Ryzom

yet another grindfest, are my thoughts atm.

so i started the trial yesterday, played for about 3 hours, took care of my business went shopping, and sat down and started playing for the next 7 hours.

in that timespan i got 20 fighting 25 magic 6 or 7 crafting and 10 or 11 harvesting
i played that much because i wanted to see whats behind the curtain (the teleporter) got 25 magic because i wanted to wear that 50 quality armor you can buy from the light armor vendor. well i got the full set and about 22k money and teleported with high expectations, because i was also really getting sick of the newbieisland.

what did i see, well i saw a big city, an area with lower merchant, an area with higher merchants, left the city talked to the welcomer and she sent me to the barkeep through half the town, he sent me to some girl who explained what the azure stuff was "so you want to know more about the azure cubes, eh?" and she sent me to the guard captain, "so you want to know more about the azure cubes , eh?" are they twins or what, and so he finally sent me to do something. i found the npc and all he had were deliver some scroll so some similar sounding guy somewhere in the city. well no thanks, i won't search the whole damned city just to find some npc to give a scroll to , i bet that would've taken about 1 hour. there is no waypoint or any wague direction where to look.
so i though, alright lets get outside and kill stuff. first i got me a better amplifier with 100% casting time reduction in elemental spells.
well i didn't see any noticable reduction in casting time at all. i barely survived a fight with a 2x* blue mob , i had to use heal self 3. and i surely didn't want to fight the newbie island mobs near the fence outside. so i logged off. i doubt the game would change once i'd hit 50 magic, except to the pvp part, and with those controls (no running while casting, autofollow, autoface, sluggish reactions to commands) i doubt that would be fun.

i hoped for a change in gameplay when i teleported to pyr, but it was the same old boring grind that it was in the newbie island map. the same models just different names. downtime is compareable to everquest. thanks for letting me try the game, but in the end it's just another grindfest and i've had it with the grind after so many maxed chars in so many games i've played. anyway for those who like the game, if wish you alot of fun and good luck.

Sorry to hear that you didn't like your experience. Sounds as though you didn't enjoy anything except for grinding, like searching for the next person on your amber cube mission. I'm sure there were a few people around Pyr that could have pointed you in the right direction if you'd asked. Did you talk to anyone that you met?

Sorry to hear you didn't like the game. This game is what you make of it. It can be a grind fest if all you do is level skills, but that's not what makes this game unique, or fun, for the vast majority of players.

In this game, community is "the name of the game". Team work, team play, role playing (it IS an mmoRPg), chatting, helping (or being helped by) fellow homins, Boss Hunting, etc.

If all you want to do is "kill stuff", then this is probably not the game for you unless you are willing to work your skills up beyond level 50 (where the skill trees all branch out again), then work with others in a cooperative team to go after higher level mobs.

Yes, mages have to "pause" to cast spells. It does require concentration, after all. If you want to move and kill at the same time, look into ranged weapons.

Crafting is the area where I believe this game really shines. The skill tree branches several times, giving you more and more areas to explore and work on. Each combination of materials produces a different result, and NO ONE has yet tried them all.

While you can solo almost every skill except Healing, its definitely much easier and more fun to do so in a team.

Bottom line, if you're looking for a WoW clone, or SWG clone, this ain't it! No funky elves, dwarves, space aliens, etc. here. Its not a FPS either. But, if you are looking for something truly unique, then I recommend you give this game another try, and when you get in game, give a holler in /Region chat, there's usually a few homins online at about any time of the day willing to lend a hand or provide info/help/heals/etc., or send me a tell (/tell Samardnaz). If I'm online (and I usually hang around the desert someplace) I'll come find you and help in any way I can. This game is truly an immersive role playing game, unique in the current world of MMORPGs.

Daluke I understand your frustration because I felt the same in the beginning. The missions doesn't engage a new player in the story or the world, as they are very very generic. And Gingos killing me every time I looked outside Yrkanis. It took me two trials to find out what the game was all about.

When I reached Fleeting Garden and looked down a valley with carnivores hunting down herbivores, the game really came alive. All the critters seemed to follow their own agenda.

Then I started digging, at first it was dreadful. I dig and get 1 piece of materials and all safe and boring. After a while the harvest got bigger but I can't look away from the screen without blowing up.

And crafting just recently opened up. I don't know how many different ways there are to make a dagger in the game but research really matters!

So what I wanted to say is, the game has a slow start, no question about it. I try to avoid mindless grinding, because there are quite some interesting stuff to do in Ryzom. But, everyones taste is different.

Sad to hear that you didn't enjoy your experience.

The bottom line with Ryzom is you get out of it what you put in.

You're not gonna be spoon fed anything by the game, you have to earn it. They did make the levelling easier for newer characters with the XP cats (and you still hear them complain it's slow! Don't know they're born...blah..blah...grumble )

Ryzom is not just about the game play or the missions or the levelling. It's about the people. It's about making friends, it's about helping each other, it's about suddenly finding someone else there when you are jogging along in the middle of no where.

It's also about the setting/scenery and the mob AI/interaction. Try sitting and watching a carnivore hunt a herbivore. Try watching how a group of herbivores scatter when you drag a carnivore through them. Try sitting and watching the sunset in Flaming Forest. * sigh *

As for the amps speed and 'sluggish reactions', that may be your system. Ryzom is very resource hungry. I never have a problem with responses, except when there's a lag, which isn't the interface. I can definitely tell you that amp speed IS noticeable. I have stood side by side with another player and cast the same spell with different amps (mine are 100 speed, his are 80-something). Mine cast visibly faster. Could it be that you have time credits on your spell?

If you decide to come back, do as suggested and talk to people. If you don't then good luck with finding your dream game.

daluke wrote:so i though, alright lets get outside and kill stuff. first i got me a better amplifier with 100% casting time reduction in elemental spells.
well i didn't see any noticable reduction in casting time at all.

there is a catch with amps. if it's lower than your spell level (little numer in spell icon), then they dont work (message will be displayed too).
if you went from 20% (newbie amp) to 100% in ele cast time and didnt notice any difference, then your amps were too low for your spell.

for low level, i suggest you go for melee first, then start with magic... unless you find group who you can join as mage (ele/healer).
with melee, 2x* blue mob, should be no problem.

* 2x blue gingo is not the same as 2x blue yubo. keep that in mind. also, player lvl is not same as mob level.... and dont cast spell when mob reaches you, it's wiser to run to town guards/friendly tribe camp.

(no running while casting, autofollow, autoface, sluggish reactions to commands) i doubt that would be fun.

instant cast - enchant on your amp/weapon
autofollow - exists, right click and pick follow or type /follow to chatbox
autoface - no idea what you mean (or where you need it), middle mouse button, and/or every time you cast spell turns camera to forward direction
last one, dunno. seems fine for me.

on last thing, dont do mission unless you want to raise your fame (kami or kara for example), and then do only kill bandit missions (faster and you know where to find them

blaah wrote:there is a catch with amps. if it's lower than your spell level (little numer in spell icon), then they dont work (message will be displayed too).
if you went from 20% (newbie amp) to 100% in ele cast time and didnt notice any difference, then your amps were too low for your spell.

Absolutely right... though I am guessing he may also have time credits in his stanza. It will also hurt the cast time a bit if that is the case. Editing stanza'sproperly is one of the things that can make or break a skillset.

daluke wrote:yet another grindfest

yet to find a MMORPG that is anything other than a grind, our grind isnt hidden away in annoying missions and the grind is endless depending on what you want to do, grind in ryzom is somewhat different as if you stick at it you will find out, first off, its a dam good looking grind, if your gunna beat the same mob for hours then it better look good and have a good dying animation (my personal view but ive always been a grinder) and second, the grinding is optional, i know players who are on atys to socialise and roleplay, if thats what u want dont bother lvling, spend your time doing tours, exploring and what experience you gain will be matched by your knowledge of atys.
Ryzom is a grind yes, but its the best grind i have seen, the lvling system is amazing and given a chance can keep you hooked for a long time *points at my account created date* give ryzom a shot its a great game, if you feel like going back ingame give me a shout i wud be happy to show you around and give advice

I can understand you becoming frustrated with creatures killing you after two days of playing. I had this happen to me when I created my character to collect resources....I soon learned that I needed to improve my combat skills to keep me safe extracting. So I returned to the learning tree and pondered my options, I was helped by a friendly character who I learned was a CSR.

She answered a couple of my questions and explained a few aspects of the game. I was also fortunate to be sharing the learning Island with friendly players. I have made several good friends already and we share information we have learned on a regular basis....we are the 'NOOB COMMUNITY' ..lol.

I was given a good quality pistol and ammo, plus armour and was now ready to start my combat grind, all was going well until I ran out of ammo, after buying several new clips I decided to save money and craft my own. Of course I had to learn about crafting to do this, again a friendly player explained the basics to me and I could make my own ammo.....of course it was not long before I realised the bullets was not doing much damage, so it wasa time to look more carefuly at the resources I was using.....and of course hours passed as I became obsessed with making the best ammo.....should i concentrate on range, action, damage..?...
Again I can understand The OP frustration at being asked to look for an NPC...who has time for that ?

But at least I had returned to resource gathering again...my main career choice....with a little bit of hunting to complete the necessary components for ammo.
The hunting came as a surprise to me when I saw the herds of 'cows' were being hunted by 'wolves'...(sorry I am not used to the names yet).
After watching the herds moving it was possible to track the 'wolves' that I needed for some of my components.

I have been playing for one week now and understand the game mechanics.....I will soon move to the mainland where I can be part of the established community and learn about PvP zones, the migration of creatures, the effect seasons have on resources, Guilds, travel, Stanza's, the barter economy that runs alongside the fixed money economy.....

I know that Ryzom is not a game that appeals to everyone and I wish the OP al the best in your search for a more complex game without the grind.

I'm new here also and I almost got depressed when seeing this posting. If you are not willing to do mission or grinding, what are you ready to do? I know grindfest isn't nice, but its sometimes the thing you can do alone or with party.

And I usually like to do it with party, then time flies with good buddies all around talking about anything.

And if someone wants to taste grinding check rf-online. x-D

I haven't still been off from the newbie island so I can't say how much different my gaming experience will be when I get there, hopefully I enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed so far . Thing that you can learn everything in this game with same char and you can edit those things (stanzas?) gives a nice feeling to this all

-mil