Too Much Hallowmas

Fallen London
1

I like using the seasonal events to take a break from whatever I’ve been grinding and try to maximize whatever the event is about. With Hallowmas, that used to mean intentionally cranking up my menaces so I could exchange an exorbitant number of confessions with other players. Last year, when Hallowmas changed to another companion based event (the Exceptional Rose being the other) it lost some of it’s charm but my BDR was high enough and there were few enough things to do that I buckled down and upgraded all the companions. But this year is just too much.

I’m not just talking about the Notability cost increase of confessions. There are 10 upgraded companions to get this year plus Feducci’s got some scheme I don’t fully understand where you can get a replica lance and a certificate. It’s too much! Maybe if confessions were more plentiful or easier to obtain, but I used the notability I saved up for this purpose to grab my first extra confession, started grinding for the second, and have pretty quickly just given up. Maybe this is the intention. Maybe the goal is to make it only possible to do all the Hallowmas things with fate. But if it isn’t then even at the extreme end game this task is beyond me.

Anywho, rant over. Back to writing a bazillion poems for the court now that they finally let me back in.

2

You don’t have to do everything! I certainly won’t be. I’ll just be getting a few things!

3

Same here. I’ve made a list and added up the costs. Don’t fall into an &quotall or nothing&quot mentality.

4

It isn’t really an &quotall or nothing mentality&quot thing. It is that the fundamental nature of the holiday has changed for many players with the N8 switch. A subset of us enjoy the &quotchallenge&quot component of a holiday, trying to &quotdo the whole thing&quot simply because it is difficult and intensive from a gaming perspective and there isn’t a lot left to do otherwise generally apart from the eternal cider grind. So these holidays are little beacons of gamey fun in the otherwise somewhat uniform end-game for many of us.

Another subset of players are appreciative that they get something new at all and count their blessings for that. Great! The holiday served both functions before and was satisfying to both groups of players.

Last Hallowmas was my first, and I had an intensive run at the &quotchallenge&quot and it was great fun! I managed to enlist all new companions, including a 5-day grind down in Loot Street (loved that line, FB!) to rope in the Camponologist. It took me the full two weeks, optimizing all that I could, down to the wire. This was recognized as an achievement by FB themselves insofar as you got a different &quotremembering Hallowmas&quot option on one of the op cards for actually enlisting all companions. Great! I felt FB was &quotrespecting&quot us as a player group by providing the holiday challenge.

And it wasn’t easy. We had to get 21 confessions, which meant a notability grind for about 10 or 11 of those. At N5, that was anywhere from 30 to 93 MW per confession (assuming a substantive BDR ~28) depending if you were doing N5 and waiting for the Amenuensis, or N6 for the ability to force a visit. As I recall I did a mix of both but mostly N6 since the RNG can be killer sometimes. The total MW accumulation was thus something like say 900 MW for the holiday. Hardish, but certainly doable.

With N8, it is 390-654 MW per confession for N8 or N9. Realistically, I can’t imagine anyone going the extra length to N9, so let’s say 400 and a lot of prayers that the Amanuensis doesn’t scuttle the plan. Now, note also that there are 3 more levels to increase from N5 to N8, and MW is reset each time, so you can’t really &quotovershoot&quot level to level. So in addition to the accumulation, it requires rather careful management to handle the resets and a lot of luck to draw just the right cards to put you in the relevant range; you can’t just let the Captivating Princess entertain your Salon and go for multiple levels.

So we’re now talking 4000 MW! In short, not conceivable. So why bother to do anything? I don’t even think I can stomach the 2000 MW or so required just to get a lance as I think I’d need to farm 5 or 6 confessions. For an end-gamer like me, some new companions that provide absolutely no benefit over my current cadre doesn’t do much for me. It’s nice, I’ll certainly enlist a couple and enjoy their good company (who wouldn’t want to bring peace to Lydia?), but the &quotheart&quot of the holiday is gone for me. Maybe that makes no sense to many of you who find other types of satisfaction in the game. Different folks, different strokes, and a hard balancing line for FB to walk to engage all of us.

Maybe confessions will be more plentiful this year. Or perhaps the conversion rate of later confessions will be significantly greater. Maybe FB has some surprises lined up. But really, even two or three notability grinds at N8 is going to be quite a challenge. N5 was probably too low given that I could spend 5 days on Loot Street. N6 would amp it up considerably. But > N6, forget it.

I had thought introducing the decision point of &quotlance&quot or &quotall companions&quot was already an interesting wrinkle that I could live with, even livening up the holiday a bit (since even at N5 there is no way to do both I don’t think). But to put both of them potentially out of reach, ugh.

I’m disappointed, but this isn’t intended to be a rant. I’m just hoping it is perhaps helpful for those who play with different objectives to understand that a number of us aren’t gripped by some sort of &quotall or nothing&quot mindset but really just play in a different way and have lost another little island of fun and challenge in the year.
edited by Shaerys on 10/25/2017

5

I don’t mind the structure of the “new” Hallowmas too much. But so far, I’ve enjoyed reading the Confessions but the Companion upgrades available haven’t thrilled me. I may just stockpile my Confessions and just get a replica of Feducci’s lance, which is a Really Neat Weapon.

6

I like the new Hallowmas better. Mandatory risky social actions can go poo all over themselves :P

That said, I do understand why others might feel differently, and I wish those players could enjoy the festival too.

7

[quote=Kukapetal]I like the new Hallowmas better. Mandatory risky social actions can go poo all over themselves :P

That said, I do understand why others might feel differently, and I wish those players could enjoy the festival too.[/quote]
I think &quotnew&quot here refers to the harder grinding and more items to grind, rather than the switch away from social actions.

8

Based on the responses I’d like to offer a few clarifications.

First, I don’t hate new Hallowmas. It’s just less unique than the previous incarnation. Plus I already have 42 companions and the Feast of the Exceptional Rose is also about collecting/upgrading companions. I find myself wishing it gave other things. Like costume pieces maybe? Basically anything but companions and weapons. I have 42 of each but only 5 gloves. Or be about something else. Old Hallowmas just determined the result you’d get on that One’s Public card option.

Second, I haven’t completely given up on participating. I’ve just given up on putting effort into it. I’m going to collect the free confessions and, near the end, see what I can do with them. But I’m going to skip the whole notability grind. I already upgraded my Bat with Attitude. I’ll probably aim to upgrade a Midnight Matriarch and get Feducci’s lance (once I figure out what the mechanic is there). Maybe upgrade a weasel or Sister Lydia if there are confessions left over. None of the new companions are better than the ones I already have so it’s not like I’m missing anything mechanically important.

As my Ubergoat and Cider probably indicate I’m something of a completionist. After clearing all the main stories in FL I’ve mostly dedicated myself to collecting unique things that aren’t just things you can buy with fate, which outside of extremely long grinds has meant trying to be a completionist during events. This is just the first one that’s introduced so many non-fate items, but created a barrier to getting them without fate so high that it feels insurmountable. I suspect this is an intentional choice. I don’t like it because it interferes with what I like doing in the game, but assuming the confessions and number of things to upgrade are meant to create a fate wall it is one I understand. I’ll miss getting the maximum result in that One’s Public option though.
edited by An Individual on 10/26/2017