[feedback] Executive Producer’s Letter to the Players #1

[Xavier Antoviaque]

Hello,

If you have some comments or questions on Jessica's first letter, you can write them here.

http://www.ryzom.com/?page=news&id=744

--
Xavier.

[aylwyne]

It sounds to me like things are moving in a very positive direction. I think things needed to be shaken up a little at Nevrax and it sounds like she's doing just that.

I'm particularly interested in the progress of internal tools that allow development of new content.

One question I'd like to see her answer is what exactly she means by "content". Everyone has different views on what this means and I'm curious what it means internally at Nevrax.

It sounds like this is going to be a weekly letter. I think that's just what we've been needing as it seems the community is becoming pretty restless with the lack of significant change over the past 6 months. These letters should help us see that things really are happening and, hopefully, we'll see the result in-game.

[mmatto]

I did not see previous pre-Jessica priority task Spring Clean mentioned. Is that finished now?

[Jessica Mulligan]

I did not see previous pre-Jessica priority task Spring Clean mentioned. Is that finished now?

Some parts are, and we'll have more info about the parts still in test in a day or two.

[grimjim]

"For example, both the players and the devs know that our PvP system needs some work, so we created a PvP Strike Team built around three hard-core PvP players, one of them a coder."

OK, this worries me, for several reasons. I am drawing on my own gaming/publishing/writing experience but, obviously, I'm not a computer games type primarily, so these concerns may not be as relevant.

Putting someone who is really keen on something, in charge of something, does, on the face of it, seem like a good idea.

They're going to be enthusiastic, motivated, keen and will want to produce the 'best thing EVAH!' but it does have its drawbacks.

People who are keen on something don't necessarily see the flaws in it or can't appreicate the point of view of someone who doesn't appreciate it in the same way they do.

In this case, might it not be better to have the input of someone who HATES PvP? Not just PvP fans? If you can interest and/or excite someone who loathes PvP with your implementation won't it have a broader appeal?

Imagine if you were producing a standard fantasy MMO and the people producing the graphics/powers/implementation of each of the fantasy races were runaway fans of those races. You'd end up with an arms race between the Elf fans, who thought Elves should be the most powerful and dynamic race and the dwarf fans who thought it should be them.

I'm not a big fan of 'balance', per se, as it often destroys story objectives and hooks, but putting the enthusiasts for something with no tempering guide can be a recipe for disaster.

A whole race/power/class or aspect of the game can become a 'Mary Sue'.

Speaking for myself, I can't STAND PvP unless it serves a story goal. The problem we have at the moment seems to be limited PvP venues, its always in the Prime Roots. Can we not have PvP turn on and offable in the other zones for events? And we need faction selection, which was around, but bugged, at one point.

This whole PvP direction concerns me as, while it may bring in extra customers, they may well turn out to be the 'leets' we've managed to avoid so far. The Ryzom gamer population doesn't seem to be as keen on PvP as a lot of others and I also worry that Nevrax is pegging too much on PvP outposts and the faction war.

[helbreat]

nice letter no mention of outposts and no mention when were going to get stuff thats been on the test server for months and has never come to the live server =/

it seems that this pvp shake up is going to be the next excuse for holding up the implementation of outposts is my guess

[geezas]

there is a team on outposts. (no news tho if that is what you mean)

[helbreat]

there is a team on outposts. (no news tho if that is what you mean)

nope what i ment is that PvP is a very big part of outposts... if they say it needs work whats to say they wont say well since pvp is in such a bad state well hold off outposts and add the PvP and outposts together

[mmatto]

About outposts related stuff:

Just noticed that ATS is open again (see front page). Outpost are currently disabled as they fix found bugs or something. Maybe they start soon preparing introduction of outposts to general ATS populace

I understand that internal tests on outposts have been finished now. Is that correct?

[helbreat]

i think the main reason for all the stalling is they arent taking us serious....

look at the comment on the main site "so the players can play er i mean test the outposts"

i put my application in for the ATS i doubt they will accept tho i think they will find my reasons for wanting to join the ats a bit blunt and too forward for there liking