Bunny ears? >_>

[Idlamn 297]

Alright I'm sorry but here it is. I always praised how this game always did a good job with updates and for good reason.

 

But I don't get those atrocious cosmetics. Bunny ears? Are you kidding me? This is way too far. I don't get the buckets and the candy canes either. When I thought the worse has come to pass we are getting bunny ears - truly the end times.

Are you guys aiming at giving this game with no cashop those cheap abandonware MMO cashop vibes or what's the purpose?

Not to mention those bunny ear costumes can have some vulgar connotations irl.

 

Mortal Online 2 is going on UE5 - no clown cosmetics. Upcoming MMOs: Pax Dei, Ashes of Creation, Pantheon and now I hear Life is Feudal 2 (an old copier of Wurm mechanics) - no clown cosmetics. Star Citizen - no clown cosmetics. I'm sorry to say but for all it's good gameplay and landscapes and house building etc. this game is going to pale in comparison to those when new players will see a bunch of toons wearing candy and bunny ears/backpacks and what not - landmark characteristic of abandonware cashshop MMORPGs (which Wurm isn't).

It's like self sabotage considering this game has been getting really nice cosmetics e.g. jackal skins, claymore/messer skin, the winged corinthian skin, jewelry cassette skin and the list goes on.

 

 

Sorry for sounding insufferable I might sound insufferable but I invested a lot of time and money in this game and I hate to see it like this.

 

My suggestion: remove at least the bunny ears from the easter update they are totally absurd. I'd suggest remove the stuffed rabbit and the knapsack as well but for some reason (absolutely baffles my mind) Wurm team seems to be pushing those cosmetics.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Idlamn

[Galatyn 438]

Ok, that's your opinion for which you are entitled.  But, I don't see anything being removed just because you don't like it.  Why not make a suggestion to request a new option in settings where a person could choose not to view cosmetic skins but only see the original.  Something similar to Phobia Mode in settings.  That way you don't have to see it but others can enjoy it, if they so choose.

[Idlamn 297]

I suggested to remove it from the upcoming event. It's not in game yet. Obviously the candies and the other stuff is already in game.

[Aleck 316]

All of the ranting on the forums has changed my opinion on this matter of great import.

 

I've gone from my initial stance of "I don't really care about that"  to "I guess I'm going to have to rock a hot pink bunny outfit for a while."

 

Bring on the goofy skins, Staff. You're right - there are people that love it (I know several who are afraid of getting caught up in the toxicity and won't comment here) and they deserve a bit of whimsy even if it upsets the "realistic medieval immersion" (lol really?) of others.

[Idlamn 297]

1 hour ago, Aleck said:

All of the ranting on the forums has changed my opinion on this matter of great import.

Partly a rant. It does disappoint me on one hand, as the game does everything immersion-wise good, and on the other hand I fear the late surplus of those kind of cosmetics might come as a result of dwindling interest in the game.

 

But based valid criticism, nontheless. Also the impression to new players (new player retention? focus on new player experience this year?) is way different than how we percieve those things, since we've been playing for years. I remember showing this game to a friend he liked the expansive forrests, kinda went along with the roads having a perfect line border, but when he saw a snowman statue (that I no longer even paid attention to), he was like "oh, cousin, what the heck is that?" (translated from Romanian). Same when I showed someone an event and people were carrying corpses in their hands, or wearing those cephalopod masks.

 

2 hours ago, Aleck said:

Bring on the goofy skins, Staff. You're right - there are people that love it (I know several who are afraid of getting caught up in the toxicity and won't comment here) and they deserve a bit of whimsy even if it upsets the "realistic medieval immersion" (lol really?) of others.

Criticism isn't toxicity. Nor is showing your disappointment for a change in the game. Especially as a paying customer. Especially in a MMORPG where you pay not only with money but with time, as well. Have a look around - everytime this comes up there is no toxicity from players against those changes, we haven't insulted anyone afaik but rather provided what I think is good, if not essential feedback, which is always a healthy thing.

[Minnie 178]

I strongly agree with OP here.  Not really going to say much more about it, because I don't think doing so would change the outcome.  This train appears to have left the station for good.  It's just a rather large disappointment to me to see the game changing in this way, and I had to say at least that. 

[Simyaci 390]

-1

 

Cosmetics (including bunny ears) are the path to success for any online game nowadays. 

[DaletheGood 1,073]

Yeah, I gotta agree with Idlamn on this, I am not a fan of the bunny ears, bunny backpack, the bjorn bear backpack, snowmen, candy canes, etc. I do have those skins because I got them as an investment (hit me up if you want some) but do feel a little cringey when I see them in-game. +1

[Blazecraze 440]

I am in two minds.

I am not a big fan of the unthematic items, so I agree whole heartedly.. however there is this part of me that views Wurm as a game with unlimited possibilities on the building aspect and playstyle aspect...so the concept that someone in this universe may make bunny ears or skin a rabbit and make it into a backpack does not seem that foreign to me. 

[Wilczan 2,048]

Those bunny ears are very nice.

 

For a circus.

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Wilczan

[Archaed 2,280]

12 hours ago, Idlamn said:

Sorry for sounding insufferable

apology accepted

 

It's a game, please stop thinking it should appeal to your aesthetic only. 

[necroe 696]

I do agree that an option to not have to see the cosmetics could be nice, similar to how rs3 does it

[Blazecraze 440]

10 minutes ago, necroe said:

I do agree that an option to not have to see the cosmetics could be nice, similar to how rs3 does it

 

I would be in support of the ability to turn off all skins for sure.

Although I am not actively playing PvP, and most people would not skin their equipment, the concept that I could be going into battle not knowing the exact equipment someone is wearing from a glance does annoy the competitive side of me - though the community hates balancing around PvP anyway.

There are also skins that I don't like, like the bucket head etc..turning them off for my own view would be good but also if people want to use them for character expression or to give off some sort of personality trait..well I wouldn't want to rob them the chance of their image leaving an impression. 

 

 

[Idlamn 297]

2 hours ago, Archaed said:

apology accepted

 

It's a game, please stop thinking it should appeal to your aesthetic only. 

Didn't really mean it will edit.

 

Obviously not only my aesthetics. And at the end of the day it's Wurm aesthetics. Up until some point when this kind of cosmetics began Wurm had very few of those items if at all. It's basically the game I played for years. Now all of a sudden we are bombarded with bucket heads, teddy bear packs, etc. By bombarded I mean that's what they are adding. Not that many people actually wear them.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Idlamn

[elentari 2,660]

I've said what I wanted to say many times on the subject, I don't like the direction the design is going and it's going into clown territory. And arguments like "it's a game, it doesn't matter" are the most shallow and pointless arguments to be made. Any game is designed as an experience and when players have expectations of an experience any betrayal of that leads to player loss in the long run.  Sure you can chase short term profit with cutesy item skins but you'll end up sacrificing long term growth. People hated Gothic 3 when they saw it had almost nothing in common with its predecessors. People hate the recent Settlers game for how dumbed down and shallow it is.  C&C Tiberium Twilight and later games were a farcry from the design of the original games and reviews show it for what it is, just another quick cashgrab riding on the coat-tails of a well known franchise.

 

Speaking of reminds me of the goof Blizzard did at their convention with announcing Diablo on mobile in front of an entire PC playing fanbase who were expecting a PC game. Do you guys not have phones?   Also games are a business and losing fandom trust is a hard thing to repair.

 

The best compromise the dev team can do to solve this issue is to implement an option to "turn off visibility of item skins" so players aren't forced to look at a gaudy, clashy clown show.

 

(As a side note  I'll also point out that one of the worst companies in the world, Gamigo has an interesting business model. They buyout MMO active IP's with low-medium player base, they introduce excessive monetization, hundreds of (ugly) skins for a quick cash grab, then let the MMO naturally die or they close it down when it no longer is profitable. Rinse, repeat, etc. Not saying Wurm Online is currently owned by Gamigo, but if it ever is, you can stop wurming in that point. )

Edited April 7, 2023 by elentari

[Tpikol 1,057]

1 hour ago, elentari said:

People hated Gothic 3 when they saw it had almost nothing in common with its predecessors

people didnt hate gothic 3, what people really hated was gothic 4, so much that they dropped gothic 4 from the name and started selling it as "arcania". but sequels to other games being bad has nothing to do with wurm.

 

1 hour ago, elentari said:

The best compromise the dev team can do to solve this issue is to implement an option to "turn off visibility of item skins" so players aren't forced to look at a gaudy, clashy clown show.

this would be fine and im all for more things being optional(like blinding snow in winter).

 

2 hours ago, Idlamn said:

Obviously not only my aesthetics. And at the end of the day it's Wurm aesthetics.

its your opinion about what wurm aesthetics should be, an opinion not shared by most.

 

2 hours ago, Idlamn said:

Up until some point when this kind of cosmetics began Wurm had very few of those items if at all. It's basically the game I played for years

the most "immersion breaking" item ever(for people foolish enough to believe there is such a thing as immersion) was the singing gnome, singing a song with the words "from rolf and the team, happy Christmas to all" or something like that. and that happened years before you made your forum account. 

this isn't new you just didn't care before and do now.

[Coach 196]

Life in wurmic, it's fantastic

......

Imagination, life is your creation

Come on bunny, let's go party

Ah, ah, ah, yeah

Come on toonie, let's go party

Ooh, ooh

[Ehizellbob 885]

I've thought hard about saying anything on this, especially given the responses I've seen so far and who they've been made by. I wasn't originally going to say anything, often favouring to stay out of debates such as this, but I feel its important to give my opinion.

 

This is something I do see both sides of. I'm personally a fan of silly halloween items and I'm the sort of person who would use halloween decor as normal around the home decor all year round IRL. I also understand not everyone else is like that, and that's cool. Being different to each other is cool. I personally hate Christmas decor (both IRL and in wurm).  I'm still all in support of holiday skins, as we've been told this is, and that's fine and all. Why not let the game make some extra money from holiday events. Cool idea that I'm happy to partake in if I like the thing that's being offered.

 

However, the issue in my opinion, comes from some of the other crazy and garish things we've seen enter the game recently. The bucket hat skin and certain PMK graphics spring to mind immediately, among others. It's always been said that when designing a PMK the designs for which should fit the overall visual aesthetic of Wurm and have to be approved by the art team, but I feel we're on a very slippery slope with is given some of the recent additions. There's two sides to everything, and there are going to be people on both sides of loving and hating these style of things coming into this game. If we're so bothered about being able to express ourselves in this game, how about some real character customisation options, there are plenty suggestions around.

 

Holiday items are whatever, I'm sure most can get over them. Holiday events and items have been in the game for many years. But someone explain to me exactly what holiday a bucket hat celebrates? The visual cohesion of a game is a very important thing that would be ignorant to ignore. 

[Darklords 2,238]

The ability to disable skins locally on your client is a fair point and is something I think we can do pretty easily.

[Ehizellbob 885]

1 minute ago, Darklords said:

The ability to disable skins locally on your local client is a fair point and is something I think we can do pretty easily.

May I suggest a toggle for holiday skins specifically in their own category? To disable all skins just because of one or two seasonal things, you would be losing out on a lot of great skins

[Darklords 2,238]

18 minutes ago, Ehizellbob said:

May I suggest a toggle for holiday skins specifically in their own category? To disable all skins just because of one or two seasonal things, you would be losing out on a lot of great skins

Can look into some options there, I am not against letting people hide something on their own client similar to the spiders mode.

[Atndy 385]

Next Era of wurm is to run around a wolf-man hybrid with sparkling effects during full moons.. 

 

While I appreciate the Rs3 getup wurm is cashing in on. Weird quirky cosmetics for real money; Clue scrolls and a sort of warbands system with the holy sites. 

 

Can we get an OSRS version of wurm? 

[Tukodama 315]

@DarklordsYou are doing a wonderful job, please don't let the naysayers bring you down.  I like the cosmetic items, they are fun and add a bit of unique decoration to a house or deed.  

 

For anyone on NFI that finds cosmetic items so horribly repulsive and wants them out of sight, I will buy them for 10c each. Please CoD to Tukodama anytime.   

[Ehizellbob 885]

 

Can look into some options there, I am not against letting people hide something on their own client similar to the spiders mode.

Purely a personal preference here, I'd hate to lose Halloween skins to disable say, Christmas. May I also suggest separate holiday toggles or even a toggle for each skin if that wouldn't be too much work? 

[Finnn 3,303]

1 hour ago, Darklords said:

The ability to disable skins locally on your client is a fair point and is something I think we can do pretty easily.

Only problem with this approach is.. you pay to stand out.. with something unique, but for free - you'll be denied that?

makes no sense to sell fancy invisible merch🤔

 

IMO better solution will be to come up with balanced content.. some of it is really into the "cutesy"/cringe/further explaining will only make it worse... we could either have balance and have such but also alternative "cool" content to purchase, or have what we have now.. maybe once a month 1 item and then nothing, if it's cringe  - it opens some weird scenarios for a month or longer period of time.

 

The game have a pretty mature population of players, obvious target shouldn't be 6yo barbi graphics and concepts fitting into such kind of world, maybe that's just my opinion.

 

Players are also kind of starved on new content.. more than 1 variance(skin or new craftable or convertable visualization or item improvement) should be a thing with time, could be with puzzles, treasure maps, event, achievement system, etc..

 

Depends how often we're actually able to receive new things and in what amount. Current 1 skin a month(not even every month) is not much, and every time it's not hitting the expectation, the miss only bothers the players.