**Disclaimer**
[I'm not a veteran player, and I have not subscribed to Ryzom. But I have read and spoken with many subscribers about the mainland game and this is what I felt needed to be said.]
For all you newbie players, trying out the Ruins of Silan, you need to know one important thing about the mainland gameplay:
There are no quests for XP or loot on the mainland.
In fact, the mainland gameplay is not quest based at all. I knew this before trying SoR, but so many of the other trial players I've teamed/chatted with have had no idea. And when I've told them, most were quite disheartened and/or changed their minds about subscribing.
You need to decide for yourselves if quests are important to you. Make sure you read all you can about how the game actually is. The Ruins of Silan is not an accurate representation of the mainland gameplay. At all.
If you decide that it's not important, and you like the way the game is set up, I say, "Enjoy your time on Atys." Otherwise, I hope you find the game you're looking for. As for myself, I'm one of the latter people. And I'm still searching.
One important thing trial players need to know
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
small correction 
the RoS gameplay is identical to the mainland gameplay except for one thing:
on the island the quests are there to teach you about the game, they are very structured and they give you xp and items as an incentive to continue. on the mainland there are many quests that follow a similar format to the RoS ones but are rather generic and have no higher purpose than to gain you fame, although some, myself included, have enjoyed doing them as a tool to get to know regions better and for rp reasons to build fame with certain tribes and so on.
but as necrosub said if you are looking for a quest based experience you will be disappointed. if you are looking for a wonderful world to explore and make your mark on, and nice bunch of people to hang out with you'll probably have a great time
the RoS gameplay is identical to the mainland gameplay except for one thing:
on the island the quests are there to teach you about the game, they are very structured and they give you xp and items as an incentive to continue. on the mainland there are many quests that follow a similar format to the RoS ones but are rather generic and have no higher purpose than to gain you fame, although some, myself included, have enjoyed doing them as a tool to get to know regions better and for rp reasons to build fame with certain tribes and so on.
but as necrosub said if you are looking for a quest based experience you will be disappointed. if you are looking for a wonderful world to explore and make your mark on, and nice bunch of people to hang out with you'll probably have a great time
rushin ~ asleep
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
As a former beta player I had no illusions about SoR's quests or lack of. I think the main attraction of the game for me is character development and rejoicing whenever I learn a new action/upgrade. Having said that, one of the major attractions for me when I was an Asheron's Call 1 subscriber (for 6 years) was its heavily quest-oriented gameplay. Many quests with XP or loot as a reward. I'm not saying that SoR should all of a sudden start developing tons of quests but they should throw some bones and perhaps have some quests which aim to help players develop their characters. Something to bring some variety and fun to the gameplay. AC1 also had some 'lore' quests, where the reward was to develop further understanding of the background of the game's lore.
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
It is always good to hear opinions of people who have played the 'demo' of ryzom. And it's also nice to see the new island has attracted so much attention from the gaming community.
As the OP stated, Ryzom is a complex game that has found it's own niche in the current market of online games.
For detailed information of the mainland it is helpful to talk to people who play there. There are mainland player alts on the newland helping the trial players, I have had every question answered in detail...and even had aspects of the game explained to me that I never knew existed.
I have been a Ryzom subscriber for a couple of months now, and I am still not decided if I will stay here......I will trek to the various zones along the migration trails of the creatures, develop the skills to complement my travel companion in combat, digging, crafting, hunting and spellcasting......Of course I have the option to develop my allegiance to my faction during this time, Maybe join in the battle of the resource zones.....ask a thousand questions and enjoy a multitude of conversations with my fellow Homins.....Maybe I will then decide if the place is for me.
As the OP stated, Ryzom is a complex game that has found it's own niche in the current market of online games.
For detailed information of the mainland it is helpful to talk to people who play there. There are mainland player alts on the newland helping the trial players, I have had every question answered in detail...and even had aspects of the game explained to me that I never knew existed.
I have been a Ryzom subscriber for a couple of months now, and I am still not decided if I will stay here......I will trek to the various zones along the migration trails of the creatures, develop the skills to complement my travel companion in combat, digging, crafting, hunting and spellcasting......Of course I have the option to develop my allegiance to my faction during this time, Maybe join in the battle of the resource zones.....ask a thousand questions and enjoy a multitude of conversations with my fellow Homins.....Maybe I will then decide if the place is for me.
Experience is essential.....Wisdom is priceless.
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
I like the idea of hanging around with your mates, and all of a sudden you're drowning in furry vicious creatures XD
Started the game 25/7/06
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
As someone who subscribed only a few weeks ago, I don't really think the differences between the Island and the mainland are as big an issue as some have suggested (I've seen some go to the extreme of saying the island is false advertising, can't fathom that at all !)
There's 1 main reason for this :-
You don't have to fork out £35 for the game to find out if the mainland is right for you or not, you only have to pay £8 for a month's subscription and that's it.
If after that month you decide the mainland isn't what you were hoping for then no big deal, move on and try something else.
If I'd paid £35 for the game + £8 for the month's subscription then £43 is a significant amount to pay for something only to find out it's not what I'm after. But £8 ? A drop in the ocean for anyone that can afford to subscribe to an mmo long-term. If you'd been playing a different mmo instead you'd have paid the very same amount in subscription fee for that month anyway.
I think the mainland is great and I'll be sticking around for a long time to come hopefully, but if I'd found it wasn't to my liking after all, I wouldn't have considered myself to have lost anything in giving it a go
All credit to Nevraxx for making the game itself a free download I say ! I'd always thought that making you pay for the game upfront and a monthly fee on top was excessive and it's great to see a company take the initiative and break the mould. And what's more, hurray for a game that doesn't centre itself on linear quests, many of which force you to get a large group together to complete them, I left WoW and EQ2 to get away from those (amongst other things).
I must admit I was somewhat lost for the first couple days of arriving on mainland because the game wasn't leading me by the hand down a preset path, which was an unfamiliar situation to me, but I wouldn't have it any other way now
I can't help but wonder how many people have left without giving it a fair try, when infact they'd have found they enjoyed it if they'd only given it a bit longer to adjust. I did exactly that myself last year, and I'm glad I came back for another go.
I fail to see how you can possibly say that something isn't for you if you haven't even tried it for yourself let alone given it a fair shot.
There's 1 main reason for this :-
You don't have to fork out £35 for the game to find out if the mainland is right for you or not, you only have to pay £8 for a month's subscription and that's it.
If after that month you decide the mainland isn't what you were hoping for then no big deal, move on and try something else.
If I'd paid £35 for the game + £8 for the month's subscription then £43 is a significant amount to pay for something only to find out it's not what I'm after. But £8 ? A drop in the ocean for anyone that can afford to subscribe to an mmo long-term. If you'd been playing a different mmo instead you'd have paid the very same amount in subscription fee for that month anyway.
I think the mainland is great and I'll be sticking around for a long time to come hopefully, but if I'd found it wasn't to my liking after all, I wouldn't have considered myself to have lost anything in giving it a go
All credit to Nevraxx for making the game itself a free download I say ! I'd always thought that making you pay for the game upfront and a monthly fee on top was excessive and it's great to see a company take the initiative and break the mould. And what's more, hurray for a game that doesn't centre itself on linear quests, many of which force you to get a large group together to complete them, I left WoW and EQ2 to get away from those (amongst other things).
I must admit I was somewhat lost for the first couple days of arriving on mainland because the game wasn't leading me by the hand down a preset path, which was an unfamiliar situation to me, but I wouldn't have it any other way now
I can't help but wonder how many people have left without giving it a fair try, when infact they'd have found they enjoyed it if they'd only given it a bit longer to adjust. I did exactly that myself last year, and I'm glad I came back for another go.
I fail to see how you can possibly say that something isn't for you if you haven't even tried it for yourself let alone given it a fair shot.
Last edited by qatzer on Wed Aug 02, 2006 2:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
3 week trial, 3+ week mainland player here.
I think the OP has a good point. The trial is supposed to be a fair trial... That's the whole idea. Getting to the mainland and paying for the first "fair trial" of the game, means the trial isn't really, well... a trial. Right?
I think they could fix this quite easily: Have the "quest reward" items available off the vendors instead, but be very expensive. Then have the NPCs reward you in dappers, rather than quest items. This would accomplish approximately the same thing as they are accomplishing now, but would remove the expectation by the players that the best armor, weapons, and other loot comes from quests instead of crafters. You'd be training people to look on the vendors for good stuff, and if you are looking on the vendor then whether it is something produced by a player or by the NPC, won't really matter.
I think this would make the game more properly representative of mainland play (where your only reward for most quests is dappers, and you then use those to buy stuff off the vendor) while still allowing players access to things like the Ranger Armor and so forth.
The tutorial nature of the quests and the XP rewards should be left... but the loot rewards really need to be re-thought, as it is training players to have the wrong attitude toward quests, and it mis-represents what the quest elements of the game will be like on the mainland.
I think the OP has a good point. The trial is supposed to be a fair trial... That's the whole idea. Getting to the mainland and paying for the first "fair trial" of the game, means the trial isn't really, well... a trial. Right?
I think they could fix this quite easily: Have the "quest reward" items available off the vendors instead, but be very expensive. Then have the NPCs reward you in dappers, rather than quest items. This would accomplish approximately the same thing as they are accomplishing now, but would remove the expectation by the players that the best armor, weapons, and other loot comes from quests instead of crafters. You'd be training people to look on the vendors for good stuff, and if you are looking on the vendor then whether it is something produced by a player or by the NPC, won't really matter.
I think this would make the game more properly representative of mainland play (where your only reward for most quests is dappers, and you then use those to buy stuff off the vendor) while still allowing players access to things like the Ranger Armor and so forth.
The tutorial nature of the quests and the XP rewards should be left... but the loot rewards really need to be re-thought, as it is training players to have the wrong attitude toward quests, and it mis-represents what the quest elements of the game will be like on the mainland.
Sandaara
[Light Armsman] [Close Fighter]
[Defensive Magician]
[Desert Forager] [Forest Forager]
[Jeweler Apprentice]
[Light Armsman] [Close Fighter]
[Defensive Magician]
[Desert Forager] [Forest Forager]
[Jeweler Apprentice]
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
Maybe, but aside from the quest rewards, the gameplay and environment are the same, and that's the biggest part of the game.
I still think that when myself and both of my kids can all spend a month on mainland for less than the cost of 1 copy of WoW or EQ2 that making a big thing about the difference in quest rewards between the island and the mainland is being picky.
With regards the weapon and armour rewards, I think it would be a different matter if those items were easy to come by on the island but really hard to get on the mainland, but it isn't like that, it's so easy to make money in this game that getting equipped is dead easy so I don't really think that's as "misleading" as you've suggested. On the island you kill a few mobs, hand the quest in, and get a sword as a reward, on the mainland you kill a few mobs, sell the materials, and buy the weapon (and if you want an axe not a sword, it's your choice), it's not really that different, you're still ultimately killing mobs to get your equipment but on the mainland you choose which mobs you want to kill rather than having a quest dictate it to you.
The other aspect is XP rewards, the Island quests give xp, the mainland quests don't, but levelling up isn't hard on the mainland anyway. I can do 15-20 levels just grouping with my son for an afternoon, in a bigger group it's even faster, so the absence of quest xp is irrelevant. I think it all boils down to whether people want to play a linear quest driven game or one that provides an open environment to develop your character how you want to.
There are quests on the mainland if you want to do quests, you just don't HAVE to do quests.
I just can't see what the problem is. If people want linear questing like the other games they've played, why did they leave those games and come to Ryzom in the first place ?
Baffles me tbh but everyone has to make up their own mind I guess.
I still think that when myself and both of my kids can all spend a month on mainland for less than the cost of 1 copy of WoW or EQ2 that making a big thing about the difference in quest rewards between the island and the mainland is being picky.
With regards the weapon and armour rewards, I think it would be a different matter if those items were easy to come by on the island but really hard to get on the mainland, but it isn't like that, it's so easy to make money in this game that getting equipped is dead easy so I don't really think that's as "misleading" as you've suggested. On the island you kill a few mobs, hand the quest in, and get a sword as a reward, on the mainland you kill a few mobs, sell the materials, and buy the weapon (and if you want an axe not a sword, it's your choice), it's not really that different, you're still ultimately killing mobs to get your equipment but on the mainland you choose which mobs you want to kill rather than having a quest dictate it to you.
The other aspect is XP rewards, the Island quests give xp, the mainland quests don't, but levelling up isn't hard on the mainland anyway. I can do 15-20 levels just grouping with my son for an afternoon, in a bigger group it's even faster, so the absence of quest xp is irrelevant. I think it all boils down to whether people want to play a linear quest driven game or one that provides an open environment to develop your character how you want to.
There are quests on the mainland if you want to do quests, you just don't HAVE to do quests.
I just can't see what the problem is. If people want linear questing like the other games they've played, why did they leave those games and come to Ryzom in the first place ?
Baffles me tbh but everyone has to make up their own mind I guess.
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
Maybe they don't know much about Ryzom. One can enjoy a game for a year and then tire of it, and be looking for something a bit different but not too different. And then one DLs the trial to find out.
After all that's what the trial is all about -- to try it out. If the person likes quest-based games where most rewards are for completing quests (in terms of both loot and XP), and plays the trial, he might well be confused into thinking that Ryzom is compatible with that kind of play when it is, in fact, really not.
I want to note here, I am not describing myself. I knew full well before I even DLed the trial that Ryzom was not a quest-oriented game. I knew it was an open-ended, freeform game, and I DLed it because of that fact... because I missed the old SWG playstyle and I thought (correctly) that Ryzom would be similar to that.
But not everyone's going to be like that. Maybe they like the WOW basic gameplay system but have gotten 3 characters to level 60 and want to try a different game. They try out Ryzom, and it seems like "WOW but on Atys." They think it is a game for them, so they subscribe. Then they get to the mainland and "Hey wait a sec... what happened to the quest-oriented game play?"
I can see that this is mildly misleading. You are welcome to disagree.
C
After all that's what the trial is all about -- to try it out. If the person likes quest-based games where most rewards are for completing quests (in terms of both loot and XP), and plays the trial, he might well be confused into thinking that Ryzom is compatible with that kind of play when it is, in fact, really not.
I want to note here, I am not describing myself. I knew full well before I even DLed the trial that Ryzom was not a quest-oriented game. I knew it was an open-ended, freeform game, and I DLed it because of that fact... because I missed the old SWG playstyle and I thought (correctly) that Ryzom would be similar to that.
But not everyone's going to be like that. Maybe they like the WOW basic gameplay system but have gotten 3 characters to level 60 and want to try a different game. They try out Ryzom, and it seems like "WOW but on Atys." They think it is a game for them, so they subscribe. Then they get to the mainland and "Hey wait a sec... what happened to the quest-oriented game play?"
I can see that this is mildly misleading. You are welcome to disagree.
C
Sandaara
[Light Armsman] [Close Fighter]
[Defensive Magician]
[Desert Forager] [Forest Forager]
[Jeweler Apprentice]
[Light Armsman] [Close Fighter]
[Defensive Magician]
[Desert Forager] [Forest Forager]
[Jeweler Apprentice]
Re: One important thing trial players need to know
as a Free Trial player who just subscribed yesterday, and has not left the Island yet, let me say a few things, and ask a question.
The quests for me on the Island, were only good for Instruction and perhaps the XP. mainly just to get as many skills/spells as I can possibly get. I really didn't care for the Rewards, and many times while doing the quests (I've done the entire Magic line, the Entire Fighting Line, and I am working on the Harvesting line now), if I really HAD to do the quests at all, and if simply grinding out my Skill Lines was a sufficient alternative.
I do not see the Quests on the Trial Island as a Major Thing.
I enjoy quests, but I don't necessarily need quest REWARDS if the quest CONTENT is good enough. I'll just do em for fun.
so, to my question....
out of total curiosity...you say that there are no quests for XP or Loot on the Mainland. I take that as to mean that there ARE quests that DO exist, but you do not gain any major XP or Loot from doing them. is that a correct interpretation?
and if so, then what is the purpose of whatever quests DO exist on the Mainland? and are the quests very, very basic, or do they hold a certain bit of quality in terms of content/storyline? in short...if there are quests, but they are not for loot or XP...they WHY would I want to do them? the answer to this is not going to persuade me either way, I'll adapt to how the game works. this is born merely of curiosity on the subject.
or are you saying that there are NO QUESTS, PERIOD on the Mainland?
(caps for emphasis only)
The quests for me on the Island, were only good for Instruction and perhaps the XP. mainly just to get as many skills/spells as I can possibly get. I really didn't care for the Rewards, and many times while doing the quests (I've done the entire Magic line, the Entire Fighting Line, and I am working on the Harvesting line now), if I really HAD to do the quests at all, and if simply grinding out my Skill Lines was a sufficient alternative.
I do not see the Quests on the Trial Island as a Major Thing.
I enjoy quests, but I don't necessarily need quest REWARDS if the quest CONTENT is good enough. I'll just do em for fun.
so, to my question....
out of total curiosity...you say that there are no quests for XP or Loot on the Mainland. I take that as to mean that there ARE quests that DO exist, but you do not gain any major XP or Loot from doing them. is that a correct interpretation?
and if so, then what is the purpose of whatever quests DO exist on the Mainland? and are the quests very, very basic, or do they hold a certain bit of quality in terms of content/storyline? in short...if there are quests, but they are not for loot or XP...they WHY would I want to do them? the answer to this is not going to persuade me either way, I'll adapt to how the game works. this is born merely of curiosity on the subject.
or are you saying that there are NO QUESTS, PERIOD on the Mainland?
(caps for emphasis only)