Despite a significant lack of posts, I am still playing Wurm Online. A few changes have happened that have left me less-than pleased with the game, but it happens. One of the first major things that has happened is that the price has risen. Wurm used to be $5 EU a month, which is about $6.57 a month. A fantastic price for an indie game. Because of that price I was able to subscribe more than one account, letting me have a main character and a handful of priests at any one time.
Since May 1st, the price has risen 60%, to $8 EU a month. This is $10.51 which is still an O.K. price for a single character – but I’m not going to pay for two or three accounts any longer. I don’t think the game is good enough to warrant such a huge increase in price. Yes, things have changed, there are animations now (that most people have to keep turned off due to incredible lag, that’s what comes with Wurm being a java based game), there’s many more newer graphics, there’s multi-story housing (which is still broken and not completed) and there’s been progress over the years. Personally, here’s my feelings on the matter.
Rolf added ‘traders’ to the game, way back when. These NPC can be farmed monthly for coin. The coin comes from what other players have paid into deeds and gets divided between all of the NPC and there’s other mathematical reasons on how a split is done but the end result is that for 50 silver you can purchase this NPC and “earn” 10-15 silver a month by stocking it with various goods. It takes work, it’s not necessarily “free” money – but with a trader or two or three you can make back what you paid and then some within a few months. Then you never have to purchase a subscription or silver from the shop again. So Rolf gets his upfront cost of 50s but long term it’s just not enough. If everyone who milked traders was forced to come by their cash through the shop directly, Rolf would see a lot more income long term. Why he has sabotaged himself by allowing people to drain traders, I’ve no idea. I don’t blame people for using them, I have one of my own, but I still feel that it is this one major ‘flaw’ that is causing people to avoid the shop and paying for their subscription.
There have been many posts and arguments for and against traders, mine is just one. None of them are “right” per say, because we don’t know exact numbers, but I’m willing to bet far more people drain traders to pay for their character accounts and deeds than Rolf is making in purchases from them in the store. Aside from that initial cost which again is a short term solution.
Anyhow. Due to the price changes I decided to give up one of my deeds, and only keep Mystic Cove. I sold it for 55 silver, which is more than enough to keep Arysh (my second account) in business for a few months. That’s my Vynora priest. I paid for a year subscription just before the price raised on my main character, whether or not I’ll keep that subscription after it passes, I’m not sure. The sale was smooth and I’ve been having fun working on my main deed. Of course I do still have an incredible urge to go out and explore, so I expect before too long I’ll be making my way off-deed to see what trouble I can find.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
This weekend was a holiday weekend for me, Victoria Day here in Canada, and of course I took full advantage of it and gamed most of Monday with Oger in EverQuest. The enchanter is almost level 96 but I find experience VERY slow, and like I’ve mentioned before, playing by myself is almost impossible. Yes, I can charm kill but it’s incredibly risky not to mention lonely to play that way. I’ve tried LFG but my game time hours are not always optimal for everyone else. So I try to squeak some time in here and there.
