News Update: Work And Progress. Week 11

[Cerberus 247]

would be nice to get something challenging on pve servers. Its us crafters who have the 70's going on 80's stats with nothing challenging remaining to fight.

[Slickshot 1,195]

Keep in mind people, the devs have yet to release any real info on this "giant shark."  They suggested it maybe attacking ships.  Of course they are looking for our feedback, and our feedback should be mostly constructive, not destructive.  Telling them to NOT put a huge shark in the game isn't productive, however suggesting ways (as some have done, and bravo for that) for the devs to create such a giant creature without breaking gameplay would be ideal.

 

I'm all for the warning of entering shark infested waters.  Also I'm all for them attacking boats, to an extent. 

 

1. Make the alert for entering deep shark waters.

2. Make an alert for when the shark targets you and your boat (make it something ominous and not so direct)

3. Allow the shark to only attack the vessel, and not the passengers if not attacked by them, dealing small increments of damage, increasing with each attack. (start with 10 damage and go up from there with a scaling ratio much like normal damage ticks on a damaged item; can even set a damage cap if this proves too hazardous)  This would enforce the fight or flight response, giving reason and excitement to escaping or trying to kill the creature.

4. Make the shark targetable and only killable if it's NOT a unique spawn.  If it is a unique spawn make it targetable and attackable only for the purpose of hurting it and scaring it away from your ship.  Furthermore, make the shark able to target the passengers of a boat only IF AND WHEN the passenger(s) or captain land an attack on the shark.  Make this a random chance that he'll attack the people on board the vessel, this way the shark can rotate between attacking the vessel and the people on it, based off a random chance ratio.

 

I believe if these 4 mechanics were enstated into the shark's coding, and tested and tweaked for accuracy, then having a Giant Shark would not only be interesting to hunt, it would also be possible to outrun for those who aren't interested in sacrificing their lives and cargo to such a lurking threat.

[bonefly 38]

Yeah, so uhm devs, better get rid of trolls because a newbie cannot kill one.

 

If you disagree with this logic, why would you agree to the logic above of "sharks = insta-death and ragequit"

u have a much greater chance to find some kind of refuge when beeing chased by a troll. the same hardly goes to open (deep) waters...

[Klaa 4,872]

Whoooo shark fin soup!

 

*hopes the teeth are butcherable*

Edited March 14, 2014 by Klaa

[Amadee 1,543]

Keep in mind people, the devs have yet to release any real info on this "giant shark."  They suggested it maybe attacking ships.  Of course they are looking for our feedback, and our feedback should be mostly constructive, not destructive.  Telling them to NOT put a huge shark in the game isn't productive, however suggesting ways (as some have done, and bravo for that) for the devs to create such a giant creature without breaking gameplay would be ideal.

 

 

 

 

 

We are working on getting a Giant Shark into the game which will be swimming deep in the waters of Wurm.

It will pop up from the depths and attack unsuspecting players who look tasty! Should make for some quite good scares I imagine.

Currently the main part is getting an artificial intelligence for its behavior as it will be quite different from all current creatures.

What do you think, should it attack boats as well?

 

 

 

Actually, I call this "real info."  It "will pop up from the depths and attack unsuspecting players who look tasty!"  

 

Naturally a lot of us have opinions on that as well as opinions on the requested feedback part on whether they should also attack boats.  Since this "feature" is stated to be going in, (note the word "will" as opposed to "might" or "may."), then the feedback will of course be either for or against and for those who are against, the feedback is negative by it's very nature.

 

The potential consequences of this thing attacking players need to be addressed before the fact, not after someone has paid a hefty price for it.

 

So you like the idea. How nice for you that they're putting this in and you can make a nice positive post.  Chastising those who are against it is not only useless, I find it offensive.

[Delakar 277]

Keep in mind people, the devs have yet to release any real info on this "giant shark."  They suggested it maybe attacking ships.  Of course they are looking for our feedback, and our feedback should be mostly constructive, not destructive.  Telling them to NOT put a huge shark in the game isn't productive, however suggesting ways (as some have done, and bravo for that) for the devs to create such a giant creature without breaking gameplay would be ideal.

 

Ideally the idea itself should be constructive rather than destructive. With only negatively impacting aspects mentioned for sharks (attacking players and boats), with no mention of any up-sides, it's not a constructive addition so far. I'd honestly love to go shark fishing, and I hope they look at ways to introduce sharks in a relatively passive way that does not require non-combat characters/players to engage in combat and/or die.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Delakar

[Slickshot 1,195]

Ideally the idea itself should be constructive rather than destructive. With only negatively impacting aspects mentioned for sharks (attacking players and boats), with no mention of any up-sides, it's not a constructive addition so far. I'd honestly love to go shark fishing, and I hope they look at ways to introduce sharks in a relatively passive way that does not require non-combat characters/players to engage in combat and/or die.

And I belive the bullet points from my previous post are a good way to introduce such a Giant Shark into the game without displeasing everyone involved.

[Kyrmius 188]

Keep in mind people, the devs have yet to release any real info on this "giant shark."  They suggested it maybe attacking ships.  Of course they are looking for our feedback, and our feedback should be mostly constructive, not destructive.  Telling them to NOT put a huge shark in the game isn't productive, however suggesting ways (as some have done, and bravo for that) for the devs to create such a giant creature without breaking gameplay would be ideal.

 

I'm all for the warning of entering shark infested waters.  Also I'm all for them attacking boats, to an extent. 

 

1. Make the alert for entering deep shark waters.

2. Make an alert for when the shark targets you and your boat (make it something ominous and not so direct)

3. Allow the shark to only attack the vessel, and not the passengers if not attacked by them, dealing small increments of damage, increasing with each attack. (start with 10 damage and go up from there with a scaling ratio much like normal damage ticks on a damaged item; can even set a damage cap if this proves too hazardous)  This would enforce the fight or flight response, giving reason and excitement to escaping or trying to kill the creature.

4. Make the shark targetable and only killable if it's NOT a unique spawn.  If it is a unique spawn make it targetable and attackable only for the purpose of hurting it and scaring it away from your ship.  Furthermore, make the shark able to target the passengers of a boat only IF AND WHEN the passenger(s) or captain land an attack on the shark.  Make this a random chance that he'll attack the people on board the vessel, this way the shark can rotate between attacking the vessel and the people on it, based off a random chance ratio.

 

I believe if these 4 mechanics were enstated into the shark's coding, and tested and tweaked for accuracy, then having a Giant Shark would not only be interesting to hunt, it would also be possible to outrun for those who aren't interested in sacrificing their lives and cargo to such a lurking threat.

 

I like your ideas for the most part, it would be a better result than what we had the first time we got sharks.

 

However I disagree with your statement I highlighted in red. Regardless of whether the world at large agrees with you or not, I will always hold to the opinion that a person who say's NO to an idea has every right to do so and should never be thought of as "non-productive". Eliminating the bad ideas is as much a necessity of invention as pursuing the good ideas, and elimination of bad ideas requires many times a "No, I don't like this" answer.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Kyrmius

[Belrindor 663]

I'm just going to say it. Having something forcibly implemented that can quite possibly cost players huge amounts of loss in real world dollars on a PVE server, is just ridiculously stupid beyond all compare.

 

Especially on something so basic as transport from point A to point B.

 

You want ship nomming sharks that can destroy the cargo, vessels, and dump it all in the open ocean? Fine.

 

In return for this idiocy, I want player constructable teleports that will enable transport between major locations. Thus making seafaring 100% optional.

 

Otherwise no. I can't strongly state enough that if I lose cargo that I just paid $50 for to a shark, it'll be the last dime Wurm ever sees.

 

There seems to be some confusion as to what a 'negative' response to something is.

 

Say that one of the devs gets the idea into their head that they are going to put the equivalent of Spongebob Squarepants as a hostile mob into the game.

 

Declaring that this is a horrible idea, is not a bad thing.

 

What everyone seems to want us to say is... "Well, we're going to get Spongebob no matter what... so let's help make it the BEST Spongebob it can be!"

 

Wrong.

 

This idea is horribly flawed, has zero real world positive connotations that I can see for the players, other than PERHAPS something else fishable, and a bevy of endless possible implementation nightmares mixed with inevitable real financial loss for Wurm if people's stuff starts getting destroyed that they paid real cash for.

 

So how about we just call it like it is. It's a really bad, horrendous idea. Drop it. Kill it. Don't do it. Get it out of your head right now, and flush it down the toilet. The majority of people will not want this, and it will end up being a game killer. Period, end of story.

 

At the end of the day a bad idea, is a bad idea. And it needs proclaimed as such. This is an UBER bad idea.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Belrindor

[Ganken 60]

 

Currently the main part is getting an artificial intelligence for its behavior as it will be quite different from all current creatures.

 

 

Idea: make creatures more intelligent, and have less of them. Deer could act like deer (they run from you, so you have to sneak up to em and take em out with arrows). Trolls could act like trolls (Make bonfires and cluster around small camps). Goblins could act like goblins (They could run around in ganking groups, and could build goblin hut towns, full of loot). Etc Etc.

 

Since a better AI would take up more server power, have fewer animals. Since animals would be harder to find, increase the fs gains per animal killed.

 

The game is kindof unrealistic with 1 giant flesh eating spider found every 10 tiles anyways.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Ganken

[Audrel 2,223]

Yes, omg yes, destroy boats!

 

With a great hunger and desire to devour abandoned ones!

[Lithien 268]

I don't like anything about the idea of sharks in the game, but just wanted to point out, that something as simple as the shark knocking me off my boat will stop me from doing horse deliveries.

 

First, I have to assume that I won't be knocked off in deeded waters (because noone would deed where sharks will be, right?), which would prevent me from leading the unbranded horses again after reembarking the boat. So I have to try to quickly grab a lead on 4 horses, with masts and sails in the way, before I attempt to flee the shark.... sorry, but nothing about that scenario sounds fun to me. As it is, there are enough problems making me chose one of the slowest boat-types for deliveries already - now I will be at an extra disadvantage trying to flee sharks on a slow boat?

[Ayes 3,715]

What usually I again find disturbing about those who would advocate this type of player destructive element is that they somehow find it justifiable to enable it to be inflicted upon everyone else. If some would enjoy these aggressive destructive sharks, then certainly they should be able to seek them out and put themselves at whatever level of peril they choose. This then would be a positive experience for them but for them to say because of this others should have no choice other than theirs is unjustifiable schadenfreude.

 

So in the best interest of all players these new sharks should be programmed with the option to either engage them for the experienced results or wave a fond goodbye to them in passing and continue the journey onward to their desired destination with no harm inflicted upon them.

 

=Ayes=

[Pwent 113]

How about make sharks non-aggro (you know in real life they are not actively attacking boats and eating humans)?

In fact, along with sharks, introduce some other epic mobs to Freedom but make them all non-aggro. Then the selfish whiners who want more challenge can attack these mobs for a greater challenge, without any harm done to normal players. Also remember to make these mobs chase down and grief the players who attacked them if they fail to kill them. THey asked for a challenge, remember?

[Belfesar 155]

Have to agree with the majority of the players here that this is a bad idea, How about instead of adding more fluff to the game the devs concentrate on the overwhelming list of bugs that are prevalent in wurm.

 

For me there has been two bugs of late that are ruining what little fun i get out of wurm these days, Taking items from a cart or wagon throws the wagon out of sync and you end up travelling infront of the cart and the only way to rectify this is to embark/disembark every single time you want to remove an item from the wagon or cart.

 

Also the bug with Bsbs dropping the Ql on items when you put items into them, More noticable with concrete which i make a lot of and not being able to store it properly without it turning into 2ql everytime i put it into the bsb is annoying to say the least.

 

The cart bug has been ongoing for over a week now while the bsb bug has been going on for over 3, Yet no word from the devs or Rolf about any fixes and the first communication we get in over a week from a dev is Giant sharks. Nice one Devs ^^

[joedobo 1,187]

Its unfortunate that some attitudes are being allowed to put pressure on how Wurm players should play instead of trying to find solutions that please as many players as possible or offer alternate paths for different types of play styles.

 

Hypothetically, if  RedBarron (I don't think he is is the problem, btw) had said, " Sharks will be blue (peaceful until attacked like unicorn) until attacked but once you anger it you're in for a REAL CHALLENGE!"  Well no one would be here complaining. 

[Slickshot 1,195]

Its unfortunate that some attitudes are being allowed to put pressure on how Wurm players should play instead of trying to find solutions that please as many players as possible or offer alternate paths for different types of play styles.

 

Hypothetically, if  RedBarron (I don't think he is is the problem, btw) had said, " Sharks will be blue (peaceful until attacked like unicorn) until attacked but once you anger it you're in for a REAL CHALLENGE!"  Well no one would be here complaining. 

EXACTLY!  However since he didn't offer "complete" information on the shark people are blowing up over it.  Until the shark is actually put into the game, there is no set-in-stone mechanics for it.  Everything the post said about sharks is just an idea, to get conversation rolling and figure out the best way to put a giant shark in the game without  breaking the gameplay.  I honestly believe a balance can be found where giant sharks can exist without them being a huge ridiculous burden on those who don't want them, while still being fun for those who do.

 

Face it, when you roam on land, you run into trolls some times.  Trolls are very aggressive with a large aggro range.  When you don't want to fight a troll, you steer clear of it's range or you out-run it until it stops chasing you.  The previous suggestions I listed would be perfect and would introduce the shark in much the same way a troll is introduced, with a few tweaks of course.

 

To reiterate...

 

 

 

1. Make the alert for entering deep shark waters.

2. Make an alert for when the shark targets you and your boat (make it something ominous and not so direct)

3. Allow the shark to only attack the vessel, and not the passengers if not attacked by them, dealing small increments of damage, increasing with each attack. (start with 10 damage and go up from there with a scaling ratio much like normal damage ticks on a damaged item; can even set a damage cap if this proves too hazardous)  This would enforce the fight or flight response, giving reason and excitement to escaping or trying to kill the creature.

4. Make the shark targetable and only killable if it's NOT a unique spawn.  If it is a unique spawn make it targetable and attackable only for the purpose of hurting it and scaring it away from your ship.  Furthermore, make the shark able to target the passengers of a boat only IF AND WHEN the passenger(s) or captain land an attack on the shark.  Make this a random chance that he'll attack the people on board the vessel, this way the shark can rotate between attacking the vessel and the people on it, based off a random chance ratio.

 

 

If you'd prefer realism in a way that sharks can only attack your person if you are in the water, then make it to where only passengers can be knocked overboard, and the captain stays secured on the vessel.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Slickshot

[Issle 793]

I think that the AI of the great shark should be summarized as : "People looking for trouble, will get trouble."

 

A lot of innocent wurmians travel the sea through trading routes and it would be unfair for them to be the collateral damage of this update. If some aspiring adventurers wanna risk it all to get the precious jaws of the shark and sell them in the market so be it, they should pay with their blood. Finally, we do not really wanna see someone making a sea park out of the shark, if you get what I mean

 

PS: It would be nice to see a chase & evade algorithm that gets inverted based on environmental conditions. ( Shark attacking weak groups and fleeing from strong ones ).

 

PS2: Since we talk about AI, how about wolves and lions forming packs based on flocking ?

Edited March 15, 2014 by Issle

[Falkirk 22]

3 Things:

 

Make more t-shirts and put them for sale on the store site (A Wurm coffee mug would rock too)

 

Post a picture of the end of the day result of the collage everyone made

 

    Make sharks blue. I'd also make them so they cant be dominated/charmed.There is trade in goods and horses that happens over water, people with no boats, and boat bridges that would be affected. I don't even ant to imagine trying to move and losing your entire deed to the bottom of the ocean. A red shark seems much more detrimental to game play. Also, if sharks are tameable/dominated, why even bother doing pvp on ships in open water?    

    I'd support a blue shark though, one that stays in open waters. Then you can attack it and have a tough fight on your hands and if you die it can attack and damage or sink your boat. It would be one mechanic to get extra boats out of the game quicker, but it would cost you something to do so.

 

 

As to the homeless guy - everyone in Wurm started homeless - he just needs some noob tools to get started.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Falkirk

[Belrindor 663]

I think someone simply saw the movie 'JAWS' once too many times as a kid and now insists on inflicting their childhood fascination on a paying playerbase, no matter the end result.

 

No, people DO NOT, by and large, want to be ganked by giant sharks whilst simply going from point A to point B. If you insist on doing this, after and beyond all reason, then offer alternative transportation.

 

There simply is no other acceptable solution.

 

We PAY YOU to play Wurm OUR way. Not the way YOU'D have us play it.

 

Wurm isn't a new game where you can just introduce all this stuff from the outset and have a take it or leave it attitude. Once things have been established and people are paying for them, there is an expectation that must be met. Otherwise, people leave and in droves. And that would NOT be good for Wurm at all.

 

I played LOTRO since the Beta. I left LOTRO because after 6 years they TOTALLY redid the character classes and skill system/traits to the point where the character I logged into one Autumn day wasn't the same toon I had the prior morning. It looked like me, but it was so radically different that the character I'd been playing for over 6 years was completely alien. Even though I'd pre-ordered TWO of the top notch packages for Helm's Deep, I quit. Right then and there and have not been back. Please don't pull a LOTRO and start implementing stuff that 90%+ of the players vehemently DO NOT WANT, or I'm afraid I'll be forced to take my gaming dollars elsewhere.

 

P.S. You may notice that Turbine just had a massive layoff. This is what happens when you don't listen to your player and insist on shoving things down their throat that they don't want. They decide it simply isn't worth fighting and go find something else to do with their time and money. This isn't a threat. It's a fact. Tick off enough people by unasked for changes to play style, and they'll leave. Especially when the things that NEED to be addressed are still broken and/or unbalanced.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Belrindor

[DeathShroom 5]

Sharks that attack? Yes, some of us older players need a harder mob, I would suspect this shark be harder than a Ven troll or even a champ troll.. Since taking those out now are just like killing a spider..

 

Knocking ppl out of their boat? Sure why not, everyone should train fight skill, its a part of wurm..Just like most people raise carpentry..

 

Destroying the boat? yeah sure, only if the cargo would "float" on the water and you would be able to get it..

 

I think sharks destroying boats should be pretty rare and hard to do, but for small boats (row boats,sailing boats, and even corbs & knarrs it should be a possibility).Those are the smaller boats by size, not by what they carry..Cogs and Caravels should be next to impossible for a shark to get at ya..

Edited March 15, 2014 by DeathShroom

[Valdor 1,426]

Thanks man!

 

The vines will need some consideration before implementation as we have had no "wall decorating" items before.

And simply creating them as placeable items, while easy. Would not make it very intuitive to get into the correct aesthetically pleasing angle lining the wall. So to say.

But that is how they will be placed in the tutorial zone I expect.

We shall see what we have time for!

 

Red Baron,

 

May I suggest something regarding the vines? It seems you indicated that it is a standalone item that - at least for now - got carefully placed in the tutorial zone. How about keeping it like that and adding it to the game as a standalone item? If it's pushable, we can place those vine racks ourselves and position them on the walls. The advantage of this would be that we could also use them for other things... separation walls on the vinneyards or farm, decoration pieces here and there, lining up paths with them, etc. I know that you are talking about an item that is a decoration for the walls, and that is certainly something we'd like to see, but the vines - at least for now - would work very well as a standalone item. It's amazing what players can do with such items on their deeds!

 

Just an idea. But hopefully it catches

[Idony 697]

Didn't have time to read all the posts on the shark... but I'm personally not too thrilled by the thought of a shark being able to eat my ship or me inside of my ship..unless I have engaged it.  Perhaps add some animation (ship rocking around) indicating a shark wishes to attack below - and let it not last too long (as to be a nuisance to regular travelers) but be an indication that, should you wish, there is a shark to fight.

 

I mean.. everyone knows "Jaws" wasn't.. ... real... (right?! *gulp*)

 

Oh... might be fun on PVP (not PVE!) servers to allow more pirate-esque things to happen -- like to invade another's ship... *ahem* maybe... add a craft-able "plank" to make the non-victors in the pirate war jump off of...to SHARK DOOOOMMM

 

Love the possibility of getting craft-able natural decorations like the trellis in the photo.  Just curious -- would there be anyway to make it so it would grow larger and larger with time?  I think someone else mentioned perhaps specifying how many stories high it could go - would be great.  I would just adore seeing a really impressive really old giant ivy plant covering a building.

[Mordraug 2,542]

I think sharks destroying boats should be pretty rare and hard to do, but for small boats (row boats,sailing boats, and even corbs & knarrs it should be a possibility).Those are the smaller boats by size, not by what they carry..Cogs and Caravels should be next to impossible for a shark to get at ya..

 

You do know the Knarr outclassed all the vessels of its era, right?  When did you ever hear of Vikings getting flipped over by a shark?

[Davinci_Entzea 1]

This game is getting more awesome each update, great work everyone involved.

 

I want to buy a Wurm shirt too!