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Etherdrifter

Lowering Re-Entry Barrier

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Picture the scene....

 

You've come back to wurm after a long break.  Your deed is gone, everything in it is gone; you friends list is empty, or almost empty; your horses are dead or stolen; your cart is either heavily decayed or gone.  You might have a boat lying around, but everything in it rotted away.  You've got 20 skill in everything, except stats, and those are capped at 30.  You're probably going to die very shortly if you lived somewhere remote, within the first 20 mins of returning usually.

 

 

Do you stick around?

 

 

I'm going to guess most people wouldn't; and here I think is a big issue in wurm's design.  The re-entry barrier.  So, here are a couple of ideas on how to get over this:

 

1.  Give every player a PvE server a free summon corpse good for 1 month after rejoining (granted if a deed you own has dropped after existing for more than 2 months, and if you have been inactive for over a month) and no death penalty during the first 24 hours of logging in after a period of inactivity.

2.  24 hours of free premium time if the account has been inactive for over 2 months

3.  Link skillcap to amount of premium paid in the past.  +1 to the cap for every 1 month of premium a player has paid.

 

These three ideas are quick and easy fixes for long-term absence.  (3) also rewards long term subscribers.

Edited by Etherdrifter
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I really like that you're thinking about this. 
As it is, Wurm is definitely not a game that a player could set down for an extended break (for whatever reason) and feel like they'd be able to jump right back in later on. Very smart to take a break from all the speculation and brainstorming about player retention, and bring this up. 

 

I like addressing the "you're probably about to die" issue. A free summon corpse is good - but what about not ending up as a corpse to begin with? What about giving returning players a free teleport to a spawn point & 24 hours of the newbie buff(s)?

 

Someone coming back into Wurm might have knowledge and some skills, but without assets and resources, that's not going to do much initially. Get 'em to a spawn point or newbie town, give them 24 hours of glowing (they won't have a lantern or candles anymore), let them access the bartender for food/drink for 24 hours. 

 

I'd rather be too generous for returning Wurmians than making it rough and have them all feel cut off and hopelessly left behind. 

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4 hours ago, Etherdrifter said:

You're probably going to die very shortly if you lived somewhere remote, within the first 20 mins of returning usually.

 

This is exactly what happened to me. I logged in where my deed had been, but after 5 years of course everything was long gone and I just had a bunch of random stuff in my inventory. I died within a few minutes trying to meet Drogos, who was starting with a new character. It was a brutal welcome back and it kind of made me smile because "That's so Wurm". However, if I had been on the fence about playing, I think that experience would have been enough to push me right back out again. A single-use teleport to a starter town would have made a very big difference.

Edited by Vorticella

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I was not going to give this support until I read point number three. +1

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What could also be cool is some sort of welcome back journal if you've been inactive a while and were one prem, bunch of tasks to do when you get back to the game with a premium time reward. It'd give people a sense of purpose straight away and hopefully give them the itch to continue playing. 

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Instead of summon corpse, maybe give returners who have been away for some minimal time a version of the starter tent (that could also function as a portal to a starter town), already pitched at their return login location, and a welcome back message that recommends they build some shelter (or even just a fence). 

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+1 You never know what rl will throw at you and how long you may be away from the game, and what changes may have occurred in that time.  These ideas would make returning a good bit easier.

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21 hours ago, warrior said:

What could also be cool is some sort of welcome back journal if you've been inactive a while and were one prem, bunch of tasks to do when you get back to the game with a premium time reward. It'd give people a sense of purpose straight away and hopefully give them the itch to continue playing. 

 

I don't care if nothing ever comes of this... but I just had to let you know that I really like this idea / this train of thought. Good one, warrior!

 

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I posted some of this in the "rebalance f2p" thread but it also belongs here.

 

Maybe, when your premium runs out you shouldn't be dropped to 20/30 for skills/characteristics, but to the average of your prem levels and the non-prem caps.  That way letting premium lapse is still a hit and therefore there is incentive to stay premium, but there is still incentive to stick around for a bit post-premium so it is still good to play, but better to premium. 

 

Someone with, say, 80 FS while premium would drop to 50.  A player returning after a long absence would not instantly be fodder for everything tougher than rats and cats.  A 70 skill would drop to 45, which a player who is used to their 70 would definitely feel, but is still not too shabby.  The game already tracks your levels while on premium in order to restore that when you re-prem, so it should be a doddle to programme (he says blithely).   This would allow people returning after a long absence to not feel like they are starting over from complete scratch.

 

I am even wondering about "restart packs" for returners.  A backpack/satchel or something with basic starter-level equipment.  The fact that when they stopped they may not have had starters in their inventory could mean they re-start with less gear then when they originally tried the game.  Even players could be doing that bit.  I have plenty of salvaged basic wood-working tools and basic weapons, even basic armour (I also had a large collection of anvils large and small, but melted them down).  If I could guarantee zero decay I would be happy to make up packs and put them in our town inn.  None of it is really marketable, so theft wouldn't really be a huge risk.  Or maybe stock a merchant with this stuff at very low prices (low enough that a bit of selling off of foraged stuff could finance some basic equipment).   It would be better to have an actual game mechanic for it, but I think some players (myself included) would be happy to supply this if the game offered returning players a teleport to a deed that had such a provisioning facility.  Hell, provisioning stations (or any trader/merchant) could be provided at starter towns a bit like the bartender, but instead of counting total playtime, count the playtime in the last 7 days or something.   

Edited by TheTrickster
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