Wurm Online is a massively multiplayer online fantasy simulation game, released by Mojang Specifications in 2006. Both the client and server programs are written in Java. Wurm Online, being written in Java, is a multi-platform game. It runs in Linux very well, perhaps slightly better than in Windows. There is a unique character system that includes skills, religions, kingdom populations, and economies.
It has three different type of accounts: Guest, Basic and Premium. Guest accounts are created on the fly, and are deleted when you log out. You cannot do much, apart from walking and talking. Basic accounts allow you to enjoy the game in almost all of its beauty, however you cannot be the mayor of a village or a homestead, and you have a maximum skill cap of 20. Premium accounts, which cost 5 euros per month, allow you to enjoy the game in all of its beauty.
Wurm Online has an excellent variety of different skills, and so, you can be any type of character you wish. You could become a strong warrior and a talented armour smith, you could become a land-scaper and a master forester, or you could become a Priest, and eventually a champion. And there is much much more.
You have a choice of 4 gods that you can follow: Fo, Vynora, Magranon and Libila. The first three Gods are White Light gods, and the last god, Libila, you may only follow if you wish to become a Black Lighter. There are two ways of getting converted to a religion. You may be converted by another follower of the god that you wish to follow, or you may go to either the Altar of Three if it is one of the Wight Light gods that you wish to follow, or to the Bone Altar if it is Libila that you wish to follow.
There are two different kingdoms that you may be in: Jenn-Kellon or Horde of the Summoned. You automatically become part of the Horde of the Summoned kingdom if you choose to follow Libila, and everybody starts out in the Jenn-Kellon kingdom.
Wurm Online has two worlds and three servers, one server per world and a login server. The worlds are Wild and Home. It is being planned that a new server be added for the Mol-Rehan kingdom be added; this kingdom does not officially exist yet. Both existing worlds are extremely vast, and there is plenty to explore.
Both the Wild server and the Home server are available for non paying players, however, as I mentioned in the last paragraph, a new kingdom will be added in the future, and it will have a server of its own. It will be for premium players only.
Wurm Online, like any other online role playing game, has a vast amount of creatures in the game. Being a fantasy simulation, there are dragons, unicorns, and even huge spiders. While no creatures are able to fly as of yet, it is a high aspiration to find a dragon, kill it, successfully butcher it and obtain the dragon scales and the hide. If you are a leather worker, you could create the best armour in the game, Dragon Armour. If you are a chain armour smith, you could create the second best armour in the game, Dragon Scale Armour.
Obtaining money in Wurm Online without buying it using the online store is not a difficult thing to do with enough skill. You could prospect for a silver or a gold vein, mine your way to your vein, create a forge, melt down some silver, and create jewelry which sells for quite a lot on traders. But be aware -- traders may not always have a fair amount of money.
Another option is to create armour and tools for other players and sell it to them, perhaps are more reliable source of money than jewelry.
Wurm Online has a unique terrain system. Each tile has four tile borders with a slope which can be raised by dropping dirt or lowered by digging. It is for this reason that many players enjoy undertaking huge terra-forming projects.
It does not require the fastest computer in the world to be able to play Wurm Online at a reasonable frame rate, however it is not very playable with a low--end machine. My specifications are as follows: nVidia Geforce 6600 graphics processing unit, Intel Pentium 4 2.4ghz CPU, 1.5 gigabytes of ram. I get about 25-30 FPS with the default settings, with some advanced options enabled, for example, PBuffers.
In conclusion, Wurm Online is a fantastic online adventure game with a wide range of skills to increase and monsters to kill, it has excellent replay value, and is very affordable to play at a reasonable frame rate.
-- Zylian
Comments
Things Change
Well, this was all written a while back, so how about a couple of updates?
Here goes!
Most recent to the Lands of Wurm are boats! Build you skills high enough to build a row boat, small sail boat, then how about a cog, a Viking Knarr and even a Caravel! Though the large vessels take several players to sail and many, many hours to build!
Currently there are TWO accounts - a Free to Play account that is not time limited but your skill are capped, and a Premium account. To play on the Wild Server where fighting is allowed requires premium, but many players start on the Jenn Kellon home lands and learn their skills before trying the confrontational Wild Server.
A new kingdom has been added, that of Mol Rehan. They are only on Wild at present, but soon will have their own home server.
Other changes in the pipeline include a rebuild of the sound engine and a completely new, realistic sound environment being constructed by an experienced sound engineer with a background in music, television, radio drama and film sound. And music has also been composed, carefully constructed tracks which are heard rarely, but will just give a little extra to the overall experience.
Also, work is being done on Mounts. Soon you will be able to ride animals, have them pull carts and even take passengers.
Wurm Online will continue to be developed, each stage taking the player to new depths, making the world more absorbing and perhaps addictive!!
Come join up - the more players we have, the more we can develop. It is as simple as that!