Bitttymacod
There is a reason when someone is doing the mission, to make sure they (and only they) are actually doing the mission. They aren't useful for anything else.
All dig missions I ever did (not many) required that I actually dig the mats, not just to give them, same as for crafting missions. My guess is that mission mats are not trade-able because they were easier to implement this way. ^^
Bitttymacod
Restrictions and rules are part of what make Ryzom so special.
Nope, sorry, what makes Ryzom so special is: the community (you!), a native Linux client, ability to run well on older hardware, Open Source, sandbox, open world, ai of the mobs (immersion), level design...
Compared to other games, Ryzom has not many restrictions at all (mostly because it’s classless), but that is exactly the way a sandbox/open world is supposed to go, there could be less restrictions without any harm done.
Bitttymacod
It is not possible to advance without work.
Indeed, but we are in a game, the work needs to be fun!
Bitttymacod
The question is not "why not everyone running around in pink tomorrow," but "how do you keep someone interested in this for the long term?"
The „common way“ of the gaming industry to keep players interested in long therm is to regularly (at least 1-2 a year add new content, in a way that keeps even hardcore players busy for some time), means the content added needs to be targeted at casual players AND hardcore players, at the same time (it must not be too hard for casual players and not too easy for hardcore players), thats a challenging task for developers.
The casual players that only have time to play a few hour per week get their piece of the cake (and are happy) and the hardcore players, who have time half of the week just get the rest of the cake. ^^
(I don’t think the „common way“ is the best anyway, but it’s the most approved at all.)
Bitttymacod
The answer is to make it easy to begin and then progressively harder to advance. This is basic game design, and especially true in Ryzom.
But there are different kinds of hard:
-time consuming (possibly boring, e.g. power grinding)
-complex (possibly frustrating, confusing)
-need a team (trouble to get a team together)
So good content needs to be time consuming and somewhat complex, but not too much repetitive and consist of solo AND team activities.
Bitttymacod
That is the reason that I posted my ideas.
Thank you very much for sharing them :)