Sign in to follow this  
Hijaks

I don' t think we should merge the steam servers with the old ones

Recommended Posts

Ok, so i know this is probably going to be a disliked opinion but hear it out, as i think it will be better for the growth of the game in the long run. 

 

So i don't think we should open the borders to the Steam servers. I've been mulling it over and i keep coming to the fact that when i started playing it was really fun and exciting because me and some friends were trying out the game, and we all started at 0, and we each took jobs to help get that first settlement off the ground, and it was amazing and accomplishing. I don't think opening the servers to old accounts will allow this to happen, as well as it would immediately ruin any economy that had gotten started on the steam servers, as people who have 3 priest alts roll in, ETC. 

 

On the topic of PvP this to be even more true, as lets say the game gets a following on steam. Lets say we get a thousand people to start playing. We'll say only 500 play PvP, we are essentially rushing them to skill up as fast as possible to be able to compete with 12 year old accounts of people who have wanted to PvP for along time. Well i understand this is a HUGE risk for Wurm to take, as it is basically saying to all the veteran players "if you want to PvP you have to start again". All i'm asking is you think on this, your out with your raiding party way back in 2012, doing your thing, and all of a sudden these new guys roll up and stomp you with 90+ FS and weapon QL with full enchants and drake scale. It doesn't sound fun. 

 

I could be crazy, and wrong. However i for one am excited to start fresh, make new friends, maybe bring old friends with me. Show this amazing game to a new generation of explorers. 

  • Like 4

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

it'll be new servers, you'll just be able to connect to them with the current client. you'll need to make a new character and can't mail/travel between new and old servers.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

They stated fairly early on that the servers will only merge if steam is a complete flop.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've thought about this a bit too. I think that the only way Wurm can move forward is by keeping the growth of the community completely natural, and having accounts that can produce things that would otherwise be 'Endgame' content for people that won't reach that point for years would completely ruin that.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
45 minutes ago, MinorArchitect said:

I've thought about this a bit too. I think that the only way Wurm can move forward is by keeping the growth of the community completely natural, and having accounts that can produce things that would otherwise be 'Endgame' content for people that won't reach that point for years would completely ruin that.

 

Fair enought but then what about the people that started playing Wurm on Freedom 1 year ago? how about those that started 1 month ago? How are them having to compete with 10-16y old accounts but steam servers should not?

 

How about people taht sold their freedom toons or got banned from Wurm being able to make a steam account and roflstomp the newbies on the steam servers on grind?

 

How about the people that will start new characters on steam servers 3 - 6- 9 months after they launch it? They will be  months behind. How are they getting a fresh start then?

 

So never merging is a bad ideea because the fresh start is only real in the first few days from launching.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If there are thousands of new active players then the few old accounts don't hold the sway they do now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Tbh, I am against merging as well.

 

Think of it in this way. Let's say there would be 100 vet accounts on fresh steam servers out of a total of 2000 new accounts.

 

Those accounts would simply rule the market. How many people can craft 90 ql weps? 90 ql armor? 90 ql tools and 90 enchants? They would simply monopolize everything. A new player would simply realise he has no chance to compete in selling goods or services and feel left out. Hell I got 90 smithing in almost all skills. Got 90 wepsmithing 100 PAS, shieldsmithing, etc. I would have no issue finding customers and making a revenue but I can understand how I would be disruptive to the market. I'd like to prevent myself from potentially ruining other people's experience, as strange as that sounds.

 

As for pvp, it's a no brainer. Experience + skills. There have been plenty of fights where 5-6 skilled and geared players took down numbers twice their size. Bad idea there as well to merge.

 

Keep fresh servers fresh. That's the whole point of them.

Edited by elentari
  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Tbh i dont think there will ever be a merge, even if they say there might be "sometime" if something happens a certain way.

 

One out of two will happen, is my prediction;

1. Steam goes well, WO gets abandoned by players and devs/support.

2. Steam goes bad, WO gets abandoned.

Edited by Nordlys
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think it should work ala epic

 

meaning:

 

Old cluster has connection to new cluster through a special "gateway"

 

people coming from old cluster to new cluster don't have their skills transferred to new cluster

 

people coming from new cluster to old cluster do have their skills transferred to old cluster

 

so if newbs want to delve into old isles history they dont' need new accounts etc, and they keep their skill

but if oldies want to get to the new land, they would have their skills not available.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
6 minutes ago, nekoexmachina said:

I think it should work ala epic

 

meaning:

 

Old cluster has connection to new cluster through a special "gateway"

 

people coming from old cluster to new cluster don't have their skills transferred to new cluster

 

people coming from new cluster to old cluster do have their skills transferred to old cluster

 

so if newbs want to delve into old isles history they dont' need new accounts etc, and they keep their skill

but if oldies want to get to the new land, they would have their skills not available.

 

 

I actually like this idea a lot, for what it is worth.  In time as the new servers mature, the skill transfer restriction from old to new could be removed.

Edited by Thalius

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah well...to be honest, if WO gets abandoned, whether steam goes well or not, I will not start a new toon from scratch. Been playing since 2013, that's a 7 year playtime interval for me where I accomplished a lot and would like to keep my progress. 

 

I don't mind keeping steam servers "fresh" but please plan for possible outcomes for the rest of us. And now is the best time to actually inform your players about what those outcomes and plans might be.

 

I still feel a great deal of uncertainty in the air that prevents me from investing too much in Wurm atm, deedwork, etc. Not knowing that WO might be dead in 2 months kinda does that to me. After all, WU being abandoned set a very bad precedent.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is the last i saw Retro comment on any of this:

On 2/7/2020 at 10:49 AM, Retrograde said:

The steam server is a fresh start server, there will be no transfer of any sort for the foreseeable future with it. We may visit that down the line but this isn't our goal with it

The "any forseeable future" part makes me believe it will not happen, as the forseeable future for a human is quite a long time.

 

Now this was regarding character transfer between the old and the new.

 

If Retro says it will be no transfer of toons, well basically as long as the future is forseeable, i guess there will be no merge either, in any case that matters.

 

Everything is so uncertain, and i feel they are burning more bridges than they should here and there. I will ofcourse play on the Steam release, but i cant for sure know for how long. My passion lives in my original toon on the old WO. I would therefor ofcourse like it if they made a transfer/merge possible a while in.

 

Im sorry my quote dont transfer, but im on the phone and it screwed up.

Edit: fixed the quote. 😛

Edited by Nordlys
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the idea to treat it like epic would be a great way to help players. I am like many and have an attachment to my original character. We could treat the new servers like a new adventure for them and they would have to start over in this new land. We did it for Jackel and other places, why not here. This way the change may not be so hard on a lot of the players since they can take their original characters and visit the new lands.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think they should just do the same as with the last couple of servers. Keep them separated for a year or two, maybe even a bit longer. At that point veterans on the new servers can be as good as veterans on the current servers when it comes to things like crafting (mainly talking about people who specialize in a skill). The new servers are old enough at that point that merging them into the Freedom cluster would be entirely fine.

I think the existing servers should be opened up to the Steam client a good while before that point, perhaps within 6-12 months of the steam launch, so that some new blood will also find its way to the current servers. We all know they need it.

 

On 2/11/2020 at 12:00 PM, MinorArchitect said:

I've thought about this a bit too. I think that the only way Wurm can move forward is by keeping the growth of the community completely natural, and having accounts that can produce things that would otherwise be 'Endgame' content for people that won't reach that point for years would completely ruin that.

 

Then take into consideration how fast veteran players can skill up new accounts due to their knowledge of how the game works. There will be plenty of such players whom will make new accounts on the steam servers and reach that ' Endgame'  content way before many brand new players. So six months down the line what you want to prevent will already be happening.

Edited by Ecrir
  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This was my concern as well, there are lengthy conversations about the other three letter changes. 

However, back when I started Freedom was the only PVE map, with an active and vibrant community and it is my opinion that every additional server only further spread out the long term community. 

 

No matter how long they wait to merge them, if they merge them or not the veterans will always have the edge of past time on their side over the new player be they today's or next years, a reality of every online multiplayer game.

 

It is my opinion that people buy games on steam for the flavor of the month looking for instant gratification and eventually move on to the next one.

Few gamers have the time, resources and dedication to commit to a subscription based game with added maintenance costs and the long term time investment (grind) that is Wurm.

 

Unless they make drastic changes to the maintenance costs and time to level skills, I am of the opinion this steam experiment will flame out and we will have more maps and a thinner player base.

 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You guys completely overlook the entire reason for the segregated cluster.  Us "veteran" players that want to play in a new litterbox have to sub to play there.   If they are "connected" even by portals, then my existing sub lets me play in the new area for free.  Not gonna fly with new ownership trying to find ways to monetize the game.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What if you merged them by giving them their own continent on the map, they could interact with others in the game but wouldn't be allowed to leave the starting continent until they reach lvl 50 in one or two skills..by the time they gain that they would be hooked . So you can weed them out but still keep the ones that like the game, and increasing our numbers also 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Unless Steam completely fails, a server merge would seem to be a bad idea at any time in the future. Think about the kind of characteristics many of the top players have right now. After many years of play they have insane body str and control.

 

Now fast forward a year or two after the steam server release. Not even the most played characters on Steam will be near the vets' level because during those same two years the veteran players on existing servers have continued to play and grow. Imagine how unhappy the steam pvp players would be when suddenly they are toddlers in comparison because of a merge. 

 

Rather than a merge, after a period of time a one-time character copy service should be made available for a fee to premium players. The copy would require the creation of a new premium character on the steam server. As part of the copy, skills and characteristics would be copied from the existing character to the new steam character but capped based upon the leveling of the existing steam players at the time of the transfer.  Perhaps something like :

  • after 4 months post steam release skills are capped at 55 and characteristics at 30 
  • after 6 months skills are capped at 70 and characteristics at 35
  • after 9 months skills are capped at 80 and characteristics at 40 (this is the highest tier for a transfer)  

Once the character has been copied that service is no longer available, but the existing character on the pre-Steam servers would continue to exist and be playable. This allows the players to determine if they want to transfer and if so, whether they'd want to do so earlier vs later.

 

Only the character's skills and characteristics would be copied (no items,silver, karma, loyalty marks, etc). This would eliminate some part of re-leveling their skills without flooding the server with high level characters. Note that this still gives some advantage to a copied character since it is likely that they have very many high level skills. So looking at the 4 months transfer they'd have a character with almost all of their skills at 50 while in that time period a new player might have a few higher level skills but other skills would be much lower. 

 

The Wurm team would have a better idea of how fast the top 30% of players level. As long as the skill/characteristic caps kept the character copies near the bottom of that range it shouldn't have a noticeable negative impact.

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

^

80 skill is trash and ez to get in a week(or under) if you have the time and resources no-life, sleep bonus, well enchanted gear, knowledge, eyes and fingers of steel.

 

On 2/19/2020 at 6:25 PM, mysterydate said:

What if you merged them by giving them their own continent on the map, they could interact with others in the game but wouldn't be allowed to leave the starting continent until they reach lvl 50 in one or two skills..by the time they gain that they would be hooked . So you can weed them out but still keep the ones that like the game, and increasing our numbers also 

plenty of skills could be grinded to 50 in just a few hours with no special preparation or setup, all you need is knowledge how skillgains work.

 

Old players have an edge(knowhow), only thing a new player have is .. probably bigger interest to catch up or energy to keep going.. I'm pretty burned.. can't really bother to compete with anybody, doesn't matter how easy it is to do it.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Merging Steam servers with the old ones would be very unlikely and would hurt the future of wurm . Way I see it, steam servers will have all the players there, while the old servers Xanadu, Cele, Pristine, etc will die off and eventually they'll be deserted and CC would have a reason to close them down due to costs and no one playing on them. Then, their focuses will shift solely on the steam servers, seeing it is a more viable option for putting Wurm out there to the public eye and more sustainable for the future.

Edited by Exopath

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Exopath said:

Merging Steam servers with the old ones would be very unlikely and would hurt the future of wurm . Way I see it, steam servers will have all the players there, while the old servers Xanadu, Cele, Pristine, etc will die off and eventually they'll be deserted and CC would have a reason to close them down due to costs and no one playing on them. Then, their focuses will shift solely on the steam servers, seeing it is a more viable option for putting Wurm out there to the public eye and more sustainable for the future.

This would be awesome. When this happens I'd like to buy Xanadu to be my own private island. I'll pay the instance costs plus a 60% markup to cover administrative overhead and liquor for the staff holiday party.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If the servers do not ever merge, I hope at least that both will have access to the same Jackal server when Jackal is live.  Has it been said yet if that is going to be the case?  It could be (maybe) fun to come together with the Steam version players on Jackal to collaborate (or compete) on a server that gets wiped and restarted a few times each year.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 2/11/2020 at 2:37 PM, elentari said:

Those accounts would simply rule the market. How many people can craft 90 ql weps? 90 ql armor? 90 ql tools and 90 enchants? They would simply monopolize everything. A new player would simply realise he has no chance to compete in selling goods or services and feel left out.

 

How about ppl not being able to craft 90ql weapons and armours for 4 years till they grind up? oh wait, steam is different. Ppl wont be able to get end gear withing 6 months, steam is a flop. sad, but true. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Steam is a platform, not a player type. Not all steam users are casuals and expect short term results in an mmo.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I wouldnt even think of the market right ahead...but how my gained skills can help online friends that im introducing to wo-steam.
So personaly i would appreciate having my skills on steam.

 

Original wo is being on lifesupport i think. I regret that because its one the best games ive played so far.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this