I think its a design issue, as I said waaay earlier in the development process. Salem doesn't have any self-perpetuating mechanics, which is crucial for a successful sandbox. In laymen's terms: Salem doesn't allow for a meta-game [A game within a game], or if it does, it does so really poorly. While it advertises itself as a sandbox, your interaction with the world and its inhabitants is limited by what the devs have programmed into the game, which in reality is a themepark MMO. Players have very little ability to "create", you can't mix different mechanics in the game to receive unexpected results, there is very little procedural gameplay. Yeah, the map is procedural generated, but since it doesn't change besides wipes, to a player it's simply the equivalent of a designed map with less soul. Every mechanic that the devs have released so far, has added absolutely nothing new to the game.
Oh cool, a fishing patch! What does fishing let you do?
Gather fish. What can I do with the fish?
You can turn them into food, or dry them and turn them into better food. So fishing is just another way to get food?
Yes. Even though there are already a crapton of ways to get food?
Yes. So you have just added another way to do something, which everybody was doing just fine already?
Yes. The only actual meta that exists in Salem is trading, but its like calling a McDonalds a "fine dining" restaurant.
Not that I blame the developers, designing a good sandbox is a lot of work, and unlike most games you can't really "design as we go along." You have too have a pretty large concrete foundation. EVE, arguably the only really successful sandbox in today's market essentially lives of the meta-game. The designed content and the game itself is in reality boring as *****, but its because people can setup a quasi-Mafia extortion racket (
http://www.minerbumping.com/) that the playerbase keeps coming back, not because the devs have introduced a new way to "mine ore"! On the otherhand, in Salem you do what? Build up a village with your buddies, level everything to max, pimp your characters costume, and then what? Sit around and wiggle your thumbs? Risk losing the character you've put hundreds of hours of work into, to try and find a fight? Wait for the devs to release something new, so you can get bored with that and have this issue over again?
tl;dr: Salem doesn't facilitate an environment for a deep meta-game, which essentially makes it a themepark MMO that's pretending to be a sandbox MMO.