Happy New Year & Salem 2015

[Heffernan]

Shop update in new thread soon.

Soon™ *


*is a registered trademark of MortalMoments

[MagicManICT]

The priest in town has cured COUNTLESS Pilgrims who were in fact NOT cursed and meanwhile countless others have lived with their curses not realizing or noticing the subtle yet detrimental changes to their characters.

^^insert tinfoil hat here.

Shop update in new thread soon.

Soon™ *


*is a registered trademark of MortalMoments

Funny, I thought that was registered to another MMO publisher...

[Nektaris]

Salem changed my gaming experience forever.

I remember when I was used to play the 'classic' MMOs, those kind of games where you had to perform 'automate' things (do some quests, kill some monters to lvl up, enchant my gear, do some quests again, etc etc..) to reach the 'top'.
I spent an enormous amount of hours playing those games. Then I started asking myself: "why am I doing this? I am not even having fun anymore. I really wish there was a game where I could show my ability as a gamer".
(Little note: I've always loved PVP)
And so I started looking for 'the perfect MMO'. Tried Mortal, Darkfall, Xsyon, Wurm, Tibia, RotMG, and the list goes on. They weren't bad games, but for me they missed something. They missed the 'thrill' of losing everything for a single mistake.
On 21/12/2012, when I registered on the Salem Forums, I learned a new term: permadeath. I fell in love with this concept so much that know I can't play any other MMO because I find them to be boring, without challenges.
After 2 years of playing I still consider myself a noob (lot of trolls/jokes/insults will derive from this statement ) but I am having fun, the fun that I never had with any other game I played.
I could say that Salem, for me, stole the fun from every single game out there and took it for itself.

Even if I'm a noob I learned something from this game. I learned that you don't need to have all of the informations at your disposal and that maybe discovering things by yourself is much more fun and rewarding than just looking for them through a wiki-search. I learned that having a big playerbase doesn't tell anything about a game and that having a smaller one is in some cases better. I learned that even if other companies have thousands of dollars at their disposal they still can't make a proper game like this one because they lack DEDICATION and PASSION for the game itself, they only care about money.
I always read on several forums people complaining about the fact that every single MMO that has recently seen the light is just another copy of a previous one, but when I tell them to give Salem a go and they do they find it too difficult or find the graphics not appealing to their taste because the game doesn't look like ***** TERA and quit after their first minute into the game. But it's not their fault. The fault is on the companies, they are the reason why the 'gamers' (I hate this term) of this generation are too stupid, they are getting used to ****** games (not only MMOs, other genres are included in this statement) that DO NOT stimulate their intellect BUT make them think less and apparently give them fun with REALLY EASY tasks to complete after which they are rewarded with fancy stuffs that do not mean ****.

I'm really happy after reading your post Chief and I can finally say you could be the only person in this world who knows how a game should be.

[alloin]

Salem changed my gaming experience forever.

I learned that you don't need to have all of the informations at your disposal and that maybe discovering things by yourself is much more fun and rewarding than just looking for them through a wiki-search. I learned that having a big playerbase doesn't tell anything about a game and that having a smaller one is in some cases better. I learned that even if other companies have thousands of dollars at their disposal they still can't make a proper game like this one because they lack DEDICATION and PASSION for the game itself, they only care about money.
I always read on several forums people complaining about the fact that every single MMO that has recently seen the light is just another copy of a previous one, but when I tell them to give Salem a go and they do they find it too difficult or find the graphics not appealing to their taste because the game doesn't look like ***** TERA and quit after their first minute into the game. But it's not their fault. The fault is on the companies, they are the reason why the 'gamers' (I hate this term) of this generation are too stupid, they are getting used to ****** games (not only MMOs, other genres are included in this statement) that DO NOT stimulate their intellect BUT make them think less and apparently give them fun with REALLY EASY tasks to complete after which they are rewarded with fancy stuffs that do not mean ****.

I'm really happy after reading your post Chief and I can finally say you could be the only person in this world who knows how a game should be.

Perfectly said, but don't forget Jorb & Loftar for breeding this baby, they just lacked the parenting skills that JC has

[Nektaris]

You're right, I forgot to mention jorb and loftar.
I got to admit that I've been watching some of the old paradox interviews and streams with jorbtar recently and all I got to say is that I consider jorb to be a genius while I'm thanking loftar for making all of this possible.
I see those two like they're brothers.

[Spazzmaticus]

I find it very reassuring that MM is approaching the development of this game with the attitude of a true auteur. Doing the game you want and not the game that people think they'd like. That is definitely the way to go. It's that kind of no-compromise vision that gives us movies like A Clockwork Orange and video games like Planescape Torment. There are enough derivative WoW-clones out there. I'm glad to see that there are still some people that try to think outside of the box.

Regarding combat I don't think the MOBA style is the way to go. I was always more partial to locking on to opponents and constantly facing them until you switched target or broke combat. Possibly making it more tactical with activatable holds (strangle from the front, headlock from behind), attacks that turns opponent around, parrying and countering more than just thrusts and such. Maybe even takedowns to grab people trying to run away. I think that would make it more difficult to fight multiple opponents while still having combat be based on experience and skill and not too dependent on low latency.

Either way, happy new year and keep up the good work. I've got a feeling that good things are coming!

[er-queent8r]

JC thank you for taking the time to write this great post. Although there have been many changes to the game with many struggles, I believe the game is in a better place now. We all tend to get frustrated with the changes each patch may bring. But as frustrated as I get, it is most rewarding figuring out how the new systems work. I have never spent so much time on a game as I do Salem. It is not just the game but the people I have met in the years I have played. So I have to thank the current and past dev teams for there hard work. Keep up the good work as we sail into 2015.

[Claeyt]

I can honestly say that the game would be dead now if you guys hadn't bought it and that it's gotten better overall. I think you really changed your way of thinking about killing noobs, loss of bases, and some other stuff that you did as a player constantly over the last 2 years. You've definitely addressed some of the issues that I had with the game. Other issues like the overall dominance of a small group of players has been partially addressed with the TbC's, revenge killings and stockades but they've also been increased with stuff like the stall taxes going to the top 10 towns.

Overall I'd give you a 'B' for a grade but an 'A' for effort.

I've now officially stopped 'not buying' from the store after seeing how much better you've made this game for us care-bears and how much worse you've made this for Darwoth.

....and I posted this on Reddit Games:

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/2r2iac/something_strange_has_happened_in_the_gaming_world/

Let's start the hype players and help them to grow the game. Post little topics like this on game sites, Reddit, forums if you love the game. Watch anyone streaming it on Twitch. Watch and up-vote any Youtube 'Let's Play's' of it.

[Thor]

There have been times when I thought this was going absolutely nowhere, even few of them when you guys took over. But somehow I find it hard to just entirely quit, so you are indeed doing something right. I feel it's like a book that I must keep on reading to see how it ends. Thanks for pretty amazing year 2014 anyways!



edit: Salem is a pretty complex and problematic child, I bet it's hard to nurture.

[pistolshrimp]

One of the best posts I've read. Thank you. Salem is the only game I play, and for a reason.

I'm looking forward to your post on how us, the players, if at all, can help. (Other than play and pay.)