Disclaimer:
I have had an account for about two weeks now. Im still learning so there might be things I complain about that I can totally do, you should enlighten me? There will also be typos and bad grammar. I am not a smart woman.

Since the site is in beta, I felt it would be appropriate to share how the site, in its current embodiment, feels to someone new to the game. I do not say negative things lightly, or to ruffle anyones feathers; it is all constructive criticism which I hope will help.
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Art:
I am not good at art. I wish that I was, but Im not. I hate picking part art. But, Im going to do it anyway here. Some of the art on this site is amazing. Really envy-making amazing. But some of it feels very unpolished. I understand this is beta, and I see youre actively revamping things. I think thats good. The avatar art is great! I love pretty much all the items. I like the explore backgrounds a lot too.

Explore:
I love how the explore is set up in this game. I feel like Im really exploring a land. Its not just kill, kill, kill, okay Ive unlocked another zone, kill, kill, kill. I feel involved. I have to kill these undead! Theyre a threat to them-there-elves and fairies! Oh and now a puzzle? I am not good at puzzles but still, its a puzzle! Im not just mindlessly killing for no reason. And my pets. Well, they dont feel like pets anymore. Theyre my companions- actively involved in my mission to defeat the evil through-out Sylestia! Theyre not just a side thing to dazzle other players with (Well, some of them are. But I dont know what is dazzling yet... )

This is my favorite part so far. Can you tell?

Avatar:
Normally I dont care for human avatars- I play for the pets. But this time, I do.. The whole getting to pick my own colors for things is really awesome. The items all seem to be really well drawn, too. And that you have all the items possible viewable is great! I can see how things look before spending the AP/Gold/Whatever!

However, there are a few things i dislike, but theyre minor really.

First, if Im looking for a certain item of clothing its a pain in the butt to find. I get that its a held (or whatever) item, but then I have to go through pages of held items to find it. There doesnt seem to be any reason or rhyme to where items are either. Maybe theyre in order of release or something? I dont know. I do know that its confusing to find things.

Then we have how you get items. I dont think theres enough items that feel obtainable to newbies. Everything is either seasonal, requires real-life money, or is locked into explore areas/enemy killing. I got lucky, starting during an event. Ive been able to liquidate items Ive gotten via the explore there and make enough money I to play around with clothing. And Im not afraid to spend 5-10$ on a site Im enjoying. But, before I was able to do the event area I wasnt to impressed with what I could do with my avatar, and I dont think it would have been as big a draw to stick around in the game.

Shopping/Gold-Making:
Theres not a lot of shops. I have the premium currency shops, and the two shops I have opened in the explore zones. So, cant really say much about shopping yet.

It seems like gold comes in really slowly. Had it not been for the festival items selling for a lot, I might have gotten flustrated.

In the first few days of playing, there was a few times, I thought I would have to stop playing for the day because my pets passed out. I almost didnt have enough gold to wake them back up. When youre just starting, this can be a deal-breaker. I want to keep playing, Im not out of the tutorial zone, Im still learning what's going on and its over.

Games:
There doesnt seem to be any little side games. I like silly little side games. When Ive had enough exploring for a while theyre a fun thing to do before getting back in there and slaughtering some more bandits or whatever. I dont know if theyre planned or not, but I still felt the need to say something about them.

Community:
Cant say yet. Ive not spend much time on the forums (I normally dont). Ive poked around a little bit, everyone seems very friendly. I got myself a mentor (Flute), and theyve been helpful with the few tid-bits of the site that have confounded me. Most of the player-guides are really well written, and so helpful!

Breeding:
I have no idea whats happening here. It seems like it could be fun. But I dont understand it Like at all.. So I cant say if its awesome or not.

Lore:
From adventuring I can tell there's lore. Is the lore all put together somewhere? I wish it was.

Overview:
The site is really fun over all. I enjoy how the exploring is, and pet creation is fun. Avatars are a decent time waster too. There are some things that leave it feeling slightly unpolished, but over all I am really enjoying the game.

Hello there Mumbled and welcome to Sylestia!
Happy to hear feedback from you and I'm certain Krinadon and Faiona will appreciate it as well!
I'm Eimell, feel free to cal me Eim. (You may even see me called Yam sometimes~also an acceptable name if you really want to call me that. xD )


Art
As you've noticed and stated, there are quite a few pets that are not polished yet/ not redone.
The Qitari, Vulnyx, Draeyl, Sylvorpa have all been revamped recently. The Zolnixi is currently in progress, with the Aurleon (the last starter species) next in line I believe. There are plans to redo a lot of the pets~

Avatar
I'm honestly not a fan of avatars on any site. This is the first I've truly enjoyed dressing up my avatar! Items are a bit awkward, but you might notice little icons on the corner's of the images in the wardrobe. They're listed in the following order:
Maps = You can find items from exploring and defeating enemies in zones.
Gold Pieces = Vendor/Shop item
Faiona (the little elven head)= Forum Game Items
Sun = Festival/Event Items
Diamonds = Can be Bought from the diamond shop
Calendars = Monthly Items
The wardrobe can be hectic to find specific items in. I'm hoping myself that this will be improved in the future.
If there are any festival/event items you might be looking for, please let me know. I might have a copy in my wardrobe or inventory that I might not use. If so, I'd be willing to help you expand on your wardrobe.

Gold-Making
Gold comes in very slowly at first, but after you reach level 60, if you do your missions daily and take advantage of the festivals, gold problems are a thing of the past.

Games
Currently there's only Jinxie's Jamboree. Feel free to check out the Games and Contests forum. There are plenty of player made games here that might amuse you. :) Playing around in the generator to design pets is also a great way to pass the time.

Community
Best community I've ever seen on any game so far. We're very proud of our community here! :) I hope you find it friendly and welcoming~ Feel free to use the chatrooms if you'd like to chat a few regulars. Flute, myself and others are there fairly regularly.
You've got yourself a great mentor by the way. :) Flute is terrific! She's also one of the best people on the site to ask about breeding.

Thanks for the reply Eimell! I will poke my head into the chatrooms!

... I also noticed that all of my apostrophes all vanished...

Thank you very much for the feedback! I can happily say that Fai and I are working on a lot of upcoming changes that I think will address most, if not all, of your major concerns. I can't really provide details at this time, but we do plan on making an announcement about everything soon.

If you ever have any issues, you can always feel free to ask myself or Faiona. :)

If you'd like to find items, there's a bunch on the Trade Broker for cheap! I've sent you a few items as well--you can keep them, use them, sell them, whatever you'd like!

There's also a breeding guide here. If you would like a simpler explanation of how it works, or have any questions, feel free to ask :)

As for waiting for your pets to revive, I've found that it's useful to have multiple teams to wander about with, if you have enough sylesties or traps. It can still be slow going at first. One thing I used to do at lower levels is send my pets off on missions before going to sleep: They'd gain experience AND get me some gold while I slept (or went to classes or whatever). It's not much gold from missions at low levels, but it's something.

Oh, thanks, Velyanthe! That's very nice of you! My pets really thought those experience orbs were tasty.I think I will go about putting together a second explore team. Could see how that could be helpful!

I've not read a lot on breading just yet; but I'll book mark that guide and look into it! Been very side tracked with the explore thus far!

Indeed Sylestia is in beta and there are still things to be worked on, but I assure you that this is a site you'll want to stick to.

As mentioned, a number of the original pet designs have been redone so far. The Vulnyx, for example, used to look like a sleek, domestic cat. While many users loved that design, it didn't match the original idea and description of the species. So, once the site became a bit more distinguished, the designs were redone. Do understand this- the Sylestia team is very small. I'm not sure how many people run around behind the scenes, but we're definitely not Gaia. Things take time. Also, do understand that the size of our team isn't always a bad thing! Sylestia is a lovely community full of generous users and helpful individuals. If you've got a question or a concern, feel free to bring it up and we'll gladly help. Because of how small the site is, your suggestions may very well be taken into consideration! The admins listen and if they see the benefits of what you've brought up, they very well may implement it! I joined two days after the site went live and I've seen so much growth it's ridiculous! Our admins truly care. I mean- shoot- Krin responded to you and gave input! Krinadon is one of the two head admins! As an adult, you really start to realize how amazing that is. You'd never get a personal response from a head admin on a bigger avatar site like Gaia.

Ah, I gush.
But yeah! The art team really deserves a butt load of appreciation for everything they've done. The more recent avatar items, as well as te new designs, are very detailed and you can tell that a lot goes into them. Plus! They really listen to recommendations from the users. They completely redesigned the front half of the female Qitari design and willingly went back and redid a load of drawing, uploading, and pixeling to fix things. I can't tell you how excited I am for the Zolnixi redesign.

For the gold-making, don't worry. Once you get into high-level missions, getting gold becomes really easy. There are guides in the guide forum about mission pets, so feel free to check that out for more information [or just message me, of course!]

Games are in the making. Suggestions have been brought up many times and they are on the to-do list, but other things are taking precedence right now. I would personally love to see solitaire, sudoku, and puzzles with our artist's amazing art, but I can imagine coding for these things to be difficult.

As for the community, holy cow, this community is the best! The people on here are amazing, generous, honest, and kind. If you need help with something, never be afraid to ask! I promise that our community isn't trolly or scammy like bigger sites. I've seen a couple problem users in my years on here, but no cruel word goes unpunished on here. Our eyes are open and we're always willing to stand up against users who overstep boundaries and are rude.
Anyway, I've never really been an outgoing user. I'm not very good at opening conversations and keeping things going. I would have to say that I'm more active on Sylestia than and I am on every other site I'm on COMBINED. And I'm on a bunch of sites! This community is so open and inviting...

Breeding is definitely a big part of this site. As mentioned, there are several guides explaining these things but if you're still confused about anything, ask! [The basics: two pets, opposite genders, must be adults (26 or so days) and must not be directly related (parent-child or siblings. Beyond that is fine) Go to Generator>breeding grounds to breed them.]

As for Lore, I actually never thought about that. It would be neat to have a place where things are explained and maybe even have the story that we've unlocked so far. (also heads up! There's a level max in place. Right now, the highest level you and your pets can reach is 60 and it will stay that way until more areas are opened up for us. I've seen this worry pop up many times so I just wanted to say that it's not a bug. ^^)

But yeah! Stick around, check out the different forums and enjoy the site. There area always lots of raffles and games in session in the User games forum and you'll be able to take part in more things since you're new. And again, never be scared to ask or bring something up. If it's a bug or suggestion, do try to dig back into the respective forum to see if your thing has been brought up before. It'll save some time and forum space. The admins check almost every new thread post, ESPECIALLY in the bugs and suggestion forums, so if it's been brought up, it probably has a response. If not, you can always bump the thread up and say that you're having the issue too or that you support the suggestion.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=22691&page=1#2 Author: Imperium Time Posted: 2/16/2015 at 5:55 PM Hello there Mumbled and welcome to Sylestia! Happy to hear feedback from you and I'm certain Krinadon and Faiona will appreciate it as well! I'm Eimell, feel free to cal me Eim. (You may even see me called Yam sometimes~also an acceptable name if you really want to call me that. xD ) Art As you've noticed and stated, there are quite a few pets that are not polished yet/ not redone. The Qitari, Vulnyx, Draeyl, Sylvorpa have all been revamped recently. The Zolnixi is currently in progress, with the Aurleon (the last starter species) next in line I believe. There are plans to redo a lot of the pets~ Avatar I'm honestly not a fan of avatars on any site. This is the first I've truly enjoyed dressing up my avatar! Items are a bit awkward, but you might notice little icons on the corner's of the images in the wardrobe. They're listed in the following order: Maps = You can find items from exploring and defeating enemies in zones. Gold Pieces = Vendor/Shop item Faiona (the little elven head)= Forum Game Items Sun = Festival/Event Items Diamonds = Can be Bought from the diamond shop Calendars = Monthly Items The wardrobe can be hectic to find specific items in. I'm hoping myself that this will be improved in the future. If there are any festival/event items you might be looking for, please let me know. I might have a copy in my wardrobe or inventory that I might not use. If so, I'd be willing to help you expand on your wardrobe. Gold-Making Gold comes in very slowly at first, but after you reach level 60, if you do your missions daily and take advantage of the festivals, gold problems are a thing of the past. Games Currently there's only Jinxie's Jamboree. Feel free to check out the Games and Contests forum. There are plenty of player made games here that might amuse you. :) Playing around in the generator to design pets is also a great way to pass the time. Community Best community I've ever seen on any game so far. We're very proud of our community here! :) I hope you find it friendly and welcoming~ Feel free to use the chatrooms if you'd like to chat a few regulars. Flute, myself and others are there fairly regularly. You've got yourself a great mentor by the way. :) Flute is terrific! She's also one of the best people on the site to ask about breeding.

Huh... I wondered if Aurleons would get revamped again or what.

So far, even with the little things here, I totally agree. This looks like a good game to stay with. Indeed, I totally wish I would have found it sooner! So far, it's about the only game that, after a week, hasn't already gotten "blah"- I really like Explore. Like, a lot. I can't wait for more levels!

^{"I mean- shoot- Krin responded to you and gave input!"}
Oh totally agree. I will admit, when I saw that they had responded to my little post, I might have had stars in my eyes. I don't chat a lot (gun-shy and a bit awkward), but I've been impressed by the amount of posts that have "Red-Name" replies I've seen while poking around places!

^{Games are in the making.}
This is something I'm really excited to hear about. As much as I love Explore, sometimes it's nice to take a little break. Those games you talked about, expressly the solitaire would be so great! I play/use to play neopets a lot (Gah, I feel like a granny to most users there...) one of the few things I log on and bother doing anymore is playing Pyramids (fun solo card game).

^{"As for Lore, I actually never thought about that."}
As for the lore, I have ulterior motives. I love to RP... and I would love to RP in a world I'm actively involved in. Since there's a store for explore- and your avatar/pets are both involved in the world- it would be so much fun to RP as your character. If that makes any sense? I find it also makes it easier to make up a story for my character if I know the god(s), different races, cultures ect. of a place.

/skims

/sees Lore

OMG LORE, is it out yet? /goes to look, oh darn, I missed out on beta testing..;__;
orz I got it confused with another virtual pet game named Lore qq

Anyways, I know that there's RPs here and there and some probably are relevant to the story. o: I'm a picky person when it comes to RPG stories -- I don't want games to be bland and pointless, but I don't want a virtual reading game either (who has time to read textboxes?).
I personally love having a unique character with a unique story, but I don't do well with actually participating in RPs. The stories I make for myself are usually kept in my head, if anything aha.

I make up the intentions of all the characters from the nooks and crannies I see in the game. For example, you can look into the proficiency trees of your pets and see the final moves that you can learn in each tree and how they relate to the gods (i.e. Wrath of Malgorus). Even the admins name some pets with fantasy names that practically have inspiration for stories behind them (i.e. Vysis, Spawn of Malgorus, or Zephyr's Prodigy from the recent festival).

I'm a very lazy person, I like to imagine things for myself and let them proliferate in my head, and yet I don't want to put them to the test of roleplay forums or a fanfiction series aha. But I like to put some personality into Sylestia (or any other world that I play in) in my own head aha. I'm right with you with the fun of role-playing games. c: