You see, I play FB for long time myself. I can´t remember the exact versionnumber, when I discovered the game, but it was in the early stages of Episode 2 Part 1 (to give a little hint, it was some time before the Escort Service was established and only Monica bared breasts in the Falling Path)I think you are somewhat underestimating the importance of the Farm in the Fashion Business. In my opinion, for a large number of "old" players (and not just old players), Farm is the ultimate sacred point of Monica's itinerary, where she a priori had to get to. Let the DM team people correct me if I'm wrong, but sending Monica to the Farm is the canonical ending that was originally intended for FB. It's too forbidden and sweet fruit to just ignore. Also, I read that DecentMonkey in the early development of the Fashion Business was inspired byYou must be registered to see the links, so the fact that the Farm should be one of the main locations in the game sounds pretty logical and reasonable to me.
For too long players have been teased about Monica's possible entry into the Farm and described everything that happens there too colourfully and vividly for them to simply give it up. I've seen too many questions from players saying like "When will Monica be on the Farm so we can take part in her adventures there?". So I think you can't just dismiss it and say, "We're kidding, the Farm is cancelled". Especially if the implementation of the Farm in the game, based on the current Patreon rules, is quite possible and would not be considered a violation.
And you are absolutely correct, with Episode 1 the farm was a very important part of the story. But the game was way darker back then. Maybe at this time the farm was the ultimate goal. But as I stated before, the game grew and so the patreons.
A few older players were indeed not pleased with the lighter direction of the game. They wanted the conspiracy and the darker sinister tone. But the game went through the roof with the new direction, not with the old one.
And believe me, DM recognized that.
I´m not saying, that farm will not have an importnant role in future episodes, but you shouldn´t underestimate the number of the new players, which do not care about the farm.
I want to give a example from a very popular RPG: Fallout. Fallout 1 was my first RPG, I played it in 1997 and loved it. Bethesda bought the franchise and develeoped Fallout 3 ten years later. They completely changed the tone of the game and the veterans were pissed. But the truth is, even if I think the old Falllout is superior, the Bethesda Parts were more successful Players were even confussed, when the old spirit came back. I wittnessed this with New Vegas, loved by the veterans, but not as successful as it should be.
In the case of FB I´m a fan of the new direction, but with my example I wanted to show you, that I was in the other situation and in the end I had to deal with it.
We don´t know what the plans of DM are, but you shouldn´t be so sure, that ideas from the early beginning are still valid.
Maybe this is the case and DM stick to the plan. We will see, but you should be prepared, that the farm will not be so important as you are other veterans wish for.