Wurm Unlimited (and Online) continues to be one of my favourite games of all time, and I still pop in and play as often as I can. Last week brought about a fascinating update to the game, where a brand new skill was added – archaeology. Basically players run around with a trowel active and poke around at the ground. You have a chance at discovering a fragment, different types if it’s in an area where an old deed used to be.
I think this is a case of a great idea that was implemented poorly. I spent a few hours roaming around looking for fragments, then a few more hours identifying all of those fragments (you use different tools depending on the stage the fragment is at) and then more time attaching fragments together so that I could create – welp. Not much of anything. By the screenshot above you can see I have some ribbons, bricks, branches, pegs, and other bits and pieces like ore. The thing is, after spending a few hours hunting down the components to make a lump of tin, I could have taken 10 seconds and just gone and mined the same thing from my deed.
The time required to get any type of ‘good’ fragment is too dear, and because there are so many different types of fragments you can obtain, piecing together 26 of any one type is going to take you a very long time. Now, I know we don’t want everyone running around with the best of the best and I’m not saying that’s the way this should be, but it’s a really neat idea that just is not worth the time required. At least not on the unlimited servers. I have hope that our server (Sklotopolis is where I’m still at for those wondering) will add to the base features and maybe help players out a bit with some better rewards or faster skill gains because as it is now, it’s just a waste of time. Of course it could be argued that everything one does in Wurm Unlimited is a waste of time since the entire game is built around skills that take time, but this one just sounded so absolutely amazing and I was let down.
There were other features added with this update that are also pretty neat including a new ‘place’ function for putting items down on the ground specifically where you want them to go. Wood types were also re-introduced, which affects the way dye looks on items, and the ability to dye clothing that you’re wearing two tones was added. Over all, it was an amazing update, and I’m glad to see that developer work on the game continues, even if not all of the update was exactly what I was hoping for.