Now that the server merge has been announced, we expect that you may have some questions regarding events. We do hope that the Q&A style explanation below will answer any questions you have.
Will there be continuity in the story and the roleplay?
The transition will be designed with role-playing, so it will be possible to update the lives of the characters without breaking their story. Structures that have been created by the players, should be preserved as fully as possible.
How will we realize a coherent transition?
You probably saw that there is a horde of kitins swarming over Atys right at the moment. This is not random. The Kitins are preparing a new assault on Atys, and this one will be the biggest in scale since the New Beginning. It will become what shall be remembered as the Second Great Swarming.
Before the merger, on the evening of the 27th, the last RP event will be played and hominity will be given the chance to fight the kitins and to fight what seems to be relentless attacks from the Kitin hordes. As the fight goes on, the homins will suddenly become conscious that this is a hopeless fight and that the only way to survive is to flee.After a great battle against Kitins, homins will get access to a safe haven. They will stay there for 8 years. (This period will symbolize the closure of the shards.) Homins will get back on the New Lands in Jena year 2570 (which will be the date shown on the shard when it opens).
Homins will then discover a different world! Everything is now destroyed and the Kitins continue to swarm. But, this time, hominkind will fight back and reclaim what was lost. Only then can they begin to rebuild.
All of the material possessions that were stored have been destroyed by the kitins. Doors are broken, the buildings ruined... Everything your character has known is now destroyed or changed. All that your character took with him when fleeing is gone, worn out while trying to survive.
Everything will have to be crafted again, and rebuilt: equipment, cities, nations...
How will players be able to play across different nations?
In every nation, one city (excluding capitals) will be dedicated to a community. This way, players will be able to reunite with players who speak the same language, without abandoning the nation their character plays in. In the Burning Lands, there are only 3 cities. This means that one of the communities will be given a neighborhood inside of Pyr, while the other two will be installed in the two remaining cities.
Every city will have a nation teleporter, access to guildhalls, apartments and merchants (up to Q200). Q250 merchants will be limited to captal cities. Alas, the new features will not immediately be implemented after the reopening. However, we will do our best so that it is done as quickly as possible.
Each city will have its own assembly, that will be its political power. Furthermore, it will have its own main NPCs, and its own minor events. As these minor events do not influence the main story of Atys, they will be played in the language of the city (French, English or German) and at normal times for the community.
Capital cities will be the cities of the Central Power (cities with the leaders). Assemblies and governments will be organized there, with delegates from every city assembly. Saga events (which influence the Lore and Atys History) will unite the different cities and the whole national community will collaborate.
We now see two solutions: either everyone speaks English, or speak the Atysian language of their nation : Mateis, Fyrk, Taki Zorai or Tyll Tryker. The basis of these languages is actually the same for every server. Any difference that did develop in these languages could be seen as a dialect. You will be able to choose the language you want to play with. If you have any other idea, feel free to speak and give us ideas to implement. We are open to any good suggestion and will be more than glad to change Atys so that it reflects what you wish to see in Ryzom.
To conclude, we will have for every nation: one city/language community, which will be living its own life, operate its own political system, and the capitals will remain the center of the nation.
Who will the be the leaders of the nations?
Stevano having taken control of the Matis was written in the Lore and has been played on the majority of the servers, with the only difference being how he actually got the throne.. Stevano will continue as King in Majestic Gardens. Mabreka will keep his seat as well. Alas, Dexton will not, as he died in one of the shards, so as his resurrection would be... eerie.The tryker's governor is different for all shards. This means we will have to organize a new election (exciting, isn't it ?) and your character will be able to play a role in that event! You will also discover some new candidates....
Of course, characters will not remember the events the same way, depending on which shard they come from. We do count on you to make do with these little problems; make the best of it to obtain some idea of what is going on.
What about the factions?
Different temples were built on each shard, as they were the results of the Temple War event. For this reason, they cannot be kept. We eventually plan to run a similar event to rebuild them.
Faction based events ("non saga", i.e. not influencing the Lore) will of course be played for each language community.
We trust you find the best solution to conquer the outposts with players from every community.
What will Marauders, Rangers and Trytonists become?
The Marauders will have to share a single camp, regardless of the language they speak. This could change in time of course, it is not set in stone.
Marauders could form one or more Clan per community language, united under a common banner: Marauders, Melkiar and Akilia leading everyone. The clans could form "assemblies" with some representatives of each community and discuss in English or Marund (the Marauder language).
We will continue to develop other third factions (Rangers, Trytonist) as well.
Will the New lands change after the 2nd Great Swarm?
The kitin presence in the New Lands have deeply changed them. You can expect a lot of changes, regarding position of mobs and raw materials.
What of the Encyclopedia?
We will frequently add missions and rites to the new encyclopedia. These missions and rites will be written by the Event Team and implemented by the Dev Team, using our new tool, ARCC. Some Event Guides are working full time on this task. We will offer you a real new Encyclopedia!
How will Saga events be played?
Events influencing the Lore will be played by Event Guides and Event Managers. Of course, we know they will be more difficult to play, because of the differences between the communities and their languages. Each event can only be played once for every community. We are thinking about playing them and translating them live, using community channelsThis will be the more delicate part, but we will not impose a sole language, without translation, because we want everyone to have the chance to participate.Player translating live could also be a solution.We're still trying to find the best way to deal with it. Feel free to help us and give us ideas. They will be listened to and taken into account.
Regarding Lore events (Kitins & Goo), they will continue.
What will the merge change for the different Event Teams?
The Event Teams of the three shards will merge and form a single new team.In the future, each team will be led by its own SEM (Senior Event Manager). Each team prepares and plays "minor events" that do not impact the Lore, under supervision of the SEM.
"Saga events", impacting the Lore are coordinated by the SEM coordinator, who makes sure that Lore and the storyline are the same, with a small adaptation due to differences between the communities, of course.
Each team works in its own language and the 3 SEMs work together in English. We want to use this same organization (that has proven its effectiveness in the past) for cities and capitals.
As the three teams will merge, there will only be one SEM left. Until now, Tamarea has been the SEM of Aniro as well as the SEM coordinator. She should have become the SEM of the new merged team. Nevertheless, a SEM speaking the three languages (English/French/German) is very important. First, for the communication inside the Event Team and second, but most importantly, for the communication with the Atysian community. Limai, who is now the SEM of Leanon, can speak the three languages, and for this reason was chosen to become the new SEM of the merged shard.
Conclusion
Of course, everything won't be perfect and it will take some time before we get to a balanced situation. We will show you that continuing roleplay is possible and that the merging of the servers will open the door to new ways of interacting.
Together, we will see a successful end to this adventure!
Long Live Ryzom!
Longue vie à Ryzom !
Lang lebe Ryzom!
Ryzom Team
Will there be continuity in the story and the roleplay?
The transition will be designed with role-playing, so it will be possible to update the lives of the characters without breaking their story. Structures that have been created by the players, should be preserved as fully as possible.
How will we realize a coherent transition?
You probably saw that there is a horde of kitins swarming over Atys right at the moment. This is not random. The Kitins are preparing a new assault on Atys, and this one will be the biggest in scale since the New Beginning. It will become what shall be remembered as the Second Great Swarming.
Before the merger, on the evening of the 27th, the last RP event will be played and hominity will be given the chance to fight the kitins and to fight what seems to be relentless attacks from the Kitin hordes. As the fight goes on, the homins will suddenly become conscious that this is a hopeless fight and that the only way to survive is to flee.After a great battle against Kitins, homins will get access to a safe haven. They will stay there for 8 years. (This period will symbolize the closure of the shards.) Homins will get back on the New Lands in Jena year 2570 (which will be the date shown on the shard when it opens).
Homins will then discover a different world! Everything is now destroyed and the Kitins continue to swarm. But, this time, hominkind will fight back and reclaim what was lost. Only then can they begin to rebuild.
All of the material possessions that were stored have been destroyed by the kitins. Doors are broken, the buildings ruined... Everything your character has known is now destroyed or changed. All that your character took with him when fleeing is gone, worn out while trying to survive.
Everything will have to be crafted again, and rebuilt: equipment, cities, nations...
How will players be able to play across different nations?
In every nation, one city (excluding capitals) will be dedicated to a community. This way, players will be able to reunite with players who speak the same language, without abandoning the nation their character plays in. In the Burning Lands, there are only 3 cities. This means that one of the communities will be given a neighborhood inside of Pyr, while the other two will be installed in the two remaining cities.
Every city will have a nation teleporter, access to guildhalls, apartments and merchants (up to Q200). Q250 merchants will be limited to captal cities. Alas, the new features will not immediately be implemented after the reopening. However, we will do our best so that it is done as quickly as possible.
Each city will have its own assembly, that will be its political power. Furthermore, it will have its own main NPCs, and its own minor events. As these minor events do not influence the main story of Atys, they will be played in the language of the city (French, English or German) and at normal times for the community.
Capital cities will be the cities of the Central Power (cities with the leaders). Assemblies and governments will be organized there, with delegates from every city assembly. Saga events (which influence the Lore and Atys History) will unite the different cities and the whole national community will collaborate.
We now see two solutions: either everyone speaks English, or speak the Atysian language of their nation : Mateis, Fyrk, Taki Zorai or Tyll Tryker. The basis of these languages is actually the same for every server. Any difference that did develop in these languages could be seen as a dialect. You will be able to choose the language you want to play with. If you have any other idea, feel free to speak and give us ideas to implement. We are open to any good suggestion and will be more than glad to change Atys so that it reflects what you wish to see in Ryzom.
To conclude, we will have for every nation: one city/language community, which will be living its own life, operate its own political system, and the capitals will remain the center of the nation.
Who will the be the leaders of the nations?
Stevano having taken control of the Matis was written in the Lore and has been played on the majority of the servers, with the only difference being how he actually got the throne.. Stevano will continue as King in Majestic Gardens. Mabreka will keep his seat as well. Alas, Dexton will not, as he died in one of the shards, so as his resurrection would be... eerie.The tryker's governor is different for all shards. This means we will have to organize a new election (exciting, isn't it ?) and your character will be able to play a role in that event! You will also discover some new candidates....
Of course, characters will not remember the events the same way, depending on which shard they come from. We do count on you to make do with these little problems; make the best of it to obtain some idea of what is going on.
What about the factions?
Different temples were built on each shard, as they were the results of the Temple War event. For this reason, they cannot be kept. We eventually plan to run a similar event to rebuild them.
Faction based events ("non saga", i.e. not influencing the Lore) will of course be played for each language community.
We trust you find the best solution to conquer the outposts with players from every community.
What will Marauders, Rangers and Trytonists become?
The Marauders will have to share a single camp, regardless of the language they speak. This could change in time of course, it is not set in stone.
Marauders could form one or more Clan per community language, united under a common banner: Marauders, Melkiar and Akilia leading everyone. The clans could form "assemblies" with some representatives of each community and discuss in English or Marund (the Marauder language).
We will continue to develop other third factions (Rangers, Trytonist) as well.
Will the New lands change after the 2nd Great Swarm?
The kitin presence in the New Lands have deeply changed them. You can expect a lot of changes, regarding position of mobs and raw materials.
What of the Encyclopedia?
We will frequently add missions and rites to the new encyclopedia. These missions and rites will be written by the Event Team and implemented by the Dev Team, using our new tool, ARCC. Some Event Guides are working full time on this task. We will offer you a real new Encyclopedia!
How will Saga events be played?
Events influencing the Lore will be played by Event Guides and Event Managers. Of course, we know they will be more difficult to play, because of the differences between the communities and their languages. Each event can only be played once for every community. We are thinking about playing them and translating them live, using community channelsThis will be the more delicate part, but we will not impose a sole language, without translation, because we want everyone to have the chance to participate.Player translating live could also be a solution.We're still trying to find the best way to deal with it. Feel free to help us and give us ideas. They will be listened to and taken into account.
Regarding Lore events (Kitins & Goo), they will continue.
What will the merge change for the different Event Teams?
The Event Teams of the three shards will merge and form a single new team.In the future, each team will be led by its own SEM (Senior Event Manager). Each team prepares and plays "minor events" that do not impact the Lore, under supervision of the SEM.
"Saga events", impacting the Lore are coordinated by the SEM coordinator, who makes sure that Lore and the storyline are the same, with a small adaptation due to differences between the communities, of course.
Each team works in its own language and the 3 SEMs work together in English. We want to use this same organization (that has proven its effectiveness in the past) for cities and capitals.
As the three teams will merge, there will only be one SEM left. Until now, Tamarea has been the SEM of Aniro as well as the SEM coordinator. She should have become the SEM of the new merged team. Nevertheless, a SEM speaking the three languages (English/French/German) is very important. First, for the communication inside the Event Team and second, but most importantly, for the communication with the Atysian community. Limai, who is now the SEM of Leanon, can speak the three languages, and for this reason was chosen to become the new SEM of the merged shard.
Conclusion
Of course, everything won't be perfect and it will take some time before we get to a balanced situation. We will show you that continuing roleplay is possible and that the merging of the servers will open the door to new ways of interacting.
Together, we will see a successful end to this adventure!
Long Live Ryzom!
Longue vie à Ryzom !
Lang lebe Ryzom!
Ryzom Team