How is Wurm?

[Wolfish 4]

I'm a new player itching for something involving sandbox-rpgs, and animal husbandry. I was thinking of trying Istaria again, but Wurm Online happened to fit the bill of what I constantly wanted to play but could never find it. From a thread with recommendations to this and Life is Feudal, I chose the initial with some genuine surprise to see there involves horseback riding, but also breeding, raising them. I immediately find myself downloading it, and playing a little bit, but I'd like to get some ideas on whether it's still good for newbies like myself. I'm walking into this by myself so no friends at all unless I convince them with my constant babble about the pretty horse models. Of course, Minecraft has these blocky models, and its concept doesn't really appeal to me as much. I don't build models. I'd rather erect a farm to raise livestock.

 

Is it still pretty good?

[Sklo:D 2,210]

You will never hear anything else than it is a great game on this forum. We wouldn't play it if we wouldn't like.

[Alden 209]

I would say that Wurm is very harsh  and overwhelming when you're starting out.

But once you have a few skills at 20 or above, which should take less than a week, the game becomes much easier and more enjoyable.

 

There are no 'low-level' areas though, so expect to get lost in the woods and killed by giant spiders a couple times.

[Bittereinder 265]

The grinding is worse than the average korean MMO, but it's quite satisfying as later on, the stronger you get, the more you are able to do.

The community is ok, you can make friends easily. Only the PVP communities are a bit hostile towards each other.

[Hyaenidae 3]

I could never comprehend why some of my friends would play minecraft and tell me how good of a sandbox game it was..

 

There is a lot of work to be done on Wurm, instant gratification isn't what you'll find here, however the long term reward and community are amazing. 

 

Totally worth sticking out the rough start, finding a village even to help you get into the game (many villages realize people will want to leave and go on their own, they just give you a helpful kickstart) then work out what you'd like to do on your own. Big ol' farm with horse stables and all.. So many things to do.. 

 

Good luck!

[Aum 771]

I think you'll like it. nothing beats living in the lands of wurm. especially that satisfaction of breeding and raising good horses in a living breathing world.

I dont think youll find anything else quite like it, not even LiF will get it as right as wurm does

[Alden 209]

I could never comprehend why some of my friends would play minecraft and tell me how good of a sandbox game it was..

I think minecraft is actually one of the better sandbox games out there.

It's very simple and easy to get into which is what made it very popular, but because it's so easy it becomes quite vapid.

After you've mined out a mountain and built a cobblestone castle and a full set of iron gear on your first day, there's no reason to continue unless you like 8bit art.

 

The right balance of difficulty can make a much more rewarding game, although Wurm and Minecraft are on opposite ends of that scale I think Wurm is 'closer' to having the better balance.

 

Edit:

 

After a brief look at Istaria:

It looks similar to Wurm in some ways.

I guess you'll enjoy Wurm but may find it quite slow paced.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Alden

[Nachtmahr 96]

The game is great!

It's harsh at the start, but once you get some ideas of how things work and also some gear, you'll love it.

The only prerequisite almost every player needs is the ability/willingness to grind... I recommend looking for series to watch when you reach that point

 

Pro-Tip Nr.1: Make yourself familiar with the ingame wiki (press H, type in let's say... large cart)

Pro-Tip Nr. 2: Don't hesitate to ask game mechanics questions in the CA Help Channel, or in one of the Freedom Chats... as mentioned above.. the community is mostly friendly and really helpful

Pro-Tip Nr. 3: When you start out, don't try to pick fights with anything bigger than a wildcat

 

PS: There'll be a new, HUUUGE server opened on 3. June!

[Ripsipiirakka 104]

I recommend joining a village first, its a safe place to learn the tricks of the game. Rather than trial and error alone in the woods 

Almost every village has their own animal pen where they keep horses, cattle and other animals.

[Druidnature 1,118]

If you want instant gratification, this won't be a place for you... However, if you're patient, wurm is a true beauty.

It's almost a second life, and for many players here it is. I bet if you give it a shot, you'll likely be doing a lot more things then just breeding! (And not by needing to, but wanting to)

I'm personally a forester, and I like to keep unique animals. (Going sprout picking, flowers, ect and using them to make my deed or areas around me look better)

Even though that's my main goal, lately I've been finishing up my last skill to 90 so I never have to worry about crafting or enchanting again. And will be able to focus purely on enjoying being a forester

As a animal breeder, I think you'll enjoy wurm a lot - I was looking for something similar when I found wurm, and then went a totally different path because it was fun. But animal's are a blast, and a pain at the same time! Hehe. (Trying to get the correct traits on animals can be a pain)

And if you like to go for more of a challenge, collecting champion animals is a lot of fun (and a bit of a challenge) especially trying to get two and attempting to breed them.

I say give it a shot, but be warned - until you have high skills this game is very slow paced. It gets 10000x better if you ever decide to raise skills though. (20-40 second timers down to 3 seconds!)

[Sevenless 385]

Wurm is like gardening. Watering the plant and plucking the weeds isn't rewarding, but watching the progress is satisfying.

 

Beware petty squabbles in pve, be nice to your neighbours and try to pick some that are sane if you can.

[Zzabur 6]

The community is ok, you can make friends easily. Only the PVP communities are a bit hostile towards each other.

 

When i started in 2007 (no tutorial, GV was an open server), i migrated directly from GV to The Wild. There, i couldn't survive by myself, i met some villagers who helped, no matter if i was new and unknown there, and i played about a year with them, they were really kind, i wouldn't have stayed without their help (it was HSB in JK realm).

 

I quitted the game, and came back a few monthes ago, i spawned on Chaos, immediatly, i could find some help and in few hours, i was a villager in another JK town.

 

I started an alt on Celebration to play with some newbie friends, every people we met was telling us "don't come here, it's my land", "don't cut these trees" " don't hunt these animals"....for every actions we were doing (offdeed).

 

So, in my opinion, pvp community is a lot more welcoming toward new players than pve community, but this is only my point of view from my past experience.

 

[Ayes 3,715]

Wolfish, I would agree that the blocky childlike models and environment of Minecraft offer no appeal to me at all, so much so that I could never get myself to even consider playing that game. Wurm has a beautiful environment all its own that each player can enhance in their own way as well, which is why I find much satisfaction in transforming it to my liking. A year+ ago the horse models were changed to the beautiful and lifelike ones that we have at present. New environmental and building effected artwork is being continually added on a gradual basis, so to me this all makes Wurm's allure all the more promising for the future ahead.

 

=Ayes=

[KunAlt 844]

When i started in 2007 (no tutorial, GV was an open server), i migrated directly from GV to The Wild. There, i couldn't survive by myself, i met some villagers who helped, no matter if i was new and unknown there, and i played about a year with them, they were really kind, i wouldn't have stayed without their help (it was HSB in JK realm).

 

I quitted the game, and came back a few monthes ago, i spawned on Chaos, immediatly, i could find some help and in few hours, i was a villager in another JK town.

 

I started an alt on Celebration to play with some newbie friends, every people we met was telling us "don't come here, it's my land", "don't cut these trees" " don't hunt these animals"....for every actions we were doing (offdeed).

 

So, in my opinion, pvp community is a lot more welcoming toward new players than pve community, but this is only my point of view from my past experience.

 

 

In 2 years playing on Cele i´ve never ever being told something like don´t hunt these animals. sometimes people can be a bit over protective whit their perimeter and try to disallow people from deforesting or digging there, but no one can be stupid enough to try to disallow hunting even in perimeter.

 

If anything I sometimes yell a bit wen people kill mobs and somewhat don´t take like 5 extra seconds to bury the damn corpses.

[Becket 843]

Been playing for 6 years I still love the game warts and all.

This is not a game where you will be in god mode in 3 months. The game is what you make of it, enjoy and welcome.

[KanePT 699]

Wurm is a awesome concept.

The implementation of the concept was a bit lacking though.

But it doesn't stop Wurm from being, at the moment, the definite sandbox game. You can do just about anything you'd expect a medieval character to be able to do. And like my other colleagues said, its a grind, its a constant grind, but despite that, there's a special feeling of achievement when you finally hit your goals, partially because it can take you months to get there, but also because its what you want, i really can't explain that part. Its like most games you have a set of stuff you need to do, even other sandboxes, like minecraft you HAVE to build that shelter before your first night. In Wurm, you don't. You can go roaming forever if you like. You can also ditch your tools and go full commando (not the steel and flint though, those are kinda hard to replace) and you can still become whatever you want because it has that concept ingrained (well, was added a few months after i started playing xp) of being able to make like stone tools to use to build up the rest.

Until this day i've been trying to recapture that feeling of exploring your ass off, finding a place you like and making it your own. That's why new server releases are always such a big hit, that's one of the best parts of wurm.

 

All in all it is still a awesome game, it has several problems that need sorting even after being around for so long, and also because its been around for so long. But there's always the promise that it will keep on improving. If you like animal husbandry its a nice game, although its a bit of a black sheep of an activity, atm that's probably the most bugged and restricted thing you can do in Wurm because it has been a hated aspect and target of constant nerfs through various means, nerfs that haven't been rebalanced after new nerfs were added, so basically its somewhat unforgiving, specially at first when you want to gain skill. But its still very rewarding to breed your first "five speed horse".

 

Anyhow, welcome to wurm, hope you enjoy it, and if you're on exodus, PM me if you want a home and help.

[Druidnature 1,118]

When i started in 2007 (no tutorial, GV was an open server), i migrated directly from GV to The Wild. There, i couldn't survive by myself, i met some villagers who helped, no matter if i was new and unknown there, and i played about a year with them, they were really kind, i wouldn't have stayed without their help (it was HSB in JK realm).

I quitted the game, and came back a few monthes ago, i spawned on Chaos, immediatly, i could find some help and in few hours, i was a villager in another JK town.

I started an alt on Celebration to play with some newbie friends, every people we met was telling us "don't come here, it's my land", "don't cut these trees" " don't hunt these animals"....for every actions we were doing (offdeed).

So, in my opinion, pvp community is a lot more welcoming toward new players than pve community, but this is only my point of view from my past experience.

Celeb has many of these issues from my experience, definitely not the best place unless you wish to be completely alone. you'll often find other servers joking it too... IE: "be warned, you may have your ship stolen going there!" And other similar comments. I wouldn't say they're thiefs myself though, just a bit...territorial. (Just MY experience, I'm sure not everyone has the same)

Deli/Inde Imo have the best community for new players to get up and going, however, deli's been having a bit of... "War" due to a "feud" ... So may want avoid that for now too. >_<

But to the above player saying pvp has a worse community, definitely not true. While I haven't been there myself, I talk daily to a few of them and have talked to many more on occasions (sometimes even for help with questions) they're pretty friendly. Now, if your in the opposite kingdom, you'll of course have the attitude from them due to being there enemy - but they are a pretty good bunch for the most part.

*note* not trying to bash anything here, stating my view on things and my experience. Hopefully it will help if picking a server is still up in the air for someone*

[conmcb25 378]

I recommend joining a village first, its a safe place to learn the tricks of the game. Rather than trial and error alone in the woods 

Almost every village has their own animal pen where they keep horses, cattle and other animals.

 

Even better yet join one of the n00bie friendly villages, just about every server has one, and they advertise.

 

Pay the 10 Euro for a month and go premium. Sell your referral and get most of your money back.

 

Try a bunch of different things like the animal breeding/ caring/ and other things. See if you like it after a month.

 

Then make a decision on what you want to do. If you dont decide to stick around all you have lost is 10 Euro.

 

But give it a month, trying this game for a couple days or a week and saying its not for you really isn't the way to go IMHO.

 

If you do it for a month and still like it, its probably for you.

[Kegan 3,926]

I have not read the rest of the posts only the OP but it is not all about horses we have all kinds of animals you can keep deer, pigs. chickens. bison and even the aggressive ones like bears, wolves, wild cats, mountain lions...well i think you can see where this is going.

 

From what i read in your OP you should get a deed and go for it you wont regret it. You might think about joining a village and learning the ropes while you wait for the new server to open then find your own place and settle in. 

Edited May 14, 2014 by Kegan

[Wolfish 4]

Thank you for your answers!

 

I have heard about the grind and how the game requires patience over a long span in order to accomplish a lot. Grinding does have its dislike over me, but I suppose it never hurts to give it a month to see if I can get into it. I have played a few games where it takes effort to get where you want to be, but it applies to some of my real life goals as well. I'm aware I'll probably have my frustrations, but I highly doubt giving up before the game really starts to shine will help me in anyway. I do like exploring outside animal husbandry, and the fantasy setting makes it even better! I have some free time due to summer vacation, but alas, I'll be busy at times too. I'm sure I can squeeze in some time.

 

I'm a people-person so a village is a good start. The last thing I want to do is go head-first into the wild when I'm still trying to figure out the basics of the game. I heard about different servers being welcoming for newbies, but to be honest, how do I enter a server? I'm guessing it's automatic on where you go until you leave the starting area, but I haven't a clue. I think I ended up on a server called Freedom? If not, then I'm not sure. Also, is it possible to switch to the new server when I'm roaming on another?

[Bittereinder 265]

You are most likely on the Freedom cluster, thus on one of the 7 islands. Try /who to see what server you are on.

[Nachtmahr 96]

As for the new server, as far as we know(and pretty certain), the borders will open a week after the initial release of Xanadu.

That means, you can then use boats and sail across

[Proximo 402]

"I'm a new player itching for something involving sandbox-rpgs, and animal husbandry. I was thinking of trying Istaria again, but Wurm Online happened to fit the bill of what I constantly wanted to play but could never find it. From a thread with recommendations to this and Life is Feudal, I chose the initial with some genuine surprise to see there involves horseback riding, but also breeding, raising them."

 

Well I guess I'm going to have to be the jerk here and point out that if this is your passion and goal for Wurm, as it is mine, now is a particularly difficult time for us animal breeders.

 

Animal AI is broken badly at the moment causing people to lose animals from starvation and disease etc etc.  They just changed a rule as to promote griefing, if your animals aren't on a deed anyone can bash through your fences and steal them or flat out kill them, legally. And there's an absurd artificially imposed "animal ratio" attached  to deeds, limiting the number of animals a village can contain without penalty.  The end game of this is that if you join a village, which I strongly recommend, you'll be severely limited in your goal of animal husbandry.

 

Also the community will despise you and label you a "hoarder", because they've convinced themselves YOU are to blame because they couldn't kill 300+ animals a day for that .0001 fight skill gain.

 

Having said all that, even as poorly flushed out as the animal breeding and care system is, if there's a game that does it better I haven't heard of it.

 

Welcome to Wurm

[Jeixi 146]

To the OP, I quit playing Wurm recently because animal AI has been broken, fixed but broken again, and fixed but broken yet again lately. You mentioned you wanted to do Animal Husbandry, I recommend you at least find something else to do because it's very frustrating right now with animals packing grass and crops like steamrollers.

[Proximo 402]

You left out that no matter how big your pen is, they all gather against the East-facing fence....