Update to Wurm Premium Pricing

Changes are coming to Wurm Online. According to the most recent newsletter, the price of a premium subscription will be going up. Extra benefits will also be given to premium players as a result of the higher prices. With these changes, I figured it would be good to see what exactly I am getting with my subscription.

According to the Wiki, there are 2 types of account: Basic and Premium. The basic player can play for free with certain restrictions on how high they can level skills and characteristics – 20 is the max for free play. They also are restricted from establishing deeds – while they can own a deed if they received it while a premium player. Basic accounts are also restricted to from playing on the Elevation server. With these restrictions, there are further consequences which are based on the skill cap:

• Cannot build stone houses as 30 masonry is required to construct them.
• Only cows/bulls can be ridden due to the body control cap.
• Only rowing boats can be sailed due to the mind logic cap.
• With faith capped at 30, Priesthood is also not possible.
• Cannot steal as this requires 20.5 body control.

Becoming a premium player removes all these limitations.

The new changes that are being introduced will provide a monthly sleeping potion for premium players to make up for the increase in price going into effect May 2. I've never seen or heard of a sleeping potion before, but found out that it gives 1 hour of sleep bonus, normally for a price of 5 silver. Along with the potion, premium players will have a higher chance (+3%) of crafting Supreme and Fantastic items. I haven't really seen much benefit in the rare items I've created so far – I had a rare log and a rare sprout, both of which I tried to make into something rare, but failed, and I made a rare torch. I haven't seen any Supreme or Fantastic items, but I would suspect if you get something like a sword, forge, axe or other tool, it could be definitely useful.

The magnitude of the change to premium pricing is not immediately obvious to someone in the US as it is given in Euros. I think the current rate is something like $1.30 USD for 1 EUR. So the price is rising from 5 EUR or $6.52 USD to 8 EUR or $10.44 USD for one month of premium subscription. Even with this increase, these prices are below what most MMOs charge. You can also pay for your subscription with in-game silver (it costs 10 silver for one month).

Even with the price increase, I think Wurm is a bargain for an MMO, as most games run around $15 a month. I also think that the benefits you get for a premium subscription are pretty good. Updates have been coming pretty regularly which is good, even if some have had to be rolled back. I like my deeds and can only think the game would be really difficult if I had to play without the safety they provide. I also have just started riding horses and they really speed up travel – I can now cross the entire map in a gaming session. On the whole, I think I will keep my premium accounts for now and pay attention because it will be interesting to see how this impacts the player base.