# Sending letters to villagers doesn't increase friendship points PSA



## bobthecat (May 7, 2020)

Don't know if is everyones aware on TBT but recently people who have done data mining found sending letters to villagers does 
in fact do zero difference with your friendship between your villagers... People think this may be a glitch as in previous games this wasn't the case

Not that this should stop you from sending letters if you just enjoy doing it, it's an adorable feature but thought you just all might like to know this news 

How often do you guys send letters to your villagers? I only really send letters to give furniture that I think would improve their house 

source of info:https://docs.google.com/document/d/...review?pru=AAABchT6DLY*QjHkYju-ZxsjYl6dYSbh5A


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## cloudmask (May 7, 2020)

huh, good to know! i do wonder if it's a glitch - i don't know why they would take that feature out of the game.

i only send letters to work towards the nook miles achievements for doing so haha


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## DJStarstryker (May 7, 2020)

I saw this maybe a week or so ago. I'm glad someone posted it. I didn't think about it. For anyone trying to raise friendship with villagers, that document is totally worth reading. I didn't know some things, like catching a flea off of a villager, raises friendship.



cloudmask said:


> huh, good to know! i do wonder if it's a glitch - i don't know why they would take that feature out of the game.
> 
> i only send letters to work towards the nook miles achievements for doing so haha



It is a glitch, yes. I would not be surprised if this gets fixed in the future.


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## starlightsong (May 7, 2020)

wait, huh? i remember someone with the guidebook saying that sending letters is mentioned as raising friendship so i hope it’s a glitch


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## GEEBRASS (May 7, 2020)

But them writing you back DOES improve friendship, doesn't it? Also, you might get lucky and get a cool gift or even their photo.


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## Dewasa (May 7, 2020)

Aww, that's a bummer. I usually don't have the items in my bag when I run into the villagers so I end up giving whatever I got in my bag hence why I accidentally gave Julian a dress...that he still wears...


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## Meowria (May 7, 2020)

It could be a glitch? I feel like something like that should raise friendship points.

Regardless of if it raises their friendship or not, I like sending them letters anyway. They write back which I find super adorable. And they add gifts in there when I give them a gift. Also I just think it's nice to send letters to them. Adds more personality to the game.


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## Loreley (May 7, 2020)

Huh, the official guide specifically mentions letters increasing friendship as long as you get a reply. It's not the first wrong info found in the guide, but this sounds like it might be a glitch.


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## Raz (May 7, 2020)

DJStarstryker said:


> I saw this maybe a week or so ago. I'm glad someone posted it. I didn't think about it. For anyone trying to raise friendship with villagers, that document is totally worth reading. I didn't know some things, like catching a flea off of a villager, raises friendship.
> 
> 
> 
> It is a glitch, yes. I would not be surprised if this gets fixed in the future.


Yeah, I also think it has to be a glitch. The thing is, villagers still answer your letters, they thank you for the letters you sent to them, which means there is code to check this event and respond to it accordingly. One thing that I don't think it's in the game is the ability for the AI to recognize specific words and answer your letters based on what you've written.


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## TheDuke55 (May 7, 2020)

So what is the point of sending letters or the Nook Mile award? I'd rather them fix it and have Timmy and Tommy sell the papers in their closet wardrobe.


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## Raz (May 7, 2020)

TheDuke55 said:


> So what is the point of sending letters or the Nook Mile award? I'd rather them fix it and have Timmy and Tommy sell the papers in their closet wardrobe.


Role-playing, maybe? I mean, I never wrote letters because I'll earn miles or something like that (I sincerely didn't even remember there were rewards for doing that).


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## TheDuke55 (May 7, 2020)

I mean I hope it is a glitch because sending letters boosted friendship and you would get better presents depending what you sent.


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## marea (May 7, 2020)

I dont write to my villagers anymore since now i can gift them directly, and since sending letters is not free anymore and i am being cheap 
careful with bells until i pay off my house loan, but the nook miles achievement and relationship boost would have motivated me to do that. I hope this is just a glitch.


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## bobthecat (May 7, 2020)

Raz said:


> Yeah, I also think it has to be a glitch. The thing is, villagers still answer your letters, they thank you for the letters you sent to them, which means there is code to check this event and respond to it accordingly. One thing that I don't think it's in the game is the ability for the AI to recognize specific words and answer your letters based on what you've written.




Yes I don't think it matters what you write but I've heard they do notice if you write a really short letter that's one word long haha

I definitely think its a glitch which they could easily patch up


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## kojuuro (May 7, 2020)

TheDuke55 said:


> So what is the point of sending letters or the Nook Mile award? I'd rather them fix it and have Timmy and Tommy sell the papers in their closet wardrobe.


I think if you send items to friends it counts for the nook mile reward popular pen pal (not sure if there's a specific one for villagers though).  I've sent maybe like 2 letters to my villagers and I've reached around 150 letters since I send stuff to my friends often.


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## bobthecat (May 7, 2020)

DJStarstryker said:


> I saw this maybe a week or so ago. I'm glad someone posted it. I didn't think about it. For anyone trying to raise friendship with villagers, that document is totally worth reading. I didn't know some things, like catching a flea off of a villager, raises friendship.
> 
> 
> 
> It is a glitch, yes. I would not be surprised if this gets fixed in the future.



 I found that catching fleas increased friendship and by 3 points which is quite a lot! very interesting


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## stiney (May 7, 2020)

marea said:


> I dont write to my villagers anymore since now i can gift them directly, and since sending letters is not free anymore and i am being cheap
> careful with bells until i pay off my house loan, but the nook miles achievement and relationship boost would have motivated me to do that. I hope this is just a glitch.



The price annoys me a little bit but the interface annoys me a lot. I hate writing one, sending it, getting kicked all the way out, navigating back in, trying to remember who I’ve already sent one too, oh crud I forgot to attach the gift to that one...


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## Sloom (May 7, 2020)

thank. god.
I didn't really like sending letters in new leaf, but this game is on a whole new level. I was thinking of grinding it out to get the top nook mile award for letter but holy crap...
hundreds of letters? thats too much for me even if I weren't to gotdamn write anything in it.

yall ever think the animal crossing devs are just sadists? like how does this sort of game design even make its way into an otherwise amazing triple a game lol


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## meggiewes (May 7, 2020)

marea said:


> I dont write to my villagers anymore since now i can gift them directly, and since sending letters is not free anymore and i am being cheap
> careful with bells until i pay off my house loan, but the nook miles achievement and relationship boost would have motivated me to do that. I hope this is just a glitch.



But, sending letters was never really free. You had to pay for the stationary!


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## Believe (May 7, 2020)

Considering how painful typing letters one by one is ill saave it for when im sending them gifts. Really sad nintendo didnt implement some way to tie typing with the mobile app to that stuff given how awful it is to type through it


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## Arithmophobia17 (May 7, 2020)

i'm probably gonna start sending letters to all my residents for the nook miles goal (the completionist in me lol), and so i can get more cute letters from my villagers (if it works that way...). plus the added bonus of more oppurtunities to shower them with love lol

sad that it doesn't raise friendship level tho, missed oppurtunity. promote learning to write cohesive letters for the really young kids as well as just connecting with others


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## FraudulentDimetrodon (May 7, 2020)

Believe said:


> Considering how painful typing letters one by one is ill saave it for when im sending them gifts. Really sad nintendo didnt implement some way to tie typing with the mobile app to that stuff given how awful it is to type through it



If you're playing docked, you can actually use a USB keyboard to write letters! Much more convenient. You can also use the USB keyboard when pulling up the standard virtual keyboard with the right bumper.


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## Raz (May 8, 2020)

Believe said:


> Considering how painful typing letters one by one is ill saave it for when im sending them gifts. Really sad nintendo didnt implement some way to tie typing with the mobile app to that stuff given how awful it is to type through it


At least they left behind the old method of input from Doubutsu no Mori e+ 

That was torture


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## Believe (May 8, 2020)

FraudulentDimetrodon said:


> If you're playing docked, you can actually use a USB keyboard to write letters! Much more convenient. You can also use the USB keyboard when pulling up the standard virtual keyboard with the right bumper.


I do play docked! Might have to look into that though my available space on my desk is quite low now lol



Raz said:


> Doubutsu no Mori e+


YIKES just looked it up


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## Raz (May 8, 2020)

Arithmophobia17 said:


> i'm probably gonna start sending letters to all my residents for the nook miles goal (the completionist in me lol), and so i can get more cute letters from my villagers (if it works that way...). plus the added bonus of more oppurtunities to shower them with love lol
> 
> sad that it doesn't raise friendship level tho, missed oppurtunity. promote learning to write cohesive letters for the really young kids as well as just connecting with others


Just a PSA: you don't need to write letters to your villagers to achieve the popular pen pal miles. 

Sending gifts to friends with the pre-written text also counts towards that achievement


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## Arithmophobia17 (May 8, 2020)

Raz said:


> Just a PSA: you don't need to write letters to your villagers to achieve the popular pen pal miles.
> 
> Sending gifts to friends with the pre-written text also counts towards that achievement


good to know for when i get friends lol


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## Mayor-of-Bliss (May 8, 2020)

Are you serious. Wow. That's really good info. I used to write everyone  everyday with gifts. Heck I made a whole thing. I'd buy paper go to my house or the beach and write letters.
I was so annoyed they made you write in the airport it's good to know there's no reason to bother.
Ugh. It was one of my favorite things hijacked  figures.


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## FraudulentDimetrodon (May 8, 2020)

Believe said:


> I do play docked! Might have to look into that though my available space on my desk is quite low now lol



Aw, yeah, I totally get the low desk space. My setup isn't great either. Unfortunately, I do believe that you need a full-sized keyboard with the num pad to get it to work, so you might need a little more space than you'd expect. I couldn't find this documented specifically, but I couldn't get any of my tenkeyless keyboards to work correctly with the Switch. I tried a few, and the Switch consistently read all inputs using keys on the right side of the keyboard as the num pad instead of the actual key being pressed, for some reason (ex. pressing "P" would give me "6" or whatever). 

But the keyboard is so useful, so I do recommend it. It's also helpful when typing in the chat when doing multiplayer (I'm awful at typing with my phone's touchscreen keyboard). The USB keyboard works on the Switch at a system level, so if you also hate having to key in passwords when using the eShop, that's also a bonus.  : P


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## Believe (May 8, 2020)

FraudulentDimetrodon said:


> Aw, yeah, I totally get the low desk space. My setup isn't great either. Unfortunately, I do believe that you need a full-sized keyboard with the num pad to get it to work, so you might need a little more space than you'd expect. I couldn't find this documented specifically, but I couldn't get any of my tenkeyless keyboards to work correctly with the Switch. I tried a few, and the Switch consistently read all inputs using keys on the right side of the keyboard as the num pad instead of the actual key being pressed, for some reason (ex. pressing "P" would give me "6" or whatever).
> 
> But the keyboard is so useful, so I do recommend it. It's also helpful when typing in the chat when doing multiplayer (I'm awful at typing with my phone's touchscreen keyboard). The USB keyboard works on the Switch at a system level, so if you also hate having to key in passwords when using the eShop, that's also a bonus.  : P


Oh that's really helpful information. Thanks for giving such a thorough overview of it


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## xara (May 8, 2020)

i’m lowkey relieved - i don’t send letters unless it’s to give a villager a doorplate/wreath just because i find the act of writing and sending letters to be a bit tedious this time around, so i’m glad to hear there’s no benefit to it! :>


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## marea (May 8, 2020)

stiney said:


> The price annoys me a little bit but the interface annoys me a lot. I hate writing one, sending it, getting kicked all the way out, navigating back in, trying to remember who I’ve already sent one too, oh crud I forgot to attach the gift to that one...


Yeees! and if you go through that process every day, you sure deserve a friendship boost!


meggiewes said:


> But, sending letters was never really free. You had to pay for the stationary!


Oops totally forgot about taking that into account XD Saying it was cheaper would have been way more accurate. Thanks for reminding me!


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## Chris (May 8, 2020)

Raz said:


> One thing that I don't think it's in the game is the ability for the AI to recognize specific words and answer your letters based on what you've written.



I am glad for this! If the game understood what I was writing I'm sure I'd be waking up with Isabelle knocking on my door to scold me for making inappropriate remarks to my villagers. Each day I send Anabelle quotes from Edgar Allen Poe's melancholic love poem _Annabel Lee._


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## Gunner (Jul 19, 2020)

Sorry to bump an old thread but does anyone know if this is still the case?


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## InstantNoodles (Jul 19, 2020)

I don't understand why it doesn't increase friendship  I don't really send letters as much as I did back in NL since it doesn't seem worth it


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## Sharksheep (Jul 19, 2020)

Gunner said:


> Sorry to bump an old thread but does anyone know if this is still the case?



I haven't heard about it changing. Pretty sure it's still does nothing


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