Give new players a "trial period" when they first teleport to playable server

[TheTrickster 2,285]

With the ongoing controversy regarding merging clusters, and the ongoing problem of the tutorial server still pushing Cadence as the new server, I wonder if there is a way to let players "taste" a server and have a window of opportunity to change their mind if they want to try something different.

 

Have some experience/playtime below which a player can decide to teleport back to haven and select again.  They would go back with only the starter gear; it would essentially be a character reset with the possible exception of skills/characteristics.

 

Basically I am thinking of it being a last ditch retention possibly for those who quickly think "nope, this isn't for me".  If they can try somewhere else without having to re-roll and redo the tutorial they may take the opportunity rather than just walk away. 

[Ekcin 2,415]

I agree that this could be a good idea. The opportunity to switch the cluster could be given for 1 month from first login, or first appearance on the server initially chosen. It should definitely be a one time choice.

 

A question could arise what could be taken from the start server to the new location. I think that skills and bank account should be, where, to avoid exploits, bank accounts could be capped to the amount purchased from shop, maybe plus 10s but not more (to avoid stuffing a new account with 100 gold on transfer 😎). Items in inventory should better not be allowed to be transferred, to avoid exploits for cross cluster smuggling. 

[TheTrickster 2,285]

I hadn't thought about the bank account.  Yes, should be limited to shop-purchased silver plus maybe some small amount.

 

Otherwise, no inventory except starter gear - basically the player is re-starting in the game, so their inventory & equipped gear would be wiped and then re-set to whatever is the current starter set.

[Archaed 2,280]

I think a free server port on the same cluster is a great idea 

[Bekador 209]

28 minutes ago, Archaed said:

I think a free server port on the same cluster is a great idea 

 

That could be solved by simply asking for a ferry service in freedom chat. The Problem lies in moving cross-cluster.

[Archaed 2,280]

23 minutes ago, Bekador said:

 

That could be solved by simply asking for a ferry service in freedom chat. The Problem lies in moving cross-cluster.

Cross cluster is opening opportunities for issues, porting between servers like the signs allowed at the start would help with recruiting. 

 

Transferring from SFI to nfi would require no bank or items 

[Bekador 209]

Could still give issues if one transfers his 8+ year old, most skills at 90 char on the new cluster, maybe one way NFI->SFI

[Archaed 2,280]

This is for new players being able to adjust their choices, isn't it? 

[TheTrickster 2,285]

Yes.  I was particularly thinking of re-choosing the cluster.  Low time in, no items but starters, bank only what has been actually purchased from the shop.  That kind of thing.

[TheTrickster 2,285]

1 hour ago, Bekador said:

Could still give issues if one transfers his 8+ year old, most skills at 90 char on the new cluster, maybe one way NFI->SFI

That wouldn't happen under this suggestion.  Also, 8+ years on NFI?   Oh wait, Wurm is 8X time!  🤣

[Ekcin 2,415]

7 hours ago, Archaed said:

Cross cluster is opening opportunities for issues, porting between servers like the signs allowed at the start would help with recruiting. 

Transferring from SFI to nfi would require no bank or items 

No items, yes. No cross cluster smuggling.

No bank, no. Rather the opportunity should be given after first departure from Haven, for a limited time. I think one month should suffice. The bank balance transfer could be limited to silver bought in the shop plus a limited amount. I think 10 silver would be reasonable, estimated from my experience in 2017/18. I got 11 silver in my first 40 days of intensive wurming.

[Sheffie 1,120]

The simplest solution to the problem of Cadence being advertised as the "new server" is to stop doing that.

 

The idea of last ditch retention for a newbie sounds nice, but how many players will it actually benefit? 

Most players who are unhappy with their first few hours or days in the game are going to quit. This option to swap clusters is unlikely to persuade them to stay - if they even know of it.

 

Meanwhile, players who do know the rules will be able to use this 10s limit (or whatever you set it to) to transfer silver between the clusters. In short, I think the potential for exploitation outweighs the benefit.

[Tor 528]

+1 for the next "Grand new server opening", but even then it won't save any poor decision making that this game been cursed with. At this current state, idk how many players are going to benefit this, but my guess is , not much. Still, it's nice if new players in general taste the apparently now two different games and have chance to revert any poor decision of where to play.

[Ekcin 2,415]

4 hours ago, Sheffie said:

The simplest solution to the problem of Cadence being advertised as the "new server" is to stop doing that.

Agreed

 

Quote

The idea of last ditch retention for a newbie sounds nice, but how many players will it actually benefit? 

Most players who are unhappy with their first few hours or days in the game are going to quit. This option to swap clusters is unlikely to persuade them to stay - if they even know of it.

Those who are soon disappointed about the game would not be held by the opportunity to switch the cluster. Those unhappy with the recent cluster would get a chance. How many that be, no idea.

 

Quote

Meanwhile, players who do know the rules will be able to use this 10s limit (or whatever you set it to) to transfer silver between the clusters. In short, I think the potential for exploitation outweighs the benefit.

To prevent abuse one could limit the option to premium players. Paying 10s for premium to transfer 10s trans cluster does not really seem like a path for exploits (while allowing it for f2p might be, though spamming f2p seems a somewhat tedious way to me). Generally, one could observe the cluster transfers. Also, one could explicitly mention that this is an option for new players, and usage by alts of experienced players may be considered as abuse, and result in an account ban.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Ekcin
typo

[Zakiah 66]

5 hours ago, Ekcin said:

To prevent abuse one could limit the option to premium players. Paying 10s for premium to transfer 10s trans cluster does not really seem like a path for exploits (while allowing it for f2p might be, though spamming f2p seems a somewhat tedious way to me). Generally, one could observe the cluster transfers. Also, one could explicitly mention that this is an option for new players, and usage by alts of experienced players may be considered as abuse, and result in an account ban.

 

So a long-term player who was unhappy with his or her choice in one of the clusters would finally have a way to transfer some money from one to the other.  Whenever this person is ready to create a new alt, just create it on the other cluster in order to bring some of the money over.  It's only 10s, but that's 10s this person could not otherwise access for the foreseeable future, and it's an alt that this person wanted anyway.

 

It just seems way too easy to abuse this feature, and to be fair for all, you have to add active GM/Dev oversight to make sure it's not abused yet allow "legit" transfers to happen.

 

Like Sheffy said, I'm not sure that someone brand new to the Wurm universe who is unhappy with the game will care which cluster he or she is on.  If it really does matter that much, in such a short period of time said person has not gained much of anything.  One could just create a new character on the "correct" cluster.  The only issue is the name; a way to delete old and unwanted characters would be a solution to that.

 

[TheTrickster 2,285]

7 hours ago, Zakiah said:

One could just create a new character on the "correct" cluster. 

So, redo appearance, as well as some amount of the tutorial, and pick a new name OR teleport existing new character with gear reset to start.  To be honest, I wouldn't have an issue with taking NO silver in bank except what has been directly bought.  I don't think limiting it to premium is a good idea either.  The intended beneficiary of this is someone who is otherwise about to quit - if they haven't spent money on premium at that point they are not about to.

[Ekcin 2,415]

I agree from the feedback that as soon as you give an inch leeway some players will try to cheat. It is a bit sad as it hurts new players who may have diligently "amassed" a few silvers and are deprived of due to that attitude. That unfortunately will not necessarily motivate anyone, premium or not, to stay with Wurm.

[TheTrickster 2,285]

hmmm,  what about a specific "trial" teleport that a new player could optionally select, that gives them a very brief amount of "tourist" game play before they either try another server or opt to stay?

 

I am just trying to remove one element that might lead people to leave early on - a sub-optimal choice of starting point in a game where currently that can't be easily remedied.

 

My other objections to cluster merge aside (they remain, but that isn't the point here) easy sailing between clusters would help but not as much as is needed.  I wound up sailing from Indy to Release to settle, but I was months in the game before I managed that and mainly kept playing out of a form of stubbornness.

 

[Zakiah 66]

It sounds like there are a bunch of issue at play.  The main problem seems to be lack of information in the very beginning.  If the players knew what the gameplay was really like, both at low skill and at higher skill, the learning curve, the constant string of failures early on, the lack of instant gratification, many would leave regardless of the server population density.  The rest would be able to make a more informed choice if there were more information available about the various servers from the very beginning, such as the deed density heat maps that were on the table some time back, no longer pushing new players toward NFI, or advertising Cadence as the "new server".

For getting around the teleport thing, it could be made "safe" by basing permission on the 24 hr newbie buffs and severely restricting the player while affected by those buffs: the newbie may not trade with others or interact with containers owned by anyone other than the newbie (while other players may not interact with the newbie containers during this time).  No transferring ownership to the newbie during this time, etc.

 

But then allow the newbie to remove the 24 hr buffs and begin the game as a "full player" right away.

 

And explain all of this to the newbie in bite-sized digestible chunks instead of walls of text that won't be read.

 

[Idlamn 297]

Or just merge them clusters already. So northern freedomers can have a chance to play on Epic.

[TheTrickster 2,285]

2 hours ago, Idlamn said:

Or just merge them clusters already. So northern freedomers can have a chance to play on Epic.

Not possible for the time being, which is the reason this suggestion exists.     There is dev talk of working getting NFI access to Epic, but I have no idea how that would look or how long away it is.