Ryzom: Denied!

And lo, it did come to pass that as the sun failed to rise on the first of March, there was a lone closed/locked shard, and it was Windermeer.

Yeah, the single Ryzom server for North America is down this morning, from at least 9am? til noon or later Central time. Bah! Just when I was all keyed up about mapping.
Mebbe I should take a moment here to file my tax forms... ya think?
Nah!

This can't do their popularity much good. I've noticed that most players online seem to be either hardcore mega-level or relatively new. Probably due to the filtering effect of the free trial expiring and the pay factor coming into play. I think more people would stay on if the documentation was better, but thats just me focusing on glaring flaws.

Ostensibly this is so that they can add some recently announced content. The expression goes "can't be bad", but I'm not sure that that expression fully applies. Ryzom does present a nifty RPG world, but there are all of 8 'rites' or quests installed as of yesterday. The sense that it was released when not yet ready for Prime Time settles in. I'm only subscribed for 3 months total at the moment. Seems like that'll be just about right to see whether its worth staying on. (By that time my Oldsmobile to-do list will be in full swing so screwing around in a virtual universe would be a bad thing anyway)
I'll have a quick look for a shareware photo-editor before I crash...

K