Why Salem will fail without intervention

[robert]

Sure, say that to all the people that stopped playing after being raided.

Can and do. This is a high risk, violent permadeath world. I'm sorry that you didn't know what you were signing up for when you started the game but if losing everything is going to kill Salem for you, then it's the wrong game for you. Starting, losing everything, and coming back stronger and wiser should be part of your experience.

There is a difference between raids ruining the game for you and mechanics standing in the way of new players ever getting stronger. As it stands you can survive, thrive, and take risks to success so it is impossible to support your points.

while i agree with you, salem isnt for everyone one.. the biggest issue i have with its marketing is the fact they list it as a 1700s crafting mmo and barely list that is full loot/pvp/perma death.

most websites have big bold letters "salem the crafting mmo" then in super small size 5 print .."perma death pvp" alot of people join the game and get killed instantly (look at chief's scalping thread... not all are his alts)

word of mouth with video games is a powerful marketing tool.. if 10 people get griefed in to quitting they will advize others against not playing. and so forth.. even if salem got turned up side down and in to FARMsalemVILLE i really dont think the people who quit would come back :/

i tend to view HnH and salem like a sadist/machocist style.. either you like to cause pain or take the pain and keep going like its a drug or you get hit once and scream about it while quitting :/

[greenkrieg]

I disagree. I enjoyed the early foraging life. If foraging isn't something you find interesting, you're probably not going to like the game. And while it would have been good to have a hint that clicking the bar would level up my proficiency, I did figure it out pretty quick. I don't think we need more of a tutorial than an explanation of basic game mechanics, plus a few NPCs around town that give text explaining things like farming, defense, etc. Sevenless' guide is so good, their scripts could even be based off that.

I'm not saying get rid of having to forage in the beginning but starting the game out with a house and a field will help new players feel some ownership over what they have and give them a home base. This game is overwhelmingly complicated in the beginning. Complexity needs to be introduced slowly once a player is hooked.

[Wournos]

I agree with the op, and with JeffGV, to some extent.
But I think that it also comes down to how many players the devs are aiming for. I don't think risk games have a large group of followers compared to safe games. So the player base of Salem will be small compared to many other games.
But if they are aiming for 5000 players, or even 10000, then something needs to change because even though a lot of changes have been made to the early game, it is still not newcomer friendly. Players solely targeting newcomers is even worse.

The only suggestions I have at the time is what have already been said before - balanced raiding system, some sort of initial humour cap that will be changed as the game changes, no wall spamming (braziers should activate when the first wall is hit), improved trade system and preferably more items to sell. Oh and the default client needs to be better, especially if the devs one day decides to ban third party clients.

Another thing that some people on this forum should think about is what you answer in the Help section. I have observed a few people basically trolling without giving an answer. "Do you know anything about this?" Answer "Yes I do" nothing more. Some even give false, sarcastic information. You might find it funny but little things like this could put people off. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool outside the internet. It works just as well in written form.

[JeffGV]

Problem is, the game funds itself via a cash stop based on aesthetical items. If those can be easily lost or stolen, people are much less eager to buy them, and that's without talking about the prices.
Buying something you can wear is basically like putting a target on your head.

[Droj]

Problem is, the game funds itself via a cash stop based on aesthetical items. If those can be easily lost or stolen, people are much less eager to buy them, and that's without talking about the prices.
Buying something you can wear is basically like putting a target on your head.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3918

I agree with what most people are saying. There is no balance when supermen can fly around the world destroying walls faster than it takes to build then. Walls should only be destroyable by rams or another tool if not your own for example. That way it's consistent and less need for wall spam.

There needs to be a colonial safe haven in Salem akin to eve onlines high sec that allows new players and carebears to grasp most aspects of the game before they venture out in wilderness/darkness ala low/null sec and then get pilaged and murdered.

[Tommy]

Yet again:
1) Cap the power of High End players in PvP (and particularly fighting low end players) and
2) Give them much more stuff to do (and objectives to achieve), e.g. in the darkness => high end area.
A major piece of the current problems would fade towards a bare minimum.

Eventually, I don't think it's really satisfying for high end players to hunt down beginners/casual players all the time. It's just they don't have so much to do during their online time (wohoo, achieved yet another 10 YB). Everything needs some interesting objective to achieve to keep players busy. And if one reached it, try to get the next one even farther away. The more high end players are following that route, the less will be hunting down beginners. I mean, that's how other online games work as well....

Therefore: get tons of things into the game that are tough to achieve, cost time and thoughts on "how to", ideally in a format where solutions can't simply be posted into a Wiki and everybody else is reading the wiki for an easy walkthrough. Even if it is beta, think of all players that come and leave now already. Many will not come back later even if you tell them that some things are going to be implemented soon. Soon is not now. If I get bored of a game, I leave, and usually I don't come back.

[Dallane]

Yet again:
1) Cap the power of High End players in PvP (and particularly fighting low end players) and
2) Give them much more stuff to do (and objectives to achieve), e.g. in the darkness => high end area.
A major piece of the current problems would fade towards a bare minimum.

1. retarded
2. This is the actual problem with salem. After a week of playing you have everything in the game and are left with nothing to do other then a crap mine system to spam braziers/lockets, building massive layers of walls and farming. Eating the entire time is also not enjoyable.

[Potjeh]

The problem is that the PvP metagame is all backwards. It promotes exterminating newbies over robbing them, and attacking less developed players over more developed ones. And as long as levelling less developed players' claims costs nothing, there can be no balance.

[MagicManICT]

It doesn't promote eliminating them any more than any other open PvP sandbox game. It's just easier to do so with permadeath than with having to continuously hunt and kill them over and over as you would in other games.

[Potjeh]

They compete with you for foraging. Of course it promotes eliminating them.