Salem, donating

[TeckXKnight]

I don't know how you guys like that system? As long as XP items are in the shop this is doomed to be pay to win.

Pain, it is never easier to farm something for hours in game than to ship it from my paypal account in a second as long as I am so filthy rich that I don't give a damn.

Why not simply charge 5 bucks a month and be done with it? I will never get that, but I tend to forget that you can extract even more money out of your customers with micro transactions.

Ah, while this isn't the place for such debate I think it's safe to say that if not at the shop it would still be very easy to buy it from players. While that isn't an excuse to do just about anything, it is a very high price in exchange for low to moderate gains that, with investment, likely would be put to better use with other items and other venues. Not that I'm a fan of xp items being on the market either and have made peeps of noise against it, it's not so terrible that it would destroy the game or detriment players as a whole in my opinion.

[Tonkyhonk]

i prefer 5 bucks a month personally, but the thing is that there would still be people who dont hesitate to go for RMT, even with bans. so, even when i dislike it, i am sorta *trying* to understand why they go for that path for salem.
the idea of micro transaction, to me, is the same as "join them if you cant win". some people would try to earn money out of this game, and im curious how paradox is going to deal with bots and cheats, needless to mention the rich whiners who would lose money they spend by pvp & permadeath.
im also curious how players without paying can stay on the winning side against those who heavily use cash shops. im sure experienced HnH players would win easily at start, but i wonder how long that would last when cash shops are official and as new cash shop users get used to the game mechanism. (and loads of inofficial shops would most likely arise if it gets popular enough.)

[TeckXKnight]

paradox is going to deal with bots and cheats, needless to mention the rich whiners who would lose money they spend by pvp & permadeath.

This is going to be hilarious and annoying simultaneously. I think the goal is to make it possible to do but as difficult to track down rich newbies as possible, so you can't just sit around farming them. Mind you, this is me trying to draw the intent of the game out and nothing of what the devs have said. It just seems to be the way the current setup is designed.

[ravenguard19]

Maybe an "newbie protection" ? Or something like "newbie village" where new to this game starts and learn about basics.

[TeckXKnight]

Maybe an "newbie protection" ? Or something like "newbie village" where new to this game starts and learn about basics.

You'll be covered, don't worry. Nothing so heavy handed as your suggestions, mind you, but it will not be a matter of dropping into the wild and dying. The real issue is striking a balance between a place to learn while being raider friendly, without it becoming a shithole as I have heard the Ring of Brodgar was.

[sabinati]

I don't know how you guys like that system? As long as XP items are in the shop this is doomed to be pay to win.

Pain, it is never easier to farm something for hours in game than to ship it from my paypal account in a second as long as I am so filthy rich that I don't give a damn.

Why not simply charge 5 bucks a month and be done with it? I will never get that, but I tend to forget that you can extract even more money out of your customers with micro transactions.

my theory is that jorb put that in to hasten people getting black skills and killing each other. you know how he is. i don't think it will be in the release, but if it is, see tonky's post, plus there are other mitigating factors.

[Horatius]

(and loads of inofficial shops would most likely arise if it gets popular enough.)

I'd worry about that the most since gold farmers kill any game effectively. If it's really worthwhile someone will form a band to claim / take over all the high quality resource nodes (uhm... nodes are still present I assume?) to make a profit from it and they will bot the shit out of the game to make even more silver that they can sell as back as rl money. I've seen it happen in other games, it's not as absurd as it may sound right now.

[TeckXKnight]

I'd worry about that the most since gold farmers kill any game effectively. If it's really worthwhile someone will form a band to claim / take over all the high quality resource nodes (uhm... nodes are still present I assume?) to make a profit from it and they will bot the shit out of the game to make even more silver that they can sell as back as rl money. I've seen it happen in other games, it's not as absurd as it may sound right now.

I don't think this is possible, someone correct me if I'm wrong. Not because botting is impossible, or even hard to do, but mostly just because that's not how resources work in Salem. The game is designed to be very unfriendly to you if you're not watching the game and to reward you pretty darn decently if you are. There are some exceptions, primarily with features that are still being developed and implemented but it's hardly fair to say those are poorly designed just yet.

Farming has been revealed to exist in the game already so that's a safe example to use, I think. While botting it is possible, due to the manner in which farming works, without input by a player you will be substantially less effective than a player. I'm not sure if we've seen the upward limits to which your fields can be fucking worthless yet though.