Dudebro Pyro
Posts: 756
10/18/2017
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Oh, whoops. I assume Sacksmas is around December then?
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Dudebro Pyro, eccentric scholar
Spare Starveling Kitties always welcome. I collect them.
For that matter, send me your unwanted cat boxes too.
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Sara Hysaro
Moderator
Posts: 4514
10/18/2017
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Yep, Sacksmas is Christmas.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Sara%20Hysaro
Please do not send SMEN, cat boxes, or Affluent Reporter requests. All other social actions are welcome.
Are you a Scarlet Saint? Send a message my way to be added to the list.
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Bitty
Posts: 234
10/18/2017
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Hey newbie here, what Companions can be updated?
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suinicide
Posts: 2409
10/19/2017
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Last year you could update: the alluring accomplice, the cheerful goldfish (a very good choice to upgrade), The bengal tigress, the grubby urchin, the rubbery bellringer, the devious henchman, and the watchful doll. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more options this year. The alluring accomplice, the grubby urchin, and the devious henchman all had two possible upgrades.
edited by suinicide on 10/19/2017
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/profile/sunnytime
A gentleman seeking the liberation of knowledge, with a penchant for violence.
RIP suinicide, stuck in a well. Still has it under control.
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Lady Sapho Byron
Posts: 770
10/19/2017
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I can't remember, how long after the Festival is over can we still upgrade companions? I will be in someplace quite remote for a good chunk of November.
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http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Lady%20Sapho%20L%20Byron
Fighting the Menace of Corsetry Since 1892.
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
10/19/2017
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Remember to hold onto new confessions until Mr. Huffam comes around. He'll tell you interesting things.
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Lamia Lawless
Posts: 604
10/19/2017
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Oh, I was hoping to have the Rubbery Bell-Ringer by now... oh well. Looking forward to Hallowmas!
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The Harmonic Hellfarer
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
10/19/2017
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menaulon wrote:
I will have to respectfully disagree. The new festival really isn't action-intensive. The only reason to upgrade most of the companions is solely completionist and getting one of each confessions doesn't require much in terms of actions.
The previous mode of the festival had urgency and energy. Yes, it was about fleeting links, but that's the nature of any big gathering. I might be sentimental because Hallowmass was the reason I first got involved in the forum, but the only other event that even tries to be as communal and frantic as the old Hallowmass is the Election, probably as the response for changing the Hallowmass. The previous Hallowmass style also had the sense that what players were doing was clandestine, people struggling to rise above the expected station. Failbetter definitely didn't expect people to get as many new contacts to confess to or betray as we managed through the forums. I am pretty sure it's the stuff like new players getting to 700 Spirit that led to the new, more individualistic format. Finally, you can never have too many rare expensive items.
I understand why we can never go back, but I will cherish the confessional invitations I have managed to preserve.
So in other words, the new Hallowmas isn't action-intensive because the action-intensive part is only necessary for completionism and you don't actually have to upgrade every companion. (Of course, you don't actually have to upgrade any of them or even get any confessions at all. No content ever need be action-intensive when you can just not play as much of the content as you wish.)
On the other hand, the old Hallowmas does count as action-intensive because one year a small subset of players decided to collaboratively min-max every single action for weeks so they could all get the highest possible QLD for a single quality that everyone knew would become obsolete one year later. All they got out of those thousands of extra actions was a slight improvement on a single option on a single card; the gains from this improvement were certainly lower than what the players could get by just getting the lowest QLD and spending those weeks of actions on grinding directly. Apparently, this is nothing like completionism.
In any case: "the only other event that even tries to be as communal and frantic as the old Hallowmass is the Election". Thing is, Hallowmas itself didn't try to be communal or frantic. Sure, the holiday mechanically focused on social actions, but anyone who wasn't an active forum-goer or community member might deal with a handful of confessions at most. (I was there for Hallowmas 2014 and sent a couple then forgot about it completely.) The game didn't even give any reason to send and receive lots of confessions: you needed to hear that from someone who'd been through it before, a friend of a friend of someone high-Spirited. Hallowmas 2015 was the third Hallowmas and the first and only time that such massive coordination took place. It was a hell of a lot of fun (thanks NiteBrite!) but it was much more a community-led event than part of the Hallowmas festival itself. If you were outside the forums and connected social groups, it didn't affect you, Hallowmas was the same low-key event as the two years prior.
Having been through that intense community collaboration, I'm actually glad that Hallowmas got overhauled. It was a ton of fun but having all our weeks of hard work effectively erased the next year and needing to do it all over would have left a bad taste in my mouth. Now we have a holiday that socially-inactive players can enjoy too, a holiday where you don't have to redo everything later. As you say the Election probably came from the remains of old Hallowmas, and IMO it achieves the same goal a lot more effectively. It's focused on community engagement, but there's an actual reason to participate both in-game and socially. Players can have the satisfaction of grinding the maximum possible value of the relevant quality, but not wanting to just means fewer item rewards later. The social actions from this year even permit coordination like in old Hallowmas. Running the Election race has actual consequences where old Hallowmas was like a hamster wheel.
edited by Optimatum on 10/19/2017
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Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome.
 Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi!
PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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annalibertas
Posts: 161
10/19/2017
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Optimatum wrote:
[
In any case: "the only other event that even tries to be as communal and frantic as the old Hallowmass is the Election". Thing is, Hallowmas itself didn't try to be communal or frantic. Sure, the holiday mechanically focused on social actions, but anyone who wasn't an active forum-goer or community member might deal with a handful of confessions at most. (I was there for Hallowmas 2014 and sent a couple then forgot about it completely.) The game didn't even give any reason to send and receive lots of confessions: you needed to hear that from someone who'd been through it before, a friend of a friend of someone high-Spirited. Hallowmas 2015 was the third Hallowmas and the first and only time that such massive coordination took place. It was a hell of a lot of fun (thanks NiteBrite!) but it was much more a community-led event than part of the Hallowmas festival itself. If you were outside the forums and connected social groups, it didn't affect you, Hallowmas was the same low-key event as the two years prior.
Having been through that intense community collaboration, I'm actually glad that Hallowmas got overhauled. It was a ton of fun but having all our weeks of hard work effectively erased the next year and needing to do it all over would have left a bad taste in my mouth. Now we have a holiday that socially-inactive players can enjoy too, a holiday where you don't have to redo everything later. As you say the Election probably came from the remains of old Hallowmas, and IMO it achieves the same goal a lot more effectively. It's focused on community engagement, but there's an actual reason to participate both in-game and socially. Players can have the satisfaction of grinding the maximum possible value of the relevant quality, but not wanting to just means fewer item rewards later. The social actions from this year even permit coordination like in old Hallowmas. Running the Election race has actual consequences where old Hallowmas was like a hamster wheel.
edited by Optimatum on 10/19/2017
I actually liked the fleeting nature of Hallowmas, that all my progress was reset each year save for my growing list of trust qualities (I treasure every trust (3) i have, and I'm sure others do as well). Even the first year I was involved, long before I knew about the forums it was my favorite holiday after feast of the rose (which was p similar at the time but with trinkets in place of confessions). I understand why it was changed, and I enjoyed last years hallowmas just fine but I'll always miss the original version
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https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Anna%20Libertas
Accepting all social actions & boxed cats
https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Julliah%20Randolph
Alt, will accept all social actions whenever I log on
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
10/19/2017
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I miss the original Hallowmass too. I just don't miss having all my progress reset when I've already reached the highest possible level. My Trusts also meant far more when I only had a few; now I have Trust with most of the then-active forum-goers and any individual connections are lost amid the by-products of mass produced Spirit.
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Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome.
Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi!
PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Blaine Davidson
Posts: 388
10/19/2017
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If there was anything I missed about the old Hallowmass it was that I was never able to get back at those who betrayed me.
I still remember you two. And I am still not happy.
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Blaine Davidson, a reserved and sensible woman with a fondness of collecting rarities.
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dov
Posts: 2580
10/19/2017
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What I liked about old Hallowmas was that inter-player choices carried and were built-upon year by year.
You had a quality for your character showing which ones have betrayed your trust.
You had a quality for those who kept your secrets.
And you had a way to reinforce said trust by again choosing to keep secrets from past Hallowmas. I really liked the list of players I had with Trust level 3.
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 Want a sip of Hesperidean Cider? Send me a request in-game. Here's an_ocelot's guide how.
(Most social actions are welcome. Please no requests to Loiter Suspiciously and no investigations of the Affluent Photographer)
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Mr Sables
Posts: 597
10/19/2017
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dov wrote:
What I liked about old Hallowmas was that inter-player choices carried and were built-upon year by year.
You had a quality for your character showing which ones have betrayed your trust.
You had a quality for those who kept your secrets.
And you had a way to reinforce said trust by again choosing to keep secrets from past Hallowmas. I really liked the list of players I had with Trust level 3.
I quite liked that, too.
It was why I was so immensely excited for my second Hallowmas, and so immensely let down.
My character betrayed everyone, as they were desperate to increase their Masters connections (one of the few ways I could organically gain CP without extensive amounts of fate and in-game items, too). I absolutely loved that our in-game actions actually affected other players, as well as that a record was kept, and it really make the game feel interactive and like a community! I know I peeved people off, so I was excited for that role-play element, too. How would they react? What would it mean for trying to gain trust the next year?
There were also those who came up with exceptionally wonderful and detailed back-stories for their characters, leaving notes so much fun to read for every betrayal or trust kept, and I also wanted to try that with my next Hallowmas, too, so it was less "anonymous" and more "motivated". And you were forced to talk to people, so you could make new friends and form new connections (which help all year around for social actions).
The Election doesn't quite have that feel. Hallowmas now is just a 1p grind.
Like, I do think the Election is great for those that enjoy it, but you're working together and not competing against one another. Well, that's worded badly . . . what I mean is that you all have a common goal, with no personal gain, so you all win/lose together. It's less "player-against-player" and more "players-against-players". You can't betray an individual and have that marked against you. You can't help another person and have that marked to your name. You don't get personal karma, or personal/individual rewards, and you don't get any asymmetrical imbalances for your choices (you can get asymmetrical mechanics for your profession, but that feels different to making a moral choice).
I don't know . . . *sighs* . . . it's hard to put into words.
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Sir Joseph Marlen
Posts: 575
10/19/2017
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Anne Auclair wrote:
Aren't there some hints that the old spirit system is being brought back in an updated form? Could you specify on those hints? I could make some assumptions like the A Hallowmas Reveler of Old quality, though. I'd love to see some bits of the old holiday return, though!
dov wrote:
What I liked about old Hallowmas was that inter-player choices carried and were built-upon year by year.
You had a quality for your character showing which ones have betrayed your trust.
You had a quality for those who kept your secrets.
And you had a way to reinforce said trust by again choosing to keep secrets from past Hallowmas. I really liked the list of players I had with Trust level 3. Blaine Davidson wrote:
If there was anything I missed about the old Hallowmas it was that I was never able to get back at those who betrayed me.
I still remember you two. And I am still not happy.
I wonder if they'd ever consider bringing some of those small details back. Like, could we do anything for those who kept our trust, or anyone who betrayed it? Will our Hallowmas Reveler of Old be a usable quality or something just for recording's sake? Confessions were a bit of a chaotic mad dash in past years, but I'll be damned if they weren't entertaining. That's not to say that the new system isn't more orderly and relaxed, but I certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to deal with player confessions in a revised manner. That being said, I'm happy with how things are currently, but I guess we'll see what they plan to do within the next few days.
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Sir Joseph Marlen - The Romantic Sophist
Alexus Harven - The Defiant Fatalist
Rose Reinhelm - The Respectful Revolutionary
Cappuccino - The Perfidious Spycraft
Available for any and all social actions.
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Lady Sapho Byron
Posts: 770
10/19/2017
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I very much enjoyed the Old Hallowmas (hmmm … I’m sure there’s something here about the Old Ways, which may be no longer practiced, but which are not entirely forgotten). I had so much maddeningly frantic fun in the continuous scramble to seek and give confessions. That all this work carried over into other social actions—choices of keeping trust or betraying and the long-term record of those choices—added all the more to the flavor and weight of the Festival. It was a grind, but being so different—social and short lived—from the normal grinds, that it was refreshing. New Hallowmas seems much more … mechanical, much more like normal FL play … it isn’t so fun for me.
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http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Lady%20Sapho%20L%20Byron
Fighting the Menace of Corsetry Since 1892.
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Aberrant Eremite
Posts: 362
10/19/2017
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Is the "betrayed by" quality you get when someone breaks up with you the same as the Hallowmas one? I've been wondering whether there was ever going to be a use for that...
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Hieronymus Drake: Gentleman scholar, big-game hunter, scar-faced aristocrat. Remarkably sane, all things considered.
Tanith Wyrmwood: Longshanks cat-burglar; Bohemian author; now, perhaps, something more. Bubbly, expressive, and affectionate. It’s not only still waters that run deep.
Telemachia Lee: Gentle lady by birth, brawling Docker by choice. Good company in the drunk tank.
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Anne Auclair
Posts: 2215
10/20/2017
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I never experienced the Old Hallowmas, though I sort of wish I had. I'm hoping player confessions make a return, however limited ^_^
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http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Anne%20Auclair
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Saklad
Posts: 528
10/20/2017
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I adore the new Hallowmas, especially since it is possible to get everything without Fate (with great difficulty). I don’t like that the Feast of the Exceptional Rose has so much truly Fate-locked content.
That being said, I’ll be happy with anything this year so long as there are actually new companions to get. In other words, I don’t want a repeat of the 2017 Fruits of the Zee Festival. We got like three new bits of writing and nothing else. I still liked it, but I was quite disappointed.
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Saklad5, a man of many talents
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Optimatum
Posts: 3666
10/20/2017
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Saklad wrote:
I adore the new Hallowmas, especially since it is possible to get everything without Fate (with great difficulty). I don’t like that the Feast of the Exceptional Rose has so much truly Fate-locked content.
Doesn't the doll require Fate? A very small amount, but still some.
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Optimatum, a ruthless and merciful gentleman. No plant battles, Affluent Photographer requests, or healing offers; all other social actions welcome.
Want a sip of Cider? Just say hi!
PM me for information enigmatic or Fated. Though the forum please, not FL itself.
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Ali G.
Posts: 5
10/20/2017
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Saklad wrote:
I adore the new Hallowmas, especially since it is possible to get everything without Fate (with great difficulty). I don’t like that the Feast of the Exceptional Rose has so much truly Fate-locked content.
That being said, I’ll be happy with anything this year so long as there are actually new companions to get. In other words, I don’t want a repeat of the 2017 Fruits of the Zee Festival. We got like three new bits of writing and nothing else. I still liked it, but I was quite disappointed.
Though Fruits was good, noobs could easily get destinies
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Ali G, keepin' it real
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