RedBaron_Johan

Free premium for everyone on challenge.

That is one way of putting it, sure

Get Ready for the Challenge! Launching Mid to Late day central european time of December 10. Challenge is going live! New mechanics, nice prizes and features in this first round of creative chaos. Join and take part in what is promising to be a first ever and unique experience of Wurm! So lets share what is going into this round and get planning. How to Join? For the first round of challenge, everyone needs to start a new account to teleport there from the start/ tutorial zone. Challenge will be a separate cluster easily found from the portal map when it goes live. We will at a later point have time to create portals from the other clusters. Maps Click Images for High Resolution Two very high resolution maps for you to get a good lay of the land and the second for resources and strategy. Deed functionality and Reimbursement Draining Tokens is possible so you need to take care and defend your deed during the month. There will be deed stake items active which can be crafted without cost ingame to start deeds. When at the end of the month deeds are automatically disbanded you will receive a normal disband compensation as well as remaining upkeep. Upkeep for the time spent will be gone as well as the tile cost. Protected land is a resource which helps in winning. Note: Guards will weaker against enemy players in order to encourage players to defend settlements. They will however fight with full strength against same kingdom players in order to prevent Griefing. Traders Traders will be limited to start towns just as on Xanadu. They will sell less items in order to avoid griefing when the server is reset/ started. Skills To begin with, you start with 20 in almost all skills. Skillgain is when compared to epics skill curve at least 20 times faster. Focus will probably shift to obtaining resources more then spending a lot of time using them simply for skillgain. Skillgain now benefits from better ql tools and weapons. The starting level of characters will probably be increased the closer we are to the 1 month finish. This so that people getting in later will have a fair chance to get up to speed with some effort. Actions & Timers Most of the previously time consuming actions has become much quicker. Siege mechanics Want to marvel at the new siege weapons and defenses in a bigger version? Just go ahead and click them! Ballista Handles much like the catapult in its operation. You are able to push, rotate and move it if loaded on a wagon. Comparatively it has high armor piercing projectiles and is loaded with ballista darts. Trebuchet Behaves like the catapult but has a much higher damage. You are able to push and rotate it but it can not be loaded on wagons. So the placement of these will be crucial. What mainly sets it apart from the catapult is that you do not winch it to fire. Instead you open it to provide a counter weight which weight determines the range of fire. You use rock shards or any other type of ore shards as the materials of counterweight. Spike barriers Stationary obstacles which are placed in the same way as walls. They are very material efficient and easily crafted. They will not stop movement but you receive damage when standing on the same tile. Magic Turret Magic Turrets defends any location against enemy kingdoms. There will be several versions of this tower with different elemental attacks such as acid, fire etc which will have different benefits against different armors. The turret is not going to be able to take much damage but it adds a new level of strategy to your defenses. It has a range of 4 tiles There is a required spacing between turrets of about 8 tiles They have to be planted in order to function properly, but even if planted they will currently not work in caves. Archery Tower The archery tower has similar functionality as the magic turret but instead shoots ordinary arrows. It will aesthetically have similarities with the ordinary guard tower but will instead be made of wood and is therefore much easier to destroy. There is also going to be a limitation on how close they can be built in proximity to each other. Siege Shield In its functionality very similar to a moveable wall. It can be pushed forward between tile borders and is rotatable to change direction while advancing on enemy lines. It defends those behind it whilst still giving you the ability to fire arrows at enemies. This makes makes an offensive force more versatile when attacking a heavily defended position both in terms of enemy players and defensive turrets. They have no functionality and can be walked through in caves since there are no fences there. Repairing As actions are faster, repairing would also be faster. But to promote attacking bases and smart defensive base building, repairing has been nerfed. This so that a defending party will not be able to simply defend by repairing a Wall against an attacking force. When a wall is destroyed, rubble will fall in its place on the tile border. You can walk over the rubble but it stops anyone from building there before it is destroyed. Penalty of Death The penalty from dying is as before a slight hit on your current skills and your items will be dropped with your body. Competitions Categories and Prizes Most overall points Title “Master/Mistress of The Challenge†20 Silver Coins to character of choice Gold Challenge Statue Face Mask of The Challenge 2 months premium on character of choice Most Unique Achievements accomplished Title “Lord/Lady of The Isles†20 Silver Coins to character of choice Gold Challenge Statue, Face Mask of The Isles 2 months premium on character of choice Most Battle Points Title “Blood Ravager†20 Silver Coins to character of choice Silver Challenge Statue, Ravager Face Mask 2 months premium on character of choice Most Personal Achievements accomplished Title “Selfie†10 Silver Coins to character of choice Silver Challenge Statue, Pale Face Mask 2 months premium on character of choice Most items looted from resource points Title “Pit Slayer†10 Silver Coins to character of choice Bronze Challenge Statue Horned Helmet of Gold 2 months premium on character of choice Player with most HOTA points Title “Guardian of the Hunt†10 Silver Coins to character of choice Bronze Challenge Statue Plumed Helm of The Hunt 2 months premium on character of choice Most Unique player kills Title “Shadow Assassin†10 Silver Coins to character of choice Marble Challenge Statue Face Mask of the Shadow 2 months premium on character of choice Most Karma gained Title “Future Warden†10 Silver Coins to character of choice Marble Challenge Statue Face Mask of the Enlightened 2 months premium on character of choice Ruler with most land Title “Emperor Emeritus†10 Silver Coins to character of choice Marble Challenge Statue Embellished Staff of the Land 2 months premium on character of choice Village with most HOTA wins (Mayor receives prize to share) Titles “Pack of the Huntâ€, 20x HOTA Necklaces Items such as weapons and masks will not be overpowered but of equivalent strength as similar mid-high-range types. These will probably be handed out as prizes in subsequent Challenges as winner prizes as well. Leader Boards Scores and points will be recorded at all times and summed up in Leader Boards. The Link will be provided to you a while into the experience. Scores can then be followed live from our Web Site. Priests On this first round of Challenge there will presently be no changes to priests. There might still be some last minute changes to balance out the favor gain. Already there is plenty of buzz going around and rumors of huge battles planned. Plenty of old player have reported back to try this new game mode. We will ourself be fighting and building the battlefield to share the experience. So! May the best Wurmians Win!

It will indeed be much quicker.

Hello Fellow Wurmians! Welcome to yet another weekly update. The end of this year is drawing close and so is the release date. We are working as hard as we can to bring you as much as possible in this next release. So let me tell you what is going on and Share some News! New Music! The very talented Musician and Producer Tom E Morrison has completed yet another album of awesome music for Wurm! It is his third installment in the series and it is called Battle & Adventure. A very powerful and inspiring album featuring epic, dramatic, classic themes with live traditional instruments in perfect balance with more modern influences, edits and a lounge vibe. By far my favorite out of the three. I highly recommend that you check it out and listen to it out of the game to explore and enjoy it to the fullest. You can as with his other albums find it on Spotify, Itunes and Amazon.com Bridges Click Image for a Larger Version We are still working hard getting all the kinks taken care of. Most problems we have found by now are fixed which is great. There is however one crucial piece remaining which will be the deciding factor of when bridges are released and it has to do with checking movement correctly. We have now also added icons for bridge parts so they can be shown in the crafting interface. Challenge We are progressing steadily on Challenge and things are really starting to get interesting. First let me speak a bit about the resource spawn points. The spawn points which we have touched upon earlier is divided in two different types. The large on for bulk materials and smaller ones in the hota zone which yields less but are more frequent and with strategically important materials. We have made some particle effects which will trigger regularly and trickle down for the ones in the middle which are the smaller but more frequent resource spawns. There is also a larger one which is for the less frequent but with larger yields. This particle effect will be triggered and stay in effect for 30 minutes in advance of the big spawn so people can get prepared and start heading there. Both of the effects will be visible from a very long distance and finnish in a sound effect which can be heard from far away. Secondly there will be new sounds for all the siege and defensive weapons which I am currently working on. Most of them are already done and it is adding plenty of drama to the feeling of interacting with the objects. The new Trebuchet! Click Image for a Larger Version Third there is plenty of tweaking going into all the new weapons for them to function as well as possible for the first round of Challenge. The fourth thing I want to mention is that we are going to add a bit of drama to the ending of the first round of Challenge to, so to say “Go out in a blazeâ€. What I mean is there will be effects and events triggering that will leave no room for interpretation other than the fact that the end is drawing near. New Tapestry! This lovely new Tapestry will get added to the game thanks to Faeldray who contributed it in the competition a couple of weeks back. Thanks again to everyone who took part in the competition! Planting As you all have probably seen already. We listened to your feedback and added keybinds for several planting actions. Also added was the option both to plant centered and natural which will give you a more random result. Gardeners and foresters everywhere rejoice! Beauty of battle This time it has been me working on this area. I have updated all the combat sounds having to do with fighting, dodging, defending, shields and bashing etc. So you can expect them to go live with an update very soon. Still to come are of course plenty of the creatures which are going to be work in progress for quite some time. Alright Wurmians that is all for this week. The team is heading out today for our annual Christmas dinner with Rolf at the head of the table. We will be raising our glasses for you, thankful for the fact that you Keep on Wurming!

It was not one of our artists screenshots or work that won. That was by a player. It was however a graphic artist that applied that winning contribution to a 3d model

The screenshot I provided as the announcement for the winner is the work of art director Wox. He has used the winning contribution picture to show it already applied to the ingame asset as it will be implemented. No need to attack the winning contribution because yours was not picked, there might be more chances

Hello Everyone! Thank you for your patience. It has taken some extra time to try and verify what is original artwork and so on. But in the end we all agreed that this contribution deserves to win as it is both original and authentic to Wurm. So without any further ado I bring you the winner! So thank you Faeldray For your contribution! It will be ingame as soon as possible. Plenty of extra apprechiation as always goes out to everyone who has taken part in the competition. You are all awesome

Hello Fellow Wurmians! Weekly news, fresh from the press and delivered straight to you all wherever it might find you. How about it, you ready for some more info on our current hot topics? Maybe even a surprise or two thrown into the mix? I hope so because it is time to Share some News! Challenge The Map This week I wanted to bring you the initial draft of the Challenge Map to see what you think about it. So check it out! Click the Image for a Larger Version This first map is 8x8 km large so it is not a very big map. The thought here is to have a center where there will be an intimate struggle for the highly valuable resources that will spawn in the HOTA zone. The other larger spawn points spawns more bulk materials but are also of high strategic value. The far base is a good option to mass a larger army to strike back if enemies are pushing the forward base to hard. The main setting for the scenario is the battle between Mol Rehan and Jenn-Kellon as they are situated on the mainland. Horde of the Summoned is expected to act more like pirates fighting to gain ground and counteracting the others territorial control but what their final role looks like will be interesting to see. On the topic of priests, Hots will have a slight advantage as they will have BL close to their far base whilst White light will be placed on an island of the coast which will hopefully add some further drama. Ballista So we talked a bit about the ballista last week but now we got this nice work in progress picture to show! Click the Image for a Larger Version The function is as following. It is operated in much the same way as the catapults where you first winch them into a loaded state. Then secondly, take aim and fire. It can be loaded on a cart and unloaded at a strategic point to lay down some high armor piercing fire upon the enemy. Bridges Click the Image for a Larger Version This bridge right here is as you can see the wooden bridge. It is both the version with the one tile width and the second with maximum width of two tiles. We have found several new bugs which has been and is being addressed thanks to the test team who is doing a great job. There is still some problems mainly with specific situational collisions between player and different geometry in relation to bridges. There are lively debates about the topics daily now as the release draws near. Trees, Grass and Planting. Grass now grow under trees. You can trim the grass under trees to a lawn to stop it from growing. Animals can not however graze on the grass under trees. When you plant a sprout it will now always be in the center of a tile. The reason and thought behind this is that when planting, you can now do it neatly and organized way. So if you for example want to create a nice alley of trees in a perfect row leading up to your deed, you can do that now. Neat rows of grape bushes outside your winery? No problem. All trees does still replant themselves in the same random fashion as now however. Did I mention this is currently on the live servers? Well at least now I did. Beauty of battle Animation tweaking is going well and on the more general side we have now seen to it that the insta jumping between animations on creatures animations is solved. This is currently live and implemented in the game. It will however still require some further tweaking as this can be a bit misleading in the way that the creatures does more attacks than is shown with animations. That takes me to the next topic which is the more in depth tweaking which is being done on a more individual level of the creatures which gives them a better variation and balance in their attack patterns. There are now several creatures who has received this treatment on the test server and it is looking and feeling much better. Masks Click the Image for a Larger Version So here is a bit of a surprise huh? The masks will at least initially be a purely social item. The first mask is a plain white mask which kinda gives me a bit of a mime/ emo vibe really. Which if you ask me is pretty freaky on both accounts so lets just call it a creepy mask. What you wear on your head decides the visibility of the masks as some already cower to much of your face. So it will in other words be wearable with certain headgear which is pretty cool. Probably it will be dyeable to provide further variations. There will be more masks later with different themes. So how about it Wurmians? I would love to see you speculate on the challenge map and what type of tactics could be used. What do you think the scenario will be when keeping in mind what I have told you about the mechanics from last weeks posts? All of us from the dev team will be playing it from launch and I am suspecting you are going to be slapping us around quite a bit to be honest. But that is a later issue, for now lets just Keep on Wurming!

Hello Fellow Wurmians! Another weekly update closer to the exciting release. We have now set a release date we are aiming for. 10th of December! It is getting so very close and everyone is hard at work. So let us dive right into it and Share some News! Bridges Click Image for Larger Version Most things are starting to fall into place for the bridges and we now have a test team working closely with devs putting everything thoroughly to the test. Bugs are being addressed as we find them but functionality right now is looking very promising. Both in terms of building bridges between points in the landscape, buildings and from buildings to land. This was announced earlier but I can now confirm that stone and wooden bridges will still be able to be built several tiles wide. Currently they are set at a maximum of Rope 1, Wood 2, Rock 3 tiles width. Restrictions are being put in place so that they can not be used in griefing purposes or unforeseen pvp exploits. Click Images for Larger Versions Challenge Today I want to share some of the things currently worked on for the Challenge launch. I do not have work in progress shots of quite everything yet but I think you will enjoy it non the less. Bear in mind that this is all work in progress and implementation and details may change. Magic Turret Click Image for Larger Version The Magic Turret is as its name implies a magical defensive structure. It will defend your land and structures against other kingdoms. There will be several versions of this tower with different elemental attacks such as acid, fire etc which will have different benefits against different armors. The turret is not going to be able to take much damage but it adds a new level of strategy to your defenses. Archery Tower The archery tower also has similar functionality like the magic turret but instead shoots ordinary arrows. It will aesthetically have similarities with the ordinary guard tower but will instead be made of wood and is therefore much easier to destroy. There is also going to be a limitation on how close they can be built in proximity to each other. Spike Barrier Click Image for Larger Version The spike barrier is a new type of fence which will not have collisions so you can pass through it. It will however give damage to those who come to close. Siege Shield Click Image for Larger Version This is in its functionality very similar to a moveable wall. It clips to tile borders but is rotatable and pushable to aim an advance on enemy lines. It defends those behind it whilst still giving you the ability to fire arrows at enemies. This makes makes an offensive force more versatile when attacking a heavily defended position both in terms of enemy players. Trebuchet A structure with functionality much like the catapults but with much greater damage. It is a stationary structure so it will have to be built at a strategic position. The trebuchet needs to be controlled by a player to fire. Ballista A fearsome weapon with high armor penetration which can be used both for offense and defence. Its placement will be stationary but it is movable by carts to set up a new line of fire. The ballista will need to be controlled by a player to fire. Beauty of Battle ErikN has been progressing steadily this last week with solving the issue of proximity to targets and played animations. He knows how it needs to be tweaked and it is now a matter of going through all the creatures to implement it. Statuettes As promised, the other statuettes are getting a makeover as well. Well needed and pleasing to the eye! That will be all for this week Wurmians. I hope you are getting as excited as I am! And you know what to do until next time right? Keep on Wurming!

Hello again Wurmians! I have updated with some new information. But might as well add it here as well It is completely separate from all other servers but we will try to enable you to teleport there. It would work pretty much like the separation between epic and freedom, separate skills and inventory. So either you create a new account specifically for the challenge server or play with your main but with nothing other then your name and look transfered. To clarify, your character would only be wiped regularly on the challenge server. Once you go back to your original server you will still have the same stats and inventory as when you left. Unaffected by the transfer in either direction. Currency would be transferable between the servers with your account and any refunds etc you get on Challenge can be carried back. If you have premium time on you account it will however stay on the same timer even if Challenge is on free premium.

Hello again Wurmians got some more updated information. It is completely separate from all other servers but we will try to enable you to teleport there. It would work pretty much like the separation between epic and freedom, separate skills and inventory. So either you create a new account specifically for the challenge server or play with your main but with nothing other then your name and look transfered. To clarify, your character would only be wiped regularly on the challenge server. Once you go back to your original server you will still have the same stats and inventory as when you left. Unaffected by the transfer in either direction. Currency would be transferable between the servers with your account and any refunds etc you get on Challenge can be carried back. If you have premium time on you account it will however stay on the same timer even if Challenge is on free premium.

Hello Wurmians! Challenge is something that is needed for several reasons and by being separate it does not need to follow the same rules. Ideally it could serve as a gateway to wurm pvp benefiting the epic cluster long term by providing a platform with a much lower threshold and plain leveled playing field for those interested in trying Wurm. Because in reality, we would never get epics player base to agree to server cross wipes on both skills and land right? What this also does is limit anything we want to drastically change to alter the recipe for skillgain etc as it affects the value and time investment in characters etc. On challenge however with a clear mindset of initially having at least a monthly server wipe, we have the freedom to change anything to fit the specific challenge making things very interesting from both gameplay and gamedesign perspective. Also, we can find an interesting dynamic formula for a more quick paced Wurm online experience to offer. Talking about recipes and such, I see some are talking about having to grind from 0 each restart. This is easily addressed and planned into the initial release. Firstly, when I said ultra fast skill gain I truly mean it. You will not need to grind much at all. Secondly, we can start out Challenge characters with a pre set skill level to already be sufficient to create ok armor and weapons etc. I know it is not for everyone, but at least for me personally I have always wanted to try Wurm in such a game mode. Knowing how it feels from the perspective of someone who has built allot with a dev character where you can build quickly and without much limitations. It is a very interesting concept to truly unlock all that Wurm has to offer and letting loose a truly creative chaos in an MMO environment. The thought here is also that even with a player population that does not come close to the freedom cluster it will still feel highly populated. We are going to start out with having a pretty small and intimate environment where territorial control and struggle becomes more tangible. Where travel distance/ time does not count much into the equation. And the loss for dying in a raid is not bad enough to make you feel you have to prepare for days before trying again Where emphasis shift from grinding and gear to going into action and just having fun. Why not try and help us make this into a truly fun experience? Because player input will be much easier to include both on a scenario and gameplay level now that we will have a platform that is agile and not set in stone.

Hello Wurmians! I do understand your skepticism of this and change is always a bit scary. Let me just first underline that most things added to challenge would also be added to the epic cluster. Challenge is something that is needed for several reasons and by being separate it does not need to follow the same rules. Ideally it could serve as a gateway to wurm pvp benefiting the epic cluster long term by providing a platform with a much lower threshold and plain leveled playing field for those interested in trying Wurm. Because in reality, we would never get epics player base to agree to server cross wipes on both skills and land right? What this also does is limit anything we want to drastically change to alter the recipe for skillgain etc as it affects the value and time investment in characters etc. On challenge however with a clear mindset of initially having at least a monthly server wipe, we have the freedom to change anything to fit the specific challenge making things very interesting from both gameplay and gamedesign perspective. Also, we can find an interesting dynamic formula for a more quick paced Wurm online experience to offer. Talking about recipes and such, I see some are talking about having to grind from 0 each restart. This is easily addressed and planned into the initial release. Firstly, when I said ultra fast skill gain I truly mean it. You will not need to grind much at all. Secondly, we can start out Challenge characters with a pre set skill level to already be sufficient to create ok armor and weapons etc. I know it is not for everyone, but at least for me personally I have always wanted to try Wurm in such a game mode. Knowing how it feels from the perspective of someone who has built allot with a dev character where you can build quickly and without much limitations. It is a very interesting concept to truly unlock all that Wurm has to offer and letting loose a truly creative chaos in an MMO environment. The thought here is also that even with a player population that does not come close to the freedom cluster it will still feel highly populated. We are going to start out with having a pretty small and intimate environment where territorial control and struggle becomes more tangible. Where travel distance/ time does not count much into the equation. And the loss for dying in a raid is not bad enough to make you feel you have to prepare for days before trying again Where emphasis shift from grinding and gear to going into action and just having fun. Why not try and help us make this into a truly fun experience? Because player input will be much easier to include both on a scenario and gameplay level now that we will have a platform that is agile and not set in stone.

Hello Wurmians! I do understand your skepticism of this and change is always a bit scary. Let me just first underline that most things added to challenge would also be added to the epic cluster. Challenge is something that is needed for several reasons and by being separate it does not need to follow the same rules. Ideally it could serve as a gateway to wurm pvp benefiting the epic cluster long term by providing a platform with a much lower threshold and plain leveled playing field for those interested in trying Wurm. Because in reality, we would never get epics player base to agree to server cross wipes on both skills and land right? What this also does is limit anything we want to drastically change to alter the recipe for skillgain etc as it affects the value and time investment in characters etc. On challenge however with a clear mindset of initially having at least a monthly server wipe, we have the freedom to change anything to fit the specific challenge making things very interesting from both gameplay and gamedesign perspective. Also, we can find an interesting dynamic formula for a more quick paced Wurm online experience to offer. Talking about recipes and such, I see some are talking about having to grind from 0 each restart. This is easily addressed and planned into the initial release. Firstly, when I said ultra fast skill gain I truly mean it. You will not need to grind much at all. Secondly, we can start out Challenge characters with a pre set skill level to already be sufficient to create ok armor and weapons etc. I know it is not for everyone, but at least for me personally I have always wanted to try Wurm in such a game mode. Knowing how it feels from the perspective of someone who has built allot with a dev character where you can build quickly and without much limitations. It is a very interesting concept to truly unlock all that Wurm has to offer and letting loose a truly creative chaos in an MMO environment. The thought here is also that even with a player population that does not come close to the freedom cluster it will still feel highly populated. We are going to start out with having a pretty small and intimate environment where territorial control and struggle becomes more tangible. Where travel distance/ time does not count much into the equation. And the loss for dying in a raid is not bad enough to make you feel you have to prepare for days before trying again Where emphasis shift from grinding and gear to going into action and just having fun. Why not try and help us make this into a truly fun experience? Because player input will be much easier to include both on a scenario and gameplay level now that we will have a platform that is agile and not set in stone.

It is not really new animations. It is a matter of well functioning animations

Hello Fellow Wurmians! This is the day. What day? Thursday? Yes, but it is also the day to reveal the secret project. I have been smiling at the threads trying to guess at what it might be. But I will hold you in suspense no longer. It is time to Share some News! Challenge - Build the Battlefield A server with a new action packed, competitive version of Wurm! Challenge is a very different platform where we will host competitive games with different themes and goals. Each challenge ends in a Scoreboard of all participants, winners of prizes and a total reset of both World and Skills. So each challenge we start will be unique and everyone starts with the same stats. The only thing you keep between rounds is titles earned, any remaining currency you have and what you are refunded from deeds etc. We will announce that, prizes and competitive categories later. The aim with this very new take on Wurm is to have a place for those who want as little grind as possible and focus on fun and competitive play. Keeping this in mind let me list some of the core features in the initial Challenge. New Raid functionality which will include things like more siege weapons, defensive turrets and expanded functionality for the guard towers. Ultra fast skilling even on failed actions. Super short timers. No repair for walls and fences while in combat. Strategic Resource spawn points which gives the kingdom that controls them an abundance of building and crafting materials. The first challenge will last one month and we’ll see how it feels Initially we will make this available for you free of charge so everyone can try it out. So every account will be premium on the challenge server. It is completely separate from all other servers but we will try to enable you to teleport there. It would work pretty much like the separation between epic and freedom, separate skills and inventory. So either you create a new account specifically for the challenge server or play with your main but with nothing other then your name and look transfered. To clarify, your character would only be wiped regularly on the challenge server. Once you go back to your original server you will still have the same stats and inventory as when you left. Unaffected by the transfer in either direction. Currency would be transferable between the servers with your account and any refunds etc you get on Challenge can be carried back. If you have premium time on you account it will however stay on the same timer even if Challenge is on free premium. Follow this Link to discuss Challenge more in depth. Initial Release Date of Challenge and Bridges! We are releasing Challenge and Bridges at the same time, along with some other things. The plan is to release them both within a month from now!! Get hyped Wurmians! Skill Tracker You will with the next client update be able to use the skill tracker in pretty much the same way as the toolbelt. So basically you can save several presets for which skills you want to track. Then just load them as you change your activities. Convenient! Medieval Bling Wox contacted two interesting medieval craftsmen/ jewelers originally from Iceland but nowadays working out of the USA. They agreed we could use their jewelry as models and textures in Wurm online and Wox is already working on making this possible. The idea is to implement them in the way that you wear them on the outside of your armor or clothing so it is visual and appealing. Also so no one will miss your obvious upgrade in status and fashion sensibility. Primarily we are focusing on necklaces, bracelets and rings. Check out the very talented medieval craftsmen/ jewelers here! http://www.urweg.com/ The Beauty of Battle Animations Some of you might have noticed that our creatures have a bit of “twitch†to them at times. What I mean is that in certain cases they instantly change in between animations when finishing an attack and are already in the middle of the next one. This causes the creature to snap to the middle of the next animation. You might think this is because at times they get overly excited. And who wouldn't with a tasty Wurmian on the menu? But no, it is a matter of code. So this is what we are looking into, but not only that. We are also trying to see to it that we get a more even spread in what types of attacks are used. Therefore we would get more variety in the creatures behavior. Fighting Proximity So this is another one of those things to make fighting a bit more enjoyable. It has to do with the so called hitboxes. To shortly explain that, think of your skin as your personal hitbox. It is the proximity that determines when a hit comes in contact with your body. This in games is usually a bit more simplified and we mostly use a an outer box around creatures to measure your range of attack. This is then compared to optimal distance of attack which in turn affects your effectivity. The problem currently is that the system does not always scale in an optimal way. For those of you who have fought big foes like Spawn of Uttacha know this first hand. You even know it intimately, because the fact is that you actually need to be inside the creature to achieve the optimal fighting distance. Intimacy is all well but seriously, how about some personal space! That is why our coder that needs the most personal space at the office is on the case. ErikN, we humbly put our trust in your boundary issues. Floor rotation As we all know about the Wurm community, why have it one way when you can have the other? Therefore it is always at the heart of us devs to see to it that you may have a choice. At least for the most part. So we are working on enabling floor rotation for ladder openings and floors in general so you get that added control over your layout. Pretty neat huh? Tapestry Competition It is time for another competition! So after last weeks reveal of the tapestries we had many suggestions for new motifs. But the best suggestion of them all was to have a competition between you Wurmians, you know how I love to make you work a bit. The theme is as you might suspect to paint a new Tapestry motif or pattern. You do not need to focus on anything other than the painting itself, in other words do not paint the painting on a tapestry. What you want to paint is entirely up to you but we will of course be looking for the most suitable one for the game. Because the winning contribution will be added to the game! Competition starts today and we will choose a winner which will be announced in the weekly update 2 weeks from now so week 48. So make sure your contribution is in at the latest Wednesday 26th of November. Follow this Link to get to the competition submissions page. This is for real Wurmians, can you believe it? Bridges is almost within your grasp and the countdown is short! And Challenge? It will be so exciting! Not only for players but for us as developers to be creative with setting up different challenges. There is so much potential in this! I need a moment to compose myself, sorry. Ok, I remember. There is only one thing left to say Keep on Wurming!

A server with a new action packed, competitive version of Wurm! Challenge is a very different platform where we will host competitive games with different themes and goals. Each challenge ends in a Scoreboard of all participants, winners of prizes and a total reset of both World and Skills. So each challenge we start will be unique and everyone starts with the same stats. The only thing you keep between rounds is titles earned, any remaining currency you have and what you are refunded from deeds etc. We will announce that, prizes and competitive categories later. The aim with this very new take on Wurm is to have a place for those who want as little grind as possible and focus on fun and competitive play. Keeping this in mind let me list some of the core features in the initial Challenge. New Raid functionality which will include things like more siege weapons, defensive turrets and expanded functionality for the guard towers. Ultra fast skilling even on failed actions. Super short timers. No repair for walls and fences while in combat. Strategic Resource spawn points which gives the kingdom that controls them an abundance of building and crafting materials. The first challenge will last one month and we’ll see how it feels //Added response and information Challenge is something that is needed for several reasons and by being separate it does not need to follow the same rules. Ideally it could serve as a gateway to wurm pvp benefiting the epic cluster long term by providing a platform with a much lower threshold and plain leveled playing field for those interested in trying Wurm. Because in reality, we would never get epics player base to agree to server cross wipes on both skills and land right? What this also does is limit anything we want to drastically change to alter the recipe for skillgain etc as it affects the value and time investment in characters etc. On challenge however with a clear mindset of initially having at least a monthly server wipe, we have the freedom to change anything to fit the specific challenge making things very interesting from both gameplay and gamedesign perspective. Also, we can find an interesting dynamic formula for a more quick paced Wurm online experience to offer. Talking about recipes and such, I see some are talking about having to grind from 0 each restart. This is easily addressed and planned into the initial release. Firstly, when I said ultra fast skill gain I truly mean it. You will not need to grind much at all. Secondly, we can start out Challenge characters with a pre set skill level to already be sufficient to create ok armor and weapons etc. I know it is not for everyone, but at least for me personally I have always wanted to try Wurm in such a game mode. Knowing how it feels from the perspective of someone who has built allot with a dev character where you can build quickly and without much limitations. It is a very interesting concept to truly unlock all that Wurm has to offer and letting loose a truly creative chaos in an MMO environment. The thought here is also that even with a player population that does not come close to the freedom cluster it will still feel highly populated. We are going to start out with having a pretty small and intimate environment where territorial control and struggle becomes more tangible. Where travel distance/ time does not count much into the equation. And the loss for dying in a raid is not bad enough to make you feel you have to prepare for days before trying again Where emphasis shift from grinding and gear to going into action and just having fun. Why not try and help us make this into a truly fun experience? Because player input will be much easier to include both on a scenario and gameplay level now that we will have a platform that is agile and not set in stone. //More updated information It is completely separate from all other servers but we will try to enable you to teleport there. It would work pretty much like the separation between epic and freedom, separate skills and inventory. So either you create a new account specifically for the challenge server or play with your main but with nothing other then your name and look transfered. To clarify, you character would only be wiped regularly on the challenge server. Once you go back to your original server you will still have the same stats and inventory as when you left. Unaffected by the transfer in either direction. Currency would be transferable between the servers with your account and any refunds etc you get on Challenge can be carried back. If you have premium time on you account it will however stay on the same timer even if Challenge is on free premium.

Hello all Creative Wurmians! Thank you for your patience. It has taken some extra time to try and verify what is original artwork and so on. But in the end we all agreed that this contribution deserves to win as it is both original and authentic to Wurm. So without any further ado I bring you the winner! So thank you Faeldray For your contribution! It will be ingame as soon as possible. Plenty of extra apprechiation as always goes out to everyone who has taken part in the competition. You are all awesome

Haha keep on speculating Wurmians! *que evil laugh* Muahaha

Something tells me that if we only had a game platform but a completely bug free game set in an environment of ugly placeholder graphics, no animations and floating cubes representing the creatures. You would happily agree that there is need to balance both art and code to be an appealing game experience. Fortunately one does not have to exclude the other in this situation.

My lips are To put it in an ironic play on words

Well we have some new player animations planned for a bit later so I will see if that would be an easy addition to get in the pipeline whilst we are doing it. Cant promise anything but I know what you are talking about, the current animation leaves a bit to be desired That should not be a problem. There really aint no specific reason why you can not do it at the present time. Other then the obvious fact that the game will not let you hehe.

Those two models are just what is currently worked on. He will get his time in the spotlight as well

Well, the colossus would actually need to be retextured if downscaled. Just think about it, all those bricks and then downscaled to character size = tons of tiny miniature bricks. Not a bad idea though! It is always good to find reuse of assets. But as always it is hard to make them a priority with so much already in the pipeline hehe.