IDEAS FOR RYZOM

not so much because of the religious implications but because within Ryzom the community has just evolved that way.
In most mmos faction conflict is so severe (usually by design, sometimes by accident) that some publishers had to disable options to communicate between factions because it was just a constant flood of harassment and abuse, in Ryzom people (outside of pvp scenarios like opwars) work together despite being in opposing factions.

e.g. in wow there used to be such an option but Blizzard had to remove it. In Shaiya they went so far as to make it impossible to create toons in more than one faction per server and account (so if you want to try the other faction from your initial choice, you must use either another server and/or another account, there factions never see each other at all except in pvp content as they don't even share maps).

I think the largely cooperative environment that Ryzom creates draws in people who're overall more mature and "gentle", more likely to behave in civilised manner and less interested in conflict.
A neutral stance goes well with that, and within the Ryzom lore and gameplay mechanics there is ample room for it (again, unlike most other mmos out there, many of which, like Shaiya, are designed to have complete seperation of the factions outside of pvp, and sometimes complete separation of any players outside of towns and cities, as is the case with guild wars).

Factions evolved in Ryzom well after we had established a cooperative community.Therefore the peaceful interaction was the norm. I am most proud of how we have tried to maintain that cooperation.-Kil

I don't see what the big deal is. I am anti-everything and I have no problems getting around to zones using the neutral TPs. There are convenient neutral TPs near enough to all high level zones (5 min run at most). The only issue really comes to PR TPs though most PR zones can be accessed within 10 mins from the nearest neutral TP. Once you get the spawn points, that opens up your options even more (wink). I can only assume that there will be changes to those of us who declare Marauder and perhaps something will change for neutrals as well.

It was proposed during a Taliari meeting (long ago) that citizens with good standing could get the TPs for their nation, no matter their faction. I would rather see that implemented.

Ever tried to get to the northern Lagoons of Loria?
Karavan/Neutral : easy (Neutrals go through the portal from Heretic's Hovel)
Kami: need to cross the region or sneek/fight through a good part of Heretic's Hovel

Or southwest Trench of Trials:
Kami/Neutral : easy (just use the Teleport to Grove of Umbra and use the Portal down there)
Karavan: need to cross the hole region

Southern part of Underspring
Kami/Neutral: just from the teleport through the portal
Karavan: fight/sneek through half the region or find your way through Zora and run to the portal

Northern part of Abyss of Ichor
Karavan/Neutral: just from the teleport through the portal
Kami: cross half the region (and through the portal depending on the chosen teleport)

btw.: all of those are great digging spots because of the amount of aggressive animals in the region
try crossing a region in digging gear without suffering dp ;-)

(Kami-aligned player speaking)


Death port. I also took the opportunity to raise my fame with Lagoon Brothers. Invuln, run into their camp to get missions, die, death port to north. Dig for however long, sell to hawker. Complete missions at your leisure.

I mastered Lakes dig first, as a Kami, and still dig lakes primarily (when I'm not in PR). The only "annoying" feature of digging in Loria as Kami is swimming to the Avendale port if you want to dig in the (very safe) middle area.


Jungle isn't exactly known for having rough aggro. ToT, also, is easy once you move away from the Tyrancha/Varinx wall at the Kami TP (not especially difficult), though occasionally the Cutes are annoying near the middle pillar.


Portal is at the Knot of Dementia Kami TP. Again, Jungle .. aggro? You don't see those two words used together very often.


With the exception of swimming to Avendale portal in Lakes, this is one of the more annoying trips for Kami in dig gear. Higher levels can just run through some aggro spawns, but lower level players might not have that luxury.


These actually aren't that bad. I would list a few other TPs as being annoying or slightly biased:

• Heretic's Hovel and Lagoons of Loria (Kara): Poor placement of one or both of them, making one a waste of a TP (would suggest moving Loria TP, since HH is neutral).
• Scorched Corridor: Kara effectively has two TPs in the region, one on each side of the main aggro walls: the surface TP next to a lovely Shalah grind spot and the Windy Gate TP very close to the zone portal, bringing them out next to the Kami TP.
• Nexus: Kami TP and Tribe location makes it very easy to get to southern Abyss of Ichor. I have not visited the Kara TP in Nexus. Both of these are available to Neutrals, however.
• Sunken City: Kami TP in the middle of the region in a place patrolled frequently by KP and Raj. Kara TP nestled in a corner mostly safe from KP, near a bunch of prized Amber spots, yet has Vorax camping. The lake is within Melee Prot Aura + Speed Up distance for Kara.
• Forbidden Depths: Kami TP location makes it blindingly easy to reach a mostly-safe dig spot at the south east corner of Sunken City.
• Land of Continuuity: Both TPs are conveniently out of the way of most Kitin Patrols, and it isn't particularly hard to navigate between the two TPs. There are a handful of safe-to-dig mats near the Kara TP.
• The Fount: Kami TP is blocked off by an aggro wall. Again, not a problem for people who no longer need to be in the Zone, but for low-level players it's harsh. I haven't seen a safe opening yet, though I'm sure it happens.
• Supernodes: Kara has two TPs very close to the SNs, while Kami has to run from either the Enchanted Forest TP or the Gate of Obscurity TP for the southern batch of SNs. GoO is low level, and EF isn't exactly difficult if the KP is on the other side, but the time involved gives Kara a slight advantage.
• Higher-level towns: For a Kami trying to reach Natae or Avendale, there's a significant Hike involved. For a Kara trying to reach any of the desert towns, the TPs are very close. Thankfully at least Min-Cho is still a nice run for Kara.

In the Desert, I'd say that both sides are equal. Kami has direct teleports into the towns and fast access to FF digging with a Kami tribe nearby, but Kara has easy teleports into towns, as well as a few extra conveniences (easier to reach Butcher trainer from Kara TP).

In the Jungle, I'd give the advantage to Kami, except in Void. The Kara TP is very conveniently located near a great grind spot with creatures of various types and the highest-level plants of the zone. Kami TP is close to Plods and lower-level plants.

In the Lakes, I'd say both sides are mostly equal. Kara has the advantage with the towns and middle-of-zone access to Loria and Fount, but Kami has easier access to more mat types in Loria, though a death port is required. The area around Enchanted Isle Kami TP is an amazing place to level Lakes digging and crafting of everything up to q200.

In the Forest, the advantage definitely goes to Kara. Hidden Source might be equal for both for traveling -- I have only used the Desert-Forest portal for as long as I can remember -- but Kara has the advantage in every way in every other zone in the region.

I don't spend a great deal of time around the Kara TPs, so there may be a few biases against them that I haven't experienced. But in general, from my experience, things are fairly equal with perhaps a very minor skew towards Karavan.

Neutrals have a great time getting around to the surface zones due to access to the best of Kami and Kara TPs, including some of the q250 zones, as well as easy access to some PR zones. In terms of traveling, digging, and skill grinding, I see no place where Neutrals are lacking except for fast, easy access to the Supernodes.

(Apologies, as this was longer than I intended)

I agree. In general we could argue endlessly about the pros and cons of every TP, but as the whole picture I found a minor skew towards the Karavan.

Interestingly, I found this was caused by the fact that the Karavan-lands (forest & lakes) have far more aggro and less good hunting spots than the Kami-Lands (desert & jungle).

The TPs generally follow the pattern that in the Kami-lands, Kami TPs are very central in the region and Kara TPs are on the outskirts of regions. In Karavan-lands, the Karavan TPs are central and the Kami TPs are on the outskirts.

So this should balance out, except that the Karavan-lands are full of aggro so the outskirt Kami TPs are often behind walls of aggros (UB, HH, Fount, Loria). While in the safer Kami-lands, having an outskirt Karavan TP is actually preferable because it puts you right on the best hunting spot (GoU, Void, SC).