"GMs Leaving" & *reads "Letter to the SoR community, from David Cohen Corval"*

[kibsword]

I've heard some awful things about Jolt's customer service track record.

As far as Arispotle is concerned, we have a superb customer service team (every ticket I have ever sent in got a friendly helpful responce within 5-10mins max). So you shouldn't need to worry about that.

[rmillard]

Trifle hasty isn't that?

Try us, you might like us.

Sorry, based upon my terse post I'm not surprised you came to that conclusion. I didn't post the whole story of why I'm leaving (described ad-nauseum in other threads by many more articulate than me about dwindling player base and lack of content, etc.), this just happens to be the last straw for me at least.

I see this as a symptom of the disease and a throwing in of the towel by Nevrax on the NA community. Nonexistant advertising, little or no placement in retail outlets, etc. They are telling us that their focus is on EU now. It's as I expected for a long time that they're probably hemorraging money in the US (and maybe even in general) and this is the first in a number of steps to reverse that trend. I only hope for the sake of Ryzom that there is the player base in EU to keep this game alive and prospering. Maybe one day they'll return to store shelves here, but I think they missed the boat and this game is destined for the heap. So sad because I really love SoR.

I will not argue that plenty of other games do not see EU exposure in favor of NA release and support, but there's a reason for that and it comes down to return on investment. I firmly believe this game could've skyrocketed to the top if they'd paid just a tad more attention to us here in the colonies.

...

[varelse]

As far as Arispotle is concerned, we have a superb customer service team (every ticket I have ever sent in got a friendly helpful responce within 5-10mins max). So you shouldn't need to worry about that.

It's good to be reassured about that from someone in the know - and I thank you for taking the time to respond. =)

[kaetemi]

(every ticket I have ever sent in got a friendly helpful responce within 5-10mins max)

fastest one i ever got was actually no more than a second after i pressed send on the ticket thingy

[kibsword]

Anytime

[grimjim]

Sorry, based upon my terse post I'm not surprised you came to that conclusion. I didn't post the whole story of why I'm leaving (described ad-nauseum in other threads by many more articulate than me about dwindling player base and lack of content, etc.), this just happens to be the last straw for me at least....

Well if you're worried about dwindling playerbase, then the merger should help address that concern, given that out of hours players and overlap of game time, especially on weekends, will provide more players to interact with, more goods in the shops, etc etc.

Content?

We seem to have events, whether player or guide run every other day, and usually something including plot/lore of some description every week.

You should really stick around and give it a chance IMO.

As to the other problems, Nevrax aren't a Sony or a Blizzard, blowing cash on a massive TV blitz was never going to happen. IMO they spent their advertising wisely, trying to get a word of mouth thing going through webcomics and other ways of getting the word across.

I think their main barrier has been the cultural difference between Europe and the US, something I have some experience with in direct relation to games.

As a sweeping generalisation US gamers are less patient, less accepting, more likely to whinge, demand, complain etc and less willing or able to accept something different. That can be good, it does drive companies or groups to provide more.

As a sweeping generalisation again European gamers are more patient, more accepting of delays and more interested in ideas and concept than execution necessarily. (We can also be a bit arrogant, condescending and elitist).

Ryzom needed good word of mouth and, to an extent its gotten that in Europe. In the US though it seems that it didn't get that, even though its launch and its delays are much less bad than some of the collosall cock ups seen in other MMO launches and patches.

No good word of mouth, no penetration of the US market, especially when put up against the likes of WoW, CoH etc, which appeal more to the casual gamer and those who don't necessarily want to think or create.

Ryzom is, to me, a roleplayers mecca. The relative absensce of metaplot and led-by-the-nose quests has led to players filling the gap with roleplay and events, using the game, world and playerbase more as a toolkit within which to make their own speculations and relationships.

That's why I'm going to stick with it to the bitter end.

I think this merger is a grand thing and I look forward to meeting all these new people.

Don't think the US is the only one with concerns about this though!

As I mentioned, playstyles are quite different, I'm worried about more competitive and aggressive players from the US server, I'm worried about the culture of whining and complaining I see on the forums here coming into Arispotle. The US players seem to have concentrated on hardcore levelling more than most Europeans and that also worries me as its an emphasis and playstyle I don't like, the US seems to be more pro PVP.

We have our concerns too!

One of the things you guys were complaining about was lack of events and content, we seem to have it coming out of our ears.

So what do you say? We'll give you a chance if you give us a chance.

[varelse]

Well if you're worried about dwindling playerbase, then the merger should help address that concern, given that out of hours players and overlap of game time, especially on weekends, will provide more players to interact with, more goods in the shops, etc etc.

Content?

We seem to have events, whether player or guide run every other day, and usually something including plot/lore of some description every week.

You should really stick around and give it a chance IMO.

As to the other problems, Nevrax aren't a Sony or a Blizzard, blowing cash on a massive TV blitz was never going to happen. IMO they spent their advertising wisely, trying to get a word of mouth thing going through webcomics and other ways of getting the word across.

I think their main barrier has been the cultural difference between Europe and the US, something I have some experience with in direct relation to games.

As a sweeping generalisation US gamers are less patient, less accepting, more likely to whinge, demand, complain etc and less willing or able to accept something different. That can be good, it does drive companies or groups to provide more.

As a sweeping generalisation again European gamers are more patient, more accepting of delays and more interested in ideas and concept than execution necessarily. (We can also be a bit arrogant, condescending and elitist).

Ryzom needed good word of mouth and, to an extent its gotten that in Europe. In the US though it seems that it didn't get that, even though its launch and its delays are much less bad than some of the collosall cock ups seen in other MMO launches and patches.

No good word of mouth, no penetration of the US market, especially when put up against the likes of WoW, CoH etc, which appeal more to the casual gamer and those who don't necessarily want to think or create.

Ryzom is, to me, a roleplayers mecca. The relative absensce of metaplot and led-by-the-nose quests has led to players filling the gap with roleplay and events, using the game, world and playerbase more as a toolkit within which to make their own speculations and relationships.

That's why I'm going to stick with it to the bitter end.

I think this merger is a grand thing and I look forward to meeting all these new people.

Don't think the US is the only one with concerns about this though!

As I mentioned, playstyles are quite different, I'm worried about more competitive and aggressive players from the US server, I'm worried about the culture of whining and complaining I see on the forums here coming into Arispotle. The US players seem to have concentrated on hardcore levelling more than most Europeans and that also worries me as its an emphasis and playstyle I don't like, the US seems to be more pro PVP.

We have our concerns too!

One of the things you guys were complaining about was lack of events and content, we seem to have it coming out of our ears.

So what do you say? We'll give you a chance if you give us a chance.

Heh

Thing is, most of us are likely to either be working, our way to work, or still asleep when most of you are participating in these events, player run or otherwise. The time difference will see to that. Most NA players are working day jobs and/or going to school during the day. You probably won't see us at all unless you happen to play at the same times we'll be able to log on.

Another thing is that lag may make the game unplayable for those of us logging on to Arispotle from some parts of North America.

If Nevrax and/or Jolt can in any way take measures to allieviate or even prevent these two things from happening, they'll probably keep at least 50% of the NA playerbase, although I forsee over time their NA market base will drop to near zero. As much as I personally love this game and the community that has developed within it, I can see quite plainly that it just is not popular in the United States.

[grimjim]

>Thing is, most of us are likely to either be working, our way to work, or still >asleep when most of you are participating in these events, player run or >otherwise. The time difference will see to that. Most NA players are working >day jobs and/or going to school during the day. You probably won't see us at >all unless you happen to play at the same times we'll be able to log on.

We have players on any hour of the day or night, so do you I bet, that might be a slight increase in our main play hours, but its still an increase.
You'll still notice more mats and goods on sale and on weekends and holidays timezones are a hell of a lot less of an issue.

Guess we'll see how things are handled on the event front.

>Another thing is that lag may make the game unplayable for those of us >logging on to Arispotle from some parts of North America.

Euro players already play on the US server and vice versa. Apparently without much in the way of problems, so I don't think it'll be that much of an issue.

>If Nevrax and/or Jolt can in any way take measures to allieviate or even >prevent these two things from happening, they'll probably keep at least 50% >of the NA playerbase, although I forsee over time their NA market base will >drop to near zero. As much as I personally love this game and the community >that has developed within it, I can see quite plainly that it just is not popular >in the United States.

Bah, leave the phillistines to their artless levelling! Come with us and explore your old world roots

[memiki]

I have to agree with you grimjim. Especially the whining it does run rampet. and yes we are impatient. well I am not but I am easy to please.

I had been told you had lots of events. and that is what everyone wanted.

hopefully they will work with our time zones. but we even have that with west coast and east coast differnces if people would think about it.
alot of west coast are signing on when the east coast is going off. so it will not be much different.

I for one am looking forward for the merge and am totally excited. I am one of the ones that will stick with Ryzom until they turn my account off. they have to boot me off.

I am so looking forward to some of my old beta friends. Hi are you out there. Remember me Memiki I am coming over to join you .

[zukor]

Let us be honest. There is no doubt at all from the Corval letter that Nevrax is in trouble. The US server is probably their biggest loser, so they are consolidating. They can get rid of a complete support staff that way (Cerest put up a bold front with earlier messages about how she expected to be around for the long run; I can only guess at the actual Windermeer subscription numbers). They can get rid of a server farm. If they lose the US players they have now due to lag or other factors, they will still be ahead of the game, assuming the US server was a money loser.

Unfortunately, this kind of retrenchment usually is a bad sign. I suspect Nevrax is not doing well overall, even in Europe. If they were doing well, they'd probably pour more resources into the US to try to expand the game, rather than retreating across the ocean. The very slow pace of game developement is another sign of trouble.

I agree with rmillard that all the signs here point to SoR going the way of the dodo.

Doctor Z.