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Wurm Online adds in a new Challenge mode
Sometimes you don't want to fuss about with leveling; you just want to jump into the meat of a game and start accomplishing things. Wurm Online's new Challenge mode is all about that, giving new characters created just for these month-long challenges enough skills to get started right away and a faster advancement rate to boot. It sounds pretty magnanimous until you realize that the other two sides are also starting ahead and moving just as fast, so players are going to need to step up fast if they want to keep going. The Challenge server offers a 64 square kilometer space for three player factions to feud over control. Everything on the server remains persistent for a month, after which point prizes are awarded to the players and factions that have advanced the furthest in specific categories. The update also includes siege weaponry, strategic resource spawns, and defensive fortifications to hold off attackers. It's the equivalent of throwing players in a box and shaking it until the fireworks start flying; if that sound like fun, you can jump into that box now. [Source: Code Club press release]
Check out Wurm Online's new trailer
If you can get over the fact that the narrator sounds a little like he collects torsos for a hobby, Wurm Online's newest trailer has a good overview of what makes this sandbox special. It shows (in fast-motion) the subjugation of a plot of land and the creation of a fortified home before quickly mentioning features like combat and PvP. Is this the one true sandbox MMO of sandbox MMOs? Give the trailer a watch after the break and let us know what you think.
Wurm testing 64x64 kilometer non-instanced mega-server
Wurm Online's largest current server measures 16x16 kilometers, but the developers have their eyes on a much bigger prize. Today at 10:00 p.m. Central European Summer Time (4:00 p.m. EDT), Code Club will be testing a 64x64 kilometer non-instanced mega-server. You can join in if you like, as the Wurm devs are looking for anyone and everyone to see how many players the server can simultaneously support. No registration is required for the test. Lead developer Rolf Jannson says that 50,000 critters will be roaming the fantasy sandbox title's wilderness during the test, which is actually "a fairly low population in Wurm terms." Jannson also says that no other MMO has launched a modifiable map of this scale, and "running this many players in one game zone is pretty unusual in itself and will be an interesting experience." [Thanks bdew!]
Wurm Online talks new ship model and revamped tutorial
The latest dev blog from the Wurm Online team shows off some features we can expect to see in the near future, including an improved model for the Knarr ship, improved foliage, and a revamped tutorial. New Wurmians can now enjoy a more modern tutorial zone with more accessible signage. Anyone who chooses to skip the tutorial will still have the help info stored in the Book of Wisdom for later reference. And interestingly enough, the new wagons introduced with a recent update can now pass through one-tile spaces. So they don't need to be stuck in your house any longer.
Wurm Online still offline, offers bounty for DDOS attacker
Wurm Online's 1.2 patch was supposed to herald a day of rejoicing for the community, but that quickly turned sour as a severe DDOS attack on its hosting forced the devs to take the game offline for over a day now. "Shortly after todays update we were the target of a DDOS attack and our hosting provider had to pull us off the grid for now," Code Club posted. "As annoying as this may be, we are taking steps to turn this to everyones advantage. I announced earlier that we were already looking at migrating the hosting of Wurm. When the attack forced us offline, we went straight ahead and pushed for this to happen as soon as possible." The team is working on switching hosting and said that service should be restored within a day. Code Club is offering a bounty of 10,000 Euro "for any tips or evidence leading to a conviction of the person responsible for this attack."
Wurm Online pushes update 1.2 live
Are you ready for wagon time? Because that's what you'll be able to explore in Wurm Online's newest update. Patch 1.2 of the game is adding in plenty of wagons as well as boat carriers, giving players a variety of wheeled transport methods to bring stuff all over the self-made world. But that's only the smallest part of today's update. Players can also look forward to an improved crafting interface, new enemies, new rugs, a new invite function, and new crates. There's also a new system of maps that allow for personal annotations, making it that much easier to find your way around and move from village to village. The update notice promises that development will continue on the game, but players are going to have plenty to do with this update as it is. (Largely wagon-based things.) [Update: It seems that someone decided it would be fun to DDoS the game right at the launch of this update. So Wurm is currently offline until further notice.] [Thanks to Tom for the tip!]
Wurm Online prepares for Update 1.2, now with more wagons
That other mold-the-world-using-gumption-and-pickaxes sandbox, Wurm Online, is counting down the days until its Update 1.2 lands on Tuesday, February 18th, and the developers have posted a list of features today that will go into the game at that time. With Update 1.2 will come wagons, a ship carrier, a new crafting interface, crates, drag and drop functionality, a load function, reinforced cave floors, a village recruitment board, an invite command, world and island maps with notations, a status effect bar, new emotes, and a fearsome foe known as a Kyklops.
Choose My Adventure: Back in the saddle again edition
Yeeehaw! Now that Mike has finished his ride, they're lettin' me back in the saddle for another round of rootin' tootin' Choose My Adventure fun! And the opportunity has come not a moment too soon: I've had my spurs on and been raring to go for weeks now. As you know, this ain't my first CMA rodeo, and I'm sure as shootin' excited for this next wild romp through a new world. Of course, I won't be doing this alone. This ain't a one-woman show, and you ain't just spectators. I'm the rider all right, but y'all actually have a hold of the reins and will be leading me through the adventures. I'll wrangle up some options each week, and y'all will make the choices for what we do, where we go, and how we get there. Our first choice: which game we're going to tame! I've corralled a herd of titles that ain't seen their time in the spotlight yet (or at least, not for a long, long time). We've got an assortment of breeds to choose from -- some I've the barest hint of experience with; with others, I've none at all. Look 'em over, size 'em up, and then tag the one you want us to spend our next six weeks in. Y'all have until 11:59 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 25th, to make your selection. Then we rope the winner and get this ride started.
Some Assembly Required: Virtual world roundup for 2014 and beyond
Just over two years ago there was a great disturbance, as if millions (or so) of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Yes, something terrible had happened: a beloved virtual world was destroyed. And that left a number of sandbox refugees looking for a new place to call home. At that time, Some Assembly Required offered a roundup of the then available virtual worlds that could possibly offer accommodation, depending on what qualities players most desired in their games. But as things are wont to, they changed; a lot can happen in the MMOverse in 24 months, from additional features in existing games to new games to the loss of more worlds. So it's time to update this list of virtual worlds to reflect 2014 and beyond. Take a look and see what titles or titles-to-be have the sandbox features that best make a game a home for you.
Massively's winter holidays MMO roundup
The holidays are here! That means the hustle and bustle of the season is in full swing, with gifts to get, treats to taste, deals to nab, and plenty of festivities to partake in -- and that's just in the MMOverse! Yes folks, there's a plethora of holiday celebrations out there -- so many, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track of them all, let alone participate to them! If you're trying to catch everything in your favorite games, we're here to help. We've got a round up of the various winter celebrations across the gaming sphere all bundled together right here for you. If something catches your eye, hop in and join in the festivities!
Wurm Online launches new loyalty bonus program
Wurm Online has begun a brand-new loyalty bonus program for the faithful as well as plans to allow players the ability to pay for a subscription through Xsolla. The new loyalty program is made of two parts, a legacy bonus and future bonus. The legacy bonus is for players who have subscribed in the past and will be rewarded for this by a bounty of Seryll bars. The future bonus encompasses all of the rewards going forward, including titles, achievements, and illusion potions. The recent Wurm newsletter also announced that players can now choose to pay for the game via Xsolla, a payment provider that is used by, among other companies, Wargaming. [Source: Wurm Online newsletter]
Wurm hit with DDoS attack, Jansson posts update
Wurm Online was the victim of a distributed denial of service attack yesterday, which caused the browser-based sandbox to go offline for nearly 24 hours. Wurm co-creator Rolf Jansson updated fans with a post on the official forums this morning. "It appears that we have been the subject of some sort of DDoS attack. This caused issues for the hosting company's other customers, so they had to unplug us," he wrote. "We are back now on a throttled line. Hopefully this means that we should not affect the other customers. We will take other measures as well. Those should take up to an hour at best, then we should be able to bring the game back up. I'll make another post when that happens." [Thanks Cista!]
Jukebox Heroes: Wurm Online's soundtrack
When is a soundtrack not a soundtrack? When it's Wurm Online, of course. This cult sandbox has one of the most unusual scores that I've ever heard paired with an MMO. It's made up of sparsely used incidental music that just so happens to be folksy blues songs (with lyrics), composed by Joss Sanglier and performed by 21st Century Blues. It's catchy, don't get me wrong, but it comes with a case of mental whiplash if you were expecting the typical fantasy fare. Think of it this way: All of these songs sound as if they were originally made for a steakhouse commercial. "In Wurm, we don't play music constantly," explained Lead Designer Rolf Jansson. "Instead we play a song every now and then often based on the setting or a special event such as when you form a village. If you ever played the Lara Croft Tomb Raider game, the rare music scores really enhanced special situations, and that's what I was aiming for as well." To make matters more interesting, recently the Wurm Online team has sponsored the creation of not one, not two, but three concept albums that will be worked into the game itself. The first such album, Meditation and Work, is now out and is quite good. While we're going to look at the "classic" Wurm tunes today, I didn't want to overlook this new project. Perhaps we'll even get back to it some day!
Wurm Online releases first video dev diary for version 1.1
On June 19, Code Club AB released the long-awaited patch 1.1 for Wurm Online, essentially taking the game into a whole new world of content, improvements, graphics, and playability. To help celebrate that new update, the team has released its first developer diary video, giving players a chance to see a bit more of the behind-the-scenes with the developers themselves, and more highlights from the game's recent improvements. You can watch the video just after the cut, and be sure to check out our own recent revisit to the classic sandbox. [Source: Code Club AB press release]
Wurm Online's summer update tweaks graphics, UI, and more
Ready for Wurm Online's summer update? It happens tomorrow, June 18th, and it's all about enhancing client performance in the long-running browser-based sandbox. Also on tap are new housing extensions, fence types, mystical sorcery powers, and overhauls of the foraging and botanising system. The UI and the graphics are getting an overhaul, too, thanks to new creature models, animations, inventory grouping and more. So, yeah, it's a pretty substantial patch. You can read more about it at Wurm's official blog and be sure to check out our recent revisit of the classic sandbox game.
Second Wind: Returning to Wurm Online is a process
After being away from Wurm Online for almost a year, I have to admit I was a bit scared to return. Anxiety levels are high as you log in and have a quick scan of the area to see if you're surrounded by something that will immediately eat your face. It's also fairly unsettling to see how much of your stuff has rotted or been stolen since you left. In fact, once I determined that my house, my boat, and most of my possessions hadn't been taken by other players in my absence, I had to log back off. I just had to do something else offline for a bit while that anxiety flow slowed to a trickle. But I soon answered that unexplainable call to log back in and start my new life as a reborn Wurmian. I've heard so many great things about the game's improvements over the last few months that I just had to check them out for myself.
Wurm Online 1.0 is officially official today
It's official -- Wurm Online has finally released! Wait, haven't players been enjoying this free-to-play sandbox for many years already? Yup, that's quite true. Although folks could log in, subscribe, and participate in building the world from the ground up since 2006, though, the game was still technically in testing. So, what's an official release without new features? Wurm 1.0 brings more character customization, more animations, and the ability to add multiple stories to houses. Folks delving in today will also find new frontier servers where everyone is starting from scratch. If you have wanted to check out the game, but didn't want to be at a disadvantage, now's the time to jump in and start fresh. [Source: Code Club AB press release]
Wurm Online officially releasing December 12th
While Wurm Online, that sandbox of sandboxes, has been entertaining the public for a while, it's yet to officially launch. That will definitely change come December 12th, as the title will transition into version 1.0. With the launch comes several improvements to the title. The developers are adding character customization, visible armor, buildings with more than one story, and "nicer-looking creatures." Wurm Online's launch will also coincide with the release of a new server for players looking for a fresh start. The team said that once Wurm Online goes to 1.0, players will see a lot more communication and publicity for the game.
Choose My Adventure: You decide the MMO and how I play it
It's finally time for my second round of Choose My Adventure. The last time I helmed CMA, Lineage II was top pick, and I had a lot of fun with it. I took tons of screenshots and video to keep you in the loop as to my progress, and you can expect the same, whichever game is chosen this time. MJ's turn with The Secret World was a lot of fun to read and follow. She even livestreamed some of her shenanigans... I mean, adventures. You can bet I'll be playing with one finger over the PrtScn button and livestreaming some of my adventures as well. I hope to make this a multimedia extravaganza of epic proportions. Take a look through your choices and vote, vote, vote. And make sure to get those votes in by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday the 21st!
Free for All: Getting lost in the labyrinth of Wurm Online
Wurm Online is a game of darkness. Really, the entire world is balanced on what will happen after the sun sets. If a player isn't careful, she can find herself lost and alone without a torch to light her path. I don't mean to make the daylight out to be a haven from danger; a player can die during the day as easily as at night. But at least during the day, a far-off shelter can be aimed for. Unless there's fog, of course. OK, look. Wurm Online is a game of super-scary death things, but the night is particularly scary. That's what I meant. When an old Vanguard: Saga of Heroes buddy of mine let me know that he and his friends had built a giant maze in Wurm, one that can actually keep players occupied for hours and can possibly lead to injury or death, I jumped into a tiny rowboat and paddled my way south toward the Deliverance server. I had to see this thing for myself.
