How many people PLAY this?

[adadoggy]

I am loooking for a new online game and have played most of them all but this one amazes me the most with its originality, but unless it has a growing database of players or its a healthy number then I won't buy the game but I am considering and thats is a deciding factor for me. Not enough people isn't very fun.

[eschiava]

Welcome!

I generally find a fair number of people on when I play. Hard numbers are hard to estimate, and what is "enough" to one may not be to another.

My best advice is to play long enough to get to your racial mainland and decide from there.

What race are you by the way?

[neofuzz]

If it's lots of company you're looking for while you play then I would recommend playing a character of the Matis race. From what I hear they are the most populous.

[archie]

even fyros has a lot of players.

My giuld has 20 members. - Desert Templars

and there are tons of people.
not so many that patch 1 has come out.... but enough said about that.

on the 16th, things will be better. and i know the members of my giuld that quit, are comming back, from what i have spoke with them.

[jenuviel]

If it's lots of company you're looking for while you play then I would recommend playing a character of the Matis race. From what I hear they are the most populous.

Matis and Fyros tend to have the highest concentration of players, followed by Tryker and then Zorai (I have mainland characters of all four races). The game's population in general is fairly low right now. That's mostly due to the initial distribution problems, followed by the recent Patch 1 debacle and the subsequent release/opening of the "big two" MMOs. I suspect the population will grow over time, particularly once the story begins to unfold and quests are introduced. At the moment, however, it's the least populous MMO I've played, though some of that is certainly perception; with four races divided by bottlenecked terrain which is, in turn, guarded by extremely dangerous mobs, it's basically like having access to a quarter of the game's real population. Add to that the fact that you can only chat with people in the same zone you happen to be in (unless you're in a guild), and an already small population tends to seem miniscule.

If you think of the game in terms of MUD populations, the number of people in your zone tends to be about average. If you think of it in terms of CoH, SWG, AO, AC1, EQ, etc., then the number of people will seem extraordinarily small. Upside? Little competition for somewhat limited resources such as specific creatures or materials. Downside? Little communication and player interaction. A guild would certainly help, but it's not a solution everyone is attracted to. Unfortunately, region chat just doesn't get used very often since most people tend to keep their chat in the guild window. Anyway, the hope is to bring in more people with the free trial. Since these people won't know what the game was like prior to Patch 1, they'll be able to take a fresh look at it without comparing it to what it once was. That's definitely an advantage. We'll have to hope it'll do the trick.

I agree that the originality is definitely nice to see in a world of formulaic games based on name recognition (AC2, EQ2, SWG, WoW, Matrix Online, Middle Earth Online) and trite fantasy stock (EQ2, WoW, Shadowbane, DAoC, Middle Earth Online)(okay, so I'm jaded ). I just wish I could erase my memory of how fun this game used to be, darnit. I'm sure it's great now, but it still seems to suffer by comparison to the game it used to be. Change is inevitable, I suppose, and it's definitely better now than it was this time last week. Time will tell if it'll ever be better than it was this time two-and-a-half weeks ago. *crosses her fingers*

[keriann]

alot of players have migrated because the recent fighting changes that.. scorned them pretty much. but before it was a growing and thriving community. Let's see the tuesday patch if they fix back monsters to an acceptable level for the majority of people that left, the servers will return alot populated I'm guessing. if not.. well just wait time the new system is disliked by casual players like me and many others. but more hardcore players might like it. So maybe in a few months a % of handcore player that will try the server will remain and the populaiton will build up.

I warn you tho, a server with just hardcore players... is very hard to play in the gap between newbie and experienced player is huge.

[aelvana]

Keep in mind that /who displays only who's in your region, and not the entire continent. I'd estimate about 800 people on prime time, just taking sample /who's as I travel.

[jackmor]

Well, from what Ive read it looks good. I went back and found what your looking for.

Here it is:

Raynes Nov. 12
Tonight I made two new characters. One was a Tryker and one was a Zorai. I then spent an hour or two on the noob islands talking to people and answering questions. First thing, there are new players joining the game and there are quite a few of them. So this idea that the game is dieing is full of it. I asked if people like it, and the answer was an over ruling yes. I asked if people planned on continueing after the trial was up again the answer was yes. I also made a point to ask them about combat and what they thought of it. Seeing as so many of the long term players insist that it's going to drive people away. Most thought combat was ok or pretty fun. I then asked the 50 million dollar question, do you think its to hard and are you gettiing xp... And the answer was an overwhelming, no that it wasn't to hard, and that yes they were getting xp. The comment was made that it was challenging but could be done.

So after my time on the noob islands helping new players I have much more excitement for the future of this game. No matter what people say on here, the playerbase is growing, people are trying the game, and they plan on staying. I'd suggest any seasoned player to take the time to jump in the new player areas and answer questions. Giving a harvesting lesson and a lesson on skill building was most appreciated


Varesle Nov. 12
I had a similar experience on Monday and Tuesday, even though on Monday we had problems getting in to the game due to the login server issues.

Something else I noticed about the newbie lands... for the first time since I started playing (in Beta, in April) I did not need to mute the Region chat to avoid seeing ranting, rude language, childish fights, and OT babble. Instead, I saw that people were trading, helping each other, answering questions, and sharing their Ryzom experiences.

It was actually pleasant to have Region chat on, for a change. In fact, for the first time ever, I actually joined in and even had a few questions of my own answered (yesss... I am the definitive "permanoob").


josephm Nov. 12

I also noticed about ten new peeps in Zorai region. Considered assimilating them into the Seers. We can always use fresh blood! But I wasn't on for long and no one was asking about guilds so I let it alone. Nice to see new names though. Most of my guild stays out of the main region unless we're doing some training or passing through.

This in mind, there should be a draw for us older players to come back to the main contenent where we can regale stories of our adventures. Maybe a few more boss mobs...or a zone! like a personal prime root for each nation that holds mobs of higher levels. Nothing to big, less basic mats and more excellent, rare supremes that are all in carnivorous areas. This way we can keep picking up noobs.


jinari Nov 12
Great Post Raynes. We too have noticed a wonderful influx of maturity. (Did some experimenting ourselves as well)
Thanks for posting it..
Hope to see them all on the mainland soon.
__________________
Jinari
Pegasus Foundation, SoR Chapter, NA Server
www. Pegasus-Foundation.com
-Come Join the Fun!

[varelse]

I am loooking for a new online game and have played most of them all but this one amazes me the most with its originality, but unless it has a growing database of players or its a healthy number then I won't buy the game but I am considering and thats is a deciding factor for me. Not enough people isn't very fun.

I, too like a reasonably high population density in a MMORPG. However, numbers aren't everything for me... quality counts for a lot too.

The community is growing very slowly and has seen some setbacks *cough* Patch 1 *cough* but the people who are staying in make this online experience a pleasure.

I'd rather hang out with 20 intelligent, positive, fun, mature players than with 5,000 self-seeking, 1337 speaking, whining, bullying, foul mouthed jerks. Ryzom has given me that opportunity and has therefore earned my subscription $$$ (at least to date).

Just another factor to consider...