The Saga of Ryzom

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Originally posted by Lazzaro
You have to admit there is a lot of skill grinding. I do love the open Skill system, but I've found that it's mostly logging on and grind some sort of skill. Maybe they need to add some PvE raids, dungeons, or what ever to break up the grinding.

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I think that many people get into a habit of grinding for skill levels and fail to notice the many many things to do and see that are all around. It's true that the game does not force you to go have other kinds of fun, you can just grind grind grind if that's all you want to do, but if you will raise your nose from the grindstone and look around, there are many options.

Now, it's also true that you can't just do "anything", as the devs failed to anticipate every possible action anyone might want to take. You can't go fishing, you can't plow a field, you can't build a new structure, you can't form a mega-corporation and dominate the economy, you can't burn a city to the ground, you can't build a rocket and fly to a different planet. There are certain actions available within the four skill trees, and some settings that are available in which to use them, and a few pre-scripted missions, but the most important things are some player-directed activities, and hopefully again an ongoing story to take part in.

A sampling of player directed activities:
PvP (several varieties)
Games and contests
Raids on challenging PvE targets
RP events
Exploring new places you haven't seen before
Giving yourself a mission (use your creativity here)

I have personally done every last one of these listed activities in the last two weeks. I participated in an outpost battle. I voted in a fashion contest. I went on a Kitin Nest raid. I RPed with some friends who share that interest. I explored Upper Bog, an area I hadn't spent much time in previously. I went hunting to gather certain materials for a friend who wanted them for crafting.

None of these things involved grinding (though a few did give some amount of XP points) and none of them were pre-scripted by the dev teams. I've gained less than 20 new levels total in that time, and yet I've had a great deal of fun.

These are things that are possible, and are just a tiny few among many others. If you fail to take advantage of the possibilities, it's not the fault of the game, the developers, or the community.

So, yes, grinding for skill levels is one thing you can do in the game, and probably will, but it is not the only thing, and it is not the most important thing, unless you make it so.

This is one of the best and most interesting threads I have read on this site.

Originally posted by gracefield

This is one of the best and most interesting threads I have read on this site.

Yes! I must agree. I discovered Ryzom bout 2 months ago and I may not ever play anything else......I read every post in this thread >>>excellent discussion. And the funny part is ...after 2 months I'm still not sure why I always log on to Ryzom, I have WoW, EvE, LotRO and perfect world installed on my hard drive (among others) But my little mouse cursor seems to only know the path to the Ryzom icon on my desktop...Ohhh It wants to double click it right now......See you all on Atys!+

Oh and BTW I can't wait to meet you in game Sasi!

The Soul is where I reside!

I am beginning to see how it is entirely possible to actually get to know almost every Ryzom player on the entire server. The community here is amazing!

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Originally posted by Wrender
Oh and BTW I can't wait to meet you in game Sasi!

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/tar Wrender
/bow

By all means, send me a /tell.

I'm typically on in the late evening in North America, and more on the weekends. (And the name is Sasi in game as well.)

You are joking... :)

HI again Sasi  just registered on the PF website . Great work on the site BTW!

See ya on Atys !

I've only been playing for two days now, but so far I'm in love with this game. I love everything about it. Well, there are a couple of minor interface niggles, but overall...

I played SoR either during beta or after it first launched (can't remember which) but for some reason it didn't appeal to me then, so I quit pretty quickly. I think it was after I went out in the wild and ran across some pack animals that chased me down and pwned me for dinner. Anyway, this time I'm just in awe of the whole animal ecology thing and how interesting it makes the game. I'm actually learning how to hunt, more or less as I would in real life if I had to learn the behaviors and habits of animals in order to kill them without being killed.

I also really like the skill system. I got to level 21 as a straight fighter and then decided that, if I wanted to be able to solo in this game, I was going to need some magic skill. How nice to be able to go back and learn magic without borking my character and/or fretting over whether I'd be able to compete with the "optimum" characters. My character can always be just as optimum as any other character. I only have to put in the time and effort.

The graphics are hard to get used to at first. I felt that way even four years ago or whatever it was. It's not that they're sub-quality. It's more just the visual style of the game.  In particular, I find the character avatars to be pretty clunky looking until they get covered up with armor, and the combat animations from first person perspective looks pretty comical. Everything else I've warmed up to and even like now. One thing I was fascinated by--not sure why, really--was that little butterfly thingie that flits about the forests on the noob island, trailing sparkles.  I just stood and watched that thing for about ten minutes, trying to figure out whether there was any rhyme or reason to its flight. I can't imagine wondering about that in any other MMOG.

Anyway, my .02. I could always start hating Ryzom tomorrow, but for right now I'm happy as an untargeted Yubo. 

Soloing is hard in this game. Not impossible, but much harder and slower than in a group. Finding a group MIGHT seem hard, but once you're in a good one, levels fly by even without cats. And playing with friends makes it that much more fun.

Would you believe me if I told you I dinged 5 HARVEST levels in less than 12 hours past lvl 210 ? Without using any Double XP catalysers. That's what making friends and grouping can do for you and even a toubload of cats can't make it that fast solo (plus it's going to be boring as HELL). If I had done it by myself, it would have taken a week, seriously. I was amazed.

Originally posted by brihtwulf

While a sandbox means you can use the sand to make anything you want, you're not going to get far without water or tools.  And Ryzom is dry as hell and devoid of useful tools.

This, right here.

That is my big problem with the game.  Its not that there isn't anything to do, its that there isn't anything very fun to do.  Yeah yeah, tell me about how sandbox's don't have quests.  I'm a SWG preCU fan, I've been there.  But what you're overlooking is that in SWG there were things to do.  You could place homes and decorate them how you wanted.  You could start up shops, no auctioneer.  You formed guilds and built cities, put down bases and raided your enemies bases. 

Granted, SWG was always unfinished and I think that if the devs back in preCU hadn't been so preoccupied with "balancing" the game and added the other features to enchance the Galactic Civil War and such it would have been better.  But even where that game lacked Ryzom lacks more because it is a static world like Everquest but no quests.  Sure the game is skill based and open but the game world itself is designed in a linear fashion.

Also in SWG you were limited in what skills you had.  To change your character from one thing to another, you had to drop skills and relearn new ones.  The effect of this is something that I've never seen another game do; it kept the level grind going.  New players, especially during the CU when they eleminated the XP penalty for grouping, always had others to play with and grind because the old players were constantly retweeking their characters.  It not only gave new players a chance to actually play with others as they improved their characters but it also created a way for new players to meet the old ones.  In Ryzom you grind alone for 100+ levels.

This game is really nice in a lot of ways, but in this case there really isn't much