f13.net

  (http://www.ryzom.com/news/archive/2006/09/11/opening-of-ryzom-ring-beta)

If you don't know what the Ring is, read  THIS  (http://www.ryzom.com/ryzom-ring/)

@boring

I didn't know "plethoric" was a real word, but I'm happy to report that it is.

I beta tested this game and it was very, very boring.  It seemed as if it should have been better, even had a few clever bits in it, such as the Stanza stuff and the animal AI, but it was totally tedious.

I agree with Signe. I would love to see stanzas in DAoC, but in Ryzom they are only 'meh'. Ryzom and Seed are the biggest disappointments imo, given the 'promised content'.

All I remember about Ryzom was people spending 150+ hours in the newbie zone powerlevelling, because the actual world consisted of high-level monsters ganking people within fifty yards of town. 

Does anyone actually have any longterm experience with this game? I downloaded the free version to mess around with, but I'm clueless. Was clueless back in beta as well.

Looking at the ideas alone, I always thought this game seems had some good things going for it though. Seemed like a decent "alternative" to WoW, like Eve. Heavy crafting, encourages exploration, original setting, good community.

It has a bad interface, however, and doesn't provide any tutorials or handholding (Good or bad thing? I don't know. Maybe I'm just spoiled).

R², clever.

Que?

Hello I am a long time player, and this is my first post here.
Personally I like the game alot - when I have a goal. When it's reached I always find myself a bit lost, the curse of sandbox games I think. As you learn the GUI it will get really useful, but for a new player I understand the feeling.

As for alternative to EVE. I felt EVE very focused on PVP when this is not. Apart from that I think there's a similar level of freedom, and lots of old SWG players seem to like the game and upgrade to P2P.

I was a Seed player too, well more a subscriber than a player - I never found anything to do in the game so I was never online for very long. It got a bit better last month but at least a year until it would be playable (for me). Ryzom had a similar rough start but came though it and is growing quite a lot.

I tried it out about a year ago when it went open beta back then.  I felt it was very much the product of n00b developers and wouldn't [impress] most players who had ever played the MMORPGs it attempted to emulate.

I will say this much, however, there's an advertisement flash animation for Ryzom going around that makes it look far better than I remember it.  It'll occasionally pop up on Penny Arcade's ad banner.

They're newbs, but probably in a good way.

It's pretty and really, really boring. 

The thing is that they don't try to emulate anything, like with Seed, they are trying to create a new game. Quite alot of the systems they wanted to implement never hit the release though, like aging, offspring, making music, etc. What did come was a great AI for animals, the stanza system (you buy your skills from a trainer to build new spells with), a crafting system that is quite involving, and an excellent harvesting system.

What I personally miss from the game now is some advancement in the main plot. The goddess in white space suit Jena should have landed by now. But the company had economical difficulties and is just now getting back on track as the playerbase is growing again.

Is it boring? No I don't think so.

No, really, it is.

But why exactly?
I guess the game is 80% (more?) combat based and I've come to the conclusion that no matter how auto-attacky or button-masher mmorpgs are, they have to do something on the visual and sound department that keeps you entertained during that 80% (more?) of your time spent logged in.
That is what somehow works in WoW and doesn't click in EverQuest 2. So the first is perceived as fun while the latter, richer than WoW on every aspect and way less grindy, is perceived as boring and, well... grindy like an asian game.

So what exactly is boring in Ryzom, and why?
Is it boring in the sense that the combat part is uninspired, unattractive and un-sexy?
Or is it more a matter of uninteresting quests?
Or.... ?

In spite of the interesting Stanza system, the combat is uninspired, unattractive and un-sexy... just like you said.  I really wished it wasn't so bloody boring because putting together my own combat bits should be interesting.  The world seems big and empty.  I do like the way animals migrate in herds... something I also liked in SWG.  It's just boring.  Really... I'm not making it up.

Sounds like the game hasn't changed much since launch. I felt the "bricks" system of spell-building was the cool part of the game. I liked the concept of mob migration, but didn't see the advantage there (and didn't feel like it was utilized enough in SWG). Otherwise, it felt incomplete and empty.

What makes WoW compelling is how the total experience is paced. WoW and EQ2 and everything else all cover the same ground: objectives, stats, customization. What sets each apart is (duh) the details and how they all gel. EQ2 gels pretty well (post Publish 19). WoW has pretty much always. Ryzom, not so much.

I did a free trial of it not so long ago.  By the way, if anyone wants to give it a go, the trial has no time limit.  I think they just want people there.  Most of the time the place is a ghost town.  The community is nice, when you can find them.  Although the conversations are friendly on chat, no one looks like they're having any fun.  In WoW, nearly everywhere you go people are hopping around, doing stuff, making complete and utter asses of themselves... the place is usually bustling with activity.  When you see people running about and appearing to have a good time... sometimes it rubs off on you.

There are hardly any quests in Ryzom (I'm speaking mainland, not trial), most missions are for changing your fame with tribes, civilizations and cults. So a player looking for quests would feel rather lost after leaving the trial area.

I completely agree with WoW, the game is fast, fun and easy to get a grip on, Blizzard is a better designer in many aspects. However, as a player of WoW I just tagged along and the game decided what my Night Elf Druid had to do. When I decided that she shouldn't leave Kalimdor I almost ran out of content.

I'm trying hard not to sound like a salesman, it's really much easier to make a "useful cynical comment" about a game. To me the gameworld feels very much alive, the mobs feed on eachother when a player isn't near. Learning how mobs react is more important than optimizing fight actions. And actions are important; shall I make max damage possible against the mob or shall I save my strengths and take more hits instead while waiting for an opportunity to feint.

Ryzom leaves most of the storytelling in the hands of the player, unlike WoW and I guess EQ2, they provide the world (and some GM events weekly or biweekly GM events). If the player don't have a goal or lacks ideas how to use the gameworld then this freedom doesn't work.

Signe is wrong, Ryzom is not boring. But it can be.

No, I don't think I am wrong.  I will admit there is some cleverness.  The animal AI is pretty cool, even when they pee on your leg.   :-)  However the combat, which should have been fun considering how much effort they put into it, isn't.   The combat itself, the actions you make to acheive combat, fails, in my opinion.  That's what makes the game boring for me.  It's pretty, it has clever bits, and it puts me right to sleep.  If it was as alive and interesting to most people as it is for you, I think there would be more people actually playing it.  But fun, everyone knows, is subjective.  I think that PSU is dreadful and look how everyone in that thread is fussing over it!

Because we're in a gap between major game releases, people are desperate to find something else.  You should come back to GW.  You can play Rock/Paper/Scissors with the Henchies!

Or not.

This is one of the better single player release periods of the year. You should appreciate it while it lasts.

GW is single player game now.  :-P

I agree.  I have so many games on my list to hold me until Wii early next year and that should hold me until WAR.  And with great luck that'll be Robot Jesus and I won't need another game for a long time.

I am going to have agree with cloudy on this one. I have been  playing Ryzom for a little while, and I love it. The stanza system is  impressive, the no-class system was brilliant, and the graphics are breathtaking. I was a little lost when I first started, but quickly found my way with the help of the other players. It's been a long time since I've seen an MMO with such a mature and fun-loving community. I personally enjoy the freedom that Ryzom allows, and you actually role play in an MMORPG. I am still on the newbie island (haven't even explored the entire thing yet), but I will be making my way to the mainland soon. What server do you guys play on?

I don't get it...a cogent, coherant Signe? I call shenanigans.

I think there's only one and he seems to have wandered off.  Anyway, how could they possibly have more than one server at this time?  Last time I checked, it was  nearly empty... all the time.  Of course, it wasn't free, then.   Did it suddenly acquire players?  Sometimes free inflates the user base, I guess.

Wandered off hehe.. i don't get notified when there's a new post here. Anyway I'm here and play on Arispotle, which is the older (2 years) server, I have no idea how the new server Cho is. Cho has been around only 3 weeks so I don't expect lots of players to be there yet.

Character name Ulani in the Matis guild Phaedrea's Tears.

Well apparently they had some issues at launch, so they lost a lot of players. They are doing a lot of advertising now, in addition to the free trial, so there has definitely been some new players. Cloudy I also play on Arispotle, name is Gorlac. I've been trying to play as much as possible lately, but work is making that difficult :(

Ok, I'm a little interested here, but here's my question: What makes a trial account different from a paying account? I'm not seeing any info on this right off the bat. Is there a restriction to where you can go, what you can do, what you can equip, or is it the full game and they're just desperate to hook potential subscribers a la Anarchy Onlilne? And 7 Gigs for the install? I'm not sure that even WoW has gotten that big.

With a trial account you are only allowed to reach level 21 on each skill, and I don't think you are allowed to go to the mainland. The "newb" island is pretty big though, and getting to a level 21 for each skill would take quite awhile.

I'm pretty sure I tried Ryzom in open beta.  I recall what totally killed it for me was the downtime.  I mean I was like low level and killing the lowest level mob there was, and I had to sit like 5 minutes after each kill.  I figured at that rate I'd have to sit for 6 hours after each fight at high level.

I tried different skill combos, and other things, but could not get past the downtime, so I quit.

I heard the launch was a disaster, but it's pretty well balanced now I think. Not perfect balance, staffs and pistols need some dev attention still. Going after a mob above your level or one that resist your action will exhaust you so you need to sit down a few, up to 5 minutes at higher levels. Choosing the prey makes you more efficient, or even better teaming.

This is a perfect one-sentence summary of why I couldn't get into WoW.

So here's the $64 question: what _is_ there to do in Ryzom, and how do the gameworld and GUI support those goals? You don't have to speak in generalities; in fact you shouldn't.

Though I should warn you that anything that involves "increase the number next to one of my skills" will be met with barking mad laughter.

--GF

I'm probably the slowest leveler in the world, highest combat skill after 15-16 months is just 109 of 250. People outlevel me in a month. So... I can't really say "increase numbers". I'm not doing that at all.

Instead I want to make really good one handed maces, which proves to be very difficult. There's SO many combinations.
For this I need to find good materials, and the best harvest spots seem to be located near really nasty creatures. So, sneaking past the monsters to dig and run if/when they spot me. Digging in itself is fun - using very harmful actions gives more materials but makes the source explode if you're not careful.

Boss mobs also drop great materials and teaming up to kill them is fun.

Declaring war against another guild to take over their outpost can be fun. Huge battles.

Treking a new player between countries is great fun.

Official events can be fun, currently the lands are invaded by very strong kitins.

Since I've been slowing down on WoW a bit until the expansion hits I figured I would check out the free trial last night.

My first hint that the game would not offer the most intuitive experience came right away when prior to starting the game a box popped up and asked my preferred control scheme, and I picked WASD of course. But upon entering the game... WASD does nothing. After asking around I found that you still have to bring up your menu and map the WASD keys to the appropriate movements. Makes a lot of sense.

Well after figuring out how to get around I step right outside the camp you start at and spy some little creatures roaming about. Whatever con system the game has is not immediately obvious, but this little hedgehog dude is an "Inexperienced Yugo" and the first creature you meet, so he seems like an easy kill.

Of course, he kills me. The Inexperienced Rodent bests me. Right there, something inside me died a little.

So I spend some time contemplating the error of my ways and start foraging stuff from glowing green mushroom patches. There are quite a few of these around the newbie area and they seem to yield an odd assortment of craft items, I guess. Well maybe it serves some purpose, but for now it's just a middleman between my foraging activities and the currency of the land from an NPC that buys all this random junk. Yawn.

So I find another creature ... this was, I dunno, Premature Cripple Yugo, and in a tight battle I defeat him, getting some Medium Yugo Hip Bone of +8 Quality ... nice. Well, now I guess I'll sit here while my health sloooowly regenerates. Yep, here I am sitting.

I go after another Yugo and kill it easily. The next Yugo that seemed exactly the same kicks my ass and before you know it I'm rezing again.

I frown. I've only been playing about a half hour. But this isn't fun. Certainly a half hour is nowhere near enough time to properly judge an MMORPG. You know what? I don't care. This activity is not fun. I can see already this is the kind of game that makes you think it will become fun at some point in the distant future... maybe there is fun to be had, I don't know.

Anyway Ryzom is a showcase to remind you again just how well WoW introduces a newbie to the game. That first experience is really a make or break proposition - games like WoW or City of Heroes show that a game can feel fun from the minute you step into that world. Ryzom doesn't even feel like a game by comparison. I know it's going for a more virtual world experience... maybe I'm just not into that style of MMO.

Yea - the lack of a consider system really makes Ryzom a "WTF were they thinking?" diku.

I thought it was an interesting game other then that for the 2 hours I played.

I just downloaded and played the trial for a few hours this weekend. My guy is in the level 10-12 range as mage, warrior, and gatherer, so I'm not particularly advanced yet.

Nonetheless, here's a quick list of pros and cons.

- I liked the world. I liked that it's clearly a fantasy world but without elves or gnomes or dwarves. The little inside-out wombats and the big hammer-head grazing creatures showed that the design team has good imagination. Reminded me of AC1 in that way.
- The skill system is quite nice. I liked that your xp earned goes towards whatever skill you were using at the time. I like that you can spend the skill points that you accumulate, to customize your character.
- I really liked the stanzas. Coming up with your own variations on spells and other skills is way cool.
- Crafting is excellent. Incredibly complex. I like the recipes, and the fact that different types of the same material will imbue different properties to the crafted item.

- Combat is lacking. I'm not a fan of the fact that most of the time, I walk up to a critter, press the attack button, and the next thing I see is a dead critter and an xp message. The combat animation was just lost. This is probably a network/lag issue, but still quite annoying.
- Also annoying was the fact that I took a newb two-handed axe and was defeating the little ragu's in one hit, where it took me 3 newb magic shots, which are interruptible, to take down the same creature. I died way more times as a mage than as a warrior.
- Prospecting and gathering is annoying. It's dumb that gathering raw materials can kill you, and apparently at random.

Overall, it's a neat world. There's plenty of room for a player to either specialize their character, or become an expert-of-all-trades. I didn't explore the pvp at all, so no comment on that. They need to work on character animations. Running and turning and combat are herky-jerky and slow. (Spell animations are neat though.) I don't know if a world without elves will ever have mass market appeal.

The free trial is a good idea, because this will get more players into the newbie areas. And maybe some of those will become paying subscribers. But it's also a good idea because they need to test the game a lot more.

This just in: Nevrax going into receivership (http://www.ryzom.com/news/archive/2006/11/20/important-information).

So, fully knowing that France is a captalist nation, exactly what does going into receivership mean for Ryzom?  I hear that subscriptionless play is involved, although from my previous experience in Ryzom I'm not sure I'd want to play it even for free.

I am so not surprised.  Themis is like the King Midas of shit. 

Dammit, Stormwaltz.  I have "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" totally stuck in my head now!   :x

Sad news...

I hope they find a buyer... a good one. I don't care much for improvements of the core game, but I'd like to see the storyline continue. I think the chances of that happening may be even less...

I wouldn't be completely surprised if one of the Medium Three (SOE/EA/NCSoft) pick it up to add to their portfolios. I mean, SOE picked up MxO and all that had going for it was a fading license and a events team (which SOE promptly gutted).

Pretty sure SOE Picked up matrix for the DC liscense.

Ah yes, I forgot.