My biggest concern with the level cap is the same as many others. Level 21 seems to be too low as a cap for Silan.... (I noticed they bumped the cap from 19 to 21 in the patch notes)
Short answer: lvl 21 is not a Silan cap.
Let me chime in... there seems to be a confusion about the cap (in general, not you). The cap is a means from Nevrax to put some pressure on free-riders, and nothing changes from a pure gameplay aspect -for paying accounts-. I understand a bit Nevrax move (still unsure about the effect tho, whether a) it will affect negatively to potential customers, b) new subscreibers will come at the same rate, but it will release some of the resources used by freeriders or c) there will be an increase on freeriders paying an account). In other words, this cap is a pure economical aspect. A paying account is not affected whatsoever. It is not that Ruins of Silan is limited to level 21. Trial accounts are restricted to Silan, but paying accounts are not forced to move to mainland.
Silan = Starter Island
Silan != Free play / Trial
tyggy wrote:
The other issue is the Kitin/Kirosta missions.... Even with a full group of level 21s, is it not going to be a tad difficult to take down those level 35, 40, and 50(boss) mobs..?(especially the Kirosta..) Or is that section being retooled to take the level 21 cap into account?
No, it will be the same. What changes is that to enjoy the Kirosta mission, you have to contribute back by means of a paying account (if you consider that you must be lvl 30 to try) or do it as lvl 21.
It is true that the "unlimited trial" is now misleading. It is true that you may not be able to complete everything *if you don't pay* ... but the truth is, from what I gathered while visiting RoS, that there is a number of players that play the trial not as a means of testing the game whether it fits you or not, but as a means to play a free game -- it's ok, they are in their right to do so -- but using system resources, etc.
Without time limit, without xp limit, without level limit.... a player can play Ryzom at 0 cost for ... weeks, months? although it becomes impractical at some point.
A similar call needs to be made regarding "open betas": you need open betas to finish a game, you need open betas to give some publicity to the game, but too long open betas can have a negative effect, since players see higher aspects of the game and get tired of it, thus not subscribing (and this happened to Ryzom too, the initial XP-per-action disaster and lvl 250 in couple of weeks)
edit: Jy posted faster