Valrei International: Back on Track!

[Army 1,142]

  

 

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since the last issue of Valrei International. The past few months have been pretty bumpy for the team and the community as a whole, resulting in many things getting piled up.

We have a lot to talk about today. So let's get started...

 

 

 

 

Before addressing any new topics or feedback, I'd like to remind you of the recent rift update again first.

Many aspects of Rifts have been reworked and improved. Samool has put together an overview already, which you can find here. The implementation details can be found in the public testing thread here.

 

 

In addition to that, rift scout camps will be made active again on the Nothern Freedom Isles next week. For balancing reasons they have been disabled since the update launch, and we think that the time has come to turn them back on now.

 

 

 

 

As some of you already noticed, a short video about the rift update was released on the official Wurm Online Instagram (and TikTok) page.

To avoid any confusion about this quite different new direction, I'd like to briefly explain some things about it.

 

The general main goal at the moment is to bring more people into the game and to make them stay. In order to achieve that goal, we have to improve on marketing.
Fortunately, our parent company is helping us on that end now and has started working on partnering up with content creators, such as CraftyJoe.
In harmony with these efforts, we will create a new content creator affiliate program for the game, named "Wurm Online TV", effectively replacing the "Valrei Entertainment Network" program.

 

 

Its exact execution is yet to be announced. However, I can already tell you that we will work more closely with content creators.
For example, it's planned that we integrate them further into our official channels, such as featuring them regularly on the new website.

 

This new approach should widen Wurm's target audience a bit and hopefully attract possible new players who never heard about the game before.

 

 

 

 

This topic is still quite controversial, and I know that the situation in the past months was anything but ideal.

That's why I'm very happy to announce that the website was finally updated. Feel free to take a look for yourself at wurmonline.com.

 

Even though the website is launched and represents the game much better now than before, I'd like to mention again that it's still not completely finished.

We have web developers in our parent company working on it, and we will keep making changes to it in the future as necessary. It should evolve together with the game and its community after all, so changes and more improvements are expected.

 

 

 

 

Many of you probably know WurmNode.com, a very useful, community-driven website, created by @Drogos.

He recently reached out to us, worried that he might be unable to continue his work on it due to lack of motivation, caused by the current development direction and missing cooperation.

 

As missing the site would be a huge loss to the whole community, we quickly found a solution and started collaborating with him.

From now on we are working together with him to help improve the website, for example by decreasing the maintenance effort or by implementing new features it can make use of.

 

In this regard, I'd also like to mention again that you can always reach out to us about such things.

If you are actively developing your own Wurm related tool and need some assistance from our side, please let us know! We might be able to spare some resources to help make the development of your project a bit easier.

 

In case you want to follow the latest developments around WurmNode, check out its forum thread. You can find it in the Toolbelt section of the forum, together with many more useful tools and software.

We hope that the whole community benefits from this, and are excited about the new features Drogos is working on!

 

 

 

 

This is my first news post as Community Manager, therefore I want to inform you about my plans and goals during my tenure.

I know that the current situation seems bad. There are so many open ends and problems right now. Announcements of announcements never being made, empty promises, and too much silence from the staff team, resulting in bitterness, mistrust and toxicity.

I was well aware of it when I agreed to take this position, so I am here now, prepared to turn the ship around.

 

Let me outline a few things to give you a better understanding of how I plan to work:
- Talk, talk, TALK! Communication is key. The idea of being reserved and distant in this position is absurd to me. Yet I will avoid expressing my personal opinion, as I'm primarily representing the staff team and the company.
- Keep it simple, clear and easy to understand. Long, complex corporate talk won't convince anybody. This community is smarter than that.
- Be open and honest. Sometimes decisions won't turn out as initially planned. This can be clearly communicated, especially the reasoning behind them.
- Stay involved. Read chat and Discord messages and follow hot forum topics closely. See problems before they emerge and solve them right away if possible.

- Remain calm. I don't mind toxic people or explicit language. However, I won't tolerate any attacks towards other community or staff members. If you need to vent about something, tell me privately. Otherwise, the normal rules apply.
- Show full commitment. In some rare cases it might be necessary for me to go an extra mile for the players. I'm not afraid to poke other staff members with community concerns if they are truly reasonable.

 

Pulling this off my way won't always be easy for sure, especially that last part. But if I can get hold of things in the coming weeks, I think it's possible. Please don't expect any miracles though, as I can't always address all of your concerns quickly. I also won't always have answers on everything, but I'll try my best and hope that you'll give me a chance to prove myself and the way I want to make this work.

As a first measure to restore your faith into the team, I will add a Q&A section below, containing answers to the most common questions which were left unanswered.

 

 

 

 

I've collected some common questions on Discord and the forum in the past week, and will try to answer them clearly. The bold text is a question, the text below is the answer.

 

Krister announced that he wants to share the financial situation of the game. It's been months without any update on this matter already. What's going on?

To make it short: it won't happen anymore. After some internal discussions about everything that happened, Krister decided to leave community interactions up to the team, especially as we have a dedicated Community Manager for this from now on.

If you are still interested in the financial situation of the company, feel free to check out the website of our parent company, the Game Chest Group.

Financial reports of Swedish companies are usually available to the public, so you might find the info you are looking for in the press releases section there already. Be aware that they are mostly in Swedish though.

 

What's the status on Defiance PMKs? They were announced ages ago already! Have they been given up on?

I can confirm that Defiance PMKs will come in the near future. It's still actively being worked on, but sadly I don't have a specific launch date for you just yet.

 

What about other roadmap features, such as goblin camps? Are they abandoned now?

The focus has currently shifted towards improving new player retention, pausing active work on large content expansions. The initial plans were not entirely abandoned however, only postponed for now. Samool has already posted a statement in this regard:

On 8/30/2023 at 1:09 AM, Samool said:

With all that’s planned now, we aren’t actively working on large content expansions, but that’s not to say we have canned the previously planned work - features like the goblin camps have had work started on them and they are still coming soon after we’re done with our current plans.

  

What about smaller content updates?

Smaller content updates will keep coming as part of the ongoing development effort. To quote Samool again:

On 8/30/2023 at 1:09 AM, Samool said:

We’ll be including some smaller content additions in our various updates, such as new craftable decorative items that we nearly have ready for launch.

 

What will happen to the Valrei Entertainment Network?

See the "Marketing Changes" section above. The VEN program will be replaced with "Wurm Online TV", with the Community Manager being in charge of it. The details of execution are yet to be announced.

 

 

And that's it for this issue. I hope I could address most of your frequently asked questions. If not, don't worry. I'll be around on the forums and Discord from now on to keep you updated.

Thanks for reading, I wish you an enjoyable time in Wurm! :3

[Zachariah 736]

Welcome to the team! I am very excited for what changes you will bring and how you will lend a hand in shaping this amazing game. Your plans so far sound very interesting and I am very enthused! You seem open to communication and show a willingness to listen. 

 

The changes already discussed have been amazing. The quick glance I got at the website already looked so much better with actual gameplay pictures. I am also very relieved and also impressed that you and the team where willing to listen to Drogos and assist him in the further development in Wurmnode. This truly speaks volumes and shows an effort to make a difference. I am very excited for the further social media marketing changes you are implementing. A good social media marketing plan is vitally important for businesses to succeed in today's society. 

 

Thank you for taking on this tremendous task, I know you will be up for the challenge. I truly respect you for what you are doing. So thank you, again. 

[Synjor 466]

Thank you for gathering a considerable amount of good news for us! So glad to see Drogos being worked with on Wurmnode, he has put together a lot of nice tools on the site, really would've been a shame to see it go.

 

Something myself and many others have had great interest in over the years would be Seasonal servers, akin to Challenge for pvp and Jackal for pve. Is there any definitive word on whether or not we may see those again in the future? They really would go a long way in driving player activity without negative consequences like dividing the playerbase even more across more permanent servers.

[Simyaci 433]

I like these news but I am still bothered by that wurm online logo on the new website. It is not attractive, it is cartoonish and it doesn't represent wurm. 

[Beastwolf 652]

Where can we apply for Wurm Online Tv, I’d love to create content again in the name of wurm.

 

Here is my last video being about Capybaras - it did feel underwhelming with no support to content creators by Wurm. 

 

I hope there is new roles available for Wurm Tv!!

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Beastwolf

[HawkHawk 302]

The updates to the website look great and are certainly a step in the right direction, the game looks great in some of the artwork and images featured.

Edit: I'm not going to rewrite the above but now I've had chance to think about it and also spent a bit of time looking at the images I'm feeling a bit more on the fence about it. Its a step in the right direction but If this website represents the Wurm community, why not have a scroller with screenshots from the game that players have submitted? You could even host a monthly competition on the forums, top 5 screenshots going on the frontpage for a month and people get a small in-game reward.

 

Although I agree there is still some work to do on the logos imo, the new one just doesn't feel immersive to the game to me.

Also why are those tiny W's on the site banners/borders facing different directions? I thought the start of the W was supposed to be larger but it appears to be mirrored on some of the little W's around the site. (sorry I realize on reflection this probably sounds really petty, its just something I noticed and its always had me wondering why it was done like that.)

 

Featuring Twitch content is great but at the moment all videos on the community page autoplay at once is a bit jarring.

 

All in all positive news though, keen to see how the Partner program helps with Twitch and YouTube content.

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by HawkHawk

[Red_ 334]

I am so glad that it sounds like Drogos' work will be continued!

 

Thank you for taking the time to organize such a nice post for us! I'm looking forward to the future of wurm

[Galatyn 438]

The Wurm Online TV logo looks very similar to MTV's long time logo, with the TV in the lower right, the way it reads up a little with the bottom of the "V" being higher than the bottom of the "T".   Seems like a good way to subconsciously attract a reader's attention, if they know about MTV.

 

 

I want my....I want my....I want my Wurm Online TV.

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Galatyn

[solmark 546]

Thanks for the detailed update. Onwards and upwards!

[Xallo 2,603]

Thank you for getting straight to the point and trying to answer a lot of the questions that people have been asking, even if they may not be exactly what everyone wants to hear. With that said, we all would still like some more firm and concrete dates on some things - when can we expect PMKs on Defiance and how soon can we expect Goblin Camps? What kind of player retention ideas are you working on in lieu of large content expansions? Can we get an updated roadmap that lays out what's coming, in what order, and what sort of approximate dates?

 

Also, I'm skeptical on the naming of Wurm Online TV, as I felt the name Valrei Entertainment Network (VEN) better represented Wurm Online even if by name only, however I am excited to see efforts for publicity, advertising, and content creator support finally becoming prioritized once again.

[Galatyn 438]

6 minutes ago, Xallo said:

Also, I'm skeptical on the naming of Wurm Online TV, as I felt the name Valrei Entertainment Network (VEN) better represented Wurm Online even if by name only, however I am excited to see efforts for publicity, advertising, and content creator support finally becoming prioritized once again.

 

I think the name change is good because as a brand new player, I would not know what Valrei is.  However, if I saw the name of the game and then saw the word TV next to it, then I would more easily understand or recognize that it contains videos from the game.   It would be like seeing World's End Entertainment Network versus Kenshi TV.  I would recognize Kenshi because it is the game's name, but not know that World's End is a location inside that specific game.  I.E. How many people who have seen Wurm Online only in passing would recognize the word "Valrei"?

Edited September 22, 2023 by Galatyn

[Xallo 2,603]

2 minutes ago, Galatyn said:

 

I think the name change is good because as a brand new player, I would not know what Valrei is.  However, if I saw the name of the game and then saw the word TV next to it, then I would more easily understand or recognize that it contains videos from the game.   It would be like seeing World's End Entertainment Network versus Kenshi TV.  I would recognize Kenshi because it is the game's name, but not know that World's End is a location inside that specific game.  I.E. How many people who have seen Wurm Online only in passing would recognize the word "Valrei"?

 

Fair point, perhaps it just takes some time getting used to. I just dislike the "TV" perhaps.

[Deltadoggg 74]

Not gonna lie, one of the better Valeri international's. Welcome, Army

[Blueheart 172]

2 minutes ago, Xallo said:

 

Fair point, perhaps it just takes some time getting used to. I just dislike the "TV" perhaps.

 

Probably that and the fact that its the name everyone has come to know for so long, so it's a change that may take some time to get used to

 

Nice post to read, amazing to see @Drogos getting the treatment he deserves with WurmNode, its a very, very good tool for the community 

[Votip 1,627]

is this ai upscaled?

 

 

@edit what about this one:

Edited September 22, 2023 by Votip

[Atndy 386]

No goblin camps

[Pnutp 297]

53 minutes ago, Army said:

  What's the status on Defiance PMKs? They were announced ages ago already! Have they been given up on?

I can confirm that Defiance PMKs will come in the near future. It's still actively being worked on, but sadly I don't have a specific launch date for you just yet.

Thank you for the PvP update, even if a small snippet, I think its the first time I have ever seen it mentioned in a valrei update. Communication goes a long way and is always gratefully received.

 

As much as I don't want to come across as ungrateful, If you are following the latest forum posts, it seems 99% of the PvP community are for the first time ever, across all kingdoms, on all servers, actually pulling in the same direction... Can I pretty please ask you to cast your eye across the multiple posts and discord conversation, which would be a quick win to a cash injection, large content, and player increase 

 

[Votip 1,627]

1 hour ago, Army said:

Krister announced that he wants to share the financial situation of the game. It's been months without any update on this matter already. What's going on?

To make it short: it won't happen anymore. After some internal discussions about everything that happened, Krister decided to leave community interactions up to the team, especially as we have a dedicated Community Manager for this from now on.

xD

🤣🤣

Spoiler

Spoiler

🤣

 

 

Edited September 22, 2023 by Votip

[Seajay 43]

Could drop the "online" portion and just keep it simple like "Wurm TV" or emphasize "Wurm" and "TV" with the "online" offset under the "urm" in smaller print. It'd make a nice logo I think.

 

I'm all for new players joining and staying but content is important too. I really like the new Rift update so far. But we need some more involved updates such as the rift one to keep interest peaked by new and old players. 

 

Good update!

 

Oh and ever since Niarja's fall which I miss, losing wurmnode would be bad. I am glad there is interest in keeping it alive and thriving.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Seajay
wurmnode mention

[BoulderDash 41]

i've got to say that the wurm tiktok videos more so seem fitting for either a military pvp game with the style, music and even way of speaking.  more kind of for the younger crowd.

 

alot of older mature players play wurm and pve is the most popular area i would say. wurm is relaxing, a slice of life with peaceful moments and a slow build up towards your goals. maybe more so wurm should be geared towards people who want to play old style games with a focus on long term goals and the relaxing atmosphere that comes with it.

 

how about trying to find some people who might want to do comedy videos in the world of wurm online (live action) like the kind of videos that Viva la dirt league do  - or even relaxing chill out live streams in the wurm of world.  i'm sure that in time your collection of people for the wurm tv network will expand and i look forward to seeing it grow but i still say that the videos should reflect what wurm is mostly like/about.

 

btw....that line that you said about krister sounds like that he was able to say whatever he wanted, promises and all and then just left with no accountability.  it more so sounds like being fobbed off or like the whole krister business is a non-issue now and we should move on like it never happened...

Edited September 22, 2023 by BoulderDash

[TheTrickster 2,295]

On 9/23/2023 at 4:29 AM, Army said:

That's why I'm very happy to announce that the website was finally updated. Feel free to take a look for yourself at wurmonline.com.

See, now the elephant in the room is the broken promise.  We were told that BEFORE an update went live we would be given a preview for feedback.  Why that didn't happen is not addressed at all.  Hell, acknowledging that it didn't happen, also didn't happen.  

As to actual feedack about the "updated" website:  It is still hideous - the new logo is terrible and both and and the whole look/feel of the website is "Phone Game".

 

On 9/23/2023 at 4:29 AM, Army said:

Krister announced that he wants to share the financial situation of the game. It's been months without any update on this matter already. What's going on?

To make it short: it won't happen anymore. After some internal discussions about everything that happened, Krister decided to leave community interactions up to the team, especially as we have a dedicated Community Manager for this from now on.

To be frank, that is a copout and actually the opposite of addressing the issue of the broken promise.  Of course Krister should leave community interactions up to the team.  That does not mean he provides no information to the team.  He offered something and the way to demonstrate integrity is to provide it to the team member responsible for such community interaction.  We have already looked at and discussed GCG's financials and have openly said that the specific performance of Wurm is obscured there.  Krister has specifically said the Wurm itself loses money every month.  Inviting us to only look at what we have already seen that doesn't provide the information offered is more than a little insulting.

 

EDIT:  Also, "leaving community interactions up to the team" does not explain neither Krister nor anyone else telling us this for the last, what, 2 months?

 

That Q&A section was woefully inadequate for all of the questions that have been going on.  The first and biggest question/answer (the financials) is dismissive.  The section is more of a "moving on" from the many issues and problems rather than addressing them.  I was strong advocate for giving you a chance to communicate something first before firing a lot of demanding questions.  Well, you have had that chance, and to me it honestly feels like you missed it. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by TheTrickster

[elentari 2,660]

2 hours ago, Army said:

Fortunately, our parent company is helping us on that end now and has started working on partnering up with content creators, such as CraftyJoe.

 

I am.... more than disappointed that one of the so called promoters for wurm online is a guy that writes a script then uses a voice generator to make said videos. Seems really cheap and lazy. We can't get real people or passionate wurmians to promote wurm? 

 

I do appreciate the work @Armyis putting in though. Good start as a CM, keep it up man. Ignore the toxic players and don't let it go to your heart people want to take out their bitterness over Krister's actions on you. 

 

 

[Allenfullblade 13]

Congratulations on the new position and good luck.

[validate 598]

I'm good with wurm images being changed a bit with AI. it's at least close to what's in the game, just doctered up a bit.  but ya still the Logo.  way to close to WoW for me.   maybe try taking the old logo and use AI on it.

everything else i'm glad to hear.  wurmnode is my fav tool .  I use it to watch the player count. and see how even NFI and SFI is.  and still hoping for merger next year.

 

hopefully the team continues to grow.  

[Thorinoakshield 603]

3 things:

1)

2 hours ago, Army said:

  

 

Krister announced that he wants to share the financial situation of the game. It's been months without any update on this matter already. What's going on?

To make it short: it won't happen anymore. After some internal discussions about everything that happened, Krister decided to leave community interactions up to the team, especially as we have a dedicated Community Manager for this from now on.

If you are still interested in the financial situation of the company, feel free to check out the website of our parent company, the Game Chest Group.

Financial reports of Swedish companies are usually available to the public, so you might find the info you are looking for in the press releases section there already. Be aware that they are mostly in Swedish though.

 

I told you so!

 

2) Seeing mostly staff members replying to  this first, I'm got mixed feelings.
I'm aware that they as players can be enthousiastic about this post, but at the same time it gives me the feeling we're all set up.
Kinda like: "Let's make a happy post, let's have some staff members (especially forum and discord moderators because they're a bit more close to the community) give a positive reply, so that everyone thinks everything is OK again.
Well, considering Krister still plays hide and seek and hasn't addressed any of the concerns of the community so far (does he have a scapegoat for that now), it's NOT ok.

3) So we're starting a new concept of promoting Wurm, but nothing has mentioned about all the streamers who've been doing their part in the days the VEN was in a coma.
What about them? Will they get any credit? Will they be asked to join this new WTV?
And how the hell are you going to show what Wurm is like in a video at a platform made for people with the attentionspan of a peanut?

Those are the things I'd like to know. And most likely a lot of us would like to know.