If we were to make Xeno an advance material that improves combat, we must accept two facts:
the pvp players will make their ships almost entirely out of it, and largely those who have or now control GG as they will be the only ones with gold enough to afford the material.
to make Xeno rare, it should only come from hard to survive places in PVP to further limit its supply…
Given that pvp in this game is fundamentally broken that we either revert to tower defense games that make the combat unfun for the attacker, or tunnel games that just lag the game to death, there is no real demand for xeno. As such, perhaps a trader buying the xeno would be better. To use up said material the trader has acquired, a new event occurs at some point of sale, an event of an alien invasion (giving a pve use for the alliance origin which could respond to the invasion).
Xeno should not be as rare to only exist on PVP planets, you would still have the problem of people affording it. If it’s made too rare newer players will have problems affording it therefore no chance to fight vets or richer players that can afford it who would ultimately dominate the pvp areas where it’s found. It hard enough for newer players like me to catch up lets no make it harder.
And thus the problem with Xeno which I noted at the start of my statement. If it becomes something worth mining/harvesting, it becomes something horded by the advanced players because the server largely believes that it should be limited in supply. Thus its value is elevated and affordable only to advanced players or good ninja players.
Perhaps there can be a PVE use for it somehow? Like that currency for the alien invasion I suggested, which provides new players with startup money from selling it to a trader who then clears their stores of it by selling it to the aliens which invade PVE with large CV’s and maybe even PVP with gigantic CV’s.
Is good to be found also on pve like now. Pve guys farm it, sell it on market and pvp players will buy it for cash. If not they can use it in their own ships. Anyway there is also tower jumper event that give you good stacks if you won it