Reconsidering Premium Costs.

[Snirp 13]

I think it's perfectly valid to compare Wurm to things other than video games. Just because it's not tangible doesn't put it into some special category. Wurm is entertainment and I tend to compare it to other forms of entertainment in my life. Wurm is time spent, so I compare it to other ways of spending my time. Most importantly, it's an expense, so I compare it to all my other expenses. 

 

In my honest opinion, Wurm is a totally unique and wonderful experience and even though it may have bugs and problems (I got quite frustrated when I couldn't log in after getting premium time - not to mention lag related deaths etc etc) - the people working on this game totally deserve any money you can give them. Again, I realise that some of you guys have complicated set ups and numerous alts and super deeds and s**t. 

Edited June 8, 2013 by Snirp

[Eyesgood 2,121]

I think it's perfectly valid to compare Wurm to things other than video games. Just because it's not tangible doesn't put it into some special category. Wurm is entertainment and I tend to compare it to other forms of entertainment in my life. Wurm is time spent, so I compare it to other ways of spending my time. Most importantly, it's an expense, so I compare it to all my other expenses. 

 

In my honest opinion, Wurm is a totally unique and wonderful experience and even though it may have bugs and problems (I got quite frustrated when I couldn't log in after getting premium time - not to mention lag related deaths etc etc) - the people working on this game totally deserve any money you can give them. Again, I realise that some of you guys have complicated set ups and numerous alts and super deeds and s**t. 

 

Snirp,

 

I understand your points and in some ways consider them to be completely valid.  Sure, we are going to spend money on entertainment, etc. and in that context, it is very easy to argue for a price increase. Rolf and his team are working on a truly amazing game and they all deserve (even the volunteers) fair compensation for their work.

 

However, my issue with the increase is not as much the increase amount as it is in the TOTAL UNFAIRNESS of his decision.  Rolf TOTALLY IGNORED key mechanics that he could have changed which would have made this drastic increase not as necessary.  For example:

 

1.  Why did Rolf leave the option to pay for premium time with in-game silver?  Translated:  Those with the ability to make tons of silver WILL CONTINUE TO PAY NO MONEY TO PLAY THIS GAME.  Meanwhile, all the rest of the premium playerbase (the middle class of Wurm) get stuck paying for the bill.  And we are expected to accept the bait of a silly little sleep powder and be thankful for it???  Every premium player should pay the same to support the game.  But no, the veteran rich get richer and the middle-class pay for it.

2.  Why did Rolf not do something with traders and how they are being totally abused and exploited by those in the know to manipulate the silver flow in their favor?

3.  Why doesn't Rolf take advantage of his cash shop and open up access to legacy items as a means to increase cash flow without imbalancing the game? - one of a dozen great ideas!!!!

 

Rolf has completey clammed up and ignores MANY FINE SUGGESTIONS to deal with cash-flow WITHOUT the need to up the price so dramatically.  I think the Wurm community has a right to know the answers.  I think Rolf had better get out from under the kitchen table and explain why.  And finally, if he doesn't do something to quell this uprising, he can expect a serious hit to his bottom line.  

 

There are many things Rolf could have done to spread the additional revenue needs across the entire player-base.  But he chose to stick it to the middle class of Wurm - the very ones who are paying his bills!

Edited June 8, 2013 by Eyesgood

[JackDawson 0]

I would come back to wurm and play. I would happily pay the 21 American monthly, IF there was another option to pay with credit card that Paypal has no access too. As it stands, you must still go through Paypal to use a credit card. Before the Terms of service changed with paypal in 2012, I used to have 4 paid accounts. Once Paypal changed their TOS, I stopped using paypal all together. Imagine if I had an alternative payment method, I could be paying for 4 accounts still.

 

Read this article why a lot of companies are loosing customers.

 

http://annystudio.com/misc/losing-customers-because-of-paypal/

 

This is one of about 4 articles that I have found by doing a simple google search. Point is, I personally wont use paypal, but i'm not saying take it completely away, since others still want to use it. I just want the option to use my credit card, and not have interfearence from paypal. As the above article points out, if you use paypal just to use a credit card, it's still signing you up for paypal. No matter how you look at it. I want to use my credit card without all that extra hassle. And I don't want to have to sign up for anything further.

 

I can see the wurm team is doing their best. But please, look to add extra payment options for us credit card users who do not like paypal.

 

Thank you for reading,

Jack

Edited June 8, 2013 by JackDawson

[Zuuma 42]

Rolf and his team are working on a truly amazing game and they all deserve (even the volunteers) fair compensation for their work.

 

He could pay the volunteers with silver, because rolf can just print silver anytime.

Would help to get more (good) helping hands. 

Would put money ingame to keep the economy alive without the freeleach traders.

And no more "they are doing that for free, be happy we at least have mods/devs".

Edited June 8, 2013 by Zuuma

[bluemoonn 15]

A 60% increase, making 2 months of premium time €16 isn't that horrible at all. Around 8 euro's a month is what I pay for most games. However, the fact that silver is a necessity and that premium won't go well without silver makes it expensive. If I wanted to pay for my toon AND my deed, I'd have to cash a lot more. I also feel really sorry for all the people who had to drop alts because of this.

 

Also, another problem is that the game doesn't really live up to 8 euros a month (only counting premium here, since you CAN live without silver, although life isn't easy that way). Rolf's team doesn't really seem like a professional one. There are tons of bugs which have yet to be fixed, since the start of Wurm 1.0. Also, I really have no idea where all that extra money goes to. For all I know it could go directly into Rolf's pocket..

 

I personally don't really find the price increase THAT bad, and will probably keep playing, but that's because I, and probably any other person acccepting the price change, are already hooked to this game . I don't really think new players would prefer to stay after seeing the prices for premium. Perhaps a possible solution for this is to reduce the limitations for F2P players? That way they could try it out more, and see if they truly want to stay and pay.

[Cornchips 3,037]

one salt life t-shirt costs $19.99

2 months of wurm premium costs more than this item

[As_I_Decay 1,592]

I don't know why any of you keep comparing a video game to physical products. Sorry to burst your bubble, but despite popular belief, Wurm is not: a Big Mac, a night out, a movie ticket, a weekend on Obongo Islands with everything paid or the Jefferson Memorial. Wurm is however still a video game, and video games is the only thing you could possible compare Wurm with

Little off topic, but I'll bite: The point stands strong.

I inhale roughly $20 of smoke, daily. And today, I bought a 3 topping pizza at work for lunch. That cost me close to $15 dollars.

If I willingly pay $20 daily for smoking material, and willingly pay $15 dollars for a pizza that my body is going to expel from me in less than 3 hours, I really have no room to complain about my video game monthly fee raising 7-8 dollars.

20 American dollars for a month's worth of fun/entertainment is not unfair. If money is that tight for you that $7-8 per month really makes such a difference, maybe a reevaluation of your priorities are in order. Maybe some time away from video games (and more time at work making money) is your solution.

Edited June 8, 2013 by As_I_Decay

[san_tropez 394]

Little off topic, but I'll bite: The point stands strong.

Problem is that all of your points are based on your own opinion of what "worth it" is to yourself. You are trying to convince me that the way you justify paying your monthly subscription is the same reason why I or anybody else should do it too. Putting 8 bucks next to my rent will indeed make the price hike look small, but I don't see how the two compares

[Eyesgood 2,121]

Let's talk about this and fairness

 

1.  Why did Rolf leave the option to pay for premium time with in-game silver?  Translated:  Those with the ability to make tons of silver WILL CONTINUE TO PAY NO MONEY TO PLAY THIS GAME.  Meanwhile, all the rest of the premium playerbase (the middle class of Wurm) get stuck paying for the bill.  And we are expected to accept the bait of a silly little sleep powder and be thankful for it???  Every premium player should pay the same to support the game.  But no, the veteran rich get richer and the middle-class pay for it.

[As_I_Decay 1,592]

Problem is that all of your points are based on your own opinion of what "worth it" is to yourself. You are trying to convince me that the way you justify paying your monthly subscription is the same reason why I or anybody else should do it too. Putting 8 bucks next to my rent will indeed make the price hike look small, but I don't see how the two compares

You're right, 8 bucks next to rent would appear to be a small increase (for most people).

People are using examples of other forms of entertainment/cost of living to justify their acceptance of the price hike in Wurm, itself (another source of entertainment to those people). I did it with my own examples. I didn't need that pizza this afternoon, I could have easily packed up some leftovers from last night's dinner and saved myself the $15. I entertained myself, like I do with Wurm.

Really, if you have a problem with the increase, or truly feel that Wurm isn't worth $20 a month, you're free to leave. Trying to convince Rolf that it was a bad decision and that it should be reverted (pretty much what the point behind this thread is), especially when there are plenty of people that are willing to pay the increase, is a waste of time.

 

 

Eyesgood:

 

Let's talk about this and fairness 

 

1.  Why did Rolf leave the option to pay for premium time with in-game silver?  Translated:  Those with the ability to make tons of silver WILL CONTINUE TO PAY NO MONEY TO PLAY THIS GAME.  Meanwhile, all the rest of the premium playerbase (the middle class of Wurm) get stuck paying for the bill.  And we are expected to accept the bait of a silly little sleep powder and be thankful for it???  Every premium player should pay the same to support the game.  But no, the veteran rich get richer and the middle-class pay for it.

 

 

You keep bringing up traders. Get over it. Even a 2 week old nub has the option to sink some RL money into the game to buy a trader. That's how everyone starts it. You want to play ball? Suit up.

Edited June 9, 2013 by As_I_Decay

[Theodis 339]

While you can freely compare the cost of Wurm to other non entertainment stuff, people who are going to be paying for Wurm are certainly going to be comparing it to the costs and value of other entertainment. People who have invested lots of time and effort into Wurm are likely going to stick around due to that investment(maybe paying for less stuff and characters to fit it in their budget) but anyone that hasn't isn't going to have a hard time finding cheaper entertainment that likely has more value for the cost to them especially with this jump in cost. This'll just lead to a stagnant or declining population.

[Postes 5,282]

As someone who has worked on a few games, and obviously played a lot of MMOs and other games the business platform lacks a bit for Wurm.  Their entire income is fully based upon premium subscriptions and silver.  There's also a large majority that don't purchase in game coins, they instead buy it from players, and others buy premium via silver.  I know players who have played over a year on Freedom ONLY using in game silver, because they reached a point of income where they can afford to really pay nothing to Code Club SE.  Some even then make so much they profit off the game, selling drake, silver, items, etc.

 

 

Many games are free, and have perks you can buy with premium.  Is there an advantage to these perks?  Sometimes, and not all are fair, and I am not saying he should move through with those type of deals, but there's many aesthetic perks, visual perks, and other perks Rolf could implement.  Get an iPhone, there's a million free games that offer perks for a cost, and that's how they make their money.  

 

 

Name changes - Tons of account buying, swapping, there's safe ways to enable name changes that still keeps a history of the past name.  Easily people would pay for these out the ying-yang.

 

Cosmetic "Donator" Hats - Who really gives a crap if it's like other games?  There's custom armor now, you could easily have donator hats and wear.   Is it really a big deal someone else donated $10 to get a Tophat?  I mean that's what it is, a donation to the server, you get a non-gamechanging item that is purely visual and no-drop.  It helps everyone, and the donator gets something from it.

 

50% off Weekend Sales - Give people option to buy 2 months premium (nothing more) for 50% off.  Maybe some the players not financially set can afford it then, or new people could try it out easily at a lower cost, then perhaps they'll stick with it, and reprem up again.

 

A shop? - T-shirts, mugs, stickers?  There's no merchandise for Wurm at all.  I doubt this would be a HOT seller, but you never know, I bet someone would buy something. 

 

 

There's tons of stuff that Rolf could substitute in to make money.  Literally tons.  There isn't a real need to up the premium costs with other ways to make money.  

[joedobo 1,187]

I'm blown away at all these folks who refuse to acknowledge the detrimental effects of having a price at the very least equal to your competitors. To experience all the game has to offer its significantly more than competition.

I think its a mistake to take on the, "Wurm is unique and has not competitors" mentality. People play this game for entertainment and there are lots of other games that can fulfill that need. Existent players will stick around simply because of sentimental attachments, or (as in my case) to avoid the effort you need to spend to learn a new game.

Wurm can't grow raising its prices on existent players. It needs new players to grow and many of these players will be comparing Wurm to other options.

[Eyesgood 2,121]

I had real challenges talking my friends into trying Wurm with the avatars all looking the same and little animations.  They have corrected that now, so now all I have to do is convince them that Wurm is worth paying the new price...  That's a harder sell than cookie-cutter avatars!

[Revnik 87]

The physical comparisons are silly for one simple fact. Wurm is so slow paced, many people like playing multiple accounts. You don't buy multiple of the same t-shirt, pizza for lunch, or movie tickets. If one account was completely enough the price hike may be tolerable. When you have to pay prem and then pay for silver for your upkeep it starts to be priced in the annoying category. The problem is, if you are a person who likes to play multiple accounts the game just ranked as the most expensive mmo out there, by a lot. Sure, you're argument could be that these people don't NEED to play like that, but that is their choice. Something they enjoyed is now no longer economically feasible for them. 

 

If he needed to increase by 25% for VAT, no worries. The whole 60% increase was over the top. My personal opinion to the people who defend the new price, well they clearly have more money than sense. My prem time is up today so off to the shop I go. I make a good living, but against my desires to throw more money at Rolf I will just be paying for one account, and not two. 

[Kegan 3,926]

I am not sure what the server cost are but we don't really need as many servers as we have. We do however need at least one server that gets reset every year or something that way all the people that like the excitement of a new server can have their fix at least once a year. 

 

A good idea might be like an epic style cluster where the current PvE servers are like the "home" servers and add in a new scenario server to go with the new freedom missions or something. This new server you could deed on and everything but at some point the server will have a map reset. I am not sure on details but we need something like this or we will end up with either no new servers ever or more than we need and have to pay for them all.

 

If we are honest we don't need as many servers as we have now but i am yearning for a new server because i like the excitement that only a new server brings. I would be willing to lose a deed once a year for a new map granted it would be a smaller deed then i have now but i would keep that larger deed as a home base and just have an outpost on the new scenario server for the fun of it all.

Edited June 9, 2013 by Kegan

[JackDawson 0]

For me it's not about the Cost. Heck I paid 40 USD on the game "Darkfall - Unholy Wars" which brings just as much enjoyment to me as WURM does. AND it has a monthly fee of 15 USD.

 

The dirrerence for me is, DarkFall allows me to use my credit card without paypal. WURM can have me back if they offer this option as well. I would rather play WURM. I know I brought this up earlier in this thread, but no one seems to care about us non-paypal users.

[Nyct 5]

edit: Im sorry this turned out so long, but I had awful lot on my mind considering Wurm, because it has special place in my heart.

 

 

Id like to offer different viewpoint, from someone who isnt exactly veteran player, but always returning one. Because this might very possibly be my last return. Im definitely avid fan of Wurm for at least last 2-3 years, greatly appreciating what wurm offers, even though I  tend to play for few months followed by few months long break. I tend to get drained by certain not very polished game mechanics and in need of break every so often, but I always stay informed and following Wurms progress. I also tend to really enjoy starting from scratch and feeling helpless aware of that awful lot of work I need to do to establish myself in the wilderness. Thus I never got to the point of tending to huge chunk of land and/or owning/managing a village, it just doesnt appeal to me. Though I was part of one..I never really enjoyed it. What I love about wurm is freedom and nomad life, exploration and sense of wonder...whenever I stumble upon decaying house or village, lonely animals escaping abandoned pens, leftovers of previous "generations". I once settled under a very steep cliff trying to preserve ruined nature by replanting whole area. On my trip for sprouts Ive found this beautiful abandoned village on a top of that cliff, hidden under the trees bathing in sunset . Truly magical. Thats what is wurm about for me.

 

Though Im also VERY avid gamer and deeply interested in sanboxes, thus I dont live under delusional impression that Wurm is one and only game of its kind under the sun, becase it isnt.  They function just like Wurm, with small dedicated nad tight-knitted playerbases and no PR. They might not  offer every single thing Wurm offers just as much as Wurm doesnt have every unique functionality they offer. But that doesnt make either of them less impressive, enjoyable and sandboxy. This unique snowflake Wurm syndrome should go away and instead be replaced with reality, it really hurts the game. The problem why many Wurmians think this way is because in its core Wurm is very accessible and casual game, easy to get into and enjoy the simple beauty of living in a middle of a peaceful forest. The only hard part about Wurm is necessary time investment and patience. The older  you are, the more patience you usually have. The time investment is also very flexible and relative, there is nothing to compete for (unless you live with 5 other people on pvp server and even there its doubtful), no sense of time pressure. Yet to be unique crafter, or owner of sky-reaching mansion, you indeed need a time investment..the difference is, that this time investment can consist of 5 years playing 1 month a year and nothing will change, no goal will be conquered by that time by others, because there is none, only your own. These are reasons why Wurm often appeals to people that arent really gamers in that usual sense(older people, mothers, also lonely or socially not that brave people, intelligent and thoughtful people seeking new ways to experience world around and so on..rarely you would stumble upon youngster that came straight from CoD for any other reason than to laugh or struggle for a few days), though sense of adventure, freedom and alternative life truly interests them, apart from that usual gaming hurr durr around majority of games...like hate, immaturity, raw competitions, sense of constant time pressure. Wurm lacks these aspects, also thanks to this kind of playerbase is Wurm this calm, friendly, inviting and mature.

 

I have bad taste in my mouth for saying this, but it truly feels like theyre preying on specifically these people, because theyre willing to accept any severe change just because theyre truly dedicated, valuing theyre TIME investment into the game (which they quite possibly might not have infinite amount at their disposal) and not willing to look for alternatives and another time investment elsewhere.

 

Any other game out there that would have introduced such  pricing changes in this state of development, without very good and thorough explanations with real reasoning and showcase of major planned improvements of the game, would end its journey right there. Im truly sorry to be this honest, but Im putting my rose-colored glasses aside to see that Wurm is game that considers itself in  a released state ever since graphics and animations were improved while still lacking models, polish, stability, littered with problems, god-awful performance, lacking coding and list goes on. And even then it was laughable statement, because game was long paid for and thus considered released by all. All these downsides were always acceptable, because the game wasnt striving to compete with games it cant compete with...whether it comes down to polish, gameplay or (especially) price. Dev team seemed more down to earth than they do now. I trully appreciate the mount of work put into new animations and models, that Wurm so severely lacked. Its a big step for Wurm, but small step for other competitors and it doesnt justify that bloated increase in value they expect to be reasonable. In the end I fear to admit that it might have done more bad than good.

 

Ill give you a short example of my current experience...

Several months ago we used to play very actively with partner without any major performance issues, sure occassional crashes and/or lags were ever-present, but I was more or less used to it. Just before the major graphics patch we slowly stopped playing over time, got distracted by other things. But we still wanted to test the changes, now time has come and we rushed to get into it again, explore what has changed and what was left of our birch forest and home..really motivated and anxious. Well, to put it shortly, we couldnt. The performance became borderline awful and unplayable for both of us. Nothing changed about my hardware in a slightest way, I tried clear new installation java, toning down settings greatly. I couldnt get through choppines, stuttering...slow, tedious and awful 5-8 fps performance and numerous crashes.  Needles to say I have zero problem playing current games on high settings. And needless to say my parther had a same problem on recently bought laptop. We left awfully dissappointed after hour of trying.

 

 

Yes, they might patch it and they might not. Im no begginner around here or idealist when it comes to Wurm team, I know how slow and unreliable their development and promises are. I learned not to take anything for granted. Its actually one thing that always bothered me about Wurm, especially with awful lot of experiences from other mmos, but I tried to stay away from it, focusing on enjoyment of the game itself. Its how out of touch they are with their playerbase. There was barely ever any information about whats going on, whats new and whats planned. Until they started tumblr, when the severe situation of site and forums down required it, there was just void and occasional brief forum post. And no, you dont need team of 50 people and community managers to stay in touch with 600 people and 8 percent of them roaming the forums, dont tell me that.Even smaller teams than Wurms one is can do that and are doing it. To me its just a cheap excuse for lack of care. But to each his own, if you believe otherwise. Staying in touch with players is matter of passion and interest, not money.

 

Now Rolf functions as some kind of "gray eminence" noone really knows what to expect from. People often question this mysterious shadowy figure and his decisions ingame or on the forums, but there is never any response, just silence. Just gazilions of questions about his intentions, motivations,"what with pvp", future, improvements or features promised years ago  hanging everywhere unheard and unanswered..Whenever there is some obscure report of this gray eminence answering someone on Irc or even meeting with few veteran players on gathering, it sounds like tabloid news report about suspicious group of drunk individuals spotting Bigfoot.  

But jokes aside, this is is how I feel about the main driving force behind Wurm and its not a good impression.Not for any future newcommer especially. Because they will greatly evaluate what they see and how it compares to competitors and/or price vs enjoyment value and customers services where there are none. Just because it might not affect 100 or less stable vets  that want to carry on regardless, it might affect those 1000+ possible future players that will be driven away. Stubborn arguments like "dont play, or pay if you dont like" wont help this game grow in any way, shape or form and until you even as players realize this, Wurm will never step out of its diapers. Unconditional catering to devs doesnt help either, reasonable criticism when its needed does. You either want the game to grow or stagnate and die out. Wurm is designed with social aspects in mind, it functions as an mmo and its supposed to. Interactions between players are major part of Wurm, whether its in pve or pvp. You cant take that out and sell the game as singleplayer. And because you  cant and you apparently want the game to grow and function for years to come,  you cant tell others to go. You need them, you need the game to have steady income and steady playerbase that is either growing or at least capable of covering losses with new blood to cover expenses of running and developing mmo game. Driving them away and being stubborn achieves none of these requirements.

 

At this time time, Im also playing Eve. Also after few months break. The game has superior graphics, content, polish ,more than superior and especially functional pvp, awful lot of options, regular patches, fixes, dev blogs, youtube videos, guides, tons of overwhelming amount of information about everything that is happening or will happen, that I dont even have time or will to read. Count in actual real customer service, events and rewards for loyalty (found tons of unique items to redeem after few months break, including expensive special edition ships). And is cheaper. And I dont even pay for it, because I can afford plex through gameplay. So where is the reason to put up with Wurm? 

Edited June 9, 2013 by Nyct

[As_I_Decay 1,592]

The physical comparisons are silly for one simple fact. Wurm is so slow paced, many people like playing multiple accounts. You don't buy multiple of the same t-shirt, pizza for lunch, or movie tickets. If one account was completely enough the price hike may be tolerable. When you have to pay prem and then pay for silver for your upkeep it starts to be priced in the annoying category. The problem is, if you are a person who likes to play multiple accounts the game just ranked as the most expensive mmo out there, by a lot. Sure, you're argument could be that these people don't NEED to play like that, but that is their choice. Something they enjoyed is now no longer economically feasible for them. 

 

If he needed to increase by 25% for VAT, no worries. The whole 60% increase was over the top. My personal opinion to the people who defend the new price, well they clearly have more money than sense. My prem time is up today so off to the shop I go. I make a good living, but against my desires to throw more money at Rolf I will just be paying for one account, and not two. 

There are many things I enjoyed in my past that are not economically feasible for me, currently. Sometimes that happens in life. 

And yes, I will argue with you that they chose that type of gameplay. It wasn't pushed upon them. They chose to premium up multiple accounts and stretched their skill across multiple characters in an effort to get the workload done a little quicker. I understand why they made the decision, but now they must live with the ramifications of doing so. Personally, I always skilled one premium character because the thought of having to re-prem another character(s) just to get some mining or woodcutting done was not appealing to me, even before the price hike. 

So, really, the comparison still stands. Those players chose to play on multiple characters that always cost them additional fees in the game. Just like I may choose to smoke more than one pack of smokes a day. If the cigarette companies start charging $2, or even $5, more per pack starting tomorrow, I have the choice: I can either continue smoking more than 1 pack at the price increase (and pay it) or I can cut back to 1 or less packs per day. 

To make an assumption that people are "okay" with the price increase because they "have more money than sense" is pretty absurd. You don't need to be a high-roller to be okay with 8 dollars additionally spent per month on entertainment...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

Most of you people are going on about growth, including the OP. Posteh, you've been around here (and around the block) long enough to know what Wurm's real problem is... and it has nothing to do with financial cost. Retention is negligible, always has been and always will be. The only way that will change is the day Wurm becomes a different game: an insta-build one.

Sorry, folks, but it's the truth. There is never going to be substantial growth here. In the real world we live in today, people want instant gratification, especially in their gaming... which is why we have a ton of "dumbed down" games like minecraft, WoW, etc. doing extremely well. Wurm gets it's boosts from short viral campaigning, where many players initially log on and give it a try... only to have a very few percentage of those players actually stay for the "long run". And this is exactly what people are talking about when they refer to Wurm as a niche game, as not many people these days want to play a game where work/time is involved, especially so heavily. 

Some of you are claiming or under the assumption that a game only has two options:

1. Grow in size, prosper.

2. Lose retention/interest, be buried.

In the past 5 years or so that i've been around here, I've watched Wurm avoid both. It fails to even partially plant it's foot in the mainstream and become something, yet it also manages to make its way to those few new players who are up for the challenge/time/effort involved in the game. 

And that's why I am not worried, the game will continue to carry on. Those graphs have roller-coastered so many times over the years, they pretty much mean nothing other than that someone posted the game on SA/FP/4chan/reddit/facebook/etc.

Edited June 9, 2013 by As_I_Decay

[Aeris 3,764]

I find it immensely amusing that those of us who think that it's reasonable to have a price hike are called either "fanboys" or "stupid". There is nothing fanboy-ish about realizing that things change, including the price for a hobby. There is nothing stupid about being able to household with your money well enough to be able to spend 8€ a month on a game. Instead of insinuating that there's something wrong with the people disagreeing with you I think that each and everyone that take to namecalling should take a deep breath. Take a deep breath and think about why you're really mad. Could it be that you're spending more money than you can afford, and is that in fact Wurm's fault - or your own?

 

Wurm Online IS a hobby, and if you cannot afford to pay for the account we get it. Have in mind though that this isn't a hobby for Rolf, it's his job. To him it is a pretty big deal that the pricing is set according to what he thinks is reasonable, and in all seriousness this is the first price hike ever. Cut him some slack, why should he stand still at the same price when the rest of the world has become more expensive? Even icecreams cost 60% more now than they did when Wurm started out and if I want the icecream still I buy it.

 

Is the price hike a mistake since so many people claim they are going to stop paying for their premium alts? Who knows, only the future can tell. I don't mean the graphs of tomorrow or the next week - I mean the graphs for half a year, maybe a year to come. Stabilization can take time, and might be worth it in the long run. Personally I think it will work out just fine, because while lots of players have gotten used to mining in a cave with 5 alts a lot of new players are going to discover the game and realize that it's cheap.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Aeris

[sunsvortex 599]

Now Rolf functions as some kind of "gray eminence" noone really knows what to expect from. People often question this mysterious shadowy figure and his decisions ingame or on the forums, but there is never any response, just silence. Just gazilions of questions about his intentions, motivations,"what with pvp", future, improvements or features promised years ago hanging everywhere unheard and unanswered..Whenever there is some obscure report of this gray eminence answering someone on Irc or even meeting with few veteran players on gathering, it sounds like tabloid news report about suspicious group of drunk individuals spotting Bigfoot.

 

 

.

hahahahahahahahahah....Rolf is Exposed..he is in fact....Bigfoot...I saw him...left his footprints all over IRC..and I have shaky fraps to prove it. Or was it a yeti...?

Edited June 10, 2013 by sunsvortex

[Gavin 971]

Most of you people are going on about growth, including the OP. Posteh, you've been around here (and around the block) long enough to know what Wurm's real problem is... and it has nothing to do with financial cost. Retention is negligible, always has been and always will be.

 

I would have made the same assumption too but the retention is actually astonishingly high.

 

http://jenn001.game.wurmonline.com/mrtg/retentionp.html

 

19% retention right now (!!!) The retention is going down quite fast but that's likely mostly due to the alts created to landhog the new servers losing prem.

 

 

 

Personally I don't mind too much about the price rise, however one thing that might be overlooked is previously it was roughly 32% cheaper to purchase premium time with euros compared to silver if you purchased 12 months, now it's roughly 5% cheaper to purchase 12 months premium time with euros and that's probably eaten up instantly by Paypal giving you bad exchange rates. As a result people like me who had the capability to purchase premium time ingame with silver but instead purchased in euros as it was more financially sensible will probably start purchasing ingame time with silver. This could be seen as lost revenue for Wurm.

 

On the other hand I would not suggest making the silver price for premium higher as you might penalise people who can only pay for their premium with silver due to paypal restrictions or financial problems, it's really a catch 22 but just something to consider. Likewise whilst for much of Europe, Oceana and North America a rise of €6 for premium costs is not that much of a issue but for many countries that could be a days salary.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Gavin

[metis 51]

Sorry I already made a topic before I saw this so I'll just add link...please read & post ..I'll add summary here

 

"

Since prices have gone up...people have stopped using battery alts to power enchants and such for priest players....can we get reduced enchant cost on the preist since people can not afford the cost of having multple accounts now....I cant get any good enchants now on weapons and items.......please fix so the priest can start enchanting again..."

[metis 51]

also not everyone purchases thier premium in HUGE chunks of time...most only get month to month or by-monthly

[metis 51]

This feels so deja-vu of SWG....I think I feel a WURM SPRING happening here!!!!!!!!!!