Amata

TLDR: Wurm is already using / supporting an active, real-time combat system. I do not want to transform, change, or completely re-engineer that system. An active, real-time combat system can end up looking like a very wide variety of things - not all of which are fast ("twitch") or punishing (Souls-like). Wurm is already positioned within the core features of this type of combat system - using long timers and slow pacing to emphasis the tactical over the twitch and the opportunity to use strategy to overwhelm an enemy instead of button mashing. That is fantastic. I had hoped the "overhaul" would further develop and promote these key features, in addition to implementing UI changes to make combat feel more accessible. There are many contemporary examples of different ways combat features have been implemented to pick and chose from, or inspire. There are many specific suggestions and requests in this thread as well as the other Wurm subforums for exactly which features or mechanics Wurmians would like to see built up in the future. Why were these things not already part of this overhaul? I am mystified, and a bit disappointed. PS - give love to dual wielding and bows a LOT of 'blah blah blah" from me is behind this spoiler. If you don't see a problem or see something you feel you need to engage with... go ahead and skip the blah blah blah below. ✌🏼️💜🌱 EDIT!! - I think I've figured out why I gave the impression that I'm trying to push Wurm towards twitch combat - I kept saying "non target". I'm very sorry, I misspoke there. I'd like to blame BDO bc that's the other game I've been playing recently when not on Wurm, and it has a non target combat system. But it's more honestly just a total brain fart on my part. 😅🤷🏻‍♀️ I don't know how I would describe Wurm's targeting concept. "Ecclectic" maybe? I've played hard tab-target games like WoW, and soft target games or games with hybrid systems (ESO or GW2, maybe?), and completely non target games like, I dunno, Crowfall. (I'm writing this off-the-cuff). I find Wurm's targeting hard to describe because there is a difference between targeting for actions (like cutting down a tree or destroying a wall) and targeting for combat (which pops your target's portrait up & unfolds the combat menu)... and all of that is at also distinct from the targeting required when using a bow & arrows. I'm not looking at Wurm and wanting FPS, looter/shooter, or twitch based non-target combat. Not at all. If Wurm were to implement a non-target system, I would hypothesize a system more like Tera, BDO, or GW2. The sort of system that allows for my hatchet swinging at a tree to do damage to the bear that just ran up & got between me and the tree, even tho I didn't have it targeted for combat yet. That kind of thing. Not the reticle-aiming twitch-reflex kind of non target combat system in shooters & battlegrounds - those games are an entirely different genre from Wurm, and I'll be happy for them to stay waaaaaay over there, away from me. I'm very sorry for my mistake in using a term without being more clear about how I was envisioning it being implemented within Wurm.

yeah, this is definitely one that the Internet Algorithm Gods have been throwing at me for a while now. LOL i never actually stopped to watch the video and see what it was about. aaaand, yeah, that's the bee's knees. My wife is actually playing DnD behind me as I type, and she leaned over to drool between rounds of combat 😄 thanks for sharing!!

Yes, the combat in Valheim was initially encouraging, but then... well... the bows & arrows are fun? The point of including Valheim on my list of similarly styled games was specifically because the combat turned out to be underwhelming. Not every combat system that is (1) non target, (2) combat-realism, and (3) tactical / action RPG, needs to end up as complex and brutal as, for example, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Sometimes devs take those same core 3 aspects of this style and deliver something like.. Valheim. For what it's worth, the wide variety in the combat of the games I listed was intended to be encouraging. Like, here's where the niche currently is - plenty of room for Wurm to jump on in, too! I was also hoping to demonstrate that the combat landscape is very diverse - there's absolutely no reason why Wurm combat need emulate shooter style combat, or even hack n' slash swordplay. Many of the combat systems on that list are slow, tactical, realistic swordplay -type games, balancing defending against incoming attacks while holding outgoing attacks for weak spots or precision strikes, etc. Given what the combat system in Wurm currently looks like, I genuinely thought that this combat style was the way Wurm devs want to go. Which brings us to.... Yeah, Wurm combat is never ever ever going to be anything Souls-like, that's for sure. But, it could be at least as good (or better than) Valheim, and some of the others on that list. Like you, I have looked at this combat "overhaul" and feel mystified. What about this took two years to create? What is the dev team even aiming for at this point? With the current "combat system " Wurm is already, technically, on that list in terms of similarities of style. . . So what I'm curious about, after all this time and only a basic update to show for it, what even is the goal for combat in Wurm?

I don't know anything about programming or game design. I don't know what it takes to implement concepts. With that in mind.... I genuinely don't understand why Wurm seems to be struggling to implement this particular style of combat, when so many other games have really nailed it down already. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel (or whatever it is that is actually going on behind the curtain). For the record, "non-target, action RPG, tactical / intuitive, active stance, combat-realism" has come a long way in the past decade - Wurm could (and should) overhaul the combat system to be on par (or better than) the following, similar styled, games: Dark Souls & souls-like games For Honor Mount & Blade Kingdom Come: Deliverance Chivalry: Medieval Warfare Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (which is a souls-like, but the combat uses parries & timing as the core mechanic, instead of blocking & dodging) Ghostrunner The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Mordhau Ghost of Tsushima Valheim New World (from alpha / beta previews so far) A lot of these are recent releases, but for cryin' out loud, Bushido Blade was 1997, Way of the Samurai was 2002, and that's not even to mention Onimusha, Ninja Gaiden, any of the Assassins' Creed games, or the different combat systems in the Zelda franchise. Every time I think I've really mentioned them all, another one comes to mind - Vermintide II or Dishonored - and I'm not even good enough at active, tactical combat to play half of these! Wurm needn't be as brutally unforgiving as Souls. We don't need to be as one-mistake-you-die as Sekiro or Tsushima. But even the "hack n slash" versions of this style of combat are still rewarding in both depth and scope. Wurm is the game that has the non-combat gameplay I want - but I have combat-oriented friends and family. I want to bring them onboard to the Wurm life... they'll never play this game with me until there is an actual combat system. Is it lack of development staff? I'll pay for more premium accounts! I'll buy silver every month! Get staff. Pay staff. Make it happen.

YES. ^ This ^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TL:DR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ditch the decades-old "narrative combat" concept. Streamline HUD/on-screen combat visuals. Use icons, custom colors, and such to replace as much combat text as possible. Get this stuff organized. Push beyond "update" and deliver actual "overhaul" content, not just back-end patching of things we should have already had. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In general, I feel like some of these on-screen combat visuals entirely miss the point of combat visuals. #1 is to deliver vital data that informs tactical adjustments in as CONSCISE a manner as possible. READING A FULL SENTENCE IS NOT "CONSCISE COMBAT VISUALS". Full, detailed sentences belong in the combat log - for fight review after combat has ended & you want to implement tweaks or revisions in your weapon, armor, tactical choices, timing, etc. On-screen visuals need to be a combo of simple icons and single-word or single-phrase text. Even with turn-based combat systems, if I want a "narrative" experience of combat, I'll pull up the log window - but the point is, we don't want narrative combat anymore. Games / MMOs moved away from that literally decades ago. I don't need a full combat overhaul - I wasn't even really expecting one anyway - but I did expect the current combat system to be better implemented. Right now, it feels like this update took the current combat system elements & just moved various elements to new places in the UI and made otherwise routine tweaks to the back-end numbers to better balance the system. That is minor patch content. Not a "Combat Overhaul." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's some thoughts, so far - sentences & details belong in combat logs, not the HUD when possible, replace full text in the HUD with simple icons or simplified text (arrows, ability and status effect symbols or text, color-coded damage types, CRITS in CAPS or a special color, etc.) Organize floating combat visuals to separate what is incoming versus outgoing. My preference would be robust customizable HUD elements, but I know I'm dreaming. I would settle for something like incoming on the left side, outgoing on the right. Or incoming above the enemy head, outgoing below the enemy feet. etc. Scroll floating combat visuals when in close sequence. As I scanned the combat visuals about the hit I just took, the text would quickly be replaced by the next thing. Scrolling retains sequential info (like a combat log), but more succinctly - and keeps everything on-screen long enough for the information to be scanned before it disappears. Customizable would be preferred, but at least a Toggle on/off would be appreciated. We already know our damage type(s). This can help simply the HUD visuals. All I need on-screen is Blow Strength + Result. We chose and equip our weapons out of combat and can familiarize with all the special moves available. When we're actually in combat, "Light Slap" is optimal. "Hard Hurt" and "Deadly Damage." That's all. Thank you for reducing / tweaking the blood overlay... Can we get a Toggle option, please? I applaud and encourage remaining firmly away from the numbers / damage game. A single "50 slashing damage" begins an inevitable race to a finish line littered with epeen, dps checks, gear min/maxing, and more epeen. Not a good look - not a good fit with Wurm. Accessibility options... . Players don't need to be coddled, but please just consider customizable options for colors (for colorblind or color-sensitive players), customizable sizing & transparency for text, icons, visual effects (for neurovisual syndromes or other visually impaired players), the ability to Toggle on/off visual effects, overlays, specific elements (for a variety of neurodivergent reasons, including sensory processing impairments). etc. Design and Implement combat viability for fighting & weapon styles already in-game but otherwise undeveloped. Unarmed fighting and/or fist-weapon fighting; bows (and crossbows??), dual-wielding, magic (priest and sorcery). Well, I think that's enough to be getting on with for now. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. 💜✌🏼️🌱

Yes! I picked it up to check it out first, and then my wife joined me after a day or so of poking around. We have been playing Valheim together on a private / local server game pretty much every night so far. Overall we are having a TON of fun. There are some things we like better than others, but generally speaking, this game is already much better than most other "early access" games - and definitely worth more the low $20 price. Currently, I feel like Valheim is better for my wife, but Wurm is better for me, and here's why.... In Wurm, the crafting & building systems are way more robust and "hardcore".- you have to make all the smaller materials needed to build an object and you have to start with crates and fences before you can start building walls, etc. In Valheim, you start with the default ability to build multi-story structures. To build a wall it only takes a stack of wood. To build a bed it's ... ummm... wood and leather scraps? Basically nothing so hard to collect that I even noticed the resource requirements at all. So far, there has been very little resource processing - raw meat is ready to cook as-is, no chopping or dicing needed. You don't need to change logs into planks or shafts or pegs before using them. You don't need to sew scraps together to make leather strips, and you don't tan hide into leather before it can magically become a full leather tunic with one "craft" button press. It reminds me of the resource gathering and the building mechanics found in a game like Fortnight. in terms of survival mechanics - it's a mixed bag. There is a hunger/nutrition mechanic, but not a thirst meter. And as far as hunger/nutrition mechanic, you have a guaranteed baseline that only drops down if you actively take damage - you can't accidentally forget to snack & end up fasting / starving. Instead, the eating mechanics are more like buffs that provide extra temporary hit points and regen for your health and stamina while active. As long as you don't let your food buffs wear off, you'll be running around like a nigh--invincible god. One thing that Valheim does have in survival mechanics that Wurm really needs to steal is weather and status effects. In Valheim, if you get wet, you get a slowed down a bit because you're waterlogged. At night, you get cold, and it has an impact on your stamina and stat efficiency and stuff. Plus, the freakin weather effects are insanely gorgeous - if you can, I'd say grab the game just to experience one of the trauma-inducing wild tempests with crashing waves and lightning that stops you dead in your tracks. As it is a game still in "early access" and I have been running around exploring instead of grinding progression, I haven't had much interaction with farming or domestic animal mechanics - but I know they are part of the game. They've also got an impressive looking development roadmap posted for 2021 - who knows if they'll stay on top of it or not. The part where Valheim just wrecks Wurm is the combat. This is the number one reason my wife wont play Wurm with me, but is obsessed with Valheim. The combat is basic and simple - but it's no-targeted, action combat. Your ability set depends on the weapon equipped, and different weapons do different damage and have a variety of weapon-specific stats (of course). My knife, for example, gets a 10x damage modifier when doing a backstab. I sneak around and ambush deer with the knife's extra attack I have lovingly nicknamed "death from above." Wife is more involved in the brash confrontation combat - she's rocking a spear and shield and running right into battle with many war cries and taunting. She is also ridiculously good at bow & arrow - able to judge just the right amount to lead for moving targets & to aim above for the arc of the arrow's flight at distance, and of course, to compensate for the wind strength and direction. In direct combat, you're not just throwing out attacks - there's also active blocking, and if you time your block properly you'll parry instead and get a free stagger status effect on your enemy. Overall, the combat in Valheim is dynamic, active, and multifaceted. There's sneaking, there's chasing, there's thrown and range weapons, as well as all the melee classics. Soooo... Valheim has the potential to build like crazy on top of this really strong start. With a lot of core game mechanics in the right place, it's super easy to keep rolling out additional assets like furniture and weapons and armor and plants to farm and gather, etc. Wurm on the other hand, has incredible breadth and depth across the board, but needs to strengthen or overhaul core content mechanics - like combat. Personally, I currently love Wurm and like what I'm able to do in the Wurm universe much better than Valheim.... but the more development Valheim sees, the closer to Wurm's heels it'll be running.

Can we please have a separate, sort-able column for item number (ie, stack count). I would like this added to all applicable container & storage menus. Sometimes I want to sort from heaviest to lightest, or most damaged to least damaged... but sometimes I only need to know what thing I have the most of, or the least of. For example: sometimes when I'm just cooking for hunger bar and I need "a meat" or "a vegetable" - I don't care what meat or veg I use from A to Z, or what volume it has. I just want a meat and a veg from whatever stack currently has the most to spare! Are there any supplies that I'm running low on? Well, I dunno - let me just dig through this bsb checking out numbers inside parentheses. I need more nails! Oh wait, I'm forgetful... was it small nails or large nails that had the fewest? . . . insert examples ad nauseam. This topic was mentioned once before, here, and got no replies or activity. I don't know why. I also don't know why a basic "# of items" column isn't already a thing.

I struggle to find keyboards that satisfy me bc I was raised on laptops & chiclet keysets. This is the best keyboard in the entire world I have ever found!! It uses island keys with a very low profile so it's alllllmost like chiclet keys. The M buttons across the top are actually memory recall buttons for the LED light settings. The G keys down the left side are the gaming function keys. (Last I heard, I was under the impression that the newer gaming keyboards that include game function keys are not restricted by Wurm under the macro rules - but I'll double check again, just to be sure) .... anyway, I'm gushing off topic because, seriously, this is the absolute #1 best keyboard in the universe and future archaeologists will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands before they can figure out what weird kind of person I was that was buried with this strange and arcane device. The only thing I would change about it is maybe the volume roller - darn thing is super duper sensitive - the slightest shift and my volume jumps up to blastin' ... but now that I'm thinking about it, I'll have to poke at the management app & see if I can adjust the roller sensitivity somewhere. Otherwise, this keyboard is Absolute Perfection. You only wish you could have such an amazing keyboard. I've spilled at least 3 gallons of Dr Pepper, and just about an infinite amount of hot tea on the poor girl so far, and she just keeps on working no matter what. I have beaten the hell outta her on occasion during *cough* moments of frustration, and she'll like, "ha! come at me bro" This keyboard Will Never Die. it's a Logitech G815. I have the "clicky" version, bc reasons, but I would have preferred the 'tactile' or even the 'linear' version so I wouldn't make quite as much noise when gaming after everyone else goes to sleep at night. ++ edit: I mean all this "for me" of course. I can only pray that one day you, too, find computer peripherals that make you feel like this keyboard makes me feel. Also, Logitech has no idea I exist or that I fangirl this keyboard. They are definitely not paying me or providing me with free stuff or anything like that.

my name is Amata, and I approve this suggestion.

this is the future that Amata wants also - I'm here for glow worms & crystals

Oh! I keep forgetting - I want to reiterate something that Wurmhole said, that I haven't seen much response to yet; I really feel like this point cannot be repeated enough - when the topic of something religious-ish comes up.... y'all, we have an in-universe, in-game system of religions. I would be 100% happy if the first alternative options for grave markers rolled out incorporated the four known Wurmian gods and/or their symbols, etc. A small plinth with a Vynora-inspired bowl tipping out water would be super lovely, for example. Like this .... but if that stuff is too modern / not medieval-y enough, there's always any number of trillions and gazillions of "water barer" statues & statuettes - anyway, that's just some Vynora type ideas right off the top of my head. I could go all day with ideas for Fo 😉🌱 ~ A 💜🌱✌🏼️

"cairn"!!!! TY - for the life of me, I couldn't remember this word the other day. It sounds like most of us are basically on the same-ish page.... we like what we've got, but recognize that not everyone will feel like we do; options / alternatives would be for the best.

Folk on Indy might tell you about the day I moved the gravestone of a beloved horse 3,000 tiles from Haven's Landing to a new deed up north of Crystal Lake. 3000 tiles, on foot, having to circumvent crossing any deeds I didn't have perms for, while using "place" and "move" commands to drag a grave stone. Sooo, yes, I would very much like a load/unload option for "used" grave markers. I also want to echo some of the original post ... real-world religious iconography can mean very different things to different people, depending on what role that religion has played in their life. Some have been traumatic. We don't need that in a game we love, and love to play in part to "get away" from all that. Things like this ought to be given consideration. Personally, I am okay with real-world religious iconography in game, as long as there are more options. Including other religions as well as neutral / secular options, too. A simple stone with a rounded top is fairly "default" and secular for any grave. But if we want to keep what we've got and just add options, I would suggest adding statuary like angels, gargoyles, weeping people, veiled ladies, children / cherubs, lambs, owls, lions, and statues of the buried thing (person, favorite horse, pet dog, etc). Plus burial monuments have been many things, not just the kind of headstones that we're familiar with today. Small piles of rocks, stele, and menhirs have always been popular. So have talismans hung from nearby trees, or on a post or bowl marking the grave. Also, as implied, different religions have historically had different icons and methods for marking graves - would love to be able to pick from a bunch of different options.

ohmygawd - I want hidden doors!!! Has this suggestion already been made somewhere? We definitely need doors that look like walls, and doors that are "behind" bookcases. And doors that are "through" the back of the open fireplace. If y'all need me, I'll be over here, designing secret passageways.

. . . I do not know how I missed this sentence the first time I took a look at this suggestion. If your main intent is to draw more women to the Wurm Online community... I would suggest putting more energy into suggestions for substantive game mechanics for all Wurmians to enjoy - and less energy into regressive statements that rely on outdated stereotypes and contribute to the exact kind of creepy community that women who are also gamers tend to notice and then completely avoid. I didn't think this needed to be stated - but it's the Twenties, and there's an apocalypse, so here we are - people who like playing tabletop, computer, and video games come in all shapes and sizes and genders and sexes and personal interests. One thing that all gamers have in common, though, is that we're really interested in great games mechanics implemented well and accessible to all. .... "If you build it, they will come" ...