I think you haven't been reading as much as you say you have, or you would already know the answers to many of these questions.
Like almost every MMO, the core is practicing skills in order to increase your level, i.e. grinding. That is to say the list of five things that you listed first. Yes -- it's mostly grinding. However there are techniques and tricks to all the skills and they aren't always obvious or well known.
How do the players change things?
By organizing a super guild so that that guild can hold more OPs than other guilds (has been done - currently no single guild is dominant). By being such an awesome crafter that people proudly display "A set of superb heavy Armor made by ....." By running a player event that everyone is talking about for months afterwards.
By picking up on clues in Event Team events that lead to one outcome or another. This was more significant when we had three servers. Events (run by the event team) had different outcomes based on what the actual population of the server did within the event. Emperor Dexton lived (or died), Prince Stevano burned Thesos (or player diplomacy calmed the hot-heads on both sides).
Player willingness to put in effort created (with the aid of the event team) the Marauder "faction". It isn't as well developed as many players would like, but it came about because players wanted it and players played it even before it was official. The same is happening with the Ranger "faction". Things change slowly here, but change does happen.
Are you going to rule the world? No. For one thing, homins tend to be a fractious lot.
Are you going to conquer your own kingdom? Not when you cannot force PvP.
Are you going to discover something new that will destabilize the balance of the game? Don't be ridiculous. But the possibility exists of new discoveries.
There are new discoveries going on -- A fragment of a plan has been discovered in the Lakes. Something called a "boat". There are rumors that the Powers are going to call for the building of Temples, and we cannot be sure if they will be finished or not. (Or even if they ought to be.) A scouting party of aspirant Rangers has been gathered to do preliminary exploration of far portions of the Old Lands. New discoveries are made, well not daily, but often. Player content becomes Lore.
Most of this is role-play content, but it does change the world.
If there were millions of dollars available and a team of artists, programmers, skinners and animators, and the Event Team was larger and paid (at all), then there would probably be even more things, but they wouldn't be player changes.
-- My 2 dappers worth.
Like almost every MMO, the core is practicing skills in order to increase your level, i.e. grinding. That is to say the list of five things that you listed first. Yes -- it's mostly grinding. However there are techniques and tricks to all the skills and they aren't always obvious or well known.
How do the players change things?
By organizing a super guild so that that guild can hold more OPs than other guilds (has been done - currently no single guild is dominant). By being such an awesome crafter that people proudly display "A set of superb heavy Armor made by ....." By running a player event that everyone is talking about for months afterwards.
By picking up on clues in Event Team events that lead to one outcome or another. This was more significant when we had three servers. Events (run by the event team) had different outcomes based on what the actual population of the server did within the event. Emperor Dexton lived (or died), Prince Stevano burned Thesos (or player diplomacy calmed the hot-heads on both sides).
Player willingness to put in effort created (with the aid of the event team) the Marauder "faction". It isn't as well developed as many players would like, but it came about because players wanted it and players played it even before it was official. The same is happening with the Ranger "faction". Things change slowly here, but change does happen.
Are you going to rule the world? No. For one thing, homins tend to be a fractious lot.
Are you going to conquer your own kingdom? Not when you cannot force PvP.
Are you going to discover something new that will destabilize the balance of the game? Don't be ridiculous. But the possibility exists of new discoveries.
There are new discoveries going on -- A fragment of a plan has been discovered in the Lakes. Something called a "boat". There are rumors that the Powers are going to call for the building of Temples, and we cannot be sure if they will be finished or not. (Or even if they ought to be.) A scouting party of aspirant Rangers has been gathered to do preliminary exploration of far portions of the Old Lands. New discoveries are made, well not daily, but often. Player content becomes Lore.
Most of this is role-play content, but it does change the world.
If there were millions of dollars available and a team of artists, programmers, skinners and animators, and the Event Team was larger and paid (at all), then there would probably be even more things, but they wouldn't be player changes.
-- My 2 dappers worth.
---
Remembering Tyneetryk
Phaedreas Tears - 15 years old and first(*) of true neutral guilds in Atys.
(*) This statement is contested, but we are certainly the longest lasting.
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