Opinions on Changes in Free Trial

[cloudy97]

Seriously guys and girls, what are we arguing about? Nevrax has obviously evaluated the effect of the trial and made a business decision, good or bad.

If 21 levels are not enough for a trial player, then 21 levels aren't enough for that player. If Nevrax see the subs over all are dropping they will change it again.

For those who don't know there has been several different approaches to Ryzom's trials, I came when there was a 7 day trial on the mainland. It didn't work (you had to pay a sub AND the box at that time), but I found the box for sale at E&B and bought it. The included month worked for me. For other's it's love at first sight - while some will never like it.

I hope you refugees in the Ruins of Silan enjoy the place and want to see more, but if you don't.. maybe we'll meet in another place and another time.

[totnkopf]

Also let me say that the casting abilities of my character are at level 24 for offensive and 26 for defensive and i will tell you right now I HATE the casters in this game based on those levels.

casting gets a boost in fun factor at 100... way above any level cap that should be imposed.

84 levels isn't an exaggeration. Its a reality. Count 'em. wether you blew by them doing missions or ground up the old skool way, you still dinged 84 times (assuming you maxed out all skills). But like i said in my last post, i'd have no problems with the cap being 29. Thats more than enough time to figure it all out, but its also low enough that it limits the trailers from the payers. No heal 4, or accurate attack 4 for trailers. Its also prevents them from finishing all the quests. They get enough levels to try out all their stuff, but also at the same time leaves enough insentives for the player to sub up.

[chessack]

Free trial up to 21 in numerous skills.

15 bucks to start full game.

Vs,

55 Bucks for a totally unknown quantity
1 month "free"

Except that's not the fair way to compare it. The $55 'unknown' game is, often, a known intellectual property (Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, etc), or the game is produced by a known company (SOE, whatever you think of them... Turbine... etc), or both... and the game is almost always a traditional MMO, and these are so similar that if you like one, you'll like them all (give or take). It was literally no risk for me to buy Guild Wars, because I already basically knew how to play it form the other fantasy MMORPG games I have played in the past.

Ryzom is an unusual game, with unusual mechanics, produced by a tiny company nobody's ever heard of before, set in a unique world with a lore most people barely understand. You simply cannot compare that to a game like WOW or GW which have massive backing of known companies producing, and pre-existing IPs and fantasy MOs to provide an anchor. If peopel ask who produces Ryzom they mostly respond, "Never-who??"

Buying an unconventional game from an unknown company is a MUCH bigger risk than buying, say, Neverwinter Nights 2 (Known IP) from a known company (Obsidian). As a result, NWN 2 = low risk to most people, and Ryzom = high risk. Thus Ryzom needs a trial. That's really not a question... the main question is, how much of one, and is 21 levels enough (answer: no).

C

[chessack]

Try the SWG trial or the trials for quite a few other MMOs and you'll find very low level caps (SWGs is lvl 10 and you're restricted to a lame space station that shows you nothing of what outdoors or planets actually look like). Ryzom allows a player 84 levels of testing/experiencing and gives them a taste of what the game has to offer (the different looks of the lands, the different mobs, goo infected zones, NPCs, etc)

And SWG is a copy of every other standard MMORPG out there (mostly they tried to copy WOW to steal its audience, but failed). Thus, as I have been saying, they don't need a big trial. Ten minutes into the game, you get it... and you either like it or you don't.

Ryzom is much more sophisticated and complex and far more unusual than games like WOW or SWG that offer very limited trials. As a result, you need to get far more deeply into the game than level 21 to really "grok" it. At least, most people seem to need that.

C

[fiach]

Ryzom is an unusual game, with unusual mechanics, produced by a tiny company nobody's ever heard of before, set in a unique world with a lore most people barely understand. C

Well for a start, you answered my question right there, its not like all the other MMO's out there, Its unique and fresh.

I have played all you listed there and an outstanding example would be DDO, that game has a level cap of 10!, Thats the whole game GW has a level cap of 20

Anyway, you left out what I consider an important part of my post :

For all the freeloaders that reckon..."oh....Im really not sure about the game and dont know if i'm willing to invest 15 bucks"....

Christ if the price of 2 beers for a months excellent entertainment is such anathema to you, go play freeware or korean F2P games and leave your whingin crap on their forums

If you are too mean to take a chance for a few bucks after getting a free trial of 21 levels, now bear in mind thats 21 levels available to you to Melee, Mage, Craft, and Harvest, so ostensibly you get 84 free levels


To Ummax, Yes I do play Lineage, I love it and its the only game I would consider playing if there was no Ryzom

[geezas]

yes

three actually the third one is this one which again i will state that I would not be active in or paying for at the level 21 cap. I'm beginning to think there is a comprehension problem here honestly or you have read exactly zero of any of the threads on this forum about this - one of the two -

It was just a question...

and for what I've seen on the forum is 2 people including you who seem to be have serious problems with this change.

[geezas]

Tip: you can make poll's on this forum.

[akicks]

84 levels isn't an exaggeration. Its a reality. Count 'em. wether you blew by them doing missions or ground up the old skool way, you still dinged 84 times (assuming you maxed out all skills).

You would have dinged 80 times (you start on level 1, 21-1 =20, instead of level 0)

[ummax]

It was just a question...

for what I've seen on the forum is 2 people including you who seem to be have serious problems with this change.

In a way but please remember i have stated that in the last year i have paid for 2 full year subscriptions (both from small companies) only to get burned by sudden policy changes affecting how free trials and free accounts work. In each case it resulted in the game then becoming a mess and an angry community and less new subscribers. So yes when i see a sudden about face and I have only been playing a game for a small amount of time it worries me. It says to me that they are having trouble with money and subscriptions and trying to manipulate their game to fix it. In each case that i have seen something removed and not added it has had a very very negative effect. I doubt this will be any different because decisions made in previous cases have been similar to some degree (something is subtracted not added).

Its very easy to add things like the starter island stuff and what not its VERRRRRRRRY hard to remove it if you change your mind however. When companies flip flop it makes me nervous and I'm not an idiot I see the history of decision making like this and its results so why would such a decision be any different.

In any event I'm not really upset its just a game but its very frustrating to people who have only just shown up on the scene to encounter this. Its even more frustrating to encounter it 3 times in a row like I have. Its driving me nuts. I find a game I like i setttle in and whamo doors start slamming behind me.


p.s. I think this forum only has about 25 posters so yeah 2 out of 25 is probably a good reflection since most of the other guys posting out of the 25 have been around for 6+ months which these days on MMO's seems to be "a long time"

[iwojimmy]

.....
Its even more frustrating to encounter it 3 times in a row like I have. Its driving me nuts. I find a game I like i setttle in and whamo doors start slamming behind me.


.....

we have found the culprit..

Ummax, Slayer of Free Trials....