Salem

So I made a Popham character to scope the place out, I've gotten to a point on Providence where Im just sort of sitting around and waiting.

So I spawn in, and about 100 yards away I see what Im assuming to be an abandoned or raided claim, still full of loot, a few houses, etc.

Now Im wondering, do these claims just get like this because the owners die or are they just abandoning everything?

It's pretty much set that Darwoth will be closing the Popham server once he his built his character up enough, thus only he will be bringing things back. There is little point to do anything on Popham when we have Providence.

Some were raided, some were scavenged when the claim went unpaid.

Cannons once we're able to take claim stones out, so many claims fell during that time.

Popham offers accelerated character advancement if you know what you are doing, and currently a relatively lower population because many are sitting and waiting for others to bring them animals.

Yeah and to be able to benefit from the advantages of accelerated character growth you need to inherit via the family statue which only gives you 5% every week... So to start a new character on popham means gambling that the server will continue to exist for at least a couple months or so to make it worth it, which is a huge gamble since (hopefully) it'll be closing any day now.

It's a great place to experiment though... As you found, there are a bunch of bases full of junk just sitting around. Unlike providence, when a claim becomes unpaid the claim has no "Crime!" effect at all so it's very rewarding and effortless to go base scavenging.

So yeah, if you're truly bored you can check it out and experiment with some of the expedition features, but don't expect to get anything tangible out of it. Also a lot of people play on there to get some practice dealing with animals and such, since they're a bit complicated to keep alive and healthy and will likely be extremely expensive once they get shipped to providence since very few players will have control of them.