It's a great time to start this game.
There's going to be an overhaul of gluttony soon from the 2 person Dev team. This a hobby for them really so don't expect any massive changes or rapid development. They've spent years on their other game and it's still in Alpha.
Salem is technically in open Beta. Yes, Paradox dropped the Dev team from a steady paycheck but the game company is still hosting the servers. That was back in June and hasn't affected much but the update amounts.
The established players are big, really big, but hopefully with the new gluttony they'll get clipped a bit and there's not going to be a wipe because most of the game population would quit if they did. It's possible to catch the top players but it's just somewhat harder after they changed the hummus purity. The tiered food and easier skilling have fixed some of that but be prepared to put incredible amounts of time into the game to catch them.
Right now Roanoke is by far the most populated server and most dynamic politically. Plymouth is a dead server, and Jamestown is boring except within 1/2 an hour of either Darwoth's or the Pirate's bases. If you have any questions feel free to PM me or kin me on Roanoke using my homestead secret = 11% Water Source
Good Luck and Welcome to Salem.

jorb wrote:(jwhitehorn) you are an ungrateful, spoiled child
As the river rolled over the cliffs, my own laughing joy was drowned out by the roaring deluge of the water. The great cataract of Darwoth's Tears fell over and over endlessly.