Acknowledgeable Achievements and Accoutrements

Fallen London
161

[quote=Tesuji]I find this all rather perplexing.

Giving capped players even less of a reason to play seems like an odd thing to spend time on, and turning opportunity cards whose only purpose is to raise quirks into more of a crapshoot seems even more strange.

I’m curious as to the purpose behind these changes, from a game design point of view. (From a player’s point of view, I’m just very disappointed.)[/quote]

Agreed. Without new content to play with, opportunity cards are the main draw to keep me logging in. Now that I no longer have any hope of raising my Subtle or Magnanimous, an even higher percentage of the opportunity cards are worthless to me, and there’s even less to do. For an extra kick in the teeth, I was dismayed to find that the cards I thought were new are just the old “Learn from…” cards with new names and text. In a matter of seconds I went from “Ooh, new card!” to “Wait…I lost connections to Hell, gained nightmares, and all I got was an Appalling Secret?!”

edit: This was before they added in the “This will raise your ______” text on those cards, of course. And I count myself lucky it was Hell - at least that’s easy to replace.
edited by hwango on 12/1/2012

162

[color=#009900]I propose two alternative hypotheses.[/color]
[color=#009900]
[/color]
color=#009900 we enjoy annoying our players, and prefer them not to play the game[/color]
color=#009900 this is part of a larger content plan that we’re not quite ready to talk about yet.[/color]
[color=#009900]
[/color]
[color=#009900]Pick the one you prefer :)[/color]

163

[quote=Alexis Kennedy][color=#009900]I propose two alternative hypotheses.[/color]

color=#009900 we enjoy annoying our players, and prefer them not to play the game[/color]
color=#009900 this is part of a larger content plan that we’re not quite ready to talk about yet.[/color]

[color=#009900]Pick the one you prefer :)[/color][/quote]

Fair enough. Though for me it’s not so much the fact that the cap was put in place - I suppose I always expected that, eventually. It’s mostly that the timing was poor with nothing else to keep us occupied, and I was disappointed that our change points accumulated towards the next rating were all lost.

At least we have Heists to poke at now…though they don’t seem to like me much so far, at least it’s something.

164

I do love the assumption that changes to the system that formerly allowed us to raise a small set of numbers to ridiculous levels without the least practical benefit, which might allow those numbers to represent steps in a story as do most other qualities, are instead undertaken out of malice and spite.

165

[Cardinal of Conspiracy]

It’s the devils, I tell you.

First, they start selling Quirk increases for Nex in the Iron Republic. Next, all free Quirk-increasing options become capped overnight.

Coincidence? I think not.

[/Cardinal of Conspiracy]

166

I assumed neither malice nor spite, but I wasn’t sure they realized that taking away our squeaky toy without giving us something else to play with would make us sad.

167

A bit more on topic, I’m now up to 30 bottles of Fourth City Airag.

168

Ooooh! Get into an Airag war with Amaresu!

My only complaint at having some of the qualities capped is that now there is no way for me to become a Scarlet Saint, which was something I was planning on spending Fate/Nex on. It now seems that there are only two, and likely to remain only two, Scarlet Saints in all the Neath.

169

Way to make me regret selling like 5 or 6 bottles in the past. I could’ve been verging on 40 instead of sitting at 32.

170

Ooooh! Get into an Airag war with Amaresu!

My only complaint at having some of the qualities capped is that now there is no way for me to become a Scarlet Saint, which was something I was planning on spending Fate/Nex on. It now seems that there are only two, and likely to remain only two, Scarlet Saints in all the Neath.[/quote]

If there is a war I will win it! Possibly.

What quality was the Scarlet Saint? I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.

171

One of the House of Chimes entry options. I’d petition to have the requirements lowered if they’re unreachable now.

172

That would defeat the purpose. The requirement is Hedonism & Austere 15 and Connected Hell & The Church 75.
It’s a rare House of Chimes entry because Austere 15 is very difficult to get if you’ve already completed the Intimate of Devils storylet. Especially more so if you’ve Prophet of the Gutter 10 and built your way back up from scratch, which I did.
I was using the On Matters of Love card to slowly, very slowly, but steadily build my Austere up to 15, but it looks like it shall forever be stalled at 12.
If I petitioned it to be lowered, then it wouldn’t be much of an accomplishment to get it. If it were easy to get, it wouldn’t be worth having.

I get that there is a re-working of the system happening and I’m fine with that. Even if it is a rather nebulous and eery statement from Zeus on high.(Like how you re-worked the monetary system? Because I liked that. Or how you re-worked the interface? Because I still don’t like that.)
It’s just a thing I wanted to buy and now I can’t. Somehow, I think I’ll live through it. Besides, the Quirks really needed to be capped at some point anyway. Grinding a Quirk senselessly into oblivion for the sheer sake of being or getting near an abstract highest number can turn an otherwise fun game into a real pain of a grind. The #WarofHedonism with Narci was fun during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose, but afterwards we would spends weeks grinding a needless quality for pittance. There were times when it really felt like a chore. When that happens a game enters Skinner Box territory and that’s no fun. A box entirely of my own making, but my point remains valid.
The War of Hedonism does not determine who has won. Only who is left.

173

Ooooh! Get into an Airag war with Amaresu![/quote]

If there is a war I will win it! Possibly.[/quote]

Oops - it was not my intention to initiate hostilities, it was just something else to collect. I’ve only got the stuff on hand to get one more anyway, so I think you’re safe. You’re welcome to the titled of Most Airaged. I’ll go back to showcasing my collection of 41 Searing Enigmas…I don’t know if that was ever a record, and if it was if someone has since surpassed it, but I’m pretty sure it’s at least sort of noteworthy.

174

I have two Night Whispers and 4 Dark-Dewed Cherries (I had a few more, but I’ve eaten some).

175

That seems like a safe assumption. I think that’s the highest connection I’ve ever seen for any connection at all, in fact. Every devil probably knows your name at this point.[/quote]

I’m up to 324 connected Society, but that’s a lot easier to raise. Lately, having little better to do in the game, I’ve been working on clawing all of my connections up as high as possible. Here’s my current list: Bohemian 87; Great Game 62; Criminals 61; Urchins 73; Church 126; Hell 91; Docks 72; Tomb-Colonies 70; Orient 72; Revolutionaries 39; Constables 199; Rubbery Men 62; Duchess 114; Masters 11; Benthic 48; Summerset 40.

176

[quote=Catherine Raymond]

I’m up to 324 connected Society, but that’s a lot easier to raise. Lately, having little better to do in the game, I’ve been working on clawing all of my connections up as high as possible. Here’s my current list: Bohemian 87; Great Game 62; Criminals 61; Urchins 73; Church 126; Hell 91; Docks 72; Tomb-Colonies 70; Orient 72; Revolutionaries 39; Constables 199; Rubbery Men 62; Duchess 114; Masters 11; Benthic 48; Summerset 40.[/quote]

Nathan’s Connections at the moment:
Bohemian 152, Great Game 151, Criminals 15, Church 83, Hell 34, Docks 28, Tomb-Colonies 10, Orient 40, Revolutionaries 11, Constables 86, Rubbery Men 40, Masters 3, Duchess 62, Benthic 21, Summerset 7, Glass 6, Shroud 20.

And, uh, Society 2034, as you can see on his mantle. Aside from that one, I try to maintain them around where they should be at for roleplay purposes (hence the lack of Urchins).

Speaking of high Connected, L.S. Cassius had constables 350+ when they stopped playing, although they haven’t got it up on their mantle, so I can’t give you the exact number.

OScarletO was gunning for GG 300 last I heard. She’s also a Scarlet Saint, as you can see on her profile [ http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/OScarletO ], but I’m not entirely sure who the other one is.

177

I know I don’t have anything superlative on the contacts list, though I’m proud of my Rubbery Men connections even though at best I’m in second place.

Bohemians 5, Great Game 127, Criminals 157, Urchins 15, Church 102, Hell 124, Docks 61, Tomb-Colonies 121, Orient 61, Revolutionaries 7, Constables 162, Society 122, Rubbery Men 213, Masters of the Bazaar 3, Duchess 24, Benthic 50, Summerset 7, Glass 20.

Every once in a while I run out of Bohemians, Urchins, or Revolutionaries as I cash them in for contacts with people more interesting to me. Hoping to eventually get Tomb-Colonies and Great Game up to 150.

178

Kaanyia. He’s the one who made this amazingly useful script.

I don’t think Connections are capped at the moment, but so far the descriptor limits are- Bohemian 150: A Notorious Wonder of the Age, Great Game 150: A Power in the Shadows, Criminals 150: One of Us, The Church 100: Approved, Hell 150: Hell’s Crony, The Docks 100: Never Buy Your Own Drinks, The Tomb-Colonies 100: Famed Among, The Orient 50: Recognized, Revolutionaries 150: A Demagogue, The Constables 150: One of Us, Society 300: Famed, Rubery Men 150: Amberine, The Masters 8: There May Be Indiscretions, The Duchess 150: Quite Exceptional!, Benthic 150: Profoundly Admired and Summerset 150: Profoundly Admired.

Urchins is Beloved at 100, but I can’t find anyone with it at 150 or higher yet. I am slowly, but surely, working on it.

179

That’s kind of a drag, I had been wanting to grind my Austere as high as I could. Now I guess it’s stuck where it is until further game updates.

At level 28 does that make me the most Austere in the Neath?
edited by Kaanyia on 12/3/2012

180

That’s hard to know. Theodore Gylden had Austere 21 on the 12th of April(here), and was increasing it at a pretty good clip, but he has yet to echo that particular quirk since. Others might have it higher and just haven’t echoed it on Twitter or their journals.
As of now you are the most Austere who is willing to brag about it, which is ostensibly the same thing.
.
edited by Nigel Overstreet on 12/4/2012