Things that may help a Re-Release

[kreios08]

I play now since Step 4 with a very old trial account I made back in the Nevrax times. I had now access to the full game and could experience the complexity and beauty of this environment and the specialness of this community.

I feel already really fond of this game and really wish it does prosper like it deserves.

Online Games like Ryzom need a decent amount of subscribers to survive, keep up development and all services, thats a known fact. There are some things that in my opinion could be done quite fast and cost effective in this direction.

To make a community grow you need mainly two things: something that makes people come and check the place out and something that makes them stay.

It seems the new owners like to share with the community the effort to make the game succeed, like with the volunteer teams and the banner contest and this is very good for both, the game and the community itself.

We could go even further and do more community-driven things to make more people come and see the game.

What about Blogs, personal or guild blogs, people that keep track of things that happen, personal experiences, politics and drama news, stories or even roleplay blogs, diggers and crafters that explain how to do things maybe in episodes or based on requests. This then implemented in the official site with some kind of contest. Best post of the week? Most visited Ryzom blog? Random quote from a Ryzom blog? Or just a list of the most referring blog sites? (the ones that brought the most click-through to the ryzom website)
Someone may ask why actually blogs? Well it seems some search engines like websites linked by a lot of blogs and/or other websites, and well, it could be fun?

Videos, I seen in some signature there are people making Ryzom videos. Nothing can wake interest like a good ingame video with fitting music. So same as above, best video of the week/month? Should somehow be youtube-ized for getting some visibility. Not sure that could help, video makers may know more about it.

Guess making more people stay can be harder. There are a lot people that love Ryzom but im sure there are some too that dont like it as it is. Lets be honest, Ryzom is an amazing game, unique, and there are a lot of fun things to do, but sometime its a big grind. All that got one or more masters know this.

What im going to say may not please a lot old-time players and hardcorer, but the grind level, especially at low levels, can scare quite some people away, that maybe even try to solo a lot like used to in other games that support soloing more. So, perhaps making levels shorter or changing leveling a bit in some parts to make it lesser a grind may help, at least for harverst and craft and at least the first 100 levels. Guess all could agree that digging is a pain till level 100, or not?

I always wondered why you cant get 3000xp with digging like all other skills.
(I know you can but its quite the exception.)

This would give more archievement feeling to new players and make them enjoy the game more as a whole, being more useful for themself and others so enjoying the social part of the game more, that is important in Ryzom more then in other games. Looking someone wearing or using a item you did craft is very rewarding, except you dislike crafting at all.

Shopping. You cant shop in Ryzom most of the time. You will probably find nothing up for sale and after level 50 you will have to travel to some places to check for availability. If at least the part of having to see for a different npc based on level of the item needed would change, letting you check all levels on all merchants, perhaps selling on to players would get more interesting for both sellers and buyers.

Some little changes like reducing cooldowns on self heals could help soloing a bit, making the game more enjoyable for this playstyle too.


Think this post is getting quite long now, I hope other players will add something useful to my thoughts and thanks for reading.

[dominick]

First and foremost thank you for a well thought out suggestion list. As a so called old timer (in more ways then one) I'd have to say that the tendency for homins to fall into the "grind trap" is way too easy and one i'm sorry to admit i fell into also awhile back. Now since the return of Atys and the even more important retunr of lots of people I'd be honored to call friends, I'm making up for past mistakes and going out more to meet new homins, hanging out with other guilds and generally trying like heck to help our own new guild members more. I'm one of those "silly" people that refuse to use "cats" while leveling so its doubly tougher to do and quite easy to fall into that trap again.
Changing the present leveling setup as far as XP is concerned may affect the game in adverse ways by taking away the challenge even though it would ease the effects of the grind alot. What i see has being desperately needed is getting back to the lore of atys and its struggles as described in that lore.
We'll have to wait till the new owners decide what route they will go to see if this is in their collective plans for the game.
Videos? Check out YouTube under a search for Ryzom. Should find over a dozen simply awesome ones there.
On the Harvesting XP, since its based on so many variables (qual, # of mats, class of mats IE: Basic,fine etc) adjusting it may prove to be more trouble then its worth. Being a great harvester has always been a process of experimenting with stanzas and what works best where. Add to that, getting the right skills to use in those stanzas and using them properly is a skill set in its own right.
As far as more community action and involvement is concerned I agree wholeheartly with you there even though several of the things you mention are in effect in minor ways now.
Ok, thats my 2 cents worth, hope to hear from others as well.

[coltsven]

I consider myself a new player, (Though I did play long ago when Ryzom debuted) and I can almost agree with you. Though I can't agree, personally I feel the game's pace is just right. I just don't find it being a grind at all, but that may change in time. Where I do agree with you is that the game does need something to bring in more people, perhaps more ongoing events. I don't know something like scenarios, i.e. like Moderator controlled invasion or something. Anything that involves the players in the story but in mass.

[iceaxe68]

A few observations in no particular order:

It seems like many things should be happening "soon" to address the lore and event situation. Recent news from Yumeroh is very encouraging on that score, and bodes well for the future. I think those things will attract and retain exactly the sort of players who most enjoy Ryzom.

Avoiding the grind trap is certainly an important topic, but one I think may be better addressed as a cultural phenomenon than as a game mechanic. It is simply not required, and yet far too many fall into it. The reasons are legion, but the solution may be difficult. We will have to, as a group, encourage activities and goals other than "ding fast ding often", in opposition to the expectations set by prior game experiences and many life experiences.

I'm one of those "no cats" weirdos too, although in the spirit of honesty I have to admit that I used them as a new player before I realized I'd be happier without them, and still occasionally fall prey to temptation and use them for digging off DP or some such.

On the topic of blogs and videos, there are numerous sites out there, led of course by Acri's video site and the art works at deviant art, as well as Beau's podcasts and a number of Guild blogs (and that's just the English language stuff I know about, there are plenty of French and German resources as well). Having links to the more active of those from the main website would be a nice touch.

Digging is not a pain at all if you have good advice, or even better good helpers. Just have a master digger dig your sources, or CP for a high level digger, and you'll see what I mean. Another case where teamwork is much better than solo play, but with good advice even solo digging at lower levels does not have to be too painful. Knowledge is power.

Shopping is fun, and I would certainly not want to be able to get anything from anywhere at any vendor. Half the fun is going to the different markets to see what's for sale, or putting together outfits on the Ballistic Mystix website and then going out to try to actually find the pieces to make the outfit... it's like a Mission! Of course, getting custom outfits is fun too, but just like in real life, can be spendy.

OK, that's all for now.

[t19yuchi078]

Whats needed more than anything is to make Ryzom more welcoming for new guilds, the lack of new guilds almost to the point of there being none has got to be a worry for the owners.
And when there is a new guild spotted, it doesent seem to be very long before its never heard from again, which i put down to the difficulty in creating a guild that can supply their members with equipment and such, something that is much harder than gaining combat levels which come easily enough.

[kalindra]

Indeed, the game relies heavily on harvesting and crafting as ways to provide equipment to players. But those are the skill that take the longest and require the most work to master. Compared to that, any other skill is fairly easy, and made even easier by the contribution from crafted goods. New guilds need to train their own harvesters and crafters to be able to provide their members with equipment without relying on other guilds all the time. And not everyone is patient enough to start from scratch, which is why it's much easier for a beginner to join an existing guild than to create his own.

I know exactly what it is, even older guilds can have that problem if their master harvesters/crafters can't log on or simply leave. It isn't forbidden to trade goods and services with other guilds as long as the exchange benefits both and none of the exchanging parties feels like a beggar.

[seiren]

There some good suggestions here. I posted on MMORPG an idea for an ingame library hall and someone suggested I send in a ticket. I thought I post it here and get others feedback.

The developers are working on the lore and creating a new format so that gamers can have easier access to the lore, my suggestion was to have an ingame library hall, something like the information feature we currently have on the temples...but this would have to be open to all homins regardless what faction they are in.

The encyclopedia works like a library; it gives us knowledge of the fauna and flora, some history on the tribes of Atys, and other interesting information. As far as we know the Dev. are working on expanding the encyclopedia and adding new quests. But what if the lore that was previously on the main site is instead available in game.

A library hall with all known lore, information on the factions, the races, the government bodies, the NPC leaders and their family lines, the time-line of events, the history of OP wars and the guilds that own and have attacked OP’s…all this information in game. There can also be a section for guilds, and their histories, like the hall of fame on temples, but instead with information on the guilds residing in that city.

How about an ingame newspaper, imagine an NPC in every city selling Atys Newsbranch; clicking on the NPC pops-up a window with news articles about Atys. Detailing events, information on weather, politics, even OP wars…things that affect every day life for homins. Even the stories created for Atys Chronicle can be included here. It can be updated every week or even twice a month. I can already imagine the NPC shouting headlines – “Kitin Queen sighted! Rangers uncover new ruins! Bahtan wins Mr. Atys contest! (You get the idea) [wink]

Instead of having this information out of game, when not even 50% of players check the forum, not even guild forums for that matter, it can be easier to have access to all this in-game. I’m not sure of the amount of work that would be needed to complete any of these suggestions. But I ask are these good ideas and are they doable?