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AragornII

A suggestion to balance the game between free players and paying players

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 Have  the free players simply gain skill slower so they can still get there but have to work harder. And make it easier to earn silver. That way, hard work has as much influence as money and free players could be as valuable a addition to any group as premium players.

 

 

Have the free players gain skill slower instead of the hard cap at 20, so that skill and time have as much influence as money. Alternatively, have the skills stay the same when off-Premium, instead of decaying towards 20 when you don’t have premium. That way, people would be enticed to buy at least one premium and another when they need it, rather than being forced into it because otherwise they might lose all their hard work and time. In addition, I would suggest making silver easier to earn in-game. I understand that to maintain a game like this, money is necessary, but I really think it can be more balanced without the makers losing out on money. It’s a great game, I really enjoy it, this is just a suggestion.

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Basically "give me free premium, thanks" suggestion. 

 

McDonalds meal costs 8 quid. A month long premium costs the same. It already costs peanuts if you ask me

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1 hour ago, AragornII said:

 Have  the free players simply gain skill slower so they can still get there but have to work harder. And make it easier to earn silver. That way, hard work has as much influence as money and free players could be as valuable a addition to any group as premium players.

 

 

Have the free players gain skill slower instead of the hard cap at 20, so that skill and time have as much influence as money. Alternatively, have the skills stay the same when off-Premium, instead of decaying towards 20 when you don’t have premium. That way, people would be enticed to buy at least one premium and another when they need it, rather than being forced into it because otherwise they might lose all their hard work and time. In addition, I would suggest making silver easier to earn in-game. I understand that to maintain a game like this, money is necessary, but I really think it can be more balanced without the makers losing out on money. It’s a great game, I really enjoy it, this is just a suggestion.

for that to work, ccab needs to go ham on the microtransactions and sell skins, items, tomes, etc.. existing and new, and keep printing new and new cool stuff that make you cry as f2p;

 

while company does not pick that road and there's no staff/devs/etc to handle such workload, your idea just wont happen;

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1 hour ago, AragornII said:

 Have the free players gain skill slower instead of the hard cap at 20, so that skill and time have as much influence as money.

 

If you have lots of time and no money, get good at foraging and botanizing. You can pay for a subscription that way.

 

1 hour ago, AragornII said:

Alternatively, have the skills stay the same when off-Premium, instead of decaying towards 20 when you don’t have premium. That way, people would be enticed to buy at least one premium and another when they need it, rather than being forced into it because otherwise they might lose all their hard work and time.

 

You don't lose your skills when non-premium, they are just capped. Once you buy premium again (which can be much later) you get all of it back right away.

 

1 hour ago, AragornII said:

In addition, I would suggest making silver easier to earn in-game. I understand that to maintain a game like this, money is necessary, but I really think it can be more balanced without the makers losing out on money. It’s a great game, I really enjoy it, this is just a suggestion.

 

If you have lots of time and no money, you can also make things for other players. Let them give you their silver.

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-1, this would open the game up to the Chinese RMT industry

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I mean, i've never been a huge fan of the harsh premium limitations on new players, they hit too hard and too soon, and make many people drop out early, while 0.3% of those of those players might have decided to stick around for a few more years.

But, this solution doesn't work
- Slow skilling is already a deterrent to new players, making it even slower? Hm... take 22 hours to build your first house instead of 8? maybe not...
- would be way too easy to exploit like : Ok, my priest has 95 channeling, i could prem it but... bah, it's good enough like this... OR it has 99 channeling, no reasons to pay premium anymore.
- There is literally a section of this forum called "suggestions"

12 minutes ago, DADLER said:

-1, this would open the game up to the Chinese RMT industry


If only we had that kind of attention, lol

Edited by Davih
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I just experienced this with a guy I recruited.  He was playing all day and then finally completed a large cart only to find out he can't ride it unless he goes premium.

 

His exact response was, "Welp if I come back tomorrow it'll be premium, otherwise have a nice life."

 

I think the current model needs a complete overhaul and to make the new user experience more friendly. 

 

Wurm is a fantastic game for people who just want to chill and build stuff.  A lot of the players are also from other countries, and the currency wurm uses is EURO which is incredibly expensive for some.

Edited by sweatygopher
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No, it's balanced now.

 

You know, in all my years of following Wurm, I have never seen one of these threads suggest making the game better for the prems, and harder for the freeloaders.

Just an observation.

 

Edited by Cista

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Big -1
CCAB depends on the money the players spend on the game.

And as previously suggested: Forage or botanize can give money for prem.

It is also possible to make bulk materials and sell.

 

Further more: if you never prem and take a vacation your toon may get deleted, while one time prem is enough to keep your toon forever.

You also keep your chars skills up to 30 even when you go unpremed. That way you can still drive your cart, ride or sail.

These suggestions to make it free to play keep coming up year after year, but it is just not viable for the game owners.

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remember the build a fun park game how u drop the price a bit u get 500 extra people u actually make way more money,

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5 minutes ago, christopher said:

remember the build a fun park game how u drop the price a bit u get 500 extra people u actually make way more money,

 

Drop the price a bit more, and you make even more money. Then drop it another time. Keep on dropping it and keep on making more money, and when the price hits zero you make infinite money. Sounds like a plan.

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I am stil lfor incressed Deed price but removing of premium on top of multiple deeds/character. Maybe a deed like status for buildings you like that just include a House with no parimeter to save some money for a outposet like base.

Main problem with non premium is that when you start to get the first h or two in the game you allredy have accumulatet stuff but the current cart riding system is not in favor to move stuff so you stuck in the bad position of not be able to move properly or leav your first acomplishments with the crafting system in Wurm behind. This feels like the typical "creat the problem and sell the solution" like when other games offer inventory space for a premium fee. Its not the same but give a similar vibe.

So yeah I am agaisnt the slower stat increes but a removel of premium in the current form.

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They should stop advertising the game as free to play and just call it a free trial.  And I wouldn't mind the skill limit of the free trial to be 30 for all skills, just so they can try out more things before they start to pay the subscription. To lure them in a little more.

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13 hours ago, sweatygopher said:

I just experienced this with a guy I recruited.  He was playing all day and then finally completed a large cart only to find out he can't ride it unless he goes premium.

Sorry to say this, but you didn't do a great job of explaining to them that they can raise their characteristics to 30, one of which allows riding in carts and on horses, etc. Also, did you explain to them that while the skills may be capped at 20, any potential skill they miss out on while playing will get a 3x boost when the cap is lifted after going premium?

 

As pointed out by others, it's pretty easy to make in-game money to pay for premium, and the first-time purchase is steeply discounted, so no to this suggestion. I think the balance between F2P and Premium is ok as is.

 

Edit: So, I'm wrong it appears about the characteristics being able to be raised to 30 if you've never been premium. My bad, I always thought that you could raise them above 20. So, uh, nvm about that part. I'm still of the opinion that F2P is ok the way it is though since it's pretty simple to forage for a few coins to get that first premium.

Edited by DaletheGood

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23 minutes ago, DaletheGood said:

Sorry to say this, but you didn't do a great job of explaining to them that they can raise their characteristics to 30, one of which allows riding in carts and on horses, etc. Also, did you explain to them that while the skills may be capped at 20, any potential skill they miss out on while playing will get a 3x boost when the cap is lifted after going premium?

unless i'm reading wrong or the wiki is wrong, all skills (minus faith and alignment) are capped at 20 if you have never been premium.

if you have gone premium in the past but you are currently not on premium, then your characteristics are saved up to a maximum of 30. (and of course all skills return to normal when you premium again)

 

so for sweatygopher's newbie friend, their characteristics were capped at 20 and they couldn't drive their own large cart.

 

 

https://www.wurmpedia.com/index.php/Account_types

Edited by Lovelie

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8 minutes ago, Lovelie said:

all skills (minus faith and alignment) are capped at 20 if you have never been premium.

My bad. see my edit above

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I think what's limiting them from making the FTP more rewarding is the pvp side of things.  It's really easy to grief with FTP accounts.

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On 6/23/2022 at 2:27 PM, Lisimba said:

You don't lose your skills when non-premium, they are just capped. Once you buy premium again (which can be much later) you get all of it back right away.

Based on my experience, this isn't exactly true. Once you buy premium again any skills that were above 20 start at 20 and regain at 3 times normal until you get back up to where you were before you un-premed.

Edited by Gwiz
spelling

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14 minutes ago, Gwiz said:

Based on my experience, this isn't exactly true. Once you buy premium again any skills that were above 20 start at 20 and regain at 3 times normal until you get back up to where you were before you un-premed.

It is true, you don't lose em, you just have to relog once you resub and you get them all back.  You do get the 3x gain when you transfer from epic to freedom or the other way around I guess, and when you die and lose skill that way.

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2 hours ago, Timoca said:

It is true, you don't lose em, you just have to relog once you resub and you get them all back. 

 

Well, like I said, that was not my experience. I let my account lapse about 9 months ago and when I purchased more premium, all of my skills were still at 20 with the (3x) indicated until I ground them up to where they were before (which didn't really take that all that much with sleep bonus and 3x).

 

My characteristics all stayed the same, prem or not, because none were above 30, though.

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14 minutes ago, Gwiz said:

 

Well, like I said, that was not my experience. I let my account lapse about 9 months ago and when I purchased more premium, all of my skills were still at 20 with the (3x) indicated until I ground them up to where they were before (which didn't really take that all that much with sleep bonus and 3x).

 

My characteristics all stayed the same, prem or not, because none were above 30, though.

if you are online when you pay premium - log out for 1minute to sync properly.. login in the game and you'll have your normal skills; unsure how deaths as f2p works with skills above 20.. but you should be losing small portions just the same, if you die, and you aren't on path of knowledge with the rank to not lose skill, well .. that's how you get your 3x skill marks, that's the only 2 ways to see these.

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I could be remembering wrong, but I'm pretty sure I had to grind anything that was above 20 back to their previous levels, even days and multiple logins after i premed up. I was thinking at the time "ahh...ok....this is the real penalty for letting my account lapse back to free".

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You either like the game enough to pay the entirely reasonable monthly prem or you don't. Free accounts don't need any help beyond how things are now.

 

At the time I started in 2016, I wasn't exactly making as much money as I'd like, but I tried Wurm, and easily decided that the small cost for an entire month of uncapped play (plus the ability to earn plenty in game) was a great deal, even on a stretched income at that particular moment in my life. I liked the experience enough to justify pulling $8.80 out of my pocket per month.

 

If you can't cover 7.99 euros or $8.80 for a whole month of play, either you're in too poor of a financial situation to be playing games anyway, or you just don't like Wurm enough with the time you've tried it thus far. 

 

Be thankful people can play so much for free without time limits like many other games employ. There could also be zero freebie play. Free accounts have it good enough, and premium for an entire month is the cost of 1 meal at your local fast food restaurant.

 

Edited by MordosKull
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32 minutes ago, MordosKull said:

If you can't cover 7.99 euros or $8.80 for a whole month of play, either you're in too poor of a financial situation to be playing games anyway

 

 

I am on your side in that 7.99 euro is a fair and fine subscription price, and i don't agree with the OP's suggestions... but this is simply insensitive and A Bad Take.

Wurm Online is advertised as a free-to-play game.

Poor people deserve to play games.

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