Paradox Interactive announced Salem not too long ago and, since then, very little has come out. Devs were on hand at this year's GDC and MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood had the chance for a sit down meeting with Salem's team. Jon found himself "jaw droppingly surprised". Find out why in Jon's GDC 2011 Salem report. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

It isn't often that I'm surprised by anything that I hear at the Game Developers Conference. Sure, there are always announcements and interviews, and it's always entertaining, but I honestly can't remember the last time that I was left completely bumfuzzled by a game company's description of an upcoming game. That is, until the other day when I walked into meetings with Paradox Interactive and they told me the premise behind an upcoming MMO called, Salem.

Read more of Jon Wood's GDC 2011: Salem Report.

Wouldn't get too excited about the free for all PvP and permadeath. I've been playing this game's alpha for a little over a year or more now, it's called Haven and Hearth, and I can tell you it's not that big of a deal. Seeing as how everything i've read about Salem is completely copied over from HnH, i'm going to assume that the combat system will be as well. Combat is the worst thing about HnH. It's rediculous, tedious and confusing.

Most of your experiences with combat are going to be using a sling or bow to shoot at an animal from the safety of your boat, becuase were you not in that boat, you would already be dead. Now that isn't to say it's impossible to stand toe to toe with an animal, but it's damn hard in the beginning. I can, but i've been training my skills up for a while and am somewhat used to the combat system. New players will have a very hard time figuring out what they should be doing, I can promise you this, it's not a game where the first thing you should go out and try to do is kill an animal. It will literally be weeks, maybe a month before you will be able to even think about getting into any sort of combat.

As for PvP, yeah, it's there. For the first time in any of HnH's worlds I had to track down, and kill a theif. Consisted of blocking his heathfire with building signs, while other villagers chased him down in an attempt to get him to hearth. Once he did our combat consisted of him punching me once, me punching him, he gets knocked out, I punch him again and he's dead. Not all that exciting, nor rewarding as he didn't have any of the stolen items on him. We did later find his stash, he had been theiving for a while.

Well assuming that HnH actually is the alpha of Salem (which I doubt except in maybe a spiritual sense), it's still an alpha. I think it should be interesting at the very least.

game actually sound interesting and it defnitely is innovative, i dont think that has ever been done before, the other thing is you can actually kill someone offline i read in another article, that is gonna be interesting.

Originally posted by atticusbc

Well assuming that HnH actually is the alpha of Salem (which I doubt except in maybe a spiritual sense), it's still an alpha. I think it should be interesting at the very least.

 It's not a true alpha of Salem, but it has been the testbed for all of Salems's features. As far as HnH being in an alpha state, well, the developers can call it what they want. Servers have been up for years now, anyone can create an account, and with Salem in developement now, I would say that HnH is about as final as it's going to get.

Originally posted by Unreal024

Originally posted by atticusbc

Well assuming that HnH actually is the alpha of Salem (which I doubt except in maybe a spiritual sense), it's still an alpha. I think it should be interesting at the very least.

 It's not a true alpha of Salem, but it has been the testbed for all of Salems's features. As far as HnH being in an alpha state, well, the developers can call it what they want. Servers have been up for years now, anyone can create an account, and with Salem in developement now, I would say that HnH is about as final as it's going to get.

 

That's sorta what I meant by a spiritual alpha. But even if HnH is final, I would really hesitate to say how representative of Salem's final state it is.

Paradox are making an MMO? Could this be the best news for the genre I have heard in a long time?

Well, yes.

This kind of games need to have smooth launch(i know in princilble all games need smooth launch but with permadeath and crafting its a must) and i mean finished and almost bug and lag free also devs need to make sure that cheating is to limit, means that game is realy tested so all exploits and other kinds of cheats brought to a very minimum or with this kind of penalty like permadeath it will be over before it begins if not tested enough.

This is very exciting a game with perma death i realy hope it succeed im intrested in this game.

I only hope that the trolls and haters understand that this game is for fans of harsh penaltys and leave there hate somewhere else.

I for one will follow this game see how it developes

Well i will admit,i was expecting the "jaw dropping" part to be weak at best,i was wrong :D

Ok first of all,i do like the IDEA of permadeath,but it has to be extremely well thought out,not just a simple mechanic and that's it.

I also LOVE the idea of an extremely in depth crafting game,but this part needs soooo many answers ,like rarities,mechancis,is their failures ,does it craft realsitically or like other games where it is fake,auto crafting?MUCH worse,is it offline crafting?

Open PVP,i do not like and do not agree with now ,tommorrow or next year or 100 years from now,it takes too much design effort and to be frank ,i do not feel any of these develoeprs know what they are doing.it needs to have implications and MOS Tof all it REALLY needs a system that is 100% cheat proof,and since i have not seen a single game designed as cheat proof,it pretty much means ,cheat=win in PVP.You also need to account for uneven latency and possible ZERG design.I am hardly impressed with PVP if you are allowed to zerg me with 5 players on 1.

I also do not like when i hear you NEED to be aware in a PVP world,that is only 50% of the eqaution as the higher level player needs nothing to worry about,it is the noob or lower level that needs to do all the worrying.This type of game design really makes me wonder about the quality of the developer,they MUST understand that this type of design means nobody will join a month later knowing they could be obliterated by every single player on the server with ease.

The ONLY way PVP works is if it is totally 100% even terms combat,such as Ut99 or quake style pvp and you actually suffer long term damage that needs time to repair ,this means you would be susceptible to death from other players as you would be injured.

I see MANY other fails for this design as well,like people creating alt accounts so they can kill them to gain rewards and advance their player quickly through pvp.How about warping away just before dying?How about RMT?Not such a good design if people can just RMT buy super powerfu larmour and weapons to own PVP.

Screenshots and video of Salem.

http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/01/paradoxs-new-salem-mmorpg.html

Originally posted by Evasia

This kind of games need to have smooth launch(i know in princilble all games need smooth launch but with permadeath and crafting its a must) and i mean finished and almost bug and lag free also devs need to make sure that cheating is to limit, means that game is realy tested so all exploits and other kinds of cheats brought to a very minimum or with this kind of penalty like permadeath it will be over before it begins if not tested enough.

This is very exciting a game with perma death i realy hope it succeed im intrested in this game.

I only hope that the trolls and haters understand that this game is for fans of harsh penaltys and leave there hate somewhere else.

I for one will follow this game see how it developes

 

 

I don't see how they can avoid hackers/exploiters in todays environment unless the game is very simple. People make money finding loopholes nowadays and i can't remember the last online game not hit by some form of exploiting.

Haven and Hearth is probably the most addicting MMO game I've ever experienced, its pretty sweet. Just a 2 man team started the project and it has a decently large fanbase willing to put up with all sorts of annoying crap that comes with an alpha. 

The crafting system is unique and the combat is different and hard. Different and hard are good things, it makes it more player-skill based then character-stat based. Salem's jump up to my number two list of upcoming games to play, behind GW2.

Very interesting information on this game, even if the setting is a little on the unconventional side.

I'll definitely be interested in hearing more about this game.

Griefers and gankers everywhere have just wet themselves in antici......(SAY IT!!!).....pation.

It's going to be interesting to see how devs will address that issue.

The Permanent Death seems good to a point - that is IF you do not lose ALL your Dead character has accumulated over time - items Armour etc. They should make the player get all the goods from the old Char as an Inheritance after Death......LOL....or some such thing.

As for the Full on PvP with no PvE in the game - not Impressed - I like to PvP when it is 'My Choice' not in a "Free for All Kill"

And as for Gankers - I do not feel that should be a problem in a PvP game - if you play PvP then expect to get Ganked! After all that is partly what it is all about - how on earth can you play a PvP game then QQ about being Ganked?

I for one will not be playing this game - what a shame - it sounded very interesting but for the PvP

Originally posted by S00S00

The Permanent Death seems good to a point - that is IF you do not lose ALL your Dead character has accumulated over time - items Armour etc. They should make the player get all the goods from the old Char as an Inheritance after Death......LOL....or some such thing.

As for the Full on PvP with no PvE in the game - not Impressed - I like to PvP when it is 'My Choice' not in a "Free for All Kill"

And as for Gankers - I do not feel that should be a problem in a PvP game - if you play PvP then expect to get Ganked! After all that is partly what it is all about - how on earth can you play a PvP game then QQ about being Ganked?

I for one will not be playing this game - what a shame - it sounded very interesting but for the PvP

 

 

Paradox are going for a real setting. They're going for realism. One thing the pilgrim settlers in America did not have was the freedom to go about playing against environment and ignoring the natives.

Sorry, but it's about damn time a developer chose to make an MMO that did not cater to the masses. I know there are other games that probably do, but I just love it when devs stick to their guns.

you had me at in depth crafting

you almost lost me at open pvp

and you definitely lost me at open pvp with permadeath

not only because i dislike being forced to partake in pvp
but how would you ever control the griefing in such a game

 

Originally posted by inle
not only because i dislike being forced to partake in pvp
but how would you ever control the griefing in such a game

 

   You really can't; even in games with strict rules on PvP, you just cannot really control it. Having it be free to play will only make the situation worse. On a happy note, now there is a game to point to for those people who pop up in every MMO forum screaming for FFA PvP and permadeath!

  HnH deals with it fairly well, it's not about you, it's about your friends and allies. You will most likely die eventually but if they carry over some of the themes from HnH you inherit a bunch of stats based on belief preferences. HnH is not level based it's in incrementable stats.

  Either way will be interesting to see how it pans out, there's some really neat systems going in HnH especially for it just being a java game, if your curious about this title go check out Haven and Hearth to get a better idea of some of the concepts behind it.

People who are worried about the open PvP and permadeath just need to try HnH. Really anyone who is interested in Salem in the least, need to give Haven and Hearth a try. I have been playing since World 2, and I have never, ever, been killed. Either by players or wildlife. All it takes is knowing the limitations of your character, making friends, and a friendly attitude.

Yes there are murderers, yes there are thiefs and griefers, but this isn't a game like Darkfall or Mortal where there are dev created towns that everyone stays near. HnHfeatures a huge world, as i'm sure Salem will, and people are spread out everywhere. The only thing that could possibly turn the game into a gank fest, is if they redo the combat system. HnH's combat system doesn't really lend itself to running around ganking everyone you see.