Why You Should Cancel Your Exceptional Friendship

Fallen London
1

Let me start by saying I love this game. I started playing about 2012 and loved the storylines, the uniqueness of the world. I have been on hiatus for a long time since Seeking was taken down, and came back earlier this year to discover a vast amount of new content. A love for the world. I have two accounts with Exceptional Friendship and have bought many old Exceptional Stories. I enjoy them, I enjoy the Lore, I don’t think the content is worth the price compared to being able to buy full games, but I want to support the continued functioning of this game and I do at the end of the day enjoy them. I’ve paid hundreds of dollars this year alone because I believe in and love the world of Fallen London.

This is why it breaks my heart to say that I have cancelled Exceptional Friendship on 2 accounts and will not be purchasing Fate or Friendship again until the developers listen to their fanbase, and I think you should too. This change was done in direct opposition to what players have been asking for; we will give you those outfits but at a cost that makes the ordeal even more frustrating, not less. I’m not an &quotoptimizer&quot. I have never pruned my deck for the best cards, and often do poor Echo storylines to increase qualities (such as Master Thief, Procurer of Beasts etc.). I like exploring new areas of the game and I like progress. But when the entire fanbase is avidly against this change as a Quality of Life issue and the developer response is &quotWe don’t think your opinions matter, we’re sure some other people like it&quot, that is concerning. It shows that the developers do not value our opinions. People have already suggested ways at least 2 of 3 of Flyte’s goals could easily be achieved without annoying the vast majority of the fanbase. There was no warning, there was no testing, there was no discussion.

At the end of the day Failbetter Games is a company like any other. There is one guaranteed way to get them to listen, a financial hit. If enough players start unsubscribing, stop generating profit, show a clear and marked response, Failbetter will have no choice but to go back on their previous plans. And if losing a large chunk of income is not a good enough signifier of what the playerbase wants out of this game that’s on them, not us. The fact they’ve outright admitted they can’t rework the whole game to fit this change and are still doubling down on it is the problem.

2

[quote=Zeel]Let me start by saying I love this game. I started playing about 2012 and loved the storylines, the uniqueness of the world. I have been on hiatus for a long time since Seeking was taken down, and came back earlier this year to discover a vast amount of new content. A love for the world. I have two accounts with Exceptional Friendship and have bought many old Exceptional Stories. I enjoy them, I enjoy the Lore, I don’t think the content is worth the price compared to being able to buy full games, but I want to support the continued functioning of this game and I do at the end of the day enjoy them. I’ve paid hundreds of dollars this year alone because I believe in and love the world of Fallen London.

This is why it breaks my heart to say that I have cancelled Exceptional Friendship on 2 accounts and will not be purchasing Fate or Friendship again until the developers listen to their fanbase, and I think you should too. This change was done in direct opposition to what players have been asking for; we will give you those outfits but at a cost that makes the ordeal even more frustrating, not less. I’m not an &quotoptimizer&quot. I have never pruned my deck for the best cards, and often do poor Echo storylines to increase qualities (such as Master Thief, Procurer of Beasts etc.). I like exploring new areas of the game and I like progress. But when the entire fanbase is avidly against this change as a Quality of Life issue and the developer response is &quotWe don’t think your opinions matter, we’re sure some other people like it&quot, that is concerning. It shows that the developers do not value our opinions. People have already suggested ways at least 2 of 3 of Flyte’s goals could easily be achieved without annoying the vast majority of the fanbase. There was no warning, there was no testing, there was no discussion.

At the end of the day Failbetter Games is a company like any other. There is one guaranteed way to get them to listen, a financial hit. If enough players start unsubscribing, stop generating profit, show a clear and marked response, Failbetter will have no choice but to go back on their previous plans. And if losing a large chunk of income is not a good enough signifier of what the playerbase wants out of this game that’s on them, not us. The fact they’ve outright admitted they can’t rework the whole game to fit this change and are still doubling down on it is the problem.[/quote]

I’m torn between conceding you’re right in practical terms (certain decisions made by Blizzard Entertainment spring to mind), and admitting on a personal level that…I just don’t care about the outfit/equipment thing much. Does it add to my experience? No. Is it sometimes inconvenient? Whatever the FB staff post said it has made me do a few more clicks not a few less with regards to skeleton building.

But the reason I, personally, own an ES isn’t because it makes me feel like a hardcore gamer, it isn’t even really for the expanded action economy. It’s first and foremost because of the neat little stories I get every month, like a subscription to a magazine full of mystery stories. And until the quality of THOSE dovetails significantly I simply can’t bring myself to accept the cost-benefit analysis applies to myself because as I said: I have repeatedly expressed indifference only lightly tinged with distaste towards the outfit thing, it has no bearing on me because I start every storylet trying to assemble a goofy all-rounder outfit capable of handling anything and blitzing through it all in a death-or-glory charge so I can hurry up and consoom stories to get hype for new stories.

Now, if FB said something absolutely insane like &quotwe are never going to release new stories about Masters, Hell and Red Science&quot then perhaps I would turn in my EF on the spot. But if anything it’s been doing the exact opposite, and because THAT is where I feel my value for money is most invested I simply can’t be arsed to miss my next monthly story over a tangible change I’m not that upset by.
edited by Hattington on 8/1/2020

3

Did that already. I wasn’t subscribed when the outfit update happened, but I would’ve subscribed for the new ES the day after.

I’m not going to pay a single cent as long as this is in place. In fact, I just logged on to announce I’m on indefinite hiatus across all accounts. Might as well do that here.

The game is simply unplayable in its current state.

4

I dropped my subscription when I saw the update thread today. Locking outfits is just mechanically frustrating, making me back out of challenges constantly.

My new “flow” (on mobile) is: draw a useful card - forget about lock, open card - wrong outfit, P N out (1 extra click) - scroll up (2) - wait for top of page to finish reloading (2.5), tap open sidebar - tap outfit - tap right outfit - close sidebar - scroll down (3) - load bottom half of page (3.5), open card (4) - finally play.

That’s 4 extra actions (10 total to play one card) and some page buffering, and with the servers falling apart, the extra clicks means more chances to watch the game blip out of existence and send me right back to the main page again. I’ve only gotten a few cards and one party done today, and I usually maximize my actions; sometimes even waking up and starting the next day before it refills to 40.

I really hope this is resolved in time for me to play the next ES because I absolutely love the writing in this game, but if this is just how things are going to be then I’ll most likely fizzle out and stop playing soon after my current Exceptional Friend status expires.

5

Yeah I have been evangelizing for this game for years. It’s extremely difficult to play now. This update, though, was enough to make me unsubscribe. It was condescending, dismissive, and showed a lack of caring about the views of the players I never ever thought I would see from Failbetter, given how wonderful the folks I had been interacting with were. My enthusiasm for the game was fever pitch monday, talking about it with friends, debating doing an extra fate buy (you know, Coronavirus) both for me and because I want to support the company. That is no longer the case.

And that makes me incredibly sad.
edited by Lady Karnstein on 8/1/2020

6

And I’m quitting the game altogether, for a month, at least.
I considered writing a macro to make some meaningless activity, since just quitting reduces server costs, but that’s petty and stupid.

7

I understand why people are doing it but I’ve not taken this step - yet. Much depends on how FBG handle this going forward.

Honestly, I’m shocked at the arbitrary and dismissive way this whole debacle has been conducted. I really did not expect it from a company that has in general been very good at interacting with the players. The map redesign was poorly handled and implemented - and it still is (at least on mobile) a worse gameplay experience - but I’d thought that was an exception. I’m now beginning to think that it was a sign of things to come, though I fervently hope I’m wrong.

8

Bone Market part has a strange smell - looking good from a distance, but fishy inside. And whole this wave of updates left something nagging at the back of my head.

I think they reshuffled staff - someone left, someone turned to other projects, and in absence someone rose to power, including the ones not suited for new positions, but eager to express their new power over gameplay and content.
edited by Aro Saren on 8/1/2020

9

Already unsubscribed. Yup, I did it over this whole mess. Not going to be purchasing any more Fate either.
edited by Baron Lagavulin on 8/1/2020

11

[quote=Aro Saren]Bone Market part has a strange smell - looking good from a distance, but fishy inside. And whole this wave of updates left something nagging at the back of my head.

I think they reshuffled staff - someone left, someone turned to other projects, and in absence someone rose to power, including the ones not suited for new positions, but eager to express their new power over gameplay and content.
edited by Aro Saren on 8/1/2020[/quote]

I really hope you’re wrong. Because that’s a long-repeated story in corporate, and because it…makes a certain amount of sense with how receptive FB normally is to feedback. The support people are really nice, and I get the feeling certain options in Jericho Locks and Ealing Gardens corresponded directly to complaints about how tedious it was to build and sell skeletons for scrip. This is the first time I’ve seen FB dig their heels in about something this unpopular when they’re normally friendly and good at reading the room enough to put long-running community in-jokes like Sky Barnet into stuff.

12

Well, we’ll see really soon, with all the shitstorm.
And if we’re correct… well, I’ll be sad, but the only thing I can do in protest is to leave the game for good. Sometimes it’s for the better.

13

Well, I’m voting the only way I know matters. My subscription’s cancelled. And no more Fate purchases. I’ll wait and see what happens.

14

I have a great deal of sympathy for the developers right now. After pouring their hearts and souls into a stunning amount of new, free content, it must be pretty rough to have players boycott vociferously over one design change they disagree with and demand reversed yesterday.

For what it’s worth, this thread does not reflect a unanimous view. I would like to offer my compliments on the quality and quantity of engaging new content this year. I am mostly indifferent to the outfit changes so far - they are buggy, which I expect will be resolved soon, they are occasionally a mild hindrance, but they also offer some new design possibilities and I am more than willing to wait to see what the developers can do with that.

15

I have 26 days to decide whether to renew my subscription. By then I hope that they’ll have the most egregious problems fixed. The change isn’t terrible in principle. They just need to signpost when you’re entering an outfit-locked area, and remove the lock from any existing content that hasn’t been reviewed for appropriateness.

16

[quote=Nirrti]I have a great deal of sympathy for the developers right now. After pouring their hearts and souls into a stunning amount of new, free content, it must be pretty rough to have players boycott vociferously over one design change they disagree with and demand reversed yesterday.[/quote]But you see here, you’re measuring this on how it affects (or rather, it doesn’t affect) you. What about the rest of us that are really bothered by this? We tried expressing it, we gave feedback, it was overwhelmingly negative, and got ignored. The next best thing is to protest this somehow. There have been other changes that we don’t like, but we didn’t raise hell like on this one, which only goes to show how bad and needless we think it is.
Yes, they could use new mechanics for potentially interesting new storylets. Without having to mess with the old ones. They could also have tested this a lot longer before pushing it. The least they could do is remove it until it’s playable and not have us suffer through it while they tweak it over the next who-knows-how-many weeks/months.

17

[quote=Nirrti]I have a great deal of sympathy for the developers right now. After pouring their hearts and souls into a stunning amount of new, free content, it must be pretty rough to have players boycott vociferously over one design change they disagree with and demand reversed yesterday.
[/quote]

Well, that’s pretty dismissive and a bit insulting. “Boycott vociferously”? More like “complain about a major change they see as taking the fun out of the game for them.” “Demand reversed yesterday”? Hardly. More like “complained about, got told they were in the minority and would just have to get used to it, and are voting with their money.”

You don’t care about it? That’s fine. But don’t assume I’m obligated to agree with you or pay for something that I don’t like.
edited by Snort on 8/1/2020

18

The map, the Bone Market and the forum/Dscord debacle had already poured cold water on my enthusiasm. However, the goodwill the game had generated so far was massive. Really unsure if I should stay subscribed in a game I cannot play - I had no problem paying when RL kept me away from FL, but the game shooing me away is another thing alltogether.

19

I was okay with outfit lock initially. After playing with it for a few days i am still okay with it.
I am playing for 3.5 years. And i like very much how game is developed in this year. It feels like it really in development and not just stuffed in the old closet and barely maintained, how it was for 2-3 years before that.
So i will pay fate when i like it as usual and sometimes i will be subscribed (i am not a big fun of EF system).

I will not pay for additional outfits though. Paying for stories is fine. Paying for better items is p2w - bad. But paying for QoL interface features is totally unacceptable. What is next they will charge us for? Traveling? Moving out of storylets? Filtering inventory? No-no!

I see that main point for many people is that their voices are ignored. I am on FBG’s side with this. Indie gamedev is harsh place, its very hard to be even half-successful here. And if you are rewards are not particularly big. You can make much more money doing other IT things, writing boring apps or sites. Main reward is creative freedom. And community is trying to steal this reward. Trying to steer the game by causing scandals.
edited by Waterpls on 8/1/2020

20

[quote=Snort]Well, that’s pretty dismissive and a bit insulting. “Boycott vociferously”? More like “complain about a major change they see as taking the fun out of the game for them.” “Demand reversed yesterday”? Hardly. More like “complained about, got told they were in the minority and would just have to get used to it, and are voting with their money.”

You don’t care about it? That’s fine. But don’t assume I’m obligated to agree with you or pay for something that I don’t like.[/quote]

This thread is titled &quotWhy You Should Cancel Your Exceptional Friendship.&quot It was started for the express purpose of encouraging more players not to give money to FBG so they would take a &quotfinancial hit&quot. That is called a boycott, and it is not being done quietly. FBG said just yesterday that they are looking at this issue and would scale back the outfit restrictions over the weeks to come, and that prompted an entire thread of complaints that outfits weren’t reversed yesterday. So, I believe both statements are accurate.

I don’t assume you are obligated to agree with me. I am expressing sympathy and support for a small group of indie developers who have done wonderful things with this game this year, then made one misstep, which they are working to improve. I think they deserve a lot more kudos for the former than criticism for the latter than they have been receiving on these forums, and am trying to redress the balance a little (as someone who otherwise almost never posts).

I am disappointed to see players encouraging others to cause FBG a &quotfinancial hit&quot - I love this game and would like to see it continue to be developed. The original poster is encouraging others to cause FBG to &quotlos[e] a large chunk of their income&quot - you’re talking about a small number of individuals who write stories you love, too. I think this response to any annoyance around outfits is out of proportion.

21

The complaints weren’t that the “outfits weren’t reversed yesterday.” You’re being as dismissive as Failbetter was in their announcement, and their dismissiveness was my main problem with it. They attributed the complaints to a statistically insignificant group of people that I’m not even in, seeming to ignore people like me’s reasons for not liking it.

If Failbetter had communicated in a way that didn’t feel like it was immediately dismissing me, that would have been fine, and I would have been happy with it. They did not, so I’m not really happy about it.