Dear HWS Community @everyone
finally a life sign from me again. 24 days ago, I shared that February would be a turning point for me because of my Trans-PRK eye laser surgery. I want to give you a transparent update on where things stand.
The surgery on February 7th went as planned. The goal was twofold: correct my -4 diopters and, more importantly, finally address my long-term Recurrent Corneal Erosion (RCE). After dealing with unpredictable and extremely painful episodes for over seven years, this step felt necessary.
Now to the honest part: recovery is slower and more demanding than I hoped.
My short-distance vision is still blurry. It’s especially noticeable when working on a screen, reading small text, or focusing on details. It’s frustrating. Healing after Trans-PRK simply takes time, and patience is something I’m forced to practice right now. Some days are better, some are more exhausting. Overall, it’s been more challenging emotionally than I expected.
As of today, it’s clear that I won’t be able to hit the originally communicated release timing (March 6th, which I mentioned at the end of last year, not knowing the future). That’s disappointing for me as well. I really wanted to stay on track and have our 10th Anniversary release as planned.
As I wrote two messages above:
That means though, that I’m blind for ~1 week and need recover for ~3-4 weeks.
So February will be quite nasty for me and unfortunately not that productive I guess. It all depends how my eyes will react to it, after I had glasses for 20+ years.
I have to compensate that time frame of course and so the season might need to get shifted back as well.
So those lost weeks I am step by step trying to catch up but realistically I think we are talking about end of March / start of April by now. 
I am working every single day, as much as my eyes allow me. Progress is steady, just not at the pace I usually operate at.
Thank you for your patience and understanding during this phase. This surgery was a long-term investment in my health and productivity. Right now it feels slow and frustrating but the goal is to come back healthier and more productive.
That being said, with a bit more patience, you can get excited for many new features and content - the biggest one so far. Let me teaser a new one: the OCD | Orbital Factory. A long term feature prepared by my friend Hayawen, now coming to life. A way for you to craft items via your Phone or PC at work. The new season has a strong incentive for veterans to have new goals to play for and new players to get easier into the game.
I’ll try to share more teasers along the way.
Also, as written two posts above, the submission deadline for the Community Content Contest IV is therefore extended 2 weeks, to the 22th March - so if you need to polish / finish your submission, you have more time as well now. Thank you very much for all submissions so far! Looking forward to implement them!
Last but not least, I’ll activate the global OCD access and Recycle access now and will run the Anniversary Sale for an extended duration, starting on Friday. There you will have once again access to get permanent Keep Credit packages.
Once again, thank you for your patience!! It is a very difficult time for me, with a lot of pressure in a new frustrating situation… but I really hope that the wait will be worth it for you, at least Ju and I trying our best for you. 
RexXxuS
(Link to this Discord Channel message: Discord)