Sorry, gang - no more tips and tricks permanently! :-(

Hi readers. I really wish that, for Christmas, I could have told you that the current communications issues with Winch Gate have been straightened out, and that I'd have a gift bag chock full of information new and restored alike for you under the tree today.

Instead, it gives me absolutely no joy to report that the "tips and tricks" aspect of this blog will be no more - forever. :-(


Wait a minute - what, exactly, happened here man?

What happened is that I recently rebooted this blog given Ryzom's increase in newbie traffic to help newer players with some of the more difficult and/or time-consuming aspects of the game before they got terribly frustrated with the game and found somewhere else to play.

I mean, let's face it - documentation on the game is still pretty lacking and fragmented, despite the wealth of information scattered out there.

So, I did. And apparently, it was quite welcome - I've had 1,200 visits from over 500 unique users just since the 7th of this month. The tips and tricks were by far and away the most popular of these articles, and the newer players especially seemed to enjoy them.

And then Winch Gate began quietly nerfing those walkthroughs.

The first was the New Horizons dapper/fame how-to that I posted. Granted, it probably needed an adjustment anyway - I remember, just after posting that, finding some other players camped at the transporter getting absolutely FILTHY loaded with dappers and us all saying "this kinda feels like cheating, doesn't it?"

So while it was no surprise to find the system got changed in the end, I think the way Winch Gate went about instituting that change DEFINITELY surprised a lot of PvPers who suddenly faced much stricter limitations on the mechanic without any kind of warning on high.

I didn't really think that was right - after all, paying customers deserve to be kept in the loop on such changes, don't they? - but didn't say anything because, well, everyone else already was and Winch Gate was already caving to that pressure from the playerbase that they rocked with this clandestine change.

So I didn't think much about it, and went on posting stuff. The next walkthrough was for newbies to get around to the four capitals without having to wait for a trek.

It got changed within 24 hours as well, but apparently left someone stuck in the process. (I take that anecdote with a grain of salt, however, as the reporting player apparently doesn't like yours truly - they once tried to dig me to death outside of Thesos, but fortunately I always prepare for such contingencies and they were unsuccessful. Certainly not for lack of effort, though...)

I can't take that kind of risk, guys. Newbies getting stuck? Me looking like a liar? And all because the host company can't simply communicate with its playerbase? I mean, hell, the December news took until nearly January to get posted and it was mostly stuff players already knew.

Okay, okay, I get the picture - now what?

That's the thing. I just don't know.

I wrote Winch Gate asking for a response on the matter. They have refused. So, as far as I'm concerned, that's my answer - Winch Gate does not want me producing this blog, and Winch Gate has made it abundantly clear that they are prepared to engage in less-than-honorable tactics to ensure that information doesn't get posted on here.

Frankly, that was much of the reason for me even playing in the first place. I mean, the book was going nowhere thanks to the fact that Ryzom's backstory is fractured beyond repair (to the point that Thesos has THREE different fates, depending on which server one was on at the time - I mean, really?! THREE?!), so I figured I'd just help out the players with some tips, some tricks, maybe some short fiction designed to catch eyes and draw attention.

But Winch Gate has made it painfully clear that they do not want this, and I'm not a big fan of forcing such things on entities that do not want them. So we're done, sadly, and I've moved on to another game that has a more receptive attitude toward the concept. I will be writing for them from here on out, which makes maintaining this blog someone else's task.

If anyone wants it, send Dainan a mail in-game and I'll give you the keys. If no one wants it... aw, hell, I don't know. Maybe I'll just leave the damn thing up. I kinda liked the newsy stuff. I wish I had the opportunity to do more of that.

But no writer worth their ink and pixels would ever jeopardize their own credibility, and I certainly wouldn't want to write anything that's going to get newbies stuck or killed or whatever. That's just not a good time.

So, if you want the blog, it's yours. Lemme know. And for what it's worth - I wish THIS story had a much happier ending. -bp