Wurmpedia:Current events

Main / Current events

Current Events in Wurm Online, 2015

This section will be updated by the Wurmpedia team as and when information is released from Public Relations or prior to a popular community event.

Archived posts will not be updated so should not be considered current.

News & events

News #77: Wurm... Unlimited!

By Doctorchese - Forum Link

Hey all!

As you may have already heard this week, we dropped some very big news about the future of Wurm. On October 21st, we'll be releasing Wurm Unlimited, a standalone version of the game that will allow you to play in a singleplayer world and host your own servers.

The objective with Unlimited is to bring Wurm to a wider audience. By releasing it on Steam and with the help of a professional publisher, it'll bring Wurm to lots of of new people, who will be able to enjoy Wurm in a new and more accessible way. The Adventure mode, for instance, will allow players to explore a single-player sandbox world as a totally new experience - that we hope to be more accessible to more people. Scripted game worlds are fantastic ways to introduce complicated games more gradually, allowing Unlimited to help reduce the steepness of Wurm's learning curve.

As for the future of the existing Online servers, they're very much here to stay! The function of the servers will change, from being the game to simply being officially hosted Wurm servers - complementing the many servers we expect Unlimited users to host themselves. We will not shut down any Online servers unless unless they're virtually dead for a long period of time, so there's nothing for existing players to worry about; especially since the increased revenue from Unlimited will hopefully allow us to put more towards developing the game on a whole (we'll roll out updates to both Unlimited and Online,) and as new players complete the single-player Unlimited experience and look for a multiplayer experience so they can keep playing Wurm, the Online servers will be incentivised as something to progress towards. We'd be very surprised if Unlimited doesn't benefit the Online servers in a variety of ways.

Lastly, all of us here on the staff team - be we volunteers or paid devs - want to emphasise that we're here for you, the players. We know that this is a huge new thing for Wurm that has divided community opinion; but we feel that the strong business case of Unlimited will greatly benefit the game in the long run, and will allow us to further expand the Wurm franchise to new and exciting things. I'd compare it to when the game went 'gold' back in 2006, going from being free to having a paid premium service. Without those first steps, we'd never have been able to hire paid developers and Wurm would never be remotely close to where it is today.

Almost a decade after Gold, Wurm is going Unlimited. We hope you join us for the ride!

--Zachariah (talk) 23:16, 18 September 2015 (CEST)

News #76: Dragon Armor Preview

By Doctorchese - Forum Link

Hey all!

It's news time once more! But before we begin... I have to tell you about a little investigation I conducted.

Every week, developers are sent an e-mail asking the if they've got anything to share with players for the week. Normally, almost all devs e-mail back with a week's hard work and things to show off... but for over a month now, certain devs haven't said anything at all! I'm a volunteer not based in the Motala office, so I can't walk over to their computer and look over their shoulder to figure out what they're up to. Are they wasting time with confused verbs and playing Wurm at work instead of developing Wurm at work, or is there something secret going on? I had to talk to a contact on the inside.

The contact couldn't say much, but apparently, a few devs have been working on "something big" for a few weeks now already. We don't know what it is, or why they're working on it... will Code Club AB soon become a political party in Sweden? Or, back in-game, is Wurm finally going to get the rainbow colored unicorns it has needed so desperately for years? All we knew is that they're busy, and might have some information to share within the next few weeks!

A while ago, we mentioned that we'd focus on bigger features come fall. Well, the leaves are falling; we're now in a bit of a transition phase between a summer of little things and the coming months which will focus on bigger stuff. Keep an eye out for new posts, we'll be elaborating on or next big plans for the game! But don't forgot that bugfixing never really ends too, and things like client engine upgrades that we're currently working on (and haven't discussed much) ought to help improve things further.

--Zachariah (talk) 00:35, 12 September 2015 (CEST)

News #75: Village Planner Progress

By Docterchese - Forum Link

Hey all!

This week we've got more encouraging progress updates on the in-game Village Plan Viewer tool, which will allow you to both view a plan of your deed from in-game and export a plan to the 3rd party DeedPlanner program. Other than that, most of this week's other work was either behind the scenes again or or stuff you've already seen, like the new dragons that went live on Monday. Rawr!

--Zachariah (talk) 18:31, 5 September 2015 (CEST)

News #74: Dragons Ahoy

By Docterchese - Forum Link

Hey Everyone!

This week, devs have continued working on a variety of things. There's less to show this week as most of it was behind the scenes, including some code cleanup and management improvements to the server code, and we hence didn't roll out any clients patches this week.

Before you read this week's first article, we also have to warn you that this weeks' news may spontaneously combustion and/or be quite warm.

--Zachariah (talk) 01:49, 29 August 2015 (CEST)

News #73: Village Planning View

By Doctorchese - Forum Link

Hey Everyone!

It's news time again! You may have already noticed a change of title under my name, and that's because earlier this week Wossoo stepped down as Public Relations Officer (PRO). Wossoo stepped in a few months to convert the position at short notice, and I'm sure you'll agree that he did a great job of keeping everything ticking! He's currently to busy with his real-like PR job, but will remain on the team as a Public Relations Assistant so we won't lose his know-how.

I've been heavily involved in Wurm's PR for a few months now as the Deputy PRO, and so you shouldn't notice any change in quality on your end with things like the weekly news.

Without further ado, here's a bumper crop of more small improvements, many of which you actually haven't hears anything about before...

--Zachariah (talk) 22:18, 21 August 2015 (CEST)

News #72: Client Updates and Goblin Leaders

By Docterchese - Forum Link

Welcome back to another week of News. We've continued to do bugfixes and general development this week, and also have some art to show off too.

Last week, we ask you informally what kinds of things you'd like to see us work on once we put dev time towards big new features come Fall. there were lots of suggestions, and it just goes to show how hard a job we'll have picking what to work for the next big features of Wurm! Exiting times are ahead, as ever.

In addition, please take special not of the 4 hour downtime notice for next Tuesday.

--Zachariah (talk) 10:01, 16 August 2015 (CEST)

News #71: Rams, Lambs and Permissions!

By Docterchese - Forum Link

After a few weeks' break, we're now back with regular news posts. It's still a bit of a quiet week this week, but we have some news to share to get everything going again.

The devs have also spent some time this week at Gamescom 2015 in Cologne, Germany. The devs have been every year now for a while, and it's a great way to kick off a new season of development - as well as some industry networking and meeting up with a few other members of the dev team who don't work in the Motala office.

The plan for the next few weeks of development is to continue with bugfixes and small changes. As we've mentioned before, we'll start to look into the next "big feature" for Wurm in the fall. Expect to hear more on that in the coming weeks/months!

-- Keenan, Deputy Wurmpedia Manager (talk) 00:13, 8 August 2015 (CEST)

Wurmpedia improvements

By Wossoo - Forum Link

Marni (bwg), as our new Wiki Head, has already started doing a fantastic job of organising the vast Wiki. The end goal will be a cohesive, accurate and highly informative Wiki that lists as much information as possible about the game.

As a part of this, we will be reducing the number of player accounts to a more manageable size. Less than 30 players have edited the Wiki since the start of 2015, and the "manageable size" we have in mind is still far larger than that. Players will be able to apply for an account in what will simply be a slightly stricter and more monitored system than before. This will help to ensure that edit standards can be set and that vandalism/security issues can be prevented, while still keeping the Wiki open to all to contribute to.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) 01:43, 27 July 2015 (CEST)

Indy Treasure Hunt

By spellcast - Forum Link

June 27th - 4PM UTC

There will be 21 prizes, of varying value. Upon arrival players will have the option to choose a chest. There will be 10 chests that will contain a prize set consisting of a rare tool/weapon, a useful item of some sort, and a silver coin. These chests will be obviously different from the other 11 chests. Of those 11 chests, there will be 5 low value prizes, (probably just a couple of silver); 5 medium value prizes (either just the rare tool/weapon, or just the useful item, not exactly sure which yet)

• 5 of the chests will contain 3 silver each.
• 5 chests will contain the same rare tool/weapon as the prize sets above.
• The final chest will contain the grand prize, which consists of 5 silver and a group of supreme tools.
• There will be no way to tell which of these 11 chests here is which.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) 10:30, 27 June 2015 (CEST)

Fun in the sun

By Wossoo - Forum Link

The reward of the summer will be a refreshed, ready to roll dev team for the next 12 months! When Autumn comes around, we'd like to start looking into the next "big feature" to start developing. Up until then, work on bugs and smaller things will continue.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) 10:30, 27 June 2015 (CEST)

Fancy Pants

By Wossoo - Forum Link

This week has seen more of the same from devs, with a continued focus on bugfixes and small additions.

• Warlander joins as a volunteer client developer
• More new clothing!
• Marble statues

We've created a new e-mail address, feedback@wurmonline.com, for general bits of feedback.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) 10:30, 27 June 2015 (CEST)

Permissions, Clothing and Slain Bugs

By Wossoo - Forum Link

Hmm... Boats? Bridges?! Bugs! Starting from this week, we'll also be including all of the week's patch notes in the weekly news.

Coming soon™:

• Permissions
• New Clothing

We've [also] decided to change the format of the title to just be News, the number of the post and some information about what's inside.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) 02:46, 6 June 2015 (CEST)

Work and Progress. Week 22

By Wossoo - Forum Link

The Summer of Bugslaying

In light of community feedback, we've decided that our main focus for the next few months will be on bugfixes.

Other future insights:

• new clothing options
• in-game Valrei map
• planters and jars (amphora)

There will also be some client additions over the next few months. Tich has been working hard on a new permissions system, and we also have plans to make some changes to elements of the client's rendering system.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) May 2015

May Treasure Hunt - Celebration

By Spellcast - Forum Link

So another treasure hunt is upon us.

I've scaled this one back a bit from the last one, which was a bit overly complex and confusing in some respects. There is only a single run, with 12 clues.

The end of the hunt will have:

• 10 chests with prizes that will be immediately available

-OR-

• 20 keys, one of which will open a grand prize chest at the start town.

In addition to the grand prize, there will be 19 other chests in the start town, each with a small item in them as consolation prizes so anyone who manages to get a key will get something, even if its not the grand prize.

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) May 2015

Spring Update

By Wossoo - Forum Link

Bridges, Boats and Stairs!

We will be releasing the Spring Update next week, on Tuesday 12th May. We don't have a specific time set, but will aim to release as soon as we can on the day.

Key updates:

• The first and main feature of the update will be bridges. The feature will be released in full, allowing for all kinds of creativity... ranging from bridges across water and valleys to bridges between buildings, in four flavours: rope, wood, stone and marble.
• We are also releasing a couple of other features in the release, the first of which is the new boat models. The boats themselves will go unchanged, but all boat types will get updated models.
• The last part of the update will be stairs.

That concludes this week's news. Excited? Join us next Tuesday for the release of the biggest single feature since multi-storey housing!

--Marni, Wurmpedia Manager (talk) May 2015

Key updates

This is a list of significant updates; more often not minor bug fixes, but additions, big changes and major bug corrections.

June

• Added possibility to repair tools directly in crafting window.
• Foals now age a lot faster on pvp servers.
• Reduced the breed wait timers on pvp servers.
• The Rod of Eruption has been replaced with a Tome of Incineration since use of the rod was considered undesirable.
• Added in ability to see who planted an item (using examine).
• Non-premiums gives less to no skill in pvp due to some exploitability.
• Chaos server: In order to deal with alt problems, non-premiums can only respawn in permanent cities and pmk capitals until a better solution can be coded.
• Changed bridge decay, so if its used the decay is reduced (a lot).
• A few bugs that may have prevented Nathan from ascending were found, and he was ascended manually since Fo won this scenario.
• In order to prevent various annoying situations, siege shields (and unfinished ones) are now notake and must be created where they are supposed to be used.
• Exiting through a door with enemies players in local should now unlock it as well as when entering.
• Hens and chickens no longer autofollow due to disease issues.
• Removed enchant decay on weapons due to extreme rarity but overwhelming impopularity.
• Added marble planters as craftables. Should function in the same way as flowerpots.

May

• You may now mail all mailable items outside containers in order to prevent C.O.D scams. Only liquids should be possible to mail inside containers.
• Enabled DIG (and DREDGE) under bridges.
• Enabled planting flowers/grass/moss under bridges.
• Enable planting of thatch in buildings (so makes grass).
• Made it so centred trees auto-planting themselves will stay in centre on deed, and have a 75% chance to stay in centre if off deed.
• Ignore structure permissions for bridges. E.g. treat it like the items were outside.
• Removed the Scenario Point reward for moving deities on Valrei using Karma since it was considered an exploit by other players.
• Removed ability to Absorb on mycelium lawns.
• Added in a way to get height above water when surveying (helper has to be in water).
• New staircase added called Standalone, it does not have a floor above it.
• The new collision system may have made some old inaccessible areas accessible depending on how your deed is set up when it comes to walls and structures. You may consider restructuring your deed in order to prevent such access. Proper roofs still collide endlessly upwards which means these can be used to prevent access from above.
• Most Valrei item prizes were split up in three with one charge each. There is only possibility for one Key to the Heavens, Wand of the Seas and Rod of Eruption each round still. One player may win more than one if lucky.
• Should now be possible to convert to evil deities in HOTS template kingdoms.

April

• Champions are now limited to 3 per kingdom.
• Artifacts will now drop upon death.
• Artifact damage no longer stacks with enemy presence bonus, Truestrike, Hate path increased damage, Rod effect or Warrior deity bonus damage.
• You no longer can teleport when carrying an artifact.
• Artifacts now properly drop on ground during controlled restarts.
• The Eye of Vynora now will detect through NoLocate spells.
• Global PMs are now on as default when you create a new character.
• The Elevation server is open with the new map. Good luck everyone!
• There’s a new deity in Wurm – Tosiek has ascended and became the first player in the game to found his own religion! There are people converting already. Some quirks still remain and converting is a bit of a gamble.

March

• The Trebuchet, Ballista, Siege Shield, Spike Barrier, Magical Turrets and Archery Towers that were tested on Challenge are now live on all servers! Expect further tweaking as more feedback trickles in.
• Meditation path change delay of 24 hours added
• You can now turn walls!
• Removed ability for animals to be lead by using a mooring rope (it was letting multiple animals to be lead by the same mooring rope)
• The new wall types are live: Timber Jetty, Timber Balcony, Wooden Wide Window, Wooden Canopy Door, Plain Stone Oriel, Decorated Stone Oriel. Enjoy!
• The poll for an Elevation Map reset has been finished, with the result of Yes [172 (68%)] versus No [78 (31%)].
• Rumours have it that Vynora is focusing on some sort of research and will no longer partake in Valrei Missions like before. Vynora followers are expected to do Fo missions instead.
• Merged Epic numbers in who lists as well as stats pages
• Made local list premium only on Epic as a sort of spy prevention (already was implemented on Chaos)
• Flattened some areas in the Elevation HOTA zone. It looks pretty ugly right now but is hopefully an improvement.

February

• You now haul heavy things up and down multi storey buildings using a rope. You need to be positioned at floor openings.

January

• New tapestries
• Fix for dislocation when dropping dirt in a vehicle
• Shield bashing should now work better. It is harder to bash heavier and fat creatures and defender body control also increases difficulty.
• Dodging is now easier when you weight less and have less body fat.
• Archery damage is now a bit more random.