Ryzom

/tar Arfindel
/courteous bow



What a great post!!! Thank you Arfindel.
What more ist there to say.

Acridiel Of Leanon

Well spoken, arfindel, and straight from my heart, too.

What more ist there to say.

All,

While I agree with most of the things stated here, praising both the community and the depth of the game, let me also state another view, not as positive. I speak for myself, but I'm confident I can reflect the feeling of a part of the playerbase, and I dare to say I can support my arguments, as I read several forums on different shards.

For a player that has been playing, or should I say, involved, with Ryzom for more than two years, there are a few facts that although known by some, are worth mentioning. The depth you mention wears off, naturally, with time, and the fact is, Ryzom has been lacking fresh and new features for a while. There are no significant streamlined content additions and the reactivity is limited (the elapsed time from an announcement to delivery is in the time scale of months. A few examples, the title modifications, or the change of direction towards a more in-depth in-game aspects related to kitin)

While the status quo may satisfy most players, it is far from optimal. As players, we are aware of the issues involved, starting from the complexity of developing a MMRPG, and ending with the lack of resources that Nevrax is handling right now, after laying off several employees, possible unability to hire new ones, the restrictions of the observation period, and their business plan focused on the Ryzom Ring.


I've read several answers each time a player raises some of the points I wrote about. From the "if you don't like it, quit or leave", going thorugh "there are plenty of things to do" till the "Nevrax is a small company with (very) limited that manages to...and listens to players"....

To the former, such statement seems to forget about inner feelings of the player, ignoring the investment in time, resources, and the bond we may develop with both the game and the players that make the game what it is. We enjoy the game, not only for what it is, but also for what it could be.

To the second, players have several and diverse expectations: while some may take as input a static scenario, and develop amazing RP events, others may also be in for the gameplay, the arcade aspects (we are not all 100% socializers) or other game features one may expect.

To the latter, first, we seem to forget that we are nontheless affording a service, for an amount that is competitive with other offerings -- joking a bit, is like a mobile phone telco, offering a limited set of features, asking for the same fee and justifying the lack of geographical cover, 3G features etc. to a limited resources -- Maybe it's just that we were blind, fooled, or impressed by the PR words and by the announcements that were made, inexperienced or unaware of the technical constraints of the technology, unable to distill what's doable and what's not. Second, it's been stated that Nevrax activelly listens to players. I agree. But there is a difference between listening and acting, and feedback and two way communication could be imprived. Maybe our expectations are too high, maybe we are assuming too much, ignoring the constraints the service provider is facing, and we should accept what we are offered and forget about what we were told.

Why complain? -- or to be politically correct, why raise issues?, one coul d say 'again and again'-- because I think we must. As someone said "too much noise deafens ears", and I agree, but a complaining -- better said, providing constructive criticism -- means a player that still believes, but who may expect more, be wary of "soons", "really soons" and who may expect not-so-awesome-but-new features to be delivered regularly.

Latest communications are a rehash of already stated things. PR sentences that can be interpreted from the "Ryzom Ring will be the greatest thing since sliced bread" and even "Nevrax were a group of loosely and uncoordinated visionary developers that lacked some aspects of software development as proper testing and project management till, with all respect, the new Executive producer joined in". Sometimes we are taken only as "customers to handle". If we are such an awesome, understanding community, and the game as is can provide a satisfactory experience to most, why not be clear and straight with game plans? to me, there is a difference between "there are several projects that we are internally considering" and "there will be no additions other than bug-fixes in the next 5 months at least"

I applaud your praise. I am really glad you enjoy this game as much or more as I did, for months, while I started, but stating that "everything is great in the best of the worlds" is misguiding. Or maybe Ryzom *is* aimed a specific audience and cannot catter for a broader audience, notably hardcore players hungry for regular features and additions.

Thanks for reading,

yours,

It's all relative ... I'm one of the SWG refugees, and THAT was lack of communication for you!

/tar Iphdrunk
/bow

Another great an all too true post. Considering the points you mention is the right thing to do and I must say I agree.
I am still an Fan of this Game and by now I´m used to taking everything Nevrax says with a grain of salt, but they DO talk to us. Even if much of what they say is "just" PR. But, as we in germany say :" Klappern gehört zum Handwerk."
Wich in the Sense of the Words means : "You´ve got to make some noise to be succsessfull."
Public Relations is a vital point in every Business and it must be done in order to reach out to a potential playerbase. And as you can see in the sudden influx of Newbes on Arispotle, it works.
Granted they´re slow on the uptake, but I´d rather take a Game that needs time to do things the right way, than Companies that spit 70% operational Patches into their Games, with all servers being at least a once week down a whole day for patching and bugfixing and constant nerfing and WhatnOtWhatever .

I admit it´s more of a "gut feeling" that makes me stay here. I´m kinda emotionaly attached to this game. Maybe I´m with the underdog, or maybe it´s because I like the Franco-Belgian Comic Style of the graphics SO much, I don´t realy know. I just love this game and I´ll support it to the best of my humble abilitys. I´ve chosen so and I still belive that someone over there in Paris has a good Idea of what WE want and of what THEY can do and accomblish in a "sensible" ammount of time.
As paying players we certainly have "rights", but also we´re in the rather unfortunate position of being dependend on their works and by extend on the good fortune of the Company.
Let´s hope it all works out and we don´t have to someday migrate to a certain rather WhoefulOnlineWorld just to keep playing SOMETHING.

I want to play SoR and I will do so as long as it´s possible.

Acridiel
The biggest Fanboy alive!

acridiel wrote: I admit it´s more of a "gut feeling" that makes me stay here. I´m kinda emotionaly attached to this game.

I can understand this sentiment. I can count the number of times I've logged into the game in the last six months on one hand but I still pay each month in hopes that the game that I bought into way back in closed beta will eventually surface.

I never see a long post on the fun pvp we have here in SoR, I wonder why that is...

geezas wrote:I never see a long post on the fun pvp we have here in SoR, I wonder why that is...

points. well it's not that long, but it was fun

geezas wrote:I never see a long post on the fun pvp we have here in SoR, I wonder why that is...

So, why don´t you write one?

I´m not into PvP but it sure can be fun and it truly looks like!

Acridiel

As someone returning after being gone for over a year, I thought I should put in my 2 cents, for whatever they're worth. Compared to the game I played before, I enjoyed SoR a great deal more due to the flexibility of the skill system, the bloody gorgeous world, and the community, to name a few.

I did play another sci-fi game for a brief period after I left Ryzom, because I was able to play it for free. So, now, I have 3 MMORPGs under my belt. I'd actually been without internet service for quite a while and only just got it back on. So, of all three games, which one did I come back to?

Come on, guess

*hehehe*