Well, I've been a long time lurker here, but I've been playing this game for a bit, and I've decided to make a post about it.

Haven & Hearth is one of the few true sandbox MMOs I've came across ( on that list, UO, EvE and SWG stand high ), and it's truly AMAZINGLY fun. The developers say it's an early alpha ( if it is, it's the most stable alpha I've ever seen ), but it seems to me to be more of a well grounded beta than anything else, as there's not really any real stability issues and the ones that ARE there are because the developers are running off a computer as a server, nothing really to do with the code.

The game's content / features cycle is about a feature or two per week ( see here for the updates forum ), and we've recently had a map reset ( 7th September ), which means that no one is TRULY well established yet. The alliance of towns / forts / homesteads I belong to is still looking for somewhere to permanently settle, although that mainly means we're leaving behind ghost towns dotting the landscape. For a map of one of nine "supergrids" ( which are basically huge landscapes ) check here. The rest haven't been explored yet, except some of the Eastern and South-Eastern supergrids. Everyone is still racing in the search for high quality materials to start crafting iron goods and food.

Now, let's get onto the meat and bones of the sandbox game, the features list. The game has a fairly complex crafting system, usually involving a day to three of waiting for the higher tier goods ( such as steel ) and a lot of hard work for high crafting skill and quality of materials. It's still pretty bare bones in terms of different buildings, there's just a general "log cabin" house, although you can build cellars and other things inside it, for your own private use. It's got a LOT of things to do in game, if you're not farming, hunting, smithing, mining, making tea, making silk or trading goods, you're usually on the run from PKers. The game has a sort of permanent death. You die in game, and depending on your change / tradition belief ( the game has a belief system that involves bonuses or negatives depending on where you standing on your belief ) you'll either lose all your learning or none of it.

Pretty much every skill is needed by everyone, and so most people specialise and join a village or make a homestead from where they trade for other people's goods. High quality goods are certainly in demand at the moment, especially food, as food is used to level up your stats through the "FEP System" which causes you to gain stats depending on what foodstuffs you eat. ( Recommendation for anyone who comes to play: Have a varied diet and avoid constant constitution foods, as they'll cause you to have to spend TONNES of time and effort levelling up your other stats. )

PvP holds a great place in this game, as you can often set your hostile / criminal actions on, run into a village with friends and slaughter everyone there, before robbing the village of everything of value and returning to your own. Of course, the developers saw something very wrong with this, and implemented a system which is beautiful on so many levels; the ranger system. People with the Ranger can use "smells" from crime scenes to hunt down players who committed crimes, until they get to that player's hearthfire, where they can summon them and, if they have the Murder skill, kill them whilst they're offline or online. Yes, that's right, you need skills to both be able to attack and kill other players, and that's a good thing, trust me.

Really, I can't describe how good this game is, especially considering it's an alpha / beta. Check out the YouTube video here or visit the main web page, and come play with us.

Maybe a nice game but I can't register on the main site. Maybe it's because the server is down.

Originally posted by Karaha

Maybe a nice game but I can't register on the main site. Maybe it's because the server is down.

Yep.

Server is back up. ;D

 do trees grow again now? :-)

Originally posted by Teiman

 do trees grow again now? :-)

I believe yes!

You can grow trees, anyway.

Also, quality of trees effects their products.

  The game is actually pretty good. Open world, crafting centric, combat.  I don't like the fact skills don't increase with use, grinding an irrelevant skills for learning points just cause it is faster over something more useful seems a bit off to me.

There's already alot of claimed property, which seems very restrictive, unless you wanna be a criminal.  Some resources I can't even find. 

  So far I see potential, and the game is prty stable.

I have to agree, some of the mechanics need serious work, but you can just turn on criminal acts and walk through claims, and no one will be able to hunt you down and murder you for it, since trespassing scents aren't strong enough for that.

So what makes this a sandbox anyway?

~chuckle~

Ken

Originally posted by RealmLords

So what makes this a sandbox anyway?

~chuckle~

 

Ken

 

The ability to change the world as you want, and take paths that the game developers necessarily didn't intend.

Originally posted by Josexph 

The ability to change the world as you want, and take paths that the game developers necessarily didn't intend.

That, and the fact the developers have said, "We don't want the freedom of players to be limited by anyone but other players."

Game still doesnt run for me...sits at the java 6 logo then nothing.

Originally posted by BellaH

Game still doesnt run for me...sits at the java 6 logo then nothing.

Ask on the Bugs or "How Do I" forums.

Well I managed to figure my issue out on my own (uninstalled and reinstalled Java)
Anyhow, its a really neat game for the crafting crowd!

I started this game a few hours ago and it's pretty fun so far, hard to get into but fun. Few tips for begginers that I picked up so far

Start by finding a tree and picking branches and build baskets till you get 200 LP then learn pottery go to a river and dig for clay and make Tree planter's pots. Oh and don't try to swim across a river you will die and will have to make a new charecter yes permanent death, I learned this the hard way :D

Thanks for the tree pot tip! I was doing fishing/fires, the pots are far better!

I actually think this looks amazing, I have always loved this art style, and I think that if you aren't going to go the full step to realism, you should just make a game like this, because these graphics are timeless.

I am signing up as I type this.

Finally, a game that I truely think I can stick to. A game completely controlled by the players, on a level of complexity many games don't have; far and few inbetween.

Graphics shouldn't be the focus, or even a major part in deciding a game to play- this game is a great example, in my opinion. I truely don't understand why people can't stand playing games that look like this; I suppose it's because they've gotten used to the aesthetic look of recent games....anyway, sorry for the small rant. Point is, the game is fun...for sandbox lovers. 

Another tip to get more LP Go to the personal beliefs tab and increase your Peacufull or Change beliefs that way you get 29% more LP :)

Originally posted by bboneheadd

Another tip to get more LP Go to the personal beliefs tab and increase your Peacufull or Change beliefs that way you get 29% more LP :)

Just change whatever belief you like. Change changes along with it.

I don't think I can get over the 2d-isometric graphics... I hate to say it but outdated engine is outdated...

Originally posted by Mystik86

I don't think I can get over the 2d-isometric graphics... I hate to say it but outdated engine is outdated...

That made me laugh, to be honest. I think the majority of game's graphics these days are terribly ugly.

It's not that I'm a graphics whore, I mean I can play Morrowind and hell I'd play Daggerfall if my computer wasn't too new for it. I just do not like the type of graphics in this game. Gameplay is only half of the fun for me, I need semi-realistic graphics in 3d at least...

I can't even stand to go back and play Fallout 1 and 2...

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Originally posted by Mystik86
It's not that I'm a graphics whore, I mean I can play Morrowind and hell I'd play Daggerfall if my computer wasn't too new for it. I just do not like the type of graphics in this game. Gameplay is only half of the fun for me, I need semi-realistic graphics in 3d at least...
I can't even stand to go back and play Fallout 1 and 2...

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The true sign of a non-gamer! Does it dawn on people when they post this nonsense that they are speaking of a video "GAME" not a feature film! Its's about game play! Oh wait... The game is too hard for you isnt it?

The true sign of a non-gamer! Does it dawn on people when they post this nonsense that they are speaking of a video "GAME" not a feature film! Its's about game play! Oh wait... The game is too hard for you isnt it?
 

BellaH I have to disagree.  a signgof non-gamer... to some people, they want there games to visually look good.  Just as you have your opinion about like a hard game, or a game that plays like Haven&Hearth doesn't mean others will.  It's not a matter of being to hard for someone.  A game has to appeal to the audience (as a movie lol).  So you like hard games, another player might like a game with equal game play and graphics.

I tried Haven and Hearth it's not to hard.  But it's not my style.  Doesn't mean I'm a non-gamer lol.

And a non-game in my mind would be someone that doesn't play PC games.  I consinder everyone who plays, from a Pets on their DS to Heven and Hearth to be a gamer.