I'm an old player, deciding to spend some time on Atys again. I played the Open Beta (I feel old), and also for some time after release. I did pop back briefly when the old accounts were playable for free, but didn't stay for too long unfortunately.
Anyhow, I downloaded the 21-day a few days ago, had a quick play around, and a couple of friends (one of whom was introduced to me by Ryzom) have also decided to pay a visit to Atys. Well, long story short, two of us at least have re-subbed our old accounts so we can access our more mature characters
We also have new characters, about to leave Silan.So far we've had the experience that we expected from Ryzom - helpful, chatty community, and chance encounters with players who are quickly added to the friends list
One of them was yet another old Ryzom player (haven't enquired about original character name yet) called Myui - also working her way through Silan for the first time. Hopefully she will also decide to re-sub for a while, or at least complete the 21-day trial and journey to the mainland with us.Well, this is just to say "hello again(tm)" really
Dazman is resurrected (excuse the poor character name, Ryzom WAS my first MMO after all!), and Kalzakath (not very original, but I am trying...), a confused but eager refugee, will soon be wandering the Dunes of Exile and requiring a rez close to Pyr 
As a group, we'll be trying our best to do things that we didn't do with our main characters - mainly Rites and extensive exploration (rez please), and of course a healthy amount of helping out whenever possible.
I have to admit, Dazman's friends list makes me a little sad in some ways. It's packed with characters, and each one brings a warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia, along with that odd feeling that you'll probably never see them again, in this game or another. Wherever they are, I hope they're enjoying themselves
)