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I think I suck at sandboxes
JoeVertigo
Member UncommonPosts: 37
I grasp the concept of a sandbox MMO, but not sure if I actually understand how that works in (virtual) reality. In other words - I'm lost in Ryzom. I know I should set up my own goals, but I really don't know how to even start. I'm not much into RP or the story (which in case of MMOs is basically a back-story). I tried to do some crafting, but harvesting is just mind numbingly slow. I might have a shallow imagination, but that essentially leaves me with killing stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I think Atys is wonderful, I really love how alive it feels. Stanzas system makes me wonder why in the nine hells nobody ever implemented such a clever thing before. I even got to admire the really weird artstyle. I feel I could fall in love with Ryzom, but I just don't know where to go on the first date.
So that's the question I guess. What's there to do, what are the common and uncommon activities, how did your day in Atys look like today? Thanks in advance for any helpful answers. 
PS. Please spare me the "you choose what you wanna do" kinda answers, I sorta figured that out...
Comments
Well you can start with missions.
The devs put in new missions to help new players raise combat up to skill level 50 i believe.
Ask in universe chat for the starting npc.
Other than that you could work on your fame (reputation) since you need a certain level of fame with one of the factions to be involved in the pvp system later on.
If you want random stuff to do you can team up and farm skill levels, hunt boss mobs and since you don't want to gather or craft get into a decent guild that will help you with armor upgrades.
Addition: Dude it's not that you suck at sandbox games its just your uninformed of the options you have within ryzom to make goals for yourself.
Let me ask you. Are you aware that ryzom has free for all pvp zones? did you know of its guild vs guilds pvp territorial mechanic? What about the four massive world bosses within the kitin lairs? what about small stuff like attaining a mount? apartment? pack mules?
See how are you supposed to know what goals to set if you don't know what the game offers?
unfortunately Ryzom does a bad job in informing players of the games features. hell I didn't even know what Ryzom ring was for my first three months playing.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Ryzom isn´t lie other MMOs, where the Story is just "backstory" as you say.
Sure, there is much of the later, but and this is a BIG but:
The story moves on. Driven by life events and by the decisions made by Homins that invest time into the "player politics and councils" that were established not too long ago. You can participate in either, no matter how high you are in level.
Granted you´d have to "be into RP", but well... this was just to make the point.
Otherwise, what above poster said
CU
SaM
Do you dare to adapt?
When I first got into the mainland I started with missions, of which their are a ton of just so I can get some direction/purpose while I level. I started with fighting missions mainly, and while hunting the mobs I needed I made notes on the in game map of harvestables, mob locations (though a lot of them like to migrate around the zone i discovere) npc's, merchants, anything of interest or that I might need to come back to later.
When I got tired of that I did some harvesting on my own to try and get mats to craft stuff I would use/sell/skill up with. A few times I ran into someone grinding and joined with them to level my magic healing.
After you kind of get a good grasp on the area you started in and skilled up a bit, try heading further out to more dangerous zones again taking notes of stuff you might want to come back to later, or maybe even try treking to another city/village.
Personally i think what you have to change is the approach to the game, and this is true for every true sandbox game:
1. You are a refugee from some "old lands" that travelled to the island, where you found that a new civilization of the four homin races are going to be rebuild.
2. The world you live in is a living plant and the entire ecosystem seems alive, with every animal having it's own behaviour
3. You are weak, but hopefully, there are other homins that previously reached the "new lands" and also other 2 strange and mysterious races, the kami and the karavan, that are helping the homins rebuild the entire lost civilization. They are very powerful, but don't share with the homins their knowledge.
4. So, you have to become stronger, meet the other homins settled in the new lands and try to survive and help the rebuild by yourself
5. You need to recover some knowledge: you know nothing of the animals around and all the danger. So, you need to learn what is dangerous and what is not. Also you have to learn how to escape from the nasties, and this is something no one can teach you. You know that what destroyed the old civilization was a great swarming from the background (the prime roots) of a nasty specie of insects: the kitins. Intelligent and deadly.
6 Ancient knowledge, written in amber cubes, is lost somewhere and you need to fullfill some rite to recover them
7 Homins regrouped in towns while many others prefer to live in the wilderness in tribe camps. The four races are politically active and the politics is done by the players.
8. Being you a new homin, people don't know you. So, you need to build up your reputation (the fame) with the races and tribes if you want to interact with them for special things. You can decide to join a faction or stay neutral, this still involves your fame with the factions.
9 Homin players are also grouped in guilds, friends or enemies of each other, depending by the choosen faction, or just by other reasons. So, players also fight against other players to gain access to the best resources.
10 You are here and, as anyone that reach for the first time a place, you have to learn a lot of things, increase you strength raising your skills (just one or all), make friends, speak with people to understand what's going on. You can do all these things in any order, when you want, and you can also skip what you don't like. One thing is important, anyway, you must meet other people and make friends because a sandbox game cannot be played without the other players (it can be, but it can became really boring, unless you really really like the "lone wolf" attitude).
As you can see, a true sandbox present you a story, an environment, some features. All of these components together means a lot of things to do, to learn where you are and where you are going.
Nickname registered on www.mynickname.org
Lots of good advice for Joe so far. I totally empathize with his plight. This game is very different than any other MMO that I've played. I think that is what makes it so difficult at first to figure out what the heck to do.
The analogy I'd like to use might be offensive to some. I'm a U.S. citizen. The pace of my life is extremely frantic. It's how I was raised to live, survive, and even thrive here. I visited the south of France last year. Immediately, I felt as though I was in slow motion. Meals that used to be a 10 minute inconvenience became 2-3 hour versions of entertainment and pleasure. When I shop for necessities in the States, it's easily accomplished at a one-stop drive to a megastore like Target or Wal-Mart. In France, most of the people I visited had only a small refrigerator, as they walked to market once a day to get fresh food for their meals. After a week, I had finally grown somewhat accustomed to life there. My return to the U.S. made it glaringly clear the vast differences in our two societies.
Now, I know that example is rife with generalities. They are merely only my own personal experiences. So I see Ryzom as southern France and WoW as the good ol' U.S.A. Nothing wrong with either, just very different approaches to a game genre and in life.
Give it time...you may very well find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Thanks for all the replies, I feel a bit more informed now. I'll give it another go and try to get into a nice guild as it seems like majority of the goodness in Ryzom comes from the social interaction. I'm thinking I'll skip the starter island this time and just explore a bit for starters.
Is the guild listing on wiki up-to-date by the way?
http://en.ryzomnomnom.com/wiki/Guilds/Arispotle
I think this is the more up-to-date guildlisting.
Moonlightmist
Thanks a lot, I wasn't sure if that list was up-to-date. Any recommendations for a Matis/Karavan character maybe?
It alright man, I started out clueless in EVE and now Darkfall. It's hard starting out in one, but once you really do understand it and get your core friends in it, you will have a BLAST :] trust me. The game's fun factor comes from your imagination, so feel free to think
Pepsi1028
PEPSI!!!!!
Get out of your box already...
Thanks a lot, I wasn't sure if that list was up-to-date. Any recommendations for a Matis/Karavan character maybe?
Since I am a Tryker / Kami character I tend to stay away from the Matis / Karavan types :P
The best idea would be to check the regular forums at forums.ryzom.com. Don't be afraid to ask questions either there or in Uni. See who you team up with on a regular basis and go from there
There are alot of great guilds on both sides.
Moonlightmist