You guys who haven't bothered logging back in since patch 1 -- they fixed it since

[usinuk]

Don't presume to know what I base my statements on. The fact that heals are huge didn't even enter into my mind -- everyone already knew healing was given a huge boost. I was talking about playing as a high level fighter (yup, that's me), as well as how groups perform.

If painting my comments as coming from a dedicated healer is your best rebuttal, I'd consider it meaningless.

As far as customer response, most MMORPG devs do not. Of course there are examples of the Ryzom devs being behind on things. You'll also find examples of me badly misspelling words, as much as I think myself a writer -- I'm human too. What should be taken into account is the excellent and fast response that they're becoming known for by the experienced player base.

Do I feel a desire to describe Ryzom in a realistic light? Yes! Why? Because, frankly, MMORPGs are games that nearly all of us become heavily addicted to (myself included). A balance issue, or mis-judgement by the staff, creates ripples like you'd never see when it comes to any other entertainment service. When things go right though, no one feels such an overwhelming desire to make a statement about it. New players should note you will see this on all MMORPG forums. Look to the horrendous complaints and whining on any other game's forums, and you'll see a lot worse than what you're seeing here.

(I knew there'd be one that'd get me going, woot!)

I guess you didn't read the rest of my post once you saw the dedicated healer part, since in every post describing yourself you have made on the main boards you describe yourself primarily as a healer. (Oh, yes, priestess is just a melee title - not!) Sorry if your own description isn't accurate.

And for the part that you haven't responded to - half the crafters in the game have left. No one is there to replace them as the newbie nerfs I described are exactly accurate. Those of us who are left are badly discouraged. But I guess you play that class too so you know it. At least you're enjoying the lower prices brought on by the devs deciding every harvester in the game leaving was not an option so the biggest pander in the history of the game went to the class that whined the most. (Oh, yes, for the record I'm a 100+ harvester too.)

And as a high level fighter do you solo? Didn't think so. Why was I invited to team up with 100+ level friends when my mage level is so low? Because they can't advance otherwise. Strangely enough, I actually play a balanced character leveling across all lines, one of the very, very few in the game. (Yes, even ranged.) Its why I feel comfortable taking on players opinions in different classes - because I play them too.

The game is just broken for new players. Can't advance in craft, suckling yubos on newbie island could kill you in a single hit for a full week following patch 1 (probably the only bug that has ever been publicly acknolwedged in the history of the boards), and the learning curve is ridiculous and has just gotten worse. That alone is enough of a rebuttal.

Your description of Ryzom's customer service is unbalanced at best and fanboish at worst. Its wonderful to have a response in 5 minutes. Its awful that the reponse is from a guide who can't do anything, to have a ticket you send in be lost in the ether, to have suggestion after suggestion and bug after bug ignored. (Why bother spending 5 hours testing on the ATS as I did to find every single bug in it was introduced to the game.) And when was the last dev chat, FBT? If you can direct me to a single post or apology ever posted by a dev, I'd love to see the link. Doesn't exist. Some people are happy with devs and CSRs working in a vacuum. I'm not. Responding to the disaster of half of your base leaving - and I think that's what's happened given how much of my friends list has disappeared - is not good customer service. Its panic.

Oh, and finally, lets talk about describing Ryzom in a realistic light, and presuming to know what I base my comments on...

Says the anonymous reviewer Aelvana Luvlana (Amazon ain't Ryzom, you're supposed to be putting your real name on it if you have any aspirations towards reviews that help people and aren't hyping one way or the other), September 16, 2004:

'The game is actually finished and fully playable, aside from a few unnamed objects and unimportant bugs, which will be corrected soon.

The detailed quests, storyline, NPC interaction, invasions, guild wars, and changing landscapes are all finished but were left OUT of the beta. Underwater travel and mounts, as well as permanent changes to each server based on its players actions, will be introduced soon. Please keep in mind that almost all reviews here came from beta testers who may have been unaware that the beta was just a skeleton of the game.

Having played the beta knowing this, and knowing what's already been tested but not publicly revealed, I'd say this game is an absolute winner. I'm going to purchase the day it goes retail.'

Glad your crystal ball is so accurate; you presume to know so many things that have come to pass! Oh, they haven't? Well, since you clearly have a inside line to the devs and know so much more than the rest of us, keep hyping the game even if your track record is awful. I'm sorry to slam you this hard, but enough's enough.

While I still like this game enough to subscribe, there are huge issues and covering them up by cheering loudly ain't a solution when I see friend after friend leave and get slammed by people like you who view any unsubscribed player as the enemy who couldn't possibly be right. They're still my friends.

I think that the truth will get more people to subscribe and actually stay, which is why I post here. Keep verging on fanboism and we'll keep down this path, and lose more players than we gain, which benefits no one.

[usinuk]

Usinuk, you are taking a very centric, realistic stance and somehow you are able to cut right to the heart of the issues. I appreciate the post above and wholeheartedly agree. It is just as sour to see blatant fanboism as is is to see the game railed for anger alone.

I wish they could sticky your response.....

I'm done for a while on this side of the forum since at least there's an accurate repudiation to the worst of the hype.

And frankly, I wish you and others were still in the game. It was better with you in it.

[aelvana]

Crafting having to be started after other money making skills, having to group for faster exp than you get solo (at 110 I can still solo easily, though with some downtime ... quickly finding mobs that give 1500+ in tryker, matis, fyros, fighting in MA with q90 sword...). Ryzom was balanced into what RPGs and MUDs and MMORPGs classically are. There's nothing at all wrong with it, and it's certainly not unplayable -- the problem is that you can't please everyone.

Most of us are addicted to these games. I am too, and I don't mind doing it with the bulk of my free time -- I'm not saying anything negative about heavy play. One of these games being changed in major ways though will create the situation that there was after patch 1. For all we know, they had to go live early to begin generating an income. Ryzom evolved in a completely normal way for these games, and is now more balanced than before patch 1 and with content.

Usinuk, I'm not going to pick apart your posts like you did mine. The people who will get what I mean when I say I'm posting realistically are the only ones I want to reach here.

[usinuk]

Crafting having to be started after other money making skills

So those wishing to play a dedicated crafter can't play one, and newbies have no real hope of crafting realistically until they hit 50 or 60 in another skill that is 'money making' (although I thought the point of crafting was eventually to make money). One of the great inventions of this game was fixing what SWG got wrong with their crafting system - making crafting a viable solo profession. Gone now post-patch 1. Extraordinarily frustrating.

(at 110 I can still solo easily, though with some downtime ... quickly finding mobs that give 1500+ in tryker, matis, fyros, fighting in MA with q90 sword...).

And a few levels higher you will find that even with level-equivalent equipment and weapons you cant solo anymore, unless you want to fight things for 100 exp a pop, at a risk of 250k dp per encounter.

Ryzom...There's nothing at all wrong with it

Finally, the truth. And also why I've taken you head-on versus my other posts with people who really like the game - while I can disagree with them, for you, there seems to be no broaching any disagreement that the game isn't perfect.

The people who will get what I mean when I say I'm posting realistically are the only ones I want to reach here.

In other words, those who agree with your previous quote who are already subscribed? Since the purpose of this thread was to let people who havent logged in or who had cancelled know whats changed and what hasn't...hmmm, doesn't sound like you're addressing them. Incidentally, I don't disagree with your comment about balance - it is more balanced in many ways post-patch 1 - but the reason many of those people quit has nothing to do with balance, but instead playability and broken promises.

I for one will make sure they know what's been done post-other patches. I want them to come back. I also dont want them to cancel within a day of doing so. And I think that the only way to improve the game is to continue putting fire to the feet of the devs through both constructive criticism and attrition, until the big issues get fixed and both aren't necessary.

And now I really am done on this side of the boards for now. See ya post-patch 2.

[hubba1]

Some comments to the negative remarks in the thread above by some:

-- Crafting Missions being gone ...

Um, there are plenty of crafting missions to do in the Newbie Islands at least. I suspect that you are relying on out of date information or that they moved the mission givers to another type of NPC, you may want to check that out.

-- Customer Service

I've twice asked for game support in game ... the first time I was contacted within three minutes. The second time on another night I was contacted within 45 seconds. In-game customer service is definitely the cat's meow, end of story.

I'll not comment on the rest since I personally have never found this game hyped (in fact most of the complaints are that there isn't enough marketing for the game even on these <cough> visitor's Questions boards). I also decided to come by the Questions forums on my own tonight because I thought it might be helpful for some of the outsiders to get a recent view of what the game is like, I've been playing it casually for the last three days.

Partly I decided to come by here because if I had made my decision simply based on the negative remarks scattered on these Visitor Questions boards, I would have never joined the game and would have had a completely incorrect view of the game itself. It certainly works very differently than even many of the player guides in the main registered forums say on guides posted up back in late October , early November.

I dont even meet the minimum specs for the game and it plays swimmingly well. There are really only two negatives to this game. Can you install your game and log-in? Most can , it went perfectly for me and I was on 16.8k dialup .. that's not a typo. The second concern is that although there is a ton of in-game help in the various contextual menus (look for a ? button at top right in any game menu, most have them, that gives you info on how stuff in that window specifically works) and tutorials and help topics , it is a bit scattered and sometimes not as straightforward as one would like.

The game really isn't complex or complicated, it is rather requiring some time to get used to. Once you assimilate it, it begins to make a great deal of logical sense,more than most games based on quests and get the uber armor do.

Anyway, it's pretty obvious there are a lot of unhappy individuals typing for whatever notion on these boards, often erroneously.