Why Haven & Hearth isn't popular?

[donatas]

It always bothered me that haven and hearth isn't as popular as its counter-part clone Salem or any similar games.
Sure it was 2D and just recently went 3D, but still it didn't looked ugly, but rather cool in its 2D graphics and now even better. Also I am aware of the steep learning curve that it presents, which is a good thing personally, since it ain't like other games which are almost identical. It has great implementations over the years such as gilding which is like enchanting in other games in a way, unique combat system which requires intellect to use, no like other games press attack button and press defense button. Also unique quest system placed all over the place, instead of having one village full of npc giving you meaningless and repetitive quests. Also the world is vast and fascinating. It's just a shame that it isn't get the publicity it deserves and is overlooked for some reason.

[Zeler]

no like other games press attack button and press defense button..

[donatas]

no like other games press attack button and press defense button..

You know what I meant. this game requires tactics and so they have those shared corners blue, yellow, green and red for attack and defense.

[Vengyr]

Also unique quest system placed all over the place, instead of having one village full of npc giving you meaningless and repetitive quests. Also the world is vast and fascinating.

[2]

I mean, you could name many strong sides of Hafen, but for some reason you name weak ones.

[alioli]

The reason why I think Salem is more popular (if it is) is likely down to Theme; Haven and hearth doesn't have as recognisable theme as Salem does.
And well; Before in the 2d era the game had really really awful servers with plenty of lag that even brought me out of the game and into Salem instead.

[Vengyr]

Wait what Salem is popular? No way it is, it has 300 active users per day, if average online time for one is, say, 3 hrs, that means that the average amount of players online is 40.

[Gensokyo]

A few things,
The game has flaws and generally unpolished mechanics from tip to toe, and the game itself doesn't get much advertisement.

And generally it's pretty hard to advertise something like haven & hearth, as everything good about it mostly sounds bad without putting it to perspective/into the shoes of someone already playing.

[Baldarich]

because this game is shit

[alioli]

Could also as previously stated be explained by advertisement, Salem was originally under Paradox's flag and was advertised on their sites - meaning it did definitely draw in more people initially

[flagmaster]

It is still in alpha (although 7 years already).
Meaning, some core mechanics are not yet finalized.
We see progress on that which is good.
No marketing and PR
This is understandable due to beforementioned.
At some point game should be finalized and core updates should come once per 6 month and without wipe.
There is progress on that too.
Steep learning curve
It is ok, when you can learn inside of game (Messages, popups, journals). It is not ok, when you have to go to wikis and forums to understand basic things. A bit arguable because some people receive lots of pleasure from discovering new things in game. Personally I would go for big red message "READ ALL INGAME TEXTS" and then put all detailed descriptions in those ingame texts.
Also changed to better.
Unobvious controls
Reading forums on how to viewtopic.php?f=42&t=42999#p533705 is a big NO-NO in gamedev. All that MUST be inside of game.
Obstacles avoiding. It is pain. Everything smaller than a wagon should be walked around automatically. No excuses.
Lots of 'monkey work'
All mechanics which are dull, repetitive and long should be possibly avoided by ingame means. I mean - farm, silk, walls, flour, animal feeding, milking, shearing, smelter refueling are really fun, nice and ok. First 10 times. Maybe first 20 times. After that you puke of them. Give player a goal. An ultra-expensive long-lasting goal:"You build this super building from steel, gold and troll skull and now no more manual farming". and the player knows that chores can be ended, he just has to play a bit more.
Lack of endgame content
This is questionable to me (go and raid someone if you have nothing else to do), but pleople complain that a lot.
Daily quests may help.
Ingame events like architecture contest, fishing contest with hats awards.
Colosseum/Hero/Olypmics system stolen from L2 or any other ladder-based competition.
'Raid bosses'/'epic quests'
Achievements (yeah, buzzword, but that gives people a goal
Niche game with scary teaser.
By teaser I mean 4-6 words to describe the game. For Hafen it is "Perma-death, full-loot, crafting, sandbox MMORPG".
While the features themselves I consider perfect (not playing any other MMOS because they are boring cartoons), explanation of them to new user could be done in a less scary way.
After seeing the home page, download page, character creation sequence a new player must have the following thoughuts:
"I can be safe. Even my items can. But I have to be smart and provident to minimize my losses."
"I can pass up to 60% of my progress to my next chars if I die. And death is really rare if played carefully. But yes, my character dies permanently."
"This game is a challenge, a survival challenge, so I have to be careful about everything - caves, water, monsters and _especially_ other people"