Ryzom Forge meeting report – March 06, 2023
1 - New Ticket System
Tamarea (RT) – 20:41 UTC
Ryzom's ticket system, which regulates the interactions between the support team and the players, has been updated for a new interface and better usability.
You will find in a few minutes, the details of the changes of use implied by this improvement in the announcement published on the forum.
I only specify here that some categories of posts can only be read by Senior Game Masters.
Q: Does it mean that you can't contact the support other than through the site or in-game? No more direct mail at all?
A: That's it: no more emails at support@ryzom.com. But we are always listening on Ryzom Chat.
2 - New Encyclopedia
Ulukyn (RT) – 21:05 UTC
In fact, we talk about "new" because the interface and some other things will change, but the idea remains the same. The Encyclopedia will remain a collection of rites, each of which will unlock an interesting item (a stanza or access to a new in-game ability) along with a text explaining the thing. But sometimes, several rites will have to be completed to obtain such an item.
The interface of this new Encyclopedia is largely inspired by that of the lessons. It will present a complete list of "finishable" rites (those that a player character can actually accomplish).
Some of the rites proposed by the current Encyclopedia will be gradually converted into a new version where :
• the pre-ritual missions, although as simple as the current ones, will be more in line with the objective of the rite and not ordinary missions;
• except for four of them (national rites providing the same stanza in a specific version for each nation), no fame condition will be required;
• the progression in the rite will be in six steps (each corresponding to a face of an amber cube);
• the first and last steps of the rite will require dialogue with an NPC;
• the three steps following the first one will consist in the completion of simple missions (current pre-ritual assignments, rewritten);
• the fifth step will require the completion of a more complex and challenging mission: the "ritual quest", which constitutes the rite itself.
As for the future rites, they will also include six steps, but the character of each one will vary according to the rite that they will compose.
Q: Will the old rites already completed and the rewards obtained on completion remain?
A: Yes, no change. There will be no need to repeat the rite, the old rites will remain valid even after conversion. But the character may have to visit the converted rite to collect its reward again.
Q: Will the future rites be new rites or only the final development of currently "unfinished" rites?
A: Since no "unfinished" rites had really been started (ritual quest having not even received a start of development), we chose to delete them and start again on new rites built as I described earlier.
New rites
There will be forty new rites to start with, one rite per region, because we now have the tools to develop interesting and less buggy rites more quickly.But even before these forty rites, you will be able to pass the very first rite of the new Encyclopedia, a rite that will allow you to unlock, against some Elyps, the possibility to "Adopt a zig".
I have to point out that the reason why the Encyclopaedia redesign has been delayed is that the particularly difficult development of the "Kincher" and "Kizoar" rites took a long time, prompting us to look for ways to develop rites more easily and quickly. That's also why these two rites will be converted only after the implementation of the new ones (their ritual quest requires recoding).
The new Encyclopedia and the "Briefcase" (the name is temporary), which will collect the texts, will be two new categories of the Encyclopedia window (SHIFT+e).
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Q: Will there be armor or weapons awarded as ritual rewards?
A: No, the new rites will only offer, like the old ones, a stanza (a generic pattern, for example) or access to a new ability in game. No items.
Q: If there is no fame requirement, does that mean that the rites will be available to Marauders and Neutrals?
A: Yes, we want to make the Encyclopedia available to all characters without having to change their fames or citizenship. The rites of each nation or faction will award the same stanza, just available in several versions. They will thus only require one development, not a development for each nation or faction.
Q: Will success in performing the rites be lost if one changes faction or nation?
A: Yes, but only if the rite involved is one of those specific to each nation or faction. Which, incidentally, will be few in number and will mostly grant "cosmetic" rewards.
Q: Will the rites that make one a Kamist or a Karavanier be changed to a level of difficulty and duration comparable to the rite that currently makes one a Ranger?
A: No. Not for the time being, at least, because we are more motivated to do something new. We are now a bit tired of redesigns and these two existing and functional rites will wait for theirs for some time.
Q: Are the new rites already designed in outline or do you need help with the design?
A: No, they are not yet designed in outline. We have only, for the next forty new rites, adopted a general idea: they will have to make discover a region through activities and missions organized in a small story. So yes: all ideas are welcome. We are also interested in good stories to tell.
Q: When will these new rites be available in game?
A: The first rite, which I mentioned earlier, is in the final stages of translation. It has already been tested and is ready to be put in game.
Q: Will there be any new weapon or armor patterns among the ritual rewards? Those that use materials from all races, such as the existing axe or the electric shield?
A: Yes, generic patterns not already acquired and possibly nation/faction specific patterns.i]
3 - New Allegories
Ulukyn & Tykus (RT) – 21:53 UTC
I remind you that allegories are engravings that a Majestic Garden NPC applies on jewels which, once engraved and when worn by the character, give the latter special abilities. Because they are rarely used by players, because they are expensive, because it is not easy to get one for each ecosystem, and because some of them are no longer very useful, the system that regulates their use will be reworked.
But above all, we are going to add three new ones that should be more interesting. The first one will allow the wearer to obtain generic materials instead of those he currently gets by looting on killed creatures. Thus, the player, if he simply wants to increase his character's skills of armorer, tailor, etc. through training, will be able to alternate hunting sessions with crafting sessions.
Q: Will this generic looting concern commonplace creatures or only Bosses?
A: Commonplace creatures, yes. Those whose hunting essentially allows characters to improve their skills in the various fighting arts. And, by contrast, neither Bosses nor Nameds will allow generic looting.
Q: Will generic materials looted this way be exchangeable?
A: Good question! Yes, because there is no reason why they should not be.
Q: Will these generic materials be of the same level as the looted creature?
A: Yes, the same quality and quantity as those that would have been obtained by looting without allegory. Moreover, the player will have a certain number of chances (variable according to the level of the allegory worn and expressed in percentage) to see the quantity doubled during a looting.
Q: Will the generic materials so collected, unlike those provided by the Wheel of Fortune, weigh in the character's bag?
A: Yes, they will have the same general characteristics, weight included, as the "normal" materials they replace. So collecting generic materials instead of the usual ones does not change anything for the hunter's inventory.
Q: So, will the Wheel's generic materials become bulky, too?
A: No. But we'll probably reduce the chances of winning them in order to increase the chances of winning other possible rewards by gambling excellent or supreme tokens. So the generic materials from Wheel and those from looting will be different, and only the latter will be bulky.
Q: When will this allegory be put into play?
A: Soon: it is already coded and will be tested this week.
Mystery Items
Ulukyn (RT) – 22:12 UTC
The other two new allegories are identical in their effects, but one is for use during hunting sessions and the other during drilling sessions. They will give the character n % chance to find, while drilling or hunting, an object to identify buried in the bark or in the corpse of a creature.
The quality of these items will depend on the level of the region where they have been collected and they will be extremely diverse: excellent and supreme materials (these very rare), materials from a Boss of the region (also very rare), generic colored materials, pieces of pattern of weapon winnable at the Wheel, etc. Note, however, that generic weapon patterns will not be such items: they will be in the Encyclopedia.
In addition, we plan to introduce, in the fure, every week or month, special items for an unique player to find. If you have ideas for other such items, do not refrain from proposing them on the forum. Of course, the more valuable the item to be identified, the rarer it will be.
During a session, the wearer of the allegory will be able to obtain an item to identify on any creature (or source of raw materials), regardless of the number of creatures killed (or sources exhausted) during the session. Indeed, the popping of the item depends on successive dice rolls at a frequency calculated from the n % mentioned above.
Finally (the best, in my opinion) some objects to be identified will be treasure maps indicating more or less precisely the location of a chest to be extracted from the bark, and it will be up to you to set up a group expedition to go and get it.
The chest in question could contain various precious objects, Elyps and other tokens, as well as (even if it is not really decided yet) the Muse-Ham dress (LAM skin 3).
Q: Among the objects to be identified, will one be able to obtain weapons thanks to these allegories? Materials from outposts?
A: No weapons, no. But yes, the item to be identified could be a material produced by an outpost (extremely rare, only one per week for all of Atys, for example).
Q: Where will the character store the items to be identified that they find during their session? In the normal bag or the special one?
A: This is yet to be determined, but note that this storage will only be temporary: once identified, the item will be moved to the normal bag.
Q: Will the objects so found being identified only by visiting an NPC?
A: Yes, an NPC in one of the capitals cities, which so will be made more lively by returns from hunting or drilling.
Q: Will there be a limit to the number of items to identify (e.g., one per character per week) or will it depend solely on the length of the session conducted?
A: No. And yes: the longer a character hunts or drills, the more likely he/she will find such items, no matter how many creatures are killed (or how many sources are drilled) during the session.
Q: Will a player character be able to wear multiple allegories?
A: Yes, these three new allegories will be engraved on a ring. Thus, the same set of jewels will allow the character to benefit from the effects of two allegories, of the same or different nature.
Q: Will the process of engraving allegories be modified by the redesign of the system?
A: No, for the most part: only it cost will be modified, downward. And, by the way, I remind you that completing the Storyline missions allows you to increase the level of the allegories without any further cost.
Q: Will the reworking include the possibility of improving the durability of a piece of jewelry while having an allegory engraved on it?
A: No, but this may become available through a rite in the future.
Q: When will these three new allegories be available in game?
A: Soon: they have been coded and will be tested this week. And the collection of items to be identified will be gradually enriched afterwards. So, don't refrain from proposing on the forum your ideas for items to identify or allegories (including those already posted in the past).
The meeting is closed at 22:41 UTC.(*)
(*) But the Forge channel remains occupied until 23:20 UTC with the debate raised by an off-topic question (Why not a periodic geographic redistribution of drilling sites?) then asked.
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