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

[borg9]

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

I ask you one thing, play the game as you find it, don't listen to the old cynics (I have kind become one of these, but a semi-positive one). The game is in depth and amazing fun till you get to about 160-200 in the skill tree then it kind of gets a bit samey

When I was in you position, there went any spoiler site and the game was impossibly hard, imagine not only having the find the fibre to make clothes but the right 'named' fibre! or having to dig ql100 mat from lvl 100 areas that contained lvl 200+ aggro. A large part of me longs for those days, even tho at the time I found it frustrating ... I have concluded over the time I have played I would rather be frustrated and overcome that and achieve a goal, than be unchallenged.

If there was a Hard way it was the way Neun did it!

[sofiaoak]

A large part of me longs for those days, even tho at the time I found it frustrating ... I have concluded over the time I have played I would rather be frustrated and overcome that and achieve a goal, than be unchallenged.

If there was a Hard way it was the way Neun did it!

Ask You self, is it the hardness or the unknow? I think it's more about learning the unknow, than been hard. Hard usually cause frustration as unknow cause curiosity. Old days usually indicate desire about learning. When people learn how everyting works, they get bored, because there isn't enough new things to learn. Also people have learn how to do stuff easyer ways, so chanlenge is gone. Saying The old days where better, but was it, really?

[richky]

I ask you one thing, play the game as you find it, don't listen to the old cynics (I have kind become one of these, but a semi-positive one). The game is in depth and amazing fun till you get to about 160-200 in the skill tree then it kind of gets a bit samey

Don't get me wrong - I am not really complaining, and I love the variety that is offered (what cynics? I don't listen to people like that ). I just like MORE variety .

[hades30]

I'm half way through my free trial period and so far I agree with just about everything Zerace posted.

I am looking to the future of the game, not what it is now. Being subscribed to Everquest II and World of Warcraft, I can say that Saga of Ryzom has a few things that the others don't, but still lacks some things that others have.

A key point is the Combat. It must be an interesting and exciting part of the game. I think more can be done with it in SoR.

As far as immersion and roleplaying, I think SoR is great.

The player community is wonderful compared to some other mmorpgs. Everyone is so helpful. To give an example, I created a Tryker and played for a few days and then decided to create a Fryos to see the difference. Each time I was helped by the same player when I asked a question or had a problem.

[zeroace]

Truely the main sticking point for me was the lack of involving combat, and the uselessness of supportive spellcasting.
It devolves everything into a nuke/healing fest, which fails to involve the player with more involved combat decisions or tactics.

For magic I want to be able to manage large aggro mobs. One option would be to allow multiple linking, but only allow one mob to have a single link; or even to allow one type of spell to be linked at any given time, thus forcing you to use blind on one mob and mezz on another mob.

I was also disappointed by the lack of ranged weaponry with unique attributes.
Anarchy Online had a fine selection of ranged weaponry ranging from flamethrowers to sniper rifles to shotguns to duel wielding pistols.
-Flamethrowers did low but consistant damage, and had an area of effect.
-Shotguns did low damage but had a high chance of massive critical hits, and would damage mobs who were clustered together.
-Rifles were moderate firing and moderate damage weapons, but they could be outfitted with scopes to increase their range and chance of a critical hit, but would have lower attack rates as a result.
-Assault Weapons came in the largest variety of types, with abilities like bursting and full auto. They were the all around general purpose weapon for beating up on mobs consistantly.

I like choices, options, ways to set myself apart from the other players in combat. I like skill based systems, and I like the potential Ryzom has to customize yourself to be anything - I just think Ryzom lacks in delivering the tools to set yourself apart.

Even elemental magic attacks should be given unique attributes besides simply being more effective against certain types of mobs. Maybe cold attacks slow the opponent down, but acid attacks will impart a small damage over time.

[rushin]

I was also disappointed by the lack of ranged weaponry with unique attributes.
Anarchy Online had a fine selection of ranged weaponry ranging from flamethrowers to sniper rifles to shotguns to duel wielding pistols.
-Flamethrowers did low but consistant damage, and had an area of effect.
-Shotguns did low damage but had a high chance of massive critical hits, and would damage mobs who were clustered together.
-Rifles were moderate firing and moderate damage weapons, but they could be outfitted with scopes to increase their range and chance of a critical hit, but would have lower attack rates as a result.
-Assault Weapons came in the largest variety of types, with abilities like bursting and full auto. They were the all around general purpose weapon for beating up on mobs consistantly.

i'm not going to defend ranged too much, but the different weapons are there:
pistol/rifle/bowrifle - all fairly similar with differing range and dmg and speed
launcher - a rather nifty generade launcher, the animations are nice when u get med and high q plans
autolauncher - my personal fave and also the most impractical weapon available, kinda like a rail gun. be very careful where u aim it

[katriell]

It devolves everything into a nuke/healing fest, which fails to involve the player with more involved combat decisions or tactics.

No. Just because nuking is most powerful, doesn't mean you are forced to do it. For some things, yeah, it's preferable. But YOU force yourself to do it, not necessarily the game.

[zeroace]

No. Just because nuking is most powerful, doesn't mean you are forced to do it. For some things, yeah, it's preferable. But YOU force yourself to do it, not necessarily the game.

I'm not going to sit around and use ineffective spells and pretend I'm doing something worthwhile. If I had that mentality towards the game then I would be content to just whack at level 1 mobs all day and pretend I'm uber powerful for it.

If the casting time could be better spent nuking or healing then that's what's going to be done, and you can't expect the players to do anything less.

If players don't find supportive spellcasting to be a worthwhile use of their time and sap, then that's a failing of game design.

[maca0716]

No. Just because nuking is most powerful, doesn't mean you are forced to do it. For some things, yeah, it's preferable. But YOU force yourself to do it, not necessarily the game.

Mate get real... im not going to cast a less effective spell just to feel i didn't do the most powerful nuke.

that has to be the most stupid post ive seen in along time ;/

[defalgar]

i wouldnt call his post stupid as it is not. yes the game leads you to do certain things but if you let the game lead you so much that you cant make a decsion for yourself to be a little less useful for a change and have fun doing that then their is something wrong with you or just means... nvm point is. what is wrong with people why does everything have to be useful????

ow and i was gonna say the same about ranged. although a bit underpowered i feel there is a good variety of different weapons to choose from.

anyways im gonna shut up now