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[Ricky]

There was an Update a few days ago.

highlights include:
Character customization (new hairstyles)
UI changes for the equipment screen
Toolbelts! which hold items
a (Stationary) cistern, which holds 2000L of liquid, compared to a barrel's 100L
ducks!

devs still working on their pushout mechanic to fix pathing issues
full transcript here:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We've been developing, and here's what's new.

New Implementations
-----------------------
Added Hair customization. There is now a Reflecting Pool in the Character creation room, by which you can set hair and beard, color and style. Females have been given a wide selection of the male hairdos as additional options, to compensate them for their lack of beards. The jury is still out on how/if/when already existing characters should be able to modify their looks. Feel free to post additional hairstyles you'd like to see, and do report conflicts between hairdos and other equipment.
Remade the equipment system so that equipment can be hotswitched from the equipment screen. You can, thus, hold a hat and click the equipment screen, to directly switch the hat for your already equipped hat, without first having to explicitly unequip the latter. Long overdue.
Added toolbelts. All belts now have a varying amount of tool equipment slots. Tools in toolbelts will be automatically switched in to relevant hand slots as needed. For example: If you have a saw in your toolbelt, the character will automatically try to switch in the saw to an available hand slot when you go to saw boards, scythes will switch in when you go to harvest crops, axes when you go to chop wood, &c. If you assign a tool or weapon to a hotkey, you will switch it in and equip it, from the tool belt, using that key.
Added bigger gates, suggested multiple places, but among others here. When you place a cornerpost in preparation for a gate, you may now choose to place the second cornerpost two or three tiles apart, by simply holding the placement cursor farther away. If the latter, you will place and build a three tile wide gate, rather than a two tile wide one. Otherwise pretty self-explanatory. May add even larger gates in the future.
Added "Cistern". A fixed fluid container which holds 2000 liters. Suggested here among other places.
Sketches can now be applied to indoor walls! Have fun with that.
Added Mallards. Quack, quack! (Also implies a new input type for Poultry to discover if you want to see your Beeted Bird Breast again)

Small Fixes
-----------------------
Cavedust in bucket now has a proper inventory icon. Reported here.
Added a terrain object for Royal Toadstool.

In the Pipe
-----------------------
Push-out is still not done, albeit in progress.
It's not entirely certain, but this may be our last patch before Christmas. If so, Merry Christmas! We will, in any event, try to post something else before new year's.

Enjoy!

[Ricky]

Well, it seems as if our developers Jorb and Loftar have decided to !!RESET THE WORLD!!

What this means is that the fast paced, dangerous setting of the early game can once again be played by all. I can only expect the average world population to go from its current ~250 to well over 750.

Of course, this also means its the perfect time for anyone who wanted to play with a big group to start playing again! I, unfortuantely, cannot dedicate another 2 months of my life to this game, so I'll just keep the thread/OP updated.


There are also important updates being released with the new world. to summarize:
Stat Caps: We will aim to cap combat relevant stats -- Unarmed, Melee, Marksmanship, Strength, Agility, Perception & Constitution -- at base level 999
Tri-Quality: We're on the fence about tri-quality in general, but are strongly considering removing it entirely, in favor of a one-dimensional quality

Payment Model: The perhaps most important changes will be to the payment model.
Cumulative bonuses from Subscriptions and Verified accounts. As it is now, bonuses from having a Verified Account are overwritten by bonuses from active Subscriptions, i.e., if you have an active subscription you will receive no bonuses for also having a verified account. We, rather, intend to make these bonuses cumulative.

Inventory size. With the introduction of World 9 we increased the base inventory from 4x4 to 5x5. We want to tie this change to the payment system, in that the base inventory size is again set to 4x4, with a Verified Account adding an extra column, and a subscription adding an extra row. With both subscription and verification active you will thus have the present 5x5 inventory

here's the full update aswell.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We've been developing, and here's what's new...

In light of the New Year, fast approaching, and in light of the state of development general, a kind providence has decreed it time for Haven & Hearth to enter a new world, and that said New World will be launched soon after the new year. This means that the present world, World 9, will be consigned to the bit-bucket, and to the history books.

The new world -- World 10 -- will launch on Saturday 7th of January, 2017.

For those of you who have never experienced a world reset before, the implication of this is that all variable data -- maps, characters, &c -- will be purged, and a new, clean, world generated in their steads. This post aims to inform you of the fact that we are going to make a world reset, and to provoke some discussion and feedback on some central topics relevant for the new world.

Payment Model
--------------------
The perhaps most important changes will be to the payment model.

Cumulative bonuses from Subscriptions and Verified accounts. As it is now, bonuses from having a Verified Account are overwritten by bonuses from active Subscriptions, i.e., if you have an active subscription you will receive no bonuses for also having a verified account. We, rather, intend to make these bonuses cumulative. Presently a Verified Account implies a 10% bonus to Character Development rate, and a 25% Convenience bonus, whereas a Subscription gives 30% Character Development Bonus, and 100% Convenience bonus. We want to change the Values for Verified accounts to 20% Character Development bonus and 50% Convenience bonus, and also make the bonuses cumulative. An account, thus, with both a subscription and a verified account, would have a total, cumulative, bonus of 50% additional Character Development, and 150% additional Convenience.
Inventory size. With the introduction of World 9 we increased the base inventory from 4x4 to 5x5. We want to tie this change to the payment system, in that the base inventory size is again set to 4x4, with a Verified Account adding an extra column, and a subscription adding an extra row. With both subscription and verification active you will thus have the present 5x5 inventory.

When we introduced World 9, roughly eleven months ago, we significantly reduced the incentives to use the payment system at all. We have in many ways been happy with the fundamentals of these changes, as we have always intended for the game to have a non-intrusive payment model, but it has also been the case, over the course of this past year, that the game's income has not, by a significant margin, been sufficient to sustain our present development efforts.

Haven is, and has been, a labour of love, and we will -- barring the unforseeable -- keep it going in one capacity or another for as long as we are at all able to, and money is not much of a factor in that. If, however, our attention has to be diverted elsewhere -- which, presently, is going to become the case -- that will, naturally, affect the rate of development.

We are continously grateful for your time, concern, and effort in and around the game, and hope that you can find these changes reasonable, and presented in good faith.

Stat Caps
--------------------
We will aim to cap combat relevant stats -- Unarmed, Melee, Marksmanship, Strength, Agility, Perception & Constitution -- at base level 999, which can then be increased, with gear, to twice that, i.e. 1998. The stats will be capped for the purposes of combat, and comparisons against other players in other contexts, only, and you will still be able to level the actual numerical values up as far as you wish, for the purposes of quality and such-like.

Tri-Quality
--------------------
We're on the fence about tri-quality in general, but are strongly considering removing it entirely, in favor of a one-dimensional quality -- As in Legacy -- quite simply, with an eye toward potentially introducing other quality mechanics down the road. Feel free to opine on the subject.

Siege & Kingdoms
--------------------
We have no immediate changes planned, except in that we would like to make some changes to Kingdoms, to soften the initial rush toward claiming as much land, and as many opponents, as possible. Feel free to make suggestions.

Future Developments
--------------------
This reset is motivated only in part by development needs. We have some changes that we want to make to the map generation, but the bigger thing is, partly, that we have accumulated a fair amount of significant changes -- kingdoms, combat, quests, &c -- that we would like to see playing out in a new world, and partly that we want a fresh start for the game, quite simply. We have not yet decided where to take future development, but seasons and object-controlled objects have both figured in our discussions. We have a general sense that a lot of the low-hanging development fruit has been picked, and that we would have to undertake some bigger project to significantly improve the game. Another thing we are considering is making the game available on Steam.

Consider this an invitation to further discussions. If there are any changes you feel are essential to a new world, do not hesitate to point them out.

The new world -- World 10 -- will launch on Saturday 7th of January, 2017.

The new world -- World 10 -- will launch on Saturday 7th of January, 2017

[Yolan]

So hows the new world going?

Got an itch to try something like Haven. Anybody recommend something similar that doesn't suffer from so many of the defects?

[kilakan]

Albion online is similar-ish, not as much building.  It's more like runescape.  Just entered the final beta before it releases in the summer and I am having a blast with it so far.

[Ricky]

Howdy ho folks, your friendly neighborhood OP here.
just an update on the game and how its been progressing lately--

First of all: Combat/Death mechanics have been slightly changed, and in my opinion, for the better.
upon being knocked out (either by a player or by an animal), combat is ended and you are given the option to either log out, teleport to your hearthfire, or simply wait 30 seconds to stand back up.
What this means is: its a LOT harder to be ganked by random players. Permadeath is still a feature, but you cannot as easily be killed.

Update from their forum:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Teleport to Hearth Fire on KO
-----------------------
As hinted in the previous patch we have decided to experiment with a fundamental change to the life and death mechanics, in that you will now, upon being knocked out, get the opportunity to teleport to your Hearth Fire, rather than lay prone for incoming murder.
Upon knockout, all combat relations are terminated, and you cannot receive new ones while knocked out.
After 30s pass -- during which time you can be looted for all you're worth as always -- you may teleport to your Hearth Fire, or log out. You are informed of this via a game message.
After another 30s pass you will wake up again as normal, and can be engaged again.
We've also made it so that you may now hearth home while mounted in vehicles -- boats, knarrs, wagons -- but doing so implies dismounting.
Nidbanes now disappear if they knock their target. Obviously, Nidbanes can still only gather skulls from targets that actually die.
For purposes of calculating grievous damage from an attack, no attack counts as dealing more damage than your maximum HP. For example: An attack wants to deal 30% grievous damage, and the attack would deal 500 points of damage. The target's maximum HP is 300. The attack will, thus, deal (300 * 0.3 = 90) points of grievous damage.
We realize that this change is controversial. Our purpose is not to remove death, but to gradiate it more. Our purpose is also not primarily to protect n00bs or the like. Our primary purpose is to increase the amount of PvP in the game, and perhaps hopefully also curb some of the more autistic incentives toward farming multiple characters for combat, and such.
We realize also that there were a fair amount of people skeptical to this change when we floated it in the last patch, and have a great deal of respect for that. This could be a bad move, but after discussing it through a million times we've felt that A) The consequences are not entirely predictable, so we have to try it out to find out what it actually implies, and B) The potential upside of this change is yuge -- potentially increasing both player retention and pvp -- while the downside of trying it is fairly limited, and under those circumstances we kind of feel that we have to try it.
Please tread carefully when experimenting with this implementation. It is new, and there may, as always, be bugs or unconsidered edge cases that can cause actual death.

As for other various updates, In the last 4 months, roughly a dozen new animals have been added, which has really enriched the world. Some various small plants have been added here or there, but ultimately nothing SUPER major has been added besides the above.

The devs are still working on pushout mechanics to end the 'caught on everything' problem the game currently faces.

Other than that, all is calm. The world is about 4 months old, everyone has settled into their routine and not a whole lot of people are playing anymore.

If you're looking to try this game again, now is the perfect opportunity to start playing again. lots of big realms with big buffs, two community markets (that i know of) and now the chance of losing your character is MUCH lower.

[Ricky]

Howdy folks, just dropping by with some news hot off the haven press:

The treacherous clipping has finally been fixed! several months of work by the main coder Loftar has borne a wonderful fruit: no longer will your character get stuck on every log, frog, rock, wall, or stump! quality of life has gone up significantly. you can now click where you want to go in the forest and (reasonably) expect to get to your destination through "push out". instead of walking around objects, you'll just slide/push off them.

cheers, hopefully folks will hop on and try things out

[Kazagarth]

Howdy folks, just dropping by with some news hot off the haven press:

The treacherous clipping has finally been fixed! several months of work by the main coder Loftar has borne a wonderful fruit: no longer will your character get stuck on every log, frog, rock, wall, or stump! quality of life has gone up significantly. you can now click where you want to go in the forest and (reasonably) expect to get to your destination through "push out". instead of walking around objects, you'll just slide/push off them.

cheers, hopefully folks will hop on and try things out

To be honest, this was the single and only reason I stopped playing. It wasn't laggy when I played (that improved a lot, lag used to be so much worse), but wow was moving annoying as heck lol. This is a great "fix" to the moving.

Now I want to play...but then I'll lose multiple days and weeks and months of my life rofl. I get really hardcore into this when I play

has there been any resets or anything? Are resets even still a thing? I'm about to leave so haven't looked through the thread. But if I recall, I thought someone said they don't reset anymore or something. Not sure.

[Ricky]

We're 5 months in to world 10. Yes, there will be another reset, but I doubt there will be a reset until January.

[Ricky]

Necro, sorry folks. I feel obligated as the OP to give it a quarterly update

Since my last post 4 months ago the highly anticipated push-out mechanic has been implemented, which means you wont get stuck on objects anymore. the devs have been working on a client rewrite for the past couple months. not a LOT of info on this, other than it will significantly update/change the client, hopefully to be more user friendly. weekly updates have added 100s of new items in the past few months. about 3x more animals than 2 years ago.

updated the OP as well. read it here or there:

One of the main reasons people often overlook this game is the negative views of the community and permadeath - Both of these have changes drastically in the last few years.

Permadeath is still a feature. It is however much harder to die due to recent changes. being KO'd will prompt the player with the option to log out or to teleport to their hearthfire. In this fashion being ganked is basically impossible. being killed takes much more effort, but is still possible.

With the introduction of kingdoms, finding a safe, active community is very easy. several mechanics have been put in place to encourage communities to thrive, such as visitor buffs, barter stands, and in depth permission settings.

All in all, Haven isnt as hardcore as it was 5 years ago, but it is now much more accessible. Some will see this as a bad thing, some will see it as good. there are currently dozens of towns and communities which have active members and host weekly events. If you havent played Haven in the past few years due to a sour experience, The game is wholly different now than in the past. It might be worth taking another look.

[Trekkin]

All in all, Haven isnt as hardcore as it was 5 years ago, but it is now much more accessible. Some will see this as a bad thing, some will see it as good. there are currently dozens of towns and communities which have active members and host weekly events. If you havent played Haven in the past few years due to a sour experience, The game is wholly different now than in the past. It might be worth taking another look.

Is it still pay-to-play? I saw they had considered implementing something like that and then immediately lost interest in the game.

[Jimmy]

It's mostly free, but gameplay is dominated by a select few groups of player groups who use bots to farm their teams virtually unlimited resources.

If you like digging in the sandbox and aren't into the upper tier of the game? Doesn't really affect you.

However, the limitations of the base game including the dated graphics, the inherent grind with the mechanics and the overall poor player interactions don't attract me back to this one.

There's other games I could spend my time playing that look nicer, run smoother, and are just plain more fun in my opinion.

[Antioch]

I found the earliest versions of the game a lot more fun. Before they introduced the tedious quality grinds.

[Ricky]

All in all, Haven isnt as hardcore as it was 5 years ago, but it is now much more accessible. Some will see this as a bad thing, some will see it as good. there are currently dozens of towns and communities which have active members and host weekly events. If you havent played Haven in the past few years due to a sour experience, The game is wholly different now than in the past. It might be worth taking another look.

Is it still pay-to-play? I saw they had considered implementing something like that and then immediately lost interest in the game.

It's free to play, but there is a subscription model that allows the developers to subsist. Subscribers receive a 25% bonus to experience gained. It's not a huge disadvantage to not be subscribed, it's just a nice incentive for people who like the game to give the devs money

[Kadaban]

So is anyone 'newish' still playing or thinking about playing? Couldn't find a thread in the PWYB forum. I started just two days ago and have been mostly wandering around in the southwestern part of the map. I have been playing this on and off since the olde days of 2D but never got really far. To be honest I'd rather play with someone else and get betrayed and murdered again (oh the fond memories) than do this solo. So far I'm really impressed with all the changes to the game and the added variation. Although I still don't fully get the combat system (curse you ants!).

Oh btw I'm based in Europe, so as much as I'd like to play with anyone, the timezone difference might make that pretty hard.
So if anyone wants to give it a try PM me. I'll gladly offer what little I have for a bit of social interaction.

EDIT: Seeing that I still have escaped lunatic status, this might not sound too trustworthy. I'm just not really posting much on the forums.

EDIT2: Hope this doesn't bump the thread, just wanted to give a little update. I have been playing for a bit now and settled down in a place. I've got the basic low quality stuff sorted out and I'm still looking for people to play with. I also wouldn't mind joining someone else pretty much anywhere as long as it's not a huge settlement with everything already taken care of.

[Ricky]

Kadaban, I suggest finding a nice settlement of folks on the H&H forums. There arent many DF folks who play haven actively (at least no one will admit to it), and there certainly arent any DF settlements. We've had DF villages in the past, but they always ran afoul one way or another, and ultimately anyone who played in those villages left with a bad taste in their mouth.

If you're looking to learn the ropes and have fun with some friendly folks, there are many villages in the Northern Kingdom which look for new players. They're also pretty safe and relatively larpy, if you're into that scene.