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Lightonfoot

IF playing for first time...

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(This is a suggestion to change the homepage for Wurm Online)

 

Ok, so the deal is I first played in 2012, so I'm NOT new. However, I haven't played since early 2017. Since then, I've got a new computer and Wurm Online has drifted away from my conscious mind. Lately, it has been drifting closer, and I was wondering how it would run on my current PC. I knew it used Java. My first attempt to install was to look for "Wurm Onilne" on steam. Wurm Unlimited was there, but not Wurm Online. Then I googled "Wurm Online", since my current browser doesn't have a Wurm Online favorites folder--although I do have that on a backup dvd.

 

Long story short, I clicked on PLAY! to run it. It shows a dialog about opening a *.JNLP file, but it didn't show anything associated with it. I couldn't figure out what to do. I knew it needed Java, but doesn't Windows 10 already have that? Not out of the box. It's not installed.

 

Moments later, I I saw the "The client runs on Windows, Linux and Mac! Wurm Online needs Java - get it now." at the top of the homepage for Wurm Onilne. It didn't happen immediately. I only glanced up at a later interval.

 

I'm trying to give the impressions of someone who is NEW. That's why I"m here.

 

 My suggestion?  Place the note about needing Java nearer to the PLAY! button. Somehow make the eye see both instead of seeing them separately. Or find a way to automatically inform the user they need to install Java. I say this because not everybody is going to know about it like I do, given I've played Wurm Online for years. Some of them will see the dialog about opening the *.JNLP and because nothing happens afterward, they'll lose interest and go on to something else. More than anything, it might leave a bad taste in their mouth, when accompanied by other loose ends. And I think that's a realistic way many players leave a MMO before giving it a chance.

Edited by Lightonfoot

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Just want to add another note. It gave me a warning about using 32-bit java. The automatic installer doesn't give me an option to install 64-bit. I had to manually click on the 64-bit offline installer.

 

Just another example how installation is thorny.

 

It was much worse when I was using Ubuntu 14.10 (was that the version?). I had a hell of time getting that to work again when Wurm Online switched to Java 8.

Edited by Lightonfoot

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I agree with both points, particularly the second.

 

The play button should work normally for those with Java already installed properly,

but in an ideal world, that same Play button should really direct the player swiftly to the location of the correct Java installer (or even offer to install it for them), if the correct Java version for the game is not detected.

 

I think most of us forget the details of how we stumbled into the game many years ago.  But I agree that new players can be 'stumbled' out of playing it, just as easily, due to a small technicality.

 

 

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