ryjedo

gotta go with the paso fino. pops has a pile of horses out at the house, mostly retired racing horses. he does have a paso fino in there though, a couple arabian style and a clydes. (he takes in unwanted or abused horses). the fino out works all of them.. and then goes for a swim out to a neighboring island for lunch and a nap. dad calls him his jeep. he takes the other horses out to work them and friends and family come to ride a lot. but the fino is dids favorite and once you see them working side by side it's clear that the little fino has the evolutionary advantage. he can pull almost as much as the clyde and while the race horses are faster on a track, the fino is faster everywhere else (ESPECIALLY in the woods). He'll go places you couldn't bribe the others to go with a whole barrel of mango's. he's a stout little dude.

my first death was actually to xallo at the cobra after i got bugged into BL. i had gotten bugged while moving from freedom to MR and somehow ended up as blacklight. gm's checked it out and saw that i had indeed gone mr but somehow got pushed to BL but they had no way to correct this and i was forced to wait the timer out. shortly after that i was able to goad him into chasing me way too deep into the deed and the guards managed to finish him off. sweet, sweet loots. my second death was the most entertaining though. it was to kellyt. later that week. i had decided to wait out my timer by the blacklight and try to score some skill points where i could and try to avoid death. kelly was living on a deed slightly north and west of there and was friendly at first but was clear about not caring that i was bugged and insisting i was now an mr spy (i knew ONE person in MR and even then i had only ever spoken to their freedom alt). kelly killed me a few times that day but bit off probably more than he was expecting to chew. i spent the rest of my conversion timer (something like three weeks) seeing to it that while both of us were on, he wasnt getting anything productive done and instead spent that time chasing me down. i built a network of about 8 caves. all 2x1 with rock doors and all of them bordering the edge of local range from that deed. i could jump in and pop into his local and then disappear into a cave any time i wanted, logging back in at really odd hours to scout his deed progress, switch caves and deface the area around him. i never did kill him (i couldnt) but i think back on all the productive time i stole from him and just laugh.

well this will be on page 4 or 5 and few read that far and respond. i've grappled with this several times in my multiple wurm lives. i have learned to avoid a few things: 1: don't over build. you don't need 12 horses and a 50 tile farming plot for one character. you will spend all your time keeping up with these and never make any progress 2: don't set skill based goals. seems counter-intuitive in a game like this but it tends to be anti-climactic and runs you into other problems. 3: don't hermit for long periods of time. building a little shack to grind smithing while you get to know the neighbors and pick a place to live is one thing, running off into the un-touched wilderness to live by yourself is another. 4: don't build projects only for yourself. you will complete them and then wish you were part of some society that would appreciate your work. the reward just isn't there. what i've done to successfully rekindle when i'm feeling sort of burnt out: i've joined noob shelters that take in new players and help them get started. these noobs will usually end up going off on their own, start a deed, get all the basic infrastructure built and then get bored/burn out on skill grind. what i do is go join these players as they leave the noob deed, help them get their place started and up to speed (buildings, forges, wells, mines maybe a farm and some fruit tree's) and then as things start to slow down and the players get ready to make decisions that will burn them out (like: i'm gonna grind WS to 50!) i go back to the noob shelter to start the cycle over. i have some mixed feelings about this though. it seems these players are going to burn out either way and i'm stealing a few weeks of their enjoyment by establishing them so quickly. recently i've moved to epic to become a chain armor smith. as i have no skill in this on epic i am out solo/hermit style in the wilderness building up some basic skills (carpentry, mining, blacksmithing, etc) trying to become useful to an established deed and then i will begin looking for a village to join to begin phase 2 (the real fun). phase 2 involves providing free low end chain armor to the people defending the area and offer very attractive rates for imping it. this (i'm hoping) will help me to become an established and well liked member of the community and THATS how people stick in this game. you have to find purpose in the community to get anything real out of this game. maybe your the bad guy, maybe your the wine maker, maybe you own the deed everyone runs to for protection, maybe you just kit out the troops with some basic armor. but those social ties are what will keep you logging in. find SOME way to make some portion of the community depend on you for something.

Logging into deli from denver colorado (gmt -7) i see some significant lag off and on between about 6 and midnight. it comes and goes and is MOST noticable when commanding an animal, cart or horse. i notice when i turn while moving forward my direction of movement changes but it can take a bit of time for the cart, animal, boat model to catch up. I also notice a small amount of what we used to call "finish lag" back on indi way back when there was the animal shortage (i don't think the indi animal shortage is related. i just mention it to establish a time frame. It's gotten noticably worse in the two weeks i've been back to the game. at first i thought it was because i use kubuntu64 so i booted my windows partition and same lag. early morning hours (1am forward) it seems to disappear completely and then it's fine. i had assumed it was cooinciding with U.S.peak times.

hordern, of the complaints made to gm's about roads, what (roughly) would you estimate the percentage is of intentional grief also what percentage (again rough estimate) would be accidental grief which then turned into poor communication preventing player-only resolution? extra points if you can estimate the percentage of the first group doing so to point out perceived faults in the "rule". I would be curious to see how much of an issue this really is. my gut says we're worrying about a rule to cover a fairly rare issue. Also, to the guy complaining about the road in the example given in the OP. perhaps it would be helpful to draw up the old and new road in wplanner to give people an idea of exactly what changed? it's possible a lot of the feedback your getting would be more helpful if they understood the exact situation.

oh man.. this guy.. i used to BE this guy. don't worry dude you don't need an idiots guide. just keep the wiki close by and stay in contact with your buddies and you will get along just fine. once you get a good grasp of the concepts you'll be fine.. i've been playing off and on a few years now and i still have these moments.

my experience is a few months old now but i can probably offer some input. firstly: you MUST experience it for yourself. the emotional investment is VERY compelling. you REALLY care when something unfortunate happens and it's almost always your own fault. second: there is no honor in combat. this is just as true in wurm as it is in real life. you will mostly be killed by people who are sure you have no chance against them. don't get mad when your hunted by overwhelming numbers and skill (both player and character). just focus on learning how not to put yourself in those situations. third: pvp players are always skittish of names they don't recognize. you likely won't be welcomed with open arms by any strangers you meet on a pvp server. you will have to earn their trust over time. fourth: what you type matters. people will judge you over forum posts and even what you thought were private convo's a year plus after you made them. Wurm is a game of making a bed and lying in it (figuratively) and your success won't be just the stats you grind up. it will also include the relationships you develop and the infrastructure you build. Its a very rewarding game and it's not meant to played like a wow or something of that nature. your not meant to push/bend the rules as far as the devs allow for personal gain. you will "lose".. badly. as far as the lands of wurm go, yes you will find caves nobody has recently visited and long abandoned villages crumbling away. most of them will have been looted by people just like you a few weeks prior but occasionally you run across a recent departure ripe for the picking. almost all the caves you will come across are player made. i would say all but then someone will correct me with some obscure technically non-player created land feature. as far as i know the terrain generator (when the map is created) doesn't make caves. It will be hard to find land that nobody has walked across or set eyes on before. this is a reality of any game world. but finding wild area's that nobody is occupying is possible with a little work. given the age of the population and the size of it you can imagine though that most of the really A+ spots are taken. and they are for the most part. or abandoned and needing a little cleanup. but there is still PLENTY of room to find a nice spot and carve (literally) an existence out for yourself. as a player who has struggled with retention (i've "retired" and returned a number of times) i would greatly recommend AGAINST trying to strike out on your own and solo/hermit at first. build some strong community ties. stay at some villages even if only to make friends. its a very social game and it's hard to stick with out on your own trying to survive alone.

*giggle* sadly to those that haven't been there. they won't get the funny.

im chilling at nalta right now and am absolutely loving the neighborhood. the way all the neighboring villages have an alliance channel and actually socialise and coordinate with each other is something i havent previously experienced in wurm. i may still come visit on indy to help with your relocation/graduation project. that sounds like a a lot of fun. i could definately pull a little vacation from nalta with one of my toons to support this from time to time. i like what you guys are doing as far as trying to help retain new players in the game and no matter where my home base of operations is, i'm willing to help support these activities. i cant see it taking more than maybe half a saturday morning to get to anywhere in wurm by boat. its not that big of a deal. i'll probably build a small house somewhere on the penninsula out here by nalta but once i prem up again and put together a faster boat its nothing to travel for short term projects. get a tower down and maybe help get the first deed terra'ed and founded for respawn. get food production up and a well. good luck dudes. on your own now.

im in denver so time zones may be a little tricky. should be on in the next 15 mins or so.

brash, I would be willing to sail to another server. i'm living out of a rowboat so im really not attached to anything but the water highway right now. your location is attractive for it's proximity to the respawn and for a noob shelter it's a great place. my concern is i really would like to set up a little enclosure of my own and what i remember of the freedom harbour/market area it was pretty tight for land (i used to live in the maple island area btw) It seems like a great spot. if you think i'll be able to find a 6x6 plot to make myself a little enclosure in the neighborhood i would gladly come look at it. it's strange because all the sort of places i want to live don't generally take in permanent residents. i should just start my own noob shelter on one of the other less developed islands but i'm REALLY trying to stay away from deed ownership this time. it just changes the way i play the game in a way thats not fun. Maybe it would be cool to volunteer at a noob shelter until a noob decides they want to strike out and build their own noob shelter and then i head off to support them. i secretly hope this happens.

i'm a returning player looking for a good community and a place to build a home. I would be very interested in joining up with you guys. i have a post here looking for a village. you can read a little about what i'm looking for to see if i would be a good fit. />http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/64978-returning-player-looking-for-quaint-village/ I'm looking for a village to live around permanently to be part of a community. i would be looking for a 6x6 off deed plot, someplace in an out of the way corner and will likely not expand. choosing instead to focus on community projects and helping newer players. I don't want to fall into my usual trap where i spend my whole play cycle on my deed farming/grooming and have no time for anything else. Bobcat and Rizzly are presently in a rowboat called the mothership in serendipity bay area by coincidence. I was heading for the north east corner of the map hoping to find some abandoned coast line to recover when i realized that trying to find an unpopulated part of the map was probably the first step back into that trap.

heh. i totally had something like this happen to me. different circumstance and for different reasons.. but i found myself hots with almost 30 days timer and was planning to just quit. 30 days isn't really enough time to get in tight with anyone in hots anyway. so i spent a month hiding in caves, fishing in subterranean puddles, spending peak times trying not to make noise when people were in local. late at night when traffic would die down i would try to hide a few farm patches behind bushes and tree's in out of the way places. always working on the next stone door for the next hidey cave. Eventually it got to the point where i could just FEEL when someone was going to find me out. i would spend the early part of that play session in fear. knowing i would have to leave. later that session when traffic died down i would venture out looking for a new place. a day later i would return again in the late night and find what was left of my cave trashed and looted. the most heart-thumping situations were when they KNEW I was there.. they had seen me poke out of the cave and flash local. they could hear me mining or in some cases walking around and the KNEW i was there but hadn't quite located me yet. and they HATED me for it. it's an intense experience being on the lam in wurm. I'm not sure i would do it again on purpose. but it's one of those amazing hardships that really hook you in to the game. i'm super jelly.

hey folks. returning player here (bobcat/rizzly). i'm back in game for now as froob. if i stay for awhile i will likely go premium again but i don't plan to drop a deed this time. I seem to make the same mistake every time i come back. i spend three or four days sailing around (i own a rowboat) and find a really sweet spot.. then i hermit for a month or two, get lonely and quit. This time i'm looking to be social. I want to focus on community projects. what I'm looking for is a reasonably small village that takes in noobs to teach them the ropes. i'm more than willing to teach people the game. i may not be the most knowledgeable player but i do know quite a bit and what i don't know, i know how to find out. I would be occupying a spot on the token for respawn for two characters but for housing i would much rather find a 6x6ish enclosure to live off deed near by. If i leave game (or move to another area) i ALWAYS tear down my structures, pack up my stuff and sail off to some abandoned area first. don't worry. i won't leave a bunch of clutter behind after me. I pride myself on being a positive influence both on the land around me and on my neighbors. presently I'm on the southern coast of deli but i'm more than willing to travel (by row boat (note: i'm willing to cross to other freedom servers)) to where your village is. proximity to the sea (or a canal that leads there) is a BIG plus.. I'm hoping a solid but small village of chill people will help me avoid grind burnout and stick with the game this time through. and hey. if not. at least you got a ton of help out of me while i'm around. please contact me here or in game (edit: added note that i am willing to sail to other freedom servers.)

it would be VERY difficult to design a rule that would cover every way possible to grief someone with roads. thankfully there is no need to. You can simply design a rule that covers the issues that actually come up and allow a GM to oversee the application of this rule to weed out any obvious unfair/grief situations.. which is what they have done. If memory serves the majority of road grief that crops up is in the form of someone trying to point out how easy it is to grief someone without technically breaking the rules anyway. And the rule isn't there to dictate normal behavior anyway. i think this point is lost on the typical "gamer" who will game the systems rules for every single advantage. Your supposed to man up and work it out between yourselves like adults. the rule is really only there to provide recourse to someone who is being wronged by another person who refuses to be neighborly. Thats the thing most often forgotten i think. the whole point of the game is exactly these sorts of conflicts and how the players work them out.