Observations & Thoughts

[acridiel]

Hey Acridiel, this is totally off topic but I just noticed you're missing an 'l' in All Over the World, in your siggy.

Whoooops!
Thanks for noticing

CU
Acridiel

At least it wasn´t "AL over the World"

[cyrogen18]

Haven't had as much time for Ryzom these last two weeks, new job But here's an update anyway.

I'll just point out I'm not trying to nit pick, I'm just posting whatever I find, and I may be adding to my points on some of the previous postings.

The scroller bar on the loot does not work. I think it worked somewhat when things dropped over 2 items, but for just 2 you have 1 and a half items in the window, and cannot scroll down to see how many of the 2nd item you aquired.

Another word on Death Penalty... it diminishes while you are logged off I believe, but I think the rate it diminishes while you are logged off is far too slow. I logged on after a day, and had 47% death penalty, it was probably 100% when I logged the previous day. I'm sure everyone has had a time where things just haven't gone right, they've been killed multiple times, and they've just logged. Then you log on a day later and *bam* DP reminder of the bad time you had yesterday. I'd probably say 1% per minute while logged off is reasonable. Near 2 hours to remove it then, it will be still there for people who come straight back to the game, but should be gone for those who have a serious break.

So I've encountered a few of the named creatures now, Ora of course, Skoff, and Hisserto, and I don't see much point to have these low level named creatures anymore. Nobody ever is starting teams for them that I've seen, anyone participating would get less experience than they could probably get in the same time staying where they already are, only the quickest one would get loot (probably the tank), and more likely an unprepared group would just end up with a round of DP. I'm not saying I want these creatures removed, I just think they need some of their former glory back.

"Your target is too far away or you are not facing it". Ryzom doesn't know which it is?

So we all got disconnected today, alot of people were complaining quite a bit of time of character rollback. What is the message in my log "Cyrogen has been saved" every 5 mins for? It doesn't stop major character loss like this? Why bother spamming my log with it then?

I get the popup that I've been disconnected from the server, I go to log out "You will be logged out in 30 seconds, or you can quit now but your char will still be in game for those 30 seconds"...... Wow, the game ran away but my character is still in there?

For some reason it looks like I can log straight back in, I get to the character select screen, I select my char & hit play, the screen fades..... and then fades back in to the char select screen. It won't load the game, the server must still be down, but I'm just getting this annoying loop, no error messages or anything.

The error connecting message: your character is still in game, please try again in a few seconds. Don't give me an error message, just fire up that 30 seconds for the char to log off while your logging me in. If I get to the char screen to quick let me know your still dealing with my char & let me wait a few seconds there, or alternatively just select a different char.

I was doing some other stuff on my comp after on of the "wait a sec for your char to quit" messages recently, running a few small things that always run like a dream, and they were running slow as hell, made me think I had a virus or something eating my system resources. Then I closed the Ryzom log in page and all was well. Admittedly my computer isn't new (though it was when Ryzom was released), but I think this warrants a mention anyway.

So I'm leveling my fighting, not much experience with using these skills yet, and my char just stops swinging his sword. It took my a sec to realize I was out of Stam, but I think it should just make the default swing if it doesn't have enough stam etc. The basic no cost default swing is better than not doing anything.

So I add the bomb effect to one of my spells and do what every self respecting mage does... nuke the nearest woodland creatures, 2 suckling caprini in this case. 62 (357) to one, 62 (316) to the other. "673" appears above both their heads..... if only

Why are all the quest givers level 1-10? Do they realize what level the aggressive monsters they are standing next to are?

I was pwnd by the & key a few more times today

[blaah]

I'll just point out I'm not trying to nit pick, I'm just posting whatever I find, and I may be adding to my points on some of the previous postings.

good checklist for devs to follow on their first day of coding, but for the DP.. there is DP tickets that you can buy from teleporters that are doing exactly what you want, increasing DP diminishing rate.

edit: found the old post. Death Penalty Reduction. should still be same today.

[acridiel]

The scroll bar not working strangely seems to be a quite random bug.
My loot and most other windows work fine, only when changing an action it sometimes does not work with the mouse wheel, for some reason.
When I click and drag it works fine.

Heard similar things from others, either its only ONE type of window not working or all is fine.

No Idea what this might be.


As for DP reducing faster, the buyable skulls are your friend
Like blaah said.

But making them reduce completely and in almost no time while logged of would remove their purpose imho. They are here for a reason, they are a penalty to represent your character not "feeling quite so well" after each resurrection. Even WoW has a similar system, so removing it or watering it down even more would be quite useless. The "Skulls" already where a nod into the direction of those players that complaint about the DP in the past and I for myself think its ok the way it is.
In lower levels it might be hard to buy one of them, but please believe me, later it gets quite easy as more and more dapper keep flowing your way from sold loot and stuff.
No game simply offers everything at once to its players, continuous play will always have and advantage over newly begun play. Otherwise what would be the point of playing longer than an hour?

And just for the record: No offense intended.

CU
Acridiel

[minirushin]

i've never understood the point of skulls, can dig off 1dp in 20mins or so and get lots of lovely mats so its not just a waste of time.

we should probably be happy it caps at 10 deaths

dont really understand your point about named mobs at all? what former glory, tank ninja looting? (which might happen among newbies but doesnt happen at all in the wider game), they drop excellent mats, some of which are really good - and all an awful lot better than the basic and fine other mobs drop for sure. and provide a nice little challenge when one wanders past. That doggie in maiden grove is evil though, pure evil

[jeziellia]

The scroller bar on the loot does not work. I think it worked somewhat when things dropped over 2 items, but for just 2 you have 1 and a half items in the window, and cannot scroll down to see how many of the 2nd item you aquired.

I have also had this problem, since time immemorable. Only when looting. I think it's never registered as something for me personally to mention as I always "Take All", and it then tells me exactly what I received. Might be nice for it to work entirely if you are being a selective looter, or have divided who loots what, and don't want to go through trading or the three-step destroy process.

Death Penalty

As others have indicated, there are three levels of blessings (six total, three from each type of altar) that speeds up DP loss. Currently, my character Jeziellia receives close to 700,000 death penalty when she dies. I have three skills below 100. So, of course, as I progress, you might think I'd have motivation for other ways to speed up DP loss. So far, I can still work it off inside 15-20 minutes.

Consider you don't have to retrieve your corpse, you don't lose items, and you don't get a stat debuff... I think that death penalty the way it is within Ryzom is one of the kindest systems. Short of "no penalty for dying at all", which does not appeal to me on a personal level at all.

I may change my mind when I finally get all of my skills to a point where XP isn't that easy to regain. In all things that you can do to pay off the DP, you get something out of it. Materials or crafted goods (it makes us crafters weep though, to craft off DP).

I don't see much point to have these low level named creatures anymore. Nobody ever is starting teams for them that I've seen, anyone participating would get less experience than they could probably get in the same time staying where they already are, only the quickest one would get loot (probably the tank), and more likely an unprepared group would just end up with a round of DP. I'm not saying I want these creatures removed, I just think they need some of their former glory back.

The point is a continuity of a living planet. Ora is the Great Yubo. Even with 200 elemental, she can land a few good kicks and leave me hurting for a few days. That's really their point. They exist as a constant in the world. There will be 'tougher than usual' creatures in a herd. Those creatures on Atys have names. (I even support the idea that there is not ONE Hisserto, but that the name is given to the strongest of the strong of that species.) If anyone is going to go after something that is out-of-the-ordinary, they need to expect something different. Death Penalty is a very nice way of teaching those lessons. (See previous thoughts on the kindliness of DP.)

Majority of people do NOT hunt the named creatures for the experience points. It's the parts they are made of. Those Choice, Excellent, Supreme animal tidbits that you can ONLY get from the named critters.

As to the looting... Every group I've ever been in has been more than willing to divide the spoils of a kill. Most, in fact, are more than willing to give away ALL of the tidbits. When joining a group of strangers, try to establish who is going to loot. If there are pieces from such a creature you desire (say you craft amplifiers and are about to kill Bodokin, you'll want the eyes more than likely - only q70, but there are casters of that level too), make it known what you're there for. Ryzom doesn't have enforced looting rules (beyond not getting to loot something you didn't kill in the majority, etc). The community to date has not needed them. If someone is a "ninja looter" and/or doesn't share... Don't group with them. Let your friends know not to group with them. Eventually, the community weeds out those who do not show courtesy and respect to others.

"Your target is too far away or you are not facing it". Ryzom doesn't know which it is?

This one seems a bit like a nitpick, I'm afraid. Does Ryzom need to know which it is? Don't YOU know? All the program is really required to know is that you are no longer in a position to strike your opponent. The text you get is a cosmetic display.

So we all got disconnected today, alot of people were complaining quite a bit of time of character rollback. What is the message in my log "Cyrogen has been saved" every 5 mins for? It doesn't stop major character loss like this? Why bother spamming my log with it then?

When a server crash happens, you will roll back to the last "...has been saved" point - unless there was a corruption of X number of saves. The people who complain are most often in between saves (we do not all save at the same time increment from what I've seen). You can travel/do quite a LOT in 5-15 minutes. Five minutes is also the difference between one safe spot and another when running a cross-region trek. Five minutes from the Hidden Source portal into the Forest, you could be standing in the pass that's lined with Kipucka, torbak, kinchers, and cuttlers, with only narrow gaps to dive between. Or you could have made it THROUGH there, the server crashes and poof you are back to the portal.

In my experience, people just like to fuss. When it says your character is saved, it means it. Short of data corruption, that's where you'll rollback to. Sometimes it seems a lot longer/further than it really was.

I get the popup that I've been disconnected from the server, I go to log out "You will be logged out in 30 seconds, or you can quit now but your char will still be in game for those 30 seconds"...... Wow, the game ran away but my character is still in there?

This keeps people from autologging - possibly after doing naughty things. You may not be connected to the server anymore, but the program is going to follow its protocol. I, myself, have found this QUITE annoying lately though. Particularly in your sample situation.

For some reason it looks like I can log straight back in, I get to the character select screen, I select my char & hit play, the screen fades..... and then fades back in to the char select screen. It won't load the game, the server must still be down, but I'm just getting this annoying loop, no error messages or anything.

This seems unrelated to any disconnections. I had this happen to me the other day when I was logging in for the first time. I restarted my client and did not have a problem with it otherwise. I'm also curious about what causes this.

[quoteThe error connecting message: your character is still in game, please try again in a few seconds. Don't give me an error message, just fire up that 30 seconds for the char to log off while your logging me in. If I get to the char screen to quick let me know your still dealing with my char & let me wait a few seconds there, or alternatively just select a different char.[/quote]

Eh, again, this is part of programming to keep things running smoothly. If it starts to log you in before you are technically logged out, you run into all manner of possible exploitation issues. Admittedly, like the other tidbit, I find this aggravating (as it often takes up to 2-5 minutes before I can log back in).

So I'm leveling my fighting, not much experience with using these skills yet, and my char just stops swinging his sword. It took my a sec to realize I was out of Stam, but I think it should just make the default swing if it doesn't have enough stam etc. The basic no cost default swing is better than not doing anything.

There's a HUGE yellow message that comes up over your screen letting you know you are out of stamina. Part of this mechanism is to avoid fighting becoming a "click and walk away" activity.

62 (357) to one, 62 (316) to the other. "673" appears above both their heads..... if only

Haha, you and me both. It sure does make you FEEL better though, doesn't it?

Why are all the quest givers level 1-10? Do they realize what level the aggressive monsters they are standing next to are?

Hmm, I'm not sure what you mean. I've been getting missions from all manner level of NPCs. Are you talking to the low-level region ones?