Returning to my island and I have some questions.

[marzipanmermaid]

It's been ages since I've played. The last time I checked/played, it was Tangy's birthday. I'm essentially in the summer of last year. I want to get back into playing. I stopped once I went back to work and then I ended up finding a new full-time job which kind of...ate up all my time/energy. When I would have time, I would see how...sad and plain my island was, despite all the time I *had* sunk into it, and felt really discouraged because I felt like I had nothing to show for my hours, and just put it away. And here we are. I'm excited about my Sanrio cards finally being compatible (because I spent waaaaay too much on them back in NL) and I'm excited to see what has been added. I miss the magic and comfort of AC and visiting others. I'm terrified of loading the game up because I feel so guilty for abandoning my little friends (in game and on here) and I don't know what I'll be met with. I'm sure these questions have been asked before, but I couldn't get a definite answer on FB, and I've trusted this forum for years, so I figured I'd ask here.

1.) Villagers can't move away unless given permission, so my absence won't trigger anyone to leave, right?

2.) Are friendship levels reset? I've heard yes, I've heard no.

3.) You are me. Would you just skip to the current time and just go forward like nothing happened? Or should I try to do all the events? Will it throw anything off in game whatever I decide? I never got to experience Halloween or Toy Day in game so maybe I should do those for the items/recipes.

4.) Have any of ya'll took a long hiatus from your islands? What brought you back? What was the first thing you do coming back?

Sorry for waxing on so long. I'm probably making this more "stressful" of a decision than it needs to be, but you know how it goes.

 

[Moritz]

No villagers will move away without you giving permission first. One might ask you, but you can tell them not to.

Friendship is unaffected

I would not go back for events myself but there is no harm at all in doing it.

Never took a long break as such. I did go down to playing only once or twice a week though. This lasted about 3 months.
Came back because I was hit by a wave of inspiration on how to design my island. Played every day since then for the last 3 months.

Seriously though don't feel guilty. The villagers will say they missed you or they're happy youre on speaking terms again and then it will be like you never left.
You'll also have weeds to clean up and cockroachs in your house to kill but meh, that's a nothing job

 

[satine]

1.) No, they cannot move unless you tell them it's okay. Soooo relieved about this feature.

2.) I don't think friendship is effected luckily!

3.) I have done this a million times before. I am in the exact same situation as you. I have a job that is a little more time consuming/energy demanding than my previous ones, I am a full time student and I am oftentimes very swamped with everything. I will stop playing every time that happens (not that I want to, it just happens) and it'll be months. Every single time I do this, I try to remember the day that I had played last and go back to that day. You can skip up to current time (or fly through the missed months faster) that way if you want. That way you can still see the seasons, the holidays, and play through the event games and et cetera. If that matters to you then I'd say do it! That's what I personally do and would do in your position,.

4.) Answered above. First thing I did coming back was play through the missed time (as long as it wasn't TOO long of a time period, sometimes it can be). What brought me back was probably seeing some little ACNH video on YouTube, or a Pinterest post of a cute room design or a new update. Or just me feeling like I can play again.

 

[VanitasFan26]

To answer your questions. No villagers do not move out randomly like in past AC games, they will still be on the island just that you will see one of them with a thought bubble that means they are thinking about moving out, so only you have to decide to them if they should leave or not. Friendship doesn't suffer at all. Villagers do call you out on disappearing but they are still happy to see you so it no friendship stats would be affected.

Now about the events you missed. It depends on how you want to approach it. You can time travel backwards to play the events that you missed. If you're someone who doesn't like time traveling then going back to replaying it may not be for you since it would just feel weird. Just be prepared for the weeds and roaches in your homes when you time travel too far in the future.

For me when I come back to the game I always check my mail to see what I missed and then run all over my island to clean up all the weeds, go through all my homes (I have 8 users) and clean out all the roaches, talk to all my villagers who missed me, and lastly clean out the recycle bin. Don't be too hard on yourself. It can feel like your villagers are hating on you, but just know that you have to put yourself first. Your mental health is more important than stressing over the game. I've taken a long break myself and I didn't feel bad about my villagers missing me because I already know what they will say and just move on from it. Its a game so its nothing to stress out about.

 

[solace]

It's been ages since I've played. The last time I checked/played, it was Tangy's birthday. I'm essentially in the summer of last year. I want to get back into playing. I stopped once I went back to work and then I ended up finding a new full-time job which kind of...ate up all my time/energy. When I would have time, I would see how...sad and plain my island was, despite all the time I *had* sunk into it, and felt really discouraged because I felt like I had nothing to show for my hours, and just put it away. And here we are. I'm excited about my Sanrio cards finally being compatible (because I spent waaaaay too much on them back in NL) and I'm excited to see what has been added. I miss the magic and comfort of AC and visiting others. I'm terrified of loading the game up because I feel so guilty for abandoning my little friends (in game and on here) and I don't know what I'll be met with. I'm sure these questions have been asked before, but I couldn't get a definite answer on FB, and I've trusted this forum for years, so I figured I'd ask here.

1.) Villagers can't move away unless given permission, so my absence won't trigger anyone to leave, right?

2.) Are friendship levels reset? I've heard yes, I've heard no.

3.) You are me. Would you just skip to the current time and just go forward like nothing happened? Or should I try to do all the events? Will it throw anything off in game whatever I decide? I never got to experience Halloween or Toy Day in game so maybe I should do those for the items/recipes.

4.) Have any of ya'll took a long hiatus from your islands? What brought you back? What was the first thing you do coming back?

Sorry for waxing on so long. I'm probably making this more "stressful" of a decision than it needs to be, but you know how it goes.

I totally feel you. I burned out pretty quick with getting the villagers I wanted right away and having two islands. I stopped playing in May due to my business picking back up irl and finding out all the letters I sent to my villagers didn't do anything friendship wise.

Speaking of which, does anyone know how the current friendship ladder works? I read 2 non-native fruit wrapped or a crest door plate? Is that still a thing in 1.9?

 

[cocoacat]

I think going back in time and trying to redo all the events may be a bit overwhelming and take away a bit from the holidays if you do them for the first time off season. Just my opinion, though.

I'd start slow, and if you get bored, then you can go back and hit up some of the events you missed, especially the smaller ones like the fireworks festival or Festivale. There's also the seasonal diys. But completely up to you! Do what you think will be most fun.

 

[Xara]

skipping over the first two questions since those have already been answered aha.

3) i personally would time travel and play through each day until i caught back up to present time so i’d play through any events that i missed, too. it won’t throw anything off balance but if you decide to only play the events, i suggest time travelling forward one day at a time in october since you’ll need to stock up on candy for halloween (which can be purchased at nook’s). as for the other events, i don’t believe that any of the others that you’ve missed require preparation in advance so you’d be all set there!

4) the longest hiatus i’ve taken so far lasted around 3 weeks. >_< honestly, i was nervous to start playing again, too and was even overwhelmed by the thought of having to catch up, even though i hadn’t really missed anything important. once i was ready to start getting caught up, i time travelled one day at a time until i was back in the present. to make the progress go a bit quicker, i only focused on doing tasks that wouldn’t take long to complete such as talking to my villagers, checking to see which npc is visiting, etc. don’t feel as if you have to get caught up all at once, though! it’s okay to take your time and go at your own pace - there’s no rush.