Why is there so few people playing the game? - Moved

[Megge]

There's no new content because they *have* to finish the multi-server thing first, and it's taking a lot longer than expected.

People do not understand that something like "Multiple Server" needs much time, they would prefer to have new Stuff
E: i think the Server we have is already fine and there is no need for more , everyone can get a Key now and the Server aren't expoliding.

[Hardsun]

About content its only true for people already playing game or HnH vets. But if youll look at comments on Salem at game sites like mmorpg.com (where about 2500 keys or even more were distributed) you will see a lot people leaving game after 1st day. And while playing people see how good game can be and they ready to wait for new stuff ... most of 1st time players dont even understand how deep game can be.
From comments i can understand that all they see is boring grinding arcade where you need to look for stone of leaf for an hour ... and thats what can lead to 300 elitist nolifers playing on 10 multiservers
Dont know what can be done in this way .. probably faster and easyer starting stage of the game (preferably with step by step tutorial so people wont get lost at start and would see game potential).
Good start in game would make people intrested in this game so they wish to use wiki and forums for help and figuring things out (its totally wrong to expect from 1st time players to start playing from reading tonns of guides and wiki ... instead they simply "try" new game and decide if they would play it at all). And in case of Salem in current state this decision is 80-90% "no".

Also its simply impossible to play on original client compared to Enders and other custom clients. Terraforming cant be done properly without UI tool and too many ingame objects are so small its nearly impossible to see and find them without minimap radar. Probably devs should pick good ideas from custom clients and make something similar in original client... in this case use of custom clents wont be a "must".

Low playerbase = no profits with f2p system = dead game.
What im talking here is not about making game more casual but about making it more attractive to new players and more even in possibilities in different clents.

[Dallane]

Low playerbase = no profits with f2p system = dead game.
What im talking here is not about making game more casual but about making it more attractive to new players and more even in possibilities in different clents.

salem is turning a profit atm

[Potjeh]

Some of the new content should definitely be early game content. A major problem with starting out, as you said it, is that it's nothing but foraging. The game gets fun when you get to base construction, so obviously there should be some more early stuff to construct that doesn't take silver.

Tutorials would be premature now, there are major overhauls in the pipeline so they'd have to be redone. Client would be nice, yes, but core gameplay is a bit more urgent, and there's only so many manhours in a day.

[Vibe]

I agree with Hardsun.

The early game might not seem bad to us H&H players, because we're used to forage for hours on end. But I cannot imagine the frustration of a new player who doesn't have a custom client. I can imagine having to walk and forage for hours without the radar with those hard to see & click forageables is nothing but frustrating for them. Like it was previously mentioned, the game gets really fun when you actually start building your settlement and making changes to the world around you (that is what sandbox is about!), but to start that you have to go through a long stage of foraging. The early game should be sped up a bit, to show the new players they can already make a "contribution" with a rather fresh character.

On the other hand, I find that Salem is much more hermit friendly than H&H, which I love. There's no sliders that hold you back and currently there's no stupid timers that make you come online every X hours to check up on steel production or similar crap, which I really really hated as a hermit in H&H - correct me if I'm wrong about such mechanics in Salem. On top of that there's no high quality node (clay, water, ore) hunt and it seems fairly easy to lay down a mine and start getting ore and building defense/walls and other buildings doesn't seem like a grind (low material quantity).

[a63ntorange]

I agree with Hardsun.

The early game might not seem bad to us H&H players, because we're used to forage for hours on end. But I cannot imagine the frustration of a new player who doesn't have a custom client. I can imagine having to walk and forage for hours without the radar with those hard to see & click forageables is nothing but frustrating for them. Like it was previously mentioned, the game gets really fun when you actually start building your settlement and making changes to the world around you (that is what sandbox is about!), but to start that you have to go through a long stage of foraging. The early game should be sped up a bit, to show the new players they can already make a "contribution" with a rather fresh character.

On the other hand, I find that Salem is much more hermit friendly than H&H, which I love. There's no sliders that hold you back and currently there's no stupid timers that make you come online every X hours to check up on steel production or similar crap, which I really really hated as a hermit in H&H - correct me if I'm wrong about such mechanics in Salem. On top of that there's no high quality node (clay, water, ore) hunt and it seems fairly easy to lay down a mine and start getting ore and building defense/walls and other buildings doesn't seem like a grind (low material quantity).

While I agree that the lack of high quality nodes is somewhat satisfying, I would prefer there to be nodes, but allow players to offset missing nodes with something else. The hard caps is what I disliked. I mean you should be able to raise the quality of your clay, unlike in hnh, through growing high quality trees, and tools, and making it in your clay trough for instance. Water should be able to be boiled over and over again, to increase its purity. Metal needs a complete rework the economy is ruined by everyone having never ending warcraft style mines, in the safety of their hermitages. Mining should be dangerous, and have random events like real cave ins, and gaseous eruptions, also having rare silver nodes that last 2-3 tiles, and rare gold nodes etc.

Also why does this game have to have real permadeath, that doesnt relate to witchcraft. Basic pvp is not going to happen, all you have with the current permadeath system is cold war between neighbors, or no lifers facerolling anyone that they cross. What I would propose, being an old school eve, and uo player, make it a harsh death penatly that has meaning, but doesnt make it so that noone would dare risk their main charactors in pvp, unless you know its going to be a faceroll, or gankfest. How about we lose 10-25% of our proficiencys when we die. Much like it is with npcs which is great, but much more firm. That way if someone gets killed numerous times its like permadeath. Also have all skills gated and taken away if you lose the prereqs. This alone would be plenty harsh enough, and still allow for the random 1 v 1 pvp. The way its going now, is in my opinon, hurting your sub numbers and your gameplay. I think the only real form of permadeath should be when you drag a koed witch to a church and burn her at the stake. Or she sacrifices your koed body in a cauldron, giving her a bad ass witch craft curio.

There is no end game, and I know you guys have something planned, but atm, I am seeing some glaring flaws, that I think will hurt your revenues in the long run. I wish you luck and I will stick with it a bit, but right now its very boring, and very very casual. I feel like im playing cold war minecraft atm, with worse crafting, and less depth. BTW: thats not meant as an insult to russians, i mean everyone is playing a game of turtle until they get steam rolled.

[Dallane]

Also why does this game have to have real permadeath, that doesnt relate to witchcraft. Basic pvp is not going to happen, all you have with the current permadeath system is cold war between neighbors, or no lifers facerolling anyone that they cross. What I would propose, being an old school eve, and uo player, make it a harsh death penatly that has meaning, but doesnt make it so that noone would dare risk their main charactors in pvp, unless you know its going to be a faceroll, or gankfest. How about we lose 10-25% of our proficiencys when we die. Much like it is with npcs which is great, but much more firm. That way if someone gets killed numerous times its like permadeath. Also have all skills gated and taken away if you lose the prereqs. This alone would be plenty harsh enough, and still allow for the random 1 v 1 pvp. The way its going now, is in my opinon, hurting your sub numbers and your gameplay. I think the only real form of permadeath should be when you drag a koed witch to a church and burn her at the stake. Or she sacrifices your koed body in a cauldron, giving her a bad ass witch craft curio.

Perma death is a terrible system that only neckbeards enjoy. Removing permadeath would insta boost server population by at least 1000 every day as more people hear about removing this archaic system. When you die you should have have to spawn with your ghost in a church or run back to your corpse.

[Tonkyhonk]

Dallane, you arent supposed to troll in help forum.

[Dallane]

Dallane, you arent supposed to troll in help forum.

why would i troll about something as serious as this. permadeath will kill this game.....permanently

[MagicManICT]

And yet more and more devs are implementing it. There used to be as many hardcore D2 games as there were "normal" games, and yeah, it sucked when your very high level character you'd worked months grinding and gearing up to make it onto the leaderboards died.

I think people are getting tired of "easy mode" gaming and looking for real challenges. The problem is that it's hard to do this in an MMO without A) making the whole thing two (or more) factors harder or B) just patching in the"hard mode" content such as "dungeon challenges" and "epic mode". Where's my hardcore WoW servers? PvP server with permadeath... now those raid achievements really are achievements!!

I can't agree with that statement at all Dallane. Is it keeping the population down? I will wholeheartedly agree with that statement, but then I don't think Seatribe or Paradox either one care about that as long as the game continues to be played and shows some profits. Hell, even A Tale in the Desert remains viable with sub 1k players.