Ryzom

Hello,

For any interested, I thought I would briefly share my impressions after two days of playing Irving on Windermeer.

As a quick background, I have been a full-time MMORPGer since 1999, having played every major (and many minor, obscure) releases, some for years at a time. I am an engineer by trade and in my 30s with a full-time life, turning me into more of a casual MMORPGer these days. After playing EQ2 for two months and deciding I did not like the crafting or combat design (though I loved the harvesting design), and further understanding that the best games for me are skill-based games rather than level-based games, I turned to Ryzom in an effort to find a more satisfying gameplay experience.

I found Ryzom by-way-of Percival Vault, a server board for DAoC, on the IGN Network. Following a link on Gamespot for the free trial, I was able to establish my free trial account and download and setup the game with minimal hassle (other than the long download time). I spent my first day just looking around and trying to wrap my arms around the most basic principles of gameplay in Ryzom. I posted here on the forum for help on two issues, eliciting a friendly and helpful response thread which was much appreciated!

I spent yesterday (day two) playing for about 6-8 hours.

I got to level 20 fighting / level 5 harvesting on the newbie isle. Because no one was crafting any q20+ gear anymore, and there was only one jeweler who was selling for extremely high prices, and finally because I didn't see anything else to do, I decided to jet on over to Yrkanis. Being an experienced gamer, I knew I should probably just stay on the newbie isle and level up harvesting and magic and crafting to 20ish, too, but since I was new to the game and I love exploration, I figured I would come over to the mainland and see new sights, even though I knew I was probably much too weak to venture more than 10 feet out in the new lands

I teleported to Yrkanis and my cat heard me exclaim, "wow!"

What a city! It's huuuuuuge! I don't know about the rest of you North Americans, but I spent my first half hour walking around the city exploring (and doing my newbie-welcome-to-Yrkanis quest) all-the-while making audible remarks in faux Italian to my cat. I haven't seen that many Italian names in one place since my last trip to Arthur Ave in the Bronx!

The next thing I did was enjoy looking through the plentiful wares on the armor and weapon merchants. I bought myself some snazzy purple heavy/medium armors (I don't even like purple, but it looks pretty good on Irving) and identifying a helm I liked that I needed to save 9k to buy.

I then played around Yrkanis, dying many, many times to the aggro 3x dogs who liked to feast on my purply-outfitted self. I took a field trip to the Arena in Majestic Garden, but was unable to figure out how to get in. I did die a spectacular death near the Green Seed encampment, however, when I failed to dodge a pack of rabid dogs who were undeterred by the scarce pickings I presented to them.

I spent the rest of the evening getting harvesting to 10 so I could start magic. I'm going to work on getting magic up so I can have sufficient melee / healing skills to concentrate more fully on harvesting and, in turn, crafting.

Throughout the day I found the in-game community to be friendly. I was a little surprised at how few people there were in-game (Yrkanis had maybe 20 players in it most of the night, as best I could determine), but I understand this is more of a niche game which isn't widely marketed (at least, in my part of the world).

All-in-all I really enjoyed playing yesterday as the fledgling newbie just trying to survive while figuring out what it is he's doing. So if you're in the area, and see a purply-outfitted newbie dying silly deaths to the local wildlife, don't hesitate to say, "hi!" and snicker as he brushes himself off from his latest folly with death.

Best regards,
Irving of Windermeer

welcome to ryzom irving

good post !

dhuberma wrote:What a city! It's huuuuuuge!

That was also my reaction when I saw Yrkanis for the first time. Later I found Pyr to be even more impressive though.

dhuberma wrote:I was a little surprised at how few people there were in-game (Yrkanis had maybe 20 players in it most of the night, as best I could determine)

And Yrkanis even seems to be the most populated capital. From what I've seen Pyr, Zora, and Fairhaven only have about 10-15 players in them at peak times.

Sounds like a pretty positive experience. We have a number of Matis in our guild if you need a little help here and there. And hmm... purple armor? Maybe we can do something about that and set ya up with a little more stylish gear... lol

I hope that by the time your trial period ends you have found the same things out that we have... there is just something about SoR.

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Welcome Irving,

The community here is definately one of the most welcoming and helpful. There are usually plenty of people in and around Yrkanis but there is also an invasion going on that is keeping a ton of people busy up to the north near or in the Knoll of Dissent. Plus during week nights there are generally less people on than on weekends. Another thing that sometimes keeps people out of Yrk is that once you hit about level 50 or so you pretty much have to move to a different region to get good experience. The Knoll of Dissent in the north and Fleeting Garden in the south. This will keep a lot of people out of the main area for long periods of time. I know I spend most of my time out in the other regions or lands.

You were correct in thinking you should probably bring all of your different skills up to about level 20 before coming over. I have known many people who just come straight over and do fine. It is just a bit easier to do on the noobie island.

You should probably think about teaming up with people before you go hunting. It is much safer, especially when at a low level. The gingos and Ragus around Yrk are generally annoying and can be instant death to solo low level characters.

Send me a tell in game if you need any help with anything. Also there are plenty of helpful people around that would be more than willing to sho you around or help you out. When you get ready or if you are interested in a guild, there are plenty of them around, check the guild boards or just ask around.

AnimD
Out Of Cavern

The community of Ryzom is fairly small, but it is friendly. I have seen a lot of new faces in the past week or two, so I hope it grows and will be successful. Enjoy your time in Ryzom and watch out for those dogs. If you are careful and watchful, you can avoid their main hunting grounds on the road.

A few surveys/estimates by people found there are approximately 800 players serverwide during prime time.

And yeah, of course you'll get to the point where the dogs pose no risk, but in the beginning, developing sneaking skills is a very, very good idea ;)

SoR is pure magic! The graphics stole me away from raiding in everquest to try out the beta, and once I'd played it for a week or two I was hooked 8)

Welcome to our world - I hope you enjoy it completely

Now, I know you have already gotten to like your chatacter and all, however I have to ask what packages you used. Seems like you either went all fighter or fighter/harvester. I only ask because people still don't seem to realise that you get fighting for free. I have seen many new people to the mainland find this out and get depressed. A few of them have even restarted and loved it. I don't exactly recomend this except in some cases. If you plan on doing everything, then restarting might work. If you don't want to do everything, I wouldn't worry about it.
Either which way, I'm glad you joined us and will say hi if i ever see you...

Krae

Welcome aboard Irving -

Only thing I'd add is that if it gets terribly tough on the mainland early on given you left so early, its probably worth rerolling. Several hours to get back to where you were isn't much in the grand scheme of several hundred.

And don't listen to a certain Tryker on the dog pack issue. If you're not wearing heavy armor/hp jewelry, if several level 40ish Scowling Gingos decide you're lunch all at once you can still run into serious problems if you're not careful even at level 150 melee. This is one reason why I tend to especially recommend coming over in your 30s for Matis as opposed to Trykers, who can just go swimming and stop combat that way.

Definitely experiment though and if the going gets tough you now know a lot more than you did when you started. Most of us rerolled at least once...or twice...or three times. Besides, there might even be a Rite mission we don't know about on newbie island.