Greate gameplay, no depth.

[trosky]

Dont get me wrong, I know there are many other things to do even in D&D but they all contributed in building your character or have some kind of use. I would really love to have a mmorpg with riddles and puzzles to solve, for me this would be a better addition then the possibility to craft chairs and tables. Thievery would be also great (but most players would be strongly against it). The only things I didnt understand was having the possibility to make "useless" stuff (a dresser with storage room is usefull, a bed to quickly rest is usefull). I mean stuff that only have to do with "looks".

[sydius]

So forgive me for being confused, but it's hard to reconcile what I think I know about Ryzom with the behavior of the kitins in-game currently.

I would fully agree. Before playing the game, I got the distinct impression that the non-aggressive “workers” (which I don’t have a problem with) would be behind several layers of very aggressive Kittin guards, which would make a lot more sense. Right now about all I see are the Kipee “guarding” the actual aggressive ones. They are very annoying big green bugs with a roar that doesn’t even fit them at all (not to mention it’s annoying as can be!).

[lyrah68]

Yes, we were almost exterminated, as per the WHOLE back story, entire family LINES were destroyed. I would venture a guess that the kitins did as much IN game damage as the Spanish Flu or the Black Death did. If you read it all, it makes PVP totally assinine. There is NO way that the leaders of the world would tollerate warring between races until the kitin threat was ELIMINATED as they had wanted to do with US....down to the LAST weeny kipee.

Now...like I said before, once the last kitin is run through the taxidermist...so the kids now what they looked like ya know. Then the war between nations is BOUND to happen.

From what I have seen of kitins. There seems to be TWO types of NON event kitins. Kipees, the spider looking WHITE ones and a few others are NON agressive. Then there are the aggressive ones like cloppers, gorai and the larger more dangerous species out there. I have heard the thought that the NON agro are the scouts and the gatherers...makes sense...we have the "less agressive" types among US...so do they.

Think of it, the kitin wars MUST have depleted almost as many of them as it did US. What happens during war...you build up your forces...you train them, arm them...THEN you attack. Well, they have to lay the eggs, hatch them, raise them to maturity (althought they ARE dangerous at younger ages, those are NOT that dangerous unless in HUGE numbers), and the NEXT stage is to attack. I think we are between the raising and training stage and the next attack.

I honestly think the diversion of the faction squabbles and the PVP crap is a distraction from the Kitins that we can NOT afford to allow to happen. We HAVE to cooperate, regardless of the immediate aftermath, and work TOGETHER to find and ELIMINATE the very LAST kitin, down to the last EGG. Even Kipees and the white spidery ones that do not attack on site.

I must say when I read stuff like this in the forums I find myself more confused. For those of us (I suspect the majority) who haven't been playing the game since early beta, and haven't spent extensive time researching the history of Ryzom, the main sources of information are twofold. First, the few paragraphs on the homepage, which are frankly a bit confusing and give only a tiny bit of information. Second, and probably more important, the advertisements in various gaming mags that describe the game. It was based on those advertisements that I decided to give the game a try.

Now, you shouldn't have to be some type of expert to have a feel for the overall "big picture" going on with this game. My understanding is that the Kitin pretty much wiped us out, and we're trying to regain a foothold. The story and advertisements all suggested that there is still hostility between homin and kitin, and that reclaiming our planet would be a difficult tooth and nail struggle. Regions might go back and forth. Thus my confusion to find out that the kitin we seen near the cities (called kippee) aren't even hostile. There also seems to be no "big-picture" struggle going on, but perhaps that will be added over time. Still, even now, it would have been nice to see the kitin as a malevolent force that still cause problems for us on a small scale. Perhaps they've pulled back (for the time being) for whatever reason, but the remnants should still be hostile. I expected to find roving groups of kitins that would attack the unwary player, not groups of growling bugs that just sit there doing nothing. So forgive me for being confused, but it's hard to reconcile what I think I know about Ryzom with the behavior of the kitins in-game currently.

Doctor Z.

[lyrah68]

A stove to cook food that would heal you or buff you would be nice as well.

For me the looks stuff is LOW on the priority list. First fix bugs, then work on storyline, THEN kill off the kitin threat...THEN add concentual PVP then the final EYE candy.

Just my 2k dappers.

Dont get me wrong, I know there are many other things to do even in D&D but they all contributed in building your character or have some kind of use. I would really love to have a mmorpg with riddles and puzzles to solve, for me this would be a better addition then the possibility to craft chairs and tables. Thievery would be also great (but most players would be strongly against it). The only things I didnt understand was having the possibility to make "useless" stuff (a dresser with storage room is usefull, a bed to quickly rest is usefull). I mean stuff that only have to do with "looks".

[sydius]

The only things I didnt understand was having the possibility to make "useless" stuff (a dresser with storage room is usefull, a bed to quickly rest is usefull). I mean stuff that only have to do with "looks".

Again, “useless” is a definition of perception. Looks may not matter to you, and even function may not matter to you depending on the function, but to others, that is perceived much differently. Looks are important to many people, for many different reasons. If your mind is cold and hard enough to think solely about combat, then how nicely a guild hall you walk into is furnished won’t make much of a difference on your desire to join it. On the other hand, if you’re like most people, the first impression of something like a guild hall or a friend’s house means much more.

Now all of that aside, every object has a use, no matter how useless it may seem to some. A chair, as we have been using as an example, would allow you to sit in comfort in a much more civilized way than sitting on the ground, and I can easily see why it might allow you to regain stats faster due to the increased comfort. A chest, to store things. A bed, to lay on. A table, to sit things on. A picture, to look at. A beer, to drink. A fishing pole, to get fish. A frying pan, to cook.

Look around you right now, in real life, and look at every object in the room. What is its use, and what could its use be in-game? This is almost always the same. Just because you don’t care about sitting, or don’t care about decoration, or don’t like the smell of fish, doesn’t classify anything useless. Everything has its use, be it combat, storage, crafting, or simple decoration.

You should have the option to be every bit as decorative and “civilized” in the game as you can be in real life, or vise-versa as may be the case with your perceives uselessness of such objects. It’s an ignorable part of the game that you might find yourself enjoying much more than you realize.

After all, I could quickly point out how useless a sword is compared to a chair! I can think of many more situations where a chair would be much more important than even the best sword. How many Kings have you seen sitting on the ground when a meeting of Lords is held?

As for puzzles, they can be every bit as incorporated into the game – that is, after all, my over-all point. It should not be limited to any given play-style since the key advantage that MMORPGs have over other multiplayer games is that they can so elegantly mix play-styles and have the staff and funding to do so very well.

[trosky]

About Kittins : It looks like we all have our own interpretation of the menace. They might come from another planet (theres rumors about Nevrax adding planets in the future and the Kittins where absent before the Fyros accident...) and they cant be exterminated so we have to unite and fight them when they attack our towns and life goes untill the next attack. I read most of the story and they dont say if the Kittins menace was originally from Atys or from somewhere else.

About "useless" stuff : I agree with Lyrah68. Its far from being a priority. If they add them and they have a use (any kind of use) it will be a good addition to the game but i wont play with stuff that are in game for looks only, its just not my cup of tea. And again if the chairs allow you to heal faster, the table to store stuff and etc, then it as a use. Personally i would prefer seeing quest with puzzles and riddles (like ive said before), when I was playing D&D we always used those to put more brain in the game.

[zukor]

Thanks, lyrah68, for the informative replies. I've probably learned more through this forum about the game than from any place else. Most of what you say makes perfect sense. It would still seem to me that killing scouts or worker kittin (apparently that is what the kippee are) would draw the soldiers, and I would still like to see groups of kittin probing around our cities, ambushing us, etc. But I understand things a little better now than I did before.

I also have to agree that a people that was almost exterminated probably wouldn't be looking to fight amongst themselves as long as the greater menace was still present. I would think that the focus among hominkind would be re-establishing themselves, fighting the kittin, and cooperating. It's hard to make sense of anything else.

How did you find out about the different types of kittin? Is it documented somewhere by Nevrax? Thanks again.

Doctor Z.

[sydius]

I honestly think the diversion of the faction squabbles and the PVP crap is a distraction from the Kitins that we can NOT afford to allow to happen. We HAVE to cooperate, regardless of the immediate aftermath, and work TOGETHER to find and ELIMINATE the very LAST kitin, down to the last EGG.

Don’t you think that should be up to the players to decide? It could be just as interesting to see what would happen if we get squabbling and end up being caught off-guard once more as it would be if we worked together all that time instead.

I fully believe our future, for good or bad, should be in our hands, not in the hands of the developers – that is, after all, the whole point of this game. Making it impossible to do things counter-productive pretty much seals our fate of success.

[zukor]

Don’t you think that should be up to the players to decide? It could be just as interesting to see what would happen if we get squabbling and end up being caught off-guard once more as it would be if we worked together all that time instead.

I fully believe our future, for good or bad, should be in our hands, not in the hands of the developers – that is, after all, the whole point of this game. Making it impossible to do things counter-productive pretty much seals our fate of success.

If that were really true......but lets face it, the devs aren't going to allow the kittin to exterminate us no matter how stupid some of the players want to be. That would be the end of Ryzom, and they have too much money invested in it to allow that. Thus, unlike the real world, people can stupidly do whatever they feel like and not suffer consequences. While in the real world, people unite when faced with a common threat because the consequences of failure would affect everyone, not so in the game.

That's why IMO certain types of gaming should be limited, so that the game stays true to it's premise.

Doctor Z.

[sydius]

If that were really true......but lets face it, the devs aren't going to allow the kittin to exterminate us no matter how stupid some of the players want to be. That would be the end of Ryzom, and they have too much money invested in it to allow that. Thus, unlike the real world, people can stupidly do whatever they feel like and not suffer consequences. While in the real world, people unite when faced with a common threat because the consequences of failure would affect everyone, not so in the game.

That's why IMO certain types of gaming should be limited, so that the game stays true to it's premise.

Doctor Z.

That is a very good point, and is why the “punch in the nose factor” that UO was released with went so horribly out of proportion with expectations. The anonymity of the game and the relative low repercussions could result in wide-scale mass-slaughter in a similar fashion to UO’s history.

On the other hand, being counter-productive to the success of homin is something that I believe should be a viable option for those of us who believe the world should be controlled by insects and that we should all die. There are also people who don’t really care about the success or failure of long-term anti-kittin efforts, and only care about their short-term goals.

I fully realize that we will never lose completely, that is obvious. What I could see happen, and this, in my opinion, would be interesting, is the slow degradation of regions by kittin invasion to the point of overwhelming kittin presence outside every city. You would still need newbie areas to level in, but it would force players to band together against them much like in real life.