HOOOSK

I don't really want to do a blog and doing the PickAxis Weekly Updates became so much work that we were spending more time on them than actually working on the servers...so I thought I'd post some random thoughts in this format, in a discussion with you guys on the forums.  As you guys probably know, I can ramble, so I'll try to keep these as short as possible.  If you have questions, post them below.  I'll do my best to answer them.  I also hope Nick doesn't kill me for sharing all my secrets

*-=-* State of PickAxis *-=-*

Right now I can't say enough about the player quality we have on PickAxis.  Very rarely do we get trolls and when we do they quickly realize this isn't a place for them.  I truly look forward to seeing each of you every night when I get on.  We may not have hundreds of players yet, but the quality of our community is already awesome!

One of my dreams is to have a higher player count.  Why? So we can launch more servers and we need more players to make that possible.  We have a lot of cool servers in the pipeline, but we don't want to just have 1-3 players on each one.  We want to grow the community and that means having groups of people playing together, building memories, at the same time, on the same server.  We've had some players bring some innovative approaches to get more players on and for what you guys have already done, I'm very grateful.  

For example, vertigolf hosts drop parties on Skyblock on an almost-monthly basis and that has brought in quite a few people.  KingPoutine spends countless hours on Twitch trying to get (begging) big streamers to come play with us and bring their fans.  These are very innovative ways to get more players in a time in Minecraft when growing your player count isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do.  Many thanks to these guys for everything they've done and are yet to do!  

We are also reading great server and website suggestions on the forums each day.  Keep these up!  These are shaping PickAxis into something wonderful!

TL;DR - Overall, PickAxis is on a great path of growth and I love you guys!

*-=-* Summer & Seasons *-=-*

Summer...yeah Summer!  I know a lot of you will be out of school.  If anyone wants to start a new series for YouTube, host some kind of event, or anything else that would be fun...just let us know.  Summer is a time for trying out new things.

*-=-* New Servers *-=-*

We have a new server coming in about 2.5 weeks (if all goes to plan! - no promises*).  We've been busy behind the scenes building and planning.  If you've been around the forums lately, you'll easily be able to guess which server this is.  This next server and the one following it both use the same custom plugin at their root.  So, assuming we can start getting more players, we'll be able to release them both within the next couple months (no promises*).  Who's excited?  This girl.

*-=-* Goals *-=-*

I know, I know...it's dangerous to set goals publicly...because people can see you fail and ridicule you....so what!  I'd rather be a person with goals than a person without.

I also want to share my goals with you guys so you can understand my motivations in what we're doing.  I don't want to fail, so I will do everything I can to keep failure out of the picture.  Want to help me achieve these goals?  Go ahead!  Be my hero! <3  Alright, here goes:

1) I want to enter the summer (mid-June) with an average of at least 20 players on at most times of the day.

2) I want to end the summer (end of August) with an average of at least 100 players on at most times of the day. Crazy! I know! But let's do it! It's possible!

3) I want to have at least 3 positive surprises for the PickAxis community before the end of the summer (end of August).

That's all I have to share at the moment.  Please feel free to ask questions below.  I want to keep this network a community network and that means being open and growing together.  Thanks for being such an important part of my life, both digitally and IRL.

- Husker

* or else Nick will kill me for putting a date in here.

NOTE: I spoke in 1st person for most of this, but I know Nick agrees with all the good points in this message....especially the ones where good grammar was used.

You're a solutions man, Sullear.  Nice! +9001 points

I agree with Sullear.  Even when we were on the Paradise server, I had some donators ask to not be recognized in any way.  The subtlety of the callout in the forum profile is kind of nice, in my opinion.  If you have suggestions though, please post them below.  I am always open to hearing your thoughts.

Lol! Then what do you want?

You're like a dream come true!

Yes.  What do you think?

Safe searching is using an encyclopedia.

We have something kind of like that now, but it's not as apparent.  If you look under the names of donators on their forum posts, it shows the level for which they donated.

Need more?  What do you think?

Jak, I can lock your chests so you can't get into them.  Would that be good?

I knew I should have paid better attention in Kindergarten!

Green!

I'm speaking more for our two big players but is there going to be any additional challenges for those that reach 10k?

We can definitely add more island level challenges.  I just wasn't sure how long it would take for people to reach 10k.

Awesome!  Glad to have you here!

If you have suggestions for more challenges, let me know.  We're always looking for more ways to make Survival (and all of our servers) better.

Also, don't be shy about linking all of us to your stream.

Party!

I don't know what number comes first......949?

Good ideas so far.

Thank you! I really appreciate your thoughts.

We'll definitely go over them when putting together the PickAxis version of Skygrid.  

I'll give a little more information about what we're planning once more people have the opportunity to vote.

I know a lot of you out there have played Skygrid.

We've been planning an epic Skygrid server for a few weeks and have a few more weeks of work before it's released...but before we continue working on it we want to make sure we're taking your thoughts and desires into consideration.  So, please answer these questions below for us:

1) What MUST PickAxis Skygrid have?

2) What would ruin your Skygrid experience?

3) Fill in the blank: I am __________ excited for PickAxis Skygrid.

(Feel free to be honest, we know that some will be super excited and some will hate it.)

So adorbs

Wow!

Congrats on reaching your life goals.

Well, kind of.  

I'm just happy you're playing with us again. :D

We hope you enjoyed the temporary challenges we had in April (HayThere, NethernLights, & SandStorm). You voted and chose to keep HayThere permanently. It's been slightly changed, but is now a permanent part of the Special challenges on Skyblock.

For May, we have 3 new temporary challenges:

It seems that some enjoyed the piece of wool to mark how many times you completed the challenges, so we continued it with May's challenges. You now get a piece of yellow wool with each completion of May's temporary challenges.

Do you like May's challenges?

Are you happy HayThere is here to stay?

Let us know in the comments.

Click here to view the announcement

minemanZZ, you will always be a part of our community whether or not you're on the server.  I hope you get to do some fun things with your extra time.  Please come back and visit us someday.  I predict you will.  

I'll miss ya, buddy!

WOW!  So much in one day!

So proud.

Congrats, everyone!

These builds were so awesome!

Challenge: Island level 1000