What Would You Change To Make Wurm More Attractive To Players?

[shadowblasta 142]

Also, Chainmail bikinis

lol why stop there , make it like the rest of the games and have all female gear skimpy but for some reason still functional in combat

XD

Edit: this is a joke, but ... it might actually attract some people XD

Edited March 27, 2013 by shadowblasta

[punky 0]

I think that the biggest issue that keeps more players from playing Wurm is the pace of play. In my opinion Wurm is a good game. I like it. But, thinking about video games, and popular video games throughout history, I cant think of another that has such a slow pace of play. I believe that it is not engrossing to many people because there is not something happening, there are long periods of time (perhaps the vast majority of playtime) that do not require the players full attention. There is very little tension.

I don't really know of a solution, nor do I really care to think of one. Like I said I like the game. But, its slow enough to focus on other things while you play. Most of the wildly popular video games I can think of from Asteroids to CoD require the players full focus.

[Aeris 3,767]

Regular server restarts.

I've been very busy lately and haven't had much time to play at all. Recently I found a gap in my schedule and decided to play Wurm. It turned out that the server hadn't been restarted for 11 days, almost as if it was being stress tested. It was laggy and I became disconnected every now and then. There is no reason for the server to be active for that long, and most games with such active game worlds as Wurm restart their servers once a week, even during a scheduled time. I feel that that kind of consistency would add to the overall feeling of professional handling.

It's not fun to return to a game that lags for such an unnecessary reason, and most of us have busy RL times every now and then (or often) and the whole process of "getting back to the game" would be a bit nicer with regular restarts.

[Eobersig 1,010]

Playing only on Serenity, since around a year now, I have seen many people come to Wurm - and seen many leaving the game again. Of course people have left for a variety of reasons - but there's one rather large group of people that all have left for the same reason:

It's people that have come to Wurm because of the building aspects of the game - and they have frequently left the game after they've built something. Most of what they've built is totally crap - by far too large, too low quality, badly designed, huge expanses of flattened land covered with slabs or cobblestones (I tend to call their places "parking lots"). Sometimes they deed it, sometimes they don't. In the process those people waste huge expanses of land, flattening whole mountains, digging bottomless pits, cutting whole forests down to nothing - and waste the land for the people that come after them.

Basically these people - and it's a rather large group - leave the game because building is too easy and too fast. I know, sounds strange in a game that takes a lot of time - but still: someone discovering the game and interested in building can create a rather large place in a few weeks, especially when it's a small group of people. And since building is their prime motivation they leave the game (and usually leave a mess behind) after they've built something.

Therefore a suggestion that sounds counterproductive but it really isn't: make digging, building, mining rocks, flattening, etc. more difficult for new players, make those actions require higher skills - and the people will stay longer.

(They will also waste less space that way - and that will benefit other new players that come after the bulders have left.)

[Arkonick 557]

First off it isn't that easy they need the skill to build up in multi story then they need min 30 mason skill to build a stone house wall then they need the skill to build them walls on higher level floors. People are going to come and they are going to go as for any mmo out there they come and go when they feel the game has nothing to offer.

I don't think it's because building is to easy which it is not it's a art form. The main reason would be there are to less wall models and decorations aka furnture and such.

we have your basic 5 house walls in stone and wood-- single door, double door, window, Arched wall, and plain wall. There is only so much one can do with a low variety of walls.

we have a small variety of inner walls as well and small variety of fences. This is the main reason people would come and go from construction other reasons have been low mob population which I'm going to say has been worked on and at this date and time looks to be on track now from the latest patches cause I've been enjoying my hunting now.

You are going to see this in Wurm because other mmo's dont allow for free terraforming in there game all but Xyson and if you ever played that you would see the same abandoned properties rotting away from players coming and going unfortunatly no one can stop this regardless what they try to do this is just common sence and logic what wurm offers is not for everyone and for someone.

[Jacra 0]

Right now as a still fairly new player (around 3 weeks by now) I would say what Wurm would benefit most from for younger/new player is a better system for the animal spawning control. I understand that high levels like the high spawn rate. But it is deadly for lower level player and not everyone (to put it mildly) is happy to have fighting levels enforced to be skilled high. Without it you can hardly get anywhere yet, much less explore the country for your own deed or something. I can't even leave our deed for more than a few steps usually - and I'm lucky to be with experienced players who sometimes clear the way and escort me and we have a large deed in a densely populated area (Marianople at Release). But for small deeds or such ... lowbies are stuck at the deed if they even make it there.

So I would recommend to make some realistic system where dropping food (meat) off deed increases the spawn of aggro animals in the area. And if you don't they simply are low in density (you can keep neutral animals higher of course, albeit these unicorn herds ... *sigh* useless animals taking up spawn slots). Thus people have a certain control over what happens in their area and can adjust it to their levels.

[Eldurian 86]

Development wise.....

Biggest compliant I have had from everyone I introduced to Wurm was a lack of character customization. Now that that is fixed a better combat system would be the next major step on my list development wise. I've always described Wurm as "The best crafting I've ever seen, with absolutely no character customization and combat that is Runescape level bad."

Bring combat on par with other MMO's and I'll just have to describe it as "The best crafting game and truest sandbox I've ever played." Then you can focus 100% on making your strongsuit even stronger.

In general....

You already have an amazing game. Very few people are aware it's out there. I wasn't aware of the changes that had beenade until a couple weeks ago. So my #1 suggestion:

Advertize what you have!

1. Offer people a banner/link the can stick on Facebook, put in their forum signature, or post on their own website. Offer some cool in-game rewards for getting people to subscribe through that link with even more awesome prizes for people who bring in a lot of players that way. Like say 1 free month premium per player, plus a waterskin that makes it's contents weightless if you get 10 or more people.

2. Send out a mail telling everyone with a Wurm account all the cool changes you've made lately.

3. Invest some actual money in traditional advertising. You've waited this long so hold out for a good deal but be ready to spend on it. I'm sure it will pay itself off.

[splize 2]

i think making uniques re-spawn at random so always some on servers I've had alot of newer players tell me they'd love to see a dragon or kyklops or such or experience the fight with on but with them all dead and gone on most servers they never will. and for gods sakes make them unpennable make them destroy walls and buildings to get free make dragons able to fly to get past walls its so dumb that you can put up a wood fence or build a house around it and it will just sit inside forever waiting to be butchered. in all my time i saw 1 dragon and got lucky to join a fight and it is one of my fondest memory's in wurm but now no new people can experience that I ran into troll king and kyklops before and those were also memorable experiences.

In game craftable Map would be nice to make it easier to find your way around even if deeds weren't listed we have paper so why cant we use it can even be a map skill maybe go to an area with your map click ground and choose cartography or something and it adds deeds and stuff in a radius higher skill more it adds.

A revamp to combat or to the tutorial would be nice i know alot of people i meet don't understand the combat and some kinda explanation in tutorial would be nice maybe have them kill a wildcat there or a pig.

Was gonna suggest the better way to equip but i saw a post where their working on that already and i think its a good way to do it as they plan with the doll model to equip items on.

Also as stated above there's a lot of bugs should be fixed first before any contents added

[DUBateve 0]

i have a sugestion

ive always wonderd how to light my house so i was thinking something along the lines of a hangable lanterns or hangable lamps

useing hangable lamps/lanturns:

you would use a hanging lanturn or lamp by first activateing the lamp/lanturn and right clicking a finished wall and selecting hang and to take it off right click the wall and select take off and give it the same propertise of holding it like walking up and right clicking and snuffing it and activateing a steel and flint and lighting it and to refill it you must take it off the wall and fill it like normal or right clicking it on the wall and filling it there this would also be helpful in mines or any wall really

second sugestion:

a global auction house sort of place or global trade house rather that alows trade between indeviduals just like normal trade but you must have premium to use it

the way it would work:

it would work by walking up to a teller or other and selecting wether you are buying or selling and chouseing buying will bring up a screen and it will list (in alphabetical order) all things that are being sold and for what item in return or what amount of money in return and for selling it will bring up a window that will tell you to drag the item or stack of items you wish to sell and wether or not you will sell for money or a certain item in return. and wene buying there should be filters on wether or not you whant to see items for money trade or return item trade after talking to the teller again it will say list of selling items or something and when clicked it will open a window alowing you to see if it was sold or not and if it were the item would be there to take or if not sold you will get the abillity to stop selling it and take it back.

these are some suggestions i had please excuse any spelling errors grammar errors etc...

- DUB

[Ickorn 2]

Honestly just look at the likes of Gnomoria and Towns, they have taken the Dwarf Fortress Concept and made it accessible. Wurms just needs to be a bit more accessible and after thats done publicised.

Most Importantly - Switch engines. Java is dead. Seriously look at Unity - Unity can work with Java code so the engine change will be as minimal amount of work as possible. The costs for Unity are expensive, but Unity is an amazing tool and many medium size releases are now being built in it, as it enables developers to focus on the game not on the engine. Unity 'should' be able to cope with the game without too much tweaking. Has to be worth at least a look.

Next - true 3 dimensional environment, i.e. being able to dig down anywhere, and build upwards. This will enable things like Bridges, massive mine complexes etc. At the moment this is the biggest thing that is dating the game. If this isn't fixed soon, some game will come along which does this, although would be single player and more like an Minecraft - Wurm crossover, its almost inevitable given the rise in mining / building games. You can do this in a similar way to the guy behind Gnomoria is doing it i.e. bit by bit.

Animations - once you have this on an engine that works this will be easy to do.

Once all thats done you can market the game. E.g. Steam greenlight. But don't do this until the game looks like its been built this millenium.

[Slideshow 84]

I'd prefer if Wurm had 5 euros per month with the actual option to buy premium time for one month

[Selva 9]

More ways of paying wurm premium instead of only Paypal. I got 6 fellas having difficulties to pay because of Paypal. Not everbody is from US/EU

[Devily 624]

i think making uniques re-spawn at random so always some on servers I've had alot of newer players tell me they'd love to see a dragon or kyklops or such or experience the fight with on but with them all dead and gone on most servers they never will. and for gods sakes make them unpennable make them destroy walls and buildings to get free make dragons able to fly to get past walls its so dumb that you can put up a wood fence or build a house around it and it will just sit inside forever waiting to be butchered. in all my time i saw 1 dragon and got lucky to join a fight and it is one of my fondest memory's in wurm but now no new people can experience that I ran into troll king and kyklops before and those were also memorable experiences.

Yes and no.

I dont need no dragon to destroy my town. Remember all the time you build a house and make every material etc. I dont want to make 3000 mortar and stone bricks again to get my houses repaired.

Yes make them respawn.

[Branson 11]

Yes and no.

I dont need no dragon to destroy my town. Remember all the time you build a house and make every material etc. I dont want to make 3000 mortar and stone bricks again to get my houses repaired.

Yes make them respawn.

Yeah but then they just respawn and get repenned which means they suddenly become not only already fairly easy to kill once penned but perhaps even plentiful. This would completely destroy the value of drake scale armor AND not solve the base problem. Either way there's another thread on this topic already, with many arguments on why and why not this should happen, so we should probably not take this specific argument any further in this thread.

[Phineas 0]

I've tried this game for a few nights now. I *really* want to like it ... but I *really really really* find it insanely frustrating. The game doesn't have a learning curve ... it has a learning cliff. Now, I'm willing to put in the effort. (I have, after all, spent several hours on several nights just exploring.) But so far I haven't found too much reward for that effort. (I'm just too stubborn, or too masochistic, to give up.)

PvP doesn't interest me at all, so I can't speak to that. What *does* interest me about the game is the building aspect - pioneering a settment in the wilderness, building it up from nothing into a thriving enterprise. And I *greatly* prefer an experience that is primarily solo. Not exclusively - I welcome modest interaction with others, development of an in-game economy, etc. But primarily I want to build "my" settlement, not "our" settlement.

A largely solo experience does not appear to be particularly feasible with the game at present. And if that's not the developer's goal, then I can accept that and move on and look for something else. And if that's the case, my one recommendation would be that this be made ABUNDANTLY clear on the game website, forums, etc. Yeah, you won't attract the sort of players looking for a solo experience ... but I figure you're having trouble keeping them in any case. But you WILL attract more folk who are looking for the corporate-building activity that seems to be the game's strong suit.

However, *IF* you want to make solo play more viable, here are a few suggestions (from a noob who has invested many hours in the game but is still just barely getting started).

1) You get a compass at the start of the game, among various other starter tools. This is invaluable for exploring. However, if you die while you're exploring (and you will ... several times ... and I accept that), while you retain several other starter tools, you lose that compass. Change this - include the compass on the list of "keeper" tools. (This would be *very* easy to implement, btw - probably just one line of code.)

2) Include the basics of combat in the tutorial. And give new players at least a fighting chance. No, I don't expect to be able to take on spiders and trolls and other big nasties ... but as it is even a mosquito can inflict pretty serious damage on a new player. Something as simple as adjusting the spawns so that many of the creatures near the starting area can be handled by a new player would be a big help. (And no, it doesn't need to be *all* of the spawns ... after all, an important game dynamic is "run away and call for the guards" ... but if that's all you do because that's all you can do, you'll never get any combat skill.)

3) This next will take a bit more work, and may not be immediately feasible. But basically: new players need to be able to harvest basic materials, near the starting area. Clay? Wood? Iron? The deposits I've found close at hand are off limits because they're in some settlement. Starter area deposits don't need to be of high quality. And you may want to make them only accessible to new players (much like the 'bartenders' furnish food and water). But having brand-new players travel long (and dangerous) distances just to make a pot is *not* the way to retain them. This will require some effort, I realize ... it could be done from the beginning on any new server, but on existing ones might require moving the starting point and revising some of the terrain.

4) Finding a suitable place to build needs to be simpler. After all, what you're "selling" in the game (as I understand it) is the opportunity to build a glorious virtual settlement. But flat land is hard to come by ... and as a new player I'm not in a position to be terraforming really steep places. Undeveloped flat land near resources (iron, clay, water) is getting as rare as hen's teeth. I know of no ready fix on existing servers for this one ... but it's something to keep in mind for a hypothetical "next" server.

5) One thing that COULD be implemented on current servers that would greatly simplify the process of finding a homestead would be some sort of "land claims office" in the starter area ... that simply showed a map of what was taken and what was still available. Yes, there are player-made maps showing settlements ... but they are not particularly current. I *don't* need to see a detailed map showing all roads, resource nodes, etc. ... but simply knowing that there's a lot of empty space in one area, while another area is pretty well developed, would save hours of (not particularly enjoyable) exploration. Note that it would NOT eliminate exploration - I'd still want to go looking for reasonable building sites. It would, however, reduce the grind to more manageable proportions. Said land office might even distinguish between "virgin land" and "lapsed claims" - some folk would prefer taking over an abandoned, partially-built enterprise while others would rather start from scratch.

Just my thoughts after a few nights of basically fruitless exploration for a place to build. As I said, I *really* want to like this game, and I'm going to give it another evening or two, to see if I can get a meaningful start going. I recognize that the game is never going to have a huge player base - it's too much of a niche game for that. But I do think the suggestions I've made (and many others in this thread) could make it a more attractive game while still retaining its very unique flavor.

[Backsnap 2]

I have seen some people suggest an auction house and while that would be great, and I too would like to see something like that. My suggestion in the meantime is pretty simple. I would like to join an /auction channel where people on my server can list the things they WTB or WTS and have instant access to buyers or sellers instead, or in addition, to listing it on the forums and waiting for a reply. When I have silver and want to purchase something I am an instant gratification kind of guy.

[Skyhawk 45]

Apologies for not reading through all 100+ posts but let me suggest the elephant in the room:

Fix the lag from the insane polygon count on the models. This has been a continuous problem yet keeps getting ignored.

Reevaluate the "teleporting" code - it is very annoying to embark onto a horse / cart / boat ON THE SAME TILE, yet "teleport" to it, reload all graphics and reload everyone in local (which is -still- bugged).

Sorry for saying this, but adding more content will most likely compound the polygon problem.

Reducing graphics lag will improve the experiene across the board.

[Hussars 511]

Hi all,

In reverse order of the last few posts:

• According to the some of the posts by staff members, client/network optimization is being looked into, but no word on an eta.
  
• Auction Houses have been mentioned before, with a long list of pro and con arguments. Because it is counter to core mechanic design, it has not been added to the roll-up since there is no overwhelming call for it. Try updating one of the exisiting threads, or if you have a new take on it, open a new thread and provide a link here. An auction channel wouldn't likely "scratch" the instant gratification itch any faster, since you'd still have to travel or have it delivered. But it has been suggested before with little activity, again, maybe try restarting the conversations in a thread discussing the idea and providing a link here?
  

Now for Phineas,

First, welcome to Wurm, and the forums.

Next, allow me to point you here (new player forum). I'm not trying to shush you away, simply directing you to a resource which will likely help you greatly.

There are a lot of issues with the tutorial, and a combat training section is already on the roll-up in the first post. From staff comments in other threads, this is something they want to put into place, however because of the nature of the system that is the tutorial (almost completely custom code) it is difficult because of the requirements for lesson(s) which provide "real" exposure to combat gameplay in a controlled manner.

For finding a place to settle, depending on the server, it is easier on some than on others. Generally speaking, coastal land is the first to be claimed, so you may need to head in-land a bit. Based on the rest of the comments in your post, is it safe to assume you're also looking for a place away from others? If so, you'll likely want to ask around on the specific server/island forums (or in the "Kingdom chat" [/shout] tab) for areas with lower player population. While you may not want to be part of someone else's deed, that's fine, but reach out to the others on the server you're interested in residing on, they'll be your best resource even if you're a solo player.

The maps on the forum are fairly current, but not every deed will be listed as deed owners are allowed to "opt-out". Some folks do play like you are describing, on their own and not wanting "uninvited" guests. So it is a matter of personal choice to list your deed location. One of the longer term mappers used to have a density map, which sounds like it might have been valuable for your specific needs, unfortunately, I believe he has fully left the game. His map may still be around, but I do not think it covered all of the islands/servers, so again, just depends on where you're trying to play/settle.

In any case, again, welcome to Wurm, hope you give it a chance, but if it's not the game for you right now, maybe we'll see you again in the future!

[Tritus2 6]

Uselessly overly generic thread when; there is already a whole forum dedicated to constructive suggestions. This thread only duplicates the whole point of the entire forum and obfuscates its ability to do that by ambiguating where and what to post.

It has already been suggested, by me as it happens, that suggestions be categorised prior to posting in order to help the devs responsible in those areas see what suggestions have been made, not to mention reading through relevant suggestion posts - which often allude to bugs that the 'suggestion' is meant to help correct.

If this thread did what its title implies it want to then it would propbably be titled 'What Annoys You About Wurm?' since thats about as far as the majority of players get to explaining what would make the game more appealing.

.. Most of what I have read above are just suggestions that have been posted in the wrong(?) place.

What Would Make The Game More Attractive To Players?

• I havent been through the tutorial in years but its clearly still inadequate - even though it was a pretty good start when Enki(?) first made it.
  
• I still think most new players still feel lost and would not feel so lost if they were pointed at the wiki from the outset
  
• The wiki still needs a comprehensive new player guide that actually deals with the issues that new players face
  (I dont believe any of my own numerous attempts are actually good enough to do what I think is needed)
  
• Integration of the wiki with code documentation would be fantastic, assuming you document your code (I never did document mine very much tbh), since then changing the code might append a line to the wiki page saying that the wiki page might be out of date
  
• I live near The Howl (Independence) and its really obvious that new players dont actually know that CA Help is there to help them so maybe a dialogue telling them what its there for or a more strongly emphatic dialogue (if there already is one) making sure that new players know what CA Help is for.
  
• My feelings are ambiguous here - but maybe merge all Freedom chats and bring back CA/GM moderation? I think for new players that having two Freedom chats is maybe confusing and that one chat to rule them all might convey a greater impression of player population.
  Tag players with the server so that they realise they are not on a simple game but one that has cross server chats and activity?
  
• I did see a post on Steam integration and I think a higher profile in mmo circles would help make Wurm more attractive.
  
• Impalongs always bolstered morale but are actually detrimental to the game if you have them more than once or twice a year.
  At the same time some type of ingame event that was just a morale booster would help players feel good about the game.
  In that context, I think maybe skill based competitions that had some reasonable reward (@Rolf) would encourage people to like and talk about Wurm more in an out of game context. I am not suggesting 50s prizes but maybe the chance to earn a free month of prem or a free deed contract?
  
• Eye/ear candy is always great to have but hardly essential to the game and whats draws us to it.
  
• Some incentive to make people see the game as more than a personal skillgrind might make the game more attractive.
  There does not seem to be any actual incentive to make a village anymore ...
  Its all one big landgrab so that you can protect the space you want to use to support your own personal endeavors(?).
  How about a village has a cost and a benefit again? More than one starting member requires an upfront commitment and a definite benefit? (I know I am reaching there, but this aspect seems to have gone from the game).
  
• Bughunt? Yep no bugs is always a good thing. I dont actually see or hear of many inggame atm, but I have heard of a few that are system/hardware dependent. I would clean out some of that and tighten up any old code that I knew I hadn't touched for a few years.
  A 'clean' game is always a nice game. I dont see a lot of dirt in Wurm though
  
• Personally, I think that a huge server that could accomodate the entire Freedom population would remind people of the fact that Wurm was one of the first open world games that had a big landscape.
  In the same vein, new servers have always brought back old players and encouraged new players so I think this has always been an attractive to the player base.
  
• Not diluting the game's difficulty will definitely appeal to a growing number of people who have been playing mmo for years and are increasingly fed up with being spoon fed from their own kids nappies/diapers!
  

[Deth666 43]

Welcome to Wurm, the game of limitless opportunity and freedom............but you can't do this and you can't do that and the other thing is out too, and you can only have X number of this

Edited May 6, 2013 by Deth666

[Hatake 30]

The only thing I have a problem with to be quite honest, is me attacking things I dont want to attack, and not attacking things  I do want to attack.

 

For example?

Taming my pet. I dont want to nearly slaughter my cat when it disobeys! I click no target, but it doesnt help, and is a waste of time. I have to hurry and scramble out of the room. Within seconds, I had gotten my cat down to Bleeding without even touching anything.

 

I wish the fighting was just a tad easier. I do like the style we have now, but I'm a bit upset we cant click and attack. I don't like attacking things automatically, especially since sometimes it's on accident.(Taming, for example)^

[dreadlordnaf 22]

How to make the game more attractive for new players: Make timer based crafting and resourcing not so dull.... Let's face it most of this game is spent watching your timer bar....  Even with all animations enabled most of the time nothing still happens with your guy and it is quite a boring experience....

 

I've noticed what differentiates Wurm crafting/mining/digging etc from something like Minecraft is that Wurm is timer based to do all your actions, while something like Minecraft results in immediate actions.  It can be quite satisfying to manually control your pick etc like in Minecraft.  I am not suggesting that here, what I am suggesting though is they make crafting and resourcing in Wurm more than simply watching your timer bar since that can be excruciatingly painful and is such a turn off for new players.  Even in games like WoW seeing your guy in third person doing the mining, swinging his pick, etc was actually amazingly satisfying.  Another example is fishing in Wurm which is really disappointing. Yet it is very similar conceptually to WoW though except in that game you see the bobber and fishing line go out.  The bobber then moves a bit as the fishing timer reacts.  Again this simple animation for this action makes the game much more interesting. 

 

Summary of suggestion: Make more interesting crafting/resourcing timer animations.  Ideally from third-person view.

 

Pros to doing this:  Makes the 75%+ of the game time you spend watching your timer bar much more interesting and keeps newer players around longer.  Also this change is purely cosmetic so would not require re-balancing fundamental game play issues or messing with anything like that which can be problematic.

 

Cons: The time spent by the dev team making the animations.  I think this would pay off in the long run though and again this would not affect any game formulas etc so would be an ideal change which wouldn't upset the balance of things.

 

Thanks for reading. 

[Bart 954]

Remove timers visually for crafting maybe, make it more like skyrim, where it jumps to third person and you watch the action

[Aeris 3,767]

Remove timers visually for crafting maybe, make it more like skyrim, where it jumps to third person and you watch the action

 

This would become very tedious with fast action timers. Say if you can stack 4 actions after the current one and the timers are 3,4,4,5,5 or something like that. Then there'd just be a lot of jumping on the screen

[Antony 280]

HD Textures. More uses for currently useless skills and items.