Maybe the User Manual page at Ryzom Wiki should be mandatory reading, or at least more publicized.
There are ways to target with the keyboard. There are even more if you use the macro system. When I dig, I can just hit one key and that will make me run over to the nearest dig spot with my name on it and start digging. I have other macros to target various entities.
Sadly, those are not exactly the sort of functions you would figure out on your own. There is not NPC in Silan that tells you about macros or / commands like /tar. Those are the sort of things you have to dig a little to find they even exist unless someone tells you.
With the Knowledge stanza, it's easy to scout an area and dig only the spots that have what you want. With the material specializations and different grades of "Find better materials" stanza, you can go into an area that has 5 different mats in three different grades (many spots have Basic, Fine, and Choice) and pop ONLY what you want. Sure, I may be in an area with Basic resin and Choice node, but if I want Fine wood, then the only spots that I pop are all Fine wood. Such are the perks of being a high-level digger.
That said, it's really rough at lower levels, especially if you don't have a lot of flags on your map denoting where to dig for what. I recall having the same complaint when I first started, and I can safely say that it gets MUCH better if you persist. Digging is probably the hardest and most frustrating of the four skill trees to start out, but it's also the branch that improves the most as you level up. The other three branches just have you doing the same things against higher-level enemies or making gear with a couple of stats higher than what a lower-level crafter can do, but the difference between a low-level digger and a master digger is just phenomenal.
Yes, it is a bit daunting at first, but I've found that the only way to avoid a learning curve is to sacrifice usefulness.
The compass/radar has many uses, including but not limited to a rangefinder. Knowing the exact distance to your target is immensely helpful for casters, shooters, and those trying to tip-toe through agro-filled areas though. When zoomed in to 50m range, it's quite effective at finding safe paths too. Or maybe you want to know where the next waypoint is for occupations. Of course, multiple functions means a slight lack of ease of use.
The map is also small enough to keep open on Mainland, though you may wind up zooming in/out on it a bit depending on what you are doing. While I can see some merit in combining the two, I think doing so would actually make things more complicated than keeping them separate, as well as reduce/eliminate some of the utility of the current system.
Hit 'k' to see the keybindings and you'll find quite a few things you wouldn't even suspect. The list takes a bit of scrolling so I won't try to post a screenshot, but suffice it to say that I learned a lot by being curious and pushing buttons.
That said, there is quite a lot of stuff that is non-intuitive that only the intensely curious would ever have a chance of finding out. And lets be honest, not everyone has the blend of patience, curiousity, and computer savviness to dig around and learn from it. In fact, relatively few people do. Ryzaom could do a better job accomodating those outside of that small demographic of intensly curious people with too much free time.
I've always felt Silan was a little lacking, but much of that is because there is no opportunity to review. If you don't learn something when the NPCs teach you, your only real recourse is to ask in Uni. Given how many people skip through dialogs they feel will have no relevance to their future, that means a lot of players run into trouble with magic, digging, and crafting.
I find it an effective anti-botting measure. Sure, it's sometimes a hassle to run up to your kill and press a button on a pop-up window, but when the alternative is a world full of bots, I think the effort of looting a kill the way we do it is a small price to pay. Think about it; how worthwhile would it be to try to hunt mobs if a few hundred homins had a script that targeted the nearest mob, killed it, looted it, and repeated the cycle with no human intervention at all? That'd make for a boring game, right? But with the macro system built into Ryzom, it'd be almost trivial to make such a script if there were a way to loot easier than we do now.
Besides, double-clicking on a dead mob will make you run over to the corpse and pop open the loot dialog anyways. Three clicks and you got loot! Why not use a button you already have a finger on all the time anyways instead of having to remeber yet another keybind?
The mats you pop are not on the ground; they are still under the ground, hence the need to dig for it after you prospect. Picks are not for lifting stuff off the ground, but for making a hole in the ground. The green globs are more of a "Dig here for mats!" than the actual mats themselves. It seems perfectly logical to me.
What I feel is illogical is to have even a beginner forager be able to "meditate" for a few seconds and have stuff buried underground materialize on the surface. When I think "forage", I think of the effort it takes just to find what you are looking for, then a bit more effort to actually obtain what you found. A more skilled forager will find stuff easier and obtain it quicker, but even a master forager is not a conjurer or transmuter.
Llana
mouse-only navigation. There is no way to target with keyboard, pickup with keyboard, gather with keyboard. This is the reason I never reached the maximum free level in WoW and this is the reason I will probably not play Ryzom either.
There are ways to target with the keyboard. There are even more if you use the macro system. When I dig, I can just hit one key and that will make me run over to the nearest dig spot with my name on it and start digging. I have other macros to target various entities.
Sadly, those are not exactly the sort of functions you would figure out on your own. There is not NPC in Silan that tells you about macros or / commands like /tar. Those are the sort of things you have to dig a little to find they even exist unless someone tells you.
Llana
resources are mysterious green globs. There is no way to tell what you are gathering which is kind of lame and annoying. This may be a game mechanic decision but it is an ui issue in the end as well. It does not even make sense. You cannot really gather something without knowing what it is. If you gather bark then you must have peeled bark and not chipped off shell pieces.
With the Knowledge stanza, it's easy to scout an area and dig only the spots that have what you want. With the material specializations and different grades of "Find better materials" stanza, you can go into an area that has 5 different mats in three different grades (many spots have Basic, Fine, and Choice) and pop ONLY what you want. Sure, I may be in an area with Basic resin and Choice node, but if I want Fine wood, then the only spots that I pop are all Fine wood. Such are the perks of being a high-level digger.
That said, it's really rough at lower levels, especially if you don't have a lot of flags on your map denoting where to dig for what. I recall having the same complaint when I first started, and I can safely say that it gets MUCH better if you persist. Digging is probably the hardest and most frustrating of the four skill trees to start out, but it's also the branch that improves the most as you level up. The other three branches just have you doing the same things against higher-level enemies or making gear with a couple of stats higher than what a lower-level crafter can do, but the difference between a low-level digger and a master digger is just phenomenal.
Llana
The 'radar' is very hard to read. You really need both the map and the 'radar' to make any sense of anything. At least on the tutorial island the map is small enough to have it open all the time but until you figure out how to use these two together there is no way to get anywhere.
Yes, it is a bit daunting at first, but I've found that the only way to avoid a learning curve is to sacrifice usefulness.
The compass/radar has many uses, including but not limited to a rangefinder. Knowing the exact distance to your target is immensely helpful for casters, shooters, and those trying to tip-toe through agro-filled areas though. When zoomed in to 50m range, it's quite effective at finding safe paths too. Or maybe you want to know where the next waypoint is for occupations. Of course, multiple functions means a slight lack of ease of use.
The map is also small enough to keep open on Mainland, though you may wind up zooming in/out on it a bit depending on what you are doing. While I can see some merit in combining the two, I think doing so would actually make things more complicated than keeping them separate, as well as reduce/eliminate some of the utility of the current system.
Llana
- what functionalities you never use
Those I do not know exist. There are probably quite a few. There is no in-game tutorial about the controls.
Hit 'k' to see the keybindings and you'll find quite a few things you wouldn't even suspect. The list takes a bit of scrolling so I won't try to post a screenshot, but suffice it to say that I learned a lot by being curious and pushing buttons.
That said, there is quite a lot of stuff that is non-intuitive that only the intensely curious would ever have a chance of finding out. And lets be honest, not everyone has the blend of patience, curiousity, and computer savviness to dig around and learn from it. In fact, relatively few people do. Ryzaom could do a better job accomodating those outside of that small demographic of intensly curious people with too much free time.
Llana
Seems some of the problems fall in the "no tutorial for it" category - because they work differently in Ryzom and because new people need to learn about it anyway even if it's the same as in every other game.
I've always felt Silan was a little lacking, but much of that is because there is no opportunity to review. If you don't learn something when the NPCs teach you, your only real recourse is to ask in Uni. Given how many people skip through dialogs they feel will have no relevance to their future, that means a lot of players run into trouble with magic, digging, and crafting.
Lllana
I find the lack of looting key annoying. Since looting is kind of required to progress in some quests and crafting and it's annoying my overall impression of the game is not positive.
I find it an effective anti-botting measure. Sure, it's sometimes a hassle to run up to your kill and press a button on a pop-up window, but when the alternative is a world full of bots, I think the effort of looting a kill the way we do it is a small price to pay. Think about it; how worthwhile would it be to try to hunt mobs if a few hundred homins had a script that targeted the nearest mob, killed it, looted it, and repeated the cycle with no human intervention at all? That'd make for a boring game, right? But with the macro system built into Ryzom, it'd be almost trivial to make such a script if there were a way to loot easier than we do now.
Besides, double-clicking on a dead mob will make you run over to the corpse and pop open the loot dialog anyways. Three clicks and you got loot! Why not use a button you already have a finger on all the time anyways instead of having to remeber yet another keybind?
Llana
I can understand it may take skill to see quality of a piece of bark or to prospect for it but once it is on the ground you should be able to see it is a piece of bark without any skill whasoever.
It is against logic and against new people to have only mysterious green globs.
The mats you pop are not on the ground; they are still under the ground, hence the need to dig for it after you prospect. Picks are not for lifting stuff off the ground, but for making a hole in the ground. The green globs are more of a "Dig here for mats!" than the actual mats themselves. It seems perfectly logical to me.
What I feel is illogical is to have even a beginner forager be able to "meditate" for a few seconds and have stuff buried underground materialize on the surface. When I think "forage", I think of the effort it takes just to find what you are looking for, then a bit more effort to actually obtain what you found. A more skilled forager will find stuff easier and obtain it quicker, but even a master forager is not a conjurer or transmuter.
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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.