Hey, give me a chance to get back here - I've been playing
It's difficult not to be negative regarding mmogs. They all seem to be a variation on "Oh god, not another kill, loot, level game." Real life does not revolve around killing things and taking their stuff, and it's really quite odd that nearly all online games do. It makes one wonder how many spotty 12 year olds would be scaling clock towers, assault rifle in hand if there were no real consequences in RL. Most online games seem to be populated by sniggering Beavis and Butthead types, and I'd really prefer not to even acknowledge their existence let alone actually interact with them. I've just spent a couple of weeks playing EVE Online, and I swear that the only reason I might have considered staying on was that I would really like to kill all of those twats with stupid names.
A couple of hours on the forums does tend to give Ryzom a bit of a negative spin. It seems that just about anything I consider doing with my character more or less sucks, according to most posters. Ranged combat, for instance. It sure is a pretty game though.
Anyway, thanks for the tips. I had to slap myself for not being able to figure out how to swap what I'm holding in my hand
I've been trying to level crafting by making the starter boot pattern, but the 'clothing' material seems hard to come by and consequently my crafting skill seems to be going nowhere slowly. Gathering is going well, but it just doesn't seem to turn up the right materials to make armour. On the nub island I made the mistake of getting another armour pattern with the skill points I got with the starter materials. Once I kill another couple of hundred sucklings for enough materials to get the skill points for another pattern, what's a pattern that doesn't take so many materials? I'm tempted to restart just so I can craft something else right away. I was thinking of getting a pistol and making ammo for it. Most of the ammo components seem to be readily available, but I keep reading on this forum that ranged combat sucks.
I also chose a number of prospecting skills that seem more or less useless so far. I probably should have got some that allow the resource to last longer and produce better materials, or at least stop them from exploding. My little guy is spending a lot of time sitting down.
I still don't have a clue about the 'stanza' stuff.
Anyway thanks, I think that puts me a step closer to understanding, lol.
2nd it sounds like you have gotten a few lvls in each area, harvesting, fighting/magic, and Crafting, at this point I might recomend perhaps comming to the Mainland perhaps, not sure what lvls you are at now, might still be too early. But in the mainland it would be easier for you to learn what the various skills you picked, the whole 'stanza' thing, and what skills you should pick, as Almost all of us have been there before and understand your problem and are more than willing to help you out. You could also send me a tell in game by typing '/tell Daemion message' with out the ' and with a message of course where message is 
Not from Daemion, but from all those Agro beasties he keeps running into!
