[Please close] WO or WU? Which one suits me better

[Bloodreina 301]

Hey guys! First of all I want to apologize for spamming the forum with my threads, but I have a really important question that is bugging me and I hope you guys can help me.

 

I start playing Wurm Online when the NFI cluster was launched and I have to say it was an absolute blast and that, despite the very short time since I'm here, I already felt in love with it.

 

However, I do have a problem... I feel that it builds some kind of addiction and it forces me to invest more time than I would actually want to (spent about four hours per day, and with school starting I definitely don't afford this kind of time investment)... On one hand, is the feeling of missing out... I feel that I have to log daily to make sure things don't decay, to tend my fields, to groom my horses, to try to gather fruits when in season, etc, while on the other hand is the feeling of "competition"... when you see everyone around you skilling up masonry and building nice houses, while you still sleep in a wooden shack it makes you feel... dunno... not good.

 

So a few in-game friends suggested that, since I already play in a self imposed "single player mode" (not trading and only using items I gathered, crafted and imped myself), Wurm Unlimited played on my own computer, not on a private server (doubled with the discord chat on another screen so I still have the social interaction) would better suit me since it would allow me to play at my own pace, without comparing myself with someone else and without feeling that I miss out if I don't log a day or a week (since the server would only be up as long as I'm up).

 

Now, based on what I told you, what do you think... WO? WU? Pros? Cons? Advices?

 

Thanks you a lot to anyone who would be so kind to give me any advice.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Bloodreina

[John 254]

Being part of a village in WO and seeing a lot of progress on whatever project the deed is working on is always quite nice, even if you can only "afford" to log in for a few hours every week. You're not missing out, you're just laying back and watching others do the hard work

[Kierkegaard 109]

I definitely experienced what you described about the competition or missing out. I felt the pressure to be on all the time. At some point I realized how silly it was that I was feeling or thinking this. There are people or groups that can play 12+ hours a day, every single day. I do not have the time or desire to do something like that. The game was starting to feel like a job and not a game. Once I realized that, it exchanged my perspective completely.

 

What worked for me was to focus on parts of the game that I find enjoyment and that was having projects to build and socialize with neighbors. I could never play a single player games because everything is predetermined by some programmer - it feels fake. Multiplayer will always have elements that are unique and different that single player cannot duplicate.

[Barbaresco 8]

Hello Bloodreina,

Taurasi here...this is a problem of your own making.  Only you can decide how you want to play the game.  For me, I don't care how fast people are progressing, I'm enjoying playing at my own pace and that is what you need to come to terms with.  If you're not enjoying Wurm O at the pace you're progressing at then, sure, look elsewhere but I would say, forget how everyone else is doing and enjoy the game on your own terms.

 

Barbaresco (Taurasi),

 

[Arronicus 636]

Just going to paste here the same thing I put up on the discord, so it doesn't get lost if you're not on atm:

 

Based on your situation, I'd personally recommend WU on your own machine for a few different reasons, nothing on the server will progress while you dont have it running, so if you can't be on for 2 days or 2 weeks, you have nothing to worry about: your crops won't rot, your animals won't starve, your buildings won't decay. You're also not feeling like other people are making lots of progress around you, like you're being left behind in some sense. This isn't a big deal if you're living on your own in the wilderness, but it would still be a thought for me, and plays into the next point: You'll never have to worry about someone changing the world right by you in some way you don't like. People make huge highways, often incredibly ugly ones through the middle of the forest, I've talked to a couple people recently who quit or moved because they went away for a couple weeks, came back, and there was some 300+ slope highway now running right through their back yard, completely ruining the beauty of the area, with absolutely no consideration for people who live there. This is something you would never have to worry about playing on your own. Additionally, you'd never have to worry about upkeep, paying a subscription, and additionally, you'd be able to (with some mods) priest if you wanted to, without all the relevant restrictions.

On the other hand, WO does have a couple features you'd be missing out on, particularly some recent graphical and UI updates, but WU does also bring its own unique features that WO doesn't have, so it's really a tradeoff. I think the biggest thing that sets them apart, and nearly the ONLY reason I play WO, is to be playing with lots of other people. You really can't get this almost anywhere on WU, even on the most active servers. So, if you were playing privately, I guess community is the biggest loss I'd be concerned about. 

 

Both are great games, both are a lot of fun, but if you're worried about getting sucked in and feeling compelled to spend more time than you want to because of things that require your attention, WU will alleviate that worry.

[Kelody 333]

Be aware WU is at end of life. It will not receive any more content patches. There are many mod makers keeping it up to date, but nothing official.

 

If you don't enjoy interacting with others (from your comments in Freedom the other day), then WU might just be for you. You'll never see another person in your own private server. But if your desires or needs change, you'll have to start over (or continue) in WO again.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Kelody

[TheTrickster 2,284]

My gut feeling is that if you care enough about the neighbours to feel a bit left behind then you may find running a local server in WU a bit too isolated.

 

I personally don't feel the "keeping up with the joneses" itch, but I do notice that others seem way ahead of me.  I am about 10 months in and my highest skill is at 52.  It doesn't bother me though, so I must admit it's a bit hard for me to relate to your feeling in that regard.

 

WU is well worth a look, but I would recommend having a bit of a taste of various hosted servers.   See what suits you.  

 

Personally, I specifically came to WO for the wooden shacks!  (Well, a cabin in the woods, but it turned out we can't build log cabins in Wurm.... yet...)

[Nekojin 197]

As others have said, both games have their pros and cons, and it'll really be up to you to make your decision. I was playing WU on the second-largest server right up until Cadence's release was announced. I thought WU was just what I needed...

 

... but the skill speed boost made things a little too easy. One of the things I like about Wurm Online is that things take effort to make, which also means they take effort to break, or even just change. I like the fact that when I stop playing, I can come back years later and still see the fingerprints of what I did on the land. On the WU server, I was re-terraforming things that others had done (and abandoned) with ease.

 

Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, it's a lot of grindy work. But when you can sit back, look at something magnificent, and say, "I made that!" - you know you've got something that will last for a while.

[Bloodreina 301]

Decided to stick with WO for the time beeing.

Edited October 15, 2020 by Bloodreina