Uniques Overhaul

[MrJonnyboy 221]

Almost everyone knows the drama that tends to revolve around unique's, but I have a suggestion to possibly end that drama. The way uniques work right now is they spawn on a server every 10 to 40 days and it can be any of the dragons, hatchlings, goblin leader, kyklops, troll king or forest giant. Everyone on the server at the time is alerted when it spawns and it turns into a mad scrabble by server residents and unique hunters to find it and pen it. The act of penning it and whether it is made public and by what degree is where the drama starts. My solution to this is completely change how uniques spawn and operate. Uniques should operate somewhat similar to how rifts work but with some modifications. Rifts have been around for quite some time now and while it does have some downsides to it, it's usually well liked. 

 

Overhaul Ideas:

• Spawning:
  • Instead of spawning them randomly, have an open location chosen 3-5 days ahead of time and have a certain color beam besides red to mark the location for the server inhabitants.
  • Don't announce what unique is spawning, just that there's one spawning in so many days at the beams location.
• How they act:
  • Similar to how rift mobs work, they won't leave the designated areas and will run back to the center to stop people from luring them away.
  • Disable their ability to enter caves.
  • They will easily bash down walls in their way if people attempt to wall them off.
• The fight:
  • Before they spawn, have a wave(s) of mobs that must be defeated before the unique. (ex: trolls for troll king, goblins for leader, whelps for dragons etc.) 
  • Increase their stats to compensate for increased attendance. (will also give a good use for legendary mob enchantment in upcoming priest overhaul.)
  • Same unique fight mechanics minus the running off in one direction away from everyone for no reason. 
• Loot:
  • Keep blood drops in local the same way it operates now.
  • Change loot distribution similar to how rifts work but improved.
  • Getting on the loot is based on two things: Participation on prior mobs and number of hits (up to a certain point) on the actual unique.
  • Everyone on the loot roll gets a certain amount of points/numbers (or whatever) based on their participation & performance up to a certain maximum. Higher points means higher chance at loot.
  • Loot drops are then rolled on and distributed.
  • Distribute hide & scale amounts based on points amount and attendance. (no more people showing up in knarrs full of 1s premium alts to get more scale/hide and kill amounts for others)
  • Someone can only win one to avoid unfair distribution.
  • No more corpse dropping besides a pile of ash or butchered corpse.

 

Would love to hear feedback, suggestions and more from people about this.

 

[Odynn 2,248]

While i agree that uniques need work, rifts are nowhere how it should be done... the randomness never helped anyone, you can do thousands of rifts being at the top and never ever have something good or end up with a rare+ 40QL moon metal lump or never see an ogre recipe. To be a success, everyone should be able to leave with something WHILE taking part in the action, uniques were made to respawn to break up monopolies a few have over them... now you will only see the same people hosting kills after kills while keeping a large part of the loot for themselves.

 

• Removing the twitter feed would be a first good point.
• make them move every 2 weeks... no more uniques in secret hidey holes on xanadu
• obviously no more penning in caves, they are already able to break fences and house walls.
• scale loot and difficulty with people around... make those 1s prem alts earn their share! and make the fighting real not just an attendance show!
• change tomes to 'magic valrei ink' which will allow to create one charge and spread it around just like the scale / hide is.

 

[Lisabet 1,016]

While at face value this is a bit unwurmy, I think it's an excellent answer to the current drama and problems around uniques.  And it gives a more interesting/challenging battle which many think don't exist on freedom.

[Oblivionnreaver 5,174]

delete the uniques haha yes

[JakeRivers 2,921]

Players should have the option of whether a unique fight is private or public.

 

There is zero fun in going to an event with 100-200 or more people the servers can not handle the crowds well, some may enjoy this, I certainly do not. Not to mention the scant amount of scale/hide to be had on a big open event.

 

The system could use an overhaul, but making it an event like a rift is a horrible idea, the rifts are not fun to begin with. There is not much gain in fight skills to be had and the loot is mediocre at best. Only reason to go to an event is for the 5 minutes at the end to harvest the rune mats.

 

Increase the spawn rates of these critters is the best solution, should be at least 1 per week per server, also make them roam around like the avatars do for missions.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by JakeRivers

[Gladiator 968]

I agree that uniques need a revamp but not in this way. You dont want dargons to feel like irfts, everyone hates rifts they';re boring... You need a little bit of immersiveness at least, i mean, telling you exactly when and where they spawn is UGH.... +1 to more uniques spawning overall, +1 to revamping their mechanics -1 to your ideas they're exactly like a rift 

[Gladiator 968]

2 minutes ago, JakeRivers said:

Players should have the option of whether a unique fight is private or public.

This, no, private unique fights should not be a thing , not on freedom. That's literal greed there m8 , that's all it is. If a unique spawns next to your deed doesn't mean you're entitled to it.

[JakeRivers 2,921]

Just now, Gladiator said:

This, no, private unique fights should not be a thing , not on freedom. That's literal greed there m8 , that's all it is. If a unique spawns next to your deed doesn't mean you're entitled to it.

 

You play wurm how you like and I will play wurm how I like, I don't like you I should not be forced to play with you.

 

 

[Oblivionnreaver 5,174]

35 minutes ago, MrJonnyboy said:

The act of penning it and whether it is made public and by what degree is where the drama starts

drama's because people feel entitled to stuff just because they play the game. you get people mad because you don't invite them, you get people mad that you invite people they don't like, you get people mad you didn't give them free stuff just for attending, it's not a unique problem it's a people problem.

 

35 minutes ago, MrJonnyboy said:

Same unique fight mechanics minus the running off in one direction away from everyone for no reason. 

When the server lags out npcs can move in combat. i reported that ages ago and i don't think i ever got a response.

 

36 minutes ago, MrJonnyboy said:

• Loot drops are then rolled on and distributed.
• Distribute hide & scale amounts based on points amount and attendance. (no more people showing up in knarrs full of 1s premium alts to get more scale/hide and kill amounts for others)

you can totally cheese rifts with 2s alts, all you need to do for contribution is target the mob, you dont even need to swing, then back out. aoe's also work so just make all ur alts priests and you'd get a much higher chance of tomes/loot so meh. i did this for a few rifts trying to get metallic liquid and all my alts ended up with over 100 contribution points

 

rifts are even more mundane than grinding metallurgy i'm not really sure why you'd want anything to be like it, but overall a meh idea

[Gladiator 968]

1 minute ago, JakeRivers said:

 

You play wurm how you like and I will play wurm how I like, I don't like you I should not be forced to play with you.

 

 

It's not about you liking me or not, it's ownership im talking about. Just because a dragon spawns somewhere on celebration does not give the celebration hunting group the right to take it for themselves and themselves only. And let's be honest m8 , killnig a dragon on freedom takes a bloody minute, you aint playing with me or anyone else for that matter, you're just waiting one single bloody minute so take your sorry excuse out of here

[Oblivionnreaver 5,174]

21 minutes ago, Odynn said:

now you will only see the same people hosting kills after kills while keeping a large part of the loot for themselves.

i think thats coz theres a total of like 10 unique hunters outside of private groups in the game

[Niki 2,278]

Good suggestion +1

 

Also OP I hope you don't mind if I addon to your suggestion. I think and been saying this for awhile now that in order to fix a lot of issues regarding Uniques and the drama; they should implement a new monster in the game . Maybe to add onto this suggestion as well, add drake and dragon whelps to the game in the open world as well. These slightly more difficult monsters compared to trolls would occasionally on a successful butcher check (maybe around 20% at 70+ skill) give the player a tiny scrap of hide .01kg. They should spawn fairly common like trolls but not to common. This update would help make combat more engaging to the player as well as a much needed improvement to butchering. Like with the recent archaeology update and caches, it took a extremely dull skill and made it really fun and engaging. We need more system overhauls like that. Why not start here @Devs

 

Thanks.

[Odynn 2,248]

I'd push what Niki said a bit farther and ask : What makes uniques fun? The loot, The difficulty of facing a tought mob, The search? Depending on the answers, they are plenty of ways to improve them... The loot is a motivation for a good bunch of people... I'm more happy with the track of the beast and a hard fight myself... giving people a proper way to experience those first hand might be more interesting than just showing to some pre-planned slaughterhouse shows.

 

NB. I'm not looking for my own gain at this point, i have enough sets and all the tomes, just looking to make uniques great... or at least fun again.

[DelightfulDee 54]

I have seen.  and maked the ppl who had the best sugestions

 

[Fairyshine 3,183]

Thank you to the OP for starting a conversation about this.  Should unique kills be community events? If this is the intention then yes, changes are warranted.

 

It is impossible to get enough people to kill a dragon the moment you see it, so unless the dragon is tethered to a spot, it is necessary to stash it in a cave until enough fighters can show up to kill the beast.  However, letting it move every two weeks to stop people hoarding them somewhere would work, also for those times when the dragon spawns on top of a mountain in the middle of Xanadu where nobody can reach it.  Having a dragon tethered to a beam is actually no different to a dragon being "tethered" to a cave, ready to be killed at a specific time.  

 

Alternative ideas could be:

 

1.  On some WU servers the dragon kills are broadcasted in events tab, with an open invitation for everyone to attend.  The whole hide or scale is taken by a GM who then proceeds to make complete sets of drake or scale, which are given to winners based on a raffle system for everyone who hit the dragon.  This creates a lot of community interaction without the constant competition to get a tiny as bit of hide/scale which is hardly enough to make a set even if you go to a hundred fights.

2. Create brand new loot drops with relation to cosmetic items (similar to the Halloween masks and hats) which randomly drop directly into the inventory of those participants who actually hit the dragon. These items should be purely cosmetic.

3. Alternative to the hide/scale dropping as a unit which needs to be cut up, instead of this, get rid of the hide/scale and instead randomly drop 2 caps, 4 sleeves, 4 gloves, 4 shoes, two pants and two jackets, of the colour of the dragon/hide which was killed, directly and randomly in the inventory of those fighters who hit the dragon i.e. each kill drops 18 pieces of armor randomly between the kill squad.  No idea how to stop people hogging the kill under these circumstances though....

4. For other uniques create and drop random unique items to those who hit the unique, which could include hats, masks, shoes, backpacks etc.

5. Random titles could also be allocated to the participants. 

 

As a side note, not everyone hates rifts.  In fact I know people who log in purely to do rifts.  The rolling time slots are also great, as it gives people from different time zones the opportunity to do a rift during a time which actually suits us on some occasions, rather than always having to wake up in the middle of the night.  I think loot drops were also improved as my priest always gets bits of crystal, stone and wood as well as some moonmetal.  Although she does not always get a shoulder or piece of jewellery, and never got a recipe, it is still a very fun time with other players.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Fairyshine

[faty 423]

There is so little incentive to explore on the pve servers and making the unique's location known to everyone steals even more from the people that like to explore.

 

I agree that penning uniques should be removed, one idea might indeed be to not let them go into caves, or maybe make them relocate if they are in a cave for more than 30m or something. Also relocating them after a few months without being found would be a nice idea so they won't be stuck on mountain tops for years.

 

Removing the twitter message is a must so they can be found by random people on the server and not just by a few prepared groups with priests ready just for that.

 

I would like to see something implemented that would let you know about the presence of a unique in the area by clues, fallen trees, footprints, be able to use tracking for something, and also maybe have specific sounds (and messages in event window for people that don't use sound) in local of the unique. It would make finding them more immersive and more fun.

 

[Tilda 651]

I and many others have long hoped for a change to the unique system, anything that would make them fully a community event that could be enjoyed by everyone from the highest skilled to the guy who just started playing. Many ideas have been suggested in the past but for now something making use of the rift mechanics does seem to be the best option available unless devs can come up with something completely different.

 

However I agree with faty about the fun of having to find them, for me that was always one of the main fun factors, the search, and it would be a shame to lose that entirely. Maybe if some variation on rift mechanics were used, the 'timer' on the event would not actually start until the mob was first located the way we always had to do it, riding the server searching, and working together with our friends and allies. Once the mob is located make a spot somewhere there or even by right clicking the beast to start the 'timer' (no damage can be done to the creature and it won't attack until the event time, a bit like we have to right click avatars to trade them items for missions).

 

As it stands now the majority of folks even in private groups don't really bother looking, leaving it to those who are the most frequent finders, and then just wait for the fight announcement. The 'little guy' feels left out because they don't have multiple characters, multiple priests to cast spells to locate uniques etc, and are therefore reliant on the goodwill of those who do, and if not in a private group these days, or willing and able to travel to all the other servers for kills, uniques are basically a non entity for far too many.

 

I also really like this idea, make it more fun to go searching, to feel more immersive

 

Quote

I would like to see something implemented that would let you know about the presence of a unique in the area by clues, fallen trees, footprints, be able to use tracking for something, and also maybe have specific sounds (and messages in event window for people that don't use sound) in local of the unique. It would make finding them more immersive and more fun.

 

 

Anyway, thanks for the suggestion and discussion Jonny, it is something that really needs to finally be addressed.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Tilda

[rapidron 142]

Many very good suggestions.  What is clear is that the current system is lacking.  Perhaps dragons should be like a rift and spawn minions that drop hats or whatever so lower level fighters would have a reason to come and fight.  Faty's suggestions on tracking is excellent and could be applied to other unique creatures.  Loot drops sorely needs a revamp.  The hat drops could match the dragon's color. 

PS  I LOVE RIFTS 

The travel from Summerholt is fun.  Preparing the area for a fight.  And the fight itself are all the essence of Wurm for me. 

[kochinac 1,395]

Rift system seems like the best available option. It would remove the fun people who like looking for them though (that's not so important factor for me though) that's true but it will also remove a lot of drama and there is more social aspects or potentials in rifts than people think (the preparing of camp, organiznig people to fight, chit-chatting during fights, commenting loot that someone scored). But loot distribution needs some serious redesign. What anoy me most are 2s alts armies that people abuse and lag everyone else who don't have very strong computers. I think that loot should be scaled to dmg you do (not missing with 1 FS but actual DPS you put in healers and tanks should be given props to somehow). At the end of fight everyone that contributed to fight should be rewarded with scale/hide scaled to their effort put (also people that participate from the start should be rewarded more than late comers). Blood also, and bone/skull/tome charges should be automatically rolled among fighters.

I also like idea of vawes of lesser powerfull mobs to make fight last a bit longer or even better letting those being into wild from time to time like valrei mobs that would give small chance to butcher blood and hide/scale for individual hunters or smaller groups.

But one of the main parts for me is to remove usage of one time alts for loot somehow.

Maybe even introduce some fight mechanics for every creature so that fight needs to be carefully coordinated otherwise group would be wiped, that would make fights  more challenging. Really doesn't get in my head how people call sailing knarr of alts, standing for few minutes maybe giving a wack or two participating and social event which is what slayings are today if we are honest.

[Brattygirl 917]

Just a thought to make rifts a little better. To make it more accessible for players to have access to unique's as well as the loot they drop, why not make it so at the end of the rift a random unique has a chance of spawning. Of course this unique will have stats based off of how many players are attending. This will also have an effect on the drops. So more people = more hide / scale and less people = less hide / scale. This would allow for a public unique slaying that won't effect the current unique's on the servers. I believe this will also increase the attendance to the rifts.

[tamat 265]

remove the scale and hide drop for locals (not fighters) and make it serverwide also the blood for the entire server...

[kochinac 1,395]

4 minutes ago, tamat said:

remove the scale and hide drop for locals (not fighters) and make it serverwide also the blood for the entire server...

This also works, give 24 window for player to login to get blood like the announced change for rites, so no need to spam local with alts that doesn't contribute fight and people that can't attend because of timezone still get something

[Demonix 79]

This suggestion certainly warrants some examination;  if a balance could be achieved between the economic effects of changing the unique system and the increased participation likely if this changes to the rifts system it could be a great improvement.  ideas like giving the whole server blood just seems like a bad idea.

 

That said, the rift system itself may need some tweaks before it could encompass uniques.

[Roccandil 959]

10 hours ago, MrJonnyboy said:

• Spawning:
  • Instead of spawning them randomly, have an open location chosen 3-5 days ahead of time and have a certain color beam besides red to mark the location for the server inhabitants.
  • Don't announce what unique is spawning, just that there's one spawning in so many days at the beams location. 
• How they act:
  • Similar to how rift mobs work, they won't leave the designated areas and will run back to the center to stop people from luring them away.

 

I like this, if only because on a low-pop server where uniques can't be killed, they won't terrorize the inhabitants who -are- willing to play.

 

Roaming uniques is bad business on Epic.

[Amadee 1,543]

+1 for something/anything being changed/improved. 

 

Imo, unique "hunts" have become a joke.  And the attitude of some, that anyone-I-don't-like should be excluded is part and parcel of the prevailing Wurm-Elite attitude that drives off so many newer folks, or sends them packing for WU.  As it is right now, (with the exception of a small few who make them public, kudos to those folks), if you're not in with one of the In-Crowds, that particular Wurm feature is off limits for you.  Unique kills should not be own-able, any more than a hunting area with a bunch of trolls should be.

 

The only good thing has been that the unique hunters do prevent the beasties from running rampant and ruining people's deeds. Imo, that is literally the only good thing about the current system.   I like how a few of the WU servers handle the unique kills, but even those are somewhat hampered by the existing code imo and could stand some improvement because they just go too fast once the beastie is engaged.  At least they're fair though and anyone is welcome to participate and even *gasp* get some of the loot. 

 

And as for the economy and monopoly on dragon scale armor where some folks make literally 100s of RL dollars/euros off of this game, I say economy-be-damned if it interferes with the enjoyment of the majority.