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Wilczan

Epic rework

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On 10/2/2021 at 1:54 AM, Zenity said:

This is one of the important points that have de incentivised players, Epic is just not unique enough, because sooner or later features on Epic are either transplanted to Freedom, thereby removing a unique Epic feature, or simply removed, like valrei creatures and terraforming events, truthfully I’m not particularly pained to lose the terraforming events, but losing valrei creatures entirely was a loss to some of us, I was quite excited yesterday to come across a Son of Nogump in south Serenity.

 

I understand the reasoning at the time, server population was very low, and all servers were overrun with valrei creatures killing new players all over the place, those that escaped the uniques at least, but a hiatus, rather than an outright removal would maybe have been better. I’d like to see them back, even if reduced in frequency and maybe a little less difficult to kill for lower skilled players. That could change if server populations were better.

 

Players need incentives to come, and incentives to stay, a skills transfer system might attract some,  but it’s not an incentive to stay, it’s an incentive to leave at some point. 
 

I’m not rejecting skills transfer out of hand, I can see it’s a popular topic for many who play on Epic and have a foothold in Freedom as well, like myself, I just don’t see it as an inducement to play on Epic. 
 

Please, bring back some uniqueness to Epic, keep it unique to epic,, faster skilling, faster crafting and imping are nice, but it’s not all that Epic needs to be.

I have changed my perspective a bit on the matter, perhaps the solution really is to bring back unique features to Epic.

 

It seems most points have been said, if our salvation is unique features they must stay only on Epic with out them "leaking" to Freedom, if new features would prove good enough to attract new players/returning players to our cluster perhaps we don't need a transfer after all.

 

But i suppose said features would have to be monitored and actually fixed in a reasonable time table if bugged especially if severally bugged, before they kill Epic again if it ever gets revived. Here's hoping o/ .

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My two cents, as a recently returning Epic player: it's not worth trying to get people to trickle back in one by one. The reason for this is simple: Wurm for many of us is a community game, and I would argue doubly so on PvP servers. Logging in and seeing "No other players online" is horribly depressing for those of us who remember how things used to be, and as much as many of us may still love this game, most won't stick around like a sad puppy waiting for their old buddies to poke their heads back in. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game itself or PvP in particular; the issue is a matter of momentum. There simply aren't enough daily players to form a community, and without a community, people will leave.

 

So we need something that will bring a lot of people all at once. Set up a PvP event with rewards that would appeal to both Freedom and Epic players. Schedule it well in advance, preferably starting at a time when a lot of people are available (such as the week after Christmas, or the beginning of summer). Advertise. Send out emails. Encourage people to get ahold of their friends and drag them back in. Make it clear that anyone who doesn't get in on this event is a giant loser. Offer a week of free premium to those who have quit, just to get them hooked again. Do whatever you have to do.

 

Because remember, nobody ever truly quits Wurm. There is a large pool of people who stay on the periphery, who don't play Wurm anymore but would hop back in if they knew their old friends were here. There are also undoubtedly Freedomers who want to try PvP but don't see any reason to go to an empty server for it. If there is a specific date and time where everyone can be reasonably sure that they'll have people to play with, there will be people who show up, and there will be people -- both new and old -- who discover the pure, unalloyed joy of being brutally murdered while drunkenly sailing around JKH at 1am with five of their best internet friends.

Edited by Fawkes
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On 10/4/2021 at 3:06 AM, Fawkes said:

Logging in and seeing "No other players online" is horribly depressing for those of us who remember how things used to be, and as much as many of us may still love this game, most won't stick around like a sad puppy waiting for their old buddies to poke their heads back in. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the game itself or PvP in particular; the issue is a matter of momentum. There simply aren't enough daily players to form a community, and without a community, people will leave.

It's been that issue ever since the skill transfer. 

 

Epic has gotten almost no new blood, maybe 2-3 new players in total...in 3 years. There is a stage where in any mmo, if a server's population drops under a certain "critical level" that server will never see more activity ever again. It varies from game to game, but the general idea is the "ghost town effect" kicks in. 

As @Fawkes said, new players login, they ask for help in chat or say hello, they see no one replies, they quit. It doesn't really matter if 20 or 30 players play on Epic. If that player doesn't get guidance, if he feels there's no community, then there's no reason for him to play. 

 

The only potential way to "Revive Epic" is to give people an amazing experience to get back to Epic, en masse. 

 

This can essentially be done in 2 ways

 

1. Either connect Epic to the SFI cluster. People here will give the counterargument of "but the market...bla bla..." to which I'll happily point out mounting evidence of dead trade chat, of SFI being insanely oversaturated with goods, rares and drake armor. There is no more market on SFI, let's face it, at least not like its former glory days. There's no more harm to do to "the market" on SFI if we connect Epic to it. 

 

2. Give Epic new mechanics that actually are interesting and FUN to play Epic again. First of all the 2 way skill transfer. Nothing will change if skillgain on Epic stays on Epic since there is no actual reason to play there if all your skillgain is in fact frozen on Freedom. Assuming that's fixed, we need things on Epic to make it fresh again. Maybe add a Jackal type of conquest on Epic. Maybe add some co-op kingdom objective on Epic, such as to defeat an invasion by Wurm's minions (could exploit Wurm's lore this way). 

 

As many people have pointed out, Epic has nothing unique about it these days. Tomes are on Freedom, moon metals are easier to get and can be outright bought with RL money through the marks system, valrei missions no longer promotes player gods, etc.  Player gods was actually a fun mechanic, I'd change it so you can become a god, just not a god with a spellset like before. 

 

Give some new unique systems to Epic so it's actually fun again there. At the moment the experience on Epic is more closer to a ghost town Freedom server than anything, one where you can't kill uniques, one where missions and rewards don't matter, one where trade does not exist, one where pretty much no content actually exists besides the few stubborn veterans still playing there. 

 

If option 1 or 2 is not viable, then simply close down Epic and let us bury it once and for all. Keeping 4 dead servers "alive" does more harm to the game than good since you're basically telling a portion of your customers "this is the experience you'll have in Wurm". Those potential customers will walk away in less than a week. And before you argue that I don't have anything to lose on Epic, I still have a deed there and years of work put into items, breeding my horses,  etc. But I'd rather see the server either pick up again or have closure. 

 

I don't want 3 more years of "dead Epic". Kill it or revive it. There's no in between at this point. 

 

 

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As a stubborn vet on Epic, I can’t find much more to say than I already have. I have a soft spot for Serenity, as part of the wider Epic cluster, and would be sad to see it closed down, but as @elentariposted, Epic is not unique enough, not populated enough, and no longer relevant enough to Wurm.

 

Adding content will only help if it’s unique, and stays unique, with or without a skill transfer mechanic. I’m not implacably opposed to a skills transfer, merely unconvinced that a transfer mechanic alone will revive Epic, not without some gameplay to attract players in the first place. 
 

Epic skill transfer, unique and engaging gameplay, a firm resolution that any features added to Epic remain on Epic, and perhaps, just maybe, Epic will once more be less of a ghost town, and more fun for those who wish to play there.

 

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Bring back the fire and brimstone! Dragons everywhere!

 

Volcanoes and craters! The land in constant upheaval!

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41 minutes ago, Zenity said:

Epic skill transfer, unique and engaging gameplay, a firm resolution that any features added to Epic remain on Epic, and perhaps, just maybe, Epic will once more be less of a ghost town, and more fun for those who wish to play there.

That.

 

 

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Yes, skill transfer alone won't save Epic, but in my opinion it's necessary move to make anything vialable, unless there will be some massive overhaul that gonna attract players, despite isolation from other clusters.

 

I doubt, any serious freedomer gonna invest time on Epic, when he gonna know that skills earned there won't pass back to freedom.

 

At least, if there will be no overhaul, skill transfer will allow anyone to try Epic. If 1% of them would stay, then still better then what we have now.

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1 hour ago, Karrde said:

Bring back the fire and brimstone! Dragons everywhere!

 

Volcanoes and craters! The land in constant upheaval!

We already have Dragons everywhere, on most servers ....

Although Serenity has reduced their numbers somewhat recently.

 

Anyone who ever played on the original Affliction map might not agree to the return of terraforming events, though perhaps if toned down they might not be so bad, and all servers are large enough to handle a few more craters and cracks. 

 

I liked the idea that perhaps some valrei events might return, but instead of craters and cracks, maybe some areas of Jackalised terrain, with some of the trees and plants, maybe a few of the creatures, (giant crabs anyone?), But no Wetas, msybe some of the old Valrei mobs as well, just scaled for server population, we don't need a solid line of drake and eagle spirits along the borders this time.

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6 minutes ago, Wilczan said:

Maybe something like conjunction of the spheres from Witcher Universe. Form time to time both worlds overlap, thus allowing monsters from the other side to cross to Wurm lands.

 

https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Conjunction_of_the_Spheres

Totally works for me, it's only lore, so why not have some mad mixture of valrei and jackal beasts abroad when we roam.

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Should have missions and battles from Epic affect some things on Freedom, like weather, priest casts, etc.  Seems to be Godlands (Valre) => Epic => Freedom so let it all trickle down.  Bring some people to Epic to force some changes on Freedom and get some PvP action at the same time.

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Let Northern Freedom Isle teleport to Epic if they can't already.  Get some fresh blood going on.

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revert the ###### show epic elevation changes and people might play, those pvp changes suck

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I've been thinking about this a bit, and here's a summary of everything I've either thought of or come across so far...

 

But first my opinions on Epic (if I don't do this now I'll probably forget).

 

First, I don't want to see Epic shut down for any reason whatsoever. If it can't be fixed, just leave it like it is. There will always be some die-hards and lunatics out there on the frontier, and Epic is the frontier of Wurm.

 

Second, I want to see Epic restored to its former glory. This will probably not come to pass, in which case I want to get as close to it as possible.

 

So here's a list of all the things I think might work (without much expanded detail; it's the general direction I want to focus on):

 

 

1) Keep Epic a separate cluster. No item transfers, and no boat travel either way. Portal remains the only way in/out, and nothing bar your skills (and points - see later) travel with you. [Apart from perhaps sleep powder. Why, if I have to premium on Epic, do I lose the powder on Freedom? Sometimes there is no choice, like you have to premium to physically move. And same with spyglass, but whatever].

 

Why?

 

Because if big changes regarding Epic involve "stuff" then those changes could contaminate Freedom. Too risky. Better to keep the cluster permanently separate and minimise any unintended risks to Freedom.

 

 

2) Enable accounts from NFI to portal to Epic in the same way accounts from SFI can now.

 

Why?

 

Greater access potentially means more players either visiting or staying on Epic.

 

Thus Defiance (is it?) is the noob PvP zone, only accessible by relatively new accounts. Chaos is the "Freedom Rules" PvP zone. And Epic has it's own set of rules, primarily revolving around faster skilling, faster building, and faster replacement of gear.

 

 

3) Get rid of token draining on Epic.

 

Why?

 

a) This would encourage more players to set up deeds on Epic. Losing gear, statues, boats, horses, etc, is one thing. Losing cash and getting milked into oblivion is quite another. No one wants to be a cow. Other players should never be able to tap your bank account directly, which is what token draining effectively does. Moreover, no one in their right mind goes raiding for a handful of silver; it just encourages trollish behaviour.

 

b) Knowing tokens can't be drained would encourage players to be a bit more creative regarding building on Epic. When I build on Epic the first thing I think is "Where am I gonna put the steel mine doors and the absolutely necessary 300 to 600 high dirtbox?"

 

I work it out, and start building.

 

Then I realise I haven't actually got time to spend two years doing this and bail.

 

Except now we need to players to stay and commit to Epic. Small farmsteads and mines would actually be more viable if the enemy can't drain your token, which ought to encourage more players to stay and commit.

 

c) With more smaller settlements alongside the traditional Epic "wardeeds" there would be more opportunities for less able, less advanced, or smaller groups to go raiding, and encourage raiding overall especially on a smaller scale. This a good thing on a PvP cluster.

 

And if it doesn't actually work as intended, so what? No harm done. Simply re-enable token draining.

 

 

4) Bring back Valeiri mob spawns (but fix the border thing, if that's still a thing).

 

Why?

 

Because everyone misses them, and everyone wants them back. Epic was never supposed to be safe. Even a middling account can deal with these things if necessary, so bring it on.

 

But no terraforming events. They can screw up deeds, and will inevitably mangle servers eventually.

 

 

5) Bring back player gods.

 

Why?

 

Because everyone wants this.

 

Allow players to ascend as before. Create a few new spells/abilities, even if only cosmetic (like the ability to glow, see in the dark, whatever), and give a player an rng spell from the list every time they ascend.

 

Give a CR bonus for ascension. Decide what the cap is, and then work to a limit on that cap. For example, if it's decided that the maximum CR bonus for all ascensions combined should be 2, then +2 CR is the cap. Thus the first ascension gives +1 CR, 2nd ascension gives +0.5 CR, 3rd ascension gives +0.25 CR, etc. Or whatever other mechanism is appropriate. And give the player a title equivalent to Deity rank 1, 2, 3, etc (like meditation ranks/titles). Have these titles, and these titles alone transfer back to Freedom, so other players start asking "How did you do that?" - actually perhaps have the spells transfer back to Freedom too (assuming they are primarily cosmetic).

 

Give ascenders 3 random sorcery items (as before?) but only for the first ascension.

 

 

6) Moon metal veins/meteors.

 

Why?

 

Because why not?!

 

Epic is supposed to be...epic. Either spawn these things naturally, and keep respawning them, or spawn them after a scenario is won. Do a few moon-metal meteors too, along with some fancy lightshow (but no terraforming).

 

If Epic is dead anyway, and is never directly connected to the rest of Wurm, is imbalance really an issue?

 

Uh, probably. So keep it reasonable, like meteors 20 hits and veins 50 hits, or meteors 50 hits and veins 100 hits. Or whatever. Monitor the prevalence of moon metals over time and tweak these settings accordingly to find the right balance.

 

 

7) Revamp Sorcery.

 

Why?

 

Because it's crap.

 

Have two tiers of sorcery. The first tier can be as it curently stands (although perhaps a few tweaks here and there wouldn't go amiss if it's being adjusted anyway).

 

Tier 2 sorcery should be unique to Epic and focus on PvP abilities/spells.

 

How are tier 2 items obtained? Dunno. Maybe through scenarios won, maybe through points (see later); I'm sure the devs can decide an appropriate way.

 

 

8 ) Revamp missions.

 

Why?

 

Because some of them are just...just...just like trying to mine a sandstone vein with your teeth.

 

Fewer "make 50 benches" or "make 150 copper frying pan" missions, and more seek and destroy missions. Get players out and about, running around. Put optional missions for any given Epic home server with targets on Elevation, or even an enemy home server. Big risk, big reward.

 

 

9) Keep HotA and make more cool statues (like the lady of the lake or dragon statues, everyone loves them).

 

New cool statues should be unique to Epic. You want them? Gotta go to Epic to get that deathcrawler statue. Make mini-Mag/Vyn/Fo/Lib statues the same size as the lady of the lake ones, because it's cool and we want them. Lots of them. Make a bunch of new statues because we want them too.

 

 

10) Significantly increased yields from uniques.

 

Why?

 

Because increasing the prevalence of drake/scale items, and all the other stuff, makes players' loot better in general, and gives other players more motivation to go hunting them down. "Them" applying to both other players and uniques.

 

 

11) A fair and balanced two-way skill transfer system between Epic and SFI/NFI.

 

Why?

 

Because everyone wants this.

 

Alone, it might not necessarily encourage players to come to Epic, but it's less likely to put them off coming, which is certainly the case now. Given what the devs have already said about the difficulty involved with implementing such a system, I do hope that some two-way skill transfer can be devised which if not able to calculate precisely what gains should be (likely impossible), then at least calculates gains as fairly as possible based on time/effort spent skilling. So skilling on Freedom would add to your base skills, and skilling on Epic would also add to your base skills, fairly. Nothing wrong with being approximate and getting it a "little bit wrong" (within reason)...

 

For example, say players realise that it's faster to go to Epic to grind prospecting, then return to Freedom, than to stay on Freedom and grind prospecting there. So they start doing that. Is there anything inherently wrong with this? Well if so dial it back a bit until the right balance is found. Monitor the system/gains over time and keep fiddling with it until the system works "quite well" and most players are happy with the balance. There are some smart players out there, who really do get down and dirty with the numbers, and I hope they'd be able to help and advise the devs regarding this (admittedly gnarly) issue.

 

12) Expanded meditation system.

 

Why?

 

Because players are always after more abilities.

 

Exactly how this is expanded, well...? The current system could be condensed a bit (on Epic), and then new (PvP-related) abilities added from ranks 11 and above? Or the current system retained with new (PvP-related) abilities being given here and there? Or simply add new abilities to ranks 14 and above (although this might put them out of reach of most, which could be a problem)? Either way, extend the system giving new (PvP-related) abilities up to very high ranks (i.e., at least as high as any player has ever gone).

 

Obviously keep all new (PvP-related) abilities unique to Epic.

 

And don't take any current abilities away!

 

 

13) Significantly improved rarity/supreme/fantastic frequency.

 

Why?

 

Because players love this stuff, they covet this stuff, and if there's a lot more of this stuff on Epic then it might help attract players to Epic. Given Epic is not connected to any other cluster directly, and items can't leave Epic, where's the harm?

 

I'm not talking about doubling the frequency, I mean really crank it up. Maybe guarantee a rare on a succesful imp during the window (instead of a 20% chance). Obviously you wouldn't want fantastics everywhere, or such items just lose any meaning, so the prevalence would have to be monitored and an appropriate balance struck. But making them far more common improves loot generally, makes players more likely to risk carrying that loot, and hence more likely to get out there and look for trouble.

 

 

14) Uncap +10%ql gathering runes regarding mining/woodcutting on Epic, like they were before the nerf.

 

Why?

 

You can probably guess by now, no need to type it out again :)

 

 

15) Epic only Journal expansion.

 

Why?

 

Because it might attract more players, etc. See above.

 

This Journal expansion would be Epic only, apply to crafters and priests alike, be PvP-oriented, and if done properly/carefully could encourage players to get out there and PvP/raid.

 

Once complete then a no-drop item should be awarded, like the cloak, but more epic, with some PvP-related ability (chosen from a selection, which could be changed by spending points? - see later). Maybe we could also choose the skin from a selection, and change it by spending points. Reserve the tiny cloak for Freedom, and give Epic a big epic cloak?

 

 

16) Fix Mag and Fo not fighting on the Valrei map.

 

Why?

 

Because there's no reason why they should not fight, and it's really annoying having them not fight.

 

 

17) Get rid of the meditation ability nerfs on Elevation.

 

Why?

 

Because we earned these abilities, and we want to use them when it counts! I'm not interested in some "noob-friendly" version of Epic. I'd like to see the direction of Epic change to cater for more advanced players, reward more advanced players, and provide a genuine challenge for more advanced players. Noobs ought to be starting on the home servers and not going to Elevation before they're ready.

 

But keep stuff like the rapid horse breeding, that's handy. This is Epic after all, where the life-expectancy of horses is short :mellow:

 

 

18) Conjunction of the Spheres.

 

I had this idea after reading Elentari's post, although Wilczan used the phrase above. I'm not sure the devs could use this phrase for copyright reasons, but it's the general concept that counts.

 

And this is where an Epic rework could get genuinely interesting, if handled correctly.

 

The other day I was whinging in Freedom chat about how I wanted to go "somewhere else" exploring, because going on adventures to kill stuff, and gaffle loot and skillgains, would be cool. So I asked where Jackal went and what was happening with it. The helpful response I got was (and don't quote me on this) something like "Devs don't want to waste time on temporary stuff."

 

Which is fair enough, I get that. But does this mean there are now a bunch of Jackal assets that are going unused? If so then this could be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone (use them to help revive Epic, and therefore not waste them).

 

My thinking is that it would be a good idea to have a points-based system on Epic (similar to Jackal?) where players get "epic" points for doing things like killing other players, damaging enemy deeds, destroying enemy guard towers, killing Valrei mobs, winning scenarios (assuming participation), wining HotAs (assuming participation) - you get the idea.

 

These "epic" points could then be spent on chosen affinities (both on Epic and Freedom - this is important as it gives Freedomers a reason to come to Epic, if only occasionally, as they benefit on Freedom), skins (perhaps any skin currently in the game - Epic only), special items (Epic only), sorcery items (this could potentially be where tier 2 items come from - Epic only), the full range of HotA statues (Epic only), all the Jackal bits and pieces like shoulder pads (oops no that's Rifts - new epic shoulder pads then), etc (Epic only), and who knows what else? Make some cool new stuff too?

 

The more stuff that points can be spent on, the more players a points-based system will attract to Epic.

 

As for the "conjunction of the spheres" itself, this is where things get murkier...

 

I like the idea of "events". It goes without saying that at least some of them would have to be large-scale and require players to cooperate to resolve. A bit like Jackal?

 

Say something spawned at a place (could use the Jackal portal asset) for whatever reason, which in turn starts spawning large numbers of critters (Valrei mobs, Jackal mobs, whatever). The longer it's there then the more it corrupts the environment (which is where some Jackal assets - plants/trees and stuff? - could come into play), and the more it spreads this corruption further afield. Such changes would only be temporary, and would slowly fade after the event was resolved.

 

I like the idea of a full-scale invasions. Epic was always supposed to be dangerous, and it could be made a lot more dangerous, although not insanely so as this might deter newer and less advanced players. Then again, perhaps Epic should be designed with more advanced accounts in mind, something newer players can look forward and aspire to?

 

Herds of aggressive mobs, and swarms of roving mobs (assuming Wurm's systems can handle it) would be awesome, although probably best to keep them away from deeds, or at least have them not attack deeds (which would undoubtedly rub players up the wrong way).

 

I think a lot could be done with this so that when an event happens the response from most players might be something along the lines of "Omg ###### no no nooo! Ok, calm down - if we work together we're probably gonna survive this."

 

And what better time for the enemy to raid? :D

 

I'd like to see a dangerous environment as standard (from PvP, mostly), with occasional (yet inevitable) event-based spikes of madness, chaos, and mayhem, that would test even the most advanced and well-geared players out there. It's ok to get your ass creamed every now and then; after all it's a PvP cluster, and it's supposed to be dangerous.

 

Ramping up the lunacy like this would in turn justify the extra rares, extra meditation abilities, moon metal veins, increased yields from uniques, tier 2 sorcery items, and all the rest of it. Players would generally need to be better geared to handle it, which fits nicely with the faster skilling system that is already part of the core of Epic.

 

Regarding the events themselves, the devs would really need to look at what assets were available (from Jackal), how much time (if any) they would want to spend babysitting said events (ideally I guess they would be fully automated), what is actually possible using Wurm's mechanical systems, and what players found exciting (or traumatic, lol).

 

At which point it's worth mentioning that it appears (to me) that many players don't like grinding Rifts. I thought Rifts were a cool idea, but apparently not all players feel the same way. Maybe it's the repetition? I don't know. I'm just saying it would be wise to think about the "event" system carefully as it would be a shame if the devs spent time developing a system only for it to grate on, or even worse, antagonise players. It might be worth running a poll for those (and only those) players interested in playing on Epic about the kind of experience these events ought to provide exactly.

 

It might also be wise to scale the events to the number of currently active players on Epic (and/or even perhaps in a specific kingdom). Huge manic events would be fine (?) with a large number of players, but if the number of players attracted to these things was less than hoped for, we wouldn't want a situation where those players that were present got completely obliterated with no hope of resolving the event. Unless events eventually resolved themselves "naturally" if left unresolved by players?

 

I would also suggest that the events not be directly tied to the outcome of scenarios. If one (or more) kingdom(s) gets the upper hand regarding scenarios then it could lead to one (or more) kingdoms getting consistently reamed, which in turn could lead to systemic imbalance, which might ultimately break the system (even if scaling were applied regarding weak kingdoms). Use the scaling, which would mean the strongest kingdoms were getting hit hardest by the events, which itself helps to balance things out a bit, and prevent the strongest from becoming too strong.

 

Time to stop here as I haven't thought through the precise nature of these events, and the way in which they might work. I haven't got anything constructive left to add at this point, and this post is long enough already.

Edited by Mowglia
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Great ideas by Mowglia. I hope the devs will look into it.

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Love these points by Mowglia.  Just moved to Epic full time and having a lot of fun so far even with limited population.  Tons of dragons to kill and found 3 on accident already in less than a week.

 

1) Volcanoes should be active like on Chaos.  Went to 2 volcanoes and just....nothing.

 

2) Let northern freedom teleport to Epic.  Give them the same chance to play on Epic that the rest of freedom has.  Some people might find out they like Epic more or at least get groups for big fights to portal over to.

 

3) I like the idea of not draining tokens on home servers, but Elevation should stay the way it is to bring a different type of PvP when you go there.  Quicker action timers should help building deeds faster if have a good group.  I personally like how Elevation PvP is different rules than the home servers.  Gives some options.

 

4) Skill transfers for sure is the "biggest" limit to people wanting to come to Epic.

 

I thought Devs were using Elevation has a playground to keep changing things to see what works best with players.  I was expecting changes at least once a month to Elevation when the reset happened.  Let (just spaced out his name) that dude that helped with gear and other PvP changes have free rights to make changes to Epic.  No one else is doing anything.  That would be fun as hell having an excited dedicated Dev that is constantly updating Epic no matter if good or bad changes.  It's something to keep excitement going and not like it screws with freedom at all.....yet.  I'd like Epic missions to affect with Freedom.  That would be cool.

 

Get one of these Wurm Unlimited modding people to change Epic up.

Edited by nicedreams
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@Mowgliatook a while to read through, and digest your suggestions, and honestly? I can’t see many I actually have a concrete objection too. I can’t see us getting them all, and certainly not right away as one large rework, however, they have merit. 

Token draining has never sat well with me, I’d agree with further tweaking for Elevation, and the removal of it for Home servers,, I know some will object, citing Chaos and the safe harbour of Freedom servers just across the borders, however removing drain on Home does not make Home servers a safe harbour, they can, and should still be able to be raided, and plundered where possible, that’s what Epic has been since the beginning, a cluster of PvP servers.

 

Yes there’s a CR nerf for invaders to Home servers, which was meant to counterbalance the disparity between crafters and farmers and highly skilled raiders, Home servers were conceived as the supply lines, not the front lines, so keeping that makes complete sense to me.

 

i don’t see where the concept of ‘conjunction of the spheres’ need be copyright, it’s not a concept that’s unique to one series of books, or one author, it’s a widely used one that’s mentioned in a number of fantasy settings, plus, unless it’s a carbon copy, which it won’t be, this is Wurm, then there’s no infringement. 
 

carry on thinking, I for one approve.

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57 minutes ago, Zenity said:

i don’t see where the concept of ‘conjunction of the spheres’ need be copyright, it’s not a concept that’s unique to one series of books, or one author, it’s a widely used one that’s mentioned in a number of fantasy settings, plus, unless it’s a carbon copy, which it won’t be, this is Wurm, then there’s no infringement.

 

The general thrust was to give players a bit more bling to attract them, and make Epic a more dangerous environment to justify it. Unfortunately I don't think any element will work alone, but combined they may be effective as a package.

 

Regarding the conjunction of the spheres, if the devs could use this specific concept then it might be possible to use a "natural" in-game trigger? The moons rise and set, and there are eclipses, but there's no actual point to this; it's cosmetic. I never studied the Wurmian sky, but say (for example) that Valrei, Jackal, and Seris all line up every month or two then that could be the trigger for an event, target (Desertion, Serenity, Affliction, or Elevation) determined by rng. Or perhaps each of the 4 servers could have its own celestial trigger?

 

Only someone who knew precisely what the moons did (and when) would have the information necessary to determine whether the cycles (assuming they repeat) would be appropriate to match the required time-frames of the event triggers, and that isn't me.

 

But it would be cool to have the moon-cycles used in some way rather than just being cosmetic!

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On 9/29/2021 at 3:30 AM, Mowglia said:

So at the bare minimum, if the devs can get Epic to a state where it can continue indefinitely, and those players "stuck" there now get some kind of deal they can live with, I'd be ok with that. Basically that means some kind of fair skill transfer, even if it's just a one-off, with a warning that "This is the last time we do this: proceed at your own risk."

 

if they do a 'one off' skill transfer again, then might as well just do it, lose the last 20 players on epic and close the cluster completely. problem solved..

 

Epic was unique cluster, all the unique stuff was leaked to freedom, then some other stuff removed completely, nothing new added and the cluster remained locked out. Then the abysmal messing with tweeks and nerfs were done to call it 'elevation reset' and thats it.

 

Epic needs either a massive content update available only for the cluster (unlikely to happen ever) or a free reach to the rest of the freedom servers with item/skill transfers both way so it could be the place for new people to skill up faster, intensive for others to come hunt uniques and such.  I have also always said all pvp should be loot free. Sure, you can raid deeds and loot stuff, but the actual pvp you should not loose the gear from your avatar. Also elevation server can be removed completely replacing it with defiance or chaos or w/e. probably the best way to finally shrink a server as its just useless and meaningless server now with all the odd tweeks/nerfs nobody wanted but few loud mouths who never even played there...

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Just to add to the idea of a fair skills transfer system.

 

I think that whatever code is used should round down, slightly, so that a player who goes to epic, does nothing, and comes back, will either have the same skills or very slightly lower ones. This will remove any possibility of exploitation, while still allowing players to feel that they can transfer characters back and forth - there are no irrevocable decisions here. The mentality to encourage is "why not give it a try?"

 

More than anything, I like the idea of players being able to fight Valrei monsters. I don't think they should have been removed in order to make newbies feel safe. I think newbies ought to feel particularly unsafe if they wander about an Epic server without powerful friends.

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