Another Day 1 FEH player calling it quits.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Hi everyone, Fire Emblem Heroes came out almost five years ago and I'm happy to report that I am free of the app. No more events and quests, no more tapping away at the auto battle command, no more pity breakers. I've had quite enough of predatory microtransaction games that weaponize my decades old love for Fire Emblem!

...Is what I wish I could be saying. Actually the reason why I "quit" is because my phone can no longer run the game. Yes, with the latest version update, my sixth generation Iphone is finally deemed too old to display these jpegs we call Heroes. Such is the way of twenty first technology and planned obsolescence. Now I'm sure a lot of you will say "Just get a new phone" or "lol I thought everybody played this on emulator by now", but the truth is I'm happy the app was forcefully taken away from me. For years I wondered why I keep logging in and auto battling each available quest and event. It didn't necessarily take time away from my daily schedule in the strictest sense, but it did take that minimum of brain power that could have gone toward something else productive. My only real drive was boosting my absurd catalog of units, but obviously it is not a collection that I could ever hope to complete. Even if this game's servers stayed up for decades after its last content addition. So please keep your "solutions" to yourself, it's not a problem I am looking to solve. So yeah, I guess this is an AMA thread. Ah, I've already received some questions:

So how much money did you spend?

Twenty dollars. And it was the most financially irresponsible moment of my life. Even before those extra orbs accomplished nothing but raise my pity rate. I believe that was the very first hero fest. I remember telling myself that the game was fun, and the developers probably deserve something. Such a fool. I vowed that day that the only gambling I'd ever do with real money would be at a Vegas card table. And I've made good on that. I avoided the Black Knight whatever thing, and lost a good chunk of money at real life blackjack tables in the years since..

What was your luckiest pull?

It's gotta be my five star, off-focus +Atk/-Spd Reinhardt back when the game was still a few months old. I have of course pulled stronger units since. but he carried me through a lot of the hardest maps during the days that we didn't have half a dozen youtubers making F2P guides with units better than a three star Donnel and three star Olivia. I remember my only source of death blow at the time was either Ursula or my five star Klein that I would never give up, so I chose death blow 2 from Ursula. To this day I don't think I ever upgraded it to Death Blow 3. 

Statistically however, this is my luckiest pull. This is insane and the pity rate was only a 3.25%

Any comment on the rampant power creep since Day One?

Hmm. Nah. Just that it was very cute how we would deliberate over whether Valter's weapon counted as power creep due to it's two effects (yes, really, and yes somebody pointed out Falchion exists). Also we are dangerously close to fulfilling this prophecy. However, in a game like this the power creep is the point. There's no way FEH could be getting its fifth year of updates if they were still releasing units occasionally as bad as Alfonse. 

Is there anything you wish Fire Emblem Heroes would have expanded on?

Yes, I’m surprised there wasn’t a bigger push on the My Unit angle that modern Fire Emblem is so centered around. Kiran is playable in one mode, but you can’t customize his skills. When Masked Marth was given out for free I assumed that would be the start of a trend. That all Tempest Trial units would have no skills of their own besides a unique weapon and it was up to the player to flesh them out through the new Inherit Skill feature. But they could have gone even further than that. What if Kiran was not only fully playable, but you could adjust his weapon color and movement type combination? You just know there’d be a thread for people showing off their Kirans and it’d never leave the front page of this sub forum.

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

Edited December 8, 2021 by Zapp Branniglenn

[eclipse]

Kiran's playable in two modes, though.  And their weapon/skills can be customized?  Mine's running an insanely stupid build.

This game has a little too much to do IMO.  Thus, I've pruned it down so that I'm happy with what I can get done, but I don't feel like I have to do everything.  And no, I'm not bothered by my account being nuked, the only thing I've sunk into this game is time.

[Lemmy]

I keep playing because I like the character art and music, I've collected game guides since I was a kid just for game art, I see purchasing orbs as commissioning, I'll be sad once the well runs dry. I also like the overall plot, Veronica is one of my favorite characters in the series, and I'm still intrigued by whatever Loki is plotting.

Even after the game goes down, I still expect the art to exist on the wikia, and of course I'll still try to buy the art book if it's available and convenient.

 

[Mercakete]

Well, as a fellow first-day-er, I'll see you off here. Happy trails, friend. I hope you enjoy this new, FEH-less phase of your life. 🙂

As for me, I keep playing because it's fun. Well, aspects are. I've not put a single penny into this game, but as a result, if I want to pull the units I like, I have to keep logging in and doing quests. I get it; IS needs money to keep it going, and what you don't spend money on you spend time on. I do feel a bit restrained by it (especially since I don't use the auto-battle feature), trying to collect as many free orbs as is feasible, but I also legitimately enjoy hanging out with all my FE friends. Plus, I enjoy the music and the story. I feel like I'd be missing out on these things I enjoy if I quit, so I keep on playing. As for the game ending...yeah, I'd like to keep my account and play around with my units (especially in cute modes like Hero's Journey) but I guess we'll just have to see what happens when that day inevitably comes. Since it's linked to Nintendo's servers, it could even stay up for quite a while later, and be accessible to Nintendo Account holders. Personally, I'd like that, being able to visit this world whenever. But even so, Embla may close the portal to our world someday... That sure would be sad.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Mercakete

[AnonymousSpeed]

I've uninstalled twice at this point. The first was a few years ago when I realized the game was really boring. I enjoyed theory crafting units but the process of actually building them was way to tedious, and I certainly wasn't going to spend money on speeding up that process.

The second time was a month ago when I realized the game was still boring, it just had more characters I liked in it. It's funny because they actually added Volke the day after I uninstalled, but I still decided to rid my hands of it.

[Seafarer]

Good work breaking the habit.

The time I spend playing FEH goes up and down, depending on what other things I have to play, and I've definitely had periods where I was just plain bored of everything in the game. I keep playing for the story and for Abyssal maps, which are a nice challenge.

But honestly, if this wasn't Fire Emblem, I would have stopped long ago, or even never started in the first place. I just keep telling myself that the game will die one day, and then I'll be free. Probably.

Ooh, actually, I do have a question: what was your final Catalogue of Heroes count? The collection aspect is the other reason I keep playing, and I'm always curious to see how well my F2P collection holds up to other people's.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Seafarer

[Zapp Branniglenn]

5 hours ago, Seafarer said:

Ooh, actually, I do have a question: what was your final Catalogue of Heroes count? The collection aspect is the other reason I keep playing, and I'm always curious to see how well my F2P collection holds up to other people's.

It was enough that I had some pride in. I can't log in to give you an exact figure. But I did look up a list of units and counted the ones I didn't have. My count ended at 185, and the list didn't seem to have the latest update. So add those, subtract it from the total that's in the game, and that's how many I got, give or take. 

[♠Soul♠]

That was a fun(nny) read. Can't say I agree with everything, but it was nice hearing some of old half Year 1 anecdotes.

20 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

I just don't feel there's any possible way this game could be a chore. I really enjoy it, and it's not like I have to spend hours a day to sustain and succesfully thrive on it. F2P life has been very generous, and I'm sure you'll agree. The only requirement is putting in some effort, but nothing it doesn't pay off in the end. And, if anything, F2P life is a sure way to never get bored of the game, and have a healthy balance with it.

I've gotten most of the characters I wanted, and I'm always looking forward to fully completing and maximizing them, as well as the expectence of new surprises in seasonal banners or just new characters and skills in general. I'd never thought I'd get as far as I did with my characters (i.e my F2P +10 Bride Charlotte), and I completely surpassed expectations of them.

And just the other day, Libra's (my favourite character) new refine came out, getting me even more enthusiastic.

 

 

[XRay]

On 12/7/2021 at 11:22 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Why do you keep playing? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into?

For me, these two questions kind of relate to each other. I keep playing out of habit and because I feel like I cannot just give it because I put too much time and money into it.

I do see it as a chore sometimes though, and I wish they slow down all the modes a bit. While I want something a bit more casual, I am not sure if I will spend as much on this game without the competitiveness and fast pace.

On 12/7/2021 at 11:22 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

What is it that you hope to accomplish?

My primary objective is to have every Dancer/Singer. My secondary goal would be getting all the trophy stuff, and the only one I am missing now is getting the Platinum Pawns Trophy.

I also want to collect and build every Hero too, but that is too expensive, so I just treat it as a fantasy to day dream about.

On 12/7/2021 at 11:22 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

Nope. I would feel relieved, and Heroes would be the first and last gacha game I take seriously. Even if they release Advance Wars Heroes, I would try it out, but I do not think I can do the same for that game that I would do for Heroes now.

[Parrhesia]

On 12/8/2021 at 6:22 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

These are bold leading questions for a video game forum, OP.

[Othin]

5 hours ago, Parrhesia said:

These are bold leading questions for a video game forum, OP.

They're particularly applicable to an ongoing freemium game, though.

Personally, I "quit" about a month ago, then drifted back in at a lower activity level. I'm trying to make a point of avoiding doing a bunch of grinding just to get bigger piles of common rewards I have little need for, even limited-availability rewards like orbs and grails. I eventually realized that even while staying F2P, I was putting in more out of a sense of commitment than I was getting out, and that I didn't need to wait for the game's end to put a stop to it.

[Xenomata]

Oof... that'd certainly be incentive for someone heavily invested in FEH to upgrade their phone.

On 12/7/2021 at 11:22 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

1. Because I like Fire Emblem, yet I don't want to boot up an entire FE game if I want to play Fire Emblem, especially since all past FE games are pretty much done and will never be updated again.
2. I'm a collector, so obviously I want to have as many units as possible. More importantly to me though, I want to 5* +10 merge all the characters that I like enough to give that treatment (or happen to be given 11 copies of), and to that extent I've been fairly successful (as of writing my total number of 5* +10 units is 99)
3. Yes, the game is a chore. Yes it is a bother to have to do so many freaking things every single week just to maintain resources and orbs. And yes I have easily spent thousands on this game (in USD). And yes I will keep playing. But...

4. I am not bothered by the prospect of not being able to play anymore when the inevitable server shutdown happens.
To be totally honest, I'm not a person who cares about how much I spend on a game. Might not be a good thing to admit, but if I'm having fun with my money spent, great. But when the game servers are shut down, I'm probably not going to think too much about it. Good times were had, but now it's over and all I'll have to remember them by were old pngs of my units (which to be honest I'll probably make some sort of photo album of my units when the servers finally do shut down, just so I remember what I was able to build)

I've quit for like a month before, back when Brave Ike got his refine and totally broke the game for me as a result. I did eventually come back, with the idea of not using Bike more than necessary, and now he's not even the most strongest tank in the game anymore. And I've spent money on games before only to get bored and uninstall. FEH at least has the difference of being something I'm invested in, but I won't miss it when it does die off.

[Jotari]

On 12/8/2021 at 10:22 AM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

I actually like Abyssal maps and the challenge that goes into figuring out how to solve them. That and I guess I get some kind perverse pleasure bitching on Serenes about all the dumb decisions they make in regards to weapon and movement combinations they give to units (why isn't Miranda on a horse, damnit!).

[Anathaco]

At this point I’ve pretty much quit myself (also day 1). Main reason why I say I haven’t yet is because I may open the game one more time to kick my friend’s butt on pvp, then he can never say my Lloyd is bad again. Then I’m uninstalling.

Anywho, congratulations on beating the system. Where do you think your extra brain power will go now that it’s not being spent on reading weapon descriptions?

[Diovani Bressan]

On 12/8/2021 at 4:22 AM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

FEH was a gate for me to meet new people and make new friends. If wasn't for it, I wouldn't be in a discord group with great people, and be in this forum which also has great people.

I still play FEH because I still have fun playing it casually. I am not a Tier 21 player in Arena or Mjolnir Strike, I don't care about ranking 1k in AR or AA, I have zero 5* exclusives at +10... AR can be frustrating sometimes, but life is that as well.

I enjoy sharing my clears with friends and watch their clears in GHBs or whatever. I get interested in see who will be added next, even though I will not summon for them. Every Channel or Trailer creates a discussion between my friend group and I like that. I also enjoy the gameplay.

I don't need something to accomplish in the game to play it. I don't see it as a chore or it's not giving up time when you like what you do. And yes, the game will shut down someday... but I don't care.  I will be sad, but then I will move on. 

But if you have to quit... then quit. It's ok. It's sad that it's happening, but it's your choice and I respect it.

I also would not buy a new phone just to play it, that's for sure. I remember when Pokémon Masters were released, I wanted to play it but my phone was not able to. Did I buy a phone because of it? Of course not. 10 months later, I needed to buy a new phone because my current one at the time were having some problems, and then I was able to play Masters, which I still do.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Diovani Bressan

[Zapp Branniglenn]

11 hours ago, Anathaco said:

Anywho, congratulations on beating the system. Where do you think your extra brain power will go now that it’s not being spent on reading weapon descriptions?

I've actually got a lot of projects in mind for next year that are going to require a lot of R&D. And I treated myself to Adobe Creative Cloud, so that's a whole lot of new programs to learn. My brain doesn't do so hot with distractions when I'm taking in new information. But when I'm creating, I can do that in any environment, and probably got a lot of auto battle daily questing done at the same time.

But really I did not read too many weapon descriptions in the last few years. Both because of liberal use of F2P guides and auto battling just about everything that could be autobattled. When I did have to play the game, my expectation was that every fairly modern unit is boasting free followups, so I just hit them from outside their range. And when that's not possible, use color advantage which may keep me alive for their counterattacks. Fallen Edelgard was the only unit that got me to stop and brainstorm what to do for the first time since Surtr was added.

[silverserpent]

I might, MIGHT, set my account down after Book 6 if there's no units I particularly find interesting. I've met my personal goal of +10'ing all forms of Dimitri and helping a few other of my favorites to that level. I don't particularly care about competitive play and find all those modes a chore to grind my grails and other stuff.

I've had fun, but I mostly just want to finish the storyline. I already set down FGO since maxing Gilgamesh out. I have no issue doing the same to FEH, it'll help curb my spending habits. Once I finish my personal goal in UtaPri, I'll be saying goodbye to mobile gaming completely. I have too many other games and activities I can dedicate my time to.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Also a Day 1 player here, wishing you well after your Heroes journey!

On 12/8/2021 at 1:22 AM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

I keep playing because it's Fire Emblem, and I love Fire Emblem, and I do genuinely enjoy seeing characters I love added to the game. I hope I can get my most favorite characters fully merged, full Dragonflower stat boosts, with the skills I want them to have.

Some parts can be a chore, but I don't see the game as a whole that way.

Yeah, honestly, I am a little bothered that my account will be inaccessible when the day comes for the servers to shut down. Especially with how much work I've put into most of the Lyn variants.

[Etrurian emperor]

I still remember Nintendo saying ''lol we randomly decided to no longer let Heroes on your phone despite Heroes not at all being so technically powerful that older phones literally can't support it'' for my phone as well. 

And I did not value Heroes enough to get a new phone. If anything I found it intensely unreasonable that I was suddenly expected to upgrade for a game that does not at all seem hard to run. If the anouncement had came alongsides a massive graphical or gameplay update then sure, but that wasn't the case. Quite frankly I think I should have gotten loads of apology orbs for the hassle. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I still remember Nintendo saying ''lol we randomly decided to no longer let Heroes on your phone despite Heroes not at all being so technically powerful that older phones literally can't support it'' for my phone as well. 

And I did not value Heroes enough to get a new phone. If anything I found it intensely unreasonable that I was suddenly expected to upgrade for a game that does not at all seem hard to run. If the anouncement had came alongsides a massive graphical or gameplay update then sure, but that wasn't the case. Quite frankly I think I should have gotten loads of apology orbs for the hassle. 

My guess is probably that it soley comes down to the animated videos they play at the start of each book.

[Seafarer]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

My guess is probably that it soley comes down to the animated videos they play at the start of each book.

I suspect that the reason is more likely to be along the lines of "this older, no-longer-supported OS doesn't contain features that our code for the latest update relies on" or even "this older OS has vulnerabilities that could allow people to hack the game in ways that our servers would read as valid, and they'll never be patched because of the whole no-longer-supported thing". It's very unlikely to be arbitrary, because IntSys wants as big an audience as possible for maximum profit.

Pre-rendered videos that are hosted on YouTube seem like they'd be very very far down the list of potential roadblocks.

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Seafarer said:

I suspect that the reason is more likely to be along the lines of "this older, no-longer-supported OS doesn't contain features that our code for the latest update relies on" or even "this older OS has vulnerabilities that could allow people to hack the game in ways that our servers would read as valid, and they'll never be patched because of the whole no-longer-supported thing". It's very unlikely to be arbitrary, because IntSys wants as big an audience as possible for maximum profit.

Pre-rendered videos that are hosted on YouTube seem like they'd be very very far down the list of potential roadblocks.

Fair points. I have nothing else to say but fair points.

[defensedefumer]

On 12/8/2021 at 3:22 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

And now a question for you, the reader. Why do you keep playing? What is it that you hope to accomplish? Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into? Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

A) Why do I keep playing?

I enjoy playing because I enjoy the tactical, yet fast-paced combat. I have been a fan of Fire Emblem and still play Fire Emblem Conquest (my first game) today!

B) What do I hope to accomplish?

I am a simple man. I just want to see the conclusion of the storyline. I also am not too bothered by missing out on most characters, as I only focus on characters I do like (especially those from Nohr).

C)  Do you also see this game as a chore, yet are unwilling to give up on something you've sunk so much time (maybe even money) into?

Somedays it is, but mostly I used it to take a break from work. I haven't spend a single cent on the game.

D) Are you bothered by the prospect of your account becoming inaccessible the day that the servers shut down?

Not really, as long as I see the end of the storyline.