So back when I was playing before my hiatus, I managed to scrape up 22 Fate in gameplay. I’m hesitant to subscribe for a month and then lose that subscription if I don’t want to have to pay $5 a month to keep the status.
But the Fate is burning something of a hole in my pocket. I’ve been avoiding Fate-locked storylets because I think maybe it would be worth a month’s subscription to advance a bit in the game, even if I lose my Exceptional status later.
FWIW, I’m sitting in the 70s for Persuasive, with all other stats in the 40s. I also have a clay man alt that I could potentially dredge back up to get more playing time …
I would get the soul trade if I were you. You’ve still got a lot of soul trade storylets to unlock. Of course, that requires a little more fate…[li] edited by Aximillio on 8/14/2013
I’m very fond of the narrative content unlocked by Exceptional Friendship, myself. For greatest impact, I’d recommend holding out until you’ve encountered a terrifying situation in the Docks.
The Soul Trade is, in my opinion, less interesting. Its two best features are 1) the mild to moderate gameplay ramifications of a choice it unlocks and 2) the unusual extent to which it’s integrated with the rest of Fallen London. I’m glad to have sent some Fate that way, but not nearly so much as I am about that month’s Exceptional Friendship. (Even gaining admittance from Mr Chimes is uncommonly entertaining.)
Bah, so that’s what “Mark as ‘accepted answer’” does. Anyway.
Right now, the primary appeal of Exceptional Friendship (other than the curiosity about House of Chimes) is mostly having the additional actions – I’m mostly grinding the same storylets over and over to try and bring up my neglected my stats and it’s getting dull, so I wouldn’t be sad about having another candle to stack up when I’m offline.
In addition to that, you’ll have a few stories unlocked in there. I think that may make it worth it over the Soul Trade for you. And it’s certainly worth checking out at least once.
At your level, you’re able to trigger specialized living stories for each major attribute (Watchful, Dangerous, Shadowy, Persuasive). Those living stories contain some intriguing or amusing text, and they boost an attribute 3-5 levels. Are you using them to raise your attributes?
I felt the same as you did for a while, but I finally understood that this is how they pay for the site. Since I’ve turned ads off in my browser and that’s one way they generate income, I figured it was only fair that I start giving them money for the site. And truthfully, $25 per month isn’t a heck of a lot to keep two candles and get some action refreshes, refill the opportunity hands with fate and unlock the other options on the site.
But if you use an ad blocker, I would highly encourage the purchase of fate to compensate them. Unless you want all the site and content to go away.