Post by Morreion on Feb 25, 2014 14:44:25 GMT -5
What's been going on with Salem?
Taking a deeper look at Salem (and living to talk about it)(Massively)
The game takes place during the first baby steps of the American colonies, with a heavy sprinkling of slightly surreal American gothic horror adding a little spice to an era commonly viewed as consisting of little more than pilgrims and starvation. You are one of those oh-so-unfortunate pilgrims, and you've got to strike out from the safe haven of Boston and start your own farm (or town, if you're feeling ambitious). The farther you get from Boston, the more dangerous it becomes, with rolling plains and orchards giving way to foreboding old-growth forests filled with Hide-Behinds and Squonks. And just because you might not know what a Hide-Behind is doesn't make it any less terrifying when you get jumped by one when your inventory is full. Think Creepers in Minecraft...
To unlock Skills, players must accrue proficiency points. This is where it gets interesting. In order to gain proficiency points, players must find and study Inspirationals -- unique items gained from crafting, combat, and exploration. Making bricks in your shiny new kiln? One of your crafted bricks might turn out to be a Brick of Fallen Babel. A player might be harvesting worms from her compost pile only to find a unique Earthworm Python among its mundane cousins (replete with flavor text: "Slithering, squirming, eater of worlds and of all things rancid and foul"). Studying either of these items would then garner the player certain proficiency points toward new, relevant Skills.
It should be clear by now that Salem is a game that's not afraid to take a few risks. It's set in colonial America, it's unabashedly crafting-centric, and it's more brutal than EVE when it comes to player mortality. Plus, it's got a cash shop; players can spend real money to get in-game currency that can be spent on crafting materials and gear. But as the game lacks any sort of themepark raiding focus or heavy PvP incentive, it's difficult to see the cash shop seriously affecting the game's innate balance, especially since some players might be loath to shell out cash for their town just to see their labor of love repossessed by a marauding group of pilgrims dressed as wicker-men.
Crime and punishment in Salem, New World-style (Massively)
Player villages are protected by claims that set these areas apart from the rest of the world, and these claims can be expanded by building certain structures. Griefers who set out to do harm or mischief against villages within these claims will leave a "scent" behind that can be used to track them. There are certain skills, such as ranging and tracking, that players need to have to follow the scent to the perpetrator, however. This opens the door for players to specialize in becoming bounty hunters who protect the village by rooting out enemies.
Salem Grows Even More Dangerous as Open Beta Begins (Paradox Interactive)New MMORPG from Paradox Welcomes All Settlers Starting Today
NEW YORK — February 28, 2013 — Paradox Interactive, an intrepid explorer of new gaming territories, announced today that Salem: The Crafting MMO, the forthcoming free-to-play community-driven MMORPG from developer Seatribe, has begun Open Beta testing. The game, which challenges players to survive and settle in the new world of colonial North America, is now open for would-be pilgrims everywhere.
Salem can be downloaded from the game’s official site at www.salemthegame.com.
In Salem, players can step into the well-worn boots of brave pilgrims, arriving in a fledgling settlement and attempting to carve out their new homes in the untamed wilderness. To survive, pilgrims will need to learn from the land to boost their skills, scavenge for food, and harvest natural resources in a wide-open sandbox environment to craft tools and homes, and even establish their own in-game settlements. Danger lurks around every corner, however, and between wild animals, unseen perils, and their fellow players, surviving Salem is no lean feat: there are few restrictions on Player-versus-Player (PvP) attacks, no law except what the community makes, and in Salem, death is permanent.
Rise and Shiny: Revisiting Salem(Massively)
Other than funny textures and wacky control schemes that leave wrists aching, the way the game plays is pretty cool. You can find your way out into the wilderness and try to make it on your own, slowly building up a shelter, and you might even be able to build a walled fortress filled with windmills and gardens. Check out my first hands-on withut the game to see more screenshots of just how involved it can all get. If you've played Wurm Online, you'll have an idea about how involved you'll have to be in order to enjoy the higher content in the game, but you can definitely solo your way through it. I wandered around constantly, picking up random items called inspirationals, items that you study in order to fuel the learning of more skills. As I mentioned last time, it's one of my favorite mechanics in the game and is a unique way to level a character's abilities. You can also craft or create these inspirational items and slowly become more skilled at all sorts of things. It's poorly explained, generally, but you'll get it soon enough. It really doesn't matter, anyway, being that you'll probably be killed at some point and lose all progress.
The potential of permadeath will either turn you off or not. I know readers who expressed interest in the game but have an actual fear that a favorite avatar will wind up a pile of bones. When I hear this, I want to yell, "Have some guts, wimp! You're a gamer!" but generally I just move on to the next article. You can sell items to earn silver, and that silver can be very, very handy. You can store that silver in the bank and pass it between characters so that if you die, your new character can go and pull it out. If you're particularly lazy you can just buy some skills, a bunch of silver, and items from the cash shop. Yeah, real hardcore, I know... but hey, I have no problems with the selling of power as long as it's done correctly. It's just a game, and some of us just want to buy cool stuff and play.
Salem prepares for full wipe (Massively)
Earlier this month, the developers announced that they will be conducting a full wipe of Salem in an upcoming patch. This will reset the map and delete all characters in order to condense the population onto a single server. Currently the game is running on multiple servers, which the devs deem as "overestablished."
...The good news is that the patch will add in plenty of new features and tweaks, including a rework of the gluttony system, improvements to character proficiencies, and the implementation of a new map generator.
Comment:
I play Salem, and a full wipe is completely needed. There is such a power disparity between people who played for a while/know what they are doing, and people who have not that it isn't even fun. I.e. a small group of players on my server have essentially taken over the server. They force people to pay them "tribute" to be allowed to live, and they will kill anyone who is getting up there in the power rankings.
Sounds like yet again FFA PvP generates gameplay that not everyone is interested in (to put it mildly).
Taking a deeper look at Salem (and living to talk about it)(Massively)
The game takes place during the first baby steps of the American colonies, with a heavy sprinkling of slightly surreal American gothic horror adding a little spice to an era commonly viewed as consisting of little more than pilgrims and starvation. You are one of those oh-so-unfortunate pilgrims, and you've got to strike out from the safe haven of Boston and start your own farm (or town, if you're feeling ambitious). The farther you get from Boston, the more dangerous it becomes, with rolling plains and orchards giving way to foreboding old-growth forests filled with Hide-Behinds and Squonks. And just because you might not know what a Hide-Behind is doesn't make it any less terrifying when you get jumped by one when your inventory is full. Think Creepers in Minecraft...
To unlock Skills, players must accrue proficiency points. This is where it gets interesting. In order to gain proficiency points, players must find and study Inspirationals -- unique items gained from crafting, combat, and exploration. Making bricks in your shiny new kiln? One of your crafted bricks might turn out to be a Brick of Fallen Babel. A player might be harvesting worms from her compost pile only to find a unique Earthworm Python among its mundane cousins (replete with flavor text: "Slithering, squirming, eater of worlds and of all things rancid and foul"). Studying either of these items would then garner the player certain proficiency points toward new, relevant Skills.
It should be clear by now that Salem is a game that's not afraid to take a few risks. It's set in colonial America, it's unabashedly crafting-centric, and it's more brutal than EVE when it comes to player mortality. Plus, it's got a cash shop; players can spend real money to get in-game currency that can be spent on crafting materials and gear. But as the game lacks any sort of themepark raiding focus or heavy PvP incentive, it's difficult to see the cash shop seriously affecting the game's innate balance, especially since some players might be loath to shell out cash for their town just to see their labor of love repossessed by a marauding group of pilgrims dressed as wicker-men.
Crime and punishment in Salem, New World-style (Massively)
Player villages are protected by claims that set these areas apart from the rest of the world, and these claims can be expanded by building certain structures. Griefers who set out to do harm or mischief against villages within these claims will leave a "scent" behind that can be used to track them. There are certain skills, such as ranging and tracking, that players need to have to follow the scent to the perpetrator, however. This opens the door for players to specialize in becoming bounty hunters who protect the village by rooting out enemies.
Salem Grows Even More Dangerous as Open Beta Begins (Paradox Interactive)New MMORPG from Paradox Welcomes All Settlers Starting Today
NEW YORK — February 28, 2013 — Paradox Interactive, an intrepid explorer of new gaming territories, announced today that Salem: The Crafting MMO, the forthcoming free-to-play community-driven MMORPG from developer Seatribe, has begun Open Beta testing. The game, which challenges players to survive and settle in the new world of colonial North America, is now open for would-be pilgrims everywhere.
Salem can be downloaded from the game’s official site at www.salemthegame.com.
In Salem, players can step into the well-worn boots of brave pilgrims, arriving in a fledgling settlement and attempting to carve out their new homes in the untamed wilderness. To survive, pilgrims will need to learn from the land to boost their skills, scavenge for food, and harvest natural resources in a wide-open sandbox environment to craft tools and homes, and even establish their own in-game settlements. Danger lurks around every corner, however, and between wild animals, unseen perils, and their fellow players, surviving Salem is no lean feat: there are few restrictions on Player-versus-Player (PvP) attacks, no law except what the community makes, and in Salem, death is permanent.
Rise and Shiny: Revisiting Salem(Massively)
Other than funny textures and wacky control schemes that leave wrists aching, the way the game plays is pretty cool. You can find your way out into the wilderness and try to make it on your own, slowly building up a shelter, and you might even be able to build a walled fortress filled with windmills and gardens. Check out my first hands-on withut the game to see more screenshots of just how involved it can all get. If you've played Wurm Online, you'll have an idea about how involved you'll have to be in order to enjoy the higher content in the game, but you can definitely solo your way through it. I wandered around constantly, picking up random items called inspirationals, items that you study in order to fuel the learning of more skills. As I mentioned last time, it's one of my favorite mechanics in the game and is a unique way to level a character's abilities. You can also craft or create these inspirational items and slowly become more skilled at all sorts of things. It's poorly explained, generally, but you'll get it soon enough. It really doesn't matter, anyway, being that you'll probably be killed at some point and lose all progress.
The potential of permadeath will either turn you off or not. I know readers who expressed interest in the game but have an actual fear that a favorite avatar will wind up a pile of bones. When I hear this, I want to yell, "Have some guts, wimp! You're a gamer!" but generally I just move on to the next article. You can sell items to earn silver, and that silver can be very, very handy. You can store that silver in the bank and pass it between characters so that if you die, your new character can go and pull it out. If you're particularly lazy you can just buy some skills, a bunch of silver, and items from the cash shop. Yeah, real hardcore, I know... but hey, I have no problems with the selling of power as long as it's done correctly. It's just a game, and some of us just want to buy cool stuff and play.
Salem prepares for full wipe (Massively)
Earlier this month, the developers announced that they will be conducting a full wipe of Salem in an upcoming patch. This will reset the map and delete all characters in order to condense the population onto a single server. Currently the game is running on multiple servers, which the devs deem as "overestablished."
...The good news is that the patch will add in plenty of new features and tweaks, including a rework of the gluttony system, improvements to character proficiencies, and the implementation of a new map generator.
Comment:
I play Salem, and a full wipe is completely needed. There is such a power disparity between people who played for a while/know what they are doing, and people who have not that it isn't even fun. I.e. a small group of players on my server have essentially taken over the server. They force people to pay them "tribute" to be allowed to live, and they will kill anyone who is getting up there in the power rankings.
Sounds like yet again FFA PvP generates gameplay that not everyone is interested in (to put it mildly).
