This is just for you guys who are looking for something to play. Check out the Saga of Ryzom. I feel this is an appropriate forum for it since no one will see it on the game forums and many, many people are looking for a sandboxy game to play. 

First of all, what you want to know since most of you are tl;dr :) :

Features

• Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy (Mix Avatar the movie + EVE online + Asheron's Call) with completely original lore based on a planet consisting of a living tree
• F2P (no cash shop) until lvl 125 (when you can CHOOSE to subscribe) in whatever skill, and then you can continue playing with no increase or p2p to lvl 250
• Sandbox (skill-based progression) - Magic, Fighting, Crafting, Harvesting all with many many skills and missions
• Make your own skills (combine attributes called stanzas into new skills and balance against credits). For example I wanted to decrease the cast time so I removed cast time and paid for the bonus by sacrificing a few of my hitpoints
• Mobs behave according to ecologies (They roam, protect one another, randomly follow you around and sniff you) - There are four seasons (snow, rain, thunderstorms, etc.) that operate according to an inworld clock with six days in an Atysian week.
• Death Penalty (XP debt) - I'm not sure If i'm a huge fan of this, but for those who are
• Complex Crafting system (everything from skills to weapons to jewels to armor can be crafted) --> advanced player economy). You actually forage for materials and go searching for hotspots. Foraging consists of a minigame in which you have to heal the source or prevent it from exploding in your face and killing you.
• Team-based and solo - You can really only heal others with magic unless you have a 2min cooldown selfheal. Any basic heal other spell can resurrect a foe meaning nearly everyone can resurrect
• PVP Outpost Guild Wars - 50v50 (I think 100v100 too but can't be sure) --> apparently these are crazy fun
• Quests with lore (regularly updated with live events)--> I am so sick of mmorpgs billed as sandbox which basically excuses them of having any story or passion in the world. I want skill progression and missions and the ability to do my own thing.
• First Ingame Scenario Editor - Make your own quests with the Ryzom Ring, complete with npcs, items, buildings, enemies. Write your own stories. Make extensive plotlines and reward players for completing this. (Note: Ryzom ring is not complete yet for Mac and Linux)
   

Normally, I don't post on these forums mainly because these days I rarely feel strongly enough about a game to express my opinion. But after hearing that Saga of Ryzom was currently on Mac, I had to give it another shot. I had tried the game several times before, but I just couldn't get hooked on it and I didn't know why. But this time, I realized that the reason I couldn't get hooked on it before is because it is so community driven and there weren't enough players to help me along the way. Since you can skill up doing anything, it behooves you to help other players NO MATTER what they are doing. This creates a really strong community of people who benefit themselves by helping others. Since it's skill-based anyone can help any other person at any time. There are fortunately tons of players during normal Western Hemisphere hours so I've become hooked on this community-based sandbox game.

So why haven't you heard about it before or why did it never take off. Nevrax was the original company behind Ryzom but unfortunately they released a niche game called The Saga of Ryzom just months before Blizzard released World of Warcraft. The biggest complaint about Ryzom in the past was that there weren't enough players. Well now there are quite a few and hopefully I continue to find more as I explore more of the game. I have never been so hooked on a game where I feel like I can set my own path and still learn about the world and the mysteries that are left to be uncovered. 

My biggest gripes with the game:

• Can't jump (but you can swim)
• Can't build houses (although there are apartments)
• The UI is kind of clunky
• No ingame music. I think they preferred to go for ambient sounds.
• Lacks complex hair (lol don't judge me this is cool. every game should have this) 

Give it a shot! It's in the Appstore if you have Mac (you can make a F2P account right in the client). If you have Windows, download it from http://www.ryzom.com

If you do like it, then please do as I did, and tell your friends or online communities and help this game get some more attention.

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUQONNe-HVI  Player-made video of Playable Races (skip first 20 seconds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75YhsQB1Ulw Actual Game Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jto1z_7V0MQ Ryzom Ring Trailer 

Game Review:

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-saga-of-ryzom/556599p1.html

I'm really not trying to spam this game, but I just want to share something I found with the greater community. I really hope this post doesn't have to be moved. 

What is the endgame like?

Endgame doesn't really exist in sandbox games because players make their own goals but I guess the 'endgame' of SoR consists of faction-based pvp, events run by the GM, and other things. Hopefully someone else can comment on this. 

Taken from http://www.insidemacgames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26278

Huntn:

"Ryzom is a Saga. There is no end game inasmuch as there is no end game in EvE or in Asheron's Call. The missions on the mainland are designed to foster exploration and to work up your fame with the various factions. There are some missions that are linked and when completed create pages in an encyclopedia which provides you with further tasks. Hoping someone with more SoR experience can add to this one.

Little editorial here: When I say there is no End Game, some will hear that and remark, bleh, then what is the point. I'd like to turn it around and ask of the WoW players, What is the point of doing MC umpteen times? Oh, to get gear? Yes. To get gear so that I can hit AQ umpteen times....ah I get it now. Regardless of what "content" Blizzard implements instance-wise it will always be the same. Grind an instance to equip to be able to grind an instance ad infinitum.

Ryzom end game doesn't really exist. You have a moving political scene that results in Outpost Wars(pvp-consentual), there are GM run events that shake out the story with e.g. a hunt for a lost prince, building temples for your cult or an invasion of Kitin and you have a skill based character model that requires years to max. No cap in 16 weeks and then do end game.



SoR is static in terms of the landmass. You have the island, the mainland with an area for each Civilization, regions within those areas and then the Prime Roots(PR). 

MOB AI is better than anything I have seen. Herbivores herd around and run from carnivores. They might come to you, sniff you and look you over as curious of you as you are of them. Carnivores pack hunt and are much faster than their prey. Fights will break out frequently when territories are crossed. Herbivores graze and move around within their groups/herds. Think about some of the cat pathing in WoW where you have a mother and cub. They appear to interact and have some sort of relationship as they move. Now think about 20 mobs doing that and then you start to understand mob AI in Ryzom. Oh, and Ryzom has collision detection so running through that herd of 20 can be interesting.



Builds develop as players are constrained in how they can develop their character. Perhaps they need to select a class, perhaps apply xp gained to skills, perhaps pick a tree branch each level. You look to a build to not make the mistakes of others. Some games, a la WoW, even allow you to reset a build in case you need to make a change, for a price of course.

Ryzom character development is not constrained by any game code. You can train up every single tree branch and the only thing preventing you from doing so is the sheer effort/time involved. You can max in magic in any of the subtrees that are available. Maybe you want to max in 2 of them. Then you max in 1 tree in Fight. Perhaps you then want to max in 2 crafting trees and 2 harvesting trees. You could do them one at a time or all at the same time. Choose your poison."

The end-game consists of several things:

- Outpost PvP -- Guilds own Outposts that produce precious resources only an outpost can make. Guilds fight over these, and people from the appropriate factions come to help. Pretty large PvP battles. (30-100 or more)

- Boss Hunts -- high end bosses drop materials that are sought after. Takes a full team of high level players to kill them.

- Prime Roots digging -- Prime Roots area has special materials, but is very dangerous. Mats are available only certain season, in certain weather, and will almost certainly be covered by some nasty mobs.

- Finishing up the skills -- there are so many skills that it is almost impossible to max them all. So once you finish melee, you might start levelling a debuff, or range, etc.

- Treks -- Ryzom is a large part exploration, and new players cannot do this safely. So there are "treks" where high level players trek lowbies around so they can get the teleport locations.

One of the coolest things is that you can operate at several levels at once. So you can be lvl 150 in melee, 100 in healing, 75 in magic, and 50 in range fighting. You could be on a team with any of these levels. No need for alts.

i played allot of mmos u name it, but i am actually having fun in this game, feels like old school and community is great thx wizgamer

No problem Levark, glad to help. I urge any of you that read this and find that you enjoy the game, please spread the word and help the community grow. 

I think ill check this out

My only question at this point is why don't I have this installed?

Hrm, I'll have to fix that.  Thx for the tip!

Seems interesting. Downloading now.

methinks I'll check this out so long as it's not open world pvp where I lose my life savings everytime I die. Sounds a bit like runescape though if you ask me. Good or bad is up to the gamer.

Deserved bump.

Nice write up on the game, I saw on the Ryzom forums were you were talking about making a post like this. Ive been looking for a game that has detailed decent crafting and decent pvp. Ive played pretty much every MMO out and I mean all of them and cant seem to find the right game. Maybe 1 or 2 games that are decent but not viable right now because the state they are in. Im downloading this game now and will be checking it out. If I like it ill sub because the price isnt bad either.

Just tried the game and ended up playing 4 hours straight... Don't happen too often when I try f2p games.

Seems like a very solid MMO, with a unique atmosphere and some cool concepts (designing your own skills, for example). The world feels alive when you see the mobs roaming about and even coming up to you and checking you out, the seasons shifting, etc. The community appears to be of an old-school mold which is all too rare nowadays.

I'm gonna stick around for a while I think.