Casual Gamer's Perspective on Wurm Online

Imagine a world where there is no real limit to what you do. If it is in the realm of realistic fantasy, short of flying, you can accomplish it with enough effort. This is the world of Wurm Online. You can build your own town, mine deep into the earth, build a tall hill for your home or fight monsters and hunt animals for hides and meat. You want to be a lumberjack? Have at it! Armor smith? Pound that metal in your forge!There is no limit to what you can do, and if you want you can learn to do everything! It just takes the time and patience to work on it.

The premise is a new world that has been discovered by 2 kingdoms at about the same time. Where you can either join the competition for land and conflict of battle on the Wild server, or live a peaceful life in contact with everyone on the Freedom server.

There are two types of accounts available. First there is the Basic, or free account. This account gives you unlimited access to the freedom server, but caps your skills to a max of twenty (20) out of a possible one hundred (100). This does limit a few things you can do; like becoming a priest, riding horses, or captaining a boat larger than a rowboat. But if you just want to get the feel of the game, this is the way to go. It can take months of play to max out every possible skill available in a basic account, believe me, I have tried.

Next is the Premium account. This is the paid account that grants full access to all your skills without a cap, and also full access to the Wild Server, where conflict and strife abound. With this account, you can build stone houses, forge every kind of armor, learn to become a priest and enchant stuff or heal your allies and much, much more. The current cost for this is approx $7 a month in US dollars, half what most MMOs cost. What is also great about it that you can pay for it with in game money. For the cost of 15 silver you can get 2 months of in game time as well. It equates to the same amount in real world money, but you can earn the in game money to pay for your premium time either from working for other players who have money, or selling quality goods. I won't even take the time to go into the wide variety of unique items you can purchase with said silver as well.

Now I will touch on the two current server types a bit. Freedom is the peaceful server, except for the “trolls” you will find in any game. The point of the Freedom server is to play the game as a PvE experience, focus on leveling you skills, building a haven for you and your friends, or just exploring the countryside in your search for whatever it is you want to find. You can fight dogs, wildcats, trolls, bears, unicorns and even dragons if you look hard enough. Or you can be a trader, collecting goods at one place and selling them other places. Can't find a road to someplace? Grab a shovel and some rocks and build one!

The Wild server has all the features of the Freedom server but adds one more element, fully active PvP. The concept is a battle between the two kingdoms over land rights and raw materials, but you can explore uncharted areas unclaimed by either side and build your home there. I have heard both good things and bad things about this server. Depending on how you react to the opportunities there, you can fit in nicely and get good support, or you may be killed and hunted until you find a safe place to hide. It mostly depends on who you get to know early, and if you keep your head down until you can fend for yourself. At least that is the opinion I have made. I am not one for PvP in most cases.

A third and yet unreleased server will be the Epic server. This will be a PvP server, but will run scenarios over a limited time frame, and all players will restart at the most basic skills as when they first began the game. This is an optional server to play on, and will be a premium perk like Wild is. The scenarios will range from a devastating event forcing everyone to work together for common survival to a team/kingdom based relic hunt for supremacy of the server. There will be perks for the winners I believe, but that is still unannounced at the time I write this.

Overall I find that this game has the staying power to keep people occupied for a long time, and has lasted for many years to date. So far there is no character customization, other than male or female, and not a lot of animation. It is a game for those who are more interested in content than looks. Don't get me wrong, the game looks better every day with all the improvements they do, but many of the things you see in other games animation wise are non-existent here. The only draw back is that many people don't want to take the time to learn to play, and there is a slight learning curve compared to most simple minded MMOs. The biggest draw for me is the no level thing. You don't gain experience, you train skills. You don't level up, you aren't looking for “epic loot”, you are just surviving and experiencing the world that is. It is a breath of fresh air compared to the “kill 20 of this” or “deliver this here” that is the bread and butter of other games. While not the genre changing end all be all that I am looking for, but it is definitely a great start.