Loryen
This might be Laom, but I have been playing Ryzom since a year after release and I only have one skill over 200...and it is not a Master...because I do not play to grind nor grind to play. I play to have fun and if levels happen, great. I think it is important to remember that not all vets are advanced players are elitists...nor do they all have 60 masters. But, even though I might not have any masters, I do have 5 or so years of gained experience with my character. I have no interest in either grinding or waiting another 5 years to enjoy the content I can enjoy now. And I have only found the necessity for team work and cooperation increase as I have gained levels.
Almost exactly the same as me, although my one skill over 200 - Healing - was maximised to 250 during the time my order was still there and we participated in OP fights to keep the Kamists out of Matia. On the other hand, I'm playing my character since 7 years now - it's still my first. And the main reason I'm still playing (apart from loving beautiful Matia) is that I have a biography, shaped since and because the Karavaneer lost the Temple Wars (on Leanon, that is), and that led Salazar to his development as a historian and politician and made him a Filira. After the merge, there can't be any historians, to start with, for our server's histories differ. There won't be any politics. Outside that space, which I fill as good as I can, I'm a loner, since almost all my friends left Atys ages ago. Almost all my team work I do on a RP level. After the merge I can only play a beggar with his tongue cut out.
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Salazar CaradiniFilira Matia
Royal Historian
Member of the Royal Academy of Yrkanis
First Seraph of the Order of the Argo Navis