I have been playing for about three weeks now, and this game grows on me more every day. I love the complexity and depth of the game. A few things in particular that I think are near-perfect for my own playstyle:
* Freeform skills instead of the conventional classes and levels. This is probably the biggest factor that brought me here. I like the idea that no two characters will ever be exactly alike in their skills, and that you can grow a character "horizontally" instead of the usual "vertical" race-to-get-a-higher-level system, where everything seems to focus on power-playing to the endgame instead of enjoying the journey. I love meandering 'jack of all trades' characters and have always disliked the more restrictive "D&D" class system that the majority of current MMOs use, and love being able to switch modes on the fly between melee/magic/crafter/explorer and making choices about how to develop my character
* Sandbox gameplay! I LOVE sandboxes, and hate being trapped into a linear guided path where Quest A takes you to Quest B which takes you to Quest C, and the entire game feels like you are on an amusement park ride past pretty landscapes.
* Harvesting & crafting are usually almost a prerequisite for me in a game, and especially having them fully integrated into the world economy (actually a strong and dynamic world economy is right up there with harvesting/crafting for me).
* Large world, with meaningful travel and emphasis on exploration. Quite a few other games really lost a sense of world immersion for me when they started switching to a "convenient" travel system where you could instantly pop anyplace you like. For me that significantly takes away from the sense of a large world. I love the fact that the world is a dangerous place, and going to new places is a REAL adventure, instead of a click on a portal bell to immediately pop anywhere.
* Changing seasons and dynamic world. I just love seeing snow on the ground in winter, cherry blossoms out in spring, autumn colors in the fall. The first time I saw a herd of bodocs migrating for a new grazing area, I was just astonished, and the animal behavior here is simply one of the best I have seen anywhere.
* No 'forced-grouping' or forced PvP. I know that this game is all about community, and probably its most stellar feature, but I tend to be a bit of a shy hermit/explorer type who likes tramping all over and puttering around with dozens of half-finished projects at once, and being able to change my mind entirely about what I am doing at any particular moment. I may may not get a lot done that way, but I sure have fun. Having done most of my gaming while raising two sets of twins also meant I was easily distracted while online and also needed to be AFK frequently, which can be more difficult in a group situation. So I am very happy for many reasons that this game seems to welcome and embrace solo players as well as those who are more socially active.
* Mature & friendly community - I thought Vanguard's community was good, but the ingame friendliness here to new players just blows me away. When I finally left the starter island of Silan for the Maric\s homeland, there were a group of veterans at the city gates healing new players, handing out cats and needed gear and supplies, and just asking what they could do to help. It was absolutely amazing to see. And a special big thanks to Sunce, Sherkalyn and Trader who answered a lot of ingame questions for me!
I do still like Vanguard very much so it is going to be a very difficult choice for me next month when I have to decide which subscription to stay with. I love Vanguard's world, graphics and crafting system, and just wish there was a way to smoosh both games together into one! In any case, I am here for now, and enjoying myself immensely
To give a bit of my gaming background, my favorite games in the past have been Asheron's Call, The Elder Scrolls Series (Morrowind & Oblivion), World of Warcraft (sorry!), and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. (I've also played at least 2-3 months of most of the other MMOs, including Horizons, EQ1 & EQ2, DAoC, Eve Online, FFXI, and probably a lot of others I forget offhand now..)
I tend to become very involved in my games -- in Asheron's Call I started a popular website for archers, Unrepentant Archer; in WoW I created the hunter's website Petopia (now run by my good friend Mania, since I moved on from WoW); and in TES I was very involved in the player modding community, creating some popular mods such as Wood Bows & Leather Armors, the unfinished and perhaps overly ambitious Morrowind4Kids, Fantasy Colored Morrowind, and numerous other mods.
Anyway -- you all have a fantastic game here, and all I can say is that I will help spread the world about this often-overlooked gem and hope this time Ryzom is back for good and gets some of the appreciation it may have missed in the past!
-- Brash Endeavors
http://brashendeavors.net/
Ryzom should remain free until then. 
