User friendliness... (Please forward to devs)

[MagicManICT]

i cant see my main in character selection anymore and i wasn't killed at all i logged out at 7 am and when i logged back in it was gone and i ended all the java process after i logged out and quit the game so can anyone please help me i really want to play with my main again i was so far on it too

Not sure what this has to do with the subject. If you're experiencing a technical issue, please notify a mod (via PM or report your post) so it can be split off and be discussed properly.

Odds are your character was killed. That's usually the only reason you won't see your character in the list. I can't say there isn't a database bug, but I have no way of confirming nor denying it. An easy way to check this is to make a new character and consult with the gentleman in the Old World about inheriting your old character's claims.

[ElderLars]

Just want to add a point to the Text size mentioned earlier.
Just started to play and i did not come far until i had problem. I cannot read the text.... I have updated to java 7 as one forum post said but it was no improvement for me. I took a screen shot that i wanted to add the this post but then i did see that the text was all ok if i zoomed in.
I use a 42" TV 720P and the resolution is set to 1920*1080. I think the text will be easier to read if I lower the resolution but it fells like a bit of a work to do that. Maybe to morrow.
Maybe you can increase the size or let the user change the size of the text.

[MagicManICT]

How do you have a monitor that only displays at 720 set to display at 1080? o.O That might cause issues right there. (As a note, your system might be sending the video at 1080, but it's still only going to get displayed at 720 if that's all the monitor is capable of. Plus, and screenshots you take will be at what your video card is set at.)

[Arillious]

When you go to the store and are comparing 2 products, do you choose the one that has less features/value because you know the company that made it was able to create that product more resourcefully?

Lol. So. You are saying that the tutorial text of a game that is in Beta stage is hard to understand right off the bat. And you are imblying that these texts are a feature/value. Let me make a comparison then too. Would you buy something you like the taste of which has very brief description, or something that tastes "meh", more expensive, but has a very bright wrap, has appealing text and was marketed "well"? As I understand now, you choose the second product.

While "Not being a big-budget game" and "not having enough manpower" are certainly valid excuses

The excuse is that you don't want to learn how to play the game for some reason.

The analogy you used was terrible. Maybe mine was too. You have missed the entire point and started attacking me(Like I said people would do). So much easier to attack someone than counter a point. I am still playing the game and have been playing for months. I waded through the obvious new player shortcomings and made it out the other side. I figured out most of the unintuitive nuances pretty easily. Some of the more ridiculous ones I had to look up on the wiki or other sources. I'm not concerned that people who play the game for a length of time will like it. I know they will like it because its a great and original game. I'm concerned that the majority of players will not even give the game a chance because they will lose interest while they stumble around the first 30 minutes not knowing what the hell to do. As you said though, this is still beta and so there's time to change it.

I do not want the actual mechanics of the game dumbed down at all. I just want the majority of players who try the game to make it outside of Boston before giving up.

I want as big of a player base as possible. The more players, the more interaction which causes more competition and ultimately a better experience.

[iamah]

I just fell in yet another trap this game has for noobs... if you apply the lock you cannot create duplicates keys anymore?

seriously, this game is an abomination for new players, the amount of mistakes a new player can make is just out of control... why can't the owner of the master key create copies after the lock is applied? for realism?

[Dallane]

I just fell in yet another trap this game has for noobs... if you apply the lock you cannot create duplicates keys anymore?

seriously, this game is an abomination for new players, the amount of mistakes a new player can make is just out of control... why can't the owner of the master key create copies after the lock is applied? for realism?

what are you talking about? you can make copies

[scypheroth]

First a few words about me: I am a 26 year old German Game Designer working mainly in the fields of Feature Design, QA and QC on a freelance basis.
I am writing this so (you) the devs get a better understanding on how a new player (who is a hc gamer but no geek or fanboy) feels when he gets into the game and because I want this Game to be a success so more companys will be brave enough to make games based on crafting.

Soooo I just finished playing Salem for two hours... that´s just about as much as I can take...
Heres why:

) The Tutorial has too much writing and even in fullscreen mode the writing is WAY too small even for people with good eyesight.
) The Skilltree is overcumbered and not intuitive at all, in fact, nothing seems to be intuitive in this game.
) Movement feels very slow, boring, even annoying at times... auto routing would help greatly coupled with the option of minimap navigation.
) Having collision detection with other players is fine but not if 10 people are enough to clog a street. If the game goes live and 100+ players are in the starter town this will lead to problems.
) Theres no way of telling harvested objects from those that are not.
) Resources are spread WAY too thin... this is the Beta and it took me about 1 hour just to find ANYTHING I could use to make a (inspirational?) item.
) Community is a big part of online games and while it might seem like a good idea to have a realistic aproach to the chatsystem in reality it is neither good nor realistic. In the real world you have all your senses to tell one person from another in the game you are down to a single one. Imagine 100 people with the same screenname (???) writing things at the same time in a chatroom.
) Last but not least: Why the strange names, why the complicated leveling system? The game is complex enough as it is there is no NEED for any of those things. I am sure some people like it but that is one out of 100 and on a commercial level this strategy will lead to massive failure.

Dear dev team please consider postponing the release and I would even go so far as to urge you to pull the plug on the beta as the game in its current state will only turn interrested potential players away forever as most people dont give a game a 2nd chance if they did not like the beta/demo etc.

I expect a lot of resistance and hate coming to me from the community now but that is due to the fact that 99.9% of players who do not like the game and have left frustrated will never set a foot into this forum so I hope all of you will keep a open mind when reading this.

Best regards,
Lucas

i agree with 100% of EVERYTHING you just said man. this game is a New players Nightmare...iuppon release if alot of the "features" as they so nicely call them arnt fixed...this game is going to be the next Darkfall. Only a community of MAYBE 1-2000 players will be left standing. Or worst it wil be the next Xsyon, wich is almost identicle to this game...crafting based with no sense of direction or noob frienly help. Only reason why i gave this game more than 30mins of playtime is cuz i had nothign else to play. Im bored to hell with the way the MMO market has gone with games (WoW type) and love how Salem is taking a diffrent direction. but if some things were taken from other games and frankly the MMORPG game style and were added to Salem this game would dominate in the crafting genre. Basically everything you listed above would make this game great. But the way it stands i also do not see this game being a "success" in the eyes of Major MMO reviewers eyes nore the general MMO public. Its just to dam hardcore!

As i stated before i tryed to get a few of my friend into Salem...all of them area Average gamers, 2 of them Play Darkfall like its the life, i was talking to them in Vent guilding them through the start. they got to Boston and started to venture out into the world...about 15 mins pass and over the mic i hear almost ALL AT ONCE! "I cant play this game...just no." and then i ask why? They all replyed back with a simillar response....

The path finding is just horrible...its worse than age of empires 1.

and poof! 4 potential Salem supporters/players/contributors gone in under 30 mins....cuz of one issue.

now just think that was ONE issue and lost 4 players...think of when 100 players login and to the game for the first time and see (??) in chat and are trying to find help or talk to a friend or any other "feature"...BAM 100 players lost gone forever cuz of a "feature" that the game has and are working as intended. Some "features" are just plain wrong and do nothing but chase away the Average gamer....

[Chiprel]

I think that you should look up what: 'path finding' is.
There never was any pathfinding in salem

[Athriaxo]

@ Mtibbs1989:

You sure go thru great lenghts trying to convince one (1)! player this game is amazing. Further, I feel your frustration in these attacks aimed at not sounding too insulting yet making sure to make me look like I dont know what I am talking about.
Yet the whole point of my post was as I mentioned many times to help the developers gain insight into how a new player feels when he gets into the game. Especially someone who has played thousands of games (I do this for 20 years every single day) and realy knows what to look for.

Do you need me to point out to you on how many levels you´ve made a fool out of yourself with that?

[hektor37]

Here is my two cents:

I agree with a lot of what Athriaxo is saying about the new players having to overcome a huge learning curve. And the average player doesn't go to the forums right away; he/she is going to rely on the tutorial to get them through the basics. They will eventually use the forums when they have a more advanced question that isn't mentioned in the tutorial. If they aren't hooked in the first couple of minutes with the crafting / economy, they aren't going to stick around for the graphics or the character development (role play).

You can tell me till your blue in the face that you don't want carebear characters in this game, which is fine... but the truth is, based on the economy that this game will always need noobs to drive the economy. The bottom line is there are too many money sinks (ways in which silver exits the game... rents, taxes, claim writs, town upkeep, etc.) vs. the way that new money enters the game, which is pelts, crickets, cloth, and soap with an occasional windfall of stump coins or savage charm. All other goods trading is a zero sum game (no silver created). Unless I am missing something, this game is going to want noobs to come into the game for the sole purpose of grinding silver to introduce into the economy. Unless everyone is content to grind crickets.

I guess there is an option to buy silver with real $, however I'm a little hesitant to spend real money on a game where I could loose my character to perma death.

Love or hate noobs, this game needs them.