Home › Game Forums › Ryzom
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
What does Ryzom have to do differently this time around ?
What does Ryzom have to do differently this time around ? Do they need to add more quest type content and more areas to explore ? I like the idea of more player created/controlled content. I liked what the game had, but i'm not sure it'll be enough as it is.
Comments
This has been the subject of a lot of discussion. To summarise (what I remember of it):
My view, which I think is shared by the majority, is no to more quest type content.
WoW's style of do-one-quest-after-the-other-until-you-max-out doesn't suit the Ryzom game environment.
I think that sort of thing is good in the free-trial Silan area - because it's something that players of other mmos will be familiar with. But I really enjoyed the absence of those on the mainland - cos it doesn't take long for that style of game to feel like just completing one task after the next, instead of having fun.
Hang out with friends, go beat / blow stuff up, do a bit of quiet harvesting / crafting, go hunt a named 'epic' mob or two, trek some noobies around, do an outpost battle, go harvest somewhere dangerous etc. etc. etc.
Though, I don't think anyone would be upset with more areas to explore, I don't think that was a factor in its past lack of success. The game's pretty big. I played solidly for a few months and probably only saw about a third to a half of Ryzom.
It would indeed be good - it was certainly a key factor in NWN's success.
And as far as I know, Champions Online is the only other mmo planning to offer this?
This feature is a solid and relatively unique selling point.
Quests? No.
More Encyclopedia rites, which are perfectly suitable to Ryzom, fill the content bill, and accomplish the addition of in-game lore? Yes please.
Unfinished projects that everyone wanted, like the Kitin Lair, need to be finished and patched in.
Events need to resume.
Advertising could be nice, but it needs to be more accurately directed than before. Advertise on a science fiction discussion venue, for example, where you might find people who appreciate Ryzom for its ongoing interactive science-fantasy story, instead of OnRPG where you'd be trying to sell a P2P sandbox game to people who normally play F2P Asian games and therefore expect simple mechanics, overcrowding, and freeloading.
More than anything, Spiderweb needs to accept volunteer developers.
-----------
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
I think we're thinking on the same wavelength on this. I said 'marketing' rather than 'advertising' cos it does seem unlikely they'd have a huge advertising budget.
I think like Kat suggested, some cleverly focused advertising is needed - but there are inexpensive ways to draw attention to yourself, eg. media releases and interviews = free exposure.
Just count the number of news items logged against Ryzom. There's a whopping total of 4 spanning 18 months. World of Warcraft has 6 news items just in the last week.
Every time I come to this site, I scan over their featured articles. I pay a lot more attention to these than I do to the ads. That little features box is golden - and I've never seen Ryzom in it.
They can milk the re-opening for an article or two. This call for free translators - they could get an article out of that; on the volunteer element and on taking mmos into new language markets. They fix a few things, maybe add stuff (if they're planning to) and then ask to be re-reviewed.
Everything little thing they do has the potential to be a news story, eg. the current Banner competition.
Every event they run would warrant a release too.
In an mmo market full of clones all desperately trying to stand out, Ryzom has a lot of unusual features - skill-based, no classes, sandbox, no raids, no questing, sci-fi / fantasy mix. There's a lot you get just out of that by way of article or interview.
Basically, I think they need to become to media whores.
they need to find some way to do harvesting differently on Silan, its the best part of the game but at low levels its horribly painful. The Silan experience does nothing but frustrate.
I think they need to cheat to be honest. when you take a quest to go find amber over there somewhere you shouldnt have to spend an hour randomly prospecting and missing the node every time, it should pop after a few attempts regardless. If that is too much cheating then maybe add some visual clues as to where the resources are, or have nodes popping randomly without prospecting so people can see they are in the right area.
Ditto to the harvesting on Silan - I'd forgotten how incredibly frustrating that was.
I ended up cheating and asked for one of them.
I think the simple solution would be making more nodes, so if a noob is in the right area (that the quest directs them to), it won't take an hour to randomly hit a node.
I think we're thinking on the same wavelength on this. I said 'marketing' rather than 'advertising' cos it does seem unlikely they'd have a huge advertising budget.
I think like Kat suggested, some cleverly focused advertising is needed - but there are inexpensive ways to draw attention to yourself, eg. media releases and interviews = free exposure.
Just count the number of news items logged against Ryzom. There's a whopping total of 4 spanning 18 months. World of Warcraft has 6 news items just in the last week.
Every time I come to this site, I scan over their featured articles. I pay a lot more attention to these than I do to the ads. That little features box is golden - and I've never seen Ryzom in it.
They can milk the re-opening for an article or two. This call for free translators - they could get an article out of that; on the volunteer element and on taking mmos into new language markets. They fix a few things, maybe add stuff (if they're planning to) and then ask to be re-reviewed.
Everything little thing they do has the potential to be a news story, eg. the current Banner competition.
Every event they run would warrant a release too.
In an mmo market full of clones all desperately trying to stand out, Ryzom has a lot of unusual features - skill-based, no classes, sandbox, no raids, no questing, sci-fi / fantasy mix. There's a lot you get just out of that by way of article or interview.
Basically, I think they need to become to media whores.
I totally agree with you in that the people at Spiderweb neeeeed to put out as much free media coverage as they can humanly do and even ask some of us players, new and old, about the game that is after we can get back into the game!
IIRC there was an atricle posted here by Carolyn Koh like 18 months ago about Ryzom but as you said there needs to be more!
I also agree with Kat that the devs also need to do some targeted advertising too! All of this coupled with the word of mouth adrets they get from the existing player base would do the game wonders IMO!
I agree with you guys in that I did get a bit frustrated looking for the amber nodes but when I found it it just made the find all the more enjoyable because it was an accomplishment!
I've posted on this a lot and totally agree.
Personally I think more nodes in the fields and faster respawn like 5 minutes. Maybe have like 15-30 nodes per mat each with their own 5 minute timer.
I think 3-5 casts should get them their node. Anything over 15 minutes to get a node to pop is just ridiculous for Silan.
I submitted the banner contest post as news but it seems the MMORPG.com staff silently neglected to add it.
-----------
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
excellent!
that would be so helpful
i had to ask for ingame help (though i had no idea what that meant at the time) and a GM/CSR avatar appeared before me - well, that had never happened before in the few online games i had played - it was cool, scary and terribly exciting at the time
I would also like some way of letting new players know that Silan is not representative of the mainland or of Ryzom in general. Those quests are a tutorial only. I want them to know that when they step off Silan and into the big world, the hand-holding ends. I have seen that the complete freedom of mainland Ryzom is just too much for some.
I liked those quests on Silan - but they did give me the wrong impression about what to expect from the mainland. I picked up a few missions, did one, and got no xp for it. It was puzzling.
Everyone seems to agree it's a problem and hopefully it's something that will get fixed.
In the meantime... Katriell has a sticky in the Ryzom Newcomers Forum. Maybe a guide there, directly after the 'Ruins of Silan Starter Guide', something like 'The Mainland For Dummies' that just explains how missions work on the mainland (i.e. not like on Silan), how you go about levelling (i.e. by doing), finding folk to team with, treks, teleport points. Something short, that covers the basics, and that noobs can be routinely directed to might help bridge the gap.
I liked the qests in Silan...I felt that I had goals to fulfill and was learning alot of the game at the same time......When I went to the mainland I felt lost and really had no purpose other than to dig, craft, and grind..... WHile I dont like games like WoW/LoTRO that are way too quest heavy it would be nice to have some kind of goals or direction in Ryzom.....I know alot of people like the freedom to do anything but it is also a fine line to wanting to do nothing......I still think the game needs dungeons to explore and reasons for people to group....it also needs a loot system as killing mpobs over and over for mats gets old after awhile.
Ryzom was a popular game at release with what seemed a very sustainable number of accounts and Nevrax was hiring more devs at the time based on it.
I think though starting in late beta and of course with some major patches after release they made some bad decisions that scared customers away and made people like me very furious with the game. But I often question if the remaining community even wants the old players back as it seems to have become more elite and exclusive to their styles of play.
Marketing. I would have been playing years ago. Nothing major just offering a few interviews here and there and keeping press releases up to date.
Mainland direction. After Silan a vast majority of people will see the game as WTF there's nothing to do.
More core mechanics. Sandboxes typically don't get more quests they get more mechanics for people to play with. Some revolving plots with Kami V. Karavan would be cool stuff like winning the hearts of the people and a few other paths that accomplish that factions goals while defeating the others. I don't know what else I haven't been in the game long enough.
A harvesting change. On Silan I was like wow this is cool. Then I get to main land and go WTF when I realize I can book mark a spot and if I stand directly under that spot a couple days later there are resources in that same exact spot. Then I go to a help site that has been around and find out that those same resources have always been in those same exact spots since the game started. Sure it's cool that some stuff is just not there when it's not raining or a certain season, but it just seems under implemented if you don't have atleast some fields moving around a lot(instead of micro areas). I'd love to be corrected since I'm just on the newbie stuff and I realize the complexity that can happen when you're looking for one specific resource out of a field. But it really does seem silly that I only need to find a deposit once instead of some of them changing about or adding some that do change about randomly.
I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.
Ryzom may not have to do anything different this time around. I think the MMORPG game dynamic has changed; Just supplying a stable and reliable sand-box game may be enough; there are no orcs, elves, or wizards, just homins trying to make a living
It will always be a niche type of game, but the niche is probably large enough to support a full game team. Since SWG imploded, Ryzom is the best sand-box game, unless you like space games, and then it is EvE. EvE is cold though, completely opposite of the warm homin world of Atys.
The best things they could do, IMHIO, is:
- add a few missions to the mainland, to accomadate the normal WoW type players. Create a few story lines that ppl could follow, with NPC's giving out mats or plans. Do NOT institute raids and item drops, except for mats and plans. No dropable items should be more powerful than player made items.
- do a few more events, like Kitin invasions, that break the NPC/mob monotony.
- the "viral" marketing is working, lots of people are hearing about the game and trying it; and they like it
Continue to lay low, and let word of mouth and sites like MMORPG spread the word. Get built up and then go frontal!
- Promote the Ring. The "mod" community is huge, Allow designers to invest resources/dappers into a scenario, so the player can reap those rewards. Allow me as a creator to set up a scenario, complete with rewards, and then let it play without me being present.
Ryzom was ahead of the times, meaning that today it is just in sync. It will become outdated in a couple of more years. Any viable company will have to be planning the future, since it takes a couple more years to bring somehting new on to the market. I actually believe the Ryzom devs were inspired, and I hope to see the next vision they have
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
If it wasn't for MMORPG.com how many people would have heard of this game at all?? I dont remember ever seeing it on the shelves anywhere.
I remember seeing it in stores, but I actually found ryzom over on File Shack. I went there looking for a certain set of graphics drivers and stumbled across it there. It was on File Planet too. But the game was pretty obscure, finding it was mostly pot luck. I only downloaded it out of total boredom.
------------------------------------------------
Founder of The Divine Council of Pyr
MMO: Ryzom - RF Online
------------------------------------------------
Ryzom FREE Trial: PLAY NOW!!! - The must play MMO!
Ok, i've played the game on the starter area, and now i've got one character over lvl 50 in melee, and other skills in the 30's. I've gone on a trek with a group and explored and teamed with people. The only major thing this game lacks is people playing it. The world is so big, you can go hours without seeing anyone in some areas. That would be solved , as everyone keeps saying, with advertising. The minor problem this game has is a lack of chat channels. It has only one channel to talk to everyone in game. This channel is supposed to only be used to answer questions about the game, but is usualy spammed by other topics.
In order to be successfull this time around i think they need to add "content"that builds on the strengths of the game.
A few things I thought of:
Social items like non-armour clothing, drinks (to be bought at the bar keepers) etc. The wildlife on Atys seems to be going on with their daily affairs but all the players can do is "work". Adding props to RP socializing could add some life to the homin world.
Player created missions. They don't have to be very complicated just a way to mix and match elements from the allready existing missions but instead off digging mats for some NPC you'll be digging them for a crafter and payed for your time and efford by said crafter. An NPC guild could be used as a kind of "job market" or employment centre...
One of the things I think needs to be done sooner rather than later is to allow players to invite others into their appartment appartments either through team membership or by adding some kind of doorbell system with a permission dialoge (I'd prefer the latter but it is probably a lot harder to code. The reason I think adding this feature is imortant is because the mere excistance of player appartments suggests it. People have seen this elsewhere and have come to expect it. Now this might be seen as a "others have it so we should too" butto me having a place to stay without the ability to ask other people over is kinda pointless (besides I'm a bit tired of the explanations about how the apt is only for storage, sometimes with the hopeful addition of atm...)
Obviouly this would also add an other layer to role playing.
If adding this feature is to hard to add to the excisting code it might be possible to add the appartment as a ring option so that you can just create your own place whenever you need it....
NoN-PvP Outposts, there are just too many ruins all over the place punt those area's to good use. I'm not suggesting they should yeild the same rewards as the PvP ones but there should be a way for those not interested in PvP to have a go at OP's. Mind you if the Non-PvP OP's were subject to bandit raids they probably should have at least the same kind of reward as a PvP one as they would require regular defending where as a PvP OP might go unattacked for a long long time...(and there were, as I recall, plans for Non-PvP outposts...)
It goes without saying, I think, that the events should return they were a big part of what Ryzom was about and bringing the lore alive is, in my humble opinion the only way to bring some single player style story telling into an MMMO...
Besides there are too many questions about Atys, the Kami and Karavan to just leave them unanswered.
Oh and Canopy Canopy Canopy. I want to go up in those huge branches and then when that's done i want to go to the old lands. There needs to be more to explore
This is the Ryzom Ring, it is already implemented. Players already can create their own missions, and reward whatever they want. I don't think any other MMO has this published and in production. It is great fun
Perhaps you mean some kind of "buy order" at the merchants; ie, I post a request for X amount of Y, and will pay Z for it. I totally agree this would be a great addition to the game.
------------
2024: 47 years on the Net.
This is the Ryzom Ring, it is already implemented. Players already can create their own missions, and reward whatever they want. I don't think any other MMO has this published and in production. It is great fun
Perhaps you mean some kind of "buy order" at the merchants; ie, I post a request for X amount of Y, and will pay Z for it. I totally agree this would be a great addition to the game.
The "buy order" you mentioned is part of it but what I meant is not building a scenario in an instance you design but a way to create missions like the ones that allready exist. The point is to make things happen in the game world. Some of what i have in mind could be acomplished by adding a trade channel but from what I've seen those aren't that effective.
A system where you could make a mission asking for mats, armour, weapons or even a delivery (possible even information) would be, I think, an elegant way to bring supply and demand together in a way that's far more effective than just shouting your wtb's and wts's in some channel...