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I have seen new players asking if they can solo play Ryzom. Immediately the community starts jumping in and telling them you can not solo play Ryzom.

This is untrue. You can solo play Ryzom.

Sure you can...but it certainly makes it easier to find people to help you train with and obtain gear at higher levels. Obviously the game mechanics don't force you to join a guild at any point. Gameplay is not guided by doing missions alone and missions are few and far between at higher levels unless you love to craft. At lower levels there are opportunities to get gear through Sage missions. If you are really good at convincing people to help you then certainly you don't require a guild. Higher level players might also expect to experience some players not willing to help them if their faction doesn't agree with their own. Most seem to be willing to help if they can and if you don't give them a reason to otherwise ignore you.

Just because something is possible, that doesn't automatically make it a good idea.

While it's theoretically possible to get all 63 skills mastered without any help from anyone, odds are that they still won't be soloing OP battles or 270-bosses. Those things require allies. You may be able to dig Sups without getting ganked by your lack of bodyguards, and I've seen 260-Named done solo (sometimes by me), but I have yet to see anyone solo Dante or take an outpost. And if you like using q250 gear with better-than-Basic stats, it takes long enough to master all crafts that you'll likely be dependent on others for gear anyways, even if only from the merchant.

Now, if you are talking about being un-guilded and having others help you with the things that cannot be soloed through bartering for goods/services instead of out of the sort of comradery normally associated with guilds, it becomes far more feasible. Of course, if you are constatnly playing with the same people, you are practically a memeber of their guild anyways. The only real benefit to that sort of "non-membership membership" is that you can buy a GH of your own and have 10k bulk more personal storage space than memebers of a guild that have to share that storage space with other members... though you could get nearly the same effect with alts if you don't mind swapping toons and shuffling stuff one bagful at a time.

I guess it all boils down to why you play online games at all instead of just unplugging your CAT5 cable and playing from your hard drive.

Sigh....

I have mostly played solo. I needed a team when I leveled healing, and for a short while, when I was dicing up Psykoplas, I had a healer with me until my jewels were getting ready. Other than those, I have gotten to level 151 in melee and magic ALL BY MY SELF. In the past, before I had joined a guild, I generally got killed by people who DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME.

In short, you CAN go solo, and I am still going solo, except for healing. I am happy with my decision.

Yes, it takes longer to level up, but SO WHAT? The game is not about levelling up, the game is playing the game you want to play the game. If you are a solitary kind of person, be a solitary person. Do not apoplgize, ever.

PS: This is my opinion and the opinion of my other two solitary players.

PSS: I hate harvesting, but my harvesting level is about 110 and my crafting level is about 105 or so.

Are we talking true solo play, or solo play with people having a team of alts? Most people who say they can go solo actually have cheater alts helping them.

Not technically accurate, you can't solo healing, at all (well not since beta anyway). You can solo parts of Ryzom but some parts require team play.

Real solo play means not only never joining a Guild but also never teaming with other players? And never using alts to help the main toon? Why would anyone ever want to do that?

Join a guild when you are ready, and always be ready to team, but be prepared to spend a fair amount of time playing solo.

While I do not doubt your often reported expertise in cheating, I fail to see that playing with an alt, even with more than one like e.g. Beeficus, can be called cheating. One may question whether it is "real" solo play, but alas, is there any binding definition of solo playing?

I have mastered one eco (desert) in digging and one in crafting without any help of an alt, without ever having joined a guild. I advanced to 150 in melee and 220 in ele without an alt.

Yet, have I played alone all time? Of course not. Many friendly players helped me with jewels, armor, and weapons, and I enjoyed team activities. Guilds like The Free Soul had regular open combat leveling for low and intermediate levels, without any obligation to join their guild. I much appreciated that, and also liked plod teams, as a community activity rather than "not being solo".

You are not alone in Ryzom except you extravagantly choose so. But nobody choosing otherwise is "cheating".

I like how one person threw 2 lines of text and everyone else is going down the rabbit hole to discern what they actually meant ..

Kind of futile to hold a semantic discussion on the meaning of "solo", but that's just me.

One of the Ms in MMORPG is Multiplayer. So, it would be a shame if you didn't interact with other players.

I am still trying to understand why a solitary person would play any MMO instead of an offline single-player game.

Well, there may be good reasons to play mainly on your own, even in a MMO.

To cite my case: When I started on Leanon, the server was not overly densely populated, to say the least. As I played intensely, I usually lacked players of my level to explore with, to train with etc. In addition, for some private reasons, I wanted (and still want) to keep my private life in RL completely separate from the game (call me crazy, but that is my decision and my way). For that and not only that reason I did and do not want to join any guild or get into too close relationship to anybody.

Therefore. "solo playing", meaning to explore and train most times on my own, became a must for me. I want to add that it was not so much different for players in a guild as they also frequently lacked teammates. I always enjoyed and still do enjoy cooperation and interaction with other players, and do not see that there is any meaningful way to play the game without. Insofar I do not see that Ryzom can be played in a significant way similar to a solo and offline game, but I do not think that anybody tries to do so.

Without the support of fellow players providing equipment, advice, and escort services, the game is hard to play if possible at all. And waiving this part of the game would mean depriving oneself of one of the most pleasant and meaningful aspects of it.

It is interesting that you seemed to have heard about me, I have no clue who you are (I expect you are a Kami) or what you are talking about. As far as the "often reported" accounts of me cheating, I expect those (if any) are false accusations made up by people angry with me when I rightly called them out for actually cheating during a race event, for which the CSRs agreed DID happen. I expect you cannot actually provide evidence that I have ever cheated or cite specific accounts of me even playing unfairly, because it has never happened. Perhaps some people are just sore losers when it comes to OP battles and decided they needed to start rumors about me. So please get over this fixation you seem to have on smearing my name. You obviously do not know me and I doubt you can get anyone who does know me to say anything bad about me.

As far as using alts.. I do, for myself, consider that an advantage which I will never utilize becuase it feels too much like cheating to me personally. I do not consider playing with alts as SOLO play. However, I could care less if other people use them if they feel they need that crutch. Personally believe the game would better be served if people would be willing to help eachother out more while providing their undivided attention instead of focusing on the grind with their own alts. The game for me is more of a social event than a grind-fest. It is just my personal opinion, and I know many, if not most, disagree with me. That is fine, love and long life to you all.

I think being in a guild adds an aspect to the game that you may not get otherwise. While being in a guild has its obvious benifits, it also adds a degree of responsibility, expecially for those who are High Officers or Guild Leaders. The focus of the game changes from what you can personally accomplish, to what you can help others accomplish as you gain ranks in a guild. It can at a point almost keep a person from developing their own character as they help others more and more. Being in a guild also introduces people to the interworkings of the politics behind the various faction alliances that they may never experience otherwise.

Peace out.