New Player Guide

[Aodhan 1]

So I got bord while the servers were down and just pop'd out this little guide.

Suggestions - Comments wanted.  (Color and clean up will follow)

Wurm Online

New Player Guide

Initial Walk-Through

Guideline Assumptions:  

This Guide will assume that you have already gone to the Wurm Online site, created an account, downloaded the client and have completed the Tutorial.  This Guide starts at "The Howl" - The new player starting point on the Freedom Server.

Pre-Game Helpful Hint:  

The Game has day and night cycles, each lasting about 1.5hrs in length.  Though you start with a faint light source, the nights can be very dark for most default video card settings.  I suggest you turn "UP" the 'Gama' setting in your graphics software.  Either the "Nvidia Control Panel" for Nvidia Cards or the "Catalyst" program for ATI video cards.  This will make game nights more playable even after you acquire a light source (Lantern-Torch).

The Wiki:  

This will be your resource and information guide.  There is a lot of good information in the Wiki that will help your understand the items and procedures you need to be successful in this game.  There is an In-Game wiki that I find very helpful and you may access it in the game simply by hitting the letter 'H' or your keyboard and typing in the name of an item.  Here is the link to the main Wiki site:

http://wurmonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Goals

Since Wurm Online is a Sandbox/Crafting type game, you are free to do just about anything the game allows.  There are some restrictions on this and they are listed on the Wurm Online Forums in the GM Hall Section under 'Game Rules' here:

http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?board=4.0

Also, check out the Chat Rules while there.

While most new players simply want a secure place to stay while developing the basic skill essential to enjoying the game, this is not always a simple task.  However, with recent changes in the Game Rules, you may now safely build a house with a fenced in area without fear of a stronger/older playing coming along, bashing down your fences and taking your stuff.  

In this Guide, we will focus on the 4 basic goals that most new players want to achieve

• Understanding where I am and what should I do

• Staying Alive

• Finding a place to call Home and the skills to build it

• The Wurm Community

Understanding where I am and what should I do:

Welcome to Wurm and the Freedom Server.  The spot upon which you find yourself when first arriving on the Freedom Server is called "The Howl".  This is a GM maintained 'Deed'.  You will notice a large tower and a wide road next to you.  Look around a bit in the immediate area and you will find the Deed Token.  This is the marker that denotes the center of the deed.   The Deed Token is also the place you will respawn to when you die.  You may move your spawn point to other Deed Tokens if you choose but you must first find them.  The Deed Token also acts as your in-game bank.  Any coin you purchase from the Wurm Online website store will be placed in your bank.  You may deposit and withdraw money from any Deed Token to which you have access.  You may also store a small number of items in the Bank for safe keeping.

As mentioned before, your starting location is at The Howl.  So where in the world is The Howl?  It is almost dead center of the Freedom Server map.  You can view the community map here:

http://noizeviolation.com/wurm/Freedom_map.png

You may also notice that there is a Deed on the map just to the North of The Howl called Freedom Market(Up Hill from The Howl).  This is the central market area of the game where players may place merchants to sell their wares.  It is also where you will find the Food Vendor from which you may receive food and water during your first 24hrs of game play.  Keep in mind that once you have logged 24hrs in the game (actual time logged into the game),  you will no longer be able to receive food from the Food Vendor.   You might choose to read the "Guide to Feeding Yourself" post on the Wurm Online Forums located in the "New Players & Trade" section under "New Player Questions" to help you understand how to make food.  Here is the link:

http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?topic=52181.0

There are many other helpful Guides and posts in that section and I strongly urge you to check them  out.

When you first start moving around the landscape in Wurm, you need to keep your eyes open for aggressive creatures and try to stay away from them as they can easily kill new players.

Staying Alive:

While moving around in Wurm Online, you are bound to run across at least one, sometimes many, of the more aggressive animals such as Wolves, Bears, Spiders and even Goblins and Trolls.  You will know if an animal is aggressive by nature when you put your mouse over the creature and its outline is RED.  Also, aggressive creatures are just that, aggressive.  This means that if you get too close to one, on purpose or by accident, it will move towards you and attempt to kill you.  As a new player with very limited beginner skills, it will be very difficult to survive a fight with even the smallest aggressive creature.  The best option is to never approach an aggressive creature or simply try and run away.  Be aware though, if you are attacked and hit in the legs or feet, this can cause your movement rate to drop significantly making it impossible to run away and will usually end in your character being killed.

If your character does get killed, you will respawn back at the Howl.  This may seem easy enough, however, when you die, all the items in your inventory(except certain no-drop items) will stay on your body.  This means you will either have to go back to your body to retrieve your items or try and start over from scratch.  Don't forget that the aggressive creature that killed you may still be in the area next to your body.  This can make retrieving your stuff a little difficult.  So the best option, for now, when dealing with aggressive creature is simple avoidance.

Finding a place to call Home and the skills to build it

The most common response to a new players question of "What should I do now" is usually, "Join a Village".

There are some very significant advantages to joining a village.  Some of these are free food, a place to live and secure your valuables, a bed to sleep in(giving 'sleep bonus') and the direct one-on-one help you can receive from the other villagers.  This is why "Join a Village" is the most common response to questions from new users.  You can check out the Freedom Server Recruitment Forum here:

http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?board=50.0

If you choose to not join a village and strike out alone, your next question will be "Where can I setup shop, where is a place I can call my home?"   Technically, the rules allow you to plop down on any piece of land that is not part of a deed or currently in use by another player.  This gets into the last section a bit by talking about Community standards, but generally, it is best to not build too close to another player as they may be wanting to expand right into the area you may be looking at.  Even though it may not be against the rules to setup shop right next to another player, you will find that it creates less drama if you give your neighbors some breathing room or spend some time talking to the people in your local area to see where a good spot to setup might be located.  Also note that finding a piece of "good land" near the starting area may be rather difficult.  It is best to move well away from The Howl and Freedom Market before looking for a plot of land.

Once you do find an area of land you would like to live on, there are a few things you will need to build; a house to store your things in and a fenced in area to grow crops and keep animals.

To build a 1x1(one tile) shack, you need to have at least 5 skill points in the Carpentry Skill.  Since building a shack requires at least 80 planks to build, you will easily reach 5 in Carpentry by the time you finish making all the planks.  For a nice guide on how to build a house check out this Guide on the Wiki:

http://wurmonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Build_House

Let me also point out that items such as fences and houses will decay slowly over time.  This means that every so often you will need to repair them to keep them from 'disappearing'.  Houses, fences and other items do not decay if on a deed.

The Wurm Community:

Like many other games out there, Wurm Online has a thriving community made up of people from  every walk-of-life and from all over the world.  In the game, common sense will be your best friend but your greatest asset when starting out in this game is the knowledge and wisdom of community.  You will find the Wurm Community right up there with the best of them.

Unlike many other games on the market, Wurm does not do a lot of "Hand Holding" in helping you along.  This is both the beauty of the game and what makes it tough for the new players.  It's tough in the way you are left to discover how to do even the basic things like make food, or build shelter, but once you discover how to do something, you gain a sense of accomplishment that is rarely found in any other game.  Once you get setup with your house and you start looking beyond just how to survive in the game, you will find the true wonders of this game.  The community.  Imagine getting together with 10 other players over the course of several months to build a truly Massive Ramp off the side of a Cliff..or dig a Canal right through the heart of Mountain.  The things you can do by yourself are many and fun because it is a great game, but the things you can accomplish when playing as a member of a community...Fantastic.

Enjoy the game that is Wurm Online.

[darthryan 588]

I recommend joining a village, at least for a few days. Once you have been in the game for 3 days to a week, depending on how long you spend in game, you should have a pretty good idea of how the game operates and a decent bit of experience. Once you have been in a village for a week, you should have the know how to go out and survive by yourself.

[Enola 53]

Last info I had was that a day lasts 2 hours, whereas a night lasts 1 hour.

[Aodhan 1]

Well..the whole cycle is 3hrs..and yes, the heart of the night, when its darkest, is shorter than full daylight plus still light enough to see on either side.

Granted.

[Joona 2]

I thought the first 24 hours was irl hours.

[Aodhan 1]

To receive free food from the vendor and the free light sorce you get, it the first 24hr of game time....if the first day you only play 4hrs, you still have 20hrs left before you can no longer receive free food and the light goes out.

[Joona 2]

Ah I understood wrong. You should say its the time you spend in-game maybe.

[Aodhan 1]

Did you even read what I posted?  I said it very clearly here:

Keep in mind that once you have logged 24hrs in the game (not real life hours but game hours),  you will no longer be able to receive food from the Food Vendor.   You might choose to read the "Guide to Feeding Yourself" post on the Wurm Online Forums located in the "New Players & Trade" section under "New Player Questions" to help you understand how to make food.  Here is the link:

http://wurmonline.com/forum/index.php?topic=52181.0

There are many other helpful Guides and posts in that section and I strongly urge you to check them  out.

[Joona 2]

(not real life hours but game hours)/quote]

Its pretty confusing.

[Aodhan 1]

lol...Ok..let me make sure you understand what game hours are...if you click on the 'Time' tab on your navigation bar at the top of the client window or if you just type /time in any chat box, it will tell you your total time played.  If that number is less than 24hrs you may still reveive food and drink from the food vendor in Freedom Market.

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

lol...Ok..let me make sure you understand what game hours are...if you click on the 'Time' tab on your navigation bar at the top of the client window or if you just type /time in any chat box, it will tell you your total time played.  If that number is less than 24hrs you may still reveive food and drink from the food vendor in Freedom Market.

[Aodhan 1]

Ok..now I get it...lol...thanks for that.  That is the kind of help I'm looking for.  So I have changed that part to now say

Keep in mind that once you have logged 24hrs in the game (actual time logged into the game),  you will no longer be able to receive food from the Food Vendor. 

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

Ok..now I get it...lol...thanks for that.  That is the kind of help I'm looking for.  So I have changed that part to now say

Keep in mind that once you have logged 24hrs in the game (actual time logged into the game),  you will no longer be able to receive food from the Food Vendor.