There are two ways to look at it, there are the current conditions and there are the expected soon conditions and expectations. Ill try and give my view on both of those.
Rocktropia Currently:
For the noobs: Organized sweating at the City of Dreams or B.A.M.F HQ on a daily basis. (vixens at cod, and zombies at bamf)
When there are lots of people around there are opalo Dragon or smaller team hunts depending on team size. Haven't been enough for Dragons lately :/
For the not so noob: Werewolves, Motorhead Security Guards, medium Zombies and medium Vixens.
For teams or higher level players, higher level zombies, higher level security guard, Motorhead Guardians, and all levels of Dragons depending on your dmg and protection abilities.
Mining is good, but a lot of the ores/enmatters don't have much value yet since there aren't many blueprints for Rocktropia yet. If you can target the Universial ore/enmatters or the rarer Rocktropia resources that are needed for the current blueprints you could do well.
Population: Low
Driving: There are several road systems as well as city areas that are great for driving in. There is even an underground subway racetrack. There are lots of open areas and paths for driving even when not in the citys so exploring in cars is pretty easy. There are some mountain areas and canyons that you cant cross with cars, but not an excessive amount and IMO adds to the challenge.
Atmosphere:
BAMF area has a strong "Post-Apocalyptic" zombie movie type feel to it, with broken buildings and burned down cars, trash everywhere, etc... which fits in very well with the PVP zone as well as the zombies in the area.
Vampire Cathedral has the big Transylvania looking castle "cathedral" with the vampires all around it and the low lands is a foggy swamp filled with wolves and werewolves.
The Lemmy land areas have lots of skeletons in the ground and darker pagen images which ties in well with the "Motorhead" theme of that area. The Motorhead Security Guards and the Moterhead Guardians are horned bests with leather, spikes and tattoos. (much like you would expect from a heavy metal mythological creature)
City of Dreams, New Harlem & Tangerine city areas all seem like well kept citys with lots of hookers. (the video vixen type mobs)
It definitely feels like you are in a different world, a feeling which is even more strengthened by the separation of storage and auction from calypso as well as the expensive travel fees.
Current Next Island: (I havent spent near as much time on NI as on Rock)
Noob Friendly? Now that the issues with mobs spawning on the revival have been fixed I think it should be pretty friendly. There seems to be a greater variety of low lvl mobs to hunt which do less damage than the Rocktropian equivalents. (I am not sure if there are regular sweat/swunt teams operating there or not)
Since there are not any Next Island blueprints yet there is a lot of hunting loot that has no use or markup, so you either need to be willing to tt something that will potentially be valuable in the future, or be able to afford storing alot of your loot for the next month or two.
For the not so new:
There are a wide range of mobs that someone just starting to clime the sib ladder can kill which dont require much armor or healing. They do tend to have more hp which means more expensive hunts and a bigger chance at globals/hofs at that playing level.
For teams and higher level players: Lots of Drakes, Sharks, Skeletons etc.. to hunt, high hp again means more expensive per kill but higher chance at big loots if your lucky.
Mining: Shares all the ores/enmatters in common with Calypso so if you can find a trader transporting or you are willing to travel back and forth yourself you can do quite well mining if you target high mu resources.
Driving: There is one huge race track that looks alot like a rollercoster and is a ton of fun to drive on with friends. There are big desert areas that you can drive in without much worry, so lots of exploring on the big island. CND is more broken up with water and cliffs so not as easy to drive there.
Both CND on Next Island and all of Rocktropia have streaming popular music if you have it enabled in your client loader which can be a nice change from the in game music you are used to on calypso. (though with music you cant make every listener happy, so you may choose to turn it off/down sometimes when it isnt to your taste)
Rocktropia in the near future:
I expect that when there are more blueprints, missions and advertising that there will be another rush of new players on rocktropia and that the economy will do alot better. There are players in place already to help out and 2 fully stocked booths and a big store already operational to help them out with armor and weapons once they grow out of the Opalo. With new blueprints will come a use for all the hunting loots as well as all the rocktropia specific ores/enmatters which will make all the professions alot more viable.
There have been hints of unique music oriented aspects to Rocktropia but who knows when or if they will happen or what they would even be. People dream of being able to meet more musicians or being able to present some of their own music ingame somehow.
Next Island in the near future.
Blueprints, Missions, Time Travel comming very soon. (hopefully)
With these 3 aspects of Next Island in place it could be the best Planet in the game. Crafting and Time travel will make all the hunting loot more valuable, and draw in lots of people wanting to see the time travel destinations.
In summery:
Both planets are still unfinished in that they dont have what is needed for a full economic cycle. Anyone going there now needs to be prepared to bring everything they need for their stay, or be willing to pay higher prices for stuff brought from Calypso.
There is alot of potential in both planets, and anyone participating in them now really is going to have an advantage over anyone coming after its done.
For new players and old alike I think the Communities on both Next Island and Rocktropia are great and likely are such friendly places because of their lower current populations.
Next Island is the "Island Resort" feel, and Rocktropia is the darker Music oriented planet.
Both are fun, both are different than what you are used to on Calypso. Some people love one or the other, some people hate one or the other. Its really up to each persons likes and personalities where they should spend their time. For me, I really like Rocktropia because it feels like I am a "Pioneer" in something new, I am able to do something that I never would have been able to do on Calypso starting as late as I did, and that is to be the first on a planet, to explore it before any others and fully take advantage of new systems, new mobs and new items.
Really I think this should be the draw of anyone for these new planets comming online, the ability to be first in something new and great.
Obviously there are greater costs now participating on these new planets, but in the long run I think you get more entertainment and more potential for the future from playing on them than you would on just Calypso.
For someone interested in grinding missions, in known mobs, the ability to go over someone else's research before a hunt to know the best way to do something, to look up where to find which ore, etc... Calypso is still defiantly the best. It has a better economy and is an "easier" play. But for me I really enjoy the challenges of the new planets.
Good Luck in your Adventures,
narfi
