Poll: More To Explore??

[iphdrunk]

Ok, I grant you that some communication is in fact missing, the lettersa nd the chats mostly. But not so long ago Xavier himself came down from the heavens and answered questions about the Ring.
http://www.ryzom.de/forum/showthread.php?t=22917&highlight=Ring+Xavier

Ok, we didn´t ask "what comes after it?", but that wasn´t the intend of the thread.

Hey Acri

You know, I am really eager to see and test the ring, but I also share part of other players concerns. The Saga of Ryzom is not the Ryzom Ring. The possibilities of the ring are huge and it can provide a lot of opportunities but again, imho, the Saga is not the Ring. And the ring cannot fulfill all players needs and wishes. In players hands it cannot make the history advance, but unofficially. It cannot extend some features of the game unless used by Nevrax themselves, and it cannot be substitute-for-all.

When the ring was first announced Nevrax stated pretty clear that they would not halt the development of the game itself. If was a direct and pretty clear statement (I could try to find the exact quote but after the website update it's not that easy but they did. I can understand it, but lately everything Ryzom-wise seems to be focused almost exclusively on the Ring (aside from the NPE of course, which is again understandable).

After more than two years around, I know one cannot expect everything it was said pre and immediately after launch, specially after Ryzom did not get the (around)100k expected subscribers, the shards were merged and part of the staff was laid off. To some extent Ryzom today is like another game, less to do with what it was previously planned, and with another business and cost models. Nevrax has admitted release was too early ( “We launched the game a bit too early,” admitted Executive Producer Daniel Miller). And personally I think feature-wise the game has seen little to none expansions for a state-of-art MMRPG ("Since then, the small development team spent most their time finishing the product, fixing the bugs and consolidating their community")

Yet, with the "redressement" in October Nevrax is trying hard, and the Ring seems to provide the context for "a-second-let's-hope-more-succesful" release. But, well, I for one, do not want to feel like we have been somehow "forgotten" and that all efforts are focused on "the new wave". Of course, Ryzom has now a stable, noce game that can provide a positive experience for players that are starting now, but there are higher levels that still ike the game, but need newer challenges (don't come to me with the ultra-simplistic-blackorwhite "don't like it, leave", pls )We need something to dream on, and well, the optimist part in me thinks they are working on it, unless they have completely halted *all* development, but we know nothing of it (just check the Roadmap, the in-development and the now in test sections... only the funny-titles things and the months-past animations change...

"“We’re certainly not intending to throw our playerbase out and get a new one,” Miller noted. “That’s not the way to build anything.” Ok, I'll buy it... now, should we keep on waiting I guess?

[petej]

Yup im concerned about the future too , especialy after seeing Silan , if they just dump Uber (cant be matched by Crafting) rewards into Ring instances itl be game over for me

[iphdrunk]

Yup im concerned about the future too , especialy after seeing Silan , if they just dump Uber (cant be matched by Crafting) rewards into Ring instances itl be game over for me

Good point, petey.let's hope that planned official new additions are not simply "reward - based instanced - quests" (phatloot-questalot-farming ubegear) something to think about ...

[totnkopf]

I have to agree with everything Ani said.

One thing that really shocked me was back in one of the Q&As. Essentially they said that until R2 was out, development on anything else was put on hold. While I understand that R2 must take a bit of work and that Nevrax does't have the funds to hire a large dev team, the phrase all the eggs in one basket comes to mind. I, much like Ani, don't see the Ring as true content. its nothing to do with the actual SoR story, nor does it advance it in any way. There is also a part of me that sees R2 as Nevrax giving up. "They want this? They want that? well, let them make it themselves". Thats all fine and dandy except it will take a while for people to learn the R2 tools and create decent instances. We'll end up, for a while at least, with FPS syndrome... a whole lot of instances. Many of them crap, a few diamonds thrown in.

As for the NPE, I think it was a great idea. The starter isles were in serious need of a facelift. Now we have a larger community there, each trying to help one another, and a decent taste of what the mainland has to offer. Much better than the old lands vague missions and deserted landscape. However, now that its out, I'd like to see VPE (Veteran Player Experience). Just add some content, anything... quests (easy to add... most of them are already in the game. just attach a reward (NO +5 flags plz) and get them out there!), new crafting plans (cloaks, hoods, plans from the old lands perhaps?), something to go in the open OP spots (storage? refining to create higher Q crystals, just in lower numbers?), a purpose to the Arena (rankings that are visible in game, much like the temple listings, with a monetary reward for the 1-3 after a certain amount of time (say 1 mil once every 7 days and then the standings are reset)), perhaps even a new land to explore.

If I may be so bold as to compare SoR to another game for a moment. During my absence from SoR, I tried out RF Online. I was not expecting too much from the game in terms of CSR and Dev response. I was pretty accurate on the CSR. It took days for contact with them, all done through out of game email and often didn't result in anything. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see the dev team did a lot for the game. Once a week, the servers went down for a couple hours and changes were patched. Problems that had been brought up on the forums were addressed and fixed, usually within 2 weeks of being brought up. Those players who have been around long enough know that SoR usually takes a very long time for fix stuff (over a year for many of the bugs (map bug anyone?)). I can understand that taking down the servers is somewhat of a hassle and that finding a time that people will enjoy is even harder with a global community (RF servers were for US and EU only), but I would happily give up a couple hours of play a week if it meant that new content was being introduced at a greatly increased rate (and I doubt I'm alone).

While I think that R2 will bring many new players to SoR, I wonder how many of them will stick around once the awe of the mainland wears off and the instances grow dull. I can speak for over 20 people when I say that had new content of been released (in any form, even if it was just a few new quests a month) there would be over 20 more players wandering around Atys right now. There are few who would say that Infinity did not sample all that this game had to offer. We hit every boss, we dug every mat, there was not a clump of wood chip that had not passed beneath an Infinity boot at some point. But that was the problem. That boss was hit one too many times that it became boring, that wood chip was passed over one too many times. I begin to wonder how many people that have left over the years would have stayed had their of been content being released on a regular basis (even if it was a few quests a month with some other content thrown in every 2-3 months). I'm pretty sure many of the towns would be quite a bit busier. I know for certain that most of Infinity would still be running around giving the Karas a run for their money. But there has been no new content, no word of anything new coming, no timetables, and as such, no Infinity. And they weren't the first to leave and I very much doubt they will be the last.

[katriell]

Yup im concerned about the future too , especialy after seeing Silan , if they just dump Uber (cant be matched by Crafting) rewards into Ring instances itl be game over for me

Players will not be able to take anything out of the Ring, except rewards brought in from the main game by the DM (read: player crafted items) and perhaps some crystals.

By the way, IMO quests != content. There is a common mentality that the only alternative to quests content is grinding, but I think static quests are actually the antithesis of content. If anyone would like to hear my full argument surrounding that thought, let me know...

I have a different view on the whole "content issue," though. I've been playing a while, certainly not as long as others, but I've experienced burnout and come out the other side and still here. I do not look forward to promises of future things. I am not bored by any current aspect of the game. I do not understand this elusive concept of "content" so many refer to, and bluntly I couldn't care less.

[totnkopf]

By the way, IMO quests != content. There is a common mentality that the only alternative to quests content is grinding, but I think static quests are actually the antithesis of content. If anyone would like to hear my full argument surrounding that thought, let me know...

When I say quests, I don't mean more quests available at the various NPCs found around Atys. I mean more of the quests that are already in the Encyclopedia that have not had a reward added to them. There are numerous quest categories that have all the missions available, but once completed, the final quest for the reward is not available. They have been like that for over a year and there has been little attention paid to them by the devs. Its just another issue of not having a finished product and continues many to continue the joke about how we're simply continuing Beta, but we just have to pay for it now.

As for those currently satisfied with the current content, thats fine. Theres nothing saying that you HAVE to want new content. BUT.. if new content was added, it wouldn't hurt. You would just have even more things to do. For those of us that have done much of what there is to do and long for kitin invasions, quest rewards, etc, well, we'd be a much happier bunch and would make your gaming experience all that much more enjoyable (not that we're crabby now, but y'know...)

[petej]

I know theyve said R2 rewards will be strictly limited but to be honest I dont believe them , after seeing the apparent success of the NPE (New and Free will always attract alot of attention and the majority of players there on the opening day would have been subscribers going for a looksee... ) , id imagine it would be very tempting for them to go that route (quest based + Uber rewards) for the main game instead of fleshing out SoR as it is or shouldve been by now (Spires , Encyclopedia , Canopee/Core area access , other Outpost options etc)

I agree with Morgain , thats Content for me , Encyclopedia Rewards (not Uber Items but plans/Auras etc) and the Info that goes along with it opening up more of the history/background/Lore of Atys

[vguerin]

I agree with Morgain , thats Content for me , Encyclopedia Rewards (not Uber Items but plans/Auras etc) and the Info that goes along with it opening up more of the history/background/Lore of Atys

Like several of you old timers I feel I am also in the group of the "forgotten". Sure the NPE is an example of what they can do if focused, but other than the explorer in me having to check it out... this does nothing for me. A large part of it's popularity is the "new/free" aspect. Give it a 14 day trial and I think you'll be back to where we were before, though with new folks actually have a better world to get a feel for SOR.

R2 is more an expansion out instead of forward... It is nothing more then a novelty for me. There are just as many of us uninspired by R2 as there are frothing for it's arrival. An awesome RP tool potentially, but not content. With the lack of anything official stating the GAMES direction forward (not outward), we will remain being the forgotten class in Atys.

[iphdrunk]

I know theyve said R2 rewards will be strictly limited

To be a bit picky, I always thought that that point was only implied for player created content, nothing makes me think Nevrax content is somehow subject to the same considerations. I surely hope there will not be uber loot to be farmed. In every single game if there is gear that it's superior to player crafted items, then it's farmed. No crafter who has spent an insane amount of hours wants to feel that his crafted items are second class.

Aen&co damaged the heavy armor crafters. Whole guilds equip their members with aen armors. Shield crafters took a heavy blow with event shields. Dagger crafters laugh at the "fine q200" event dagger that does more damage than a supreme 100 speed q250...

That said, a similar thread on french forums has made Marjo react and she posted that she'll be updating the "in development" sections Soon (TM)

[grimjim]

R2 is more an expansion out instead of forward... It is nothing more then a novelty for me. There are just as many of us uninspired by R2 as there are frothing for it's arrival. An awesome RP tool potentially, but not content. With the lack of anything official stating the GAMES direction forward (not outward), we will remain being the forgotten class in Atys.

An awesome RP tool IS content, but then we're back to people defining content again.

Extra levels aren't really going to provide anything.
Standard quests are empty.
Encyclopaedia quests are a bit better.
New lands won't necessarily mean a great deal unless there's something new/different/interesting/beautiful to see and people to go into it.

R2 is an open ended 'content' creation tool. A near-bottomless pit of customisable content.

I think we need more 'tools'. Raw ingredients rather than TV dinners.