes or players the ability to put bounties on other players/tribe members for rewards.
5.) Implement a total skill cap to force trade and cooperation between players and better balance the game. If a player is at skill cap, they may choose to lock certain skills from gaining or losing points. If a player gains points in a skill at skill cap, the lowest unlocked skill will reduce by the same amount of points. If there are no unlocked skills, the player does not gain any skill points at skill cap.
6.) Increase the strength of some creatures to require team work and cooperation between players (ties into the skill cap)
7.) Allow players to farm both livestock and crops

[digdug]

I stopped playing this game almost a long time ago. But...
I still stop in and see what the dev team has done, seen a couple updates...
Been waiting and will continue to wait until they put something concrete on the table.
But I wont pay to wait monthly.
Before I bought the game on the release date, I was excitedly reading through the Features page on the main website, which detailed many different aspects of the game that I figured would be working.
I bought the game and found out none of those FEATURES were anywhere near implemented.
I come to the Xsyon site once or twice a week and check the forums for any updates.
Then I go back to the main website, click on the FEATURES tab and laugh a little.
I was a little dissapointed to find out the released game i bought which seems like a year ago was nowhere near as functional as its website had advertised, with none of the FEATURES actually implemented.
How much has been done since I last played? maybe march.

[stonedogg1]

Digdug,

Alot has been added since March (I'm sorry, I'm not gonna list it all here - you can check out the "Updates" archive for all the patches since then).

However, to your point, a lot of the features that you were looking at are still not in game. The developers have been tweeking and refining ALOT of aspects of the game in preparation for later content add-ons (how much later, I have no idea). I believe there is plenty to do for quite a while for a new/returning player.

If you scroll through this post, you'll see that alot of current players (some of whom cannot stand each other in-game) are ALL in agreement on hopes & wants for the future of this game. The developers (as always) keep an eye on posts such as these. Right now, the community as a whole, is worried about the longevity of this game & have expressed their opinions in this post.

Why not jump back on board for a bit, contribute your ideas, enjoy the company & free form world and see what happens. This game is still wide open for the sandboxers out there.

Hope to see you back in game soon.

[NorCalGooey]

When I first saw AlexTaldren's video (and his explanation of the game and what it was suppose to be in the future), I was immediately hooked. I've spent at least 500 hours on this game, and for what? The entire time I was playing HOPING that this game would become the game it is meant to be, and I thought that was going to happen at least RELATIVELY soon.

In fact, I even bought a new computer for this game because my laptop could not play it adequately. Because for some reason this game is one of the hardest on your computer of ANY game that exists. Seriously. Any game. I don't know why this is.

You can say it's not about PvP all you want, but building communities and defending them from war are what gives point to a game. It's what gives point to ANY society. Working together to keep the peace among yourselves. If an outsider wants to ruin your plans, you to band together and defeat them. That's where the true fun comes in. That's where the true adrenaline comes in.

I don't know if any of you have ever been shot at or had a gun held to your head, but it's extremely exhilarating. Only difference is, in real life the adrenaline comes from fear of losing your entire LIFE (the feeling that flashes in your head when you know death is a huge possibility is simply "what is next?", well, that's the simplest way I can describe the feeling put it)

In video games, the adrenaline comes from fear of losing some time invested, but not THE ENTIRE TIME (aka dying in real life).

That's why there is a very fine line between having too much risk in video games, and too little. Too much, and no one will want to even play the game for the risk of losing massive time investments. Too little, and there is no point to even do anything.

That's why one safe totem is good (capital totem). Let those who want to build (even us PvPers like to do this too, more as a showing of prestige though) epic cities do so without the fear of losing them.

However, there needs to be a conquest aspect as well. Because as you can see, zero conquest, zero war, and PvP, or heck even PvE (Giants attacking tribes, zombies, lochness monster, etc) = DEAD game.

The whole reason smiths make armor, masons make bricks, hunters hunt for food, lumberjacks cut wood for fire, arrows, etc, etc etc. is to keep the society SAFE and ALIVE.

So by hard coding safety, security, and no possible way of death (this is the apocalypse, we should STRUGGLE to even get food, seriously) inside of safe zone besides the rare bear that may attack you (if you don't have walls up that is).

Peace in games is boring, you can't argue that it isn't. There's just no way.

Xsyon if you would just make the game we all want to play (at the very least commit to it), I'd invest in NG for your adverts push. Not for the revenue, but so the game survives. I'd expect a negative return from any investment I make with NG. But hey you never know, if you make the game we all want to play, you may just see the world filling out with 50,000 players, like it's designed to be (the green mist lands = 9x as much land as the current non green mist areas) and it may actually turn a profit.

Hard to believe its taken over 3 months to do carts. I think that is a HUGE reason you are seeing people, even the old timers, leave. Development seems to be slowing down again.

Final thing I just want to say........














Don't say we didn't warn you. Many have been discussing this very matter since launch, or even since beta. To find the few niche players left in Xsyon now complaining about the same things, it's just a bit hypocritical.


Better late than never, though, Xsyon. Good luck.



P.S. doesn't it say something about the games POTENTIAL, that you have people who haven't played the game for 6 months or even since beta, yet they check the forums WEEKLY just hoping that the "miracle" patch has come?

Heck, even I still check the forums after flipping out on the devs for in game favoritism and snooping... I just can't get enough of "hoping" that this game will make it.

[Yuyito]

Pretty much. If you want themepark content, dungeons, and carrots on a stick to get you to play an MMO you are everything wrong with MMO players. You are entirely defeating the point of what xsyon is by wanting content on rails. This isn't LoTRO or WoW or SWTOR or EQ where the game dangles loot or a generic rehashed quest in front of your face and you play forever to get it.

In fact I'll list out some of the different ways Xsyon can be revitalized without resorting to generic themepark MMO features:

1.) Spawn rare and region specific resources that are required to make items and structures. (It will be impossible to build a totem anywhere near these resources unless conquest/siege mechanics exist)
2.) AI/NPC enemies that regularly attack players/tribes/structures, requiring players to work together and use a steady supply of materials, items, and structures to survive.
3.) Allowing players to attack other players/tribes/structures, requiring players to work together and use a steady supply of materials, items, and structures to survive and conquer.
4.) Giving tribes or players the ability to put bounties on other players/tribe members for rewards.
5.) Implement a total skill cap to force trade and cooperation between players and better balance the game. If a player is at skill cap, they may choose to lock certain skills from gaining or losing points. If a player gains points in a skill at skill cap, the lowest unlocked skill will reduce by the same amount of points. If there are no unlocked skills, the player does not gain any skill points at skill cap.
6.) Increase the strength of some creatures to require team work and cooperation between players (ties into the skill cap)
7.) Allow players to farm both livestock and crops

Way to miss the point and jump conclusions. People like you give sandbox fans a bad name.

Why is it if one finds fault with Xsyon, one MUST be a theme-park MMO lover? Maybe we find fault with the game because, in its current state, it is a boring empty box with nothing to do that has any meaning, Here are MY suggestions to improve the game:

1) Get rid of safe-zones around totems. You want to squat inside your little home crafting endless mats, you better make sure you have people around that can protect you...
2) Add meaningful item decay. Make it so crafted items degrade rapidly ( we are making stuff out of junk after an apocalypse after all). Would give a reason for crafters to keep grinding away making items.
3) More mobs with better AI. No sandbox game can flourish without a solid PvE base.
4) Make having a city MEAN something. Control of a city unlocks rare resources in an area. Allows the controlling tribe to set taxes or tariffs on all trades (which would require the game to create a currency of some sort).
5) Now that cities are important, lets create some siege mechanisms so they can be attacked and conquered...
6) Improve the PvP. Right now by most accounts it is quite lacking...

Just a few ideas but ofcourse they will be dismissed as "theme-park" elements...

[Book]

Yuyito, your suggestions and Rothkur's largely seem to be on the same page to me. I'm not all that sure that sandbox fans have a bad name, any more than themepark fans need to have such a bad name. Different types of games, both enjoyable to some degree.

I did pretty much infer from what I had heard of this game before joining, that battle would certainly be a *part* of it. No doubt, no problem.
What I'm not keen on, and perhaps it's just me, is the whole need to dominate large swaths of the population with tariffs and yadda yadda. Paying bills and taxes etc. to real life bureaucrats is more than enough for people like me. No need to seek out a virtual world to get that experience at all. Thanks though.

I'm not saying the game would end in mad despair if what you're suggesting is implemented, I'm just saying that's not an experience I'm looking for in a game. My sense, and again perhaps it's just me, is that sometimes people like themepark MMO's because there is in fact a certain amount of structure in how far domination of some by a few can really go. Not suggesting there needs to be militaristic/catholic school discipline, but it also doesn't need to be Lord of the Flies to succeed.

I wonder to what extent the continued malcontent within the xsyon community is, at least in part, a lack of specifically defined demographic targeted.

I did just try swtor. Completely different style of game. Undoubtedly entertainment value to be had there as well. No crafting from what I can see. Completely different genre.
On the other hand, right from the get-go, I had 3 very important options. PvP, PvE, or RP? That very basic question is fairly central to what anyone is looking for in a game. Same game, different set of structural rules regarding allowable behavior to target specific sub-demographics.

I personally like the PvE servers, as that gives me the *option* to play PvP when I feel like it, but am not forced to entertain another player in that fashion on days/evenings/mornings when I just don't really feel like it. At the end of the day, having that very basic right to choose what I feel like doing is important to me, and others like me. That's not going to change.

[Rothkur]

Way to miss the point and jump conclusions. People like you give sandbox fans a bad name.

Why is it if one finds fault with Xsyon, one MUST be a theme-park MMO lover? Maybe we find fault with the game because, in its current state, it is a boring empty box with nothing to do that has any meaning, Here are MY suggestions to improve the game:

1) Get rid of safe-zones around totems. You want to squat inside your little home crafting endless mats, you better make sure you have people around that can protect you...
2) Add meaningful item decay. Make it so crafted items degrade rapidly ( we are making stuff out of junk after an apocalypse after all). Would give a reason for crafters to keep grinding away making items.
3) More mobs with better AI. No sandbox game can flourish without a solid PvE base.
4) Make having a city MEAN something. Control of a city unlocks rare resources in an area. Allows the controlling tribe to set taxes or tariffs on all trades (which would require the game to create a currency of some sort).
5) Now that cities are important, lets create some siege mechanisms so they can be attacked and conquered...
6) Improve the PvP. Right now by most accounts it is quite lacking...

Just a few ideas but ofcourse they will be dismissed as "theme-park" elements...

So you want nothing that actually adds to gameplay (except the PvE AI), want far more grind (decay), and want to completely bone any player who isn't in a huge clan (no safe zones, rare resources for huge clans who own cities only). In fact, judging by the taxes and tariffs you basically want to force everyone to grind for and support large clans. Nice. This summary isn't a strawman because anyone who can read can see that's exactly what the implication of those changes are. But keep making huge generalizations about gameplay and more claims of things that

"No sandbox game can flourish without"

Without providing any supporting logic or evidence.

Gotta love the nolifers, at least the themepark players want something in the way of content. Nolifers just want to grind all day and slap around every player who's not in their zerg clan with their e-phallus. It really makes me wonder how insecure you have to be to lobby for the needed change in a game is to screw every player over who isn't in a huge clan and doesn't want to grind forever to just keep up with their decay.

[Xsyon]

Hello everyone,

　

I have been following this conversation and appreciate all the feedback so far.

　

Development may seem slow at times but we are working as hard as we possibly can. We're a very small team. Most of us typically work more than 10 hours per day, seven days per week. When one of us has a problem, illness or injury to deal with (and this has plagued us many times this past year), it has a noticeable effect. Still, we've come a very long way since launch and I'm proud of what our small team has accomplished.

　

Since launch we've had to balance our progress between stabilizing and optimizing the server and client, improving graphics, fixing bugs, improving current systems, adding new features and making changes based on players suggestions. One thing players don't readily notice is the amount of work that we've done improving the server and back end data storage systems. These have been vastly improved since launch and pave the way for current and future improvements.

　

Some of our changes have gone well and others have taken more time than planned or failed to produce the desired results. This is expected with an ever-changing game and development schedule.

　

Moving forward I agree with many of the comments here. The game needs longer lasting entertainment in the form of more meaning, danger and sense of struggle to survive. This needs to happen with us first continuing to revise and improve the current systems and providing more tools for players to interact and entertain each other, which is the basis of the Xsyon world.

　

Please check the main announcements thread for our current plans.

Thanks!

[Mactavendish]

And thank you very much for taking time to respond here to this thread!

I know you care and that you listen, but thought you needed to hear more on current sentiment express by those of us that have stuck it out.

I know you don't want Status quo, and really appreciate all the hard work you folks do to make this game fresh and different!