Srecko
The fault lies fully on Company that made the game and no one else. Eve online started like ryzom small unknown space sandbox game, the diffrence is CCP who made the game did never stop evolving the game, constantly upgrading evolving , features overhauling grafix...
There's a few things about Eve that make it a continuing success and I think Ryzom would benefit a lot from borrowing some of the core principles of the Eve dev team.
1) Constantly evolving Content & Mechanics
Having a really great game that draws in players means making sure the world feels fresh & alive. Ensure you have the right tools in the hands of the right people to make that happen without impacting the core development team. Content creators should be able to design & build without stealing too much time from the devs working on mechanics.
2) Open ended skills
Caps have a place and they work to help ensure balance but the side effect is that when you max out a skill - there's this what now moment.. It's a great feeling of achievement but.. combined with the current closed loop crafting - negatively impacts gameplay.
I enjoy PvP - not all the time and I'm not a great fan of random PvP - mostly because, in it's current incarnation, leaves little room for tactics, strategy, thinking on your feet, tweaking or pushing your eq in an unexpected way to gain an advantage.
I think the best example of when you have an optimal PvP system is when a team of F2P players can take down a couple of masters.
3) Community
There is a great community for Ryzom out there - but it doesn't feel as if there are people in the company pulling that player base together. The Ryzom website is in dire need of a refresh to bring it up to date, feeling alive, fresh, interactive - it should be a players first stop to know what's happening, where & why.
All this ofc takes time, energy and investment by the people & company behind the game - but a little goes a long way when you tap into the community.