Lord of the Rings Online vs Salem
Lord of the Rings Online
Lord of the Rings Online is an exceptional MMORPG that's steeped in the lore of an epic classic fantasy, the Lord of the Rings. Venture forth into Middle-Earth and experience Tolkien’s universe and lore first-hand by joining your favorite and well-known characters such as Aragorn, The Hobbits, Legolas and Gandalf in their journey to Mount Doom while trying to stop the army of Angmar from laying waste to the land. Aside from its lore-focused questing system that's filled with amazing cinematic cut-scenes, there are tons of other features as well, including professions, character's traits system, epic movie-quality soundtracks and even having your own virtual home, in addition to the usual PvE and PvP events. Best yet, the game offers a gorgeous game world for players to immerse themselves and enjoy role-playing in!It may not be a "World of Warcraft"-type game, but the Lord of the Ring Online is certainly a MMORPG that is determined to be different from every other MMORPG... and it is successful to some extent. Fans of Lord of the Rings, even the not-so-hardcore ones, would definitely love this game!
Salem
Salem is an old-school and somewhat obscure (but fun) sandbox MMORPG that unlike Wurm Online has a stronger emphasis on its in-depth crafting system and survival aspect rather than building.Similar to Wurm Online though, Salem is not a voxel-based game, but you are still able to mold the game environment through resource gathering, mining and digging in a way that reminds me of the currently-shelved MMORPG, EverQuest Next: Landmark. Of course, although not exactly the focus of the game, you can still build your homestead and the process is quite similar to Wurm Online except that it occurs at a much higher speed.
Not to mention, the game world in Salem is simply humongous to the point where it feels like an actual world. Salem also borrowed some features from ArcheAge where open-world PvP is the norm, so you'll need to be vigilant at all times, but players who kill and steal for no reason will be labelled as criminals and can be punished.
However, as good as it is despite being an indie MMO and all, Salem does have its fair share of flaws due to its low development budget. So, we'd recommend you to take a look at Salem without carrying along any high expectations. It's a pretty good MMORPG like Minecraft, but if you're expecting a Minecraft clone, you may end up disappointing yourself.