English

To sum it all up into one word: Frustrating.
It's so frustrating it's not fun to play. And I'm speaking from a paying customer point of view.

I'm a noob to Ryzom - not someone who's been playing it for 3+ years as many of the people I have met here online. I play WoW and SWTOR regularly (and I subscribe to both too). And it's clear to me how WoW and SWTOR have learned what makes a game fun. As an outsider looking in, Ryzom is down right frustrating. It's not fun to just sit down and play for an hour or so.

Actually, I was really getting into the game. The starter area for my character was fun! Sure I died a couple of times or so a day but I do in WoW/SWTOR too. Also, getting people to group up wasn't hard in the starter area. So, I crack on and complete ALL the missions, get my character up to lvl35 (as a guide I was using suggested) and boldly head out to Fyro (Pyr).

That's when the game started getting very frustrating. I wasn't dying just a few times but a whole lot! This morning I woke up early (because of the time change) and played for three hours. I died 15+ times. Several times people just walked up to my corpse, looked at it, I ask for a rez, and they run off. Not friendly at all. I spent most of my three hours of "fun time" working off death penalty points and not advancing my character. Why would I pay for this?

So, from a noob point of view, here is what I find utterly frustrating about Ryzom to the point that I don't want to really play it any more much less ever pay for it:

1) Roads are not "somewhat" safe.
I don't expect the roads to be perfectly safe areas, but in this game they are very dangerous. Getting around just the outskirts of Pyr is very dangerous.

2) MOBs pursue for untold crazy distances.
If I stumble into a bad area and I get agro, I can't escape them on foot because they pursue me half way across the map. They just wear me down until I'm dead. So, you can't really explorer and feel/figure out the areas of danger without dying for that knowledge. That's not very fun at all.

3) MOBs cross level zones
I'm working an area that I guess to be a level 20'ish zone and what happens? A couple of level 45 Gingo makes quick work of me. WTF? So I study the Gingo's for a bit. They are everywhere, work in packs, and they roam large distances even into lower level areas. Where is the fun in that?

4) Mount
So I buy a mount for the extra inventory space and to get around quicker. Well, I find out the hard way that the mount is your worst asset.
A) I unintentionally ride into a hostile area and before I can dismount and fight - I'm dead.
B) The mount stays where I died - in the middle of a pack of Gingo's and I can't get the mount back. Thankfully, someone had pity on me and wiped out the pack to let me get my mount back. Of coarse, that took an hour or so of begging/spamming the Region channel. But, to be fair, no one from my guild was logged on at this time. However, I think that if I die and I re-spawn by Kami, the mount should be sent back to the stable to be picked up. Having to run out (and I died several times just trying to get to the area my mount was in) and then rescue the mount was utterly frustrating. Again, where is the fun in this?

5) Missions
Mission are not always clear and you can't replay (re-read) the mission story line or objective. If you missed a key point in the narrative then it's lost. You have to abandon and start all over.

6) Can't buy back from Vendors
Not being able to buy back from vendors is really bad. As a noob to the game, and not knowing any better, I sold pieces of armour and weapons I had received. I couldn't get them back. This game has no forgiveness system at all.

7) Mob designations
It's hard to figure out which mobs attack on sight and which do not - that is, without learning the hard way.

8) Death Penalty
Is probably the worst of all. I actually like the concept at the beginning however, at my current death rate, I'm always working it off and not advancing my character. If I can't advance my character then the game isn't "fun".

9) The whole weapons, armour, and crafting is too complicated
I realize Ryzom is probably a crafter's dream to have such detail control but for me it's way to deep. I don't have the time or inclination to get that detailed.

There is probably a whole lot more items that you vets could provide. This list is just from a noobs point of view who, quite sadly, is probably not going to play and progress much further in Ryzom. :(

If the game isn't made to be fun then you are eliminating a huge customer base. You won't get any new blood into the game. Which, btw, is clearly obvious. Most of the people I met were on their fourth and fifth alts. I think I only met two people who were like me - totally new to the game. That just doesn't really work at all. It's not fun for the vets to have to constantly help the noobs. The noobs can't find other noobs to team up with on the same missions.

Like I said, WoW/SWTOR have figured it out far better. I can spend a few hours with my characters and have fun, advance the character, find groups, do missions, etc. So, guess where my patronage and money is going?

well i can tell you, that if you meet the right people you'll find alot more fun in the game, if you want to take a look at my quote, you'll see what i mean, but i can also say this, i would never enjoy the reward of learning things, and if you want to know the list of answers that i have (anyone on the forum can tell you, i can say alot) contact me in game, not only will i tell you, but i'll help you, you don't have to feel like ryzom is too hard, there are players that will help walk you through a few things, basic ideas and explanations to everything..... getting to be a novel already, ok, look, if you want a game to give it all to you (and don't think i don't want more from ryzom, but it's got more potential then any other game like it out there, i still want alot of things i've not gotten, but.... potential)

but not every game is good for everyone, some want somethings, other's want other things, that's the way of life in the real too.

feel free to /tell talkirc

All the points you listed are exactly what I love about this game.

Maybe this game just isn't for you? I can assure you there are ways to work around all your issues if you give it some time, but Atys won't hold your hand, you'll have to find other players to do that for you.

1. Roads aren't safe:
Well the roads are just there for decoration I imagine, maybe they are from times when atys was safe who knows.
Mobs in this game don't have a set spot they move with season changes (nice to see a whole bunch of herbies gather and move somewhere else), some of the agro mobs also just roam around, and so on ....

2. MOBs keep folowing you:
Depends on the mob and stuff but I'm sure in real life most carnivores will hunt down their prey over big distances aswell 

3. Mobs and lvls of zones:
The normal rule is there is a zone 0-50,50-100,100-150,150-200,200-250 the different lvl mobs are all over the zone so yes a q50 carnivore can be next to a q13 yubo since thats what they eat => look around you will actually notice some agro eating herbies and such nice to watch

4. Mount:
your idea of mount respawning when you die at stables would be the worst thing in this game since diggers put their mounts,packers close where they work and the poor souls keep dieing so would be big pain if they had to move packers over again every time.
It's true you can't fight while mounted wich is kind of something alot of ppl miss, then again ryzom treking is being about being smart and sneaking, watch the mobs and look how they behave this is actually best game i know for exploration with its dynamics

5. Missions:
Well i know nothing about them since I never do missions, this is not a mission based game. The missions are here just for fame/dapper grinding and to be used as a distraction when you are bored. There are some big mission story lines called rites but not gonna go into that here

6. Vendors:
Once the weapon/armor has been used you can only sell to merchant and not sell on to others (except trade), look out when selling mats aswell if you wanna use merchant as storage then put price to 9999% and choose sell to others

7. Mob designations:
 Again look how they behave of you see a gingo eat a yubo then you know the gingo is gonna be agro on you aswell, but for some mobs you are true that the only way to find out is trough trial and error can read the lore on them on http://atys.ryzom.com/projects/puben/wiki/L_Creatures to find out some more aswell

8. Death penalty:
Learn to live with it, don't go out alone but with a healer if you have a hard time (thats why we have guilds), try killing plants they give best xp and are pretty safe.

9. crafting/digging
You talking to wrong person here since i'm one of only players who never digged or crafted. Then again as a pure hunter you can still go kill bosses for mats and help guild out that way. But you better go talk with somebody like Talkirc above me here if you need help with digging and crafting. 

==> Well in the end this game is not for everyone but atleast you gave it a try wich is nicebut we aren't WOW and ryzom will never try to be it either, we like this game being hard

Lots of things have already been said and take their advice seriously.

I'd only like to emphasize one more point: If you die too often, "simply" try to avoid that. It may sound trivial, and I know it isn't, but I mean that to be serious advice. Exit one of the city gates. Then stop. Look around.

Now, if you've done all missions in Silan you will know how to distinguish animals that are of a much higher level than you are. You wouldn't want to fight them. So try not to get close. Continue looking around. Find animals or plants of a lower level than you - you don't have to walk far from the city gates to find some. If you don't see easy prey, rethink, maybe take a different city gate. Again, look around.

Once you see something with a lower level than you. Approach. Slowly. Weapon ready. Don't attack. Go right next to the other being. See what it does. Does it look at you? Does it start to attack you? If it does attack, kill it. You just learned that this being is "aggro". It's low level, so you can cope. If it doesn't attack you, it's probably safe to approach here and in other places, too.

Are there any others nearby? While you're fighting, look around. Does any other of the same race look at you while you are fighting? If yes, how does it react? If it's just watching, you're safe. If it attacks you, well, you may be in trouble. If you're outnumbered you die very quickly. Even if creatures are of lower level. Run back to the city guards, they'll probably help you. You just learned another lesson: There are beings here that are social and help their folks.

As you venture further from the city gates of course the landscape changes, the countryside is more dangerous than the cityscape. Relationships between animals gets more complicated. Sometimes one type of animal helps other types when those are attacked. The aggro ranges vary a lot. There's soooo much to discover.

But you have to take it slow. You must watch out. Else you're dead.

Those who play here, love to explore. We love to sneak & hide. Or we team up and build a group stronger than what we hunt. Most people play in teams because then it is _much_ easier. Some like the extra challenge of playing solo. Some switch between these playing styles. Some folks have tried to Trek between all the capital cities with a level 1 character without mounts. This is _extremely_ difficult. Some don't like the extra challenge, and still have fun. You have to find your own way to like this world.

Maybe you give it a second try. Take your time and try to discover. This is not WoW. This is Ryzom. It is different. Welcome to our planet!

Well said Irfidel. +1
If i add anything, its just that it helps alot to team up with someone and train. You can also ressurect eachother if one dies, and you form friendships that help you go a long way. :D

Have you tried asking your questions in Universe, instead of Region? I know Silan trains you to use region chat, but that's just for Silan. Players on Mainland are spread far and wide, but they can however teleport in and help you, if they know you need help. Universe is your friend for both questions and action.

I can see the frustration you experienced, but I think you're looking at things through newcomer glasses. A "living" planet is just that, a place where you can meet danger anywhere, not only in specifically designated areas; you want a theme-park game for that. Ryzom doesn't have dungeons for the same exact matter, we are all experiencing the same thing.

Keep asking for a party, get some levels under your belt, have some patience and travel with better equipped people, learn what the game fansites are (hint: bmsite and ryzomnomnom), use the LFG app .. and of course, take into consideration what has been said already in the thread.

Oh i feel your pain bro! I tell you there are so many things about this game that have to be changed because they are no fun and way too hardcore. But these people persist in their ignorance of what the real way of having fun is about!

Roads indeed supposed to be safe. Because when i'm going out on the road i intend to go from point A to point B and getting killed is not on my plans. How hard is that to understand?.. I once sent a ticket to the devs telling them to implement safety fences along the roads to make travelling around easier. Still waiting for the response.

Mobs never have to chase me! This is incredibly wrong. They must stay still and let me pass them safely. Until i decide to attack them, in that case they have to come to me one by one and not in packs because it's also illogical and no fun. How do i figure out on my own which areas are safe? This is plain stupid. I'm playing to have fun, not doing research on animal behaviour. If i want to know things like that i'd watch Discovery channel instead, you know. I asked devs to place warning signs around dangerous areas in game, that would be very helpful. They said it's on their list for 2020.

These ninja gingos of 45 level is a nightmare, i'm telling you. They pop around out of the blue when you least expect them. I once enter my apartment and was killed inside by a pack of them. The other day i went into region fully expecting it to be level 10'ish, but got killed by a monstrous bug of 250 level. No fun at all! I demand a warning popping up on screen every time i cross the border telling me the level of the zone. Finding it on my own is boring. Devs said it's on their list for 2021. Good to see they have grasp of things.

Mounts indeed absolutely useless. I bought one for myself thinking that was a good investment of the tremendous amount of money i had, 6000 dappers, could you believe that? I worked so hard to gain them! Turned out all these money were a waste when those ninja gingos popped behind and killed me. Where is fun in that? When i ride around on my mount i must be invulnerable, amirite? So many things for the devs to improve in this awful game. Like making mounts teleporting back to stables. They could become the very first magic animals on Atys. Like ponies! Magic ponies!.. Because Saving Private Mektoub is not the kind of adventure i'd like to get in.

Missions got to be completely revamped, because there is no mission journal telling me what the mission objective is and no pointer on the compass showing me the way to... Oh, wait.

I agreed that vendors must carefully collect all the trash i sell to them. One day i may want to get it back! You never know when you'll need back those precious yubo bones you sold for a quick dapper. Too bad you can't lock items in inventory to save them from being sold or lost... Oh, wait.

It's indeed hard to tell which mobs to avoid. What does it mean if one creature attacks and kills another one? Oh, just fancy stuff i guess. Make aggro sporting flashy red names with lots of skulls and such, that would be helpful. I mean when i go out of my mom's basement to walk casually in woods and i see a bear, there is a badge tied to its neck saying "Dangerous creature". If i ever get to see a man-eating sabretooth tiger (that said those are still lurking somewhere in the depths of wilderness) it must have a badge saying "Man-eating sabretooth tiger, run for your life NOW". Correct?.. Alas, it's not what Ryzom is about. Why should i learn everything in this game by trial and error? Where is fun in that? How come people even think it's fun? Weirdos.

Death Penalty is a bane of everyone in this game. This is wrong concept right from the old times when games were mostly played by masochistic nerds that used to enjoy challenges like that. But those times are gone for long. These days i want my actions having no bad consequences whatsover. I don't want to think out my actions and survive in harsh enviroments, all i want is just running around, advancing my character, enjoying sightseeing and collecting rewards every fifteen minutes or so. Otherwise i'm getting bored. If i die i want to respawn next second and not losing anything. Because losing is no fun. I want the game protecting me from the consequences of my own stupidity, laziness and ignorance, not punishing me for that. Punishing is so wrong.

Crafting in this game is really really complicated. I have to admit i couldn't figure it out myself. Those who did got to be PhD's at math or something. Make it simple! Collect stuff, buy a recipe of the Sword of Power, put the stuff together, click button and enjoy your new shiny Sword of Power! Why searching for the recipe on your own? That's no fun. I can't be bothered with the nonsense like that. If i go to shopping center to buy myself a doughnut i want to know which one has the best taste of them all. If nobody tells me what doughnut to buy how can i find it? Taste them all myself? But it's way too complicated, i just want a tasty doughnut, gimme that. Or i'll go to the shopping center next door which has all these bright pointers with flashy lights and music showing their customers where the best doughnuts are.

I hope one day the developers of Ryzom will learn what is good for business from such pillars of MMO genre as WoW and SWTOR and turn to the light side, finally understanding that catering to the cattle and game-hopping tourists with attention span of 5 year old is where the real money is in this business. Cheers.

 

I appreciate all you hard-core Ryzom lovers. Really I do. You have put in your time to learn the game and you think everyone else should too. But, unfortunately, you are the minority group of MMO players.

Business, is business
How may SUBSCRIBERS does WoW have? SWTOR have? Diablo? Everquest? What are the player populations on those servers? Now let's compare those titles to Ryzom. Why doesn't Ryzom attract those number of players? I suspect Ryzom population doesn't even total 1% of those other titles. I'm sure Winch Gate would salivate at attracting those numbers.

I like a lot of the concepts in Ryzom because they are so different. However, I, like most MMO players, don't have the months and years to sink into a game to learn it. It's just not going to happen on any scale like those other brands. I play MMO's to escape the real world, not live it. I don't mind a challenge. I expect my characters to have set backs and losses. But there is a fine line between challenging the player and frustrating the player. I'm not saying that everything has to change or that big changes must be made. Only that some game-play issues need to be tweaked to be a little more user friendly for the casual MMO player. Otherwise, it's just going to be you hard-core groupies and that is all there will ever be in Ryzom. And, unfortunately, that is why Ryzom is so desolate.

Well ryzom isn't for everyone but ppl playing it are passionate about our little rootball.

if you get back on game send me a tell i would like to discuss your post but rather not do it here there will be certain types of feedback that i dont want to read :P

If you need help, then just ask on universe! :) If you dont quit then I'll help you, and theres lots of people that will help you. I been playing for 2 and half years, and I still dont know everything about the game. I think thats what makes it fun, but you dont have to agree.

P.S.- If you think people are rude here to noobs compared to WoW, then you need a mental check. People on WoW can be and are quite brutal to noobs especially. People on here try not to be rude at all, but some just are by nature.

What game doesnt have rude people right?

Some people dont always understand the language you speak either. :) It has become a diverse game of many races after the merge, and that's what makes Ryzom cool.

OMG. Ashmita if you help him he will want to quit for sure.

Great post Tumbleweed.

Ashmita how long have you been playing this game? (inside cookies joke I guess)

But now let's get serious now Ashmita all I can see in this poor souls future if you help him is him jumping of a cliff somewhere. (ingame and probably real life aswell) :D

thumbleweed:

1. Mobs aren't goblins you can stop with a warning sign, these mobs roam like real life creatures look around you how many cats try to cross the roads in real life their only problem is that they are smaller then humans and their cars and in on atys some of the mobs are lucky to be bigger then us for now and we haven't invented cars.
=> great response from the devs there +1

2. I guess the mob killing you the other day was in zora where we had a nice halloween event, these kind of things only happen only now and then and if you keep attention to universe channel and the events channel then you would most likely have know (except if you are the first poor homin that discovers the boss)

3. being invulnerable on a mount ok i'm not gonna go into this since that would be so bad for the game and community. Imagine never to fear anything anymore and trekking would be most boring thing ever. I did a fun trek last night for instance from avendale to yrk with a seemingly new guild on our rootball and well I got the team (we where with 10+ ppl) lost in the maze kind off (everyone knows how I do treks trough the maze :p ). But the fun we got blasting everything and dieing and rezzing each other was just great. We had a blast.

4. on the missions, i've always looked at them more as an nuisance then anything else but ppl here don't play the game to do missions we are here to be free and do what we want

5. inventory locking => right click and choose lock, then they don't sow up in vendor, then again I don't like it so don't use it. Rebuying used gear would just make the vendor an even more unlimited bag then it's now.

6. it's not that hard to find out what creature eats you and well if they have eaten you then you'll stay away from them anyway. can always just ask in universe when you see a mob for the first time thats why we got that channel.

7. on your dp rant, well don't you look in real life to cross the roads either? The death penalty in real life is still much higher then in this game, could say whoever made this game was a softy. :D
=> this community is not for you sorry but goodbye thumbleweed!!!!!!! , if you want to insult players then atleast post under your real name on this forum instead

8. crafting => I've heard it's fun but can't comment on that! I don't kneel down to get mats from the dirt.

I hope one day the developers of Ryzom will learn to remove ppl that use forum alts to hide after what they type on the forums since thats like all those 5 year olds on forums and on stuff like facebook just being anoying.

ps. If you ever want you can contact me ingame and I'm sure you'll see I'm not the worst around I can understand most ppls point of view but I kind of don't like ppl hiding behind secret alts for some reason.