A Grand Farewell

[JakeRivers 2,921]

The only tutorial that works is interaction with players that know how the game works and can answer your questions or walk you through things.

[elentari 2,660]

Dunno, the slowly but surely rate at which more people are quitting WU and WO should be priority no.1. Don't believe me? 

 

1. Look at WU statistics on how many people left the game.

Source: http://steamcharts.com/app/366220

 

2. Look at WO statistics on how many subscribers we have. They are pretty much all over the forums and you can check the wurmpedia statistics for real number of accounts (just subtract about 20% which are alts). 

 

3. Look in your friends list (if you have any :D) . Out of 200 people, about 20 are still active. The rest of 180 i haven't seen in 600+ days, some closer to 900-1000. Doubt those will ever be back. 

 

 

[Sklo:D 2,210]

Wurm has a serious problem called Featuritis, DEVs just stuff more and more stuff into this game, making the user interface and the game mechanics at least 10 times more complex by now compared to 10 years ago. I am playing this game for almost 10 years now, back in the days wurm was complicated but still simple compared to now, it was wonderful.

 

But things likes runes, rifts, broken epic missions, a far too complex meditation system, hundreds of different crafting recipes, a fighting system noone understands and so many details making the game unplayable for beginners. Many of us grew up with all the features, but still it is hard to keep up even for me and I am doing Wurm stuff every day since 10 years.

 

And if you think I just invented the word featuritis as a program never can have too many features, well no, this is a serious problem in Human computer interaction:

 

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-glossary-of-human-computer-interaction/featuritis-or-creeping-featurism

Edited April 3, 2018 by Sklo:D

[armyskin 930]

"The result is, in other words, that the product may be extremely productive to the small proportion of expert users whose knowledge of the useof the product has been extended with each incremental addition of features. For the first-time user or the beginner, however, the sum of features is overwhelming and it can be very discouraging to have to spend large amounts of time finding out how to accomplish simple tasks."

 

 

 

 

I don't even know how to express how true this statement is.

[Angelklaine 4,266]

Coming from much more complicated games, figuring and understanding how Wurm works was easy for me. But I agree its a bit complicated compared with other games in the market. What I believe is the problem, though, is not its complexity, but the lack of substance or meaningful updates mixed with a buggy interface that leave users dissatisfied. This is why most long time players quit. For the new players? Playing on a vast, empty world with a steep learning curve simply shoos them away.

 

If you look at the updates that have been released, its been several months since the most recent major game changing update: The revamp of the Epic. This update was aimed for about 10% of the game population (being generous) and did nothing for anyone else. Before that? Um... Cooking update about a year ago? The rest of the updates amount to simple color pallette changes, introducing new tiles, or minimal changes to the game. 

 

People need content. Major updates that fuel the life of the game. Think of it as "expansions". You get bored of seeing the same thing over and over, and a fresh coat of paint on the coded texture of your boat wont hold your interest for long. Add to that game breaking bugs left for years without fixing, and people just leave when they cant properly do what they enjoy.

 

I think its time for a major release: a new game mode (think of challenge) for peope to try, or a completely revamped Priest system, or maybe the introduction of a new "class" along with new weapons, armors, sets... Imagine if the devs pushed out a new expansion with an "Oriental theme" where they brought new housing textures (roofs, doors, walls, paving) with new vehicles (personal chariots, eastern style boats, gliders) a new fighting style by revamping unarmed fighting, oriental weapons and armor, a new Meditation path, and a new "eastern theme" island with new plants and animals? All of this together in a single push at the same time? I can bet you anything players will come back in droves to retry these features and it will reignite the fire into the game for many people.

 

Now imagine if they turned all that into very tiny releases across two years? Would it have the same effect? A single different wood shingle texture does not an expansion make. Its nothing to write home about. 

 

Wurm needs a focus on bug fixing and a major expansion release. I trully believe that something like that would change the down spiral Wurm has been racing towards recently.

[puncher 323]

10 hours ago, armyskin said:

"The result is, in other words, that the product may be extremely productive to the small proportion of expert users whose knowledge of the useof the product has been extended with each incremental addition of features. For the first-time user or the beginner, however, the sum of features is overwhelming and it can be very discouraging to have to spend large amounts of time finding out how to accomplish simple tasks."

 

 

 

 

I don't even know how to express how true this statement is.

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by puncher
Wrong spot

[Fairyshine 3,183]

1 hour ago, puncher said:

"The result is, in other words, that the product may be extremely productive to the small proportion of expert users whose knowledge of the useof the product has been extended with each incremental addition of features. For the first-time user or the beginner, however, the sum of features is overwhelming and it can be very discouraging to have to spend large amounts of time finding out how to accomplish simple tasks."

 

 

 

 

I don't even know how to express how true this statement is.

 

There are two sides to this coin.  Veteran players who grew up and into this game, get bored with same old same old, so new cosmetic things like new materials to build houses, bridges and the like, are brought in.  New dye options, new weapon options, new coloured mobs?  Stuff that really don't make such a big difference to actual game style or play but just allow people more options.  (I guess we could count different horse colours into this, BUT horse colours are not just cosmetic, they are game essentials! More would be better! Same with coloured unis, I would buy another deed JUST to breed different uni colours if they were in game  )

 

Veterans also ask for better features, which decrease mouse clicks and make for a better gaming experience.  When carts and push/pull became cumbersome, the game got wagons to cart stuff.  So we got halter ropes to allow four animals as a wagon needed four animals.  Then the game got crates to go into wagons to allow more bulk movement of stuff.  So we also go crate racks.  This went into other bulk options and storage solutions like sealing barrels and amphoras for which we got kilns.  Then travelling with wagons became cumbersome, so we got automated wagoneers....one thing lead to another as more options were evident once a new feature was introduced. 

 

All of these things may seem overwhelming to a newer player, but also not really, as anyone can still play wurm "old style" and just cook meat and pumpkin instead of fancy meals which grant long periods of affinity, or just buy a meal for 20 copper, which people can find by foraging a lot or selling stuff to a token or making some bricks.

 

Yes, the game has changed a lot, and some things do feel overwhelming, even for someone who is still a relative noob after many years of gameplay (me).  The new gods system and getting a new one every few months made the whole thing very weird.  Who do you pick to follow?  Which god offers what?  Why is one so OP?  Wait, a new god ... What???

 

Highways with cat eyes are good in one sense as we don't have an interactive map, but building a whole server full of them?  I know quite a few people who are not a big fan of this.  And once you have killed trolls, hellhounds and scorps a few ten thousand times, it is same old same old. Unique mobs would have been the answer to this, but I guess the way dragons are handled in the game where it is all very organized and structured, also takes away a lot of "oh no a dragon chased me! Help!" feeling.  Recently people got really upset with a noobie who discovered a dragon and was chased by it, and told people in global about his close shave... yet, this is actually a quintessential part of why people get hooked to wurm: The thrill of new experiences.

 

As with anything, there are good things and bad things with every change or new things being introduced.  I suspect that the hard core wurm players will always play wurm and love WO regardless, as the freedom the sandbox offers and the choices as to where to live, what to do on any given day, what to build, where to build and what to create, is a true breakaway option for many.  Making friends and staying in touch the way we do in wurm, is a big drawing card that are perhaps not matched in many other online worlds.

[Ayes 3,715]

I would say that the major deterrent to players staying with WO are the action timers, especially for new players where they are exceptionally slow due to low skill levels and poor tools. There is no way not to realize this as the blue line with the seconds listed slowly creeps across the bottom of the action bar. Even after playing the game for many years there are only a few tasks that I can enjoy without turning my attention elsewhere as the thin blue line creeps onward. Add onto this the slow skill gain system along with pitiful fighting/killing abilities even at higher skills and you have even more of a reason to look elsewhere if you have any interest in accomplishing anything in a shorter timeframe or killing mobs efficiently.

 

Still, the game does have its ultimate charm of being able to create your own little/large Village independent of anyone else's control but your own, as well as the ability to join with others in a group effort. As I see it this is the major reason players will continue to play WO and all these small Dev additions to this aspect of the game are what enhances this further.

 

As for WU, server owners have the ability to modify these 2 main aspects (timers/skill gains) and it is the major difference between them, which attract players with different interests in this regard. I find it no wonder that players will prefer these choices in comparison to WO and yet the major weakness here is that these WU servers will never have the security of not closing down without notice at the server owners discretion. Any drastic drop off of player numbers here in WU was due to the fact that it was on sale from that "donation site" for $1.00. So many flocked to it for a lark and were shortly departed when they realized that the game at heart is one that you grow within over time.

 

Yet surprisingly WO endures these storms over the years where games with roots of shallower depths have fallen over, withered and crumbled into the dust of insignificance.

 

=Ayes= 

[Roccandil 959]

4 hours ago, Ayes said:

There is no way not to realize this as the blue line with the seconds listed slowly creeps across the bottom of the action bar. Even after playing the game for many years there are only a few tasks that I can enjoy without turning my attention elsewhere as the thin blue line creeps onward.

 

Slow timers don't bother me; what bothers me is failure at the end of the timer.

 

Med questions are the single most obvious example. I can spend half an hour or more doing nothing but two-minute actions to eventually get a question. -That- loses my attention (I can read a book and occasionally click a button ).

 

Were it my game, every action would do what it said it would do, no random failures; the difficulty would be in unlocking the action (skill/QL/etc.).

[Angelklaine 4,266]

5 hours ago, Roccandil said:

 

Slow timers don't bother me; what bothers me is failure at the end of the timer.

 

Med questions are the single most obvious example. I can spend half an hour or more doing nothing but two-minute actions to eventually get a question. -That- loses my attention (I can read a book and occasionally click a button ).

 

Were it my game, every action would do what it said it would do, no random failures; the difficulty would be in unlocking the action (skill/QL/etc.).

RNG is the realm of MUD games. You cant do away with the RNG in Wurm, or else it wont be Wurm.

[Roccandil 959]

3 hours ago, Angelklaine said:

RNG is the realm of MUD games. You cant do away with the RNG in Wurm, or else it wont be Wurm.

 

Oh please. RNG doesn't need to be all-or-nothing gambling: the RNG for crop harvest QL, for instance, is well done.

[Angelklaine 4,266]

5 hours ago, Roccandil said:

 

Oh please. RNG doesn't need to be all-or-nothing gambling: the RNG for crop harvest QL, for instance, is well done.

Harvesting crops is strictly skill based with a chance of going higher. There is barely any RNG involved. If you are at the proper difficulty, you wont be getting any crops below your skill level in quality.

 

Asking to remove the RNG from Wurm is like asking Chess to be played with all the figures moving one tile forward diagonally. It stops being chess and becomes checkers.

[Reylaark 1,100]

Would be a shame to promote stagnation on account of dogma though.

[Roccandil 959]

10 hours ago, Angelklaine said:

Harvesting crops is strictly skill based with a chance of going higher. There is barely any RNG involved. If you are at the proper difficulty, you wont be getting any crops below your skill level in quality.

 

It's enough RNG to provide flavor without being frustrating.

 

10 hours ago, Angelklaine said:

 

Asking to remove the RNG from Wurm is like asking Chess to be played with all the figures moving one tile forward diagonally. It stops being chess and becomes checkers.

 

No, it's not. Rather, RNG in Wurm is like asking chess moves to be subject to RNG rolls, so I can move my pawn to D5 -if- I get good RNG.

[Fairyshine 3,183]

On 08/04/2018 at 4:23 AM, Roccandil said:

No, it's not. Rather, RNG in Wurm is like asking chess moves to be subject to RNG rolls, so I can move my pawn to D5 -if- I get good RNG.

 

Now I know why I am still a noob in Wurm : I can't play chess either.

[Mordraug 2,542]

On 4/7/2018 at 3:14 AM, Reylaark said:

Would be a shame to promote stagnation on account of dogma though.

 

Are you blaspheming against the twelve doctrines?

[FranktheTank 1,901]

So long fellow wurm individual, I look forward to the day I can make a big giant "I quit" thread but I think I am lost in my own obscurity and irrelevancy at this stage.

[Psalamon 201]

On 31/07/2017 at 3:31 AM, Talohan said:

We have a pretty tight community around Summerholt and our Alliance works together a lot of times on projects and helping each other out. Been that way for over a year now. And yes, we see people come and go but also we see some come back after a short break or RL issues.

But on the other hand, they are working on a new tutorial that involves taking to a "guide" that gives you missions to do to learn the basics and it gives you pretty easy to understand instructions, (except it has a couple things mixed up right now) It's on test next to the token for trying out. Just right now it's hung up on the kindling mission.

And on the server reset or removal, yeah that might solve some of the problems but as stated in several posts, to many to try and link here, Rolf has a standing policy as long as ONE player is still using a server he will not remove it or reset it.

I hate to say b4 this break I went across the server to visit summerholts impaling and man none of you sh people supported your lovely Texan hostess her name I can't remember but she's your alliance leader and almost none of you showed up it was disgraceful anni tjat s her nickname aniscet that's her sorry wurm hasn't been on the mind sorry Aniscet I had a great time anyhow but man oh man you could have helped her...

That big alliance shame..