Honestly, in this case i don't think it has much to do with the devs not playing their own game, because i am playing the game and I can see why they went with that option. It's not even -- imo -- that you're losing out on a lot of uncovered tiles! Like, eight notes to friends results in 0-20 (hyperbole, but technically all your friends could send you all their notes for even more, but i find that unlikely) random tiles uncovered. For me it's been mostly on the side of 3-...7? (I clean up tiles throughout the day so haven't counted).
A pickaxe gives you still five. And you yourself didn't benefit from the research notes to friends, you'll have to either communicate off-site/in threads for straight swaps or hope rng/your friend picking people off their list picks you. With the trade to guild, you directly and tangibly benefit.
Does getting a single magnifying glass suck? Yeah, i can imagine. But it reminds me a bit of complaining about hoardsell value bring way lower than ah price but refusing to engage with the ah bc it's other people. Yeah, the friending bit is a bit oof, but i now view the friendliest as an "Arlo list". I do know the people on there! I'm in a couple on-site programs with off-site chats and we asked if/declared that friending was fine so there are solutions.
But, yeah. The site will have features that don't always fulfill all players to the same extent, and in this case i am a firm believer that the friend-driven aspect is a very minor impact thing compared to mustering 1 pickaxe one day and 7 the next
Re: Arlo and friending
A pickaxe gives you still five. And you yourself didn't benefit from the research notes to friends, you'll have to either communicate off-site/in threads for straight swaps or hope rng/your friend picking people off their list picks you. With the trade to guild, you directly and tangibly benefit.
Does getting a single magnifying glass suck? Yeah, i can imagine. But it reminds me a bit of complaining about hoardsell value bring way lower than ah price but refusing to engage with the ah bc it's other people. Yeah, the friending bit is a bit oof, but i now view the friendliest as an "Arlo list". I do know the people on there! I'm in a couple on-site programs with off-site chats and we asked if/declared that friending was fine so there are solutions.
But, yeah. The site will have features that don't always fulfill all players to the same extent, and in this case i am a firm believer that the friend-driven aspect is a very minor impact thing compared to mustering 1 pickaxe one day and 7 the next