An open Letter to all new Players

[slay13]

Good post. I have only played Eq2 previously, which i really enjoyed, but eventually grew tired of. So far this game is great ( a little un-user friendly off the bat, but has AMAZING support systems in place to make up for it), and has an amazing community, i look forward to gaming here for some time to come.

[acridiel]

And another additional Edit:

10. Ryzom has gut no real "Quests".

Up front, and this is important, I don´t want you to missunderstand this statment.
Ryzom has got Quests, but not the Kind you may be used to from other Games, the Kind being given by NPCs all standing around the countryside.
Our NPCs, who sometimes wander around a bit I might ad, give out so called Missions.

Missions, as opposed to the classic Quests of yonder, are repeatable tasks given to you as a means to earn currency, or fame with your chosen Faction.
There is no: "Bring me the head of the Disco-King", over and over. Likehere.
Yeah, you might go over and over killing some Bandits, or Monsters, or dig up something, but please keep in Mind that we´re speaking of Missions.
(Note: On the Newbe Island of Silan, those Missions are in fact a Tutorial to teach you the basics of the Games mechanics and systems.)

Quests, as opposed to Missions, are mostly Tales in the making.
A Quest of Lore is a heroic deed, repeatable only by a few and done under great risk for life and limp of the participants and the opportunity to learn something important from the journey.
We´ve got those too.
If you read Fantasy Stories or Legends, real Quests are either given to a Hero as a final test of mettle, or he chooses to go on a dangerous Journey to accomblish something specific. Quests are Legends in the making.
And here´s the Trick.
Ryzoms "Quests" are not churned out by the NPCs.
Quests here are either given to you by yourself, if you decide to go on a special journey to see or accomblish something or other, or by another Player.

Who for example requests your help in killing a certain Monster (Boss-Mob) for his Bones, Eyes, or whatever Loot he needs to finish that special Wapon he has accepted to build for someone. The Guy who requested the Wapon, being the initial "Quest-Giver" so to say.

Or someone accomblished Forager wants to journey into the Prime-Roots, to dig up something special and needs Protection by Players, either from other Players in a PvP/GvG Zone, or from Mobs. He´s a Quest-Giver.

Or someone decides to go into a Kitin Fortress just to get back on those damnable Bugs. If he managed alone - great! Wohoo! A Hero!
But, if he requests the help of others he is in fact a "Quest-Giver".

And if you, as a new player, request the help of other players to bring you together again with your friends from Silan, who´ve teleportetd to another land... well you get the picture I quess.

Btw. If you´ve seen none of us wearing any ! or ? over our heads, we manage quite fine without them, thank you very much.

Examples are far and wide, just remember to "write your own Legend".

So, I invite you to go on a real Quest with us.

[zangan]

This thread needs to be moved to the newcomers section and stickied!

This is awesome!

[gillest]

Real great post indeed Acr.

I would just put the emphasis on one particular thing (mentionned but for me maybe one of the most important):
This game is REAL HARD at start..
- You will come to mainlands and during the first week, lot of days you will feel lost, discouraged, alone, you will want to uninstall, you will not understand and think the game is different than Silan (it is but at the same time isn't: it is just MORE but at same time, the enjoyment will soon be the same)...

Most of the players did feel that way at one stage: keep to it, try again, log out and come back few hours later (some hours are very empty if you are not on during "rush hour").
After you actually met some players, made some new friends, your impression of the game is going to changed completely: It would be a shame to miss that out just for the first week of hardness...

Keep to it, you won't regret it

[acridiel]

And another important thing:

11. Ryzom´s got no Classes

I think I´ve stressed that point not hard enough so I´ll ad this.
Get rid of the Classes thoughts and behaviour.
When you enter Atys you may be eveything you want to.
There are no fixed classes. You won´t be cramped into a role and used as a "vending machine" or a "heal *****" unless you let yourself be used as such.
You may learn to "hit things hard with the sharp end of a stick", and you may learn "to blast peoples mind out of their bodys" and you might even learn "to heal" if you want to, you may even become an accomblished digger while learning all the afore mentioned and a crafter as well.
Just do what you want.
You don´t have to stick to old concepts of classes, be whatever you like.

So, I invite you to be a nukethrowing-*****-deepdigging-mastercrafter-that-even-knows-how-to handle-a-broad-sword.

[bazzamc]

i have played many full and beta games but none i can compare to this,the community can make or ruin any game but i have never had problems in ryzom it`s missing some of the useal problems i see in most online game`s.the only problem i have is dying a`lot and the game seems to force you to work together which isn`t so bad.i`m playing a beta game and it has war system we fight over castles to get the taxes for ourselves,what do guilds fight for in ryzom if anything plz

[acridiel]

Outposts, wich provide special Material and soon(tm) Territories, as soon as the "spires" are reviewed and implemented.
Some might argue that the guilds are the "militant Arm" of the Factions and will fight over religious causes, but thats an interpretation thing.

CU
Acridiel

[ceissad]

Very well written letter. I myself have just started playing the trial version of Ryzom.

I was interested in Ryzom when it was first announced and then heard some unpleasant things about it after release and never gave the game a second thought.

Well I was browsing through MMORPG.com the other day and noticed the info about the Ring addition to the game. That caught my eye and I decided to once again look through the Ryzom website.

After checking out the forums and the website, I immediately downloaded the game and installed it. So far I'm loving the change from other MMOs I've played/still play. The community here has been one that you don't see much of in other MMOs and the gameplay is something to get used to, but enjoying to learn.

I haven't decided yet about subscribing, but knowing that there are people out there like all of you just gives me one good reason to consider doing so.

[teniente]

Hey,

thank you very much for this post. I have been looking for a new mmorpg all afternoon. I used to play Star Wars Galaxies for a long time and quit about two years ago (I was too addicted to it ). As I did not read anything good about SWG post-CU I was looking for something else. I read some good things about the roleplaying and the game was ranked in the top on mmorpg.com so I decided to take a look here. I found your post and it has taken away all my doubts! Thank you for making me look forward to playing this game.

Unfortunately I do not know if my cheap-ass internet connection or my not so good video card will be enough to actually play the game. We'll just hope for the best. If it works I do hope to find you and your guild (or whatever groups are called in this game) ingame someday. I can't wait to actually roleplay again

kind regards,
El Teniente

[frakel]

This thread needs to be moved to the newcomers section and stickied!

I agree completely. This is very well written and right to the point acridiel!