As we announced last September, we have been working for several months at the redesign of Ryzom to freemium game. We are pleased to announce this work is completed and this major change will be implemented on May 31, 2017.
Why this change?
The subscription-based gaming system as proposed by Ryzom until May 31, 2017 was common when the game was released in 2004. But it is no longer in line with what is being done today and above all, no longer responds the expectations of a part of our community nor of our potential future players.
Indeed, our current system does not allow a player who unsubscribes to continue playing under his account. This incites a number of players not to subscribe to avoid this inconvenience, and prevents our old subscribers from freely returning to the game.
What is changing, practically?
Ryzom now includes two account modes: Free to play mode, with basic gameplay but sufficient to play the whole game correctly, and Premium mode, offering additional game options.
Free to play mode
This is the default mode of the account. This mode is applied to all characters in accounts that do not or no longer subscribe to the Premium option, including those with one or more skills risen above 125.
Features of the Free to play mode:
- Skill levels capped at 125.
- Equipment: possibility to equip and use objects of maximum 150 quality.
- Foraging: extraction of raw materials of maximum 150 quality.
- Basic (i.e. excluding rites' bonuses, potions ...) Hit Points, Sap, Stamina and Focus are capped at 1,500 points each.
- Crafting: quality of manufactured items capped at 150.
- Means of storage: 1 mount
- Available services: - Assistance from the Support Team. - A change of pseudonym allowed for each character.
Premium mode
This is the optional mode of the account. This mode is applied to all characters in accounts that subscribe to the Premium option.
Features of the Premium mode:
- Doubled gain of XP points.
- Skill levels: until the maximum possible ingame.
- Equipment: until the maximum possible ingame.
- Foraging: until the maximum possible ingame.
- Crafting: until the maximum possible ingame.
- Means of storage: 1 mount, 3 mektoub packers, 1 apartment, 1 guild hall.
- Available services: - Assistance from the Support Team. - Restoration of old accounts (subscribed prior to the merge of the game servers) in order to recover the characters. - Restoration of character(s) in the event of voluntary or accidental suppression. - Transfer of character(s) between two Premiumaccounts belonging to the same person. - A change of pseudonym allowed every six months for each character.
When switching from Premium mode to Free to play mode
Disabling Premium mode of one's account, therefore unsubscribing oneself, does not prevent the player from continuing to play with that account. The account is simply returned to the Free to play mode.
Skill levels acquired during Premium mode are retained.On the other hand, the rights specifically reserved for Premium mode are locked as long as the account stays under the Free to playmode:
- Only items of quality under 150 can be equipped. Any item of higher quality is retained but locked.
- Storage of items is only allowed on the mount or the first packer if no mount is owned. (From the moment a mount is bought, it becomes the only mektoub that can be used to store objects). It is possible to retrieve items from the other mektoubs but these cannot receive no deposit.
What is changing for all players?
- The quality of the harvesting pickaxes no longer results in area restriction, but in restriction of the quality of the harvested materials (except for mission materials).
- Foraging: care-planning of a source by a character under Free to Play is possible only if this character is in team with the source harvestor. The quality of the harvested mats will then be capped to 150, even if the one who is harvesting is in Premium mode.
- On the other hand, a character in Premium mode can still help a Free to Play by doing care-planning on its sources, being out of team.
- Other restrictions could apply in the event of major forgetfulness or significant inconsistency.