[ishark]

[note: I'll condense points at times to be more concise]

Originally Posted by suib0m

Really, if the post is meant to be constructive, why start it like this?

To defuse trolling. It's like saying "I know that this could turn into a trollfest and I expect it, so don't bother". So far, it has worked.

Each race has it's own running animation. Are you referring to a specific race, or do you feel this of all races?

All. Tryker is particularly horrible, mostly because they move fast, but running animations have the character stay with his back vertical and fixed. This is extremely unnatural.

I guess I don't understand this. You don't need to mess with actions to use them, but there is much you can do with them so learning how is essential. I don't get how this is inconsistent. ?

One big answer for the skill/stanza system: it's one of the most interesting features of the game, but it's complex and prone to walls of text. On Silan, it's brought up way too early during character developement, it could be postponed a lot. Personally I wasn't scared away because it's one of the things I came here for, but putting it in front of a new player, who doesn't need it and is told that he doesn't need it is a mistake.
Combat actions: for PvP battles more design is probably needed. I've never been in one and never seen one. For the "farming" combat I've seen, it's a matter of balancing hp/sap cost once, then it's spam-mode-on.
Digging actions: even if I'm only at 128 dig, I already use multi-step digging for better focus usage. I can dig from start to end with all the highest skills without running out of focus, but after a series of failed prospections, multi-step allows me to dig without waiting for regen or self heal focus. The second case when I use multi-step is when overdigging, I've found that by capping the action success % to 95%, I can overdig hard while not spoiling the material so often, so I use an expensive second action to push up the material quality. The split in speed/rate/quality is interesting, but what I don't like is that all sources require the same approach: an excellent source requires no different thinking than a basic one, the same set of actions will work.
This is in contradiction to other cases where the complexity is there and requires solution, like the design of jewels to match the plant's attack spells. It's not a single design which works, and building a multi-plant jewel set requires some thinking.... and there are many combinations.
BTW another comment: as you say it's needed at lvl 150... i.e. something which is 100% sure that a new player won't ever see.

Now, this one is an interesting point. The Ryzom community has almost always been very helpful. In fact, part of the population problem is due to this. The community has a habit of giving everything to the new player, smothering the excitement of a challenge. It's also fostered a gimmegimme sense where players expect to be handed greatness and get bored at the lack of challenge or angry when it is not given.

Quoted in full. One of the biggest and most useful pieces of information one of the old-timers gave me when on Silan was to warn me that the community is "nice and helpful, at times TOO nice and TOO helpful". I mostly keep to myself, accept any useful stuff when I'm offered (cats expecially), don't ask for anything and expecially, EXPECT nothing.
I'm not really sure that the "lack of challenge" can be a reason to leave. What may be more true is that a new player feels completely useless. Whatever I can craft, someone else can do better and he's giving it away.... not very satisfying for someone wanting to craft.

This is partly a problem of low player population. It's also quite different for different areas. For example, what you bring up is quite pronounced in the lakelands since the mobs can have very little space to wander. Where are you seeing static aggro? For the most part, the mobs have resting and eating zones and will migrate between the two until killed.

In the Lakelands this is extreme (small areas at times), but also elsewhere. As for the migration between resting and eating zones, it's visible but not really definite. What I mean is that if you're travelling in the woods you may cross and be surprised by predators, but here it's still a bit too much like the classic MMO-like "1 mob per square meter".

Part of the lore of this game is that toons do not die. They go unconscious and are protected and transported by the Kami or Karavan for protection. That lore backs up that the toon would not be "reset", just protected from true death.

Nice and fine. But if RP > gameplay, expect VERY few new players. MMOs, expecially MMOs with complex skills and leveling are not really good for roleplay. Just like in the old pen-and-paper world, where the best RP was done with the simplest of game systems (none at all being as good as one). Math-oriented games always ended up in a level-fest. From this point of view, it may be very consistent that CDs don't reset, but gameplay-wise it isn't. You're right that they are not necessary, but they are helpful if you want to try something more extreme. BTW long cooldowns tend to be a symptom of a design problem. Skills should be there to be used, not to be out of order most of the time.

It's a difficult question that, I think, is largely mired in the history of this game and its ownerships. However, it seems racial fame is showing more importance lately with the implementation of the governments.

Is there a non-quest-grind way to increase it? Because I've already had my dose of repeatable rep-grinding quest elsewhere.....

It does affect gameplay, but you'll learn that as you move along. At one point there was a concept called Spires in which regional ownership could change through battle, this would definitely affect pact usage/purchasability. As far as I know, though, Spires is currently shelved (but that doesn't mean other similar concepts are not underway).

I still don't see why being forced to keep track of a ton of teleport pacts in my inventory/apartment instead of having them nicely stored in a separate tab improves gameplay. And your answer does not advance me one inch. Should they become unusable for one reason or another (change of faction, etc.), they just stop working. Or get you squarely killed if you use them.

Anyways, those are some of my thoughs on your post. I'm in the middle of that RL thing, so it was written over time when I had moments to, so it may seem disjointed :P

Well, I'm raiding (and topping the DPS meter.... :P ), so my answer may be disjointed as well