geode

It is what I see as a "gateway" suggestion/decision that may lead to less opposition to PvP flag turned on in Freedom Isles servers in the future... for that is exactly how real world politics advances a change unto the populous that they [the populous] are not in favor of, first suggest a seemingly harmless change that then becomes the foundation for a later change that the politicians wanted from the start... and that tactic has been used MANY times in Wurm over the years on these forums to promote changes. In regards to PMK stuff being allowed on Freedom Isles servers... I have been 100% opposed to this from the moment the Devs allowed it. I am opposed to all of it, including Missions. IMO all of those features belong on Epic and/or Chaos servers for where they were originally designed and where for the Devs said they were intended. I remember when these content features/itmes were itroduced into the game and at that time the Devs said it was to be a "carrot" to lure Players to the PvP servers (which I feel was a great idea, there should be special rewards for PvP, "risk vs. reward"). My opposition to anything PMK on Freedom Isles servers remains because of this original intent as well as other considerations. I myself won't purchase a MR guardtower on a Freedom Isle server even though originally my character was aligned with MR and I still have loyalty to that Faction to some extent (and still is on Epic when I port). I played Wurm before Indy server was established, I played in the "old world" of JKHome and MRHome and Chaos and I was playing when Rolf decided to allow home server raiding then. I left my deed on MRHome when we all got told by Rolf to pack up our stuff and load it onto to the new Ships and we all did the journey from the old servers to the new Independence server. My desires for the Freedom Isles servers is that they NEVER have a PvP flag turned on again. (The Devs of course are at liberty to do what they will with Wurm, and I am at liberty to disagree with them as well. I can still play this game even with not agreeing with the Devs on all things in a similar manner as in real life I can be a citizen of my rl country and not agree with what they are doing ... just as an example). PvP players having deeds on Freedom Isles servers does not bother me in the least. I am not prejudiced against PvP Players. I just want to see the Freedom Isles remain non-PvP in all aspects and that also includes PvP rewards such as HOTA, banners, guardtowers, etc. from PvP Faction/PMK content. I DO support PvP content in Wurm and I DO also support non-PvP servers in Wurm and THAT is why I am of the opinion that the two gameplay styles should remain as separate as possible while still allowing Players the freedom of choice to go back and forth between the different types at their will.... I do not however agree that includes allowing Players to bring back their rewards to the non-PvP servers for their deeds and I don't see the items being on Freedom Isles now as a justification to creep forward to allow more of what I was already opposed to. Nor do I agree that just because something is popular that it automatically makes it wise or acceptable, real world or virtual. [If Wurm Unlimited wasn't confined to STEAM I would most definitely create my own server and open it to all the Players and then, assuming it could be done with mods, I would create the Wurm world with the content I agree with (WU is coded as a STEAM game and I won't participate in STEAM), but alas that possibility the Devs say will never happen and that is why I don't just go to WU]

The Devs already have one possible solution and have had it for many years now... break the direct server border connection between Chaos and the Freedom Isles servers (that allows ship travel and therefore cargo transport) and only allow Players to Port to and from Chaos with a Portal just like Epic, except just let everyone KEEP their skills. This is already possible between GV tutorial server and the rest of the servers... if you gain skill on GV you don't lose it when you go on to your chosen server after GV. (On one character a while back I gained about 10 skill in healing and kept it when I got to Xanadu so I know for a fact this is the case.) No more loot being taken to Freedom to safeguard it. No more temptation by those who lose the loot to beg and plead with Devs to turn PvP on in Freedom Servers just to get back virtual items that shouldn't have been allowed to cross servers in the first place. The special items that are meant to be unique to the PvP servers as I understand it where placed on the PvP servers to attract Players TO the PvP servers, so why are the Devs shooting themselves, us, and the game in the foot and letting these items go to the servers they are not intended for? Why add more "incentives" to attract Players to PvP servers if they are just going to be used for what they were not intended for or lose their attraction because anyone can get them? Allow us to build portals that goes from/to Freedom Isles <> Chaos and let us keep our skills when we port. Restrict all items crossing over just like the Epic Portals do. Cut the server boundary connections. Try it for a year and see how it goes, treat as an experiment. If it doesn't work the Devs already know how to change it back. The solution to this, one solution at least, does exist. Question is ... do the Devs and Staff have the will to choose this solution that can end this type of problem?

Some of us have asked for this over the years and nothing would make us happier. This isn't the old days of Chaos/JKHome/MRHome before Indy.... this is now and now the connection between Chaos and the Freedom Isles is being abused. Close the Gate. Sever the Link. Please. As Erevorn says it's a simple fix, easier than the nightmare to figure out where the loot gotten taken to now.

"No, not at all" Not interested. I consider it a benefit for there to be only one Kingdom on my Server, and that it is at war with no one, and that it is a Lawful Kingdom compared to some others. I do not desire my own kingdom tabard, nor any other special perk that PMKs have. Not to mention that allowing PMKs on Freedom would be a step in the direction of altering the Freedom servers to allow PvP in some form, and I am opposed to that completely. If I want PvP I will move to Epic or Chaos.

Yes. Coffea sprouts first of course. Someone needs to decide shrub or tree. While that's brewing I'll brew some coffee while we wait

One person? Just one? Even I could abuse that and take Kyrmius to Epic and hold one of them servers open ad infinitum (and I don't PvP). I could run around for months dying all over and still be considered "still playing". (and what do I accomplish in Wurm?) Rolf and Staff might want to rethink that rule...

Same. I love Xanadu and how massive in area it is. Compared to Xan the other servers imo are too small and too riddled with the evidences of previous inhabitants, and even if there was some kind of server "resets"/"refreshes" I wouldn't consider redeeding on another server unless it was at least the size of Xanadu (lived in Indy... too small for me). Even when Budda's new creature changes get put ingame I will be staying where I live in the boonies of Xan.

Four "characteristics" of Wurm off the top of my head that deter it from being more "village" friendly: 1.) Wurm attracts people who tend to see things differently than the masses, and that all by itself breeds contention ingame because we all have our guard up and tend not to trust others as easily as the masses do. Those who ARE community minded usually end up on the PvP servers and that leaves the hermits on mountain tops on the non-PvP servers. 2.) Wurm/CodeClub as it is structured (in regards to how it makes money on deeds and premium charges) would lose money if we all learned how to "play nice and join together"; CodeClub makes more money the way it is right now (prove me wrong if you can... "hermitism" encourages altism and "one player villages"). 3.) Wurm as it is structured pits most players against all others in the economy; e.g. If my village mate just made money almost always I did NOT. Most want to make money, not just be a worker/slave for others so the other guy can make money. 4.) Wurm fosters freedom and independence (not intended as a pun) with the options in gameplay and activities available, especially in the areas of deed development/terraforming/design projects. Players want creative control. Players need other Players but often disagree on the details and goals of big projects (see 1.) Probably more reasons.

"Changing Creature Creation In a similar manner to the above heatmap system to be tested with fleeing creature movements, in the near future I’ll be testing out another heatmap system for creature spawns. This would be a cached version of all the map tiles with a weighting based on deeds, guard towers and highways. Tiles closer to guard towers or deeds with templars would be weighted based on their distance to the deed/tower and the number of templars or tower guards. What this would allow is more precision in spawning creatures based on how safe or wild the area is – areas closer to deeds and towers tend to be more safe, so more passive and weaker mobs would spawn in those areas. Moving further out from these areas would take you farther into wilderness with stronger creatures spawning. This heatmap could then also be used to pick out best areas to spawn uniques or future more difficult creatures that we think up. We’d be able to safely spawn uniques out in the relative wilderness, out of the way of deeds and the destruction uniques may cause to them. This would ideally cause a more fluid system for hunting, with lower skilled players being able to feel relatively safe in areas that are well guarded or well travelled, while seasoned hunters will have a better idea of where they can travel to have a real fight. -Budda" Thanks for the Dev Blog Budda (and Staff). Even though this new system might bite me personally in the hind quarters (due to choosing wilderness to deed in and not caring much about fighting or hunting) I still think your ideas can perhaps fix the problems many have complained about for years. Regardless whether my opinion means anything or not... you do have my support. I look forward to seeing these ideas being applied to Xanadu.

This is how I always play, Wurm up, Wurmpedia up, and forums sometimes up. Will be very nice once wurmpedia is integrated in the new UI.

I'll drop a couple ideas here for those who might like to consider them, for the sake of this discussion. Perhaps the real population of individual players is dropping... but I see at least two things that might effect this, and I see a HUGE thing that I am quite certain does effect why so few people are interested in Wurm. The two things... first off, do any of you keep up with whats going on in the real world as we play this game? Our real world... the one that actually matters... is busting at the seams with problems and issues and it's only a matter of a short time before some or many of us may never be able to play computer games again. Our world is on the verge of a dozen of more things that could reduce our world's population and it's economies in a heartbeat. I'm far more concerned with real life right now and I don't spend hardly any time playing any games anymore simply because there are real life priorities more important than a game. Second part of first section.... players attracted to Wurm and other sandbox games tend to be able to think for themselves much more often than the general masses of the majority do... and those who can think independently may also be spending more real life time preparing for the storm in real life because they see it and are not blind to it as many others are... hence as time goes on more and more of us may be absent from Wurm. Now for HUGE problem I referred to... the people who try Wurm and quit because it's too hard, or see the description and decide it's not interesting, or play it and decide they don't like it because they aren't being led to know what to do next... why would many want to play Wurm at all or find it interesting? I'm not being sarcastic...When most of the people if this world are taught to simply except what they are told is fact, and they are also taught not to question anything for themselves can we as players realistically expect there to be many people who would be attracted to a game where you have to make all your own decisions and not be spoon fed what to do like in other MMOs? I'm not that smart at all to be honest, but the more I learn to think for myself (instead of just being the sheeple I was educated to be), the more I appreciate Wurm and it's unique experience. The amount of people Wurm attracts and keeps as players will never be high, because people are being educated to be stupid, for the most part. I'm not trying to insult others who play other games and MMOs that are easy to play (and can play them in their sleep on a cellphone because they are so simple in design and goals), I am just pointing out the obvious. As long as the schools in this world teach people a programmed response to everything, instead of teaching them how to actually think for themselves, as long as education is in the world as it is, and every generation gets worse in this point, Wurm will have less and less of a potential playerbase to draw from. People who are not taught to think for themselves will not find Wurm enjoyable, and they may not be stubborn enough to stick around long enough to discover for themselves that they actually might like it after all. The Devs can make a new tutorial, will help a little, the Devs can advertise and spread the word, can offer free trials and all that, but the truth is the out of all those who would be attracted to Wurm many have tried it and left and may never come back, and add to that the real life storm about to rain on our game party and frankly the future of Wurm (and by extension other sandbox games) may be a shaky one. Maybe this time real life has more of an affect on the population numbers than we want to admit or think about. I for one am very glad for what we have now in Wurm, for the work the Devs are doing. We who enjoy Wurm appreciate what you do. I just hope we all are here next year at this time to again to lament the low population in a thread like this one.

Non-priest characters are very much stand alone characters, depending on your expectations. 80ql plate mail? No real justification for anything that good anywhere on the non-PvP servers... unless you hunt uniques and that in itself is an unusual expectation in the current paradigm we have now. 80ql is a luxury to be honest. 50ql is sufficient. Got a horse with disease? Groom it and if the horse doesn't heal then kill it and grab another from the wild. If you play the game the way it was in 2008 there is no reason at all for a priest character, no reason for them to exist. It's all about expectations. Barter with other Players... sure no problem, even I have purchased many silvers of tools and weapons from others... but unless you think you need an enchanted tool or weapon... and we don't (and I still prove that by playing without any enchanted anything)... then this whole game could get by with just regular non-priest characters as mains even if every priest in the game suddenly locked up and couldn't be played. But if all the regular non-priest characters suddenly froze up and couldn't be played... and only priest characters remained... then this game would come to a grinding halt since in very short order all them priests, or most, would un-priest and freeze as well. Whether a character is a main or not isn't about what people think it is. People let their expectations for what they want to do with their characters cloud their judgement. Regulars can be mained alone. Priests can not or they un-priest. There's too much a priest can not do in the regular stuff, like continuing and improving for example. That's "bread and butter" gameplay activity that all characters need to be able to do and Priests can't. It's not about what we want to do with our characters (expectations), it's about what we CAN do that matters (baseline facts of the game design).

Everything needs limits ... Even a sandbox game. I see nothing wrong with leaving the fatigue limit where it is. Rolf had his reason for setting it, and if Rolf and Budda want it to stay as it is I as a Player offer no objections as to why they should not be able to do so. [edited] If I hit the fatigue limit while playing Wurm then to me it's an alarm that I am spending way too much time playing a game and for my own health and sanity I need to go do something else for a while, maybe even for a few days. Anything taken to excess can be bad, especially leisure activities like games. That's not sitting on "a high horse", that's real life common sense about what is physically and medically healthy for a person. Even if I was wheelchair or still bedridden like I once was I would still take a break. If that is the underlying reason for Rolf setting the fatigue system in place in the first place and keeping it then I am in agreement with him.

Leaving your Ship indefinitely on someone else's deed is worse. Having the option to push an unwanted ship off deed seems a better option from a social standpoint than the option I would personally suggest.... +1 for Fraeya's suggestion.

And so too ... by definition... can Players think it's wrong to steal, disagree with it, and warn others. They can't stop others from doing it but NOTHING stops them from not liking it or disagreeing with it. In a Sandbox game not only is the Dark possible but so too is the Light and everything in between. Sandbox @Propheteer thanks for the head's up. Much appreciated.