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Hyaenidae

Future of Wurm

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Hey guys, I've played Wurm sparingly for a number of years, however usually end up losing interest/life gets in the way. I've always loved the game and I'm keen to get back into it again properly just as a casual.

I never understood why the game isn't more popular and these days it seems it's well and truly in decline, lots of high end accounts for sale and economy kind of ruined. I'm almost scared to get invested into the game if I'm just going to end up on a server essentially by myself. 

Some of my best memories in this game were having neighbours and new deeds being started not far from me where I could help out/receive help, that almost seems like a thing of the past now.

Is it the steep learning curve that people shy away from this game after a few hours? How grindy the game is? Can there be anything done to fix it?

In any mmorpg I've played there's never a true end to the game, perhaps that's what this lacks. Does there need to be a new skillcap? 80% increase to experience gained 1-70, 40% 70-100 and a new 120~ cap? 
Veterans will hate it, understandably so but this will help new players and I believe in the long run help the economy. 

I know there was a discussion about stopping people from rwting accounts, does that need to be done? If an account is found to have been sold, should it outright be banned? Might reduce the population even more so short term and make a lot of people angry. I don't know, just spitballing.

These sorts of threads probably get brought up once a week, just wanted to share my thoughts anyway. 

Thanks.

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As much as I personally frown upon buying accounts, if you banned everyone that ever bought an account, PvP would cease to exist.

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Hell, I'm looking at buying an account when one comes up but that's why I suggested faster leveling, being able to get your account to an acceptable level faster may alleviate a lot of that necessity. Maybe. Pros, cons?

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I think overall, the advertisement of Wurm has mainly been the issue. I"m not talking about adding WO to Steam either. Wurm is a niche game and suits people who enjoy the grind. WU has allowed those that enjoy the fast skilling, server creation, modding, etc. a place to shine. I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement within Wurm, but I think overall the issues lie with being really late on a lot of things. Content creation support is something that is just now really being pushed in 2018. Wurm was released about a year and a half after Youtube was created. When compared to other grindy games RS3/OSRS or sandbox games Minecraft, the disproportionate amount of videos in those categories speak to this I think. Wurm's player base will always fluctuate with the release of new features, those that come back because they have tried other games and not found them as rewarding, or are just plain addicted to Wurm. Will we ever see the amount of unique players Wurm once had? Hard to say. It depends on where the team wants to take the game financially in my opinion. Overall, I think for what it is, Wurm has stood pretty well considering the oversaturation of the sandbox game environment. Increase the skill cap/change skill rates, I don't really think that's the way to fix the WO. Epic existed with increased skill rates/effective skills and it is the least played server cluster. Banning RWT for accounts does not make sense to me from a marketing perspective because primarily, one of the main things that separates Wurm from the Grinders/Sandboxes is that you can dedicate your time to it or get randomly lucky, and make some bucks off of your hard work/luck. I think if that's taken away from Wurm, it will shatter the economy and people will move on to other games. That includes account sales in my opinion. 

 

I think from the perspective you're looking at, what most people in your position would truly benefit from is a new server cluster, maybe just one server where nothing has been created, everyone is at 0 skill, no stats transfer. The issue there lies in the concept that eventually, that will share the same fate as Epic unless PVE at which point I don't know that it would be an accurate comparison and would be interesting to see. However, even if such a cluster thrived, 5-10 years from now we'd have another post like this saying WO is dead because Freedom/New Cluster all have high skill toons being tossed around and it makes it challenging/difficult for newer players to enter the market/economy. I say this as someone who rarely sells anything, buys occasionally, but mostly just grinds out what I need myself. And it should only be taken from that perspective. I'm sure everyone has their own thoughts and opinions. Last thing I sold was a priest I half-worked on for a few years for 15 euros, not a solid investment or huge gain for me financially and it was reinvested into Wurm premium time on my main.

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I agree with the lack of advertisement, I remember there were ads on the mmorpg site awhile ago, I believe that worked for a little while at least? I don't think there's much room for the community to create content, I doubt RS3/OSRS would have had much success remaining popular if it weren't for their more visually interesting pvp/pve content. Would this game actually be more newbie friendly if it were 3rd person? Too late for that now likely, but an interesting thought. 

It really is an unknown game but it's something I think a lot of people are looking for, it's the ultimate sandbox really. Maybe it would benefit from having someone plug it on the mmorpg reddit every so often.

A new cluster would definitely drive a bunch of players back and solve those issues temporarily for sure, then I guess we're just dividing what playerbase is left and praying those who came back stick around otherwise it could be a death sentence. It would mean a decent influx of funds to the game though.. I think I personally would really enjoy it. A brand new pve cluster, interesting thought for sure.

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I feel you, the game feels like its hit a new low in population. [23:37:52] 69 other players are online. You are on Xanadu (290 totally in Wurm). I think the issue is that the devs are not releasing new content fast enough and the game suffers from a lack of change/expansion to keep players interested.

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How long is a game community expected to survive on word of mouth alone?

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Right now, the very least game time you can purchase is 1 month for 10 EU out of pocket because that is what it is going to cost you, not the 8EU they advertise.  I have said it 50 times if I have said it once, Wurm is too expensive when you compare other games.  To prem both my characters for 30 days is over $23 USD as of today's rate.  That does not include my deed.  Yeah, a buck a day is cheap compared to coffee.  But it is not cheap compared to other MMOs.  Wurm is not competing with coffee and doughnuts.  It is competing with other games.

 

Until Wurm changes its business model, it will continue to decline.

 

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If you really think Wurm is in a good place for advertising, go for it.

 

I think he needs something that can actually pull people, I don't want to say new server, but a new server.

 

Maybe even a new cluster.

 

People might be more enticed to join a FRESH cluster than one populated with deeds, terraforming, and high level players.

 

Didn't we have split pve clusters for a while?

Edited by FranktheTank
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9 minutes ago, FranktheTank said:

People might be more enticed to join a FRESH cluster than one populated with deeds, terraforming, and high level players.

New people or people who played wurm before and left? Do you mean like emailing wurm emails "Hey we have a new cluster!" or putting on wurmonline.com "New world made blank days ago."

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2 minutes ago, Yiraia said:

New people or people who played wurm before and left? Do you mean like emailing wurm emails "Hey we have a new cluster!" or putting on wurmonline.com "New world made blank days ago."

Both, but mostly for new players.

 

If I heard a long standing game just made a brand new cluster completely clean I would be more likely to play it.

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New servers/clusters have created player surges before.

But I think a new server should include some new addition or feature to be really attractive.

But the problem with spreading the population even thinner will remain.

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By the way. How this game manages to pay for full time software developers on the tiny amount of people playing is a mystery to me.

 

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3 minutes ago, griper said:

By the way. How this game manages to pay for full time software developers on the tiny amount of people playing is a mystery to me.

 

 

They sell silver for cash on the side, which is why it's still allowed.  (Note:  DON'T TAKE THIS POST SERIOUSLY FFS)

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I've have many RSS feeds and 10+ ones from gaming sites and the only site that ever releases any info about Wurm Online is http://massivelyop.com/?s=wurm

 

That is the site that actually brought me to Wurm and trying this game out to where now it's my MMO home..  There is no other gaming site out there that mentioned Wurm Online (until WO came out and a little on Steam, but that's it).

 

Everyone I talk to has never heard of this 10+ year old game.  If it wasn't for that 1 single gaming site I would have never known either.

 

So they really need to get the word out about this game.  Get us on IGN for a 1 page news story and probably get 100+ people trying it out.

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1 hour ago, FranktheTank said:

 

Didn't we have split pve clusters for a while?

 

Yes, for a while Pristine and Release were a separate cluster from the rest of Freedom Isles, they were eventually connected to the rest of Freedom. At that time Wurm had 2 PvE clusters and 2 PvP clusters. Even Xanadu was a new cluster for a time, during the initial land rush stage, before it to was joined to the rest of Freedom Isles.

 

I'm not convinced that more servers, even as a separate cluster, will revive Wurm, unless the new cluster offers something different to the 3 present gameplay styles Wurm offers, (PvE, PvP and Epic), All the servers Wurm has are thinly populated, and more servers are likely to just exacerbate this as inevitably some of the present players will move to the new servers, I'd certainly feel it important to at least explore these proposed new servers, as is my habit with all the new servers Wurm has begun since I started playing.

 

Even when Release and Pristine were 'cut off' from Freedom I played there on new characters, and I'd certainly do the same if that were to be the case for a new cluster, OK so that might add one or more new alts to Wurm, but that'd put my other main characters into hibernation and maintenance mode, while I concentrated on the new ones, I suspect the same would be true of other players.

 

Meanwhile the older, smaller servers would experience a decline in population.

 

It'd be a gamble whether a new cluster would revive overall player numbers, or if it would simply redistribute the present population.

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With being able to put stuff on tables I really think it's time for WO to start advertising on these gaming sites.  Get some reddit posts out there.  Free advertising.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wurm/

 

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13 minutes ago, Zenity said:

 

Yes, for a while Pristine and Release were a separate cluster from the rest of Freedom Isles, they were eventually connected to the rest of Freedom. At that time Wurm had 2 PvE clusters and 2 PvP clusters. Even Xanadu was a new cluster for a time, during the initial land rush stage, before it to was joined to the rest of Freedom Isles.

 

I'm not convinced that more servers, even as a separate cluster, will revive Wurm, unless the new cluster offers something different to the 3 present gameplay styles Wurm offers, (PvE, PvP and Epic), All the servers Wurm has are thinly populated, and more servers are likely to just exacerbate this as inevitably some of the present players will move to the new servers, I'd certainly feel it important to at least explore these proposed new servers, as is my habit with all the new servers Wurm has begun since I started playing.

 

Even when Release and Pristine were 'cut off' from Freedom I played there on new characters, and I'd certainly do the same if that were to be the case for a new cluster, OK so that might add one or more new alts to Wurm, but that'd put my other main characters into hibernation and maintenance mode, while I concentrated on the new ones, I suspect the same would be true of other players.

 

Meanwhile the older, smaller servers would experience a decline in population.

 

It'd be a gamble whether a new cluster would revive overall player numbers, or if it would simply redistribute the present population.

 

The goal of my statement is not the revival of old players 

 

1 hour ago, FranktheTank said:

If you really think Wurm is in a good place for advertising, go for it.

 

I think he needs something that can actually pull people, I don't want to say new server, but a new server.

 

Maybe even a new cluster.

 

People might be more enticed to join a FRESH cluster than one populated with deeds, terraforming, and high level players.

 

If you want to start advertising have something for people to go to. Not old servers that have already been torn asunder.

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Let's say wurm needs funds for decent advertising, which seems to be the case, how can they get them? Seems people think the game is expensive as is.

 

A well run campaign around the introduction of a new cluster could very well bring in a bunch of new players. Will a lower population on the current cluster eventually cause those that stayed to quit? 

It's kind of comparable to rs3/osrs but way smaller numbers, osrs definitely worked though..

 

Edit: what if you could "pre order" your new account on this cluster, buy x amounts of prem time, new acc names are available so you'd get in early, pre order aesthetic bonuses etc, raise funds for advertising but the new cluster will have to strictly stay seperate.

Edited by Hyaenidae

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If it were me in charge of advertising, I'd wait to see how the new UI shakes out. No point in drawing a new crowd either into the last stages of an old UI or into a new UI in teething pains.

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As a long time Vet, i would be fine with raising level cap from 100 to 120, but the I dont think that will fix anything.  The number of actions to hit 120 might be .... laughable...

 

 

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Help me out here, how would increasing the skill cap to 120 solve, literally anything?

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I would say that yes, the new UI would need to come out before bothering with advertisement. A cash shop for aesthetics and QoL changes (Gender switch, name change, face changes, etc.) would be beneficial and bring in money to the game and not into the pockets of players. Changing the premium price scheming to allow for one-month payments to prem up through the actual Wurm shop rather than 10s token. In another thread it's been stated how Wurm is expensive in comparison to other MMOs, but I think it's just the way payments are set up and not the actual cost unless you're running multiple accounts which is kind of your decision. I can't really bash too much on the concept of charging for premium on an alt when generally speaking the alt is a priest whose function is generally to enchant items which are then sold for profit. (Not always, but in many cases). As for having alts for large projects, I've never found much of an issue of keeping my alts non-premium, handing them 80ql stone chisels with 20 Masonry and keeping tabs on a few windows to quickly grind out brick needs, shovels for digging, etc. 

 

A lot of the time, I try to introduce people to this game, the discussion turns into: What's the point of this game? I think that's one of the challenges that is hard to create in a sandbox/grinding game in general. Whether you look at RS and the mini-games/quests it has, or minecraft when you've achieved your million block cube, at some point there is a point where you've attained what you set out to accomplish and there is not really a point. There's nothing new about that concept. The way other MMOs have approached that is adding in higher tiered content, cosmetics, etc. I think one of the more discouraging aspects is the combat system where after ~70 FS, you have Rifts and Uniques that might be challenging, but encourage a group or server to work together. But for those that prefer to go it alone, there's nothing really more challenging unless you go to Chaos which if you're not into PVP, is not for you. That being said, I think another challenge is making the game more accessible to new players that do not know how to utilize the Wiki, who do not know all the tricks of the trade, who have not yet achieved 21 BC or committed to premium, and ensuring that they don't die repeatedly the first hour into the game by two-three trolls they ran into trying to cut down some wood for their first house 15 tiles outside spirit templar distance and do not know even to say Help so that perchance a guard tower exists, they could have been rescued. The beginning of Wurm, I think, is intensely challenging for a new player without guidance and hand-holding, where the 'end game' offers no real challenge other than creation chance based on skill level. That's one thing I'd like to see changed in some fashion whether there's some sort of protected zone you can still learn the game and interact with the environment (perhaps an interactive tutorial server allowing some base skills to be levelled), or a system that promotes areas further away from starting towns to become more challenging in terms of fighting. 

 

So much of Wurm, in my experience, has been teach yourself through the Wiki that hopefully you know exists and you learn to navigate it well, come to the forums and look at data mining that's been done in the past, or hopefully run into someone that takes pity on your armor and weaponless self and teaches you the basics, but I don't think that should be all on players doing Village recruitment. I think there is some base level of guidance that has to be present in game more than just a list of recipes from the wiki. I'm not sure how to tackle that challenge. But from the people I've introduced that was the common feedback until they eventually became the people answering the questions in CA/Freedom/GL-Freedom themselves.

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5 hours ago, Mordraug said:

 

They sell silver for cash on the side, which is why it's still allowed.  (Note:  DON'T TAKE THIS POST SERIOUSLY FFS)

wait.. they don't do that? You can buy silver in the game with cash. 

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