The Illness Mechanics is Unfun one.

[Sipo]

Just stay away from darkness

[JohnCarver]

Three things. The first which has already been addressed.

#1: Don't live in the darkness.

#2: Become a witch. Rats don't aggro witches.

#3: A single leech can theoretically cure something like 250 Diseases if it is in fact the 'correct' cure. Stop throwing them away once you are done curing yourself.

[Claeyt]

I've only played Salem for a short time, and I have just loved everything about the game. I was making a little progress each day, achieving more and feeling accomplished. This was the was the case until the rats came.

I'm sorry to come a bellyache but the moment I realize I was playing the game and it felt like chore It became clear this is problem. Do you know what I do now? I walk out, I get bit by one of the many, many, MANY countless rats that swarm the map, that can all instantly infect you with a single bite, all the time, with 100%. You can outrun the rats, but heaven forbid if something gets in your way, or you try to stomp and miss, because they'll cover the missing ground and bite you. Once infected, and trust me your gonna get infected, I haven't had moment rests between bites and cures of said bites. So once you do that you have to spend a few hours searching for enough leeches, looking at all the swamps near to you, and hopefully it won't take long for you to get cure. Once cured, the logical thing to do is stock up on medicine, so I go search for more leeches in the same swamp to always encounter more rats over and over again. It's been nothing but vicious cycle of me getting bitten, cured, trying to prepare myself only to get bitten and infected yet again.

This is NOT Fun. Salem is a game first, because nobody would want to play a completely true simulation of the real deal. I'm fine with viper poison, because the worse I get is knocked out, and getting a cure for poison is easy, not to mention there are only few vipers here and there. I like a lot of the mechanics, even if things slow me down they have never reached a point where I've come to state of zero progress. There needs to be something done to make this feel more comfortable, like add a bed in the game and I can just sleep off the illness, have my character in bed, wait four hours and get rid of it that way. Make it rats have chance to infect rather then always infect on hit, and also make less rats, or atleast have some of other animals attack them (Like those giant spiders I see). Just something to give me a chance to keep playing.

Rats are more populous the closer you get to the darkness. If you don't want to deal with rats then stay away from the darkness. Simple and effective. Otherwise just keep a good supply of medical supplies in a chest or shed. Most of the higher end players were already doing this because of the injuries from Bears and March Hares. Sickness is just another thing like this to us.

[SagaTheDragon]

What is the Darkness? For what I know I don't live near any spot there. The fact is I live in town made by much more knowledgeable player then myself. Plus it's easy to say you enjoy the mechanic if your dealing with it at all. Mind you it's group of two to five rats.

Plus the fact is we simply just need more stuff WITH the mechanic, I'm not saying toss it out, it just needs serious tinkering and polishing. The idea of becoming a doctor would be cool and very reasonable now.

[tweenprinc3ss]

The idea of becoming a doctor would be cool and very reasonable now.

Right now it's is more like needing a pharmaceutical manufacturer. I think it would be cool if you needed some medical skill in order to apply some of the more useful cures, thus forcing you to rely on finding such a doctor, and possibly having to provide some sort of payment for those services beyond just the medicine. I like the idea of higher end characters beginning to fill different roles of specialization. Fleshing out more niches in game for such mechanics seems like a likely path for Salem. Witches meddling from the darkness spreading suffering and diseases, priests trying to fight them back with churches and holy faith. Rangers seeking justice, doctors healing the sick and weary. I like it.

[JohnCarver]

I think there is something to be said for a 'profession' that doesn't immediately translate into a mechanic.

Anybody can experiment with the diseases, and learn with some level of accuracy how to cure each one with greater efficiency. Thus making 'being a doctor' a skill that you actually acquire due to experimentation,and knowledge. Not a button you click to 'learn' in the skill window.

I do believe this is much more 'fun' if given the time to mature, but we shall see.

[SagaTheDragon]

I still don't know what the Darkness is....

[JohnCarver]

I still don't know what the Darkness is....

Approx 10 hours walking from Providence.

Settle closer to town, or build a church to push it back.

[SagaTheDragon]

I'll have to ask her if were close, because there are no mad hares or that bird thing that throw branches, and I've never had my biles just decrease. It seems like normal wild land...and rats here and there to ruin my day.

[JohnCarver]

I'll have to ask her if were close, because there are no mad hares or that bird thing that throw branches, and I've never had my biles just decrease. It seems like normal wild land...and rats here and there to ruin my day.

If you are spawning rats, I can assure you that you are near Darkness.