i haven't even scratched the surface of evrything in the game
The problem is there is nothing behind that surface. There is really very little in the game and even though I like the fact you can terraform the world it's not enough on it's own.
As to the load problem the game is effectively two grid heightmaps, one for the surface and one for underground (which is we can't dig tunnels under each other). Each grid can contain a single type of terrian, each grid has borders which allow it to handle the single level buildings we get.
There was talk about two level buildings and boats just before I left, but that didn't seem to be going anywhere.
I think what they have achieved is good so far, but there is to little for it to be fun for long. I bought a year of subscription when I started and ended up quitting after a month or two.
i found the game to be nearly endless. i was content with having iron stone and wood and making towns, but then i find healing covers, then armoes, then steel, then magical terraforming wands, then dragon armor, enchantments, pruning and sprouts, and several metals that i have no idea what they do yet. best part is its like dwarf fortress, you can always go somewhere else, find different land, and build differently.
and by grids, do you mean those small squares? only reason i see for them to have more then one terrian in them would be for perfect curves when sand collides with grass. as for mines, if you dig under them it creates a shaft so if you want to drop down to alower lever just jump, as you dont take falling damage underground. however i dont see the point in this because the ore will be in the same spot no matter how deep or high you go
standard MMOs have good graphics, but you cant terraform the map, you cant farm, the basic gameplay is "plant/fishing spot/ore spawns here" then "pick plant/fish/mine". the only thing holding the game together are the quests, which is basically what you would do normally except the items look different and there is text. you cant build things, you cant defend a fort, dieing doesnt do anything. if a MMO like world of war craft tried to run all the stuff WURM has it would crash.
Well nice to see you know absolutely nothing about games.
Standard MMO GRAPHICS. Not standard MMO GAMEPLAY.
Just because you can't do stuff in WoW doesn't mean you can't do it in other MMOs.
All the gameplay can stay. The graphics need an overhaul and the engine needs to be redone. Basically, redo the game from scratch.
WoW already has massive lag with its horribly simple coded gameplay in crowded areas, same with WURM. i dont belive you can take both the 3D graphics/animation of MMOs and mix it with the detailed code, the 2 big lag strains for each game, and expect it to run smoothly. maybe in 5 years, but not now. other wise someone would have done it already