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Not long after we sat down, we were told about what is probably the most ambitious project ever undertaken by any MMO to date: Ryzom Ring. This expansion aims to allow the players to produce their own content for the game. In the words of one of the developers, it will finally allow players to "put there money where their mouth is".

Using a set of tools that developers Nevrax are creating, players will be able to create their own instanced dungeons. Now, I have to admit on hearing this the first question out of my mouth was how are you going to prevent players from abusing this? We were told that the players would be given sets or pallets that would be based on level. These sets would determine what monsters, loot and coins would be available to the players. The developers did say they would have a predefined script library that would be available to players and they also mentioned that they were considering allowing the players to write their own scripts. That, however, would depend on several things, the most important being some way to prevent the players from intentionally inserting an exploit or bug that would damage the game. It was mentioned that they were not sure what scripting system they would use they were considering either their own system or using of the more popular scripting systems to save players having to learn something new.

One of the cooler things they did mention was that some of the maps would be attached to the main game, and could even be included in to the games further lore. The process that they would be using to allow players to access maps is by dividing them into two very distinct types of player generated content: approved and unapproved.

Unapproved content will be made available to anyone the player creator wants and it to be available to and is controlled either by a password or an access list. This is the content that most worries me as it is here, if anywhere, that people will abuse and exploit the game. While the developers did their best to convince me that this was an unlikely prospect due to all the preset scripts and the level sets, my concerns were still there and I am curious as to what else they will come up with to prevent this if they need to.

Approved content will go through an as yet undefined process and each map will have to be approved by the developers themselves. While this process has not been defined as of yet, one can assume it would include some form of QA testing, and design checks to insure it is not diverging in any major way from the current game. The biggest question we had was what the cycle time would be for getting a map approved, we were told that this would depend what the players are doing, how many people were creating maps and what they are creating. Asked how this content would be available we were told that it would be definitely be downloadable and that there may or may not be a retail box for the expansion. It was also mentioned that some of the content may only be available at an upgraded service cost though what those costs and services might be had yet to be decided.

Next, we were shown some new content that would be available to players as part of the games 3rd chapter: the outpost system. This system would enable player guilds to take and capture outposts around the country side. The outpost system appears relatively simple but, in actuality, is fairly complex. The demo we were shown was sped up greatly, but still imparted that it would not be easy or cheap to maintain outposts.

We were informed that it would take approximately 24hrs to declare war on an outpost and the battle would last approximately 48hrs. Once an outpost is captured, one of two things might happen. If captured from another guild you then have an hour to set up your defenses before the counter-attack phase begins and the opposing guild can attempt to recapture the outpost. Depending on when the outpost was captured this time might be longer (i.e. if you capture it while everyone's at work it might be 4-6hrs before anyone finds out that the outpost has been taken) giving you more time to consolidate your new turf. The second possibility is if the guild has captured the outpost from NPCs, the guild could then rebuild and proceed to take control at a bit more leisurely pace.

Once an outpost is taken there are some basic upkeep costs that have to be realized rather fast to properly defend it and that includes hiring squads of mercenaries (NPCs) to guard your outpost. Up to six of these squads can be placed at various points of the map and will spawn at different times. They can actually include several different types of NPCs as part of the squad so a single squad is more like a platoon and can made up of a mix of NPC types, so a single squad might include a squad of healers, warriors, magic users, etc…

This system will be available to guilds at all levels and there will be outposts near cities that will be available to lower level guilds while those farther out will be suited to guilds of a higher level. Different types of outposts will have different benefits depending on the type of outpost. What those benefits would be were not clear but it would be some kind of bonus for the guild and we were told that it would be cumulative, though after a certain point this bonus would start to diminish and eventually disappear altogether and the maintenance would get very expensive.

Put all together, this system should look something like this, the Dagger guild declares war on an NPC held outpost. After 24 hours the battle commences and the guild can proceed to attempt to take the enemy outpost. Once captured, the Dagger guild now has to rebuild and proceeds to purchase NPCs to guard the outpost. First they purchase a squad of warriors, then a squad of elementalists and finally a squad of healers and they attach all of these together in to a single squad. Using the game map of the outpost, they place these just to the west of the outpost. They repeat this process with several other squads placing them at likely points of attack to help defend should other players attempt to take the outpost. This process is pretty much the same if a guild attacks with the addition of a counter-attack phase if the guild that holds the outpost looses, and of course the addition of Player vs. Player combat! After all, the core of this update is Guild vs. Guild combat the hope is that guilds will come out and defend their hard won territory.

I have to admit, I found my self very excited about where Nevrax was going with Saga of Ryzom after hearing about all of the cool things they were doing in the coming year. Between the outpost system and Ryzom Ring, they are attempting to add some things that no other MMO has attempted and I for one have to admit that I am waiting with bated breath to see what happens. Expect to see Ryzom Ring in either the 3rd or 4th quarter of this year and the 3rd chapter of Ryzom will depend on what happens in their testing phase. After seeing all the cool things that Ryzom is doing, I for one am thinking of taking another at the Saga.