Some people don’t like Facebook. I’m one of those people. There are many reasons for that, but I won’t get into them (I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinion of Facebook, nor do I have any problem with anyone who likes Facebook).
However, I happen to like Angry Birds Epic and while I resisted for as long as I could, I just couldn’t get much further in the game without it. So I gave in. I created a Facebook account. But not a “real” one. I did what many of you suggested and created one with a fake name and no tie to my real life identity. Then I posted here on the forums in the “Friends Requests” thread. That was on Thanksgiving.
Oh boy, what a revelation! I knew it would make things easier, but this is night and day…
I’m sitting here 4 days later and I have close to 200 Friendship Essence (the 5-a-day only thing is bugged by the way – I get more). I answer requests for it too! Coming from playing solo where you never have any Friendship Essence, this is mind-boggling. Think about it: the only way to get Friendship Essence without Facebook is to destroy a set item or get lucky with the Floating Chest in the Chronicle Caves (and that’s a brand new addition!). Yes, you get a few for free here and there thanks to Rovio, but it’s a very small amount.
The benefits of Friendship Essence? I can re-roll with no second thoughts. It helps when crafting gear so that you don’t waste materials. With the new events, it helps tremendously for the final reward. In the Caves, it’s a great way to avoid having to re-do a level and waste a precious 12-hour cool-down on a computer-generated borrowed bird (which are actually pigs incidentally…) just to get that crafting pattern you really want. It almost seems overpowered to me.
That’s not all Facebook gets you. You get 35 Lucky Coins a week instead of 28. That’s 25% more! That’s significant. On top of that, you don’t have to spend those precious lucky coins to open Friendship Gates, since you can just ask friends to help you! That’s another advantage that seems a little overpowered to me.
Of course, I left the best for last… Doing the Chronicle Caves with friends instead of the 3 default pigs is a completely different experience. Not only do you get to try a wider variety of bird combinations, but just completing the caves is so much easier. I did the first 10 caves without Facebook. I even 3-starred most of the levels. Cave 11 is a bit of a brick wall though (there’s another thread around here on this topic). I had two choices: wait until Rovio increases the max level again, level up and try the Caves again (the level of the enemies in the Caves doesn’t scale – their levels are static) OR go the Facebook route. I chose Facebook and I finished Caves 11, 12 and 13 during Thanksgiving week-end, 3-starring practically everything (12-10 sucks, so not everything…).
That is ridiculous. It’s so overpowered compared to non-Facebook players that it’s hard to comprehend. It’s so overpowered that I suggest they add achievements for players who complete Caves using the computer-generated birds… err, pigs, I mean. Assuming the level of the player isn’t higher than that of the enemies in the caves, of course. Otherwise that’d be too easy…
I don’t understand this. Why is Rovio twisting things so much in favor of Facebook? I get that it gives them exposure and free publicity. But that almost alienates anyone who tries to do it without it. Because let’s face it: anyone who tries to go far in this game will end up on this website and forum, figure out how much better it is with Facebook and either take the plunge or quit and never look back.
Which has created something that I bet Rovio didn’t intend: people are making Facebook accounts just to play ABE. That doesn’t get Rovio any exposure and publicity because these accounts are, for the most part, friends with other “fake” accounts. So in my case, I’m not advertising the fact that I play ABE to anyone since 1) I don’t have a real Facebook account and 2) even if I did, I wouldn’t use it for this. On top of that, it allows me to basically friend anyone who asks without even looking twice? What do I care, after all? The more the merrier since it’s going to get me more Friendship Essence and more birds to borrow in future.
TL;DR version:
I think the Facebook connection in ABE is overpowered. Curious to hear what you all think.
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