Where is the reward in ryzom?

[bmaniac]

Hi, dear community, Guides, GM's and dev team, and a happy new year to you all.
I have been in the Ryzom trial for almost my full two week period now, and I can say I'm hooked, I ordered the game and will continue to play. I decided to stay for several reasons:
The game is beautiful, the world and the creatures are all well designed. The community is nothing short of amazing, so helpful, friendly and welcoming. As are the guides, GM's and devs, they respond to your help tickets, and are happy to help and always a pleasure talking to. Something that is absolutely unique ammong todays many mmopg's. But it's not all good.

During my 2 weeks in Ryzom I have been leveling melee mainly, as my idea for my main character is a strong melee warrior that acts as a forager escort in dangerous areas. So Melee is what I have been focusing on, with some defensive magic on the side for healing, ressing and helping others. I have been hunting solo, in groups with totally random people picked up in region chat, or people from my guild. And the leveling has been sometims enjoyable, and sometimes extremely boring and monotonous. If I hear one more wingflap I think I will go nuts
I know that Ryzom is a group oriented game, and teaming up and venturing out into the world is great fun. I am in a great Guild, *waves* hi Samsara, that are always willing to help you out no matter what. But After these two weeks and 80 melee levels I'm starting to ask myself:

"Where is the reward for all this work?"
"What have I accmomplished with my 80 melee levels?"
And I can't answer that, that's why I'm asking you, the community.

I am still "stuck" at my starting town (no not noob island) and trying to venture out to the nearest respawn point from there is suicide still, until around twice my current level. I can still only go as far from the starting town as i could at level 20 when I left noob island, venturing further is certain death So 80 levels and a lot of hard work later and I am still not able to see any more of the game than I could when I started. The world I've seen has all been covered in sand, and I have no idea what the rest of the game world looks like, because I still can't go anywhere.

I'm stilll fighting the same kinds of monsters as I was when I was starting out. sure the Izams are now called Igaras, and the Kipees are bigger than they were then, but they all look the same and it feels like repetitively killing the same monsters over and over.

My equipment look the same too. Still the same 2 handed axe, the same armor and basically the same look as I had 80 levels ago, sure it has a few more stars and a higher number next to it in the inventory, but it looks the same to me as a player, visually my character hasn't changed at all.

I'm still using the same stanzas and actions as I was 50-60 levels ago, just with higher numbers in the name, but they look the same. Again visually nothing has changed.

The last two weeks of virtually non stop fighting and levelling has been for what? Sure I can find a group and go anywhere in the world, but I could do that straight out of noob island. What I'm after is personal rewards. A sense of having accomplished something with all these levels, for me personally.

Where is MY reward for all this work?

[mboeing]

Where is MY reward for all this work?

If you ever see a game as work. Why call it a game? And not work?

A game is there to entertain you for a certain amount of time. So the way is the goal.

[sprite]

Setting aside the whole point of your argument for a minute (the reward for it all, which is a question I can honestly say I haven't thought about)... You say you're in Samsara so I'm (possibly wrongly) assuming that you are either Tryker or Fyros. If you're Fyros then I can honestly say that there is no excuse to not have the three main spawns (Pyr, Dyron, and Thesos in that order... I got them before I was lvl50, mainly with help from my buddies in Omnis, but I did the Thesos one again immediately afterwards on my own and have helped a few people there as well) so maybe you could try the "adventuring" out to them to get some more rewards? I know the first time I made it into Thesos on my own it was very rewarding; the lake and waterfall was what made it for me. If you're Tryker I can't really comment except for the fact that I know everywhere is soooo far apart and quite boring to get to the nearest kipee area of any decent level, so I can see how that could be boring.

I guess what I'm saying is that if your guild won't help you get to the other towns (and I'm sure they will, having met some of them through your membership in the Grand Alliance) then ask around in Region chat; you sound like the kind of person who wouldn't have any troubling picking up a suitable guide for the journey. It is of course more rewarding if you get there on your own, but its more about getting the route right than being able to solo the mobs on the way If you have to fight something then you're probably dead anyway.

If you were Fyros and I had my pc working then I would offer to take you to Dyron and Thesos myself, but I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding someone else to help

[bmaniac]

I guess what I'm saying is that if your guild won't help you get to the other towns (and I'm sure they will, having met some of them through your membership in the Grand Alliance) then ask around in Region chat; you sound like the kind of person who wouldn't have any troubling picking up a suitable guide for the journey. If you were Fyros and I had my pc working then I would offer to take you to Dyron and Thesos myself, but I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding someone else to help

I have been to both Dyron and Thesos numerous times with my guild and with other groups, thats not the problem. The problem is I can't get there on my own, I have tried numerous times, and I'll never get rid of my DP now after all my failed attempts at getting to Dyron. that's what made me post this in the first place.
Also both Dyron and Thesos are fairly "deserty" places, so again, not much reward for two weeks of levelling moving to another place that looks exactly the same but with a different name. Still goes along the sam lines as the rest of my original post.

[sprite]

I have been to both Dyron and Thesos numerous times with my guild and with other groups, thats not the problem. The problem is I can't get there on my own, I have tried numerous times, and I'll never get rid of my DP now after all my failed attempts at getting to Dyron. that's what made me post this in the first place.

Aah ok. On the subject of getting rid of DP, I would suggest you either go to Thesos/Dyron using a 'porter ticket if you got one, or go with a group and them team up with people against the Ocyx there; that's what I normally do when I have loads of dp to get rid of *shrug*. The bridge over the waterfall at Thesos is good for it, and there are normally people hunting there whenever I'm around there. As for Dyron I haven't been there for ages, but we used to hunt Ocyx at the nearby outpost on a hill.

[xorte]

I don't think your level has much to do with the ability to travel around Atys. If you watch a high level player taking a team to a dangerous spot to do some hunting you'll notice that they lead the team along a safe route to their destination and only fight the mobs that are safely killable in their path.

If the same high level player decides to run from Pyr to Thesos they follow the same procedure except where they come across non killable mobs they find a route around them.

There's no difference between the high level player and yourself - one hit and you die - several hits and they die - time is the only wavering variable.

A high level player on reaching their destination then buys a teleport ticket where available to save them having to walk in the future.

Useful items include the radar and switching between 250 and 125 zooms to track your way around aggro mobs.

If you know the mobs and where they usually hang out and if they are social, anti-social, aggro and what their aggro range is it helps alot.

Why did you bother to get those 80 melee levels? What was personally in it for you? Only you can answer that question! Just why did you spend half your life for 2 weeks playing Ryzom?

Personally I play because I find it fun. I do recommend trying out some elemental mage because level 100 you get double spell and 125 you get some lovely big spells. Once you get past level 125 in melee theres not really much exciting there as far as i can see.

Anyways - good luck

[xenofur]

i don't know which paths you took when going to dyron, but getting there alone is a cakewalk. on the map below is the rough path i take, you can disregard the red spots, they were just used as a prof of concept. what is of more importance for you are the yellow spots, the signify areas where i usually encounter aggros and have to be a bit more careful. near dyron also are two spots that are a bit darker than the others, they signify areas where aggros usually move through, mainly zerxes and frahars.
u'm lvl 50 and using that route have no problems.

http://exekutor1.ex.funpic.de/futallaby ... php?res=86

now to answer your question:
it seems to me like you don't play mmorpgs much, since what you essentially ask is: why for pete's sake am i doing all this?
the answer is, to prepare for upcoming things, to be able to fulfill goals in the intermediate timeframe and most essentially to have fun.
upcoming things are:
- quests(hopefully to be implemented on the 6th, tho it seems like there'll be quite some bugs with them)
- official events, which can be raids, faction vs faction, faction vs faction in reaching a certain goal and whatever else nevrax or your event team come up with
- player events, for example: tournaments, cleaning the clopper hill, beating certain boss mobs, treks to other countries and whatever the player base comes up with
- pvp in the roots and later between guilds in the fight for outposts

intermediate goals can be reaching a certain level, getting a certain ability, beating a certain mob, getting a certain item or helping other players to fulfill their own goals

fun can be anything, but should be the most important, for some it is digging stuff up, for some it is finding and mapping stuff to dig up, for some it is fighting in huge groups in strong mobs, for some it is fighting in any kind of group against a herd of mobs, for some it is watching the mobs, for some it is just talking, for some it is sneaking around and getting to new places
but most importantly, if you can't find anythign that you consider fun in this game, give it a break, leave it for a week and do something fun, then come back. if you force yourself it'll only make you feel bad and in the end you'll blame ryzom.

HTH

[bmaniac]

Why did you bother to get those 80 melee levels? What was personally in it for you? Only you can answer that question! Just why did you spend half your life for 2 weeks playing Ryzom?

because I thought having level 80 would make a difference form having level 20. I've had a lot of fun getting those levels. I was expecting to see a difference in my characters abilities, that's all.

It seems to me like you don't play mmorpgs much

Where did you ever get that idea? I have been playing Ultima Online since late beta 7 years ago, I've played so many others I lost count, and I'm still trying new ones as they come. Ryzom is the one I'm liking most so far. I never said anything about disliking Ryzom, or anything about not getting anywhere in groups, all I'm saying is that I ahve spent a lot of time in the game during my trial period, wether I had fun or it was boring level grind hasn't got anything to do with it. I just want to know what the reason to get levels is? At what point in the character development will I be able to actually enjoy exploring Atys without sneaking around and cowardly hiding from aggros?

[xenofur]

ok, my fault, misinterpreted the intent of your question, the answer is the following: mobs are designed in a way that allows you to beat them when they are about the same level range as you are. thesos is about level range 100-150 and dyron is about 150-250
problem is, alone you are probably able to beat about 2 such creatures at once or 3-4 when taking them on one after the other
and another problem is that most higher mobs currently have way overpowered special attacks that are used in about 60%-80% of the attacks during a fight and cannot be resisted or lessened

lastly, ryzom is not a game where a single person can get all-powerful, the general balance is designed more like in a strategy game, thus walking to thesos and killing every single mob on the way there is probably impossible even at level 250

[kostika]

If you need equipment, jsut ask. We will provide.
If you need help getting rid of DP, just ask. We will help.

One of the reasons for being in guild is so that we can do things together. It took me a long time to be able to figure out a safe route to Dyron. The creatures aren't easy to kill. I still avoid cloppers like the plague.

Why do you do this? For fun I hope. Cause that's why I play. That's my reward. Part of the guild's aim is to help each other. You've been doing really well, don't get discouraged just cause you can't do something on our own.