New player with some questions

[candy77]

Hello everyone,

I'm one of those people who got lured into MMO's by world of warcraft. After two years of playing that game on an RP server, i finally got to the point where i was just sick of it, and cancelled my account. Ever since i've been searching for something to fill the void, something a little deeper and a world a with more suprises then what WoW offered. Whatever it is what im looking for one thing is sure, its not a WoW clone.

On my quest to find a good replacement for Azeroth i've come across Vanguard: Saga of Heroes first, so i bought that game and played it for 3 weeks and it was awful. Despite my powerful PC the game looked average at best, aside from that there wasn't anything new about it, it was just more of the same in a different and slightly more challenging environment.

My main issue with Vanguard though was that the huge world was empty and lifeless, npc's just stand still, the diplomacy was gimmicky but not enough to entertain for too long and the huge size of the world meant it was at any time in any region hard to find a group. As i have a fulltime job, it is very annoying to have to spend an hour to find a group before you can achieve something.

After that I tried Lord of the Rings Online, and though that game was certainly a lot more fun then Vanguard its not perfect by far. The game is polished and smooth, thats for sure, and the graphics are the best i've ever seen. But the gameplay is so linear, you truly feel your hand is being held and you walked a predefined path. Furthermore Turbine claims there is less grinding in the game, and its true that compared to WoW there is less grind, but what they did is they replaced a lot of normal quests with fed-ex quests. So while in WoW 10% of the quests are fed-ex quest, 60% of the quests are grinding and the rest is either collecting something or killing a boss, in LOTRO 60% of the quests are fed-ex, 10% is grinding and the rest is killing a special boss or collecting apples,etc. The balance in LOTRO is certainly less mob grinding(though you still have to grind to get better skills/stats for "deed rewards") but the whole amount of fed-ex quests makes the game way more about running around and delivering something all the time, and that isn't an entertaining way to spend my time either.

The main problem i have with LOTRO is that it simply feels like more of the same. Less grinding and more fed-ex probably, but still the same and without the world PVP that WoW offers.

So I got to this game and this game seems promising to me. One thing that i like is the extensive crafting options (vanguard had extensive crafting but it was broken and a chore to do), the living breathing world (I can honestly say that graphically this game is ahead of vanguard), the AI of the monsters and the promise of freedom to go you own way. I've played a bit with the trial (one evening) and it looks promising and am considering biting my teeth into this product and cancelling my LOTRO account, but not before some questions can be anwsered.

Allright, my questions.

1. Am I too late with this game or is there still a future for this title?

The reason i ask is because upon trying to find out more about this game i read about the company making it going broke, some attempt by players to buy it and some other company buying it out just in time. My question is, does this title still have a future in your opinion, or is there a good chance that one year from now the server will close down and my character that i've spend so much time building will be deleted because the product simply doesn't bring in money?

2. How crowded is the server? Is it a ghosttown or will i find people everywhere?

One of the main issues in Vanguard is you need group for everything, but because the game wasn't so succesfull and the game world was huge you often felt completely alone and it was hard to find a group. Is that the same case in this game? The newbie town seems well crowded, but is it the same on the mainland? Also is it possible to do group quests at lower levels on the mainland or is everyone in the "end-game" areas? The reason I'm worrying about this is because i read that there has been a server merger just a while back. Is the community of this game leaving en masse (and do they get replaced by many new people tired of WoW or is new blood trickling in to slowly?)?

In other words, if i go to mainland will i spend most of my time in absolute lonelyness or are there many areas crowded with people adventuring?

3. Not about grinding, but about what then?

I read on different posts and different faqs that although there is a heavy amount of grinding in the game to do if you want to do max level, the game is not about that and you won't enjoy the game as a powerplayer. I'm not a powerplayer and am a slow leveller, but i wonder what is there to do aside from crafting and grinding? I suppose you can make your own adventures by exploring new areas, but doesn't that start to bore when you've explore most?

I can assume that a large part of the enjoyement then comes from the community, but are there social hubs/hotspots (like stormwind was the RP centre for roleplayers in WoW).

4 Is it truly sandbox?

I saw there where quest given out and did some, but could it technically ignore the quests and still become a great player? Also is the economy with its items 100% player run/crafted?

5. Are there many different mobs?

One thing i really like and fascinates me is the AI of the mobs, how they travel in packs and generally react to the players and how it feels so lifelike. Then again, considering a great amount of gameplay is grinding i can imagine it quickly begins to wear out. So my question is, does the mainland have such a variety of animals/monsters that at all times you keep being suprised by new animals of some kind, or are the amount and types of creates found on the beginning island mainly "it" and does the mainland see nothing more then some variations of what you see in the beginning?

6. How is the PVP?

Is it something that rarely happens or is there always some PVP to find somewhere if your in the mood for it?

7. How is the RP?

I hear theres a number of RP guilds, are there regular RP events and are there RP hotspots like taverns or cities where lot of them hang out?

8. How is the group-play/raiding?

Since no one fixed is in a stuck class, does that make a finding a group easier? Also are there raids going on or areas that can only be tackled by larger groups (of 10 or more) and are there guilds focused on tackling them?

9. Are there still content updates/improvements?

Are the new owners/developers focusing on making the world even more alive and improving general gameplay-content or are they basically just caretaking the server by fixing only the biggest bugs/issues.

10. Are there still developer run events?

I heard that in the past the developers organised serverwide events from time to time, is that still going on?

11. Is there future for me in this game?

Is the game in your opinion breathing its last life or do you see Ryzom as strong as ever one year from now? If you never touched this game before, would you take risk diving fully in it now or would you rather wait for a future product?

I hope people can answer some of my questions. Thanks in advance and I hope this is exactly the place as i was looking for and a place to call home.

[sprite]

1. Am I too late with this game or is there still a future for this title?

Only a dev with a crystal ball can answer that one tbh, but imo this game isn't going down the tubes anytime soon.

2. How crowded is the server? Is it a ghosttown or will i find people everywhere?

Depends where you are, both ingame and irl. The game has people from all over the place playing it, but the busy times are at UK peak times and USA peak times. Generally speaking there's lots of people of all levels around the place though The server merge was because the Cho server that got merged into Arispotle had, tbh, always been underpopulated and the opening of which was something that not many people understood given the financial situation of the game at the time.

3. Not about grinding, but about what then?

The golden question Lots of people will give you lots of different answers to this one... imo the game is what you make of it. It has the insane number of skills/levels to make it into a perfect grinding game if thats what you want. It has the depth to make it into a "thinking" game (ie. studying the mob ai, the crafting system, etc). It definately has the community to make it into a social game. As well as all those, you can also spend your time RPing - just find an "RP guild" and you're all set (though most people will be willing to RP to some degree, its always best to find a guild that loves doing what you love doing)

4 Is it truly sandbox?

The starter island isn't a good reflection of the main game atm in that Silan is a quest-based "tutorial", while the mainland only has fame/money-giving simple tasks and a couple of "rites" which give special rewards. After you hit mainland, you don't have to do a single mission for the rest of your life. As for economy, the devs are in the process of revamping it, but basically yes. Everything you're likely to use is player crafted (a very few exceptions).

5. Are there many different mobs?

The AI in this game is so unbelievably far ahead of any other MMO I've played, and beyond most single player games I've played. As for what there is... check out the list in the lore section on the mainsite.

6. How is the PVP?

Depends on the current "political situation" on Atys I think... most PvP happens around outposts, but you can always tag up for some FvF if you can find someone to spar with you for a bit. Ask Sunce about that one

7. How is the RP?

Not really my area of expertise, but I hear its pretty good comparatively speaking.

8. How is the group-play/raiding?

Depending on what you want to work on, finding a group is pretty easy most of the time, assuming you have yourself a good guild. Being in a faction helps too because you can ask in the faction chat, but neutrals don't seem to have much trouble finding groups either.

9. Are there still content updates/improvements?

The devs are focusing on 3 mains things atm, but they seem to be working on stuff, so here's hoping it continues

10. Are there still developer run events?

Yep, the new event team has already done one major event (some people liked it, some hated it) and presumably they're working on more stuff.

11. Is there future for me in this game

Well thats kinda up to you I think

[meryan]

Welcome, always glad to see a new face.

Ryzom is what you make of it.

I have been playing for about 3 months now, and have a great time. I will be sticking around. There are always people on when I am playing (I start usually about 9:00pm Mountain Standard Time).

I joined because of the community, and the incredible amount of support that I have found.

I am not a MMO vet, by any means (having only played 2 others in the past), but with Ryzom you do not need to compete with bots, and you do not need a language filter in order to read the Universe channel.

I hope that this helps. If you ever need help just ask.

[dcrispo]

Well, so far you've gotten some truthful and complete answers. I think what your looking for is right there in them. As you can tell there are just so many ways to enjoy Atys it is after all up to you how you make that happen. Ryzom does not hold your hand and lead you blindly about.
Its your call on what you want to do and when you feel like doing it.
Like yourself I am no power leveler. I've been here since June and lots of my guildmates are lightyears ahead of me in various skills. We have things called Crystals (Cats) that can double your earned XP in any skill. These can help speed you along the path you've chosen or help when you feel like changing that course for something totally different.
The game experience is here for the taking, the skills are unlimited, the planet is huge and adventuring here is both fun and frustrating in the really tough areas. While I am not a PvPer, there is some here and a few guilds dedicated to just that.
I think the one of the best comments I can make is this, we have some guildies that have been around long enough to have mastered a few of the melee and magic skills, like everyone else though there are parts of Atys that treat them as badly as a yubo does to a new homin on Silan. For me that says something good about a game.

Either way, Welcome to Ryzom!