My review of Ryzom after the free trial. Feel free to correct anything that's wrong.

[zeroace]

High points:
-Exceptional UI design loaded with useful features.
-Fully featured player selling systems and guild support.
-Good graphics, and very creative.
-The PvP changes in the pipeline sound promising for outpost control and guild warfare.
-The playerbase is extremely helpful to newbies.
-They do a good job of making the world feel alive.

Low points:
-Low marks for sound. Some sounds are weak, some just don't fit, and there isn't enough variety. But for that matter most other MMORPGs don't have very good sound either, it's something that seems to be neglected in contrast to the emphasis put on graphics.
-The game is evolutionary, not revolutionary. And even then it doesn't evolve very far.
-There doesn't appear to be much static content to explore or quests to accomplish. Missions from NPCs with stale objectives aren't a replacement for beautifully crafted dungeons with lots of unique stuff to kill and find.
-Combat is uninteresting. Hunting just comes down to nuking/fighting and healing. The link system destroys the usefulness of support spells by limiting you to one at a time, and negating your ability to perform other actions like nuking or healing. 95% of the time you're better off using that time to cast nukes or heal other players.
-There is no class definition. While some see it as a plus, I don't like it. The skill system is set up in a way that makes it so that everyone can be master fighter, master magician, master crafter, and master forager. Theorhetically you can have a character with access to every ability at the highest level, if you put in enough time.
-The paths of character development you pursue in the game are very narrow. There aren't a whole lot of interesting or unique things you can do to set yourself apart from others. Everyone is basically either a fighter, magician, or healer in combat.
-There aren't any periphery activities or skills geared towards roleplay.

[cloudy97]

I think you're right on most things, zeroace. Though I like the classless system, a devoted 24/7 player might want to max all skills while a someone that doesn't want to spend that much time can be useful in one skill. And you can't be a good spellcaster while you are geared for melee.

The combat feels bulky compared to WoW. I'd love some better deathanimation than the "bam, you're dead!"

I would like to add a few things

Highs
- Creatures. Figuring out who want to have you for dinner makes the game interesting.

Lows
- Economy. Many guilds recruit new people by giving tons of items, that really makes crafting less interesting. You get the items anyway.
- Motivation. I've played quite a bit, but keep logging off because I can't see other motivations to grinding than getting another level.

[acridiel]

To both of you I´ll say just that:

Motivation comes not from the "grind" and Quests.
It comes from yourself and your wish to interact with people.
PLAY the Game, not just test the grind...

Hope to
CUL8er

Acridiel

[zeroace]

Acridiel, what would you recommend we do?
The game IS the grind, be it combat grind or crafting grind. As far as I know there is nothing else to do aside from pure social interaction.
And even the grind doesn't have to be such a grind if the combat itself is fun and interesting.

I've come to the conclusion over my period of playtime that the main reason we see so many high level players willing to devote time to helping new players is because there just isn't anything else for them to do besides more grinding.

Now, I might have stayed around for the upcoming PvP changes, but when the combat itself is so uninteresting and lacking in diversity it probably wouldn't be very interesting.
There are much better options for PvP out there.

[xenofur]

I've come to the conclusion over my period of playtime that the main reason we see so many high level players willing to devote time to helping new players is because there just isn't anything else for them to do besides more grinding.

way off the mark, what you're perceiving there is an inherent trait of the vast majority of ryzom players. even from the earliest days of beta i could observe how people were willing to help others no matter what. it's simply that the act of helping itself is very satisfactory to most players.

[grimjim]

-Low marks for sound. Some sounds are weak, some just don't fit, and there isn't enough variety. But for that matter most other MMORPGs don't have very good sound either, it's something that seems to be neglected in contrast to the emphasis put on graphics.

The lack of obnoxious music is a huge plus for me, I nearly always turn the music off in any game I play (If I have the option - Final Fantasy I'm looking at you...). The general lack of music and the good use of environmental and animal sounds greatly increases immersion for me, so this would be one of my plus points.

-The game is evolutionary, not revolutionary. And even then it doesn't evolve very far.

Limited agreement.
It is more skill focussed and the lack of classes is good, as is the sciencefantasy approach, but it didn't seem to go far enough for me and it does still use levels. Which is an annoyance.

-There doesn't appear to be much static content to explore or quests to accomplish. Missions from NPCs with stale objectives aren't a replacement for beautifully crafted dungeons with lots of unique stuff to kill and find.

Way wrong
This is a major plus of Ryzom that it doesn't have idiotic and endlessly repeatable dungeons. The missions make more sense, even if they're a little less exciting in wording and presentation, since they are repeatable in the context of the game. The rites missions are more akin to the quests you mention but they make sense being repeatable since they are more akin to 'proving your worth'.

This is a major, major, major plus of Ryzom to me that it doesn't have BS dungeons or a lot of phat lewt. The only instance of phat lewt we have, the bandit bosses, has already caused more trauma and annoyance than just about anything else in the game.

The 'unique' things to find are the bosses, the mutant looking animals that drop really good materials (or jewellery) and against whom epic battles can be fought.

You're looking in the wrong place for your 'content'. Look to the events, both player and guide created (as well as storyline events). The emphasis on events, where what you do actually matters a toss is a HUGE plus.

-There is no class definition. While some see it as a plus, I don't like it. The skill system is set up in a way that makes it so that everyone can be master fighter, master magician, master crafter, and master forager. Theorhetically you can have a character with access to every ability at the highest level, if you put in enough time.

Yes, everyone can learn any skill and its great. It increases longevity and doesn't limit you to a single class. Classes are utterly dated in RPGs in general and its good to see an MMO break out of that straitjacket at least partially. It also increases the longevity of the game a great deal.

-There aren't any periphery activities or skills geared towards roleplay.

There's no props or skills, but there's plenty of stuff going on for RP, even if it is 'just' socialising.

[norvic]

Was gonna write some stuff but that Fat Fyros Jyudas beat me to it pretty much.

The only thing I would add is that Ryzom is more immersive than some "in your face" games and that the 14 day trial is not really long enough to get a true immpression of the game as you spend alot of that time sussing the mechanics and just lvling abit to suvive.

Jyud touched on the "unique item" subject, apart from camping for uber loot creating problems why hurt our crafters? Some put in alot of time learning their trade and using carefully experimented recipes can create items tailored to your own requirements. This is also an example of the immersion that some traillers may be missing as these better unique items require carefull exploration, the right foragers, bosshunts etc and involving yourself in the community.

[richky]

I am also just finishing my free trial, and am looking forward to continuing the saga .

My view on the points made:
High points:
-Exceptional UI design loaded with useful features.
-Fully featured player selling systems and guild support.
-Good graphics, and very creative.
-The playerbase is extremely helpful to newbies.
-They do a excellent job of making the world feel alive.
-There doesn't appear to be much static content to explore or quests to accomplish. Yay! Players are actually doing something other than checking their quest timers to see if they can go kill BigBossX again for more phat xp .
-Combat is uninteresting(?). I don't really think it is that uninteresting, but I would much rather have developer time spent on other aspects of the game rather than sinking all their effort into combat.
-There is no class definition.

Lowish points:
-The paths of character development you pursue in the game are very narrow. There is definitely room for more variety in the skill trees.

[borg9]

... snip ...
Lowish points:
-The paths of character development you pursue in the game are very narrow. There is definitely room for more variety in the skill trees.

The trees split at lvl 50, 100, 150 (many branches depending on skill) and 200 (but only into another single branch).

Check the BM website if you want to spoil the suprise of how extensive the skill tree really is.

Nice positive comments btw, welcome

[richky]

The trees split at lvl 50, 100, 150 (many branches depending on skill) and 200 (but only into another single branch).

Yes, I realize that the branches split and are very extensive . Perhaps as I progress I will find the existing variety sufficient.