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This has probably been mentioned before, but after all the bugs are taken care of relating to Ryzom on Steam, and the Dev team are focussing back on adding content to game, then:

Bring the Ryzom Ring back, or Make Pocket worlds!
Bring it up the priority list! :D

I know i mentioned this in Ryzom forge meeting, but I am creating this post so everyone can express their feelings on it.

(And personally, I don't know if it is possible, but maybe it can be incorporated into being part of the addition of new zones in the game.Perhaps they can be interconnected.)

Or, it can be a scenario where players can create the landscape of a zone, and add that to the overall game and create a different land? If not, then at least the pocket worlds would be cool.

The Ring is basically Minecraft for Ryzom. It attracts creators and generates new content free for everyone to enjoy. I loved it and I think its return would benefit the game and the community. It was a unique feature for an mmo and Ryzoms great achievement.

The Ryzom Ring...

1. Supports Roleplay

From the advertisement: "Would you like to create your own event? The Animation Team is always at your disposal and will gladly support and assist in logistics. In addition, many guilds are prepared to open their doors to help your character evolve! "

Make your own event in your own world! Create stories, stunning settings or whole quests in the Ryzom Ring.

2. Generates Content

From the advertisement: "Far from being a frozen world, Ryzom is constantly evolving in regard to your actions. Will you spark another war? Will you found a lucrative commercial guild or aim for political power? What if your hunting talents could be decisive in the struggle against Kitins? Pick your actions well, for each one of them may impact the world and its inhabitants!"

The Ryzom Ring gives players the tools to create any of the above. Have you ever seen an invasion? With the Ryzom Ring you will. Have you ever seen large scale political events? Explored foreign lands? With the Ryzom Ring you can. Have you ever solved a puzzle similar to games like Myst? Make them with the Ryzom Ring.

And the best: No effort whatsoever from the Event Team needed. Power to the players.

3. Attracts a new target Audience

Why are Minecraft, Terraria and similar games so successful? Because players can make their own ideas and dreams reality, share and enjoy them together. Ryzom is a MMORPG, we can already enjoy the game and content together. But we cannot create new content and we cannot share it. Yet!

4. Spawns new Activities

A ring scenario building contest? A hunger games like survival race? Yubo ball? The Ryzom Ring will support itself by spawning many new areas of play.

5. Failed

Yes, the Ryzom Ring failed in the past. It was prepared with much passion and enjoyed by a few, but it had too many bugs to really lift off. From a creators point of view it was sometimes unstable, had limited commands and building blocks and several bugs connected to them. From a players point of view it had rarely any content because there was no way to permanently host scenarios and not many creators were using it to make content.



The Ring probably needs...

• someone who is willing to invest time and get familiar with the code, biggest problem imho
• bug fixes, mostly securitiy and exploit fixes
• a list of permanently available scenarios, they could be autolaunched when the first player enters them and closed when the last leaves, also could be limited to a list of max 5 or 10, voted by the community etc.
• creators and players, but I believe it will will attract both when it's working again

arc

From ryzom forge meeting:

So, help Pocket worlds get real! Apply as PHP dev volunteer if you know PHP or test ARK once it's released to players!

PS: i completely agree that it would be great :D

I've always been considering Ring a huge waste of developer's resources and money. Who knows, if Nevrax wouldn't waste its efforts on this stillborn project and focused on unfinished and new content for actual game, it could have lasted longer than it did.

Ring has been running on a separate server. Unless they find a way to host these "pocket worlds" on Atys or test server, this will require a new server. It's a money sink. Remember, Ring was shut down, because Winch Gate wanted to cut off expenses. Another money sink is what Ryzom needs now, absolutely. Why not, let's copy Nevrax' mistakes. Instead of saving subscription money for future payments, outsourcing some coding or artistic work, hiring a skilled programmer or texture artist, or launching advertising campaign let's run a new server, which will be ignored by 90% of population, as we all know from previous experience.

Not stopping by that, let's also devote developer's time to working on this project, instead of finishing existing content, iterating on UI changes or picking up one of the proposals that either were accepted years ago, or being discussed on these forums over and over again. Great idea.

Gee, Thanks for killing this discussion off. I was not proposing we bring back a buggy useless program that didn't work. As you can see this addition has already been discussed: http://app.ryzom.com/app_forum/index.php?page=topic/view/22511/2# 2

 I am optimistic that this idea can be improved to be not only usable or not buggy, but maybe even as a vehicle to add new zones to Ryzom, which has been expressed by players before as something they would like to see AND....as an End goal of Ryzom Forge: Please see: (Forums>Ryzom forge>General>Collaborative Project)

RF (Ryzom Forge) has been set up to add content to the game. I like the idea of new zones, but realistically from having sat in on a number of meetings, i dont see it happening for a long long time, if ever.

I could really care less about Graphical user interface additions to the game unless it has something to do with 3D Oculus Rift maybe or such gear.

And as for new Tattoos or hair styles, who cares, i haven't visited them more than 2 times in the last 3 or 4 years. I don't play the game for those reasons.

Cats, this game needs CATS! Lions, Cheetah, Tigers!

But seriously:
I think this game would benefit the most from more quality over quantity.

I could lower the camera height in a config file rather then in the options, but I still miss the FOV-settings. On ballisticmystix.net I found 120°-FOV images, but how?

The tutorial area is good (not perfect, but very good still), but afterward it loses rapidly on quality:
– The water-quests seem to be the most basic thing. But it's badly explaned how it works.
– You can use rightclick/info on mobs, but it shows an empty page. From info, I expect information about resistances, spell usage, hp, …

When I entered Fairhaven first, I was stunned by the quest-spam over the heads of NPC and often lost the orientation when it looked all the same.
– There are no symbols for different trainers - you have to target them first.

Now, each of these connected platforms look exactly the same, but there could be an embassy from the other 3 types of homins to increase the identity-value of FH instead and a statue in the middle on each platform.

___
These are not meant as complains – just examples of what can be done better.

The Ryzom Ring seems a great platform for contributing such things.

Ryzom Ring was absolutely amazing. People who complain it was buggy and unplayable probably only used it for 2 minutes and gave up because it required more focus than mindless grinding does.

There were a few annoying bugs here and there, but they were not game breaking. I'm completely ignorant when it comes to coding and programming and I created a scenario in the Ring. It's true that the scenarios couldn't be hosted online, but at least in Arispotle a community member took it upon herself to keep them available at the Ryzom wiki, so you could simply download them yourself and play anytime you wanted:

http://en.wiki.ryzom.com/wiki/List_of_Ring_scenarios

Some of the scenarios were absolutely mind blowing for people who enjoy Ryzom lore and story heavy questing. Marelli had a scenario in which you could travel to 8 different future alternate realities of Atys to see what would happen if kamis won the war, if karas won the war, if the planet got taken over by the Goo, overrun by Kitins, etc. It was a masterpiece of a scenario, better than most quests I have ever seen in any MMO, period.

But the truth is that as much as I and a few others loved the Ring there was just not enough interest for it. Folks complained they couldn't get mats and rewards out of the Ring. Because yea sure, Guild's GHs aren't already bursting with sups and boss mats =P

Pocket Worlds sounded like an amazing idea, it'd be like Ryzom Ring 2.0 but fixing old mistakes. But I'm under the impression the guy(s) who was working on it before went inactive, that's why we never heard anything about it again. I could be wrong though, who knows.

The paid dev of Ryzom? huh, i doubt very much that he is inactive... or we wouldn't be on steam probably.
From Ryzom Forge meetings it seems he's working on ARK atm though, improving it before opening it to the players. And ARK is somehow needed for Pocket Worlds, so i guess it's a good thing he's working on ARK. But it's not programmed in some hours if you are alone :)

Given that they want to host it on the main server, the money issue is out of question, but another point still standing.

I don't understand everyone's obsession with new zones. New zone this, new zone that. Like it's supposed to be the cure for low population problem or boredom at level cap. New zone? What for? There is nothing to do in the old ones and you want more of the same? There is a lot of empty space in game, places like Sawdust Mines or Heretic's Hovel, or entire Lands of Umbra region never get visited by anyone, unless there is a boss spawn or a trek passing by. People hang around capitals and 250 areas, everything else is empty most of the time. Besides, there is a new zone in game. It's called Kitin's Lair. Guess what, this zone is also devoid of players and unfinished.

It's not the new zone that is needed, it's new activities, new things to do, new tools for creating player content - and by player content I mean not silly quests and clockwork theatres, but things that happen when one interacts with other players. This is MMO after all, this genre is about interacting with players, not about quests and plotlines. If I want quests, I launch TES, NWN or The Witcher games. This so called sandbox lacks the sand in it, and new zone without new things to do ain't gonna fix that problem. If that's the end goal of Ryzom Forge, it's wrong right from the start.

Speaking of sand, let's see what do we have here. Encyclopedia development has stalled for ages, not to mention the fact that half of existing rewards is useless, Outposts are basically dead, marauder occupations barely get mentioned, advanced occupations are long gone and forgotten, Spires concept was abandoned. Did I miss anything? So what should the developers do now? Why, pocket worlds, of course!.. While they are at it, they could also readjust stripes on yubo skins, change speed rate of Tryker windmills, or do the other things, as important for game as these. 

I could rant about the pocket worlds feature taking players out of the game world, hiding them into instanced locations, and how anti-sandbox it is, but I spare you a Talkirc-like wall of text.

Oh, I probably had it confused on who was doing what back then. I thought it was one of the volunteers doing most of the work on Pocket Worlds. Well, glad to know it's the paid dev then! Gives me hope it'll become a reality now.

Very much this.

As much as I disgree with you on Pocket Worlds (I'll get to that later), I think the above paragraph is SPOT on.

The only MMO's that can retain players with new zones are those that can pump out these new zones at least 1 or 2 per year. Like WOW or ESO for example. And even so, it's a very artificial and fragile system. New zone comes, players devour the new content in 2 weeks, then it's back to the same old, same old.

Plus yes, Kitin's Lair, omg. Amazing zone, when it came out it was bursting with personality and possibilities. The mobs AI there was so unique and grounded in lore. I loved it. Nothing excited me more than the thought of seeing it finished. That could be like the ultimate end zone for Ryzom. Post-merge it got watered down with less aggro.

Now while I agree with you about giving the players sand and letting them play with that, the thing is, there is a very high demand for the kind of sand offered by Pocket Worlds. Just look at the past of NWN modules. True, it takes players away from the main world, but it opens SO many possibilities for the roleplayers to interact with each other and tell stories to each other using pocket worlds as a foundation and building tool. And Ryzom is the type of niche game to attract roleplayers.

Tumbleweed, i agree with you we need more 'Real' content to be added first rather than apartment fixtures, yubo stripes, city flags, etc.

Before the team worked so hard on Steam, they were working on making Blender usefull for creating graphical items for the game, later, players will be able to add their creations to the game, making it truely more sandbox in that respect, or open source with graphical contributions. There is a web page posted in forums and/or the Wiki for graphical needs requested. With more graphics, you can have more different types of events or scenarios happening on Atys.

 Not sure what you mean by 'interaction with other players,' unless you mean more events. I agree on more events! Ryzom forge has requested for more volunteers on the Event team because their team is very small and need help desparately.

The places you mentioned where there is nothing happening, you might add Nexus too. That region is useless in my opinion. I think it would be a good region for maybe a marauder city, or one that is conquerable. Then the region would make supreme mats according to the wishes of the owner or something like that, (Just an idea).

 The Idea of a new zone, is far off. That is why i suggested this idea of an interm solution of areas made by players. Although i just got a taste of the Ring a long time ago, it seemed limited and small to me, however, if redesigned, I think it could be real fun if done right. If most players wish other things to be finished first, then i can go along with that. That is why I made this post, to get everyones feelings on it. Also, I know they are working on ARC so it will be more useable for players, and easy I hope. That way, players can 'Add' to the game, like events and so on. This needs to be done before anything with Pocket worlds or the Ring, or anything gets done. That way it will be really a 'Sandbox' game too. It doesn't have to be the Ring.

You will be happy to know too, Also before they were working on Steam, the Devs were working on at least 3 new Encylopedia rites, maybe more. A Matis one, a Fyros one, and they were having bugs or problems with the Zora one, but are going to work on it and fix it. But, it all got put on hold for Steam. They are supposed to be 'different' kinds of missions/rites than the players are used to, so we will see. I hope they are finished soon. :D

Let's consider this: Dota (and Dota 2) is the bastard offspring of modders who took the Warcraft 3 tools and made something completely different with them.

Ryzom Ring, like any other tool for modders, has the ability to generate ingenious things that the original developers would have never thought of, would have never approved of, or would have never cared to develop.

I'm fairly sure a lot of the English community likes the game world but dislikes the roleplay, events and other clumsy stuff reeking of French "creativity" (I'm not trying to be mean, just pointing out a cultural difference). My gut feeling is that giving them tools to carve their own world, they may actually manage to create something beautiful.

On the other hand, judging by the Ryzom Forge's mild success... I try to temperate any enthusiasm toward modding freedom.

Tumbleweed:

What you say above is quite true, but it involves players who want to invest time and effort into creating that content, and that is not anything that the devs or event team or any *outside* group can do. Event team can encourage and help people, and the technical help can do small things to assist, but it rests upon the *players* to do the heavy lifting.

If adding a new region causes the players to *want* to do the heavy lifting, then it seems to me that a new region is a good thing. If the release of ARK, or introduction of PoWo, causes players to make that effort, well, it seems to me that they have then served a useful purpose.

However, the game doesn't need any of them -- it needs enthused players. And it has them -- it's just that no one is trumpeting their deeds.

Example: The recent event scheduled by the event team to search for a Marauder, Fakuang, for the purposes of bringing him to testify in a Zorai "justice gathering". It was clearly set up by the event team to succeed and make another "clockwork theatre" piece. Oops. The Marauder *players* rescue him, and when a challenge from the Zorai expedition *players* suggest a 2x2 contest, it is held and the Mara win again. Fakuang (or whatever his name is) is still at large.

Example: SKA studies on the characteristics of the Kitins. Efforts by the players (headed by Zendae) over several months produce real numbers which are then incorporated in a "book" that is accessible in game. The studies were made by hunting kitin, both on the surface and in PR, in groups. This has recently been expanded as Serae Zendae made a proposal to the Rangers Aspirant to assist in gathering further data. The event team (Wuaoi, the Ranger Instructor) didn't do anything! It's happening because of the players.

Suggesting implementing the Ring (or PoWo) as a way to encourage this is not wrong -- nor is it a panacea. Suggesting a new region is not wrong, but it is not a panacea either. What strikes me as wrong is sitting around complaining about things being dead and waiting for the devs and teams to do something when one could be organizing the players into doing things *despite* the event team.

I see that discussion splits into two different topics, PW and sandbox features. As the latter one is off-topic, I focus on the former.

As I see it, there are three possibilities. Either PW is a side project, being worked on by one or two members of developing team. OK. Or developers are aware of the problems existing in game, but they can't do much about them, so they move to the things they actually can do. Like they can't revamp Outposts or work on PvP shop, so they work on PW instead. Understood and fine by me. The third possibility is that they are aware of problems, but they still working on other features, because they want so or they have a certain vision and discard things that don't fit into this vision, considering them minor and unimportant. IMO, the third possibility is dangerous.

Player-created dungeons is the kind of content that is uncommon for MMO games. City of Heroes, Star Trek Online, Neverwinter Online, and EQ 2 have it. Add Ryzom too, it's five games out of gazillion. It's experimental. Experiments are good, when you have a) established player base that is large enough to sustain game maintenance and development and b) main content and mechanics in your game are finished, balanced, and working as intended.

What do we have in Ryzom? From what I heard, player base is somewhere between low and average. How many of those players are subscribers remains unknown. Steam tide will go down in several months, its effect will not last forever. Player retention rate is low. There is unfinished content in game, such as PvP shops, marauder OP drill and occupations, Kitin's Lair, Encyclopedia. I'm aware about three new rites in development, been like that for years. There is ruined content, such as Outposts. There is the content that begs to be rebalanced, such as certain stanzas and Encyclopedia rewards. There are essential features completely missing from game, such as working economy, or untapped potential of Outposts, or content for guilds.

If all these things are discarded because of PW development, I can't help, but point it out as a bad move under current circumstances.