Public slayings are few and far between on the older servers of Wurm Online – but the newer servers still tend to do a few public slayings. I was recently able to participate in the kyklops slaying, and then a white hatchling slaying over on Melody.
Over 180 people were in local (most probably alts) and it was a great time, hosted by one Elwoode, who was also celebrating his 30th birthday. One of the reasons slayings tend to be private is because those who are in local benefit from a piece of hide/scale as well as blood from the kill. If you’re not actively participating or hitting the creature, you can leech off of those who are doing the brunt of the work, and still obtain these items. The more people in local, the less hide/scale you obtain. For this slaying, people received between .02 and .03 of drake hide. To put that in perspective, a single glove (the smallest material required) needs .2 hide to create (and hopefully you don’t fail).
Gear made from dragons is supposed to be rare, and I understand that – but I feel like it’s a bit awkward that only the experienced and rich ever get to indulge in these items. I used to have a set of drake many moons ago, but when Wurm still allowed RMT I sold it to help out with some RL funding I required. I have deep regrets over that. It’s a trait that I tend to carry from game to game. Give away / sell personal belongings and then down the road I wish I had of kept them. I’m trying to be better about it, but my instinct is to give that stuff up.
Anyway, we gathered on Melody, which I had never been to before. It is the third server that was opened after the steam release (not including the PVP server, Defiance) and in my personal opinion was an unneeded server that just served to spread populations further apart in a time when we knew things would be crowded (and then they died down, significantly, which all Wurm players of any length of time are also aware of). I brought my Fo priest so I could help with heals and at least contribute something while my fight skill is quite low.
It was neat to see the dragon, and I still dream of one day capturing and hosting my own slaying – that will probably have to remain a pipe dream, but it’s still good to have those dreams.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.