IDEAS FOR RYZOM

Not really slandering tbh - the dev for arc is very limited in what he can do - they need a real programmer to help - but they upset the one we got for free - so now he is asking for 1500 euros (which is very cheap i think) to write a boot strap programme for their arc stuff (will finish reading your post now Daomei)

I remember the original starting areas, one for each race.

There wasn't much more in the way of explainers or new player help than is currently available on mainland.

Those served well enough at that time, iirc.

Also, iirc, Silan came into being due to the lack of enough new players to spread out over each of the racial starting areas and Silan was the "play for free" extent of the game.

As it now stands, with intermitent flows of new players, Silan mostly works. In slack times, Silan can leave a new player in a situation where there's no help for the higher level missions. That's not a good thing, imo.

I think, maybe, one of two "fixes" would help.
1. Keep Silan but give mainland characters the ability to port to Silan with an automatic reduction in skills and equipment appropriate for Silan, so new players can get direct aid and assistance when Silan pop is too low to provide such.
2. Abandon Silan and adjust the various capital cities with the tutorials and missions already on Silan.

There are some veteran players that keep characters on Silan to provide direct aid and support, but those players are not always ingame or have things to accomplish on their main characters and so not always on hand to assist new players.

There's a rather small window of opportunity to grab a new player sufficiently to keep him/her playing and potentially paying to play.

The more paying players there are, the more resources the devs have to improve our beloved game. This should be important to all of us that enjoy Ryzom.

Neither of these is an option - no one to write the programmes

Think I ended up thinking that Silan should stay there - as so few of us about to help anyway, player base of approx 200 from all over the world ... think over on ML there would often not be anyone kind enough to help and explain to newcomers

I don't think we should hold back ideas just because there may not be enough devs. If there's enough support for an idea, there might be a way to get the resources required. Anyway, I think Silan is working quite well. I wouldn't remove it.

Hahahaha, I left Silan at level 20. I can't imagine staying there to level 50!!! The only thing I don't like about Silan is you can not go back. This makes it difficult to bring friends into the game. I can't go to Silan to hold their hands for the first few days, I can't chat to them, I can't even friend them. I have to tell them everything outside of Ryzom, hope they understand, and hope they find me on mainland.

Tsarfati --

You most certainly can talk with them via /tell and add them to your Friends list.  You just have to do it manually by name rather than right click on them to select the option.  You can also make another toon on your account or add a free account with a Silan toon to welcome them in.

--B

To add them to your Friends list, click the ADD button and type their name in the box.

You can make a new character on same account to visit silan. Uni(verse) channels are universal and allow players to chat between ML and silan. You can also use command "/tell <player> <message>". There's also a friend list under "communications" menu where you can add player by name.

Absolutely not. It ties in with the lore, and also we were all born there. so alas every new player will and should follow in those foot steps.

Actually we were not born there, we arrive there as refugees from the Old Lands, brought by the Rangers to Silan to begin real training (since apparently the knowledge of fighting and casting and crafting has been lost in the Old Lands due to the continuous harrassment of the kitins.

That is why we are wearing refugee clothes and weapons when we report to Chiang.

Bones was not born on Silan and his time there was only spent clicking to get out of there. I enjoyed the first moments of confusion in the original starting land. It gave me a feeling that nothing would be easy in this game. I did try out the missions on Silan with alts. I agree there is valuable information there to be learned. On the same note I lose track of the number of times I re-explain what is already taught there so I don't think most actually pay attention because in most other games you rush through beginner levels to get to end game.
While I do not like Silan, personally, I know that it is optional to stay there and that is the only reason I would say to keep it. Other than that, not suggesting only saying, I would remove it. Again, I said that I am for keeping it because it is optional to stay there and optional to do the missions :) I think that maybe more could be added from Chiang to remind players that this game is not about the rush to max level and much more to be learned before.

Good point Bones!

When I tried Planeshift [alas, for some 20 minutes before the graphics killed me] - one of the very first messages was a reminder that hey, people here like to roleplay, so try to keep up with them or at least do your best to not spoil their enjoyment by going out of character too blatantly.

Point being, in a roleplay game, one of the first messages was OOC and highly useful at that. Ryzom could take some notes in this regard, one quick message when you start out subtracts nothing from the rest of your experience.