I totally got into this game. I played it about 1 year ago and it was superfun for me.

Problems I had were:

1) I hated that there were so few mob types. The mobs had the same skin just a different name. Totally sucked

2) The crab-like creatures roared/screamed. WTF? I hated that so bad I would make sure I was away from them just so I didnt have to hear it.

3) I had a hard time of progressing. My levels or power of my toon wasn't strong enough to defeat and enemey my own level sometimes even lower. When I couldn't get even a little bit of progression going then........ #4

4) The game just got boring after a while.

Add new Monsters, rebalance, and get rid of that awful roaring crab and I might come back. Quite frankly that roaring sound the crabs makes just annoys me to no end.

Originally posted by Lydon
What I find tragic is that you have hordes of so-called "sandbox lovers" plaguing these forums, yet a game like Ryzom - which is about as sandbox as they come - constantly struggles to survive. This is the reason why few to no AAA developers are interested in touching sandbox MMO's.

To begin with, Ryzom is not really "as sandbox as they come" - it has sandbox elements but it's too restrictive to be called a full-fledged sandbox in the vein of UO, SWG, or EVE.

Secondly, "sandbox lovers" do not have a moral duty to play a given game just because it happens to have sandbox features. You wouldn't tell someone who likes WoW that he has to support AOC, Rift, WAR and SWTOR too, just because they are themepark games, right? People like different stuff, it's not all about the feature list but also about gameplay, graphics and design, setting, community, etc.

I've personally played several very sandboxy games that didn't do it for me despite their sandboxyness - the latest being Salem which was a huge disappointment for me - I almost got a hardon reading about the features but the gameplay and design sucked so bad that I couldn't force myself to play it. Similar things could be said about several games: many people love EVE's feature list but can't stand the space setting and the fact that you play a ship. And so on.

That said, Ryzom is a great game in many ways. I think the main reasons why it has failed to retain any significant number of players are 1) it's a very old game with dated graphics 2) it has a very distinct style and setting - some people love it, others think it's weird 3) it's extremely top heavy with a small group of vets basically owning the game.

1) and 2) will not change, but with 3) gone, Ryzom could probably flourish for a while. A lot of gamers are looking for something different these days and Atys is a very different place. I know I'll try it again for sure.

Originally posted by BobRoss

 Problems I had were:

 4) The game just got boring after a while.

Same. 

And a reprint from an locked forum post about the same topic: Then they should not charge for the game then. Everything that people worked and paid for will be gone. I always say about these MMO's, "You don't own anything."

Yes I know it's in the EULA. Doesn't make it any less painful to see hard work and dedication dissapear.

Originally posted by kb4blu

Do people that are in charge of MMOs suffer from collective stupidity ??

Look at all the idiotic decisions from the NGE through this Ryzom character wipe.

Amazing

 

Or maybe that's the "choice".

Either shut down or try something radical and put everyone on the same playing field.

it still seems a bit silly though. It's a huge bet and what is the thought process behind it as there is absolutely no evidence that they will attract new players.

Most of you missed the point i think.

They dont wipe because they believe they save the games population  by this move  !  Most of  you spread the wrong information by claiming such ! They even stated in CeB to me that they dont wanted to wipe to lose customers if it wasnt that difficult to them to transfer all accounts to new server (i think lacking of manpower is the biggest hiderance for that).

The finacial situation forces them to MERGE the server. This is the solution plan.   Over the course of merging the server they might thought to wipe to equal imbalances between the 3 server communities. Which indi game offers 3 servers for diffrent communities it seems like a luxory for such a small playerbase.

However with the current playerbase (if they stay) they can survive a 1 community  - 1 server environment and dont depend on new subs. Key word being if they could keep the current numbers , which i doubt cause wipe is deadly to a community. 

So please no missinformation, they dont wipe to get rif of customers they probs dont have the manpower to transfer everything MERGINg the server and the communities, which is the main goal.

Updated info posted today:

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This announcement will be long, but we hope it will answer your questions and reassure you. There is no question of closing the game or kill it as we read it, but we absolutely must take into account the economic pressures that are the main reasons for this servers merge. The goal is not to make more money but to stop losing money and thus allow Ryzom continue to live.

Backup of levels

With the active support of the community and the many requests to save your character levels, it was possible to consider, test and now offer an alternative to the avatar reset. See below for details:

All subscribed accounts on the day of closing of the current servers will keep the appearance, the name but also the levels and skill bricks of all characters that are on the account.

We have also made arrangements so that you can, if you wish, restart your Ryzom adventrure from scratch. More information on this subject later in this announcement.

As a result of these changes, we have decided to move the server merge back a week, to (Saturday, 29 September at midnight GMT+2), to give us a little more time and you more chances to win a starter pack.

---

As they said, info is long and whole message can be found here.

Good thing is that all players keep their level * bricks but can opt to fully restart (LOL as if some one would to that - reroll is just as easy ;)

and again Ryzom establishes itself as the good example of this MMOPRG business.

Very quick (just 1 weekend) they reacted to customer reaction and adapted to the best of their customers with the best compromise they could find  between balance of the communities and customer wish for continuity of their characters.

Winchgate and the current Ryzom is moraly miles ahead of $OE's NGE  or DF's shoddy tactics "we can't say if we wipe or not"....

If only everyother company would listen to their customers like current Ryzom owners..