Newsletter Going Out

[Protunia 735]

I think that's fair, but not sure if possible to keep track of. I guess we'll find out the full details in the next few days.

The problem is you didn't pay the new price so you should get less than someone who does.

This is why hes starting this fresh from the date he posted its just much easier that way.

Plus the offer was not available when you bought time for the cheaper price.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Protunia

[Lycanthropic 523]

I can't remember if it was stated, but if I pay for premium with in-game coin, do I still get the powder? If so, this is another kind of in-balance. Does anyone know how much a trader pays to buy a powder?

Do traders buy back ingame items anyways? Not sure, never tried to re-sell a game item I bought.

I dont think Rolf gave a clear answer yet to the question if buying prem with ingame coin will give sleeppowder. I could have missed it tho, time to rescan his posts in here XD

Edit:

Bingo..

You have to keep in mind that wurm will be overflowing with sleeppowder that people want to sell, probably lowering the coin you can earn by selling them significantly.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Lycanthropic

[Macgruber 4]

For me, even with the increase, Wurm is still half the price and twice the fun of any games I've played in the past as a subscription based model.

Also comes with half the performance and twice the bugs of other sub based games. I hope actual bug fixing is included as part of the price increase model.

[Webbler 64]

For me, even with the increase, Wurm is still half the price and twice the fun of any games I've played in the past as a subscription based model.

Quoted for truth.

Please do not mistake things I am bringing up as complaints or protest to the increase, I am just trying to point out, that everything must be very carefully looked into for the current premium player base, and future players alike.

[Lycanthropic 523]

Also comes with half the performance and twice the bugs of other sub based games. I hope actual bug fixing is included as part of the price increase model.

He might hire a professional bug-hunter now, who stares at code all day long picking out the bad lines

[Edwinall 24]

wow! couldn't have come at a worse time for us Brits where we're almost a pound for euro right now.

understandably you need to cover inflation... but by THIS MUCH? it's a few times more than inflation..... and so soon after you guys went 1.0! (and I was there for gold, where everything was ?sacks) :/

[Kiddo 27]

Hello Rolf,

At the end of the day is your game, so your rules. But are you sure that this change will actually bring you profit?

Raising only the price of premium might be a good idea since people would pretty much be forced to pay since we all know that with the limits of free players, all this F2P thing is pretty much a trial.

But when it comes about silvers, I'm quite sure that each player has a budget they can afford or are willing to invest in a game, and raising the silver price will only force them to buy less so you will end up with roughly the same revenues. I would't change this if I would be you. For example, my budget is 20 euros per month and I calculated my deeds expenses to be exactly 15 euros. With this change I'll have to remain with a single deed (stretched) and disband the other. But I will still pay you only 20 euros.

The problem is with the people like me, casuals, who are not willing to invest more than other game subscriptions cost (like in WoW, LOTRO, Xsyon, Fallen Earth, etc). We will be very limited in terms of what we'll can afford, this will generate frustration and many of us would leave the game all together. Now I don't know how much we represent from your income share, maybe we are just disposable...

What I would suugest:

- DO NOT change silver price, or if you really have to do it just raise it with the VAT (so like 12 euros / 10 silver);

- DO NOT raise normal premium package price or raise it only slightly (on par with the silver price) to like 6 euros (to covet VAT), but add some limits to it like not being able to use sleep bonus or set a deed or have a trader / merchant (that would pretty much be perfect for the casual player - villager type)

- add a VIP premium package at like 12 euros with full privileges and some perks like that sleep powder (which most players looking for serious business would buy)

- add some cosmetic things to trader without any practical in-game advantage like "gnomes" (which seem to be the newest fashion item on my server) or glowing dye which could allow anyone to dye their items like they're rare

As I said at the end of the day it's your game, your rules, but take care to not loose most of the casuals players.

For myself I would stay, because I love the game, but I won't pay more; I'll just adjust down my game experience.

Cheers,

Alex

Edited April 18, 2013 by Kiddo

[Protunia 735]

You have to keep in mind that wurm will be overflowing with sleeppowder that people want to sell, probably lowering the coin you can earn by selling them significantly.

Seems referal prices will also go up as well as those are directly related to cost of coin and time in game.

if time is now 8 eu for 30 days rather than 5 eu that is a 60% increase.

So expect referals to be about 10s or more soon instead of the 6-7s I have seen.

Maybe not if the in game price stays at 10s though.....hadn't thought of that.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Protunia

[Aflacduck 2,174]

I know this says "more info will follow shortly" but it sounds an awful lot like another here's a big update that has a huge chunk of "only for epic". I know Epic is meant to be special with different features but well...As things stand there's already a large number of creatures (Valrei etc) that the freedom cluster/chaos don't ever see. Please don't forget about us over here on freedom and chaos! Really hope these new creature models aren't all just the Valrei ones we never see heh.

Missions are pretty irritating right now. The easy ones are completed in 1 hour then we don't do anything for a week or more. The hard ones are almost never done. Rarely is there a mission that's difficult but doable. Quite honestly, Epic needs a lot of tweaking and updates with the missions / rewards to encourage more than a handful of players to actually do them.

In my experience on epic we will barely use these flower beds / cosmetic items that constantly get added, simply because a lot of us don't care about making the game look pretty. Rarely is there actually any new content that only epic uses, while new cosmetics that we rarely use are constantly added. I still haven't seen any of the new statues except for the demon statue, and I play and move around a lot.

There's also only a few creatures that freedom / chaos never see, and that's partly because the day that Rolf introduces Sons of Nogump into the freedom cluster is when he is out of a job. You should also be thankful somewhat, as those creatures have been glitched for a long time, killing players with tons of broken mechanics. If anything this actually shows that Epic is a bit neglected compared with Freedom. They also give very few rewards for their deaths (except for zombies / dominates), despite the fact that they are extremely hard to kill.

As for the change itself, I'm not sure how much extra revenue this will bring. Many players are already talking about getting rid of their extra priest accounts, although that is likely just to be a kneejerk reaction.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Aflacduck

[Edwinall 24]

- DO NOT change silver price, or if you really have to do it just raise it with the VAT (so like 12 euros / 10 silver)

have to agree with Kiddo here. you're inflating the prices of everything in one foul swoop.

Not only are you planning to increases Prem time, but you're also increasing the cost of everything in Wurm. It will have such a knock on effect that people simply will look at the monthly cost of playing prem and owning a deed with a bit of pocket money and sod off elsewhere.

i'm struggling to see how this would be good for business personally, especially given the weakness of the Pound and Dollar with the Euro right now :/

[Lycanthropic 523]

Like Kiddo mentioned, now that I think about it, changing the silver price to, might affect the current economy on wurm rather badly.

But then again, if silverprices would remain untouched (and only prem time costing more), then Rolf would need to disable buying prem time ingame, or raise it to 16s for one month (which offcourse would make lots of people who buy prem ingame angry :s).

[Protunia 735]

Like Kiddo mentioned, now that I think about it, changing the silver price to, might affect the current economy on wurm rather badly.

But then again, if silverprices would remain untouched (and only prem time costing more), then Rolf would need to disable buying prem time ingame, or raise it to 16s for one month (which offcourse would make lots of people who buy prem ingame angry :s).

I would raise it to 15s myself as many people have played for years on in game coin I am sure they can afford 5s more to play without paying cash.

That way the Referal Reward for using an alt is not out of balance.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Protunia

[Aldur 651]

I'm surprised how easily this community tolerates this change. Premium went up by 60%, silver cost probably will increase by same amount, all that because CodeClub (allegedly) failed to have emergency funds AND failed at reviewing tax law within 10 years of starting the project. Nobody finds that scary? Some say, it's ok because "it will go on game development"... what development? CodeClub has about 8 employees? The work they do amounts to 2-3 at best. Maybe layoffs are the right choice? Although it's not me to say or recommend that, it's just how it looks to me and I have a decent idea about running software development.

What I am really afraid of here is what this means for newcomers. They don't care about some "fantastic items chances" and "sleeping powders", all they see is an uphill climb of mixed long timers, confusing rules and crafts, slow grinds and clunky mechanics. Even 5 euro a month was a hard bargain on them, for such a game... I don't think 8 will even cross their minds as option. Same for silver prices, upkeeping smallest deed will increase monthly costs to about 10 euro! That's the cost of typical AAA title and probably more than Unity-based upcoming sandbox mmo's will charge.

What should have really followed with this price increase, would be changes to newcomers experience, easier time to "catch up" in skills, easier time to learn the game, better newcomer benefits from getting premium (body control to ride horses, body strength to bash or at least bashing on their own deeds!), better social options to actually find and enjoy a community, better deed system to actually allow securely sharing one deed without being at the mercy of mayor.

Newcomers are the lifeblood of this game, even if it won't die without them, the profits will drop with the premium count, the net will not be 60% gain, it may even be negative in long-term. That makes this business decision fail at the very goal it was made for.

Why couldn't this have been solved in DIFFERENT way, offer skill gains and other useful services/items for silver, like most F2P games do. What is wrong with an option to pay for skills, instead of grinding them? Most people have jobs and families you know, they are not interested in spending 8 hours to get 1 mining skill, but they just might be willing to pay an euro for it.

[san_tropez 394]

How many people can you afford to lose, Rolf? What would an increase in the cost of premium mean if every fourth or even third character stopped paying premium? Have you even considered that?

[Protunia 735]

Comon now the game is excellent and its been the cheapest ride alot of players have had for such a game in a long long time.

Even with the increase its still 30% or so cheaper than alot of games.

[Kiddo 27]

Lycanthropic,

That's one of the reasons why I suggested two premium and VIP packages - the low level one for casual players will stay on par with the silver price, so it would still be 10 silvers in-game too, while the high level one will indeed by more expensive (20 silver in this case) but, again, people that would really want that VIP package would be the dedicated players, not the casuals so they should be able to afford it.

Does that makes sense at all?

[Schiann 994]

I'm a little confused as to why anyone would be calling for a rise on the silver cost of premium time, as the cost of silvers is already being raised; thus, cost of paying for premium with silvers is going up right alongside direct premium payment.

Let's not forget that there are still many players who have no other option but to purchase silvers and pay with those. They already pay double what others do, so adding even more cost seems... a bit crazy.

[Aldur 651]

Comon now the game is excellent and its been the cheapest ride alot of players have had for such a game in a long long time.

Even with the increase its still 30% or so cheaper than alot of games.

Just because a game is unique doesn't mean it's excellent. There is a group of players that truly likes wurm, but they fail to notice they are elite, they have played it for a long time, they established themselves. Through newcomer eyes, this game is nothing but grind and boredom, this is what they have experienced when trying it and that is all they will know after they eventually quit it. There even was a review claiming exact same opinion about wurm. This kind of situation is far from "excellent".

[Idony 697]

I've bought over 2 gold or close to it in sleep powder the last few months so yes it does sell and people do buy it.

How much of this was purchased with real money?

name='Protunia' timestamp='1366236054' post='789756']

It's all real money in Wurm.....nothing comes in without somebody buying it so do not go there.

If you do not understand that part then now you know money does not grow on trees in Wurm.

Now if we want to get into how and when I spent the $600-700 bucks I have into the game we can.

I don't follow.... Sure the coins all came from somewhere (people purchasing and adding to the economy) but functionally (as far as Rolf would be concerned) he doesn't make anything for money essentially spent twice (or thrice etc)

So.. yes money does not grow on trees in wurm.. but when the money recycles through Rolf doesn't make anything on it... The non-existance of wurm-money-trees isnt that closely tied to the non-existance of RL money-trees since once in the game the money is part of a seperate economy...

Or do I miss something?

[Edwinall 24]

I'm surprised how easily this community tolerates this change. Premium went up by 60%, silver cost probably will increase by same amount, all that because CodeClub (allegedly) failed to have emergency funds AND failed at reviewing tax law within 10 years of starting the project. Nobody finds that scary?

hate to say this but I dont think I could've written that better myself even when sober.

I'm seeing a pattern here.... prices went up when Wurm went "Gold".... Price hike again after "1,0" .... this game is getting more expensive than three or four AAA titled MMO's..... and it's by no means perfect even now. Before, we were happy to pay this price.... we've been happy for 5-6 years paying this price and "accepting" Wogic and Bugs for what they are... but now you seem to be planning to charge more than an AAA title for a sub prime game?

all i can say is i'm glad my Prem and Deed time runs out in June.

[Kaiva 2]

We may add a 1-month-1-Silver-Coin option for 10 EUR

Edit: ok i wrote crap everything is fine

But 16 Euro a Month, which i had to spend, is the maximum of all feelings

Edited April 17, 2013 by Kaiva

[Protunia 735]

I'm a little confused as to why anyone would be calling for a rise on the silver cost of premium time, as the cost of silvers is already being raised; thus, cost of paying for premium with silvers is going up right alongside direct premium payment.

Let's not forget that there are still many players who have no other option but to purchase silvers and pay with those. They already pay double what others do, so adding even more cost seems... a bit crazy.

Because you get 2s ,1 sleep powder( maybe? ) 20 days time and 1 hour sleep bonus for 10s in game?

thats like almost free and never paying a thing into the game.

Its been overly cheap as it was for people to use the alts and this referal bit instead of paying for real time.

[Eyesgood 2,121]

The option to pay premium time with in-game silver should honestly be removed. It mostly benefits the older players that very likely pay ALL their premium time with coin they earn from selling items to other players.

Rolf, it was a nice gesture to allow us to pay premium time with silver, but the economics of that decision are obviously now different. I understand having to raise the rates, but the newer players will pay more money for premium while the older players (many of them) will see no financial change out-of-pocket because they will still pay the same 10s for premium. That's not a good trend.

Just get rid of the option to pay premium with silver and stabilize and increase your income from premium subs. It's needed and I believe most would understand.

[Protunia 735]

I don't follow.... Sure the coins all came from somewhere (people purchasing and adding to the economy) but functionally (as far as Rolf would be concerned) he doesn't make anything for money essentially spent twice (or thrice etc)

So.. yes money does not grow on trees in wurm.. but when the money recycles through Rolf doesn't make anything on it... The non-existance of wurm-money-trees isnt that closely tied to the non-existance of RL money-trees since once in the game the money is part of a seperate economy...

Or do I miss something?

It all doesn't not come back when you buy trader items.....the King or Rolf in this case gets his cut too.

The same goes for Deed upkeep the King or Rolf doesn't send it all back to the Traders only a Portion goes back into the economy.

Edited April 17, 2013 by Protunia

[Lycanthropic 523]

I'm a little confused as to why anyone would be calling for a rise on the silver cost of premium time, as the cost of silvers is already being raised; thus, cost of paying for premium with silvers is going up right alongside direct premium payment.

Let's not forget that there are still many players who have no other option but to purchase silvers and pay with those. They already pay double what others do, so adding even more cost seems... a bit crazy.

Aha, nono, in what I said, that would be when Rolf wouldnt raise the cost of silver in the store (but only the prem time).

But then to make it not cheaper to buy silver in the shop, to then spend it ingame for prem time, one would have to raise the amount of silver needed to buy prem ingame.

This would keep the costs of prem time the same ingame and store wise, but wouldnt affect the upkeep costs of your deeds. Because if Rolf will raise the price of 1gold to 160€, it'll make the price to maintain your deed go up to, combined with the increased prem time, will result in allot of extra money to be paid for playing wurm :s