Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Hi, I have been a member of wurm for roughly 7+ years and i feel that Rolf doesnt have our interests at heart. I have watched and grimaced but said nothing over the years at the changes or ninja nerfs he has made. But now i feel is the time to speak out as i think over the last couple of years he has made quite a lot of major detrimental changes to wurm. How can a developer who doesnt play the game or understand the game he has created have our best interests at heart? Rolf seems to not be able to decide what direction he wants the game to go. All the undocumented changes or the last minute easy fixes does not fix what a lot of people have problems with. This is my own personal opinion and if you feel the same way vent your opinion. I know not everyone will agree and Rolf has made a few changes in the right direction for the game but the majority of changes he does is detrimental to the game and damages the faith of the few remaining players that have been through this since the beginning. This is not a troll post, I am interested in the opinion of other players that have been here for a long time to see if this sense of resentment is common place or whether the playerbase still has faith in Rolf`s direction of the game. Edited February 28, 2014 by Belfesar 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Partially your post is true. The best ideas and perspective for a game come from players and it's very difficult to keep in touch with the game when you spend more time coding than being online. But that's why we have suggestion boards. Plus the devs probably have consulting teams based on experienced and dedicated old wurm players giving them first hand feedback when they design new features. I believe the most crucial part in game design and implementation is predicting how your new features will affect the game. This field needs to get some attention in wurm although it's going the right direction the last months. "Give a developer an IDE and he'll see a day into a feature's Future<?>. Give him a game client and the day will become a month" - Issle the handsome. Edited February 28, 2014 by Issle Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) FIX'D so you can actually read it. Hi, I have been a member of wurm for roughly 7+ years and i feel that Rolf doesnt have our interests at heart. I have watched and grimaced but said nothing over the years at the changes or ninja nerfs he has made. But now i feel is the time to speak out as i think over the last couple of years he has made quite a lot of major detrimental changes to wurm. How can a developer who doesnt play the game or understand the game he has created have our best interests at heart? Rolf seems to not be able to decide what direction he wants the game to go. All the undocumented changes or the last minute easy fixes does not fix what a lot of people have problems with. This is my own personal opinion and if you feel the same way vent your opinion. I know not everyone will agree and Rolf has made a few changes in the right direction for the game but the majority of changes he does is detrimental to the game and damages the faith of the few remaining players that have been through this since the beginning. This is not a troll post, I am interested in the opinion of other players that have been here for a long time to see if this sense of resentment is common place or whether the playerbase still has faith in Rolf`s direction of the game. Edited February 28, 2014 by Rotab 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 I've seen many people leave in frustration in my short time here. Sometimes I get frustrated with the quick fixes and new bugs they create when implementing new things.I think they need to look at the way they introduce new content, better beta testing etc. I have always found it odd that he does not play the game himself, You need to at least spend some time playing something to get an idea of it, all the suggestions in the world from others will not cover the lack of experience in game.I think Wurm needs to have a bit of a think of its direction myself and create better updates and really think about things before implementing them "Will this be negative for some people?" think zoos and ratio. One day I will have just had enough and walk away, like many others have and do every month.If I was Rolf, I'd be trying to keep as many people around as possible and sometimes that does not seem to be his main goal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 I think he lets the players make the rules and changes it is just the group he is getting his information from has mixed ideas on what the game should be. Also how do you know he does not play he could be anyone in the game and you would never know. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Its not just Rolf. Some devs have a lot of power now. Take for example the Farming nerf that Tich did in 1.1. I don't think Rolf understood that and I'm guessing he took Tich's word on it. I used to get 7 to 9 yield per a tile...now I get 6, that IS A NERF. In addition it took weeks if not months of players complaining about the nerf and wanting the old "guaranteed 2 yield" brought back. Even with all this pressure and customer desire our wishes still weren't fulfilled. We got a change where you have to rake at lest once and are guaranteed at least 1. I'm also pretty sure there is some non-public player opinion influence/pushing changes. This consists of IRC, PM, circles of friends. Honestly, and regarding this issue, the in-game voting system is something I'm pretty excited about. It removed all biases and makes clear distinctions on what the players want. I don't think Rolf or Devs need to play the game. Frankly that won't insure that changes are in line with popular demand because every player(dev or not) has personal preferences on what is fun. In comparison, asking as many people as possible is a great way to push forward. 9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) That's part of the problem. Edited February 28, 2014 by Kyrmius 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 My frustrations with Wurm come about due to the "Pendulum" nature of all the "fixes". The dev team does recognise problems, but they approach solutions in such a heavy handed way that things just get broken in the opposite direction on a regular basis. It feels as if the dev's choose the first solution that pops into their heads without taking time to consider the implications, treating live servers as an experimental build. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 I can sympathise with your sentiments, i have had the privilege to know a great number of older players and chat with them from time to time in game and on the forums. My experience in wurm is limited to freedom (1.5 yrs roughly) and epic for the last month or so. In this time there is no doubt i have seen die hard vets drop the game because of a "fix" that completely ruin's the way that particular person has played wurm for a long time. Generally for myself i am sill enjoying wurm and have come to accept the various things i disagree with as tolerable, not everyone can or is willing to accept some things and I can understand that fully. Perhaps there is disappointment amongst the really old vets that none of us more recent players will ever know the old wild and the original dream for wurm online in the time before epic and even before freedom. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Wurm 2014 > Wurm 2012 You can't always get what you want, but overall Wurm has grown as a game and it is developing faster than a few years ago. I don't understand these whine posts with no real focus. Some people just doesn't like change, it's a fact, with change comes complaints, but without change the game will slowly die. Complaining or arguing about specific cases is one thing and it's healthy for the game, but this kind of overall bashing is just a sign that you grew tired of the game and you probably need a break. Go try something else for a while and come back again in a few months or years with renewed interest. 16 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) +1 to Torgirms post I was thinking the same but didn't know how to word it Edited February 28, 2014 by Kittysong Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 I don't understand these whine posts with no real focus. Wurm doesn't have a real focus. That seems to be the underlying message of every complaint thread. People have a difficult time saying what's wrong with the game when the devs don't even say what is the purpose of the game. The game was absolutely hellish when I started, and I loved it. I thought Wurm was some kind of survival-frontiersman game, but after a couple months it ceased being a fight to survive and turned into a grindfest. Well, grinding all day gets tiresome, especially in Wurm. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Wurm 2014 > Wurm 2012 Absolutely. Not only the game itself has improved, but Wurm's support and and general communication with and involvement in the community has jumped several orders of magnitude in the last few months alone. But personally I'm still frustrated by what appears to be a very amateurish approach to implementation. By that I mean the rather whimsical solutions that tend to be thrown out at far reaching problems, these do get corrected and eventually we end up with a better product, but not without completely unnecessarily breaking systems for a time that could be avoided if a more measured approach was taken instead. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Can't take this thread seriously with not 1 single example given by the original post. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 The only thing is wrong with wurm is the:Unexplained ninja nerfsStill the lack of communication altough i can see the devs are trying to fix thatMany unfinished and not well polished features getting added and old ones never finished. We were shown sheeps, updated boat models, and more years and years ago and they are still not added. The shoulders, the cape and back slot are still there since 1.0 which was more than a year ago and i could continue... Finish existing things before adding new ones ffs A bunch of old issues that have been issues for years now are not getting any attention and or they do but we aren't told about them like: uniques, connection of pristine / release and a lot of bugs that have been here for years. And i guess those are my only complaint. But these have been my complaints for as long as i play really.. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Well, I don't agree with all the changes Rolf makes, but it seems to me that he is committed to the game. The game is improving, speaking as a player that was gone for a while. The game has improved to the point that I actually came back and started to play again. Over the last year or two, the new dev team has made significant progress. Is it perfect, not really, but overall it does seem to be getting better as time goes on and the fact that Rolf has reversed changes shows that he is willing to change based on the results in game. Do I have my issues with Rolf, yes. Do I doubt his commitment to the game: no. Game might not end up where you want it, but that's the way it goes. If it gets too far from enjoyable you can always move on to another game and check back here in a few years. Worked for me. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Just wanted to put a word in as your aim is a bit of on this one. I can sympathize that from an external standpoint it can seem like you say. But Rolf is hardly the only one developing this game by this point.We take decisions collectively at this company.And what he does, with the limited time that is in between everything else he needs to focus on as the head of the company.Even if you do not know this.He has especially lately been 100% focused on feedback from the players. Just to name something, the fighting changes and balancing.Which we also used a counsel of players to evaluate. But we are pacing up, and with more support, we get further recourses and will be better able to keep up with demand.It is no easy thing to go through the vast amount of information constantly being generated by our creative players.It is a treasure of information, this is for certain and no one at the company would deny that. There is however one timeless truth, and that is that you can not make everybody happy.But do not aim this at Rolf personally, because we are a team. 15 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Hopefully every future change will be handled with ingame vote system.Even if we are confused on which direction the game is going, atleast we can affect it in some way. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) FIX'D so you can actually read it. Wth does "FIX'D" mean and why is it in all-caps, noone can read properly when you shout son. Re. the opening author, your post is not useful when you don't state what you think the developer are doing wrong. I believe they are doing a great job and when you don't give examples, you don't come across well. Edited February 28, 2014 by Cista Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Hi, I have been a member of wurm for roughly 7+ years and i feel that Rolf doesnt have our interests at heart. I have watched and grimaced but said nothing over the years at the changes or ninja nerfs he has made. But now i feel is the time to speak out as i think over the last couple of years he has made quite a lot of major detrimental changes to wurm. How can a developer who doesnt play the game or understand the game he has created have our best interests at heart? Rolf seems to not be able to decide what direction he wants the game to go. All the undocumented changes or the last minute easy fixes does not fix what a lot of people have problems with. This is my own personal opinion and if you feel the same way vent your opinion. I know not everyone will agree and Rolf has made a few changes in the right direction for the game but the majority of changes he does is detrimental to the game and damages the faith of the few remaining players that have been through this since the beginning. This is not a troll post, I am interested in the opinion of other players that have been here for a long time to see if this sense of resentment is common place or whether the playerbase still has faith in Rolf`s direction of the game. You speak in such generalities and don't put up any examples to back your point. I think wurm is 100x better than it was 7 years ago... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Wurm 2014 > Wurm 2012 Wurm Beta > Gold 1Gold 2 > Gold 1Wurm 2014 > Wurm 2012But keep in mind... those of us who have "been here a long time" still in our hearts think:Wurm Beta > Wurm 2014 Essentially, Wurm hit a huge bump in the road in 2006 and has been working at making the game more enjoyable (fixing bugs, adding new features, fixing bugs related to those features). But the actual playing style hit the biggest bump... and I doubt it will ever return to what attracted me to Wurm the most. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Wurm Beta > Gold 1Gold 2 > Gold 1Wurm 2014 > Wurm 2012But keep in mind... those of us who have "been here a long time" still in our hearts think:Wurm Beta > Wurm 2014 Essentially, Wurm hit a huge bump in the road in 2006 and has been working at making the game more enjoyable (fixing bugs, adding new features, fixing bugs related to those features). But the actual playing style hit the biggest bump... and I doubt it will ever return to what attracted me to Wurm the most. Since I've only been here since autumn 2011, care to elaborate why the beta was so good? What exactly was better then? I'd really love concrete examples, because such a post as this, with only a general "it was better back in 2006" is just hard to take seriously for us "newcomers". For me personally, Wurm is better now than it was 2011. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Since I've only been here since autumn 2011, care to elaborate why the beta was so good? What exactly was better then? I'd really love concrete examples, because such a post as this, with only a general "it was better back in 2006" is just hard to take seriously for us "newcomers". For me personally, Wurm is better now than it was 2011. Don't misquote me. Wurm was better BEFORE 2006.Game play style has changed drastically. The way Priests are used, the way the economy ran, less focus on DnD type game play (EPIC especially) and 1 server for all players.Essentially, the pay to play model that shifted when Wurm went from Beta to Gold 1 shifted a lot of the way politics (play styles) were ran in Wurm. -Priests became a pay to win model as opposed to a game enhancement for all characters. (in beta, every character had access to spells without restrictions to game play) Villages were full of enchanting characters, and items exploded when spells failed in order balance enchantments, instead of the occasional explosion with the few and far between priests. -Coin was not based on micro-transactions. Traders actually had coin based on the types and quality of items on them... and they actually traded items. Since 2006 they have been broken and complained about. In beta they were enjoyable and highly sought after. I still remember Kyara members complaining about newbs screwing up the traders by trading low quality rope to them -Don't even get me started on the DnD path this game has taken... Didn't exist in Beta. Player run politics and ambitions ran the PVP and was quite successful. Because coin wasn't based on micro-transactions... people who were raided simply moved without loss of financial investment. They regrouped and attacked the aggressors weeks/months later. It was fluid. Hands down, the Coin micro-transaction destroyed this aspect of the game. Now people just quit and scream game imbalances in the forums if the attackers can even get into the walls and kill a single spirit templar... (why? because they "paid" for them with RL money) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 28, 2014 Wurm was better in 2006 only because freedom didn't exist and it should have stayed that way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
