That night.
A game's popularity can always be measured by its player forum activity. Most player forums inevitably fill with off-topic chat, but whenever there are new game developments, the game forums remain the most concentrated place for discussion.
The official acquisition of exclusive NPC Anastasia has entered the countdown. To avoid flooding the boards, officials will temporarily pin a centralized discussion thread.
[Today's Drop Rate Guy: Why isn't anyone discussing? Has the Church of Anna fallen?]
[Won't Change Name Until Baron: All the guilds are preparing to pursue Anna. She's the only one on the whole server—once someone gets her, that's it. Anyone who leaks tactics dies. Even the usual forum spammers aren't posting.]
[Master of Jinxing: You need tactics for raising affection???]
[Your Real Dad Just Now: Gift-giving for affection is limited to once per day, of course, you need tactics]
Affection—the only way to obtain exclusive NPC Anastasia. According to the official announcement, Anastasia can only be obtained by reaching maximum affection value. In other words, the most common method of obtaining servants—forceful conquest—won't work on Anastasia.
Players aren't unfamiliar with affection systems; it's not a new concept. There's a similar setting between players and servants called "Bond," which has a chance to increase whenever players fight alongside their servants. Many daily events and special occasions can increase Bond. Still, the simplest and most direct method is giving small gifts to servants, which raises it incredibly fast.
Another setting resembling affection exists between players and NPCs, generally called [Reputation]. There's the overall reputation for specific areas, as well as the individual reputation with specific NPCs. Player interactions with NPCs largely depend on their relationship. When players have good relationships with NPCs, the NPCs are more willing to sell items at lower prices, reveal more quest information, or issue hidden quests. Conversely, if players become infamous in an area, civilians will actively call for guards, and merchants will directly cut off trade relations and refuse to give quests.
How to effectively raise affection is also a science. Players have gathered and summarized intelligence, discovering that relationships with NPCs depend on their personalities. A greedy NPC will gain lots of affection from money gifts, but if the NPC is honest, it might worsen relations.
Considering Anastasia's acquisition method, players generally guess the key to pursuing Anna lies in understanding her personality—seeing who can most quickly give gifts that match Anna's preferences.
[Magic FA Master: Rich people's game, let's move on]
[Is Bannerlord Out Yet: Exclusive NPCs basically belong to guilds, never had anything to do with us]
[I'll Always Love Holy Maiden: To be honest, I dreamed yesterday that I won Anna over]
[Past Glory Touhou: Don't give up your dreams, keep sleeping]
[Drrrrrr: Someone wake him up, diabetics stand aside, don't let him taste sweetness]
[Names Are Troublesome: Having Holy Maiden in your name but dreaming of Anna is peak ridiculous]
[Trafalgar: Does anyone know what Anna likes?]
[Scarborough Fair: No idea]
[Pervert King: In doujins, Anna loves master's ****!]
[Cloud White: tf?]
[Pervert King: In fanfiction, Anna's the same, natural juicer attribute]
[Past Glory Touhou: Fanfiction works, I guess]
[California Kiyomitsu: In harem TEP fanfics, Anna usually comes with the protagonist from the start, rarely see actual pursuit process] (TN: Abbreviation of The Eternal Pacificus)
[Victory Isn't For DGLs: The legendary maid who's taken the most protagonists first times]
[Great Vast Many: Maid=MAX Loyalty=Give Everything=Easy Get]
[Bloodhoof Chieftain: Actually, I want to know if we can still raise Anna's affection after someone gets her. If so, I have a bold idea]
[Three Thousand Worlds: Oh? Are you a NTR scholar?]
[Extraordinary Bro: NTR scholars get out]
[Just Passing Patrick Star: Pure love never submits]
[D3 Bomb: Affection only open during Anna's masterless state]
[Anna My Wife: I just got on the forum and see you NEETs fantasizing about my wife again]
[Terminal Patient: What are you laughing at, beast, you're a NEET too]
[Magic FA Master: Your wife's about to become guild common property tomorrow]
[Eddard Stark: Please just discuss how to pursue Anna, even if it's not serious]
[Anonymous Investigator: Let's discuss which guild might get Anna?]
[Art is Explosion: Guild rallies + affection gifts, concentrate resources on the guild leader, leader raises Anna's affection, that's it, we have no chance]
[Anna My Wife: What if they all fail?]
[Mjolnir: Just go to sleep]
...
Guilds—the collective term for specific player groups in online games. Compared to casual players, the vast majority of guilds have clear objectives. For them, playing games is definitely not just for leisure and relaxation.
In《The Eternal Pacificus》game world, "guild" isn't an official term—it's just players' habitual name for their groups. Player guilds roughly divide into three groups: [Nobles] with actual territory management responsibilities, [Merchant Associations] conducting trade between kingdoms and races, and [Mercenary Groups] that flexibly utilize player revival privileges. There are more specific divisions, like knightly orders recognized by kingdoms, ordained priests with preaching permits, and some players even became mountain bandits.
The emphasis on role-playing character identities is《The Eternal Pacificus's》charm. The old man fishing in the suburbs might be another player—something rarely seen in other virtual online games. Officials don't restrict player playstyles, leading many middle-aged people to treat it as a large-scale online casual game, coming to sightsee when free, and if interested, growing and selling vegetables. People call《The Eternal Pacificus》the world's largest social retirement game.
In fact, casual and regular players make up no small proportion of《The Eternal Pacificus》, but top-tier servants like exclusive NPCs will definitely be acquired by guilds.
Regular players understand that competing with guilds for resources is meaningless. Although Anastasia's acquisition has opened up, it's just adding another powerful servant to some guild. It's like Tsinghua or Peking University announcing they're adding one more student spot—seems like a benefit, but actually dampens spirits. Those qualified fight bloody battles, while most people just watch the show.
Let's see which guild wins the beauty—that's what most players think.