This is the view I had:

Drown wounds are internal, and as it turns out they take forever to heal. Since I had forgotten that they go away pretty much immediately once you reach land, I bobbed in the water the whole evening waiting for the wound to go away. I should have just swam instead and logged out gaining more stamina in portions.

Yesterday I reached shore. There was a settlement where I was heading and to my mild surprise it was Horde of the Summoned. I have heard that they are in control of large portions of the server but for some reason I wasn’t expecting them here on the east coast.

I approached it with hesitation but nobody was in local so I was hoping it was abandoned or that I could outsmart the guards and look for loot. Little did I realize the gravity of the situation. I tried to avoid the kingdom guards but to no avail. They colored the water red with my blood and within minutes I had respawned at High Hopes.

I figured that I could use some better armour and weapons. With 20 silver in my pocket i started shopping at the nearest trader. Apart from a settlement form, I could afford a pretty decent suit of chain, a longsword and a large metal shield. Navigating High Hopes was a mess. It’s a slope full of olive trees and I got lost in a minute. I had to bring on the deed holder to allow non-citizens to chop them down so things should improve.

Feeling a lot safer I headed out. My vague goal was the White Light but I was open for suggestions. Down the hill to the south was an abandoned settlement and a road which looked interesting. I died to a mountain lion which I thought I was winning against when I was ambushed by his spider buddy.

I could probably have asked someone to help me out retrieving the stuff, but I was eager to head west. I figured I’d just lose the gear again so the new plan was to settle down somewhere and gain skills of my own instead. I headed westnorthwest towards the White Light.

A stranger told me I needed 1 alignment in order to become part of the faith. The only way to get this seemed to be to bury someone. I had seen no player corpses since I entered the server but apparently Wurm provides. Maybe 40 tiles away I found the body of Zaha on a shore. I couldn’t bury it in the shallow soil so I had to carry it further west and decided to bury him in the marshes of a southern peninsula. It was actually a pretty fine moment and I got my alignment alright. The marsh will preserve his body for millennia.

A few steps later I decided to take on a deer with my newbie shortsword and shield. After a few minutes of prodding it with my sword I was down to approx 50% damage from bruises but the deer was vanquished.

First blood. You see those distant trees? Lomaner.

I kept going west grabbing the coastline. The bruises went away in minutes – very nice. As a bear trodded down a mountain side and plunged into the water I  headed back and decided to swim across the bay instead of trying to outsmart it.

I entered the custom kingdom of Lomaner and snuck past it on the outskirts. I found treasures in the form of high quality wolf meat which tasted royale even in its raw form. Very suddenly after leaving Lomaner the White Light appeared. It was a lot closer than I expected. I converted to Fo. Now I have to find somewhere to settle down.

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So, yesterday I created a newbie and started playing Wurm. I thought I’d share some initial impressions.

I’ve done the tutorial before but since then it’s grown a bit. It’s is an impressive piece of work, being designed by the Game Masters using the ingame mission system. When you get to the cave section it sort of takes off and it felt a bit as if I was visiting a theme park. The drawback is creating the mallet. I got frustrated like everyone else with the timer and the failure rates.

The King’s Academy tutorial area where it all starts

My plan was to head to Serenity and travel West to Elevation and decide there which kingdom to join. I could have gone directly to Elevation but I wanted to experience for myself the trek west.
The first thing I saw on the road leaving the starter settlement of Strongbox was something looking like a massacre with lots of corpses of various players. Nobody could explain if there had been a raid or what had happened.

When travelling west from Strongbox you run into a barrier of mountains and settlements. I decided to head south and it took some time before I could figure out a way swimming past a large walled area. To my great joy I found an unlocked hidden sailing boat on the other side I could pinch, but alas! of course I was not able to command it due to my inexperience. Unless I found someone who could give me a ride I would have to walk and swim as planned.

I followed the mountains southwest. There are two large bays mostly lined with steep mountain sides where you have to swim. If it’s done by the map editor or by experienced players I don’t know, but every now and then there are footholds where you can climb up to get some rest and gain stamina which is very convenient.

At one time when I was able to walk on land I was suddenly ambushed by a mountain lion and I realized that staying in the water does have it’s benefits. Travelling became a game of estimating how far I could swim before I dared to try and climb up and get some rest. I decided to try to rest every chance I got which worked out fine. I could outrun all hostile creatures I met but then again I avoided them paranoically by hovering the beach and waters with the mouse to see if there were any red outlines.

I once swam into a cave since I hoped I could get some rest inside and true enough there was a landing in the darkness. The second I stepped ashore I heard a large scowl and a dark shadow lunged at me! I jumped back in my chair uttering a muffled scream of surprise. In my panic I swirled around 360 degrees and ran straight into the cave. Before I managed to get out again the wolf had given me a few scratches – nothing serious but my movement rate was hampered a bit. It was a very thrilling experience and more powerful than I had expected.

All in all the creature distribution seems good. I like that they can be avoided and the distance they start hunting at wasn’t too large. I quit at the foot of a big sand slide:

Today I decided to bring up the official Serenity map dump at http://www.wlhost.net/images/e2d9b.png and found the sand slide leading down from the old volcano. I think using the map only helped and didn’t take away the sense of adventure and exploration. I ended up walking the west coast north then south again, then west out on those small islands in the southwest and north and still not ending up where I thought I was anyways.

This land bridge leads west towards Elevation. Dragon’s Reach is just yonder. Civilization felt like soft balm when I reached it.

Eventually I realized that to my luck I had swam all the way around a green mountaineous island just on the west border. I stopped and foraged a bit, and ate the rest of the wolf meat I had found on a corpse yesterday while a small bruise healed.
After 4 hours of playing time full of adventure I was on the west coast of Serenity, dove into the ocean and started swimming out to sea towards Elevation. I didn’t quite make it to the border and started drowning but if I stay logged off for a while I should regain enough stamina to reach it. Once on the other side I’ll suicide to shore and take it from there.

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The HotA takes place in special zones called Hota zones. One has been created on the Chaos server and one on the Elevation Epic server. They are 400×400 tiles big.

When the Hunt begins, ten pillars and a few speed shrines will be created in the zone. The village or alliance that conquers four pillars win. The prize is a very special statue filled with glittering items. Prizes change a bit the more times you win and you will also gain special titles the more times you win the Hota.

A HotA round finishes when someone has conquered 4 pillars, and then after 36 hours another begins. You can be inside our outside the zone as you wish when the hunt starts.

The location of the Epic Hota zone is dead center so you can’t miss it, but the Chaos zone is in the SouthEast. You can compare the following image with the official Chaos map release:

There is a newly founded starter settlement on the west border of the zone. It’s called Hunter’s Lodge, and I recommend that you start out there.

I wish you a good hunt!

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1. A lot of alt accounts are being scrapped

2. People are playing new other games such as Skyrim and SWTOR

3. Lack of PvP and unpolished missions on the Chaos and Epic servers

4. Lack of new stuff for the Freedom players

To me, the main objective is to get working on number 4 asap by starting to code multi storey buildings. This should make the game more interesting in many ways.

When I start doing that, it will break the current server code and as I don’t know how well I can keep different versions of the code at the same time there is no telling when the code will be fixed again. So I want to fix number 3 first – the lack of PvP and polish the mission structure and reward system on Epic.

Since I have to do this asap, I am already at work with this by creating a sort of PvP game that will take place in a PvP zone. The alliance structure will also change. The code should be done by tomorrow and hopefully we can run it live this week. More info to come when it’s done!

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Since we want to let people keep playing on wild we decided to try and help invigorate it and formed a “Chaos Council” that started to discuss how best to attract new players.

The best way forward was – a bit surprisingly – to add it to the non-PvP cluster and turn everyone into the peaceful kingdom of Freedom Isles. With free to play and some limited version of PvP both old and new Freedom players could come visit and try out a light version of Wurm PvP without having to go the full route on Epic.

Right now the server allows for PvP but usually with a severe reputation hit. This means that unless you’re in a village at war or have become an outlaw you should be pretty safe travelling around on the server visiting the old battle fields or the famous majestic fortified cities.

There are suggestions for some alliance system which will work like a lightweight version of the player made kingdoms available on Epic. This will be combined with some sort of incentives such as different objectives to fight over.

While Wild (now renamed Chaos) is reinvigorated it will still take some time for the Chaos Council to decide the way forward. Meanwhile the lion part of my efforts will go into sorting out some issues with Epic and start work on multi storey buildings next.

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On the friday I debugged and verified that you can become immortal and join the other deities on Valrei. Since this is one of the more prominent goals you may strive for in Wurm and pretty much is the finest and most rare prize on Epic, this rounds up the Epic coding. I changed it so that you’ll keep your name by the way.

It was the last thing I had to debug so I was done with Epic. On 11-11-11. And I didn’t realize it. So to me I finished my job on version 1 of Wurm on that day. However, we still need Haradur and Wox to get the new animations and customization going before I’ll call it that.

Now for the first time in over a year I feel I can pick and choose a bit what to do. Yesterday I took time to order a new computer instead of my old dual core. While I’ll fix the bugs that always trickle in I’m considering to start adding those extra layers on the server in order to prepare for multi story buildings and bridges.

At least I think that’s what’s going to happen. In any case I already feel a lot more relaxed. The feeling that I can start coding things that takes days or weeks instead of a year to show up is great.

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First though, read the Epic faq in case you haven’t already.

This is a very early version of the game board provided by Gaeron: http://hom.creative-realms.net/valrei/

We haven’t produced any graphics yet since we just released this information and our artists are working with 3D models at the moment. We also thought some of you might like to be creative. If you feel like making a better looking version or provide graphics, please post in this forum thread.

Deities:

On the Game Board you see some things you recognize, and some things you don’t. Most players will recognize the names Fo, Vynora, Magranon and Libila since they are the deities that players pray to.

Moving around

Deities move around the board looking for collectibles, usually taking one step every three real life days unless they receive help from the spirits since some of the spirits can travel between Valrei and the game world. The spirits in turn need the players to help them in various ways.

The players help the spirits by performing the in-game missions that now have started appearing. When the required number of missions have been done for a deity he or she is considered to have received help. This usually means that the minimum time the deity stays in the square is 12 hours unless it’s stuck in a labyrinth square where the minimum time is longer. It will move immediately if it has already stayed the minimum time.

The required number of missions in order to help your deity move is one per wild server and one per home server belonging to your kingdom template. Only missions completed on the Epic servers count – missions on Freedom servers are for fun only and don’t contribute.

When a deity takes a step he or she conveys the favor of the spirits who helped it to its followers. When this is active you will see it in the spell effect window.

Immortals:
There are actually quite a lot of other creatures on Valrei. The ones beside the deities that you see on the board are immortal for various reasons. They could be called demigods but they can never become true deities and have no religions. They always stay in their square.

Below is a short reference for the other immortals:

Nogump the Dirty, a fairly friendly giant whose stupidity makes him a bit dangerous. Friend of Vynora.

Jackal is the ally of Magranon. He’s a trickster and apparently looks quite a bit like a Jackal. Jackal is also a moon you can see from ingame.

The Deathcrawler is an undead creature who looks like a giant crayfish with a mummified human-like head.

The Dirtmaw Giant is a slobbering, aggressive giant whos main goal in life is to trample things and keep his plains flat.

Walnut is also called the Treekeeper. His home holds a cherrytree whose berries give the power of immortality, which is what gives him his nickname.

Pharmakos, aka The Expelled, is the ally of Libila. He is a tall, pale creature with parchment-like skin who spends his time with alchemy and mystical experiments.

The Scavenger is a black beast who roams the Wintertree Hills, searching for and devouring any sort of living or dead meat that enters the region.

When a deity enters their square these immortals will attack unless it’s their ally. The Immortal who survives gains all the tokens on the square. The other one respawns at his start square when it is empty. A deity may sometimes take control of another deity’s ally at the end of a scenario.

Tokens

There are also some items on the board, or tokens. These are the things that the deities hunt for.

Collectibles are the items that the scenario is about. When one deity has collected the amount required and returned to the target square with them the scenario ends. The winner gains bonuses or may even punish the other side, for instance with some terraforming event. When a scenario ends everyone respawns in their home squares and new collectibles are generated.

Source tokens give a bonus to their carriers attack roll when fighting with other immortals. If something on the map is called “Source feather” or “Source harp” it’s a source token and not a collectible.

Other markers

It’s possible that new markers may appear. Who knows what will pop up?

Player immortality

When a deity wins a scenario there’s a chance that he receives cherries that the spirits have stolen from the Treekeeper. This means that a player may receive the possibility to become immortal.

First the player becomes a demigod. He will become an ally to his deity and protect a random square.

If the demigod survives long enough for the same deity to win again and have the luck to receive more cherries, he will become a full deity with a religion of his own for other players to join. The religion receives a totally random set of spells from the existing ones. Also, when that happens the deity will start moving around freely on Valrei in the hunt for collectibles.

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The first hours of a release is usually pretty scary and this was no exception. Some of the portals didn’t work and it took some time to figure out why. At least there was no data loss which is the main thing you worry about.

Since then I’ve been busy fixing bugs and now there are no really bad ones remaining. Some bugs with the Epic missions appeared and when it went live but they are slowly being sorted.

All in all it’s a big success. Everyone seems very happy, we’ve gained a lot of new customers and no innocent creatures were harmed in the process!

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Q: What is Epic?

A: It’s a new set of connected Wurm Servers (we call it a cluster) where everyone starts from scratch. As a player you may help your god in ways that help them achieve their goals in their home on the moon Valrei. There is special code on Epic where the gods may reshape the world or spawn creature invasions as a result of how well they achieve their goals.

Q: Why do we need Epic?

A: Because it may give a greater sense of purpose to your game play. There will be a natural need of your services, and actions you take may have  large impact on the progress of your faction and your gods.

Fighting for your kingdom is fun but having a good reason for it makes it more compelling. Having direct impact on the gods takes it to the next level and gives another reason to gain territory. The war demands goods and services and a skilled craftsman may turn the tide.

Some players will strive to become gods themselves, reaching a level of “uniqueness” that is very rare in online games.

You may also create kingdoms of your own on Epic, which has been a very requested feature.

Q: How do I join?

A:  There will also be Epic portals created for new players on the Golden Valley server at the end of the tutorial. If you are an existing player and feel like adventuring a while you can pop over to Epic and check it out with no risk to your existing character. When you come back you are back at the place you left with all your skills and equipment. All you have to do is to build an Epic Portal using a few stone bricks and logs.

Q: What do I bring with me through the portal?

A: Your account information such as name, email, premium time and money in the bank. Also ban records and mutes. But no items or skills.

Q: How many servers will there be?

A: Initially there are three Home servers around a central Wild server. Whenif more are required we’ll add them, creating a cross shaped pattern of interconnected Home servers around the Wild battlegrounds.

Q: Can we go to Valrei?

A: It’s just a game board for the gods at the moment. You will be able to watch the pieces move around and see the effect of your actions. If one day we get a lot of resources we may create a special Valrei server for those players who have become Demigods and Gods but right now we have higher priorities.

Q: How do the missions and scenarios work?

A: On Valrei, the gods usually hunt for a number of rare items. One such hunt is a scenario. In order to find these items the gods will have to visit the various locations on Valrei. Moving around takes time and is exhausting. Usually one step takes a few days but some regions will take real weeks to traverse. By performing missions that aid your god you give him or her strength to move faster. One such mission may be to slay a number of creatures, build something or perform a ritual somewhere.

The missions are designed to be performed by a number of players based on the current active “base kingdom”  (HOTS, MR and JK as template) population on a server in order to succeed. Sometimes the task will be too hard though, and sometimes it will require only one player to perform something simple on a remote location.

When enough missions have succeeded, the deity moves. The number of missions required are one per home server and one per wild server per base kingdom. When the deity has found the number of items required to win the scenario and brought them to the target location, the scenario is won and ends.

When your deity moves, your god becomes favored by certain spirits who aid both you and your god. When a whole scenario ends, your god may decide to give your side bonuses, or create terraforming events in enemy territory. The gods themselves may also gain permanent characteristic bonuses, or the ability to spawn creatures in your enemy territory.

Also: Read the blog post explaining the Game Board!

Q: Ok, ok, wow calm down. How many do you have to be to create a custom kingdom?

A: 50 players located in the same village

Q: How much does a declaration of independence  cost?

A: 1 gold

Q: Will the servers be F2P?

A: The home servers will be F2P. To join Wild or the HOTS Home server you have to be premium.

Q: Will we be able to join the Wild server instantly?

A: If you are a premium player.

Q: Will we be able to join HOTS instantly on Epic?

A: Yes. Unless there is something we’ve overlooked.

Q: Will we be able to join custom kingdoms instantly?

A: These will only exist on the premium servers, and there is a setting to allow people to join via the portals. If they do, they will be open to spies but their growth rate may increase.

Q: Will there be faster skillgain?

A: Yes, about twice as fast. There is also the effect of the “curve formula” which puts skill level 50 at 70% actual efficiency. At skill 70 you are at 90% efficiency which hopefully will be enough even for the most grind-minded players. On the current servers, skill 50 equals 50% efficiency.

Q: Will we be able to play on different accounts at the same time?

A: Yes, but in order to limit spy accounts there will be a restriction that you can’t play in different kingdoms at the same time from the same IP address. There will also be a ten minute grace period for switching between kingdoms.

Q: Can I bring settlement forms to Epic?

A: No. You have to purchase them once you have passed through the portal. Your money will be available in the bank.

Q: What is the cost of guards and how many can I hire?

A: On Epic the cost will be 3 silver per month, and you can hire 20.

Q: Will dragon armour change?

A: Yes less dragon armour will be available because butchering will yield less hide and scale.

Q: Will uniques respawn?

A: Yes in some forms. We will have more time to create interesting unique creatures after Epic is released.

Q: Will there be Farwalker Amulets or Bags of Keeping?

A: No.

Q: When on the 28th of October will you open the servers?

A: We aim to open them at 18.00 hrs CET (Stockholm time).

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I’ve been busy coding portals with which you can travel between the current Freedom cluster or the Wild server to the Epic cluster and back. It’s a bit of a hassle sorting things out like selecting kingdoms and properly returning you to your previous position.

Basically you’ll be able to build these portals from a few stone bricks and logs next week. Once Epic opens you’ll be able to pass through from your own village. I had this idea that you should be able to use your own body which could be handy but it could be annoying to have that option all the time if you never plan to change. The model will probably look like an existing stone portal but will be updated asap.

Also we may release voice chat on Monday in the “unstable” client version. The unstable client is a beta version where we test new things before making it final and using it on the web front page. It would be interesting if automatic proximity voice chat worked next friday.

A lot still remains to do. I’m confident everything will be in place next friday but don’t expect me to communicate a lot this upcoming week. It’s usually better to spend the last week communicating but that’s for companies with resources. We just have to push things out the door and hope someone catches it. We need to release and improve over time with increasing resources instead. I will however make some blog posts explaining more about the mechanics.

I thought I’d calm some of you who think Epic will be all fire and floods. The image below shows one of the terraforming events that may happen at the end of a scenario. The winning god decided to create a plateau. This one isn’t the largest possible but even those won’t be all that bad. The chance that this hits your village is pretty slim, especially since these events happens maybe once or twice per month and there are a multitude of variations. And of course, if you make sure to let your deity win, this event will not hit your kingdom.

Now, of course there are also things like volcanoes and large ravines but I’m sure it will be interesting to see those appear once or twice per year.

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