Ryzom

karquile wrote: There is definitely something wrong with the client, though. If you run it on a two CPU system and fire up the performance monitor, you can see it eating up 100% of one CPU, even just sitting there waiting for you to log in or choose a character. It's probably the libraries it uses, but the effect is the same.

Yes and not. You can change the CPU mask for it running in two CPUs, but then it doesn't works well (I've tried). It looks like the engine was made to work multi-threading, but in one point it becomes buggie and solve it by changing to monolithic game (Well, no monolithic, but monoprocessor). Remember that this game was launched in 2003. As far as the game works fine in only one modern processor's core, is not really a fault. It was better if it runs in two, but...

And yeah, it takes all CPU always. If you test most of the games from 2003 is very frecuent, even if is a sympthom of bad programming. Fortunately this is less bad now, with the 2 cores systems.

karquile wrote: I have tried two different systems - on desktop, one laptop - that matched the minimum system requirements (as opposed to the recommended system). In neither case would I dare use it in serious risk or combat situations. That's true even after tweaking everything to minimum, which is not done by default even when you install on a minimum-level system. It takes 5-7 minutes to even load into Atys, and then it's good for chat and checking levels, and that's about it.

I've used it in an old system, and there is some tweaking. But again, the player could have it hard and need help. The configurator could be smarter.

karquile wrote: I also run Ryzom on some high end systems where it looks absolutely insanely gorgeous. But if I run it maxed out on OpenGL, it runs the GPU so hot my PC shuts down. I ended up switching back to Direct3D for safety's sake. Liquid nitrogen is so expensive these days.

Not-so-bad. I run mine maxed out in OpenGL and works fine. And use OpenGL because is more stable than DirectX, even if in DirectX get better graphics. Maxed out for me is 16AA 16AS Great Quality.

But, that's true, this game need some way to auto-down graphics quality settings. I've to change things (Disable bloom and max poligons of Special Effects) when I go to a OP Battle with 100 players. Another tweak that you learn with the experience.

karquile wrote: The other thing I want to mention is that if you're lucky enough to land in a large, active Guild alongside veterans and other newcomers, most of the "newcomer problems" on my list go away. They will help you even while soloing, and the teamplay will make even the grind more fun. Frankly that's my advice to any Ryzom newcomer even if they normally are of the "I hate guilds" persuasion: grit your teeth and join one anyway. It will get you through. You can always solo the endgame later.

I consider myself a soloer and I'm in a guild. You can be neutral, but being without guild ruins part of the game, IMHO. That doesn't stopped you of soloing, I do that most of the time. You have to help the guild at some points, but they help you too a lot, and what's more, being part of Atys is being part of a guild, I think.

karquile wrote:5. Ryzom isn´t E-Sport! (meaning don't just grind levels). I have to call this one highly inaccurate - grinding is an essential aspect of Ryzom and this is obvious the more time you spend in-game. Precisely because it is a sandbox, getting the skills you need requires grinding.

I'd love to agree with Acridiel on this one, but I'm gonna have to agree with you instead; at least if you look at SoR from a purely objective viewpoint.

I was once told by a "grinder" that SoR is the "ultimate grinding game", and I think its a very good way to describe it objectively. If all you want to do is just grind (ie just grind to get levels as opposed to dungeon crawl which imo is completely different) then this is the place for you to be. The sheer amount of levels you can get is staggering and there's no lack of stuff to level on. You could sit infront of your computer 24hrs a day, 7 days a week for a month and still have levels left to get. Name one other game that you can do that on and I'll be surprised.

The point is that thats not what SoR is "for". The prevailing views in the game is that there's far more than that to do and the grind is there as a necessary evil to provide the much-vaunted "freedom of leveling" (ie classless skill system) without having to resort to quest after quest after quest which just dont exist (some could argue its meant to be that way, some could argue the devs just didn't have the time to code them for the early release and never caught up to doing them).

All in all, nice post I think. Good to see some alternative viewpoints

hi and welcome

just have to disagree with you quite seriously on 2 points.

1) the grind and that you have to grind.
absolute rubbish. yes there are lots and lots of levels to get, so if you so desire you can grind very heavily, get burnt out and quit as many have done. I have been playing constantly and a lot since release. I've never 'ground' really, i've never had a need to. I dont hvae any maxed levels apart from digging (which happened by default because i love digging). To say i am useless to others because i dont have mega high levels is very incorrect.

2) the client
hmm tbh it sounds like you need to upgrade your pc. Have you tried running any new game on the minimum spec, its generally a more painful experience than Ryzom. i run on max settings, take a minute to load, have no lag... mostly down to having lots of RAM.

In contrast i have been playing a certain other MMO where i exceed the min spec by quite a lot. lags like hell, i get 3-5fps in crowds, completely unplayable o.o

Some of the other points you made, such as solo and team play will become more apparent as you get higher levels and you have a wider perspective of the game. level 1-50 is newbie time and its very easy and more effecient to solo, after that things start changing and you see the mechanics of the 'real' game a little more.

hope that didnt all come off too negative, still trying to get through monday morning with huge cups of coffee.

mithur wrote: The empty servers? Nopes. First, Cho has part of the blame. I never understand the opening of cho, or only understand in part. In a first time you think that a MMO so huge could be hard of playing with few people. But now i know that it rocks even with only 12-20 people in the same region.

One of the reasons i tried and subscribed to the game was "cho".
For a new member to start on a server where most of the players are 2 years ahead of you is a bit depressive (to me anyway)...

For the rest.
The open letter was one of the first things i read about ryzom. It caught my attention immediatly and started to play .

Why peoples leave, i think, there are lots of reasons, most not even mentioned here. In most cases it's a lots of feelings at once i guess.
maybe they read about an other game, maybe they lost a friend, their guild splitted, maybe they're bored fast and try something new...... Most of the time a combination of facts
Like the poster himself mentioned : he played a whole lot of them

The questions that's more interesting is :
what does players keep playing the same game month after month, year after year.

it's not the beauty, it can be the mechanics (but i dont believe it).
But most of all it's the community (imho). Nobody likes to give friends up.
In the long run, that's why they stay.
Second important : they love their toon and put loads of time in them.
Nobody likes to give up months of work

So, i think, the reason players stay or leave are "we".
I'ts the game, the advertising, the reviews, hearing other people talk who make players try out an game.

It's "we", the players who makes them stay or leave in the first place.

So my solution is :
pls veterans, welcome newcomers with open arms, let them join your community as fast and warm as you can.
Respond to questions, altough this can be bored somethimes, but let noobs feel ryzom is their second home.

And this, i feel is ok. I have great experience as a new player.
This will make me stay

cya ingame ^^

neuze wrote:One of the reasons i tried and subscribed to the game was "cho".
For a new member to start on a server where most of the players are 2 years ahead of you is a bit depressive (to me anyway)...

Lol, we have different views indeed. I think (as a theory) that Nevrax open cho in hard times to attract a lot of old payers, thing they do. Old players, bored from Aris , resuscribe for a fresh start, at least I've read a lot about that.

For newbies, sincerely, nothing is better than a old server, you have may help, all areas have people, have more stability, so you can know tha situation.

But this is only different point of view, of course.

Mithur, it is not like Cho is overrun by newbies, old players resident there aswel and if u cant see the point of view of a fresh start instead of being in a server full of people who are 2 years ahead of u... take of the glasses

mithur wrote:Lol, we have different views indeed. I think (as a theory) that Nevrax open cho in hard times to attract a lot of old payers, thing they do. Old players, bored from cho, resuscribe for a fresh start, at least I've read a lot about that.

For newbies, sincerely, nothing is better than a old server, you have may help, all areas have people, have more stability, so you can know tha situation.

But this is only different point of view, of course.

Depends on what the new player likes and wants from the game. I'd started on Ari with a few friends a few months before Cho was opened and they all wanted to move to Cho. For the frontier more open feeling the server still has compared to Ari and for the feeling that them being a crafter means something to the other players there.

Hi Karquile

First I´d like to thank you for adding more points to the list.
And good ponits to boot.

It´s correct too that my letter needs ubdating pretty soon
I´d wanted to do just that for weeks now, but I simply couldn´t find the time.
Sorry.

And in some things I simply think you missunderstood, for I agree with most of your points, but I´d like to point out too that some of it may simply be a matter of differnt point of view and/or "understanding" of terminology as English isn´t my native language.

I won´t go into details here, but I think I´ll ubdate my letter one of these days with yours in mind

Thank you for your contibution with helping new players

CU
Acridiel

tr808 wrote:Mithur, it is not like Cho is overrun by newbies, old players resident there aswel and if u cant see the point of view of a fresh start instead of being in a server full of people who are 2 years ahead of u... take of the glasses

Yeah, I've taked my glasses and see that I've put "cho" where I wanna put Aris. Edited now, thanks

But yes, in my post I speak about different views, that's all. For me this isn't a run, np in people 2 years ahead. It gives reality to me, gives a sense of a older world than me, with events many time ago that left theyr remmanents. If they were occuping a possition and don't let me reach that, ok, but here (I think) there are place for everyone. And, again, with elders helping you the things could be less frustrating at some points.

In the other hand, a fresh server with a lot of new characters guided by people with 2 years of exp could be way more frustrating for me. See a PC that start just like me being 150 lvls highter in three months just because he knows the ways of the game (And this game is about knowing it) and I don't, could be... worst, for me.

But, of course, points of view.

Today I turned on the pc and didn't had the slightest impulse to play ryzom. Because:

1. The client is a pig. It's very dificult to put it down. You can't even alt-tab to see the time if it its in full screen. I'm not playing in a very old pc, i like to play mmo's in my laptop with UTMS modem, and ryzom is realy unfriendly to that setup. Mainland lags a lot more than silan!

4. The Grind. The community makes this easyer. But in the 10 years of MMO experience i have Ryzom must be the game with more imperative grinding (Linege II comes to my mind too)

9. Ryzom´s hard to solo.(acridiel's) for a casual player who makes 3/4 hour sessions this really complicates things.

3. Documentation is scattered and incomplete. More a nuissance than a real problem. Where can i get info on Cats? or herbs? or mounts and houses? This info is scattered on forums at best. It leaves a bad impression.


PS.wish i had played Seed, first time i come up with the game it felt too "green", 2 monts later it was gone...