Rolf's Deed - Aggro Conspiracy

[Ayes 3,715]

After some contemplation upon this latest excessive aggro increase on the Freedom Isles PvE servers, I am finally discerning the method behind Rolfs "madness" concerning this seemingly peculiar system of attracting and retaining players. Well actually that is not the primary intent at all, so is the wrong direction in which to be searching for the answer.

Consider this, Rolfs main source of income from the game of Wurm is *Deeds*; therefore, in order to perpetuate the game and his income from it he must consider ways to "encourage" players to purchase and maintain them as the main focal point of the game. Aggro mobs are the perfect foil in this conspiracy, in that they can be used as a distraction to pit the hunter/survivalist types and the builder/crafter types against one another, while the true intent of the aggro population fluctuations remains concealed from all but the most descerning few of the playerbase.

Although I am somewhat reluctant to make any revealing statements concerning the above conspiracy as they may reduce Rolfs income from indignant players who feel that they have been fooled by Rolfs clever manuverings and manipulations of them in this regard, I am nonetheless compelled to continue onward with my revelation, due to my need to make it known that I have come to some brilliant conclusions that few have had the insight or temerity to comment upon; but, I digress.

Back now then to the intent behind periodic excessive aggro spawn increases, which is actually to "encourage" players to place and maintain deeds as the most reasonable protection from their disruptive influences, which the majority of players want to deal with on their own terms, not as a constant assault. Also note that subtly included with this latest excessive aggro spawn increase is the "reluctance" of these aggros to now even enter deed tiles, making deeds even without Spirit Templars more valuable in deflecting these rampaging aggro mobs. Sacrificing an additional 1 silver for a Spirit Templar that *may* not be necessary under these circumstances is little in the scheme of things when people purchase more deeds for protection and enjoyment of the game.

Even the accommodation of new players with the enclosure rules is just another deflection of this conspiratorial intent, in that this excessive aggro spawn increase is allowing them to spawn on a constant basis within their enclosures, making them worthless death traps. This in turn makes the poor immigrant new player shortly realize that they will accomplish little on their own without placing a deed themselves for protection from these fiendish apparitions; thus, they are placed in the dilemma in which the *Deed* is the perfect option and solution for self sufficiency.

Now while I find it all well and good that Rolf would endeavor to search for new ways to encourage players to purchase deeds, since this is the major portion of his game income upon which the financial success and development of the game is based, I see these periodic excessive aggro spawn increases as a somewhat dubious way to go about accomplishing this objective. To impose undue hardships upon the playerbase is disruptive to enjoyment of the games major unique attracting factors, which are its building, terraforming and growing landscaping effects. Fighting aggros is much better done and more enjoyable in countless online games and should only be a minor adjunct to Wurm rather than having any dominating disruptive effect, even if the hidden (conspiracy) goal is to "encourage" other players to purchase their own Deed.

So there you have the conspiracy unveiled to all who have had their attentions diverted to squabbling amongst themselves as an integral part to the continuation and perpetuation of this clever plot of the game creator, who has more insight into human nature and the diversion of intent than you might suppose. Now I will leave you to continue with your squabblings or embrace the revelation that I have bestowed upon you in my supposed arrogance. Happy trails!

=Ayes=

*winks*

[Ratlin 79]

The forces of oppression are in full force today, i have viewed this Document of Truth a number of times and yet the webpage shows 0 views.

Clear evidence that Rolf and his jack booted forum police are clamping down on anyone that dare speaks the truth behind the "Conspiracy"

Remember comrades the founder of Ikea was a Nazi

The march of Wurmian Truth Forces (hereby known as WTF) cannot be halted .... (except for those with less than 10 FS who can't get to the riots for the aggro mobs)

Viva La Revolution comrades, viva la revolution!

[Keldun 335]

Only one problem with this: Deeds are paid out of the internal Wurm economy and the entire amount remains within circulation of the trader system.

Rolf's only income from this is the gradual increase in total silver coins circulating.

Premium time is the mayor source of income as it is either paid directly or drained from the circulating silver.

[archer 115]

Post Scriptum saves this thread .

I think the next step in this conspiracy should be decreasing the limit of citizens in a village. Maybe some ratio? Like 1 citizen per 200 tiles of deed. If you get too many citizens - there will be a small chance, that one of them will die if he leaves the village.

*winks*

Edited April 2, 2013 by archer

[Aetherwalker 1,863]

I love watching people complain about there being too many aggros, whereas a few months back people were complaining about there not being enough hunting. I went for an hour hunt this morning on a toon with 23FS and came back with 27FS and 150kg of meat, it's brilliant and there's no excuse for people to be complaining. Get 30FS and join in the slaughter.

[Hussars 511]

Oh! If we're talking conspiracy theories...

I'm still waiting to see if in 3 or 4 months, since there are so many animals and FS is so easy to gain now, that "they" try reintroducing some form of limited PVP on freedom (non-Chaos/wilds). Since you know, everyone should have 30+fs by then... I mean really, wasn't that why it failed last time?

(and no, I'm not serious lol)

Edited April 2, 2013 by Hussars

[3dSquareMan 146]

buy coins

buy deeds

give rolf money

okay wheres the point

[kukro 8]

just lol....

[Elen 1,013]

[Zuuma 42]

Dont forget the game have tin ore but still no tinfoil hat/armor.

Btw, another conspiracy... the new ratio limit dont stop the breeders, because now they just need deeds with more tiles. And tile is money.

And maybe another one, the new mob limit increased the numbers of lairs too or just the rate of spawn to keep the mob pop high? I have 3 new lairs around, maybe more 2 (dont found yet) in the last week. Maybe i am just lucky...

[Kyrmius 194]

Only one problem with this: Deeds are paid out of the internal Wurm economy and the entire amount remains within circulation of the traderd system.

Rolf's only income from this is the gradual increase in total silver coins circulating.

Premium time is the mayor source of income as it is either paid directly or drained from the circulating silver.

I disagree on the Deeds part.

I believe most Deeds are NOT paid for with coin earned through ingame economic activity.... rather I believe and am fairly certain that most Deeds are paid for with coin purchased from the Wurm Shop and thn used directly to pay for Deed forms and maintenance.

Why do I believe this? Because in any economy the majority of participants can not be Sellers that make a profit (more than they are buyers), but rather most are in fact Buyers (and if they sell they sell little). In any economy the majority are never Sellers, but Buyers. In real life there are ways to generate income if one is a "Buyer" type, but not in Wurm. In Wurm the solution is to buy coin from the Shop. Since many Players feel it's cool and great for reputation to be seen in Wurm as a Profiteer I believe most Players are reluctant to admit just how much Coin they purchase every month from the Wurm Shop.

Yes there is coin lab, yes Players sell things ingame, and Players sell characters and deeds for Euros, but I am convinced most buy their coin and if the books of the Wurm Shop ever became public I am confident my belief would be proved.

Therefore both Premium Time and Deed forms and Maintenance Coin through the Wurm Store is what is paying for Wurm, and of course Rolf is going to find ways to increase those revenue streams. That's "natural".

@Ayes Rolf knows what he's doing. He's doing what he needs to do to keep Wurm alive and growing and healthy. I don't necessarily agree with all he does, but I know I couldn't do it better than He does, so He (Rolf) has my support.

Edited April 2, 2013 by Kyrmius

[Jarosz 189]

This is not the first money making conspiracy:

1st: Neutered Priest cast in Gold 1. Could barely do anything, and therefore needed a main character or dwell in a large village being for the most part utterly useless. Many players in Gold 1 and Gold 2 had priest alts at the start dedicated to becoming champs in order to take part in the Artifact hunt. (which is why many premium accounts died off after 6 months of both Gold instances, roughly the time it took to make a Champ and get all the Artifacts).

2nd: Constant Item decay tweaking, with 30 day upkeep resulting in 0 decay on deed. (encouraged the hording of money and removal of it from the economy... not all upkeep goes back to the economy, and only trickles back at best)

3rd: Constant tweaking of Templar fighting capability (tweaking has proven to either discourage raiding, which lost paying PVP customers, or made deeds useless, which lost paying PVP customers)

4th: Opening the Home Servers to partial PVP (encouraged Deeding but resulted in mass droves of people abandoning the game)

[Ruiner 362]

"Wurmian Truth Forces a.k.a WTF" lmao

[bwg 537]

TLDR; Rolf is running a business and wants more money.

[Klaa 4,872]

There is no Rolf. Merely a figurehead for the real puppet master in the shadows.

[fatboy 448]

if rolf wants more money, pfft fix all the bugs, then maybe more will stay n spend :-P *RIP hens*, your egg layin days got halted!

[Becket 843]

_{641 words used to state your alleged conspiracy.}

_{Who says the art of conversation is dead.}

[Xandra 353]

Hi,

at first, Ayes, thank you for this well written and educated post! A pleasure to read!

There's nothing better than a conspiracy theory in the morning!

Nevertheless, I'm reluctant to write this, but I'm rather sure it isn't a conspiracy at all. You wrote:

Although I am somewhat reluctant to make any revealing statements concerning the above conspiracy as they may reduce Rolfs income from indignant players who feel that they have been fooled by Rolfs clever manuverings and manipulations of them in this regard, I am nonetheless compelled to continue onward with my revelation, due to my need to make it known that I have come to some brilliant conclusions that few have had the insight or temerity to comment upon; but, I digress.

In my humble opinion the "periodic excessive aggro spawn increases" aren't part of a conspiracy, they're the result of a completely borked spawn code - not more. The spawn code is this much borked that its failures need to get corrected every few months with some changes (regarding the cap numbers, for instance), or with manual corrections that are obvious when checking the graphs, but are not always communicated: The longer the server runs, the less roaming animals out there.

(The only exception are Trolls and Unicorns, I cannot help but assuming Rolf has a special connection to them )

So basically, once the players are complaining too loud about nothing to hunt, Rolf brings some band-aid patches, and drowns us with those "periodic excessive aggro spawn increases".

I'll never forget the "bearageddon" on GV - I had logged out in the wilderness, far from my house, unusually for sure, but due to instant RL trouble that I couldn't ignore. A day later I logged in again, and as soon as I materialized in the worlds of Wurm, I looked straight into the hungry eyes of a black bear, and I heard myself screaming in pain. A look at the left - a wolf staring hungrily at me. A look at the right - another black bear sharpening its claws.

So I turned and rushed to the nearby lake, only to get eaten by a brown bearshark that had waited for me there.

Then I read the lines in lokal "Be careful, Bears all over the place!" Sure.

We had a lot of complaining again recently, and Rolf answered in the way he does such usually. I may comment that I think he did much better this time, because he finally addressed the problem of a majority of aggros slain by templars before they could be hunted - and don't you think that this will actually lower his income?

The change (aggros avoiding deeds) makes templars even more useless (on PvE, I cannot speak for PvP) than before. Even if it doesn't fully work yet.

People that made default deeds before (5x5 with templar: 1.24S/ month upkeep, 121 tiles) can now kick their ghost and enlarge their deed vastly (for instance 11x11 w/o ghost, for 1.06S/ month, 529 tiles = 4.4 times more!), and get a lot more for less money than before. Maybe they'd need to build a guard tower.

So the only way to assume a conspiracy would be to hope for more deeds planted, or for a heavy enlargement of existing deeds. And since enlargement is still a pita due to center-based & unmovable deed tokens this will fail too often (perimeter-blocking).

The crazy spawns at the moment will reduce fast enough, once the abandoned mines will fill up. It's a window of opportunity now to get some FS, I cannot but advice to use them - to quote the immortal Protunia: "Get to work!" Now, as long as it lasts. It will not last forever.

To raise the income of Rolf, if desired, there'd be much more suggestions that would (maybe) work better. But I'll not list 'em here, would be OT.

Just this: What's been paid with RL money most often (= RL money influx to the game)? Yes, Premium Time, because it's cheaper this way.

Nearly any established Premium player will pay it's deed upkeep from the ingame income with no problem at all, even w/o trader. Only things like a trader or Uber tools/ gear/ weapons need RL deposits maybe - and these are rare.

So the primary goal should be to get new Premiums, right? And keep the old ones? Because this is the only way to get a real RL money income for the game?

I'd be happy to help to set up such a conspiracy. But this is a topic for another thread.

Have a good time!

[yarnevk 257]

I bought coins for every deed and every deed resize, and this is common. While it is possible be to self supporting this takes time to develop the merchant contracts and milk the traders and get regular work. So that deed form is likely paid for with shop silver because that is the quickest way for a new player to get themsevles safe, only eventually the upkeep is paid for with game silver from those who choose to do so, some just shop the upkeep as well.

So Aayes point remains, the goal of increased aggro is to force f2p enclosures into becoming p2p deeds, because it is simply not survivable with the level of current mobs. It used to be you could run away from an aggro, the problem now is there are so many you will have two aggros on you and run into another. And that is just right outside deeded areas.

So this is going to backfire and result in ragequits more than premium deeders.

It will also backfire with premium deeders, meat farms are no longer possible but the side affect of those using the templar as offline hunter to support their carnivore herd and their omnivore selves is also no longer possible. So either say screw it and pay a player hunter for meat, yet to see anyone start advertising this service because who wants to supply one players deed with sufficient meat for 1 mo for 1s?

Or you are forced to become a puller and instead of farming for an hour you now troll the mobs standing outside your border over to the guard until the guard dies and you rage quit for lack of meat and having aggro forced on you by type A hunters who irced the change, when all you wanted to do was pay your monthly server so you could farm in peace with less stress because you get enough of fighting at work. You then realize you could do the same thing with the guard tower outside your deed, and give up KOS and fire your deed templar. Hunters need no big deeds for they roam the lands so I do not see income increasing from those types.

I have yet to see any post from ranchers saying they enlarged their deed to accomodate their herd ratio, instead I see posts of dead herds and rage quits.

So I see no conspiratorial upside, instead I see nothing but backfiring downsides.

Edited April 3, 2013 by yarnevk

[Moxie 271]

I don't understand why some people act like it's a huge revelation that Rolf isn't running this game for charity.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Moxie

[Protunia 735]

too much text foe me today.......get used to it.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Protunia

[Ravensheart 10]

Ok, let's lay this at Rolf's doorstep. Right. Players complained about the lack of non-aggros and hunting in general, while at the same time complaining about breeders and and animal hoarders. Rolf gave us more non-aggros and more hunting than most people can use, he fixed the deeds and farms to restrict the number of hoarded animals. This same thing happened with PMK and Chaos, people complained, Rolf responded. The only conspiracy I see is the one where the players are trying to drive Rolf crazy by trying to change everything back and forth without consideration of what those changes will have on the entire game. Wurm gave us multi-story buildings, visual armor, animated creatures and tons of other changes in place now and coming soon. Folks, stop asking for things and then complaining when you get what you ask for. You are not looking at the larger picture of what these changes mean to the whole game system. Sure, Rolf likes making money, who doesn't?, but he kept this game going when he really wasn't making enough to make it worthwhile. I have an idea, instead of asking for new stuff for a few months, lets just let the staff get caught up on bugs and minor adjustments.

[fatboy 448]

I just want my hens to work rite........

[Ayes 3,715]

I have read all responses with interest and can see that a few have delved between the lines to pluck the grains of truth from the chaff, which are not meant to feed the chickens by the way or even the wayside. For those that have chosen not to respond I am also grateful, since reflected contemplation can be disrupted by tangents fueled by displaced aggressions, as aggros are sure to fortify. This being said, there is more to be said. Yes, that's what I said but enough said of that.

Anyway, I *may* have come to some conclusions about this particular conspiracy based not upon fact; but, for me to reveal my *maynesses* would only tend to reduce the effectiveness of the perpetuation of my further conspiracy theorems (of which there are many), so I shall not go into these speculative divergent strings of ponderations, which are indeed preponderent. As I said, between the lines are where the truth lies (lies?) and thus the directions in which the respondents have traveled are wherein the answers are to be found.

Yes, Rolf as the game creator is entitled to make as much profit as his constructs enable him to, I have never disputed this, rather always supported his income producing endeavors when they are of a straightforward nature removed from the cloak of conspiratorial shadings of the dark, such as this most recent subterfuge. Remember, I was the one who uncovered the Gnome Conspiracy not that long ago when Rolfs perpetual motion hamsters were being mysteriously slain in the darkest Wurm nights resulting in numerious server shutdowns; so you will realize that I have a unique insight into these seemingly random occurrences within the Wurm landscapes which make little sense. Yet this Gnome Conspiracy continues onward since those that could disrupt its progress have chosen to ignore my enlightened words of warning. This latest conspiracy falls under those warning tennants as well but that is too obvious to go into further detail about.

Needless to say, what I have said has been needed, if only to supply the playerbase some insight into the creative thinking of the game creator, which is at times of a double edged sword as it cuts in both ways wounding the parties on each side of it. I claim no omniscience in this regard, as some of Rolfs more abstract reasonings can not be deciphered by the common man or woman or even uncommon ones. As always, I hold much respect for Rolfs ingenious creation and perpetuation of the game of Wurm, that was never in question here, at least not by myself, nor was my intent to discredit those basic truths which tend to be self evident. The point is that these layers upon layers make perfect entry points for conspiratorial subplots to be slipped in hidden from the general playerbase which must be uncovered in order to enlighten their paths within the Wurm dark nights of uncertainty, of that you can be certain.

Yes, it may at times be easy to criticize the foibles of an eccentric esoteric game construct such as this but discussion conveys ideas which then can be put into effect to the further benifit of the game, not that I wish to become too practical at this point in time however. Just keep the laying of eggs to the hens and we will all be better off for it.

=Ayes=

Post Scriptum indeed...

*winks*

[Rathgar 959]

Enlightening.