On the first day Anastasia became available, even with a pinned mega thread, the Eternal Pacificus forum was completely dominated by "How to Get Anna" posts.
In the Moe Battle popularity poll, Anastasia was the only obtainable character, and also the only one who hadn't participated in any storylines yet, getting into the top 8 purely based on character design and settings. Advancing with moe-moe, retreating with papapa—who doesn't like a big oppai maid?
Initially, players mostly thought it was just a whale's game; whoever spent the most money would get to take Anna home. But after just one day, players' preconceptions underwent a complete 180-degree turn.
According to players who interacted with Anna today, no matter what gifts they gave, Anna's affection always remained at +0.
[DragonLancer: Could it be the trash devs made another BUG, 1000 shiny crystals, and nothing happened?]
[FrozenThousandMiles: Officials said it's not a bug]
[CrazyAstolfo: Really just affection +0?]
[AnnaIsMyWife: Dev team, come out and take your beating]
[Oberon9th: Anna called my name today, her voice is so sweet, is this what love feels like]
[Trafalgar: Anna uses honorifics with everyone]
[OniichanGoldenD_DaisukiDesu: BS, Anna didn't call my name]
[NotWannaBeHokageDeathGodAintGoodPirate: You know damn well why Anna won't call your name]
[IWillAlwaysLoveLadySaint: When I saw Anna's oppai with my own eyes, I knew I could never resist this woman]
[ThreeThousandWorlds: Bro, please change your ID]
[BloodaxeMercenariesRecruiting: Has anyone succeeded in gaining affection? Mine's 0]
[HammerOfThor: 0]
[LegsOfNoxus: 0]
[SeaTiger: 0]
[KingOfFilth: Don't ask, it's 0]
[Paramecium: Actually, I]
[PelonWarRoomRecruiting: You gained affection?]
[Paramecium: No, actually, I accidentally touched Anna's hand today, it was so soft, suddenly I don't want to wash my hands]
[FantasyMedieval: .......]
[MyGreatMingIsInvincible: ****]
[JustPassingByPatrickStar: I know his coordinates, hand-chopping squad, assemble]
Players tried everything they could, but after a day of effort, everyone averaged +0 affection.
Some players even suspected whether Texas and Enrique got affection +0. However, more players preferred to believe that Texas and Enrique's gifts definitely increased affection, just not as much as imagined.
The [Phoenix Evening Dress] and [Unicorn Crystal Shoes] are precious items that can't be bought even with real money—Anna absolutely couldn't be unmoved. Actually, this was probably just players comforting themselves. If even these two gifts couldn't move Anna's heart, what exactly does Anna like?
Overnight, "Anna Strategy Guide" became trending, and even casual players started discussing what Anna's preferences might be. Players abandoned meaningless tactics—since everyone got affection +0—except for a few cloud players who claimed they gained affection—and began listing out gifts they had given to Anna.
With Anna's Support Group and military forces involved, there weren't as many players who successfully gave gifts as imagined, but the list was still quite diverse.
Some gave jewelry, love letters, banquet invitations, money, and even more extreme cases like handkerchiefs with kisses printed on them... of course, that person's coordinates were tracked down. They were "humanely dealt with." In any case, many hands make light work—everyone discovered that, categorically speaking, basically everything had been tried. Does this mean they must go through and give every item within each category?
The major player factions chose to hold back for now. After all, things given to Anna would indirectly belong to Anna's master in the end. Without absolute certainty of success, major factions actually were more hesitant than ordinary players to play the sucker.
Some players analyzed that the reason lay in Anna's personality. After a day of interaction, the general consensus was that Anna seemed somewhat cold and distant—ironically, the hardest personality type to analyze for gift-giving.
As a side note, fan fiction authors suffered quite a face-slapping from the officials. Because Anna's character design was so exquisite, authors of harem-style fan fiction generally ignored the ambiguity of Anna's personality, forcibly including her as a must-have member of the protagonist's harem. As a result, Anna's personality in fan fiction was all over the place, every type imaginable, with only a few authors' interpretations being somewhat accurate.
—Could it be that the key isn't about giving gifts?
Someone first raised this point, and as they say, three cobblers with their wits combined equals Zhuge Liang. With so many players gathered together, someone was bound to discover the key point. (TN: Military Strategist during the early Three Kingdoms period of China.)
Giving gifts isn't the only way to increase affection; it's just a simple, crude, and quick method.
At this point, someone analyzed from the developers' perspective, believing that the first server-wide affection system release definitely wouldn't allow any player to max it out directly. With such heavy promotion, they must want large numbers of players to participate. Following this analysis, limiting gift-giving to once per day might not just be to prevent affection from maxing out at once, but also to prevent whales from throwing away money stubbornly.
So now, the question is:
How should we continue pursuing Anna?
Increasing Bond with servants can be done through chance encounters. Still, the problem is that Anna doesn't belong to anyone, so there probably isn't any chance of triggering events.
Players all transformed into love experts, each expressing their own views.
What do women like?
Clothes? Jewelry?
All tried today, didn't work.
...Handsome guys (Charm)?
Someone suggested.
Right, showing Anna the Man (masculine) side might work.
The guilds also seemed thoughtful; this was practically zero cost compared to giving gifts.
So what are we waiting for? Quick, find the most handsome guy in the guild, and make him capture Anna!