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Just downloaded the free game yesterday. Wanted something different to kill time until GW2 comes out. Been playing Rift and found it extremely boring very quickly. Sort of looking for an EQ 1 style experience with the more open world focused on character development as opposed to killing 20 rats. From what I've read, this games seems to come close to that feel. You guys can confirm or deny that.

Is there anything I should no before I get started? I think I've only done the first 2 quests at this point.

Also, are there enough active players where I might find an active guild to help me out?

There are some aspects of Ryzom I could compare to some other games, but yet I feel the comparisons fall short. The world is definitely open and you are not limited by class. Ryzom is not mission based, although if you enjoy missions you can find them, as they do not drive the storyline as in other games.

I would suggesting reading and learning about the game by doing all the quests in the starter area. Ryzom is a bit different than other games, so take the time to read what the mission givers are telling you. You can also find information on the signs near the misison givers.

There are pleanty of active players and active guilds to help new players out. One of the great things about Ryzom is that you do not have to be in a guild to get help from others in the community so there is no hurry to rush into a guild.

Welcome to Atys and hope to see you around!

Peace, luv & cookies,
Inifuss

Stuff you probably should know (a subjective opinion):

0) you can level all skills (fight, magic, crafting, harvesting) as much or as little as you want.
1) don't cast, craft and dig in medium or heavy armor. Your results won't be satisfactory because of high malus.
2) use amplifiers (caster gloves) for casting to get better results.
3) learn how to edit your actions. Editing actions is the core of Ryzom's skill system.
4) mostly everything you wear is crafted by other players. Don't expect gear drops.
5) missions on the island give some nice gear which will be useful for a long time.
6) regardless of what the mission description says, teaming is not mandatory in the tutorial missions. Every single one is soloable.
7) don't hurry to mainland unless you really really want to. You'll probably want to be at least 30 or 35 in your main skill. Mainland is the harsh mistress. :-P
8) unless you want to level crafting since the beginning, you don't have to go to your racial capital. You can pick any land. But be aware that to get to other lands, you will probably need help and escort of high level players.
9) it's highly advisable to find someone to show you around. If you find a friend on the island, go to the mainland together and pick the same capital, because the mainland is much more fun in group.
10) learn the movement patterns of carnivores. Avoiding the aggro is a player skill, not in-game skill... and it's probably the most important player skill you'll need. The compass is your friend, learn to use it.
11) don't give up. :-)

A brief summary of racial starting zones (again, a subjective opinion):

Desert (Fyros): bright, with unobstructed view and a huge city in the middle. Looks amazing in the night. Carnivores are less plentiful, easy to avoid them if you know where they spawn.
Forest (Matis): looks just like the starter island, only much bigger. Wonderful evening and night ambient sound. Dogs everywhere, so probably avoid this one if your fighting skill is low.
Lake (Tryker): water everywhere, plenty of swimming, which eventually gets annoying no matter how pretty the water texture is. The zone is divided by various slopes and ramps and can be hard to find your way around at first. Extremely easy to drop the aggro (just go to deep water). Isolated groups of mobs on islands, a lot like a party buffet.
Jungle (Zoraï): well balanced zone with just a handful of carnivores and with plenty of stuff to hunt. Zoraï towns are a pain to navigate, lots of unpassable slopes and obstacles. It can be hard to see things in the jungle, because of all the vegetation (compass is your friend).

And do keep in mind that the starter island is nothing like the mainland in actual gameplay experience.
On the mainland there are no questlines that give exp. They exist on the starter island merely as a tutorial into the game mechanics and especially the stanza system.
While there are some quest lines on the mainland, they serve a completely different purpose and there's no forced progression through them, you'll never level any skill by doing them except insofar as you might get exp while killing something in the process of completing the quests.

And be happy, there are no rats on Atys. I've not played EQ1 or Rift, but compared to what I have played (over a dozen titles over the years) the world here is a lot more alive and (to the inexperienced at least) unpredictable.
Predators actively hunt, nothing sits still waiting for you to come close and start hitting it. Aggro ranges varry wildly, many creatures show pack/herd behaviour (both predators and prey will come to the defence of others of their species when attacked for example), etc. etc.

Thanks for the responses. Still trying to figure out the stanza system. Repeatedly owned by mobs last night, so i have some work to do.

just be a character, no need to develop :D

I'm a noob, been playing for just a couple of weeks. I'm still doing the training missions but here is my tuppence worth.

I can recommend you get to grips with the stanza system. It makes for a more interesting and creative experience.

Also, have a go at all four disciplines. You don't need to level up in all of them, but some skill in each will help with the others when you are doing the training missions.

Check out what is available to buy, especially jewellery and armour. You will be given weapons as you progress through the fighting missions, but other weapons are available to buy. Armour helps, and jewellery gives you some protection against magic / melee damage.

When you find you don't need stuff anymore, just sell it back to the merchants.

Get the Life Gift / Heal Life skills, they can be used to heal other players and that's a) good for team missions and b) a good way of making friends.

By the way, if you are playing on a Mac, you will need to get yourself a 2 button mouse with a scroll wheel. The standard Mac mouse doesn't let you scroll down in a window to buy stuff or trade in your experience points, and there is no mouse/key combination to replicate the right button functions like POV zoom.

Before I leave here are some tips if you stay for a while.

Do not use the highest self heal focus you have once you get highish, time it so on your first prospect you use it and it comes back by the time you finish the last node for the next prospect. Or if you get high, prospect before the end of the last node so you also have full focus when you start digging.

Stick the mini map on 50m and run between the dots, once you know the area and mobs you can get around areas and mobs well above your level.

Using all supremes in crafting does not necessarily make the best items.

If you get magic high before mellee you can go level up on plants naked.

Get lakes if you do not have it early, has some of the best low level plants to level on called stingas.

Do bandit missions for fame.

Many Kitins are vunrable to cold damage.

Run away from Kinchers unless you have support.

Some mobs will attack you even if they see hitting something that is not the same as them.

Hit Frippos at every opportunity.

You can run to a city's guards if you are under attack by non-players, and they will help kill your aggressor.

Tribe camp guards will also do this, but not all tribes are initially friendly. They may kill you in addition to your aggressor.

You can also run into water if you are fighting something and become overwhelmed. Note that you will lose credit for kill rights if you do eventually kill whatever you're fighting by hiding in water to rest. If killing for a mission, you will need to kill your targets fairly without jumping into water to receive credit.

You will need to right-click and select Disengage before the water will allow you to enter if you were in combat; you can just run in if you were attacked and did not respond (such as when digging).

Make sure you swim away from land a little. If you are too close to shore, wandering creatures could take a swing at you even though you are in water. This is not a bug.

Water is a great place to leave your character when you go AFK. You are generally safe in water as long as you are not too close to shore.

Don't go AFK in some desolate, quiet location and expect safety. You will come back and find that you've been eaten by a wandering hostile creature. They are triggered when you type /afk or when you stand still for long enough.

Packers and mounts can swim. Faster than you do. They will laugh at you if you mention it.

When digging, it is usually safe to use Harmful Rate, and rarely safe to use Harmful Speed or Harmful Quality.

The maximum quality-level you can dig in a region is shown on the Sys.Info tab when you begin an extraction. Regardless of your actual skill and action, you cannot exceed that quality-level in that region.

Yubos are evil mutated rat-dogs and must die. They will urinate on you if you don't kill them.

You do not need to be in a level-50 region to dig q30 materials. It is perfectly fine to dig q30 in a level-250 region if it is safe enough to do so. The benefit is that you will never need to find new resource locations as you level your way up in that region digging skills.

In digging terminology, "Speed" means how fast you will cycle through dig actions. It is the cast bar you see on your screen when extracting. "Rate" means how many materials you extract each time the dig action cycles. "Quality" is the overall level number of the resulting material.

When you get stanzas for Terrain Specialization, always include them in all of your digging actions.

You do not need both the prospect for materials and the prospect for components stanzas. Get the prospect for materials (eg: Fiber, Amber, etc) as it's cheaper. Save the prospect for components (Armor Clip, Jewel Setting, etc) for when you absolutely have nothing left to train in Harvesting.

To add a bonus, such as HP or Focus, to a crafted item, edit the crafting action (the action you select to bring up the pre-crafting window). The stat bonuses are considered options. You can mix and match, as long as you don't exceed the total credits.

Watch how creatures interact with other kinds of creatures. If a type of creature attacks another type of creature, it will also attack you. The type of creature that was attacked will usually not attack you.

Unfortunately, you can't kill Bubbles the Yubo in Yrkanis. Don't bother trying, it will frustrate you.

Not all creatures of the same level are equal. Just because you are level 50 and you easily killed a level 50 Izam, don't assume you can just as easily kill a level 50 Torbak.

If you can't see the level of the creature you are targeting, and only see a single-digit number and/or one or more stars, the creature can probably kill you easily.

I will keep this short since most everything has been said.
1) Don't be a Karavan. They're evil and smell funny. Only joking of course since both factions have
great people.

2) Have fun and do whatever makes this fun. The absolue best thing about this game is your freedom to play how you like.

Don't take Entendu too seriously, cuz he is Fyros and smells funny :P

Although a 2 button mouse and scroll wheel is nice to have and may save on the carpal tunnel, it is not strictly necessary, as all scrollable windows have a scroll bar on the left size of the window, and since the last patch (1.12) you can zoom by using shift+pg up and shift+pg down.

To disengage when entering water self target with F12 as it's easier then right clicking and using the drop down menu.-Kil

Well, I guess I could pitch in...

Kinchers suck, but that's already been said. Punching them in the face is, in fact, a viable option for damage, since they aren't resistant to physical damage, but have a friend with you all the case.

LEVEL HEALING. Seriously, its effect reaches FAR beyond its level, and even at 125, you'll find that you're a use in higher-level situations. And a tank who can somewhat quickly resurrect the fallen is a great boon indeed.

Level your defensive cooldowns as a high priority. Mainly Melee Protection Aura, Speed-up, and Invulnerability. You never know when they come in handy, and having an extra oh no button is really useful. The cooldowns on these abilities start out high, but lower over time.

If you're into fame, do note that missions that give dappers do give small amounts of fame. Consider including corporal missions into your fame run rotations for quicker fame runs... I have managed to get 8-10 fame in a single starting zone run when taking the right missions (Bandits).