Where is the direction in Ryzom ?

[klogger]

Thanks for the great replies, especially Xenofur.

I didn't mean it to sound as if I wanted this to be the same as a single player game. It is my first MMORG but the fact that the world will be continually changing when I am away is actually what attracted me to it. However, I have never seen a change to the world when I am away as my team and I are finding it so hard to get out of Pyr. Nothing we do seems to have an effect so how do you find out what to do in order to have an effect. Someone somewhere must have a plan - but where are they and is it possible for a newbie to find it and join in ?

I have been talking in Klients as well and it seems that everyone is telling me to wait until such things as the Encylopedia are put into place. I am not trying to be insulting but it does seem that it should have been in the game from the outset as it will take the onus away from power levelling.

I guess my current problem is not the slow parts of the game such as prospecting that can give a nice pace but the repetitive nature of everything. Go kill some Isams, forage for some mats, kill more Isam, forage for mats, kill more ..... you get the idea. After a couple hours of playing I find my team and I all asking the same question:

'What now?'

and someone says:

'We can go and kill some Isam'

or

'We can go to Dyron'

but if we get there we go:

'What now?'

and can't do anything until we are a higher level as the Farhars and Varlinx (I forget the spelling) kill us in one, two or three blows. That means we are all back to Pyr for power levelling for the next month or so with little chance of seeing anything different. That feels like a long time just to get past Dyron and see probably more of the same.

As I say, maybe the Encylopedia will fix all that for me or maybe I am just not playing the right game. What they have so far seem supurb and I am glad that many seem to be enjoying it but for me it just seems incomplete.

[ombat]

I SOLOed To Fryos last night with my Steed... omfg that was a lot of fun!!! I died only twice, once at some Kami Tribe NPC Camp, I thought they would not kill me, but I was wrong... and then again trying to rescue my steed on the way back to Hidden Source (i wasnt paying attention and some torbak sideswipped me), but on my third try, i was able to not only rescue my trusty steed, but i also made it to Thesos without incident! of course I tried to get to Pyr, but after dying 3 more time and having to almost abandon my steed in some Springs, I rescued him again and treked back to Thesos for a good night's rest.

Good jerb, now take it through Undersprings. That's good fun!

[xenofur]

What they have so far seem supurb and I am glad that many seem to be enjoying it but for me it just seems incomplete.

simply put, it is not complete
some things that are missing:
-extensive encyclopedia with many missions(and yes, the rite quests are awesome =))
-outposts(still in development, will be assets of guilds and will also require fulfilling certain missions to acquire, as well as different approaces in fulfilling those)
-huge storyline events, to be blunt, the current events are tests, they are developing the tools necessary for running such events and when the internal test team(which is sadly very small) deems them to be fit and at least running, they are put online and the results used in the next event

now to answer a bit more specifically =)
you were talking of changes, first off, the actions of individuals won't result in many changes or big changes, things will happen over time. example: usually right after server reboot or bigger downtime there happens to be a rather big flock of yubos or caprynis south of pyr, next to the small derelict building. now there's also a small amount of gingos there who hunt those herbivores. last time i checked(about a week ago) that patch was teeming with critters and the gingos were definitely having a ball with them. after a while the number of yubos declined and when i went by there yesterday there was only one lonesome gingo and no herbivores in sight. hope that illustrates a bit how atys changes.
now you asked about a plan, well, to be honest, there is only one group who has a plan, the nevrax event team and they sure as hell won't tell you. all we normal homins can do is train or participate in fun events made by players, always being ready for the next move of the kitin or other groups.
about things being repetetive: it's what you make of it. example: i noticed that many tanks said fighting got more and more boring. now what were they doing when i watched them? they donned their heavy armor, took out their 2hd sword and went to dyron with a 9 man squad to hunt ocyx. after two hours of that they complain again, but show no initiative in changing things. for me fighting is never boring, i have two very nice knives and about 4 stanzas i use often ni fights and several powers and auras. i also seldomly restrain my hunting to the same things. fun things to do for example are charging a group of mobs that give about 700 xp per pop with a group of fighters. those fights are never repetitive *g* the downside(at least for some people): it's quite risky, but like they say, no risk, no fun.
also as i have written elsewhere: don't force yourself to play the game if it's no fun, it'll only make you feel bad, which will affect your views of the game and put the bad points in the foreground until they're all you see. subscribe to the event forums, subscribe to the american and english announcement forums and take a time-out when you feel that way.

one last note: you'll find that things aren't much different in other mmorpgs, they all consist of continually leveling your character and running quests or participating in events. that's because mmorpgs aren't meant as games with a specific goal, but as an alternative reality where your character lives. the only difference you'll find is that most other mmorpgs have more quests and more active npcs, but those have yet to be integrated into ryzom properly.

p.s.: if you really wanna know what's going on on atys i strongly urge you to read this: http://ryzom.com/?page=lore
it also describes the events of the past

[klogger]

Xenofur, it seems that you have done a few of the rituals and I guess I just need to wait until then next patch and hope I can get a little further with them.

I did the amber cube (without getting the cube) but since then I have not been able to find any more of the ritual quests. I am just off now to try and find the Fyros Imperial Guard I bumped into last time on my way to Dyron to see if there is anything there I can be getting on with.

Are there many people who have managed to find several ritual missions to do so far in Fyros ?

[raynes]

Just want to coment quickly on this. I thought the same thing as you. The game really didn't have any direction, the story wasn't happening, and the game was getting stale. Then I started to roleplay. I decided to make my character into a Kami religious zealot. Since then the game has become 100x's more fun. When i go into Matis lands, other players start to RP and tell me to get out, or they challenge me to duels. Several players have gotten into the spirit also and we have created events and moved the story along.

Ryzom is now what I wanted it to be and it's because I started to actually get into the atmosphere of the game.

[xenofur]

i was able to test some of them on the ats server and any i have tested were good for about 1 hour. the barman mission is officially broken(which is a very bold statement, seeing that nevrax forbade the csr companies form even acknowledging that bugs exist), what is as of yet unclear is wether this mission blocks other rites or if those rites are not yet implemented or simply unattainable for certain persons, since some of them seem to have requirements in fame and level.
also raynes brought up a very good point, try reading the whole lore and actually playing your character in the world of atys. who knows, perhaps you'll have fun

[zukor]

I also applaud xenofur's excellent replies. I do agree with klogger to some extent, though. All the events so far, the rites as currently implemented (I realize more and better and bug fixes are all coming) and so forth seem geared to very high level players. My main toon right now is between 50-80 in most areas. At the rate I play it may take a long time for me to get much over 100 in anything. Does that mean I'm excluded from anything but killing the same beasties, or harvesting the same mats, or crafting the same stuff, over and over and over again?

IMO, there should be meaningful content that keeps the game interesting for players of ALL levels. I'd love to see a new quest every 10-20 levels or so, and not have the system be so top-heavy. Or let us have Kitin scouts pop up close to the main cities, such that a band of 6 level 30-50 chars would have a good chance to make a name for themselves. Given the "war" theme, I would think it would be relatively easy to implement activities(including crafting and foraging) so that ALL levels could feel like they're contributing to the war effort. In the recent kitin events, if you were <100, about the only thing you could even try to do was heal (even there you might have been a liability). I think that definitely can and should be improved!!

Perhaps the future will bring some of this. It's much easier to "role-play" and feel part of a grand scheme when there is a framework implemented in the game that lends itself to that sort of play. Right now it isn't there.

Doctor Z.

[lariva]

How about using a ticket to teleport?

I SOLOed To Fryos last night with my Steed... omfg that was a lot of fun!!! I died only twice, once at some Kami Tribe NPC Camp, I thought they would not kill me, but I was wrong... and then again trying to rescue my steed on the way back to Hidden Source (i wasnt paying attention and some torbak sideswipped me), but on my third try, i was able to not only rescue my trusty steed, but i also made it to Thesos without incident! of course I tried to get to Pyr, but after dying 3 more time and having to almost abandon my steed in some Springs, I rescued him again and treked back to Thesos for a good night's rest.

[xcomvic]

How about using a ticket to teleport?

Ever occur to you that I did not have any tickets there? I forgot to mention it was my very first time there...

[mrshad]

Raynes has done quite a bit for the RP community.

Some people think he is just being mean for killing Karavan supporters in the Nexus...but I say "Keep it up". The more you do it, the more you polarize along Kami/Karavan lines, and the more fun the game gets.

One day, Raynes, your mask will hang on my apartment wall.

Until then...

Just want to coment quickly on this. I thought the same thing as you. The game really didn't have any direction, the story wasn't happening, and the game was getting stale. Then I started to roleplay. I decided to make my character into a Kami religious zealot. Since then the game has become 100x's more fun. When i go into Matis lands, other players start to RP and tell me to get out, or they challenge me to duels. Several players have gotten into the spirit also and we have created events and moved the story along.

Ryzom is now what I wanted it to be and it's because I started to actually get into the atmosphere of the game.