Ryzom really is a gem. But it has three major issues.
Graphics are horribly outdated.
The playerbase is extremely small.
The developers don't have the resources to properly support the game.
It has a lot of really great features that are exactly what many people are looking for in an MMORPG, but the bullet points above hinder the experience to the extent that it severely affects the gameplay.
Originally posted by pinktailz I never seen so crappy game like this one, the mechanics is stupid and childish, and art style is lawl can I even call this art style? Ugliest crap ever haha xD
I think the art style is brilliant.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Glad to see you're psyched about this game. But you do realize you're trying to get people to play a game that looks like the first game ever invented. So you found a game where 1 character can do and be everything at the same time that's good. Or is it really? Why not just play UO? They still got tons of players and basically the same setup except for a few minor tweaks.
Yeah I just started. And I am too stubborn to accept that I may be defeated in catching up. Wipe or no wipe, I can still build as if it was wiped and fresh slate and no one is before me. I can also utilize those that are before me perhaps to my advantage in some way shape or form... information for starters, which they have answered what questions I have had. Wipe or no wipe, others can do the same. An army of newbs rolling up the ladder will eventually bring a surge if they are there. And there were 3 mass pvp battles that I am aware through "Universe" chat just yesterday while I was playing. Some outpost bit?
Well...Good luck. Really.
Its certainly an interesting game and theres fun to be had. Let us know how everything went a month or two down the road.
I'm merely bringing up one of the major complaints and the biggest reason most people who love these types of games (sandbox) end up leaving. After the last time the game changed hands or shut down/reopened (whatever) the entire forum was going crazy with people who had tried the game.loved it and quit after a couple months because of the fact that the world is (and has been) on total lockdown. If you can find that time frame on the official forum you will see tons of people saying "make a new server and I will play" and some seriosus discussion about the problems with this game- Its not something im"making up" and is one of the main reason new player retention rarely lasts past a few months .
Not knocking the game (I love(ed) Ryzom) and I hope you are able to stick with it. Just saying what needed to happen to actually bring players in...But TBH its probably too late now anyhow. I really do hope things go wellforyou as it really is a very unique gaming experience and a virtual World.
I do have one question for you. What exactly do you mean by "lockdown"? What is in lockdown, how is it in lockdown, and how would this really effect new players?
...Just one very small example (again, this has been heavily discussed and some digging will bring up all the answers...Or playing a few months). The crafting is GREAT...But NOTHING will sell. Things that take weeks or grinding will be given away for free in chat. The economy is in ruins due to people whohave been playing for almost a decade having infinite cash and resourses and no Xpacs or additions to allow for any sort of valid gold sinks...So the economy concerning decent items is skewed to the side of the rich and long term players.
There are no Guild Wars any longer nor a valid reason for those wars to even happen. Its a sandbox game in stasis.
A perfect real world example I could give is this..(since I have little time)- The problem with Ryzom is the sameproblem that happened during the Gold Rush in the 1800s in the USA's wild west. Towards the end of the rush it was soooooooo expensive to get started that nobody but the established could actually mine Gold. The prices for simple things like Gloves and Pick Axes were actually HIGHER than what we pay for those items today and could cost a years wage for a shovel (*yes...really) and the claims that were left were inflated to the point that they were nearly untouchable by any but the established.
Same thing with Ryzom. That good sword that was initially meant to take X amount of time grinding to afford now take X amount of time multiplied by 100 because of hyperinflation with no gold sinks. That item you spent hours gathering and crafting to make will not even sell and people are handing out better items in chat to new players (thus evven taking away your tiny chance of a sale)
A sandbox game cannot function in this manner.
-Not spending anymoretimehere. Its a complex subject and im at work trying to...Work =P
I implore you to revisit this thread in a ,month and then wewill discuss this. Your still new. have fun (its a good game) but the realization will set in soon about this games many problems.
And again, a new server would fix these things (or would have) but its probably too late now for that.
Ryzom is a nice enough game...My issue with it is there isnt much change over many years.....Its OK to come back to now and then but not something Id consider subbing to.
I have been playing Ryzom for over 5 years now so thought I would give a little description of I think Ryzom is like. Ryzom is completely kept alive by its dedicated community. Whilst yes, as some people have mentioned, it is rather a small community, this for me is not a disadvatange. I played GW1 before Ryzom and recently tried out GW2 but like so many other players, I found myself coming back to Ryzom- why?
Ryzom is such an immersive and complex game. The leveling system starts out with 4 main branches (fight, magic, craft, dig) and stems into 63 different skill types. Leveling one thing does not hinder another. With fight and magic you have the potential to go into hoardes of different tactics in PVE or PVP with the potential to create thousands of different stanzas to use, in my opinion a lot more detailed than GW2. The crafting system is easy to start but once again, as you look more and more into it, it can become incredibly detailed, especially when designing gear for specific tasks. The diggging system is something I can't really comment on- I hate digging but there are different seasons, weather patterns, day/night and once again tons of different wants to dig a mat all with varying speed, xp gain etc. This is truely such a beautiful complex game.
If complexity isn't for you- then don't worry. You can still run around swinging an axe like a madman and have tons of fun wilst doing so. If you are sure about paying for the game then try it out as a f2p, something which I happily did for over a year.
I understand worries about players who have been playing longer having an advantage but I started playing 5 years later than many of my friends I play along side. Yes of course you start with a disadvantage but people are there to help and if you are one of those do-it-your-own types then it won't take long to catch up and everyone is really helpful and willing to offer advice.
The roleplaying community on Ryzom is an elaborate one, with languages designed for each nation if people want to use them. Many players talk in around chat only in roleplay terms adding to the immersion. The lore is highly developed, creatures migrate in herds (changing with seasons), predators attack their prey, NPCs patrol and roam around the map etc etc.
As for the economy- well if you are talking about the traditional market open to all with fluctuations in prices etc then no.. Ryzom definitely does not have anything that complex. I do however trade an awful lot with other players and would say thats where the real economy takes place- in /tells and trade windows. Often its just a simple trade for mats but there are many trades for different armours/weapons/jewels going on behind the scenes.
Ryzom is completely upheld by its volunteer community. There is a reason it has been going for 10 years and a reason players have stuck with it for that long as well. Why not give it a go and come see for yourself
My char is called Virg and happy to answer any questions you may have (especially those concerned with PVP). You can find me in game or on Virg's facebook. See you there
Ryzom is over 10 years old now, it was published a few month before WoW. Do I need to say more about its market chances?
Some game mechanics and the graphics in Ryzom may be dated, but they still look beautiful and many gameplay features of Ryzom still are unique and somehow ahead of their time. As described before, the leveling system is classless. You can level whatever you want. Wether you will be a good mage, healer, melee or range fighter, a good forager and digger or a good crafter depends on the quality of your gear but it also highly depends on your personal skills.
In october 2012 there was a server merge, combined with a wipe of all gear, currency and stored material. Every player started from a scratch, with his level skills and a basic survival kit. Players had to start anew with foraging, digging, boss hunting and crafting. Ryzom is not overpopulated, but it is not under-populated either. There are times with a lot of mass pvp on the outposts (guild owned mines for special crafting materials) and times with lower pvp activity. Just recently there have been various outpost fights.
The foraging system in Ryzom is unique.
You can easily dig crafting material with your pick but the real difficulty is to know where and when to find the really good materials. You have to prospect and search for the raw material sources or socialize and ask experienced diggers to show you the best digging sites. Best forage materials can be found in the roots, an area with many aggressive mobs and some of them wander around the area, so you need to be very watchful. The most valuable materials however, can only be found at certain seasons, during a certain day time (nighttime, daytime, dusk or dawn) and only on certain weather conditions. If the material, you are searching for, only shows up on nighttime during fair weather but there is a storm at midnight, then you have to be very patient. And stay alert, for the wandering mobs might come closer.
Animal and plant materials need to be hunted down. Some bosses wander around and other bosses can be found at various places. And there are other hunting teams too and other aggro mobs.
The crafting system in Ryzom is unique.
The best gear ingame is made by players only. Even the best material does not guarantee the best gear. The quality of your gear highly depends on the brain skill of the player crafter. While you level crafting, you can aquire crafting plans from the npc trainers. A crafting plan provides the 'skin' for a weapon or an armor piece, for jewelry or some specialized crafting tool. Each crafting plan requires 2, 3, 4 or 5 material components. For each material component there are dozens of different materials: forage materials or animal and plant materials.
Each material piece has a different set of stats and there are hundreds of combinations possible for every crafting plan. Every experienced crafter uses his own material combinations, his own recipes for his crafting.. So each crafted item has unique stats. Wether those stats make a good weapon or good armor depends of the experience of the crafter.
Experienced players know how hard it is for new players to get good gear because foraging and crafting can be very grinding. So many provide newbies with good quality starter gear. But I doubt that this is the best gear at all. The best gear is mostly traded in player-to-player trade, not on the npc auction house. So social skills help you as much as good gameplay skills. And the most valuable things is not the best gear but the best crafting recipe. (Ask an experienced crafter for his best pvp crafting recipes. If you ever get an answer, that means there will be still a better recipe. )
So Ryzom is not dead at all. Ryzom is sandboxy because there is no straight story line and there a not many quests to do. (except the tutorial island Silan). Players have to find out for themselves, what they like to do. There is a beautiful, changing world to explore. Support and event management highly depends on dedicated volunteers. The source code and assets are open source but all Ryzom content and the great roleplay story background belongs to the owner company Winch Gate.
Ryzom gameplay may not be for everyones taste, but it is still worth a thorough look.
Oren fyrai from an old fyros homina, the brave desert folks
virg, nuzanshi, nice to see you both here, guess I'll speak up as well...
ryzom is a game that is hard to compare to other games. like anything there are both pro's and con's that can be mulled over for the eons.
I've read every post on this forum about the game (i say the game because for me and my $ ryzom is the only game) and i would like to take a few minutes to address some of the things I've read:
Linux support (i think someone said they would only play it on Linux): we have that with ryzom, there are many distro's of Linux that run ryzom with little or no issue at all, and if you find an issue, there are many others that play ryzom that will help work on the issue and find solutions for you, because in ryzom we're a friendly helpful community that has a common goal of helping anyone we can to enjoy the game. the same can be said for windows AND mac (how many of the mmo's listed on this site can run natively on all three of the major OS's in the world?)
i read someone going on about a locked economy; this is both true and false. it's true that items you craft may not sell, but don't assume it's because there's not enough players to want it. some of us long time players will waste some of our dappers buying GOOD gear we don't need to support the economy and new crafters, but the key word being good, no one will by poorly made gear with bad stat's. if you go buy a car, which would you want, the one with all the features possible for $5,000 or the one that has no features at all but is also still $5,000? pretty simple that you buy the better car for the same price. it's also true that selling things directly to the npc's doesn't make a large sum of dappers, but there are missions for crafting items that provide much higher returns at all levels; the payouts will increase with higher skill levels, so this is scaled to match the time that would be required to reach those higher levels in craft. (true that crafting in ryzom is the road to riches)
someone spoke about wanting to make class based toons on the same account: if you want to play this way that's fine and no one in ryzom will object to it, but i think you will find given time that having all those skills on one toon (what we call an avatar in ryzom) is far better then having them split amongst a collection (unless each of your toons is on a different account all together) you can make 5 toon's per account, but can only play one at a time, you can't cross trade items from one toon on an account to another without a go between account.
someone kept saying "guild wars" that's a different game all together, ryzom lingo for what your talking about is "outpost" war, and believe me, they happen and are quite large in terms of group pvp action. the outposts are owned by guilds, and fought over by "factions" (the major powers of the game are kami, karavan, and marauder. they are major groups that take part in the pvp parts of the game, there's also rangers, trytonists, and neutrals that may or may not get involved with outpost wars and other parts of the pvp action.
unlike other games ryzom has a community that's very friendly and helpful for the most part (as with anything there's always a few rotten apples that can be found). ask a question in ryzom and someone will answer you, it might not be right away, but it will come.
someone spoke of the insane amount of time it takes to do "everything" in ryzom, that's true if you try to do everything ryzom has to offer. there's something called achievements in ryzom, this is the closest thing to a "score" ryzom has to offer, and that in it's self is a serious endeavor to try to complete all the things on that list. I'm not sure I've met anyone in game (even those that have played since the beta days of ryzom) that have done every mission in the game once, completed all the rites, mastered all occupations, mastered all skills, achieved all the fame possible both with and without alignment, won all the possible titles (those that were not limited to events prior to their time on atys), and so on and so forth (I'm sure there are things I've not thought of to list, but that's because there's just that much one can do).
someone mentioned reading our forums, one thing i can say about that, if your not an active part of ryzom's player base, many of the things your likely to read about will make no sense to you, and assuming that ryzom doesn't grow or change base on what you read in forums is not the best way to asses ryzom's life. (I'm a very active person when it come's to offering ideas for development, and some ideas i make crusades to try to get done, it's a long slow process but dedication yields results)
I've played ryzom for many years, on more then one account, finally choosing to be myself with my "final" toon, the zorai known as "talkirc", after my years in ryzom i can say this, the game isn't likely to fade away given the small but devoted community of players. if more people would give ryzom a fair chance and see past the few flaws, they might find that ryzom holds many possibilities for the faithful player. if more of the people that tried ryzom for a little while gave it a fair chance and didn't give up as soon as things got a little harder (higher levels and on the mainland) they might find that ryzom really has more to offer then what can be seen in a few days/weeks/months of play. ryzom is far too deep a game to get a true idea quickly, and with the UNLIMITED free trial (with a few gameplay restrictions, such as level cap of 125 and storage limits), you can really take the time to see what ryzom can be.
if you want a true challenge and don't feel the need for everything to be the bleeding edge of game design, ryzom is a good game to try out, but don't expect to master everything over night, it's not that easy. ryzom is a mature mmo, both in it's age and it's player base, i don't know a large number of younger people that really play and like ryzom, because to really be good at ryzom, you need dedication and a willingness to put in time and effort. ryzom isn't about instant gratification, it's about the rewards of time and effort on a very large scale.
i guess what I'm saying is simple, if you want something that can go on and on, or just something to do every now and then, ryzom is likely to have something you will find interesting.
I've been playing Ryzom for a few years now and i can honestly say that I love it. While i haven't played any other MMO's (stumbled across Ryzom while browsing the app store) to compare it too, from what i hear from other players past and present, it is an anomaly in its own right.
Ryzom is not easy as such… once you leave the starter island - presuming you stayed there to complete the quests - you will find yourself as food for most creatures that wander freely around. Quite a shock to go from being big and tough to small and juicy. There are many many things you can do at this level, however, each of the four main cities have quests for the newly arrived refugee, each designed to help you grow in strength and character. They will give you skills that you will, unknowingly, need in later life. They will you provide you with weapons or the means to craft your own weapons. They may also give you money (dappers) so you can purchase weapons or barter a trade with another player. Basically, as is a infamous quote on atys, Ryzom will not hold your hand, it will merely give you a gentle nudge in one direction or another.
You have to choose how you want your game to be and i think this is where many people hit a wall.. so to speak.
The key, i found, was to simply converse with people on the various chat channels. Basic as it may sound, this will help you learn faster and more efficiently. It will also get your name known, if you have a sense of humour about yourself or are not afraid to ask for help and guidance, you will find that your game will progress much faster simply due to it being an enjoyment.
Ryzom is such a deep (cliche i know) game. I can't even begin to explain all the various skills there are. Crafting and Foraging have both been mentioned above and they really are an entire game in themselves. There's a near infinite number of ways to put various materials together to craft a specific item… the best 'recipes' are often closely guarded secrets but with patience, a novice can work out some very decent concoctions.
There are plenty of PvE opportunities in Ryzom… unavoidable sometimes. You will never be short of something to hunt for whatever reason and you'll always be able to find someone willing to come and help you (people like to show off after all).
PvP isn't so huge but is still very present. There are zones in which a player will automatically become a target but, generally, a player will have to choose to become PvP tagged - they can also untag if they wish not to become a punchbag.
Someone said something about there being no guild wars… well, this past two weeks i have participated in around 6 wars - granted such a number in such short space of time is rare, but they happen and they are usually a lot of fun.
Like others have mentioned, Ryzom isn't a game you can just try out for a few weeks… it requires attention. Your character requires nurturing. Your friend circle will not grow in a few weeks. GIve yourself time to talk to people. To figure out what you would like from your game. To get involved in the vast array of role-play stories. Attend a meeting or two and find out what it is happening in the unseen parts of Ryzom.
Yes the player base is small in comparison to other games but that does not mean Ryzom is dead.
Yes there are a few bugs but they add character like your Grandma that never remembers your name or your Great Auntie that gives your money every time your walk in and out of the room due to having no memory.
Yes the economy is poor but what do you need that for? Make your money by completing crafting missions or selling the wares of an occupation. A player can get by with very little cash quite easily as it is not a money/wealth orientated game… you will not have a better game experience simply by being rich.
In short, Ryzom appeals to many different people from all walks of life. Taking time to talk to people is the key to an enriched gaming experience in Ryzom.
The main issue with Ryzom is that they have refused again and again (at the behest of the vets) to not open a new server or do a reset. Kind of hard to establish yourself in a sandbox game that is effectivley in "lockdown" to a few Guilds and veteran players. The economy is in ruins not ONLY because of a low population but because of people who have been playing for a decade and amassing huge wealth with no real gold sinks.
Ryzom is/was a good game... But tbh without a healthy influx of new players its totally stasis and there wont be a health influx of players without a wipe or new server. So....
Making a new server would be the worse thing they could do.
The problem (with any game) where you have a few players screaming "new server" is that the developers would be fracturing their player base even more.
And then what happens in a few years when that new server has a handful of players? Another new server? So they then have many "servers" with a handful of players and have to merge?
My thought is that they just need to make it so that newer players can get what they need. Maye that is npc run "buyers" that will buy goods for certain set prices so that if one wanted to craft and sell one could do it.
Though I imagine the best use of crafting is to craft your own gear as you go along.
New servers will only attract so many players and certainly won't keep the majority of them.
I don't know how many players Ryzom has. DAoC has about 1000+ on any given night and they seem to be enjoying themselves. Ryzom's devs just need to keep their current playerbase happy and engaged. I don't know how active they are.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Its certainly an interesting game and theres fun to be had. Let us know how everything went a month or two down the road.
I'm merely bringing up one of the major complaints and the biggest reason most people who love these types of games (sandbox) end up leaving. After the last time the game changed hands or shut down/reopened (whatever) the entire forum was going crazy with people who had tried the game.loved it and quit after a couple months because of the fact that the world is (and has been) on total lockdown. If you can find that time frame on the official forum you will see tons of people saying "make a new server and I will play" and some seriosus discussion about the problems with this game- Its not something im"making up" and is one of the main reason new player retention rarely lasts past a few months .
Not knocking the game (I love(ed) Ryzom) and I hope you are able to stick with it. Just saying what needed to happen to actually bring players in...But TBH its probably too late now anyhow. I really do hope things go wellforyou as it really is a very unique gaming experience and a virtual World.
I played Ryzom back when it first launched, even back into Beta. It was an awesome game, and I really enjoyed it. Then Nevrax (the original owners/creators, for those who may not know) implemented a patch shortly after launch that drove away a lot of people. The designers lost their minds and decided to greatly spike the difficulty of many of the enemies - including level 1 Yubos, which were the first/only things a new player could realistically fight. You couldn't beat them. They would kick your ass every time. Ragus and Gingos, which can be a PITA to begin with, became a complete nightmare, etc. And so on. They made other changes, but the mob difficulty spike is what stood out to me most at that time. Anyway, a bunch of people left, and never came back, and the game never recovered ever since.
I kinda wish they'd get rid of the starting island altogether, and work the beginner tutorials into the main racial cities instead. When I've played, there was always active, experienced players in the cities - more than I'd see at any time on Silan. I think it does a huge amount of good for a new player to see other players around who aren't newbies like themselves, especially if they can catch them in the higher level armors, dueling with higher level spells, etc. It instills the confidence that "okay, this is an active game, and people do play it for a long time".
Silan, to me, is boring. I don't know why, but I've never enjoyed that place. Maybe it's fine to others, I dunno. I just know I've left there any time I've tried a new character. The racial cities are much more interesting. I love the main Matis city (forget the name at the moment).
main city in the forest is yrkanis, come back to the big tree and visit us, you never know how happy people can be in ryzom to see old players return, even if just for a visit.
Comments
Ryzom really is a gem. But it has three major issues.
I think the art style is brilliant.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
...Just one very small example (again, this has been heavily discussed and some digging will bring up all the answers...Or playing a few months). The crafting is GREAT...But NOTHING will sell. Things that take weeks or grinding will be given away for free in chat. The economy is in ruins due to people whohave been playing for almost a decade having infinite cash and resourses and no Xpacs or additions to allow for any sort of valid gold sinks...So the economy concerning decent items is skewed to the side of the rich and long term players.
There are no Guild Wars any longer nor a valid reason for those wars to even happen. Its a sandbox game in stasis.
A perfect real world example I could give is this..(since I have little time)- The problem with Ryzom is the sameproblem that happened during the Gold Rush in the 1800s in the USA's wild west. Towards the end of the rush it was soooooooo expensive to get started that nobody but the established could actually mine Gold. The prices for simple things like Gloves and Pick Axes were actually HIGHER than what we pay for those items today and could cost a years wage for a shovel (*yes...really) and the claims that were left were inflated to the point that they were nearly untouchable by any but the established.
Same thing with Ryzom. That good sword that was initially meant to take X amount of time grinding to afford now take X amount of time multiplied by 100 because of hyperinflation with no gold sinks. That item you spent hours gathering and crafting to make will not even sell and people are handing out better items in chat to new players (thus evven taking away your tiny chance of a sale)
A sandbox game cannot function in this manner.
-Not spending anymoretimehere. Its a complex subject and im at work trying to...Work =P
I implore you to revisit this thread in a ,month and then wewill discuss this. Your still new. have fun (its a good game) but the realization will set in soon about this games many problems.
And again, a new server would fix these things (or would have) but its probably too late now for that.
Hi all,
I have been playing Ryzom for over 5 years now so thought I would give a little description of I think Ryzom is like. Ryzom is completely kept alive by its dedicated community. Whilst yes, as some people have mentioned, it is rather a small community, this for me is not a disadvatange. I played GW1 before Ryzom and recently tried out GW2 but like so many other players, I found myself coming back to Ryzom- why?
Ryzom is such an immersive and complex game. The leveling system starts out with 4 main branches (fight, magic, craft, dig) and stems into 63 different skill types. Leveling one thing does not hinder another. With fight and magic you have the potential to go into hoardes of different tactics in PVE or PVP with the potential to create thousands of different stanzas to use, in my opinion a lot more detailed than GW2. The crafting system is easy to start but once again, as you look more and more into it, it can become incredibly detailed, especially when designing gear for specific tasks. The diggging system is something I can't really comment on- I hate digging but there are different seasons, weather patterns, day/night and once again tons of different wants to dig a mat all with varying speed, xp gain etc. This is truely such a beautiful complex game.
If complexity isn't for you- then don't worry. You can still run around swinging an axe like a madman and have tons of fun wilst doing so. If you are sure about paying for the game then try it out as a f2p, something which I happily did for over a year.
I understand worries about players who have been playing longer having an advantage but I started playing 5 years later than many of my friends I play along side. Yes of course you start with a disadvantage but people are there to help and if you are one of those do-it-your-own types then it won't take long to catch up and everyone is really helpful and willing to offer advice.
The roleplaying community on Ryzom is an elaborate one, with languages designed for each nation if people want to use them. Many players talk in around chat only in roleplay terms adding to the immersion. The lore is highly developed, creatures migrate in herds (changing with seasons), predators attack their prey, NPCs patrol and roam around the map etc etc.
As for the economy- well if you are talking about the traditional market open to all with fluctuations in prices etc then no.. Ryzom definitely does not have anything that complex. I do however trade an awful lot with other players and would say thats where the real economy takes place- in /tells and trade windows. Often its just a simple trade for mats but there are many trades for different armours/weapons/jewels going on behind the scenes.
Ryzom is completely upheld by its volunteer community. There is a reason it has been going for 10 years and a reason players have stuck with it for that long as well. Why not give it a go and come see for yourself
My char is called Virg and happy to answer any questions you may have (especially those concerned with PVP). You can find me in game or on Virg's facebook. See you there
Hello from an old Ryzom player.
Ryzom is over 10 years old now, it was published a few month before WoW. Do I need to say more about its market chances?
Some game mechanics and the graphics in Ryzom may be dated, but they still look beautiful and many gameplay features of Ryzom still are unique and somehow ahead of their time. As described before, the leveling system is classless. You can level whatever you want. Wether you will be a good mage, healer, melee or range fighter, a good forager and digger or a good crafter depends on the quality of your gear but it also highly depends on your personal skills.
In october 2012 there was a server merge, combined with a wipe of all gear, currency and stored material. Every player started from a scratch, with his level skills and a basic survival kit. Players had to start anew with foraging, digging, boss hunting and crafting. Ryzom is not overpopulated, but it is not under-populated either. There are times with a lot of mass pvp on the outposts (guild owned mines for special crafting materials) and times with lower pvp activity. Just recently there have been various outpost fights.
The foraging system in Ryzom is unique.
You can easily dig crafting material with your pick but the real difficulty is to know where and when to find the really good materials. You have to prospect and search for the raw material sources or socialize and ask experienced diggers to show you the best digging sites. Best forage materials can be found in the roots, an area with many aggressive mobs and some of them wander around the area, so you need to be very watchful. The most valuable materials however, can only be found at certain seasons, during a certain day time (nighttime, daytime, dusk or dawn) and only on certain weather conditions. If the material, you are searching for, only shows up on nighttime during fair weather but there is a storm at midnight, then you have to be very patient. And stay alert, for the wandering mobs might come closer.
Animal and plant materials need to be hunted down. Some bosses wander around and other bosses can be found at various places. And there are other hunting teams too and other aggro mobs.
The crafting system in Ryzom is unique.
The best gear ingame is made by players only. Even the best material does not guarantee the best gear. The quality of your gear highly depends on the brain skill of the player crafter. While you level crafting, you can aquire crafting plans from the npc trainers. A crafting plan provides the 'skin' for a weapon or an armor piece, for jewelry or some specialized crafting tool. Each crafting plan requires 2, 3, 4 or 5 material components. For each material component there are dozens of different materials: forage materials or animal and plant materials.
Each material piece has a different set of stats and there are hundreds of combinations possible for every crafting plan. Every experienced crafter uses his own material combinations, his own recipes for his crafting.. So each crafted item has unique stats. Wether those stats make a good weapon or good armor depends of the experience of the crafter.
Experienced players know how hard it is for new players to get good gear because foraging and crafting can be very grinding. So many provide newbies with good quality starter gear. But I doubt that this is the best gear at all. The best gear is mostly traded in player-to-player trade, not on the npc auction house. So social skills help you as much as good gameplay skills. And the most valuable things is not the best gear but the best crafting recipe. (Ask an experienced crafter for his best pvp crafting recipes. If you ever get an answer, that means there will be still a better recipe.
)
So Ryzom is not dead at all. Ryzom is sandboxy because there is no straight story line and there a not many quests to do. (except the tutorial island Silan). Players have to find out for themselves, what they like to do. There is a beautiful, changing world to explore. Support and event management highly depends on dedicated volunteers. The source code and assets are open source but all Ryzom content and the great roleplay story background belongs to the owner company Winch Gate.
Ryzom gameplay may not be for everyones taste, but it is still worth a thorough look.
Oren fyrai from an old fyros homina, the brave desert folks
Sincerely yours, Nuzanshi
virg, nuzanshi, nice to see you both here, guess I'll speak up as well...
ryzom is a game that is hard to compare to other games. like anything there are both pro's and con's that can be mulled over for the eons.
I've read every post on this forum about the game (i say the game because for me and my $ ryzom is the only game) and i would like to take a few minutes to address some of the things I've read:
Linux support (i think someone said they would only play it on Linux): we have that with ryzom, there are many distro's of Linux that run ryzom with little or no issue at all, and if you find an issue, there are many others that play ryzom that will help work on the issue and find solutions for you, because in ryzom we're a friendly helpful community that has a common goal of helping anyone we can to enjoy the game. the same can be said for windows AND mac (how many of the mmo's listed on this site can run natively on all three of the major OS's in the world?)
i read someone going on about a locked economy; this is both true and false. it's true that items you craft may not sell, but don't assume it's because there's not enough players to want it. some of us long time players will waste some of our dappers buying GOOD gear we don't need to support the economy and new crafters, but the key word being good, no one will by poorly made gear with bad stat's. if you go buy a car, which would you want, the one with all the features possible for $5,000 or the one that has no features at all but is also still $5,000? pretty simple that you buy the better car for the same price. it's also true that selling things directly to the npc's doesn't make a large sum of dappers, but there are missions for crafting items that provide much higher returns at all levels; the payouts will increase with higher skill levels, so this is scaled to match the time that would be required to reach those higher levels in craft. (true that crafting in ryzom is the road to riches)
someone spoke about wanting to make class based toons on the same account: if you want to play this way that's fine and no one in ryzom will object to it, but i think you will find given time that having all those skills on one toon (what we call an avatar in ryzom) is far better then having them split amongst a collection (unless each of your toons is on a different account all together) you can make 5 toon's per account, but can only play one at a time, you can't cross trade items from one toon on an account to another without a go between account.
someone kept saying "guild wars" that's a different game all together, ryzom lingo for what your talking about is "outpost" war, and believe me, they happen and are quite large in terms of group pvp action. the outposts are owned by guilds, and fought over by "factions" (the major powers of the game are kami, karavan, and marauder. they are major groups that take part in the pvp parts of the game, there's also rangers, trytonists, and neutrals that may or may not get involved with outpost wars and other parts of the pvp action.
unlike other games ryzom has a community that's very friendly and helpful for the most part (as with anything there's always a few rotten apples that can be found). ask a question in ryzom and someone will answer you, it might not be right away, but it will come.
someone spoke of the insane amount of time it takes to do "everything" in ryzom, that's true if you try to do everything ryzom has to offer. there's something called achievements in ryzom, this is the closest thing to a "score" ryzom has to offer, and that in it's self is a serious endeavor to try to complete all the things on that list. I'm not sure I've met anyone in game (even those that have played since the beta days of ryzom) that have done every mission in the game once, completed all the rites, mastered all occupations, mastered all skills, achieved all the fame possible both with and without alignment, won all the possible titles (those that were not limited to events prior to their time on atys), and so on and so forth (I'm sure there are things I've not thought of to list, but that's because there's just that much one can do).
someone mentioned reading our forums, one thing i can say about that, if your not an active part of ryzom's player base, many of the things your likely to read about will make no sense to you, and assuming that ryzom doesn't grow or change base on what you read in forums is not the best way to asses ryzom's life. (I'm a very active person when it come's to offering ideas for development, and some ideas i make crusades to try to get done, it's a long slow process but dedication yields results)
I've played ryzom for many years, on more then one account, finally choosing to be myself with my "final" toon, the zorai known as "talkirc", after my years in ryzom i can say this, the game isn't likely to fade away given the small but devoted community of players. if more people would give ryzom a fair chance and see past the few flaws, they might find that ryzom holds many possibilities for the faithful player. if more of the people that tried ryzom for a little while gave it a fair chance and didn't give up as soon as things got a little harder (higher levels and on the mainland) they might find that ryzom really has more to offer then what can be seen in a few days/weeks/months of play. ryzom is far too deep a game to get a true idea quickly, and with the UNLIMITED free trial (with a few gameplay restrictions, such as level cap of 125 and storage limits), you can really take the time to see what ryzom can be.
if you want a true challenge and don't feel the need for everything to be the bleeding edge of game design, ryzom is a good game to try out, but don't expect to master everything over night, it's not that easy. ryzom is a mature mmo, both in it's age and it's player base, i don't know a large number of younger people that really play and like ryzom, because to really be good at ryzom, you need dedication and a willingness to put in time and effort. ryzom isn't about instant gratification, it's about the rewards of time and effort on a very large scale.
i guess what I'm saying is simple, if you want something that can go on and on, or just something to do every now and then, ryzom is likely to have something you will find interesting.
that's my two dappers, sorry i'm so long winded.
Ryzom is what you make it.
I've been playing Ryzom for a few years now and i can honestly say that I love it. While i haven't played any other MMO's (stumbled across Ryzom while browsing the app store) to compare it too, from what i hear from other players past and present, it is an anomaly in its own right.
Ryzom is not easy as such… once you leave the starter island - presuming you stayed there to complete the quests - you will find yourself as food for most creatures that wander freely around. Quite a shock to go from being big and tough to small and juicy. There are many many things you can do at this level, however, each of the four main cities have quests for the newly arrived refugee, each designed to help you grow in strength and character. They will give you skills that you will, unknowingly, need in later life. They will you provide you with weapons or the means to craft your own weapons. They may also give you money (dappers) so you can purchase weapons or barter a trade with another player. Basically, as is a infamous quote on atys, Ryzom will not hold your hand, it will merely give you a gentle nudge in one direction or another.
You have to choose how you want your game to be and i think this is where many people hit a wall.. so to speak.
The key, i found, was to simply converse with people on the various chat channels. Basic as it may sound, this will help you learn faster and more efficiently. It will also get your name known, if you have a sense of humour about yourself or are not afraid to ask for help and guidance, you will find that your game will progress much faster simply due to it being an enjoyment.
Ryzom is such a deep (cliche i know) game. I can't even begin to explain all the various skills there are. Crafting and Foraging have both been mentioned above and they really are an entire game in themselves. There's a near infinite number of ways to put various materials together to craft a specific item… the best 'recipes' are often closely guarded secrets but with patience, a novice can work out some very decent concoctions.
There are plenty of PvE opportunities in Ryzom… unavoidable sometimes. You will never be short of something to hunt for whatever reason and you'll always be able to find someone willing to come and help you (people like to show off after all).
PvP isn't so huge but is still very present. There are zones in which a player will automatically become a target but, generally, a player will have to choose to become PvP tagged - they can also untag if they wish not to become a punchbag.
Someone said something about there being no guild wars… well, this past two weeks i have participated in around 6 wars - granted such a number in such short space of time is rare, but they happen and they are usually a lot of fun.
Like others have mentioned, Ryzom isn't a game you can just try out for a few weeks… it requires attention. Your character requires nurturing. Your friend circle will not grow in a few weeks. GIve yourself time to talk to people. To figure out what you would like from your game. To get involved in the vast array of role-play stories. Attend a meeting or two and find out what it is happening in the unseen parts of Ryzom.
Yes the player base is small in comparison to other games but that does not mean Ryzom is dead.
Yes there are a few bugs but they add character like your Grandma that never remembers your name or your Great Auntie that gives your money every time your walk in and out of the room due to having no memory.
Yes the economy is poor but what do you need that for? Make your money by completing crafting missions or selling the wares of an occupation. A player can get by with very little cash quite easily as it is not a money/wealth orientated game… you will not have a better game experience simply by being rich.
In short, Ryzom appeals to many different people from all walks of life. Taking time to talk to people is the key to an enriched gaming experience in Ryzom.
Thank you for reading.
regards.
Making a new server would be the worse thing they could do.
The problem (with any game) where you have a few players screaming "new server" is that the developers would be fracturing their player base even more.
And then what happens in a few years when that new server has a handful of players? Another new server? So they then have many "servers" with a handful of players and have to merge?
My thought is that they just need to make it so that newer players can get what they need. Maye that is npc run "buyers" that will buy goods for certain set prices so that if one wanted to craft and sell one could do it.
Though I imagine the best use of crafting is to craft your own gear as you go along.
New servers will only attract so many players and certainly won't keep the majority of them.
I don't know how many players Ryzom has. DAoC has about 1000+ on any given night and they seem to be enjoying themselves. Ryzom's devs just need to keep their current playerbase happy and engaged. I don't know how active they are.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I played Ryzom back when it first launched, even back into Beta. It was an awesome game, and I really enjoyed it. Then Nevrax (the original owners/creators, for those who may not know) implemented a patch shortly after launch that drove away a lot of people. The designers lost their minds and decided to greatly spike the difficulty of many of the enemies - including level 1 Yubos, which were the first/only things a new player could realistically fight. You couldn't beat them. They would kick your ass every time. Ragus and Gingos, which can be a PITA to begin with, became a complete nightmare, etc. And so on. They made other changes, but the mob difficulty spike is what stood out to me most at that time. Anyway, a bunch of people left, and never came back, and the game never recovered ever since.
I kinda wish they'd get rid of the starting island altogether, and work the beginner tutorials into the main racial cities instead. When I've played, there was always active, experienced players in the cities - more than I'd see at any time on Silan. I think it does a huge amount of good for a new player to see other players around who aren't newbies like themselves, especially if they can catch them in the higher level armors, dueling with higher level spells, etc. It instills the confidence that "okay, this is an active game, and people do play it for a long time".
Silan, to me, is boring. I don't know why, but I've never enjoyed that place. Maybe it's fine to others, I dunno. I just know I've left there any time I've tried a new character. The racial cities are much more interesting. I love the main Matis city (forget the name at the moment).