Just my two dappers...
I think that the same is also needed on the road leading West from Yrkanis for much the same reason. While Fairhaven and Pyr are pretty safe, and Zora is okay so long as you leave by the South gate, I lost count of how many fresh-from-Silan Homins I've seen meet an untimely end along that road. Vigourous Gingos/Ragus are fine, and Growling aren't too bad for anyone that completed Silan, but multiple Scowling less than 400m from the gates along the road is a bit much. Level 46 mobs once you get past the Green Seeds camp on your way to Psykopla Knoll is fine, but that close to the city... I've seen more than one player quit as a result of that "challenge", so it might be worth changing.
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Experience guides opinion, and my experience is different. I did not learn of enchants at all from Silan, nor was there really any discussion of TPs, and Ranged Weapons were a mystery to me aside from seeing a few skills on the skill tree. I learned a lot of what I feel to be very basic information from older players long after doing the missions in Silan. And unlike a lot of newer players, I am an old-school TRPG player who knows and appreciated the value of reading what NPCs say. In fact, I was here a fair while before I realized Silan was merely a tutorial. While some information may technically be there, the presentation needs revamping so that new players can learn without a tutor. It's a lot better than it used to be, but is still a work-in-progress.
I see Silan as a way to learn the basics and pique the curiousity. While I agree that it should not be "mini-Atys", I also feel that new players that don't get mentored and are merely left in the hands of the NPCs won't even get enough info to get curious. And that is a shame. That's not to say that we should remove all of the mystery (far from it), but the current state of Silan errs on the side of too much mystery.
On a semi-related note, I think that the "sliding scale" XP rewards system also throws people. Another thing I've seen a lot over the years is questions like, "Why are these Sucking Yubos only giving me 300 XP when I used to get over 1000?". So maybe making it a little more obvious that character growth (XP) is related to relative challenge instead of merely body count would be helpful.
That seems to be a common misconception. I saw a "How big is the map" video on Youtube that had an episode about Ryzom, and they were also surprised to learn about Mainland.
Damages from creature attacks near the Ranger Camp. They will be reduced as it currently causes too many deaths. Character dying too frequently suggests to players that the game is not for them, or that they have misunderstood the rules, increasing the risk that they will abandon Ryzom without delay.
I think that the same is also needed on the road leading West from Yrkanis for much the same reason. While Fairhaven and Pyr are pretty safe, and Zora is okay so long as you leave by the South gate, I lost count of how many fresh-from-Silan Homins I've seen meet an untimely end along that road. Vigourous Gingos/Ragus are fine, and Growling aren't too bad for anyone that completed Silan, but multiple Scowling less than 400m from the gates along the road is a bit much. Level 46 mobs once you get past the Green Seeds camp on your way to Psykopla Knoll is fine, but that close to the city... I've seen more than one player quit as a result of that "challenge", so it might be worth changing.
Silan is in my opinion a pretty complete tutorial as it is now. So, if adding icons to better indicate this or that point seems useful to me, the rest of the refactoring is not, I think, a good idea. Because giving everything to new players as soon as Silan will deprive them of the surprise of discovering Atys. Simplify Silan, why not? But from there to make it a mini-Atys… we might as well remove it and make new players be born directly on Atys.
[i]Ulukyn recalls that it is not a question of turning Silan into a mini-Atys, but only of making sure that Silan gives new players the means to be autonomous, to know what and how to look for on Atys as soon as they set foot there. Because currently, arriving on the mainland is a surprise, yes: to discover almost another game. So the refactoring is not about remaking Atys on Silan, but about providing tantalizing glimpses of Atys on Silan.
Experience guides opinion, and my experience is different. I did not learn of enchants at all from Silan, nor was there really any discussion of TPs, and Ranged Weapons were a mystery to me aside from seeing a few skills on the skill tree. I learned a lot of what I feel to be very basic information from older players long after doing the missions in Silan. And unlike a lot of newer players, I am an old-school TRPG player who knows and appreciated the value of reading what NPCs say. In fact, I was here a fair while before I realized Silan was merely a tutorial. While some information may technically be there, the presentation needs revamping so that new players can learn without a tutor. It's a lot better than it used to be, but is still a work-in-progress.
I see Silan as a way to learn the basics and pique the curiousity. While I agree that it should not be "mini-Atys", I also feel that new players that don't get mentored and are merely left in the hands of the NPCs won't even get enough info to get curious. And that is a shame. That's not to say that we should remove all of the mystery (far from it), but the current state of Silan errs on the side of too much mystery.
On a semi-related note, I think that the "sliding scale" XP rewards system also throws people. Another thing I've seen a lot over the years is questions like, "Why are these Sucking Yubos only giving me 300 XP when I used to get over 1000?". So maybe making it a little more obvious that character growth (XP) is related to relative challenge instead of merely body count would be helpful.
• Many players I know have actually left Ryzom thinking that the playing field was limited to Silan. For the same reason, some have played Ryzom for only two months… time to exhaust the pleasures of Silan.
This Ulukyn confirms by saying that one of the first questions he is asked when he has the game tested is: "Is this the map of the entire game area?".
That seems to be a common misconception. I saw a "How big is the map" video on Youtube that had an episode about Ryzom, and they were also surprised to learn about Mainland.
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Do not assume that you speak for all just because you are the loudest voice; there are many who disagree that simply have no desire to waste words on you.