SWG is dead since december last year. Ryzom is not only not dead but also seems to be doing very good looking into the freshly released expansion and new server online.
As an old SWG-er I could say here you may find some features that - if happened in SWG - the sound of the players dropped jaws would create a cosmic wave
For example:
- GMs come in an average time for 30s after you place a suggestion.
- They spend up to 20-30 minutes with you till they have all the possible details if you report a bug.
- Whole expansion was dropped because of bad community response to its consequences.
- Whole server opening delay because community signaled possible exploit related to it.
If you are an old SWG-er you understand by these facts this is an impossible heaven compared to SOE's views on a MMO.
On the other hand if you ask SoR to give you exactly what SWG used to give in the golden days, you will be disappointed. SOR is built on similar principles, but it differes a lot, and this comes in part from the business dimension. Nevrax is not a huge corporation and has not the possibilities that were used in that wasted space SWG used to be. You won't have player's houses, players cities, commerce works very differently, the world is a lot smaller, there are no fighting active pets, and the graphics, while very good, have not the incredible richness SWG used to have (or maybe still has, who cares).
Instead the world has much more detail, if you care to explore and notice the thoroughly worked detail, instead it has the Ring where you can build up your own home area, instead you have pets that can follow you and carry your stuff, instead the community works on different basis less open to the eyes but much more truly based on playerbase reactions and needs.
You can have all proffessions on a single character, which in SWG was never possible. Nevrax doesn't force using lots of accounts. But the curve to get to the top game is steep and depends a lot on having good teams to work your levels with. I know people who soloed most everythign but we should not fool ourselves: your ease to live in Ryzom depends on your friends, on your capacity to make friends, and hunt together.
There is only one profession that seems dedicated to soloers, and people who love solitary adventure: and that is digging, mainly Prime Roots digging. But that one is great fun and comes with huge rewards. I am always comparing it with the BE solitary work, it has some similar features.
However SoR wisely avoided admitting uberplayers able to sway in one hit whole teams of other players, like the perpetual unbalanced SWG skills always admitted from TKM, CM to pikeman and later on jedis. SoR also wisely avoided - up to now at least - allowing uber drops of items that could be better than the crafted ones, so the crafters work and perpetual research is still very active. Community on the other hand strongly discouraged spoilers therefore you don't have receipes for everything you can do. Most things can be done in several competitive ways.
The world once you arrive on mainland is very different: first from the newbies island world because the quests system, while nice in itself, is just a learning tool - it hasn't any (or very little) correspondent in your life inside the game, and secondly from SWG as the players are scattered on the surface of Atys, teams hunting, crafters working, diggers in search of little treasures etc so your subjective sensation will be that there is not a big crowd to see anywhere. There are no huge laggy urban agglomerations same as Coronet or Bestine used to be. But if you have patience to learn what can be done where you'll see that actually you're never alone.
I've come from SWG ten months ago and knew lots of people coming with me or a bit later (or even earlier, once the CU modified the life there). If you are still very hurt about the way you lost your small world in SWG take good care of yourself: no game has to offer a new SWG. But if your wound has started to heal, then you're probably open to understand and enjoy a world that is built on similar principles to the pre-bikes SWG, but is still a very different reality.
