Forum:Gripes about Echo Bazaar
Alright... It's a hot, sticky evening and I am stuck without air conditioning, which means I don't dare to do anything CPU intensive on my computer to avoid it shutting down from overheating. This means, I have to sit on my hands while I wait for the actions on EB to refresh. So I'll be spending this time griping about the game... >:D
Which brings me to my first point: I understand their logic of limiting total actions per day due to not wanting people to go through all the story content in the game faster than they can write--BUT, is it necessary to stretch out the time in between those already daily limited actions too?? They really think everyone has all the time in the world to wait for at least 3 and a half hours everyday just for those 30 actions to refresh? (edit: I forgot it's at least 30 actions, i.e. 40 (& 10 instant from tweet) - initial 10 already filled = 30 that have to wait to be refreshed.)
Normally I only have time to relax in the evenings and often not daily, so I try to fill the time in between by only playing EB on the side, while I'm playing games like Dragon Age which are my true passion or doing something else like watching movies online. Still, it's not like I can always remember to interrupt those things every hour or so when the actions finally fill up, so often I either end up not spending all actions or stretching out the total time I finish using all actions to very long... I'm guessing other people might play during the day when they are at a desk job that's none demanding enough to get distracted every hour to play the game, or perhaps while sitting in classes pretending to listen to lectures. Either way, how many people can actually do that?
OK... second gripe. None existant social interaction methods in game. They market the game exclusively on social networks as a "social game" of sorts, and make many rather important things reliant on having friends to play with you in game. Yet there's not even a way to directly send messages to other players in game. About this I've already shared some chats with Neonix so I won't complain further.
Last one, just a minor gripe regarding the limited and unimaginative pictures they have accompanying the stories.... Such as the supposedly "strikingly handsome curate" and his "equally handsome" sister, whom you're suppose to delve into for secrets / profit / er...carnal/emotional gratification? Now it's really, really hard to get into the story when you're only told in very brief sentences how "easy on the eyes" these two are, and all you get visually is this: http://images.wikia.com/fallenlondon/images/7/70/Saturninegent.png
I mean... I tried. I really did. For the sake of the story. At least on the sister's "handsomeness", I can use my imagination since there isn't even a picture of her, but it's still really difficult since there is that picture of her "oh so handsome" brother who's supposed to be "EQUALLY handsome" as her. (In case you're wondering which story I'm talking about, check out Intrigue: The curate and his sister.)
Anyway... these are my gripes about the game so far. I understand the game is still considered to be in "beta", so hopefully they'll improve some of these things, and frankly, I'm just too hot and annoyed right now, so griping is my way of venting. My point is to share with fellow editors/players here on the wiki and get things out of my system. And I'm too lazy to go sign up for an account on EB's forums to send these gripes directly. :P So, fellow players, feel free to join in with your thoughts or perhaps other gripes.
--by Wanderer (someone too lazy to sign up for accounts and loves wikis for that exact reason)
- That's... a lot of text, Wanderer. You must really have time to kill just waiting for your actions to refresh. XD
- I'm actually one of those people who pretend to listen to lectures while playing EB/or by editing this wiki. :D And I honestly don't mind how they spread out the actions. Free players get 40 actions a day (50 if they remembered to tweet), and we can 'store' up to 10 at a time, so that means I should check in on EB 4-5 times minimum to consume the actions. Of those 10, I probably use up 3 or so on Opportunity Cards, and the rest I spend on grinding for Storylet progress (like the Hunt is On! D:< ).
- Granted, it does not for people who have their only free time lumped up in one. :( But I wouldn't worry too much about it. Missing a few actions a day wouldn't set you back too much... EB is all about the storytelling after all! I used to rage about spending an action on the wrong storylet or card just because I forgot what it did.... It's one of the reasons I started a wiki lolol.
- I TOTALLY agree about the lack of social interactions issue. I just wish there was an official EB forum somewhere (different from the little feedback forum they already have going) just so EB players can meet up and exchange requests or whatever. Having said that, I'm feeling like I'm missing out on the roleplaying community of EB - they exist, and I have NO IDEA where they are. Is it happening on twitter? (I still don't see why twitter is useful haha)
- About the images: They seem to be uploading more and more new versions of their images recently! :D So I guess it's just a matter of time before we can have that "strikingly handsome curate". Rawr.
- Keep those posts coming! The forums are a bit lonely, and I love it when the wiki is active :D
- --Neonix (talk) 11:39, May 31, 2011 (UTC)
- You mean they don't actually have official forums?? Oh, now that I come to think of it, I didn't see anything like that on the company's main site.
- Yes, from what I've seen of the startup guides written by other players, I think the roleplay mainly happens on Twitter. It's normally unofficial and likely mostly for publicity. They use it like a publicized chatting service, I guess, and you can send those tweets with your cellphone. --So, in short, for ppl whose life is on their phone 24-7. ;) Apparently you can interact with the characters of the game on Twitter, though how much or little you roleplay is up to you. I think they're awfully busy nowadays though, so they're responding less to the tweets (no one's responded to the 2 tweets I've sent, or other ppl's I see sometimes) and delegating things like answering players' questions to other players (the so called illuminated or something project they're now test running).
- BTW, since ppl rarely send me tweets, I've not been logging on regularly to my Twitter, so I didn't see your tweets until just now. I'll try to log on more frequently now that your main has a Twitter account. :)
- --Wanderer
- Yep, no official forums. T__T A sad sad world. Lots of people are asking for it, hopefully they take notice and make one in the future. :D
- Blargh twitter. I own an ancient phone - incapable of browsing the internet, much less tweeting. EB is probably the ONLY thing I'll be using it for. :D
- --Neonix (talk) 00:59, June 3, 2011 (UTC)
