Just some quick thoughts on E3

[raynes]

First I want to thank the developer and the guy from Themis that took the time to speak with me. I really did appreciate it. Now my thoughts.

The bad:
Nevrax had a closed booth. Meaning that the only people who got to see Ryzom where the people who had an appointment. I have no idea why they did this. They should of had a booth were everyone that was in the show could of seen the game. Or at the very least been passing out cd's with the game on it. Basically the majority of the people attending the show never even saw Ryzom due to the fact they weren't open to the general show population.

The good:
As you have seen the big news is the Ryzom Ring. It is due out this winter. I flat out asked if the game was going to be around that long as it's hasn't exactly taken off. After a quick facial expression of "I can't beleive he asked that". They told me without a doubt it would still be around. From the tone of his voice and the look he had on his face, I firmly beleive it is the truth.

Basically the new areas that are created with the tools will be accessable using the teleporters exsisting in the game. The first version will allow players to create existing worlds using what in Ryzom already and based upon current geography. There is also a seperate developmental staff on the project. Which means as they are working on the Ryzom Ring, there is another group working on the game we play now.

Outposts.
I really wasn't that interested in them before this show to be honest. After I saw them up and running, I am now excited. They are very complex and full of options.

I'm leaving LA this am for a flight back to my home in Florida. If you have questions please post them below and I will answer them late tonight.

[forever]

Thanks for the post raynes.
You say you spoke to someone from Themis, are they still involved with the game. I was under the impression that they where the NA support team and where let go when the NA server was closed. Is Themis still part of the Ryzom team?
Would the closed booth be because they don't think the game is ready for the NA market?
Sounds like some good things are coming to the game.

Have a safe trip home raynes.

[Lukati]

Ooh Ooh! I've got a question! How is the Kult of Kami going to become a force to be reckoned with when there's only one active member!?!?!

People are STILL asking me if you're back fulltime, parttime, or when you're coming back, what you had for breakfast, etc etc.

You should come help me stockpile money and supplies for when the Outposts finally arrive. Oh, and by the way, I got to Matis lands thursday night, and have been slaying ungodly amounts of Green Seeds

[kibsword]

Wow sounds promising Raynes

For you to be that impressed it must be really good eh? *huggles*

Thanks for taking the time to let us know, a winter release it better than expecting, and makes sense for a Autumn test and Winter release as those other sites were suggesting \o/

[basicart]

Great post Raynes thx

[vinnyq]

Hey Raynes! Did you get to play with Outposts? How complete do they look? Got a rough idea of when we can see them?

Also, how did they answered to the hard hitting questions you posted pre-E3?

[mmatto]

They are very complex and full of options.

Thanks for info. Did they mention if they demoed the first 30% of outposts (that is now on ats, I think) or did they show features that will come later?

I guess, they did not say that unless Raynes asked for it

[hans1976]

The good:
As you have seen the big news is the Ryzom Ring. It is due out this winter. I flat out asked if the game was going to be around that long as it's hasn't exactly taken off. After a quick facial expression of "I can't beleive he asked that". They told me without a doubt it would still be around. From the tone of his voice and the look he had on his face, I firmly beleive it is the truth.

Well, there goes my life the coming year

[raynes]

Ooh Ooh! I've got a question! How is the Kult of Kami going to become a force to be reckoned with when there's only one active member!?!?!

People are STILL asking me if you're back fulltime, parttime, or when you're coming back, what you had for breakfast, etc etc.

You should come help me stockpile money and supplies for when the Outposts finally arrive. Oh, and by the way, I got to Matis lands thursday night, and have been slaying ungodly amounts of Green Seeds

I've been logging on more as of late. you jsut haven't seen me this week because I was in LA. But I have been harveting and saving up for our guild to buy an outpost.

Ok now for more details....

When I first got to the show one of things I wanted to do first was to find the Nevrax booth to learn more about whats going on with the game. When I did find the booth I have to say I was disappointed. It was off to the side, closed in with 2 women sitting, almost guarding the doors. I told them I was a current player and that I was interested in talking with someone from the game. They quickly said I needed to make an appointment, handed me a card, and said to call and get an appointment for tommorow. Of course I wasn't too thrilled about that seeing as I just traveled from Florida to E3 with speaking the some of the Nevrax people as my primary goal. So I asked if I could speak with someone for just a minute. They sort of sighed and went back and grabbed someone.

That someone came out and took me back and was kind enough to answer some general questions. When I started to ask about the future of the game he said he was from the Themis group. I along with most of you thought they were no longer involved, but appariently they are. To tell you the truth I'm not sure what the deal is there.

So I asked this guy about the Ryzom Ring and he expalined to me that it was going to be a set of tools so the player could create their own online instance based upon existing stuff that was in Ryzom. He told me that there would be two types, the first like neverwinter nights where you had to be online. In this type you would be sort of an invisible guide and take people through what you created. This type would also only let those you specify into your creation. The second type would be one that you didn't have to be online. From what I understood both will be accessed through teleports.

The first version will allow you to create an instance based upon map templates. You will place the npcs, villages, mobs as well as any actions each of them take. Get this... You will also be able to create boss spawns and if I understood right, mini invasions. He explained that you would place a boss kitin object and the game would do the rest. It was also explained that future versions would probably let you go deeper into more heavy scripting and coding type stuff. And just so everyone is aware, Kitin is not pronounced Kitten, it's pronounced Kite-en.

Now on the the outposts. I didn't not get to play with them personally. One of the devs sat and showed me them though. He was excited to say the least. In the demo he had set up the building automatically appeared (which he said that we would be able to pick they type of building and place them eventually). Some of the things he explained to me.

1) I asked the cost and he said it wasn't set yet, but promised it wouldn't be cost prohibitive.
2) I asked if a guild of 4 or 5 people could own one. He said they hadn't planned on that small of a guild, but if the guild could get get the money to build and support it, they there is no reason why they couldn't.
3) I asked about larger guilds controlling entire regions and what was being done to make sure that doesn't happen. The answer he gave me was that it would cost them too much to do that. In order to maintain an outpost it will cost money to buy NPC's and there is a fee per day to maintain them (it was 4K per group per day).
5) When buying NPC's, there are MANY different types to buy that do different things. You also buy them in groups and not all groups will appear at once. The idea is that an attacking guild won't know how many forces you have because they could kill one group, think they have all disappered, and another spawn.
6) There is a time period in which you have to wait before you can attack an outpost. They had it set at 24 hours. So you would declare war on an outpost, then it would be 24 hours until the attack actually happened. Then there if you loose your outpost there is a shorter period in which you can do a counter attack. When I asked what would happen if someone didn't log on for a week he said that hopefully someone in your guild would log on. Or that your NPC's could protect the outpost for you.

My questions that I posted before...
I never got to ask them. When I got in the booth no one was really there that I could of asked those questions to. I didn't want to ask the person from Themis and I really didn't feel right asking the developer showing me the outposts. I will probably submit them as questions of the week.

So my final thoughts after this visit. Well I am excited about outposts. I think much of it is that I saw something new and progress being made. Before the show the game hasn't really had an update for a VERY long time and that wasn't settling well with me. Anyway that's about it. If you have any more questions please ask away.

[vinnyq]

Thanks for the first hand witness Raynes! You our hero! You should have tole them you represented all the English players and that a lot of us were waiting on you to report.