Ryzom

What are the benefits of a no-wipe for new players and do they out way the benefits of a wipe?

Dappers, obviously!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dliOjUwvelQ (3:49)

Better crafted items, free easy treks around the world.

Simple for me because I remember being a new player here just as well as I remember being a new player in the games i've played since......

The biggest inspiration of all for me to level and spend lots of time in a game is to get to the same stage as the people I was/am in awe of as a newb.

Having established high level chars/organizations in Ryzom gives new players something to aspire to, something even to be better than!!

Kodel

Older players not being so caught up getting their own levels and gear back that they don't have time to help newbies.

- vendors full of gear grund by the old and faster crafters
- more often teams with oldies in grinding, mentoring and small chat with them
(generally end game people stay together)
- small community pressure for hunt: guild needs X goakan mats, X kinkoo mats, Y psykokoo buds etc etc for amps/weapons/armors - working together for these is waay more precious than joining a guild who already has them all and the GH is full
- lack of emotional disconfort at the hearing of X masters (oh you must be pretty good in healing; master, oh you do well with DA: master, oh i wish i was so high as you with daggers: master aso)
- faster use of the character in pvp (against 2-3 pvp uber geared people as newbie with 1-2 masters you're completely useless most of the time)
- hunt areas more populated (because oldies even if faster than real newbies will be there to grind)
- more oldies available to need healers, nukers aso for their grind hence more opportunities for newbies to feel needed
- treks reevaluated
- political polarization weakened because of need of common effort against "nature"
- possibly geographical polarization changed because of the oldies groups happy to try new ways to level old skills

But also each oldie who would leave upon a wipe will drag after him at least 10-20 potential newbies who would have tried the game if they were there...

johntf wrote:Better crafted items, free easy treks around the world.

I wonder if its really a benefit for new players to be trekked around the world by high levels?
I think that by trekking them around the world soon as they reach mainland, you rob them of the fascination of discovering Atys on their own. The feeling of achievement after a successful trek and the discovery of a new land, and thats possibly one of the best parts of Ryzom.
As for the original question, i think there is no benefit in a no-wipe, and there is no benefit in a wipe.
Despite that, a wipe would be a very bad idea, if anything it will upset some players and possibly make them quit, and thats the last thing this game needs.

I see several disadvantages if there was a wipe.
For those of us who are really interested in, and enjoy the lore and our history. All our tales would be wiped to, and we would have nothing to tell new players.
And as Faa noted, I think I would loose the interest if I had to start all over, because I never tried to max any skill.
As for high level players, seeing them as a young homin was awesome for me, and I fail to see why it could discourage anyone.

For many of us roleplayers, wipe would be similar to overkill ... It would wipe all the sweat and blood and love that went into making - or "living" - our characters, for every minute they spent on Atys is connected with the political growing of the world and also with the things they learned, the homins they met, all that. I only have one skill above 200 (Healing), for every single point I earned on skills had to do with things that happened on Atys and the society as it developed. The painful grinding of melee skills over the last few months before the servers went down I did just because our World's situation (on Leanon) and the position my Order was set in this asked for it. I won't go through all this again without IG need, and with a World set to Zero there would be no need at all, and Salazar would be dead.

While I enjoy trekking (first thing I did when Ryzom re-opened, was go on a trek with Soul), I have to agree with Kay, IMO, it does rob the sense of adventure from new players.

I remember spending the guts of a week trying to solo to Matis, I hadn't a clue what I was doing, but I was going to do it anyway! (max DP helped, it was like God Mode )

On saying that, one of the biggest problems Ryzom has, it the difficulty to get good equipment at low levels, unless you are in a guild, you are screwed. In the likes of more popular MMO's, you have an Auction Hall and you get good gear from mob drops.

I dont want to turn this into a drop vs craft debate, I'm just giving an opinion on what a new player may think, when they arrive in Atys. At least with the current structure in place, there is a somewhat greater chance for a new player to get equipment.

I also agree with another point, I found higher level players an inspiration for me to get to their levels of profficiency, I remember the first time I met Catfud in Dyron, he was levelling Ele and I saw my first Lightning spell cast, I was amazed, I immediately dropped melee and took up Ele!.