An Open Letter to Lilith Games Regarding Recent Changes in Player Experience
I want to start by saying that AFK Journey has been a huge part of my life for almost two years now, and that it’s through this game that I’ve found an amazing community and regained a lot of the passion and creativity that I’d once believed had fizzled out. This game inspired me to meet new friends, and was also the catalyst that got me back into creating things purely for the joy of it, and for that I will always be grateful. However, it is precisely because of how important AFK Journey is to me that I take issue with some of the decisions made by Lilith Games in recent seasons.
I’ll start off by addressing the changes that are allegedly going to be made to the story structure of the game, especially regarding Reputation Quests and Epilogue Quests. While there has been no official confirmation that these sections will be removed completely going forward, it does not bode well that we’ve received no news about them from the Patch Preview. If it is indeed Lilith’s intention to remove these story sections, then I strongly urge you to reconsider. Reputation Quests and Epilogue Quests have been an integral part of the player experience, especially for those of us who are heavily invested in the storyline of this game. Reputation quests help us explore the impact of our actions in the main story and the widespread effects it has on the world at large, reminding players that even after a major victory, Merlin’s work is never fully done. It also gives players a sense of closure, knowing that we’ve helped set things right and gives us important insights into the attitudes and worldbuilding of each new location. Epilogue quests have also been the perfect way to tie up loose ends, give us more opportunities to connect with characters, and help set up for future seasons without feeling like things ended abruptly. Additionally, both these questlines give players a reason to slow down and enjoy the season instead of wanting to rush into the next one as soon as the main storyline is over. It helps each season feel more impactful and lived in, and gives players something to look forward to in the months leading up to the end of a season.
And while this is one of my biggest complaints about recent changes, it is not my only one. In recent seasons, I’ve noticed AFK Journey gradually shifting towards being more PvP centred, and while I do enjoy the PvP modes, it was never the main appeal of the game for me. In the beginning, it felt like there was a good balance between the PvP, PvE, and story modes, but now it feels like things have become extremely catered towards PvP players only. Recent changes to the guild structure have also made it even more difficult to participate in the modes that I actually did enjoy, such as Clashfronts, which now has a participant cap. There’s also the issue of the Supreme League, which feels exclusive to high spenders since they’re the ones most likely to have competitively viable teams. There’s already a massive gap between the experiences of free-to-play and low spending players, and that of the whales and krakens in-game, and this mode seems to only widen that gap. Overall, many players have started to lose interest in PvP modes because of how futile participation feels at times. I also have a huge issue with the fact that betting has become a core mechanic of the Supreme League for those who don’t qualify to participate, especially in a game that already has a lot of gambling-adjacent mechanics. It feels like it’s in bad taste at best and predatory at worst.
Along with this, AFK Stages and Apex Stages have become increasingly difficult, making participating in these modes feel tedious. Saying this as someone who’s on the higher end of the rankings for this mode, pushing stages doesn’t feel as fun or worthwhile when you spend a whole day stuck at a single stage. It starts to feel more like a chore, especially since stepping in for a Manual Battle every few levels defeats the whole purpose of AFK stages. I don’t expect everyone to breeze through these levels, but it would be nice to have the experience be a little more balanced.
I also think that the newer gacha systems are too unpredictable. In addition to the standard Noble Tavern, we also have the Rosy Cosmetics gacha and the Arcane Atelier gacha in the Homestead, and while I’m not strictly opposed to the latter two mechanics, I do think they rely far too heavily on RNG and that their current set-up scares people away from sinking resources into them because of how unpredictable the outcomes are. Spending a few dragon crystals to reach pity is way less appealing when you have no way of knowing if you’ll get a cosmetic or decoration that you actually want. For this, I do think the simple fix would be to add 3 to 5 items you actually want to a wishlist, just in the Epic Recruitment banner, and have one of those be guaranteed when you reach pity or otherwise have a lucky draw. Once your wishlist has been fulfilled, further pulls are entirely random as they are now.
Another issue I’ve noticed is with the CeleHypos. In recent seasons, the CeleHypos have been dropping more frequently, with many of them entering the meta and power-creeping older units. While I understand that a part of this is the natural progression of a game in this genre, I also believe that it’s happening too rapidly for most players to keep up with and that investing in any CeleHypo units at all feels like a possible waste of resources since they’re likely to be outdone in the near future. Some of these are also extremely lacking where lore is concerned, and have no connection to the season they become playable in. Out of the 21 CeleHypo characters currently recruitable, 13 have played a role in the main story, 1 was explored in Starry Tales, and 1 was included in both. The remaining six have so far lacked any narrative significance or exploration beyond their affinity tales. These two things combined make it feel like some characters are being added purely for the sake of squeezing resources out of players, rather than being added because of their significance to the story or to be meaningful companions to The Magister.
One of my biggest gripes, though, is with how often the game seems to change its creative direction. Sometimes it feels like Lilith doesn’t actually know what it wants AFK Journey to be. We spent the first year of this game treating it as a fantasy RPG with gacha elements, with a few minor changes along the way, before suddenly rebranding completely with the Homestead update. While again, I didn’t mind the addition of this mode and definitely enjoyed many of the aspects associated with it, it felt like the devs were trying to make it more significant to the main plot than it should have been. And as a story-focused player, it was also extremely disheartening to see Lilith do a full lore overhaul with the introduction of Aurora and the new game intro. All the theories and expectations we had built up from the prior year suddenly felt like they had no basis and that the identity of the game itself had changed drastically. I believe all of this was done in an effort to integrate Avalon into the main plotline and make it feel more cohesive with the rest of the game. This only makes it more frustrating that the Homestead has been pretty much neglected recently in favour of PvP.
To put it bluntly, there’s nothing for us to do in the Homestead after reaching level 20. Sure, we can decorate new areas if that’s something we really enjoy and snap photos with friends, but beyond that the main mechanics of fulfilling orders and crafting recipes feels stale. I have a surplus of every single raw and refined material, and at least 500 of each requested recipe already made. There’s nothing to work towards anymore except maybe the aesthetics of the Homestead which also gets a bit boring when it’s the only thing left to do. I feel like it would benefit from getting seasonal upgrades along with the other game modes. Maybe some season specific recipes and crops, and a few achievements in the Season Quests to keep players motivated.
And since I don’t want to spend this entire post complaining without offering some possible solutions, here are a few suggestions I have for how to go about fixing these issues.
Actionable Changes/Suggestions:
Reintegrate Reputation Quests and Epilogue Quests back into the seasonal storylines.
Balance AFK/Apex stages better starting next season.
Break the Supreme League down into groups based on overall power level and let people participate for rewards within their assigned group. Remove the betting aspect entirely.
Give us a wishlist for the Rosy Cosmetics gacha and the Arcane Atelier gacha.
Do not rebrand again. Pick a direction you want this story to go in and stick with it.
Add one copy of the new celehypos to the All Heroes login event for new players, and distribute a copy to those who’ve already been playing for a long time. When new celehypos drop, let their log-in event include one swap ticket that lets us exchange their skills/levels with one of the celehypos we already have built to help combat power creep, and work on integrating them into future storylines or Starry Tales.
Slow down the release of new game modes to avoid the game's scope becoming too overwhelming for players.
Give us seasonal crops and recipes for the Homestead so we have an actual reason to play that mode instead of just going through the motions.
