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Sometimes I do get the feeling that Ryzom enjoys a captive audience that suffers from Stockholm Syndrome - hence the reactions like in this thread.

Is the class-less system fulfilling it's promises? Can players develop and enjoy their own personal style? Is every skill line meaningful? How do they synergize when solo and when in team? Is interaction with ecosystems satisfactory?

Madre

Is the class-less system fulfilling it's promises? Can players develop and enjoy their own personal style? Is every skill line meaningful? How do they synergize when solo and when in team? Is interaction with ecosystems satisfactory?

I tend to favor "classless" games like GURPS, Shadowrun and Ryzom, both despite and because all characters eventually wind up all skills. I like to be limited by my own efforts to develop in a particular direction rather than by some arbitrary mechanic.

Of course, just because all characters can end up the same, that doesn't mean that there isn't room for style. Given that it takes years to master every skill, that style is most often expressed by what path one chooses; which skills one masters first. There are some master diggers out there with practically no combat skills. There are more than a few that are all about the tanking who have low dig and craft skills too.

As for how well they synergize, I think they got that handled fairly well. Casters need many HP so that they can use HP credits to cast the big spells, so they gain great benefit from working their melee skills. Conversely, melee is easier with enchants, often of spells that require high magic skills to unlock. Crafting takes enough mats that it's simply not practical to get into crafting unless you work your digging skills; all crafters are diggers. But the best gear often requires Named/Boss mats, which in turn requires you to be good in a fight.

In team situations, you often have roles that leave some leeway in how to perform them. Some like the slow, hard-hitting two-hand weapons while others prefer the one-handers with their high HPM and superior Adversary Dodge modifier. Some casters go for cheaper single spells to conserve HP/Sap while others prefer to max out and rely a little more on the rest of the pod to heal them. Some teams trek like ninjas, carefully weaving between mobs, while some go through like a river of lava destroying all in their path. Even two toons with identical skills will be quite different based on style.

I just started a few days ago but really enjoying myself. Creating your own abilities and having such an open world is refreshing for an MMO.

The population isn't as large as newer games but always had someone answer my questions and even helped me in game. I feel like it you don't jump in and try the game because of the population even if you find the mechanics interesting you'll be doing yourself a disservice.