DesolationV4 - Evolution - Epoch 3

[MootRed 193]

i havent had much time to play in the past couple weeks - do not worry - I am still planning to be active.

 

anyone want to 1v1?

[JockII 338]

[13:42:54] Current Epoch: 2 - Epoch Progress: Research: 100% - Culture: 56%

 

Just need to build towers, roads and buildings. Bl had it easy on their epoche

[JockII 338]

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Jock Just now

A different kind of server! : Desolation V4

This server breaks the mold of a lot of the current ones, aiming to be a unique experience and it's done it.

I have played wurm for over 10 years, mostly as a pvper and kingdom builder. So I've seen the rush to get the late game best armor, the epic grind to get ahead and some serious group projects.

So when I say this game captures these elements in a new way, i can say that from a position of experience. Having had no real input or investment in this server other than a player, i write this up just to encourage people to try it and see the community grow.

What does it have that's unique?

Epochs - These are stages of development that the players can influence to advance. Each epoch Limits skills and access to what you can build.

Same server home islands - attempting to break the mold and merge pve and pvp. Showing merits and strengths in both

Anti-cheat system - Straight up reduces a lot of the rewards to cheaters, going so far as to prevent some majorly game breaking hacks commonly used on servers. 

Why epochs good?

Epochs - they break up the game from the standard rush to get the best armor, best weapon and create a dynamic environment. One the player adapts to and it really shows you how nice some of the aspects of the game that you took for granted. 

PVE side - the first epoch took away large carts, a straight up advancement over the small cart. A vital component to use and often overlooked at how useful they really are, players got creative with BSB and worked in insane teams to accomplish the goal of advancing.

PvP side- More new players have joined pvp than experience ones on this server, with the lack of strong meta's. people can experiment and try thing out that would often be considered insane or stupid. Fights have ranged from people wielding shod clubs and nude to geared up cow riding maniacs.

This is just a brief glimpse of the antics and fun that i have found here. Look forwards to discovering more.

Why home server islands are good?

PVE Side- it gives "carebears" and new players a safer environment to try out the risk and rewards of pvp. Giving them a place to show their value with their support to advancements to pvpers. Opening up new means of trade and exchange of play styles. Safety is not guaranteed but rules are in place to prevent overkill/catastrophic damage to the desire to play.

PvP Side- A breeding ground for new talents, risky pvp adventure and most importantly a more relaxed and mature community. The pve show the PVPers how to slow down, build something that is nice and with PvPers help they can build some real castle that can be tested against the wits and will of want to be invaders.

This is but a brief glimpse of what i have found here and the potential this server holds. I really do suggest you try it out. The server offers a TeamSpeak if you guys have any questions or if you are just looking to make new friends.

For More info check out the Wurm Online forums :

http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/146352-desolationv4-evolution-epoch-2/&page=1

 

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Wurm Unlimited > Game Servers > Topic Details

 

Date Posted: 19 Nov @ 2:14pm

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Edited November 19, 2016 by JockII

[JockII 338]

http://steamcommunity.com/app/366220/discussions/0/208684375420738816/

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by JockII

[Iberis 856]

Will post on there later to dicuss the server and what i like about it

[JockII 338]

[09:12:09] Zleazy slain by Xype 
[09:21:07] Xype slain by Zleazy 
 

 

Good 1 v1's Got unlucky on RNG on the first fight, should have got more skill in my weapon first. Came back and re-engaged naked. Almost lost but better luck, shame about local chat. Xype let himself down on that.

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by JockII

[JockII 338]

[09:32:20] Zleazy slain by Xype 
[09:39:56] Xype slain by Zleazy 
 

 

Round 3 and 4, caught me still at hota at 40%, once again i returned.

[JockII 338]

[10:11:01] Xype has secured victory for Mol Rehan!

 

Well played, Had some connection issues but GJ. Shame about the continued verbal abuse and childish behavior.

[Xyp 273]

You grow up, only little kids have to cheat. Killing dragons with 20 skill hahahahah cheater.

[JockII 338]

You are just embarrassing yourself now. Just cause you can't do something it has to mean I'm cheating.

 

By that logic, does me having friends make me a cheat?

[JockII 338]

O and thanks for your loot, i'll add it to the pile you have provided.

[Xyp 273]

Yea you are welcoem for your ill gotten cheating gains running back in 2 minutes to kill someone who stomped you into the ground while they are at half life, you are so good with your cheats kid.

 

Exploits = cheating, I know how but I choose not to exploit a video game, if you have to cheat to win that is sad kid.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Xyp

[JockII 338]

3 minutes ago, Xyp said:

Yea you are welcoem for your ill gotten cheating gains running back in 2 minutes to kill someone who stomped you into the ground while they are at half life, you are so good with your cheats kid.

guy running naked on road travels at 17.5km. We are less than 2 mins from hota..... Yes cheating..

 

Once again you prove that if you can't do it. It must be impossible. Adorable, i must be like some magical god to you. I can also pull a bunny rabbit from a hat, would you like to see that?

 

Engage your brain before opening your mouth.

Edited November 20, 2016 by JockII

[Xyp 273]

20 fight skill vs dragon, exploit, plain and simple exploit, get over yourself, you arent good, you are just Proph #2 not Jock #2 loooooool.

[JockII 338]

3 minutes ago, Xyp said:

20 fight skill vs dragon, exploit, plain and simple exploit, get over yourself, you arent good, you are just Proph #2 not Jock #2 loooooool.

you realize this is wurm unlimited right?

 

Where dragons are weak as ###### right?

 

Do you know anything about this game?

 

Trying to get a gauge on the level of stupid i am dealing with here. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by JockII

[Xyp 273]

Do I know anything about this game? I know whats in the code, I know you use mine hop exploits, and I know you have admitted to it on many occasions,. Dragons are weaker than WO yes, but you won't kill them with 20 skill and 40ql gear without exploits, not to mention no spells so no healing etc. Give EVERYONE a break. All you do is exploit. I write mods, you can't even read. ProphII LOOOL.

[JockII 338]

13 minutes ago, Xyp said:

Exploits = cheating, I know how but I choose not to exploit a video game, if you have to cheat to win that is sad kid.

2

 

Do you?

 

Cause at this point i don't think you know how to do ######.

 

Although, you do seem to have a talent for ripping people off and killing servers...

 

2 minutes ago, Xyp said:

Do I know anything about this game? I know whats in the code, I know you use mine hop exploits, and I know you have admitted to it on many occasions,. Dragons are weaker than WO yes, but you won't kill them with 20 skill and 40ql gear without exploits, not to mention no spells so no healing etc. Give EVERYONE a break. All you do is exploit. I write mods, you can't even read. ProphII LOOOL.

 

If you are so smart and amazing at mods, why is your server dead?

 

Better yet, why does nobody want to play with you?

 

I find it funny to watch you implode, and rage out.  That is because  I know for a fact that my reputation and popular opinion of me is good and well respected. I don't think i could do anything that would be bad enough to ever have it drag down to your level.

 

so go ahead call me a cheat, with your failing knowledge of the game and your selfish, disrespectful attitude. It seems to really working for you. You are a flake and you'll leave soon enough, back to a server where you think you have power. Your nothing but a blip on the radar of peoples thoughts and opinions. 

 

[Xyp 273]

My server is dead? lol could have fooled me and my players. Your reputation is good? You are a huge joke, if you only knew the crap people said about you. Most people mute you during fights because you yell the same thing 20 times in a row, and you are so full of yourself, you just got roflstomped by me, and had to run back to kill me and almost died again HAHAHAHAHA. Dood get over yourself, you are not as good as you think you are. You exploit, 20 skill 40 ql gear, dragon, lol dood seriously get a life.

[Iberis 856]

Wow Xype.... this is just embrassing.

 

Remember there is a civil behaviour rule, this childish behaviour has already driven people away. Already had one player leave because they didn't want to be on your team after the way they saw you acting in a game. I highly reccomend you step back and calm down for a bit.

 

edit: I was in a teamspeak chat with Xype and Nappy where Xype said he looked at the code and said that you killed the dragon legit to Nappy. It seems very easy for him now to sing a completely different tune after getting upset about being killed in a game. *shakes head and sighs*

 

edit again: Xype did you just add sindusks mod to fake numbers on your server just now? lol Did you do it just because of Jock's posts just now? To make your server look larger?

Edited November 20, 2016 by Iberis

[Anders 30]

Xyp. Why act like this? Why the kicking and screaming? Why the outright lying? Why the whole "I'm not the one responsible" act? You're not fooling anyone with this.

 

If anything the only reputation you're harming right now is your own. You're not acting like a server owner. You're acting like a little kid. If people on Mythmoor see this, will they really want to stay on your server?

[Nappy 1,369]

Guys - This thread represents the server. People read it to find out if they would like to come and enjoy the fun with the people who are already here. Please consider yourself server ambassadors when in this thread. If you have disputes either ask me to rule on them in game via /support ticket or take the discussion private. 

 

Reading the latest posts it feels like a nasty war going on amongst you (from the view of someone new) while when on the server I have heard all of you say good things about each other and mean it so let's step back, remember the ambasador thing and give people a good reason to come have fun with the rest of us.

[Gringal 29]

 

3 hours ago, Nappy said:

Guys - This thread represents the server.

 

 

:^)

[Iberis 856]

Latest adventures on Desolation!

 

http://mizments.com/rise-of-the-ninja-vet/

[Iberis 856]

[15:45:44] Current Epoch: 2 - Epoch Progress: Research: 100% - Culture: 90%

 

So close!

[Nappy 1,369]

Someone asked me a question last night that made me do some real thinking. The question was simply "Now that Desolation has been running for awhile do you consider it a success or a failure"?

 

The question itself is a normal one to ask however the very question revealed the lack of knowledge around what the server is about from a big picture perspective. While a primary goal of the server is for people to have fun, there are other important goals as well.

 

First of all the server opened October 28, 2016. Today is November 21, 2016. The server has been live for just over 3 weeks. The goal of the server is to run for at least one calendar year (or 49+ more weeks). 

 

DesolationV1, DesolationV2 and DesolationV3 were about hard core PVP. Based on that history it would be natural for someone to read the earliest design specification about DesolationV4 and make the assumption that it too was about hardcore PVP. The problem is that realization struck between the end of DesolationV3 and the actual launch of DesolationV4.

 

That first realization is that although WU has sold 45,000 units (+/- 5,000) according to steam spy, only an average of 350 people play the game each day. The peak is around 700 - 750 people. This is not a huge number and when you consider that the Wurm PVP community is a very small percentage of that number, it means that targeting a server strictly at hardcore PVP players is likely going to result in a very small and very short duration server. Even if all WO and WU PVP players came to the server (not unreasonable since a sizeable chunk of the overall PVP community did come to DesolationV3) the resulting server base would still be small, have little growth potential and at the end of the day the server would be unlikely to have a significant longevity. 

 

The second realization was a recognition of the typical WU PVP server lifecycle. It goes something like this:

 

- Server opens
- One kingdom is much, much stronger then the others
- Stronger kingdom experiences the equivalent of civil war
- Small group of hardcore PVP players begin to roam the server
- Some open field combat occurs
- A deed gets raided
- Majority of players begin building their deeds seriously resulting in far less open field PVP encounters
- Hardcore roamers get bored, begin agitating for changes to make people play the way they want them to
- Some players begin acting out
- Drama occurs
- Somewhere a new server is born to attempt to recreate the described cycle
- New server has trouble getting a strong and active community so players from that server try to stir things up on other servers in the hopes of knocking the server out of the game so that their server can grow

 

In my opinion the lifecycle shown above, while clearly visible in the history of DesolationV1 - V3 as well as several other WU PVP servers that I have only observed, is not a life cycle that leads to a healthy, vibrant and successful PVP community and yet it's the one that is constantly repeating itself. What I also haven't included in that summary is the impact of macroing, exploiting and cheating on the server community as well. Usually there is some major exploit or cheating event that leads to a mass exit from a server. A good friend of mine, a major contributor to the wurm community, refers to this as the locust cycle (swoop in, devour everything of interest to them, leave and repeat on next server).

 

The third realization is around me. What are my motivations for creating Desolation, donating my time to administrate/police it and of course providing it with my financial support as well? Over several servers now I have gradually come to realize that what I personally want is a community that I enjoy interacting with, a server where danger exists and a place where new game concepts can be brainstormed, implemented and explored. 

 

Although I played for quite a while in PVE Wurm, at this point I am largely bored by it mainly because I want to have a feeling of living in dangerous times. What I liked about PVE was that when part of a community project, surrounded by people you enjoy being with, it can be a fantastic time. Unfortunately there also comes a point where you can build everything yourself and unless you really get into some massive project, it can get boring.

PVP in Wurm provides the danger however it comes at the price of a community that is becomingly increasingly more toxic as it continues to get smaller and smaller. Don't misunderstand, there are many nice people on PVP servers as well, the unfortunate reality is that their nice behaviour is often overwhelmed by the more openly displayed toxic behaviour.

 

The preceding two paragraphs reveal the thinking behind a critical pivot point in the DesolationV4 design. A decision was made to focus on growing the community and while hardcore PVP would be represented in the design, it would no longer be the dominant or all important group on DesolationV4 unlike previous Desolation servers.

 

Instead the focus would be on creating a blend of PVE and PVP elements that would blur the distinctions of the two and instead come up with something closer to an original Wurm Online design brief I once read. As I recall the brief it told the story of someone who entered the game of Wurm and evolved through their timeline in the game. It went something like this (I can no longer find the link unfortunately).

 

1) Join Wurm
2) Encounter dangerous creatures and experience how scary that world is when alone
3) Join a village for protection and help that village out by doing things
4) With time become a specialist in the village
5) Learn about the war being fought on a nearby island
6) Decide to go off to war
7) Fight battles, participate in RAIDS, suffer defeats, celebrate victories
8) Eventually retire from battle and return to your original village area
9) Become a senior crafter or help with major projects etc

 

When recalling that brief what struck me was the fact that there are no references to an artificial barrier that signified PVE or PVP. Instead it was a blended design that made allowances for both.

 

Why can't we have that in our game today?

 

This is what DesolationV4 is about. 

 

Give people a more dangerous PVE, build a sense of community and PVP will need to be a strong part of that experience but without the toxic elements. There are frankly some people who just don't want to participate in a good way with others. Those people, the ones who are unwilling to contribute to helping the community to grow, the ones who just want to take for themselves, well those are the ones I don't have to support. Indeed there isn't a place for them on DesolationV4. This isn't just about if people follow the rules. It's more about a recognition that within the Wurm community there are some people who will stay within the narrow focus of the rules while doing everything they can to destroy a server community. Those people aren't welcome on DesolationV4 and if they can't find a way to contribute positively to the player experience then their invitation to play on the server will eventually be revoked. Several players have recently had their invitations to play on the server revoked not because they broke a specific rule or set of rules but because their contribution to the server community was negative and becoming increasingly more so. Just playing on the server is fine, going out of your way to create problems isn't.

 

The fourth realization was around the timeline. When you go into something stating a planned lifetime of a year then all of a sudden it's not about the immediate performance but instead it's about the evolution of the playing experience. There are many concepts happening and quite honestly not all of them are working as desired. Some turned out to be less then optimal and already a few have evoled. This has resulted in much better gameplay and with time this general pattern of continuously evolving design will occur across all the key areas including both PVE and PVP to use the more traditional classifications.

 

The fifth realization focused largely on how warfare evolved in real life coupled with the constant comments that WU servers never seem to have a way of staying fun past the first few months.

 

In history the timeline typically evolves around:

 

- It's dangerous to be alone
- Tribe forms/Territory expands, no real competition
- Kingdoms evolve, skirmishes along boundary lines, still some room for territory growth without conflict
- Borders are becoming rigid, skirmishes lead to war
- Raids, territory capture, larger population

 

At our current stage of server lifetime we are really in the tribe form stage. As we grow and evolve to the later stages, PVP will also become more regular etc. By including gameplay elements that allow for an experience that more closely matches natural evolution it becomes possible to have a server that is still entertaining, interesting and fun well beyond the usual short lifetimes of WU PVP servers. 

 

To finish this post with a summary here are some bullet points on where I think we are today:

 

- Community continues to grow in a way that will lead to a positive and fun playing environment. Nine new players joined the server in the past three days alone.

 

- Many toxic players have already left the server and those that remain will either become part of the community in a positive way or eventually they won't be part of the community

 

- I, for the first time in a long time, am spending more time playing the game then I am administrating/policing it. I am actually having some fun and I am enjoying my interactions with the community

 

- As game play continues several concepts will need to be addressed/created/corrected in order to move the player experience forward. This is expected and it will come with time

 

- DesolationV4 is not about PVE or PVP, instead it's about a blend of both.

 

- DesolationV4 is not for everyone and that's ok. I think the key to Wurm growth is for people to have a variety of experiences to try and to enjoy. If DesolationV4 isn't the one that suits your need, go and create the experience that is

 

So, is the server a success or a failure? 

 

People are having fun so it's a success. Ask me in 49 more weeks and I will tell you what worked and what didn't along with a deeper feeling on what's next. 
 

~Nappy