[WEBSITE] Invex in 2018

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Invex in 2018

Overview

This post will provide the community with an overview for our goals and plans for the upcoming year.
This is the first time we have posted something like this but hope it becomes a yearly occurrence.

Please have a read through all of the sections and provide any feedback/comments.

Donations

Donations over the past year have been absolutely fantastic.

The support from the community (from both members and players) has been terrific.
We hit every monthly goal from  December 2016 - December 2017.

The Staff team would again like to thank everybody who financially supports Invex.

As a reminder, all Invex funds are strictly spent on Invex related expenses such as:

website costs, server costs, database costs, cloud services, mail services, player models, logo work etc.
Absolutely no funds have or ever will be spend on non-Invex related expenses.
Just clearing up a common misconception. 

VIP

VIP packages and prices will be reviewed in early 2018.
We want to make sure our VIP prices are fair while also making sure we maintain enough funds to not run into the desperate situation we ran into in mid-2015 and mid-2016.

The introduction of a donation goal bar on the homepage in December 2016 by Tick has helped us reach the donation goal every month since then.

Invex is a community, not a business.

We don't care about the income but we want to make sure its sustainable (especially as we expand).
If our servers were fully sponsored, we would make VIP perks free for all.

Servers

Given the recent donation goals, we would really like to get more CSGO servers up and running.
There are various problems that arise such a server idea, an admin team to monitor it etc.

Other major concerns is the upkeeping of current servers.
New servers will likely split our current player base and its more work to maintain a new server alongside current ones.

This all depends on the server type of course (a server like 1v1 needs little to no upkeep while skill surf would need a lot of constant work).

Things also become very tough from the development side of things as Byte is currently our only plugin developer.

In Early 2018, we would like to review and add new servers.
A proper survey and thread will be made when the time comes for a full discussion to occur.

Suggestions and Bug Reports

Suggestions and Bug Reports have been piling up and they continue to grow.
It takes 10 seconds to think of a suggestion but may take 10 days of development to implement it.
A lot of players (wrongly) assume that a large number of suggestions/bug reports can be handled in a small amount of time.

One player even said "Staff should take a day off and work on suggestions, they could finish almost all of them in a day".
Its important people understand that implement non-trivial suggestions/bug reports take a lot of work and effort.
Most can only be implemented by Byte as they are plugin related suggestions/bug reports.
We ask the community to bear with us as we work through suggestions/bug reports.
The pace is very slow but highlighting the most important suggestions/bug reports is always helpful.
Don't be discourages from posting suggestions/bug reports though, we want to know about all the ideas/bug reports even if there is already a long list.

Forum Games

We would like to increase the activity in the forum games section on the forums.

This promotes forum activity and can get quite fun.

Our recent Treasure Hunt forum games seem to have become very popular and will be returning.

Again if you have any ideas for forum games, make a suggestion here:
https://www.invexgaming.com.au/showthread.php?tid=1425

Server Review (Combat Surf)

The admin team are currently unhappy with various aspects of the combat surf server.

We are working on revamping our Combat Surf server and have a multitude of things planned to revive it.
This was our first server and the server that 'made' Invex.
Its important we keep this server up and running with a healthy player base.

We plan on tweaking settings, adding new plugins/maps, hosting tournaments + more.

More news will be released about this server in the upcoming future.

Server Review (1v1)

We are currently happy with the status of 1v1.

We wish more 1v1 players would sign up to the forums and become involved with the community but understand a lot of players are there to warmup for competitive games etc.

Our goals for 1v1 are to add a few more plugins/QOL changes.

We also want to add something for players to spend credits on that won't ruin the competitive experience.
We also have a community event planned for 1v1 (for our most competitive players).

More info about this will be released in the future.

Server Review (Jailbreak)

We are currently happy with the status of Jailbreak.

Overall, there are a few things we want to improve on Jailbreak.

First of all, a new LR plugin will be added to fix various bugs with the current LR system + allow us to add a large number of new/interesting LR's.

We will be reviewing the Invex created Jailbreak POTM system (potentially automating it and reworking it).

Other Games

Even though Invex is a CSGO community, we also like to play a lot of other games.

We do host community events for other games when possible and will continue to explore other games when we can.

We could potentially add new servers in other games (something we have tried in the past).

Invex Community

Invex members are the heart and soul of our community.
As of right now the value of being an Invex member is quite low (although the barrier to entry is also quite low).

We want to do more for our members in 2018.
We will be reviewing perks to provide to members and senior members.
Veterans currently receive unlimited Package 2 VIP on all Invex servers.
We also plan to send all of our Veteran rank members a physical care package via mail with some goodies.
More news about this will be released when the items are closer to being dispatched.

Community Events

Invex is known for running quality Community Events and we get compliments for the events we run all the time.

In 2018, we want to run a minimum of 12 events (1 per month) including a minimum of 3 CSGO comp nights.

We have already kicked off the year with a wonderful Rocket League event hosted by PoosKi.

We look forward to running events in CSGO and other games as well as fun events on websites like Pinturillo.

Sponsors

We are currently sponsored by Streamline Servers and the sponsorship has been great.

We do however want to expand and add more sponsors to our list of sponsors.

During 2017, we received three sponsorship proposals but declined all of them due to the nature of the sponsorship.
We do not want to shove ads down the throats of our players or promote bad products to our young playerbase.
We run no ads on the Invex website or CSGO servers and want to keep it that way unless we have no other choice.
Keep your eyes peeled for new sponsors and sponsor related giveaways/events in 2018!

Admin Team

The Staff are happy with the status of the admin team and admin applications in general.
This will likely not change going forward.

Ban System

Our ban system is up for review and we will be changing the way we hand out bans etc.
When this occurs, we will also review our permanent ban policy and introduce indefinite bans.

This is still a work in progress but the initial groundwork was discussed by the staff team.

Invex has always been very tolerant with players and has given everybody a second chance.

We don't like being harsh or unfair to players and we will always review each ban in an unbiased manner.

Its important these values are reflected in the new ban system.

Discord Presence

Since we switched over from Teamspeak 3, Discord has been a great tool for us as it has given us the ability to provide updates to our players.
We want to increase our Discord presence and build a strong Discord community.
Going forward, Discord will become a core communication platform for Invex.
If you aren't already in the Discord, consider joining it here:

https://invex.gg/discord

Community Survey

The Staff team would like to conduct a community survey to receive more concrete feedback from the playerbase.
Topics will include new servers, features, admin team questions, community ranks, etc.
The survey will be somewhat long as it will ask you questions about all aspects of Invex.

This particular survey will require a survey key linked to your forum account to eliminate any troll/non-serious replies.

A reward will be given to all those who complete the survey to thank them for their time.
The survey results will be released to the public (anonymously) and will be used by the staff team when making considerations in the upcoming year.

Final Notes

Again, the Staff team would like to thank each and every Invex member for being a part of the community.
Whether you are an old OG Surf Player or just made your forum account, we appreciate you being here and gaming with us.
If you have any specific questions, please ask them below and a member of Staff will respond to you.
Please note we cannot disclose a lot of details provided in the overview above.