Ryzom

jared96 wrote:Exclude OP battles and ... Lemme know what ya get.

Why are you excluding op battles in favor of completely inadequate and incomplete random spot checks? Battles and events provide the easiest and most accurate way of counting the population. In my 2.5 years here, the population was lowest in early 2005. It increased with EP2 and surged when outposts were introduced. However, that surge subsided after a few months. Then there was a larger surge with the openings of Silan and Cho and associated advertising. That surge slowly subsided. The largest numbers of toons together at one time, I saw at kitin events in early 2006 (242+ and 220+). Several battles have seen 220+ (Oct 2006) and 200+ homins (May 2007) attending. The population has decreased somewhat this summer. However, we are still seeing 160+ homins at weekend battles (Aug 2007). Obviously many old-timers have left, but new players have joined and some old-timers return also. Hopefully population will pick up as the weather gets worst. Of course, I agree however that Gameforge needs to develop exciting new game enhancements, move the Saga of Ryzom forward with events, and do more advertising.

Hello again; seems since my post a few pages back, the thread has deviated to speculation and some suggestions on how to keep current players, bring back the old players and of course get new players

I could easily write a book on this topic.. . but instead will some views and ideas in point form.

This is what I think GF should be working on to achive more players, and thus more revenue for them:

PERMANENT WORKS:- Stability of the System

INGAME CHANGES:- Storage:
1. Packers (Packers come in three levels of "strength", and they should also have three levels "capacity", who uses Packers as Meat Shields???); we should be allowed to own more; but keep the 'only 3 out of stables at a time' rule in place.
2. Appartments and Guildhalls need to have increased storaged, and we should be able to own appartments in at least every racial zone, if not every city throughout atys. (and should be able to see Appartment & Guildhall inventoryies always, like Packers)

Stanza's & Craft Plans:
Before raising the level cap to 300 or more; we need more skills to buy; and more items to craft (designs, special stats, etc); these can be linked to QUESTS to get unlocked.

Quests:
Cant add to much here, cause outside of Silan, only do the FAME based 'missions'. But assuming all the posts are true; then more "Quests" should be added

Definitition:
Quest = multi-step tasks (often updated once each step is completed)
Mission = simple single step task (kill X mob, craft y items, deliver z, etc)


RAID CHANGES:-
1. Teaming: Having dropped Aen, Pei, Sergio & Lixie; I can confirm its not possible (yet) to do with 9 players, but unlike all other MMORPG's, you cant cascade your teams to form a "raid party". I think this will benifit all players / guilds attempting the NPC bossess, and more so be awesome for OP battles - and I think if implemented will make OP battles more enjoyable for everyone

2. RAID based events / invasions: (going from posts, documents & reviews); Ryzom sells itself as a "Living Planent", and sure if you sit down with the Herbies you will see there was at some point a great attention to detail put into the AI / Animation of the mobs. But if Kitins are suspose to be the "common" enemy between the core factions Karavan & Kami, then surely they should be "in-our-face" more??
For those of you that have tried... go for a trek in Tunnel of Woe as an example....
As posted a page or two back, the Kitins need to send out patrols to keep us on our toes, threatening our cities / towns. and respond to attacks we make on them.... (take the focus off being "enemies", and trying to own ALL OP's and Dominate Atys).

3. Raid Zones (e.g. Kitin Lair)
Not much to say here; other then lets actually get areas where all you 250's can group together an tackle Atys's biggest problems (Kitins).


MECHANICAL CHANGES:
1. Make the 3D World, have a 3D feel; sorry but if i cant JUMP, DIVE (Water) and FALL OF CLIFFS, it makes me think of DOOM.

2. Game Engine (Graphics) - Release late 2004, has the game inproved visually? - Any game that thinks a 128MB 3D gard is HIGH worries me...
Dont get me wrong, think the game looks very nice; but we are comming up to 3 years right? Think with the GF take over, and the 3rd year anniversary, some effort should be made to bring Ryzom back up to speed visually.

Believe it or not, most of my friends (myself included), actually choose games for the visual affect / realism - staying in the game comes down to things like above, but mostly "THE COMMUNITY".

Cant use myself as an exmaple (hides behind 2x Geforce 8800 GTX 768MB); but checking online a several leading brands of what the "Entry Level" Gamer PC has now a days.... they all come with 256/512MB Video and 2GB RAM;

So would be great to see the polygon count increased for smoother, more realistic objects (Players, Mobs, Environment); and higher quality texures, and increased special affects.


Anyway.. long rant here... but saves me making a brand new post for these ideas and views


THANKS ALL

All excellent points Wak, but I just wanted to mention the graphics.

Personally I think Ryzom is the most beautiful MMO out there and I have played them all, but apart from its general presentation, its the small incidentals that make my immersion greater.

Little things like:
Insects burrowing into and out of the ground.
Insects bursting forth as if from a cocoon for a brief colourful mad dash of flight and disappear.
The drifting sand in the desert.
The wind drafts in Underspring.
The wood grains in the fences at OP's have different patterns.

Loads more stuff like that, but I think you know what I mean, but to me there just additions to already excellent graphics in my eyes.

Regarding graphic enhancements since release, there was one, I forget what its called, as I dont use it, but it is in the options menu, I'm sure some one will name it for me here, but it makes the game more Oblivion-ish in appearence.

But as I said earlier, excellent points

fiach wrote:Regarding graphic enhancements since release, there was one, I forget what its called

bloom......

Plzzzzz, stay away from the graphic changes and give us some content first. And if they should upgrade the graphics, plz oh plz make it optional orso. Not everyone has a new, shiny, gaming pc... I'm so happy that my 6 year old, 1,6mhz, 512mb ram and 64mb graphics card can play this game

stijn wrote:Plzzzzz, stay away from the graphic changes and give us some content first. And if they should upgrade the graphics, plz oh plz make it optional orso. Not everyone has a new, shiny, gaming pc... I'm so happy that my 6 year old, 1,6mhz, 512mb ram and 64mb graphics card can play this game

Heya!!!

Thanks for responses Valda, Geniastrid & Ruhen

I definetly understand there are lots of people out there that have "older" PC's; and although I didnt write it previously.. there is a loose order of priority (thus graphics the lowests of changes) implied in my post .

My PC in particular, was purchased for Oblivion / S.T.A.L.K.E.R hehe
So just being greedy with the whole Graphics enchancements.

But I still do think the 3D "feel" should be implemented...
I believe alot of players (old and new), will take a whole different approach to treking / hunting, etc if they can fall off that cliff where they usually run againsts it like a barrier to stay away from the mobs near the edge

OH and dont forget Lakelands... I am sure ALL the Trykers and anyone who ventures there frequently will agree.. if we could jump/fall off the docks and swim underthem it wold make the long swim so much quicker and more enjoyable... - Think Fairhaven and how painful it is to run/swim around the blosssum like sprawl of the docks... OMG!!! does my head in! hehe


Cheers

riveit wrote:Why are you excluding op battles in favor of completely inadequate and incomplete random spot checks? Battles and events provide the easiest and most accurate way of counting the population.

Cause new people coming into game will not be interacting with that population.

In my 2.5 years here, the population was lowest in early 2005. It increased with EP2 and surged when outposts were introduced. However, that surge subsided after a few months.

I am playing a different game then. In summer 2005 a /who brought 20 people in Flaming Forest alone. Kami Tolerance was always a problem. Last thanksgiving was the last time KT was a problem in FF. Even last August I could sit at a SN and find comnrades in double digits. Mow other than amber and sap, I am often alone. If I find myself needing a specific HA mat, after a season change I almost always find myself waiting alone. Even last year that didn't happen. I make it a habit to check region chat each nite before I log.....after 6-8 hour sessions, most nights it's totally empty. Even a year ago, it would fill more than one screen. Pre OP's it would have flushed the cache 2-3 times a session.

It surged after "The Ring" cause they sent a e-mail to all ex players inviting them back for 2 weeks, they came, they saw, they left. It surged after OP's cause there was something different. Now it's "played out". Peeps have realized that cats have hurt the game (would be better if they only worked for crafting). Peeps have become turned off by the bickering. Peeps have realized that "winning" essentially ends the game. "OK, we have all the good OP's, now what ?" The "have's" love it but the "have not's" have become disenfrachised.

Then there was a larger surge with the openings of Silan and Cho and associated advertising. That surge slowly subsided.

Subsided when they needed to sub to pass the level cap and Cho was merged cause it showed no signs of being able to support itslef. But Cho wa scretaed to give new players a chanmce to play the game without being dminated by uber players. That attempt failed.

The largest numbers of toons together at one time, I saw at kitin events in early 2006 (242+ and 220+).

Yet we don't see any of these anymore.

Several battles have seen 220+ (Oct 2006) and 200+ homins (May 2007) attending.

I make it a point to avoid regions with OP battles when they are going on unless I need to dig something in particular. The last two battles I watched had no more than 40 per side. Lixie survived all those months because people could not muster even enough forces to knock her out.

What we have is a large number oif players who simply do not enjoy the game anymore and simply show up at OP battles to have an opportunity to demonstrate their prowess. We have a large number of players who simply stay logged in 24/7 with heir toons sitting in front of the main city stables. These two groups provide no comraderie for the new player.

Many who liked the OP battles return only for them. Those who don't, well they don't return at all.

Of course, I agree however that Gameforge needs to develop exciting new game enhancements, move the Saga of Ryzom forward with events, and do more advertising.

1. New Players - Advertising may bring em in but they are not staying. I have made a point to add every new person I have seen come over from Silan to my friends list. I have talked to them, helped them out a bit with "provisioning", gave them info on the various guilds (kami / kara and neutral), shared fighting strategies and tips, keep uni open rather than region to make them feel that thare is a presence by answering questions, healed or afflicted outta team and left off with "if ya need anything yell".

I would say Hi when I seen their lite on in friends but 9/10 times that light is going dark and staying dark after a week or two.

2. Exisiting Players - New content would help but how much programming time can you buy even with your 220 player base ?

220 x 15 = $3,300

The lowest paid clerical position in my office pays $3,470 a month w/o overhead and benefits.

Again one way to look at the market is to see what the market leaders are doing. Many new games are coming out PvP only. The titanic market leader has 50% of their servers PvE only. Now that's proof enough that given the choice, 50% of the population is choosing to "opt out" of PvP. Now I think that we can agree that the population of that particular game is decidedly younger than Ryzom and I think we can agree that that younger audience will be decidedly more PvP oriented that an older one.

But at the very least, the market leader sees value in providing a PvP "opt out" and has dedicated 50% of their resources to this market segment. GF can't afford the extra servers, and from a player perspective they'd be dead, but by not allowing those who wanna "opt out" the opportunity to earn equivalent rewards to keep their interest in the game alive seems financially suicidal.

But I still do think the 3D "feel" should be implemented...

Maybe. Minus the jumping. If jumping were to be implemented, there should be a limit on how many times in one can jump within a short time span.

GF had a very good understanding of the immediate financial future when they acquired this property. I am quite sure they felt that they could eventually make a profit or they would have not wasted the capital.

Developing a game takes years before any subscriber income comes into play. GF got it immediately. I would also guess they are paying less then an average middle income mortgage payment for the "fully" developed game. Mass marketing the failed Nevrax product would be a huge mistake, all the reviews and hype would basically boil down to "same old Ryzom." It is my opinion that GF is aware of this and that is why their is noticeable lack of Ryzom related advertising on their other game sites.

I think GF is dedicated to having a fully functional MMO. I am not so sure Ryzom (as we know it) will be that product.

My point....I dont think they are very concerened about increasing sub numbers for the immediate future.

katriell wrote:Maybe. Minus the jumping. If jumping were to be implemented, there should be a limit on how many times in one can jump within a short time span.

LMAO!!!!

Have to agree with that, I used to get motion sickness playing WoW because of all the wannabe kangaroos there