Coming back to Salem

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Snake skulls do still spawn in stumps, but at such a low rate that hunting them that way is useless. One of my vq's involved rounding up a ***** of feathers, during the week and a half it took, I found 1 skull in a stump. That was easily well over 1k stumps, probably approaching 2k

[Claeyt]

i am coming back to salem.

1st:
the first thing i noticed when coming back to salem... is the main town is empty.

as a player that already knows the basics of the game... this was still frustrating for me to try and find out about the state of the game and clear up any changes that have been done...... im sure this has driven a way a ton of new players.
*most people judge the games population health on how many people they see when they first login, not to mention being able to get help learning the game.*

as an example:
i saw some one yesterday asking around town about when he can buy silver, where it goes and so forth..... for the 15-20 minutes or so i was trading in town i never saw any one answer him.
this drivers the player away
and since this guy was looking to buy silver.... is money the devas have missed out on.

This is definitely one of the bigger things I'd like to see changed. There are reasons why nobodies communicating or hanging out in town talking to each other anymore like back on Roanoke. Witchcraft and Disease. People are afraid they'll be cursed constantly so they don't just lean against the statue and talk while doing something else online anymore. They're also afraid of getting sick from all the diseased alts in town. this makes them all wear doctor's masks and the new alchemists masks while they're in town. This seems dumb to me to require these things but the disease mechanic is kind of fun to play with and different.

I'd love to see the good old days of 5-10 traders standing in town selling their wares in the Barrels to all the people passing through but I think JC never had that sense of community on Plymouth and so he doesn't miss it at all. It was why Roanoke was more fun than the other servers. You could basically count on having fun in town with people and taking a break from farming and chores. You had people like Embie, Rainbow and Biddas who started off as town people just hanging out gossiping until they hooked up with a town. I'd love to see some sort of safe zone next to the church where people could just hang out and lean against a tree without having to worry about witch dolls being tuned to them or idiots running around with disease alts making them sick.

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^^^ that. the fun of an MMORPG got sucked right out of the game when that **** started happening. Even if I wanted to play like I did on Roa (and I was damn good at what I did), I couldn't. Alot of stuff like that is why older players said eff it and started quitting

[Toorimakun]

yep, the WHOLE point of an MMO is to play with other people.... with out that you might as well just play a single player game.


some day i hope to find some programmers willing to help me get a demo game programmed so i can get funding and start a game company.

[JohnCarver]

While I find it entertaining and cute that players like to pretend the population density of the starting town has any real bearing I would argue that at best it is psychological.

It has already been stated and is pretty common knowledge that to be cursed you have to NOT click for a full minute while somebody wildly dances around you. Nobody is 'that' engaged into a town conversation that they simply cannot make a single mouse click when being harassed by a witch. This pretty much voids any argument that the real functionality of witch cursing in town has any effect. It DOES mean that players cannot AFK in town. And I think any argument to allow further AFK in salem is just silly.

As for the disease mechanic. There might be a bit more meat to it, but not much. 2 hours of stump farming can buy you a mask that 100% eliminates it. You could also spend $9.99 on the store and get a pack that would yield you immune to town disease. You can also 100% eliminate it for 8 hours with a few berries and a berry immunity buff. Players who are unable to make this minimal commitment to the game should quit, I don't want them here, and they will do nothing but bring down the median competence of the Salem population.

I completely agree that players who are unable to spend 2 hours, unable to make a single friend on the forums (where an NPC tells them to go) to give them a berry immunity buff, and unable to click their mouse button a single time in a full minute while a character dances around them will have a hard time.

I am also relieved and thrilled that players who fail this fairly simple test will hopefully move on to a game that is being designed for them. Yes this is an MMO. No this is not Flowers & Happiness Chatty-Kathy MMO. If standing around chatting with people while being unable to make a single click of your mouse with a 60 second warning is "beyond" your abilities. Then I can confidently say that you had little to no hope or future in Salem in the first place.

I understand that there will always be the bleeding hearts who will cry out and argue for the well-being of those too ignorant, unwilling, or incapable of standing on their own two feet (or clicking a mouse every 60 seconds). However, let there be no confusion that I have not, and will not, ever care about the gaming experience of these people. Nor will Salem ever be a safe harbor for this.

The players can easily make a 'chatroom hub' RIGHT OFF the boston claim. Claeyt is more than welcome to 'fix' this perceived problem and direct all the new players to come to his little Chatvilla village where he can have his Roanoke-esque, lean on stuff and chat without fear gameplay experience. The simple reality is he, and nobody, has done this. That is all the evidence I need to show that nobody cares or wants this silly 'utopia' of flowers & happiness chatroom enough to do anything about it but whine on the forums . And whining on the forums simply provides me tears and solidifies that it will never happen.

Don't get me wrong. Its not that I generally 'hate' the idea of people socializing in town. I just don't like the general act of 'pretending' that it isn't possible. And no, I don't want some random new player who joins the game to feel all warm and fuzzy and make 100 new friends standing around in town. Because one of those friends will be Darwoth who will then empty out his base and cause him to lose all his store items. Players should get the very real and very in your face feeling that the starter town is 'dangerous' which should tell them everything they need to know about this game. Then, assuming they are competent, they will come to the forums and see that there is a community of thousands of Salem players and that the feeling of 'fear' is a very real thing shared by the others and choose their friends carefully, which is probably the most important aspect of Salem itself.

[Toorimakun]

Hmm... while i still do not fully agree with the main town being so empty... you do make some valid points.
i am a member of a couple cross game guilds and one of the things my guildies look for is plenty of people to play with... if the first town is empty they dosnt spend much time checking out the game.

also i have been back for about 2 days now and didn't know about this 100% mask or the berries.
PS: where do i get this mask?

[JohnCarver]

The plague doctors mask on the stall.

Or the Apothecary Kit on the store.

[Claeyt]

I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to feel a little 'Safe' in the main town. When you see daily reminders of witchcraft scents in town it feels like you could get cursed at any minute if you go to take a bathroom break or get some coffee.

I don't mind the mechanics of Witchcraft or Disease, they're both good but your game has lost something if nobody feels like risking a merchant alt for Barrel trading or just hanging out. Clearly a lot of us played the game differently than you did and those of us from Roanoke remember how much fun it was trading and hanging out in town with a friendly, active server. You guys on Jamestown and Plymouth didn't have that experience.

What about putting a couple of barrels inside the church and not letting the witches curse people in there. That way there'd be a space for those of us that like to socialize in town without fear. It's never used anyways. Maybe you could make a Tavern or Cafe that was protected from Witches for us to hang out in. There's something to be said for just hanging out in town in an MMO and seeing other players.

You have to see that barrel trading and players interacting in town is way down even with the larger game population, right?

[JohnCarver]

I will consider giving you guys the church.

[Dallane]

I don't think it's the worst thing in the world to feel a little 'Safe' in the main town. When you see daily reminders of witchcraft scents in town it feels like you could get cursed at any minute if you go to take a bathroom break or get some coffee.

I don't mind the mechanics of Witchcraft or Disease, they're both good but your game has lost something if nobody feels like risking a merchant alt for Barrel trading or just hanging out. Clearly a lot of us played the game differently than you did and those of us from Roanoke remember how much fun it was trading and hanging out in town with a friendly, active server. You guys on Jamestown and Plymouth didn't have that experience.

What about putting a couple of barrels inside the church and not letting the witches curse people in there. That way there'd be a space for those of us that like to socialize in town without fear. It's never used anyways. Maybe you could make a Tavern or Cafe that was protected from Witches for us to hang out in. There's something to be said for just hanging out in town in an MMO and seeing other players.

You have to see that barrel trading and players interacting in town is way down even with the larger game population, right?

shut up and take your liberal salem to hell with you