OFFICIAL NEWS

All luck to the new generation. It won't be mine, though; I'll stay behind, with all the masters and levels I never made in 7 long years.

Micina, the problem simply is that they are killing the game. They could as well announce final shutdown. At least they could be honest with their customers. explaining the economic situation, and what they were and are gaining and spending every month . Afterwards, the customers might consider whether or not they accept an icreased price, or whatever. A "solution" driving away considerable parts of the community, thus significantly reducing the playerbase further, is doomed to fail.

The "old players" that'll keep around, don't just have an "advantage" in knowledge. This advantage will grant them the possibility to achieve old standards in a much faster way as the new players ever could.
They'll have the basic levels back to current status that fast, you won't be able to imagine right now, this fact is increased by the announced xp-boost for transferred characters.

No "trek masters" you say? Those veterans who'll stay are able to pass all the roots unharmed even with a silan-type character by sneaking past all the mobs. They know by heart all the supreme mat-spots.
They know what material they need to make proper PvP-equipment.
They'll get all the neutral teleporter-tickets within one evening.
This is not just an advantage. The discrepancy between veteran and new players will quite fast, faster as you might want to realize now, be the same as it is right now.

The only thing the skill-tree wipe achieves, is to have lots of players leaving the game. Making eventually room for some new players, but lets be honest, those won't replace those people right now paying for 3 up to 5 accounts.
And those new players, that'll have to learn the game first, will then be confronted yet again with a mass of veteran players that are able to overcome them in any imaginable way of gameplay.

I prefer to have another chance to play rather than just see the game closed. But, in the end, this is about the way of seeing the game. I prefer to start from scratch and try again rather than give way.

I'd rather Ryzom went bankrupt again, maybe someone else would have bought the game without character wipe, or Winchgate would open game data as they did with source code and assets. I think that character wipe, at least in the way as it's planned, is not a good idea.
I agree with Baffos. I have kept paying for my account even when I didn't have time to play, just to support Ryzom, the game i loved. But now I really regret it. I've never thought it will end up like this.

Just got the sad news that the chars/toons i have played with love and care,Ryzom i loved to play is coming to a close soon. I have only just come back to Ryzom after time away,what is the point of me leveling if at the end of this month its for nothing!
Whatever happens to this beautiful game i thank you all for a fantastic ride. Thank you to all those i have known over the past eight years,i have loved every minute of our lives together and i wish you well.
One more that will not be playing past the death of our beautiful server.

I don't mind the wipe, Ryzom will be just as fun (and probably much more) as before.

We all here love Ryzom because its great community and its very unique gameplay, but please don't forget that friendship will remain and the game (and that's all about) will be even better than before.

I also pay to play this game, even if I can't play few days or weeks, but just for support Ryzom.

Too all the players against the wipe:
Please, demostrate that Ryzom community is STRONGER that its player's characters

I agree completely. Sell the game to someone who cares about the community and their long, hard earned efforts of getting their characters where they are now. You're betraying your most loyal subscribers. I'd even rather see you triple the cost of subscribing than a full wipe.

Is that zombie frappi or real frappi?

Cheer's for all the fun time's everyone :)
Just remember the epic battles and the fun we had!!!!

We know that you have spent a lot of time on your current characters. It is you that has helped keep this game running as long as it has. You are an unbelievable community that other MMO games and players envy. We would not have made ​​this decision if there was an alternative, and we realise that many of you will be dissapointed. We ask for your support to make this transition as painless as possible.

This is maximum insult to loyal Players in one Paragraph.
What a Joke! All to maximise their profits at the expense of all our hard work, I Loved Ryzom subbed 2 accs, I will remove Ryzom without any reservation out of hate if they wipe and i will never return. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DONT WIPE you may not be able to manage the game but please dont punnish us too, leave our chars for someone that cares and understands the time it has taken people to get where they are.... Bye Bye Folks o/

Cry me a river! Please someone wipe the server of this dribble. Please wipe the message board too!

I think the problem is the lack of profit, not maximizing them.

BINGO!

Dear Winch Gate,

Assuming there is at least some humanity (Hominity?) left in a company that could consider genocide--and the effects on Atys as a result--in such a flippant manner, consider the responses in this thread--as well as this post--carefully. It may determine not only the standing of Winch Gate Property Ltd.--both financially and within the MMO industry, not to mention the actual open source community (of which google is not considered a part)--but the credibility associated with those who run it as well.

Since your source code has already been released, the only "virtually actual" property you now own--in terms of intellectual property--are the server configurations, the player accounts, and your standing in the MMORPG industry. All of which, along with much existing player cred, you are now considering simply deleting. You probably don't want to go the way of unix, and have to consider a total loss. Those like Linus Torvald and the resulting linux community will be happy to pick up the slack.

My notes say that it has been seven months since I last played this game...

Within that time, and the year previous, the real world has blown up. Maybe not--at least in the cities many of us reside in--in terms of glass, steel, and cement, but rather in terms of people and what they are capable of doing--whether that be in protesting governmental actions, or in attempting to appease or restrain said actions.

Over this period of time, I've been involved to varying degrees, in both sides of these conflicts.

Out of these experiences, I can say to some degree of certainty, that the people want informed stability, not traditionalism nor inflexibility, from those they are in some ways forced to rely upon or even trust.

With that said, if you continue with this poorly constructed course of action, adversely effecting an ambiance those other than yourselves created--whether you hire programmers or not, you did not originally develop this game, and are simply working off of what others have built.--I for one may find it rather difficult to forgive you.

I've had to forgive some rather heinous actions taken against myself and others...

Also, be aware that there has been at least one class action over far less (this only concerning virtual property/items).

Since you are simply the publisher, one can forgive such a poorly formed, reactive plan, in light of financial strain; however, to follow through with it after the majority of the active subscribed players have responded against it, is another matter entirely. I'm fairly certain that those who do not play, but still subscribe to support the game, or maintain a character, will simply stop paying without any notice...

Arguably the programmers on staff simply correct bugs, effect minor code changes, and are currently ill equipped to handle such drastic changes without help. There seems to be a number of game developers that might even volunteer their time if certain concessions were made concerning the aforementioned.

First and foremost, I'd advise not deleting the data of any player character or server configuration, etc. Again that's all you really have going for you, and storage is cheap.

At this point you may want to consider delaying the implementation--this would at the very least show that you are seriously considering player response. This would in some ways improve your credibility with players, existing or otherwise interested.

A small fee for character transfer to the new server could solve the issue of other non-related costs associated with the merge--one that you do not currently have. This is actual, immediate income, and not based on projected results, which in this industry can change drastically based on player response.

In all actuality, as far as we know, all that has been done so far is a forum announcement, a few very minor actions in-game as a result, and the resulting fallout as a result of said post.

Other suggestions:
avoid splitting communities between sub and f2p, let it remain a simple matter of level progression
avoid effecting game mechanics which may do well when there are many players on one server--in light of other MMO failures this game seems to do fairly well

Roleplay aspect:
Cataclysmic events in this world are not unprecedented, and it is not unlikely that Homins would have to react to them; however, give us a chance to stage a fighting withdrawal...

This could be an opportunity for a game-wide event in which the entirety of the players are overwhelmed and must retreat--eventually--to a much smaller area, perhaps Silan, perhaps not.

The aggressors could be the kitins, the goo-heads, or perhaps even a dragon or two, who knows...either way it must be an overwhelming force that would make even the most rock-headed of Fyros--eventually--take flight, or die fighting...

The event could be predefined or you could allow us to make our own strategies, but in the end the overwhelming aspects would force a consolidation in a single area.

Perhaps the goo could spread drastically as well...
The goo option could eventually cause those more adventurous players who like to go it alone to reconsider, face violent death, or perish in a wasteland--without the need for GM intervention.

Furthermore, after a Homin is killed in this event, you could simply not allow them to log back in until it is over, or re-spawn them in the retreat area, e.g. silan etc.

If no relog, then after the last Homin falls use that time for server downtime; better yet let us consolidate in the retreat area and then shutdown.

Much lore could be written about this, as well as much cred and perhaps items etc. for those who last the longest.

Game-wide events like these that have far-reaching and defining effects on the world usually gain a great deal of publicity.

News of this beforehand could also draw in new players as well.

If you simply must ignore sound MMO business practices and actually delete accounts, and server configurations, give us a chance to go out with a fight, rather than a flop. At the very least the Fyros will be happy...

Regards,
HadrianKross