Posted November 24, 2023 Hello everyone! It's been 2 months already since the last issue of Valrei International, and we have some things to talk about again, so let's get right into it. As most of you probably already know, Resource Nodes are currently in public testing. That also means that they won't just get released soon, but very soon. This new system will replace the old foraging, botanizing and snow collection mechanics with one that has much clearer visuals. The public test is still running, so if you are interested in the implementation details or want to provide feedback, please check out the official testing thread: In case you have no clue yet what I'm even talking about - I have prepared a small update teaser, giving you a quick overview of the update: We hope you like the visuals and that the Resource Nodes Update will make the related actions more straightforward and clear, especially for new players. As announced last time already, we are changing our marketing strategy with help from our parent company. In the last Valrei International post, we've specifically announced "Wurm TV", which it's time to give you an update on. We heard your feedback and agree, the name "Wurm TV" might not be the best idea, so it was dropped. We just call the program "content creator partner program" or just "partner program" for now. The planning of the program was finished last month already, and its execution was started. Unlike the Valrei Entertainment Network (which is currently getting disbanded), our new partner program has quite high requirements. We are only looking for quality-oriented creators, ideally their own unique personality. At the same time the effort we put into it was greatly increased. Our partners get actively supported by us, for example by early access to news and new items/skins, or with keys for giveaways. Partners can also get featured on our website and social media channels, or can get assistance from us to turn their own ideas into reality. It's also time to publicly announce our first partner, Hamtad. He created the Halloween event stream VOD which was featured on our website. He also created a video to show off all Halloween items and was handed the keys to our X account, which he streamed on and had fun with yesterday. Things took a bad turn shortly after, sadly, leaving us no other choice but to remove Hamtad from his role, as we can't let him represent Wurm that way. It's sad that the program started with an incident like this, but we also learned some important lessons from it and adjusted our internal procedures so something similar won't happen again. All partner program details will be on their own information page on our website soon. If you think you'd be a good fit and would like to join yourself, you can already contact me directly for further information. (by forum private message or email to army@wurmonline.com) There was a community-held impalong on Xanadu this month ("Lunalong 2023"), hosted by@Dracaa. I want to use that opportunity to talk a bit more about impalongs in general. In case you don't know what an impalong is: It's an event hosted by the community, usually on their own specific deed. Everyone is invited to stop by to chat and hang out or to get own items improved or enchanted for free. (That's where the name is coming from.) There often is a lot more going on, such as giveaways, games, deed tours and sometimes even dragon hunts or slayings of other unique creatures. If you are playing on Northern Freedom Isles, the next impalong already is around the corner. This time on Melody around Christmas time: While this probably will be the last impalong for this year, I'm sure there are many more to come next year. There is already one planned on Cadence in January for example. So make sure to keep an eye on the forums and Discord if you are interested in participating! Community events like this are usually added to the event list on our Discord server, making it easy to keep track of them. Speaking of Discord, I have an important message from our Discord Moderation Team for you. As we go into the holiday season, there will be scammers out in force on Discord. As much as the team tries, there will always be individuals out to take advantage of others. Please be careful when interacting on Discord, even on our official Wurm Online Discord server. Never give your personal information away. No one is looking to give you 'free stuff'. Also please keep in mind that we do not permit users to seek out others for the purpose of selling non-Wurm-related services, or Wurm services for real-world currency. Examples of this include trying to sell art commissions or paying someone to surface mine for real-world currencies. If you have any suspicious interactions with other users of our server, please let the moderation team know by making a ticket using the #Ticket-System channel. You can also send a private message on forum to either the Lead Discord Moderator Stonesolid or to Assistant Lead Discord Moderator/Discord Administrator Capi. More information regarding Discord scams and how to avoid them can be found on Discord's safety website. And while we are talking about safety and moderation already, I also have a message from the Forum Moderation Team for you. Greetings fellow Wurmians! The Wurm Forum Team is looking for some new recruits to help keep the Forums running smoothly. It can be a tough gig, but it can also be very rewarding. You will be a part of an amazing team that has a lot of passion for Wurm and wants to help the community. Being a part of the Forum Team has some benefits. One being that you will be able to help shape the future of Wurm. This would include providing feedback and ideas when needed for new features or events planned by the development team, and helping with occasional internal testing before things go to our public test servers or to the live ones. Another benefit of joining the Forum Team is Teamium, a monthly compensation where you can choose from multiple options (depending on your needs for that particular month). Those options include upkeep chips for your deed, Marks for the Marks shop, sleep powder and premium time. They all come in form of a code, which you can redeem on any of your accounts. Below is some information on what we are looking for and the responsibilities that come with being on the Forum Team: The Wurm Forums are a resource for players to discuss the game, including asking questions about mechanics and conducting player trades. They are also the primary venue for official announcements and for reporting bugs. They are an integral part of the operation of Wurm Online, and the Forum Team is there to ensure a certain level of social appropriateness and constructive discussion. The primary goal of a Forum Moderator is to ensure that the Forums are a welcoming and pleasant place to visit. We achieve this by monitoring threads and making sure that they follow the guidelines set in the rules. Some other things we do with our time is close completed sale threads, move threads to their right section, remove spammers, and some other things here and there. It is a relatively easy job that doesn't require too much of your time. As a volunteer we only ask that you put in a little time throughout the day, which makes it very easy to work around your real life. Applicants who wish to volunteer for the forum team need to be members in good standing within the Wurm Online community, with some experience playing Wurm and using the Wurm Forums. Applications may be sent to the Lead Forum Moderator Brattygirl, following the process and format on the Staff Applications post linked below. Some questions came up again over the months, and it's time to answer them! Just as last time, the bold text is the question, the text below the answer. Why are there no PvP updates? Why was the PvP merge suggestion closed? As Krister mentioned back in July already, the focus for this year is on player retention and other features. That's why new PvP content fell very short in the past months. That's also part of the reason why we couldn't just follow the merge suggestion. It would require quite some preparation and development time, and would only result in another bandaid solution which probably wouldn't work out in the long run. Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. So are PvP updates completely off the table? Smaller adjustments and fixes are still possible, even if our main development focus is on other things at the moment. If you have balancing concerns or ideas on how to improve the PvP experience within that scope, please use the suggestions section on the forum. I know that there have been some fitting PvP related suggestions already. It would be still nice if we could narrow them down a bit, as we could create a poll for these changes more easily then for example. Why were there no news about the "Wurm TV" program which was announced last time? For the latest information about it see its section in this post above. We had to gather some experience with this type of marketing first, so we started executing this in private. It's public now and will receive its own page on our website soon. The shop prices seem confusing and inconsistent. What's up with them? This form of monetization is still quite new to us and we are still learning how to make use of it correctly. We plan to introduce packs with multiple skins for example. I can only promise that we will improve on this in the future. I have a skin idea! Can you implement it? We are always open for new skin ideas. The new uncovered wagon skin was requested multiple times in the past for example, on forum and on Discord. Will there be more events like the screenshot contest last month? The feedback on it was very positive, so we started working on ideas for smaller forum events similar to it. Stay tuned for more! And that's it for this issue. Before closing, I'd quickly like to remind you of the currently running Black Friday sale again. Also please be aware that the deadline for claiming the free maple leaf necklace in the silver shop has been extended by 5 days, so you now have time until 7th December 6:00 CET. Thanks for reading and happy wurming! 12 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 (edited) 33 minutes ago, Army said: Why are there no PvP updates? Why was the PvP merge suggestion closed? Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. "We don't want to bandaid solution this. That's why we're putting forward a bandaid but this has a different colour band and some extra adhesive!" In what reality is a merge of PvP servers a bandaid solution? The playerbase is split HEAVILY and this isn't fixed by creating transfers. Again we're left in want of more detail to understand what the reported issue is. You suggest making things like polls in the post to narrow down what we want, while also telling us we can't have what we want with no actual elaboration on what the issue is. If we're being brushed off, at least be constructive enough to give us a reason. God knows how frustrated the devs would be if player feedback boiled down to "no I don't like it, do something else." Edited November 24, 2023 by Madnath 16 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 25 minutes ago, Army said: Resource Nodes No, just no. The least inventive and innovative way to gather resources in over 20 years in video games. We have trees to cut down, we have bodies of water to fish in, we have rock to tunnel into, and terrain to work a farm or forage through. Replacing that with randomly spawning resource nodes is a big step backwards. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 Good grief... and now this.... " I have a skin idea! Can I submit it somehow? Create a suggestion or let us know on Discord! The new uncovered wagon skin was requested multiple times in the past for example, on forum and on Discord." Well i think im done.... 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 27 minutes ago, Army said: Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. Hope this means 2 way transfers so we can play for a while on Epic then back to freedom with the earned skills then back to Epic etc. And not jus 1 way like it was in the past. Those merge ideas are nonsense. The true way the game was meant to be played was Epic. Playing on Freedom gives me the feeling I am missing that RvR aspect. But tossing everyone into a single island like Chaos is too hardcore. Then again I'd hate to see Chaos go, lots of history there. And then there's the NFI PvP how do you merge with that without merging the clusters themselves? 10 minutes ago, Madnath said: In what reality is a merge of PvP servers a bandaid solution? The playerbase is split HEAVILY and this isn't fixed by creating transfers. It's not even a bandaid because it's just like Ele reset or Affliction reset. Basically resetting people's bases/items/etc and dropping them in some new and foreign land and hoping they will stick around and even attract others as well. Doesn't work in Wurm. People get attached to their homelands you know. They would just loose the players playing on whatever pvp island they are playing. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 32 minutes ago, Army said: Why are there no PvP updates? Why was the PvP merge suggestion closed? As Krister mentioned back in July already, the focus for this year is on player retention and other features. That's why new PvP content fell very short in the past months. That's also part of the reason why we couldn't just follow the merge suggestion. It would require quite some preparation and development time, and would only result in another bandaid solution which probably wouldn't work out in the long run. Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. yes, this needs to a multistep shift with a clear plan that the community in aware of. 35 minutes ago, Army said: Resource Nodes Nice, so I no longer have to play the skinnerbox game of clicking 1000's of tiles to maybe find something. This will require some testing and tweaking of how skill bonuses work. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 42 minutes ago, Army said: I have a skin idea! Can I submit it somehow? Create a suggestion or let us know on Discord! The new uncovered wagon skin was requested multiple times in the past for example, on forum and on Discord. Guys please remove this you're gonna get nothing but trouble out of it. I mean both the item and this paragraph. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 So for the 2nd time in just as many months the regular streamers - you know, people like Dracaa, Gaffer Boffin, Fab, Faeran and Emoo (Bloody Drongo) - are ignored again in favour for some unknown dude?? This is getting ridiculous. Dracaa streamed her impalong, but instead of linking that to "X" it's ignored and we get an explanation what an Impalong is. Even the newer players who've joined the SFI and those joining the NFI in the next weeks know what it is, as the playerbase in itself is explaining that. To me, this whole post sounds like something set up to please the board, not the community. Which is a shame, because it's the same community that's making this game great. The only positive "news" is the mention of the resource nodes. And even most of that is already "yesterday's news". I'm disapointed by how our "community manager" communicates to us. As if we're little children that needs to be explained everything. Considering the majority of the community is most likely over 40 years old, that's the absolute wrong approach. Thorin 😡 6 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 31 minutes ago, Army said: Why are there no PvP updates? Why was the PvP merge suggestion closed? As Krister mentioned back in July already, the focus for this year is on player retention and other features. That's why new PvP content fell very short in the past months. That's also part of the reason why we couldn't just follow the merge suggestion. It would require quite some preparation and development time, and would only result in another bandaid solution which probably wouldn't work out in the long run. Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. So are PvP updates completely off the table? Smaller adjustments and fixes are still possible, even if our main development focus is on other things at the moment. If you have balancing concerns or ideas on how to improve the PvP experience within that scope, please use the suggestions section on the forum. I know that there have been some fitting PvP related suggestions already. It would be still nice if we could narrow them down a bit, as we could create a poll for these changes more easily then for example. This will be the first sale since I started playing Wurm that I won't be buying anything, since Krister et al don't include PvP players in the players they care about retaining. Maybe by the time my main's premium runs out next year (since I usually buy multiple years on multiple characters) they'll have something sorted. But I doubt it, and am expecting the "general" "solution" to be paid transfers between clusters. The fact that a transfer for both PvE and PvP is proposed as the "solution," while the suggestion addressing specific PvP considerations and mechanics is called the "bandaid" is a bit bonkers. I have no hopes left for this game. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 6 minutes ago, Idlamn said: Guys please remove this you're gonna get nothing but trouble out of it. I mean both the item and this paragraph. I have rephrased it. I just wanted to make clear that we don't just make them all up on our own and that we are open for suggestions in this regard. Skin suggestions and requests came up multiple times in the past, of which some are very nice and shouldn't be discarded. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Army said: The new uncovered wagon skin was requested multiple times in the past for example, on forum and on Discord. I don't think it was ever suggested as a skin lol, but you do you 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 16 minutes ago, Idlamn said: Those merge ideas are nonsense. The true way the game was meant to be played was Epic. Playing on Freedom gives me the feeling I am missing that RvR aspect. But tossing everyone into a single island like Chaos is too hardcore. Then again I'd hate to see Chaos go, lots of history there. And then there's the NFI PvP how do you merge with that without merging the clusters themselves? It's not even a bandaid because it's just like Ele reset or Affliction reset. Basically resetting people's bases/items/etc and dropping them in some new and foreign land and hoping they will stick around and even attract others as well. Doesn't work in Wurm. People get attached to their homelands you know. They would just loose the players playing on whatever pvp island they are playing. These are not even close to the same thing. Here, I'll even break it down. New Elevation reset didn't work for a level of reasons. It's a reset, it brought in an influx like you'd expect but infighting in kingdoms brought it down faster. It being just a reset of one map, probably wasn't enough to bring back all the old people and so it wasn't all that big a deal. The issue now is PvP is split between 2 active servers, Chaos and Defiance, and 3 clusters if you want to include Epic. This creates a major issue. People are attached to their accounts typically more than they are lands on PvP, the idea of a base reset being a killer for PvP'ers is kinda weird, typically a PvP deed isn't something that you bother doing design contests for. However Chaos cannot go to Defiance, and Defiance cannot go to Chaos. This creates two groups, two groups who'd like to play with each other because Defiance actually has some level of activity, while Chaos is in a flux because we couldn't be too bothered to grind up another account again and we lose some to Defiance. Defiance isn't perfect, and some of those ugly parts are what is killing the desire for Chaos folks to make a new account. A merge for PvP servers offers the ability for every player to play together on PvP, without restriction of cluster. Tweaks and rebalances on what did and didn't work for Defiance can be made for a server that facilitates a merge. And in general, a one stop point for PvP makes it easier to coax people into trying PvP. The situation is way too different and what is being asked isn't even so much as in the same ballpark of the Elevation reset. The first step towards a healthy PvP server is activity, and so far all we've been given is dividing lines. These diving lines need to be addressed and removed where possible. As far as "loose" the players playing on PvP currently, I highly suggest you actually look into the widespread support for a merge there is from the PvP community. As it stands, PvP is no longer big enough to facilitate Epic style kingdom servers. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 51 minutes ago, Ulviirala said: No, just no. The least inventive and innovative way to gather resources in over 20 years in video games. We have trees to cut down, we have bodies of water to fish in, we have rock to tunnel into, and terrain to work a farm or forage through. Replacing that with randomly spawning resource nodes is a big step backwards. I don't get that. Randomly spawning on tiles but being invisible is good, but randomly spawning on tiles and being visible as its own model is bad? 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 You plan to have clusters of same node in area or leave it at one or two here and there ? Try make it look real not cookie cutter ..? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 I think the choice of streamer was excellent, and he did well! Are the sunflowers and other flowers that have been featured in the update images part of the resources node system, or are the flower tiles getting an overhaul? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 9 minutes ago, Aeris said: Are the sunflowers and other flowers that have been featured in the update images part of the resources node system, or are the flower tiles getting an overhaul? The patch of sunflowers is a resource node. It doesn't give sunflowers though, it's just a visual for now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 1 hour ago, Army said: Will there be more events like the screenshot contest last month? The feedback on it was very positive, so we started working on ideas for smaller forum events similar to it. Stay tuned for more! On the subject of this have player submitted screenshots been added to the website yet? I know it was said after the Website Screenshot Contest that it was going to be a seperate selection process (which I find a tad confusing but ok) I'm just curious if there is any updates on how that process is going or how long it will take. On 10/24/2023 at 7:11 AM, Army said: The screenshot selection for the website is a separated process and will begin shortly. You might get contacted by us for that, in case we are looking for a higher resolution version of your submission. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 2 hours ago, Army said: As Krister mentioned back in July already, the focus for this year is on player retention and other features. That's why new PvP content fell very short in the past months. You do realise that not addressing PvP is neglecting to fully address player retention. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 2 hours ago, Ulviirala said: No, just no. The least inventive and innovative way to gather resources in over 20 years in video games. We have trees to cut down, we have bodies of water to fish in, we have rock to tunnel into, and terrain to work a farm or forage through. Replacing that with randomly spawning resource nodes is a big step backwards. They arent replacing anything with anything this is just adding visible foraging/botanizing items to the scenery. Will liven the terrain up and make it easier in a way that makes sense to find what you are looking for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, Army said: Why are there no PvP updates? Why was the PvP merge suggestion closed? As Krister mentioned back in July already, the focus for this year is on player retention and other features. That's why new PvP content fell very short in the past months. That's also part of the reason why we couldn't just follow the merge suggestion. It would require quite some preparation and development time, and would only result in another bandaid solution which probably wouldn't work out in the long run. Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. Anything short of a full merge feels like a bandaid solution at this point. A combined player-base would be much better for the game, in both PvE and PvP aspects. Edited November 24, 2023 by Xallo 12 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 (edited) wow what a rehash of nothingness. I really want to buy premium for the year, but I am done playing wurm. Edited November 24, 2023 by kaidley lol wagon skins 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 Thanks for this Army too bad Valrei International is going away because as a less than 3 year player i have really enjoyed this portion of the game news, and truthfully i really doubt i will ever watch the "wurm TV" or whatever they decide to call it. I think that the new foraging update sounds exciting but like many i have the worry that it will be difficult to adjust too, after all my main foraging and botonizing charactor is a very squishy low fight skill Priest that just does the tiles on deed. also am exited to be able to actually participate in the current Black Friday sales because i will actually have my monthly money the day before the end of the sale, Lucky me. As for saying that the uncovered wagon skin hasnt been asked for i do have to say that not only have i seen it multiple times come up to give us an option to not have a wagon cover on the wagons but i have also posted on that particular subject once myself on the suggestion forums. I am really hoping to grab 1 of those for myself too because i would prefer to be able to use my wagon in 3rd person like i do my cart and boats. Keep working to improve the game please and thank you 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 3 hours ago, Thorinoakshield said: So for the 2nd time in just as many months the regular streamers - you know, people like Dracaa, Gaffer Boffin, Fab, Faeran and Emoo (Bloody Drongo) - are ignored again in favour for some unknown dude?? Hi, nice to meet you! I can't speak on behalf of the Wurm Online team (obviously lol) but I'm sure there will be more joining with time! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 (edited) I removed this post because I did not know anything about the video uploaded by Hamtad and I do not support what was said. I think he is a nice guy but there is no excuses for what was said as this is the official partner for Wurm Online. I hope you learn from this though, sad to see this from you Hamtad. I think they should have put one of the old time streamers up first to represent Wurm who have more experience with both Wurm and streaming. I do hope more streamers will be representing Wurm though. Edited November 27, 2023 by DannyUK Posted Prematurely without knowing what happened. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted November 24, 2023 (edited) Quote Instead, we are currently planning a general (non-merge) solution for character transfers between clusters, including PvE and PvP. We will soon inform you about our plans in detail, as this will require some public discussion in advance. This is the most terrible bandaid thinkable, announcing that the unreasonable and obsolete cluster split will be maintained forever. My opposition against a PvP merge was mainly that it threatened to preclude cluster merge. This announcement is worse. I do not wish the PvP players (judging by participation on PvP servers less than 10% of the active players) anything bad, and a cluster merge would allow them to play together, while a possible reorganization of the whole PvP environment could be planned and discussed. That said, the future of Chaos is a matter of the whole community, not just recently active PvP players. Chaos/Wild is part of Freedom, and not only self proclaimed "the PvP community" has a say. Edited November 24, 2023 by Ekcin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
