Insanity!

[NeiroShop]

Anyone with half a brain should be able to handle insanity pretty easily

doing nothing but gathering inspirationals and cooking food can do the job, but it's just plain boring, exactly for people with half a brain

Anyone with half a brain used to be able to avoid the boring chores. Now youre forced to do it. At best you are forced to waste inspiration on playing a instrument.

Again with just guesswork for how effective/useful it is to do those boring chores.

[Yes]

At best you are forced to waste inspiration on...

I thought I'll see that you don't want to study inspirationals. Why would you want to play instruments when studying inspiratonals recovers a similar amount of sanity?

[HolyLight]

At best you are forced to waste inspiration on...

I thought I'll see that you don't want to study inspirationals. Why would you want to play instruments when studying inspiratonals recovers a similar amount of sanity?

Because people will always complain.

[Spazzmaticus]

Because people will always complain.

Darkness creatures killing you I can understand. Those critters should be avoided by lower level characters and the rewards they give should come with an element of risk. Witchcraft killing you I can also understand. It's a powerful skill with great uses that adds a lot of depth and makes the game much more interesting. Insanity in its current form only adds more pointless busywork with no rewards and no fun. Many of the complaints do stem from a misunderstanding of how it works but even when I step back and look at it I just don't see how it makes for an overall enjoyable experience.

[solitude_stalker]

ok guys I do not know what type of biome you are in but what I have been doing is picking up flowers (- insanity), plucking it (+ or - insanity depending on chance) till I get like 20 petals and studying it once in a while. They do not cost that much inspirational points, and help keep insanity at bay. Also, question: is there a correlation between the insanity decreased and the insp cost of a inspirational? And yeah find out beforehand if blood moon is happening before you log in. Hope that helps.

But yeah if you are already mad ...

[JohnCarver]

I step back and look at it I just don't see how it makes for an overall enjoyable experience.

Why do some games force you stay 'warm', force you to not die of thirst? For you to not die of hunger? etc. etc. etc. This mechanic is no different and has blazed no trail in this regard. Some people enjoy the struggle and that is really ALL this mechanic adds, yet another struggle in a world that is intentionally suppose to be difficult. Players not looking for struggles and challenges and instead focusing on content and positive progression will leave from this patch empty handed. I understood that when we decided to do that and I am just as happy now as I was then about it.

I parsed the server stats. 4.2% of the players appear to be having a hard time understanding the mechanic in general. There is also about 10-15 positive PM's I get about thanking me for 'fixing' salem back to the hardcore game it was meant to be for every 1-2 PM's demanding a restore because they itched themselves to death during a blood moon. These are HIGHLY acceptable losses considering I feel strongly it was a large and positive step towards "Survival", a concept that prior to this patch didn't exist.

As stated earlier, prior to this patch you would afk for 100+ hours and/or live in a mine drinking tea and mining for 100 hours straight ignoring any aspect of 'survival'. It was just quite frankly not a survival game and as you pointed out if you chose not to go fight permadeath monsters and build a few braziers behind a few walls you could 'nullify' permadeath entirely. It was unacceptable and I now consider it largely fix'd.

Players who don't build beds, don't buy tobacco, don't make conscience efforts to lower their insanity and don't spend any time educating themselves on how A and possibly THE core mechanic of Salem works will find that they basically have 50 hours of play time on a Free2Play MMO. They can think of it like a 'Trial Account' that expires in 50 hours and can be renewed as soon as they pass a Salem Exit Exam and prove that they have the required minimum intelligence level that is combating madness.

I respect that it feels, and quite frankly IS, a tax to play the game. Why do some games only give me (3) lives? Why does Zelda limit my number of hearts? Why does XYZ spaceship game only give me so much fuel before I have to find a refueling station? Players could pretend that a game should NOT create artificial restrictions for the sake of artificial restrictions, but in reality we prioritize the measurements in our game based on two simple things. The investment it demands from you, and the emotions it provokes. We feel that this patch increases both of those things and quite frankly have read VERY little in these last 100 pages to change our minds.

[Heffernan]

if only the negative effects werent there aka losing inventory to ring, gaininig questionable effective tools, loosing whole stacks of Hammer & Nail etc... it would be much better

[JohnCarver]

if only the negative effects werent there aka losing inventory to ring, gaininig questionable effective tools, loosing whole stacks of Hammer & Nail etc... it would be much better

Yes and if only salem caused you to respawn when you died, dropped a little flag when you wanted to fight somebody to make sure they wanted to as well, and animals would stop chasing you after 15 seconds of running away.

[er-queent8r]

I am finding no issues with controlling insanity since the patch. I believe the people who do are just plain lazy. There are so many functions that will lower the insanity/madness levels it is quite easy. As stated in the patch notes, the hooka can lower your level of madness by 1 level. Yet when I went into the den no one was there. How many of you have started growing tobacco? Tobacco is the easiest way to lower madness but I bet most of you haven't even started growing it. It is time for you to stop crying and help yourselves. News flash - this game is suppose to be hard.

[NeiroShop]

Why do some games force you stay 'warm', force you to not die of thirst? For you to not die of hunger? etc. etc. etc. This mechanic is no different and has blazed no trail in this regard. Some people enjoy the struggle and that is really ALL this mechanic adds, yet another struggle in a world that is intentionally suppose to be difficult. Players not looking for struggles and challenges and instead focusing on content and positive progression will leave from this patch empty handed. I understood that when we decided to do that and I am just as happy now as I was then about it.

I parsed the server stats. 4.2% of the players appear to be having a hard time understanding the mechanic in general. There is also about 10-15 positive PM's I get about thanking me for 'fixing' salem back to the hardcore game it was meant to be for every 1-2 PM's demanding a restore because they itched themselves to death during a blood moon. These are HIGHLY acceptable losses considering I feel strongly it was a large and positive step towards "Survival", a concept that prior to this patch didn't exist.

As stated earlier, prior to this patch you would afk for 100+ hours and/or live in a mine drinking tea and mining for 100 hours straight ignoring any aspect of 'survival'. It was just quite frankly not a survival game and as you pointed out if you chose not to go fight permadeath monsters and build a few braziers behind a few walls you could 'nullify' permadeath entirely. It was unacceptable and I now consider it largely fix'd.

Players who don't build beds, don't buy tobacco, don't make conscience efforts to lower their insanity and don't spend any time educating themselves on how A and possibly THE core mechanic of Salem works will find that they basically have 50 hours of play time on a Free2Play MMO. They can think of it like a 'Trial Account' that expires in 50 hours and can be renewed as soon as they pass a Salem Exit Exam and prove that they have the required minimum intelligence level that is combating madness.

I respect that it feels, and quite frankly IS, a tax to play the game. Why do some games only give me (3) lives? Why does Zelda limit my number of hearts? Why does XYZ spaceship game only give me so much fuel before I have to find a refueling station? Players could pretend that a game should NOT create artificial restrictions for the sake of artificial restrictions, but in reality we prioritize the measurements in our game based on two simple things. The investment it demands from you, and the emotions it provokes. We feel that this patch increases both of those things and quite frankly have read VERY little in these last 100 pages to change our minds.

Yet again i would embrace all theese with a BIIIG smile on my face if we had a meter for the insanity. Put in a meter or a insane-sane-insane meter that goes back and forth depending on what you do for all i care. I hate having to time my gameplay just to counter a mechanic i fully understand how to counter. Not understanding & not enjoying are two different things.

All i want is a meter to show me that its time to stop mining,building or otherwise playing the game i normally would and have to do a mundane chore to fix my insanity. At the moment i have no idea of how long it takes to get one madness level and no clear idea what counts as "whittling".

So yes keep the mechanic BUT adjust it a bit. Even if youd just send the darn data to the client without having a meter the custom clients will surely fix up a meter quick enough.