Salem

Everyone,

We've been developing for a good, long while, and will soon be ready to drop a fairly sizeable patch on y'all, containing, amongst other things, quite sizeable reworks of character proficiencies and the gluttony system. While we are not quite ready to release the patch yet, we do, nevertheless, feel an obligation to say something on the subject, if only to break an extended spell of radio silence. Thus:

The big news is that, for better or worse, we have decided to accompany the patch release with a complete character and map reset of all existing servers, that is to say a full wipe, and a clean start from scratch on a new server and map. All presently running characters and maps will thus be deleted before long.

Why a general reset?
Two primary reasons.

• The current server architecture is overestablished compared to our actual needs. Long term it is not feasible for us to keep running multiple servers dropping to as low as single digit populations during off-hours. A reset allows us to concentrate population to one, cardinal server, which appears more in line with the game's actual needs.
• One of our chief points of dissatisfaction with the present, running implementations of the game is lacklustre map generation. A map reset will allow us to introduce a new, improved map generator.

To that one might add a more general concern about shedding old legacy problems built up over several development iterations.

What about store-bought items?
All store-bought items will be made re-available to you in the new world after the reset, regardless of whether you have lost them or not in game, and regardless of how long ago you bought them.

What about promo items? Beta pack, and such?
We haven't decided entirely, but most likely we'll simply redistribute those as well.

I am really butthurt. You said you wouldn't do this.
We did not arrive at this decision lightly. We have considered all our options (including selective, limited wipes, simple introduction of a new server, &c), and for various reasons found them wanting. It is true that it has been our ambition to not make more world resets, and I hope that it can continue to be thus. The problem of server over-establishment can, however, hardly be solved in any way other than by pruning servers, which we feel leaves us scant options. The introduction of significantly reworked systems for character development also gives cause for balance concerns if we do not introduce them to a tabula rasa.

Bah. When will you actually release?
As soon as we are done with the new map generator, which is what we are working on now. We aim to have it done in two weeks. The rest of the patch is pretty much finished.

I realize that this is controversial, a big deal(tm), and I entertain no illusions that I can possibly cover all concerns and questions in one update post, so I shall instead keep it brief and try to answer whatever questions may pop up, as they do.

TLDR: Wipe in approximately two weeks.

Our general hope and ambition is that a sizeable patch combined with a world reset will be able to breathe some new life into the game, and we hope you shall be able to find it within yourselves to feel the same way.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Oh, btw. Big thank yous to all of you who have supported us and who are still here reading this. We love you all dearly. <3

And so it begins, Salem world 2. we got this guys. thanks for the update on the patch jorb ;D

Start fresh ,, here we go, wow!!

cannibalkirby wrote:And so it begins, Salem world 2. we got this guys. thanks for the update on the patch jorb ;D

actually its w5 currently

Welcome to W6: Here come the tears version

Thanks for the update. I’m looking forward to the patch and the brave new world. I would like to thank the both of you for the hard work. Without your time and devotion, many hours of entertainment wouldn’t be possible.

jorb wrote:full wipe

I'm surprised.

New map generation algorithms sounds great. Will there also be new biomes?

I hope that you will also take this opportunity to rebalance the defenses.

There are several good mechanics in the 'new' system that should stay as they are. The permanent damage done to humors by brazier fire currently is a good mechanic. It means having to keep working on a character even after you have it where you want it. Splash damage means putting more effort into a good base design to keep raiders out. Critical hits from braziers are terrifying to raiders and should remain, especially as the sound is the same as a turkey neck break. So much panicked hilarity.

But a few things do need changes. A few pics of what the tribe has built for defenses will be posted soon to illustrate just what one can do to beef up the walls and firepower of a base, seeing as we are about to wipe soon anyway. I think it's safe to say that what we have now is just about unassailable with anything short of a half a dozen characters over 800 humors. Is that level of humor going to be attainable with moderate effort in the new system? If so, then walls and brazier strengths are fine. If not, please lower them to something more in line with what you think humors should be. As a reference, before the wall and brazier buffs, it was possible to raid with a well coordinated team of 150s and getting up to 200 was a nice cushion.

And speaking of high humor characters, the addition of the waste claim mechanic is what made the Tribe almost unbeatable. Sounds strange and counter intuitive? Think about this: just before waste claims, some Russians broke into the Tribe's best, most highly defended vault in a matter of a few hours, and summon killed three tribe raiders. This was Always a possibility. Therefore, even though it was for a long time possible to get a character to 1000 humors, you'd have to be crazy to do it, because any character, at any time, if it has been used for crimes, can be killed by a dedicated group who has scents. So, character humors never went above what was absolutely necessary to break into a base. Waste claims though, means that one tribe member with alts in each of a few vaults can check for waste claims once a day (this is done), and no one has to worry AT ALL that their raider will be summon killed.

TLDR: Perm humor damage, crits, splash = Great. Please remove waste claims so titans are not so easy. Please rebalance walls hp and brazier fire to match the level of humors you want to see in your players' characters. Without waste claims, no one will humor higher than they Have to.

Bittersweet but not unexpected. Thank you for the heads up - enough time to finish my project. =)

This is a beta. Wipes happen . I just hope the gluttony system rework and other additional features reduce the grindy/mind numbing tasks (digging, fishing, etc) so the next stretch isn't so arduous.

This is extremely disappointing and frustrating.. I'm losing almost an entire year of hardcore gaming down the tube and I'm not the only one. I finally reached a point where together with my team we could assert our own position and strength in the server and begin building a larger community to help raise the population. We were having a good time and a lot of fun with the current game and then you come along and **** down our neck like this because you want to save some pennies on your server structure and taking the easy way out. I was happy about the patch untill I read this. What a major disappointment and honestly, it's more than that. You basically ruined the life of every hardcore player who devoted themselves to this game to be the best and who accepted the hard challenge. I hate your guts, Jorb. I really hate your guts. Most of the time you probably don't even do anything for Salem. I bet Loftar does most of the work and you just order him around. This was probably your idea all along because you don't care about us players. We're too few for you to care about, but don't forget who is still here after all this time. I hope you'll remember us real good because you won't see a lot of us anymore after this.

Let me ask you this Jorb. Are you completely our of you mind? I mean it. Do you even know what kind of decision you're making for us and how much some of us stand to lose from this? Salem is the most difficult game I have ever played and it's grindy as ***** and yet you decide to wipe the game. I had to struggle for every bit and piece of what I have and what I've built and I mean really struggle. I accepted your game's ***** difficulty and challenge and you just **** on me like this. There has been so many steps and projects to get to where I'm at now that it's not something I can explain even if I sat here writing about it for hours on end. And all that's just down the tube. I've invested 1000s of hours and I'm not the only one. You really betrayed us Jorb... You really did. This is not the point of a persistent world or an mmorpg. This is not why I play MMORPGss, especially time consuming and difficult ones like Salem. I expect my things to be saved and taken care of for many years.

I hope you will suffer for this and regret it, but I will never forget it or forgive you. I will never have faith in you or anything that you represent again. Go to hell and don't come back, Jorb. ... And to Loftar, I just want to say how disappointed I am that you didn't defend us more or found a way to keep us alive. You should leave Jorb and go work for another company. He doesn't deserve you. He sure as hell doesn't deserve dedicated and strong players that the remaining playerbase of Salem consists of, people whose interest and passion for this game endured so many difficulties and the low population.

I've thought about starting over, but I play games for experiencing and achieving something new, a new project, a new goal, a new frontier and not to re-live the same content or grind. I am not going to go through all the noob and mid-level phases just to recover what you take away from me with this wipe. It's not fun to do that when you've already done it. I did a major and long push already and I'm exhausted from it. I deserve to reap the fruits of my labor. It's not fair to ask me to do the same thing in the same game. Forget it. Have fun with your game, *******.

Rest in peace, ZtyX, Utopia, Salem and my team. I'm moving on. Goodbye to all my friends and acquaintances. Be good and see you in other games. You'll know it's me. I use the same nicknames. Maybe we'll build something new.
And you can always find me at http://www.futilez.com/ or in Teamspeak 3. Server Details: Server address 195.95.158.120 (password: qqnomore)

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pras to jorb and loftar for the tough decision. gotta spread the news now.

ZtyX wrote:It's not fair to ask me to do the same thing in the same game.

im pretty sure it wont be the same with this major patch, and it seems you forgotten what "beta" means. either way, good luck.

@Darwoth
maybe i make a char in jamestown within the 2 weeks to add your pile of skeletons. good luck to you too.