Freeland - New server F2P - Prem to leave it - Steam entry point

[Wurmhole 3,650]

Freeland!

 

I know there is a large group that believes new servers just dilute our existing server populations even further, but keep an open mind if you would for a moment..

 

What if we created a new server, make it F2P only, linked it to Steam as a gateway for new players, then made it only possible to leave when you go premium?  Here are some characteristics I'm envisioning and changes that would be made (or happen) on the existing servers:

 

1. GV tutorial could be reset to become the server, or stay as it is and just point a single portal to the new server.

 

2. On arrival, you will see a clear split in the server, divided by a river or mountain range (or just two separate servers), with signs directing you to the PvE or PvP sides.

 

3. Skill cap is raised to 50 - all wurm skill based content is now accessible for F2P as a result.

 

4. There is no currency, no deeding, no upkeep.

 

5. Decay is a beast! It is 3x the rate outside (keeps the server looking clean for new players).  Buildings decay normally if used, but after a week of inactivity from the writ holder, buildings hit 3x decay.

 

6. Mines collapse rapidly.  If no players walk over a mine tile for 3 weeks, the tiles will collapse, destroying anything inside.  NO reinforcing can be created here.

 

7. Roads are like mines.  After 3 weeks with no traffic, poof!

 

8. The land repairs itself - We can dig, surface mine, tunnel and destroy it, but any area that isn't actively being worked will reset. This gets tricky, when a resetting area borders on an actively worked area, but I'm sure devs can figure out how to blend it.

 

9. This will get some angry villagers and pitchforks, but I think all F2P alts on all other servers will be given notice "Prem or be moved to Freeland".  Make a 6 month window, to give people time to figure out what to do with their F2P alts.  So many are used for storage, deed holders, etc.

 

Why do this?

 

I think you get a world where new players have more time to experience what wurm is about.  Riding horses and carts, making bigger ships, actually being able to fight and win against harder critters.  Cooking great meals, all while keeping a huge carrot held out for going prem - Sailing off to the real servers, where stuff lasts, where you can deed, where you can go beyond 50.

 

This should take considerable load off the Pay servers AND drastically reduce the "noob mess" that gets created.  Now most of that mess is going to happen in Freeland, where the server's auto healing will constantly clean up the clutter and scarring of the lands.  Gives the new players time to learn some manners, learn some mechanics, learn if they really want to be part of the permanent communities of Wurm.

 

Steam?  Most of the Steam objections I've heard are "they come be like a swarm of locusts, ruining it for all the existing players".  So this gives us a place to help guide and mature those chaotic Steam players, before they are let loose on the world.  Sure, they may decide to prem up and move over right away, but this will catch most of the chaotic ones.

 

Two of the biggest complaints I hear from new players is that the servers look all mangled.  Dead homesteads and deeds everywhere.  Do we want them starting out seeing rotting ghost towns as their first experience?  Feels a bit like the game is on it's last legs when you see that at the start.  The other big complaint is the 20 cap.  People hit it within a day or two.  It just isn't enough time to make a decision on prem.  Most games that offer a F2P and Prem model have a great deal more play-ability in F2P mode.

 

Make the server Indy sized.  Not a Xanadu monster and not a tiny server.  Big enough that people won't get crowded if it becomes a big hit and Steam starts pouring in, but not so big that people get frustrated with travel like Xan. 

 

Make it travel friendly. Gentler slopes. Thinking of something like the Elevation reset.  Lots of water access.  I think 90% of players want a coastal deed, so give them coastal.  Lots of big islands and fewer big mountains.

 

-Wurmhole

 

 

 

[Cornchips 3,037]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MORE SERVERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[Theshrike 48]

Gv was a massive failure, it proved free infrastructure keeps people from ever paying or being interested in the real game, they get attached to the noob crap they built. So no.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Theshrike

[Rasu 561]

Considering how hard it was to maintain a simple 2x3 wooden house and a fence around it back when I started, I do not see many making it past this to the main servers.

 

-1

[Gaul 339]

Or get Wurm on steam? 

 

Which propably wont happen, so nothing much here. Still you gave a thought and worked hard on the concept so +1 for the EFFORT.

[yashua 185]

-1 wurm will never be minecraft

[Wurmhole 3,650]

Gv was a massive failure, it proved free infrastructure keeps people from ever paying or being interested in the real game, they get attached to the noob crap they built. So no.

This is a really interesting point that I had not considered.  Maybe we just need a reset wave that rolls down the server, once a month.  Have to think on this a bit...

 

Edit: After thinking... I believe the decay and inability to deed for true ownership would be some strong incentive to move on to a Pay server.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Wurmhole

[Anarres 246]

Wurmhole, have you played when there was a home server open for first entry to wurm? I haven't. But everytime I see an idea like this thrown out, people say it has been done before.

Now I don't know what the problems were with what has been done before. Maybe if I played there I would have a similar or very different view than other players. If you did play, what differentiates your proposal for new players?

[Postinglels 1,270]

Hah, wurm on steam. Anyone thinking about this should read the xsyon reviews there. Proper giggle, but certainly shows how little steam's customer base would take up a game like wurmonline

[Wurmhole 3,650]

-1 wurm will never be minecraft

and thank goodness!  However, Wurm will be wormfood, if we don't bring in new people and keep them playing.  I love the game and want it to stick around a very long time.  Over time here, I become suspicious that most players really want to keep Wurm a hidden, secret place.  I've played a few games that have been down in this population range and it is a tricky place to be.  If the player base doesn't make a steady growth, inflation will demand higher prem and deed prices, to keep things running, or reductions in staff/services to make up for it.  Unless Notch donates a few million for nostalgic purposes.  Just looking for ways to increase the player base, not make this a billion dollar company.

[Wurmhole 3,650]

Wurmhole, have you played when there was a home server open for first entry to wurm? I haven't. But everytime I see an idea like this thrown out, people say it has been done before.

Now I don't know what the problems were with what has been done before. Maybe if I played there I would have a similar or very different view than other players. If you did play, what differentiates your proposal for new players?

No, I never did, but I did pick up a GV alt and am dismayed at the left over mess that is still there, after a few years of semi extinction.

[bdew 2,462]

Bring GV back!

[SmeJack 5,806]

-1

[shakys 526]

have to say when i started on GV, i spent 1 day there and just bought premium, but my overall view is -1.

i do believe it would mean staff spending time working on a server that will bring in less revenue.

[topkos 504]

I ll agree with only 2 conditions. There is in no way any form of trade between that server and the rest. All the other servers are prem ONLY AND ANY player that was never premium sent to that server. Otherwise from me is a no. BIG NO

[Explora 570]

What would happen to toons living on other servers when premium time expires ? Would they be ported back to GV until they pay up again ?

If not you could have toons being able to own deeds, ride horses, sail ships and have skills up to 50 yet only needing to pay for deed upkeep.

 

I like the idea of land repairing itself, after a while servers turn into a mess of terraformed areas littered with decaying buildings and items. The buildings and items decay but the terraformed areas don't. Part of the fun of wurm is searching for a place to live, a place to be a pioneer and create what you want out of the wild lands, the dream is broken when you realise that the flat places you find have been created and abandoned long ago by other people.

 

An erosion mechanism to return off deed, terraformed land that has no structures to a more natural state could help players feel like true pioneers and not living in an once thriving but now dying land.

[Wurmhole 3,650]

For existing servers where some alts went prem, then stopped paying for prem:

 

   - When prem expires, skills drop to 50 and every time you log in, you get an message "you have 30 (or less) days to pay or you will be ported to Freeland and lose all of your inventory.  Emails will also be sent to warn of this.  As a result, I think people will be more likely to keep premium running continually.  More so than a buggy loyalty program.  Once you renew premium, you port back to your choice of a starting city on any Pay server.

 

No goods, boats, animals, etc can move between Freeland and Pay servers, in either direction.  Only starter gear, which will be repopulated on a move in either direction.

[Battlepaw 585]

So basicly your asking us to let Rolf hold our characters hostage unless we fork over prem?    In a GV style jailhouse?  (And deletes all your shiny equipment if you forget to pay)  Not many people playing today probably know much about the mentality of GV players, but I was stuck on there long enough to realize some would never prem up, and those players made life a living hell for new players trying to learn the game in many instances.    I had to haul trees halfway across the server from the damm tutorial since every tree around me was fenced off, or some stupid fruit tree no one would bother cutting down anyways  (And some still did.)

 

If you don't think that can happen with a huge landmass the size of Indy, remember what that place was like before they opened it up, and started adding more servers.   Back when it was just Wild and Freedom.  I remember that too, I looked around that server quite a bit on alts back in the day, just out of curiosity, and it reminded me enough of GV that I stayed on Wild.    

 

The reason why many games with a single payment instead of subs work is that they are designed around mod-ability, individual servers.   Not saying it's a bad system, but wurm was designed long before this new game model.    That is what your asking, in effect most of the features of the game without paying for it on a subscription.

 

Personally, I don't know which is better, since I've seen both models work, but Wurm has made it's mark for being the black sheep so to speak among a massive amount of games that seek to emulate the newest trends, often burning away their customers in the process.    Even wurm has done this, to some degree  (ye.s Epic's broken "quest" system, I'm looking at you )   

 

So er no...  take your idea and just burn it with fire lol.       yea a big -1

[Aeris 3,764]

Lmao we used to have pretty much this and it was pure crap from all points of view. It's one of those ideas that look good on paper but turns out horrible once realized. People were even happy with the 20 skill cap because on a server where noone has more than 20 skill you're at the top of the food chain once you reach 20. Raising the cap to 50 would only make people stay there for even longer.

 

Apart from the fact that very few people went premium when GV used to be a tutorial server where people could live on their trial accounts it was very bad for the login server since they're hosted on the same physical machine.

 

This suggestion won't be getting pitchforks because we think it will be bad, it will get pitchforks because those of us who were there for GV know that it's bad. This suggestion is worse too since you want to forcibly move players to GV. This entire thread kind of looks like a history repeat parody but since you weren't playing the game when GV was a non-prem only tutorial server I'm going to assume that you are serious. The server did in fact function so poorly that we still, to this day, have certain limitations ingame regarding roads that were spawned because of GV. Don't for a second think that a server full of limited players won't be as full of grief as any other server because it was and once grief starts running rampant amongst people with both limited knowledge of the game and limited skills it goes downhill pretty fast.

[Wurmhole 3,650]

(runs for the nearest lake to jump in)

 

lol.  Ok, so I guess it didn't work in a similar version previously.  I'll cry uncle and let this one go.

 

I'll leave off the suggestion board for a few more days and let the flames die down, before I come up with something else interesting or disastrous

[Aeris 3,764]

I'm sure you mean well with this suggestion, but the GV server was such a gruesome disaster that they had to forcibly move people off of it since the line between neverending trial account and free-to-play game had become blurred.

[MrGARY 12,421]

-1 to all the ideas for changing f2p

[Knightstar 49]

-1

[Lunn 235]

-1

[Anarres 246]

Proposals for an entry server where players learn the game and can build their first home etc, appear every now and then on forums. The thing is, what I think these proposals should do, is to clearly state why the most heard objections to a new GV wouldn't apply. Differentiate you proposal from what has been done.

 

In this case, there was something: proposal to wipe clean the uninhabited land. I can't quite figure out all details of how would that work.

 

Simplest way is reset all every month... No one paid for their things there, and it wasn't a 'real' server. So deal with the consequences: you can build a house before you enter the portal in the 'real wurm world', but your house and all around it will be reset if you stay too long.

 

(of course such solution would exclude entirely the idea to force teleport alts)