Birthday Deco - Unconventional Way

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Originally Posted by Haystacker

Everything in this game are pixels. This forum is here because of those pixels. Every thread in this forum is talking about pixels. Those pixels costs money. SC is making billions off pixels. Let's not trivialize people's concerns just because they're pixels.

The company's questionable business practices and policy is in question here. It's more than just pixels.

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*** Bit of s soapbox in no way am I attacking haystacker it's just the pixel comment rang true and so here goes.....


I agree that you are correct the game is entirely pixels and I shouldn't have trivalized the pixels in general.

I'll instead trivialize the decorative non game essential pixels. They aren't pixels that produce goods pixels. They aren't pixels that add experience or value or coins or diamonds or change the game in any tangible way. they are decorations more specifically they are bragging rights. (look at my farm I have decoration X and this is how i displayed it.)

I don't see these as questionable business practices instead it's a novel way to infuse a bit more money in coffers without taxing every single player of the game. those that have the money to spare get a decoration that does nothing for them and in 3 months will most likely be in their storage. meanwhile the players that can't afford to make the purchase fast forward to 3 months down the line and already don't have it displayed. There are a lot worse ways SC could have gone about getting the extra funds which would have driven players away in droves. meanwhile this will annoy a few players for a week make a few others really happy. and after the week is up we will move on. and only revisit it as reference for complaints later.

I've been looking for a new game to play for years and all games that are vaguely similar to hayday that I've found so far. have at least 1 of 3 basic flaws. either (A) I have to sell out all my friends in order to advance in the game. (IE you must request help from friends that only they can give you) or (B) you must use premium currency to get essential items for the advancement of the game or C you must pay a monthly or yearly subscription for the game weather you like it or not. (this one is the worst because it usually takes 3-6 months to decide the game is going no where at which point you've already spent 30-180 dollars supporting ♥♥♥♥) as of yet Hay Day is the only farming simulator game that has been worth playing and they have made very few mistakes in creating and keeping it up.

I wish I could find the pay to play vs freemium vs pay to win game thread that perky was mentioning I vaguely remember it and I think it was a prehash of this thread.

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Originally Posted by Bestajunior

I hope you bought the Costco jumbo pack of notepads.

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along with the Kirkland 96 pack of toilet tissue to handle all the equine muffins in the way of lame excuses.

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Originally Posted by Bestajunior

I hope you bought the Costco jumbo pack of notepads.

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Tsk tsk, this is no place to advertise non-Supecell products! ;) :p

Cheers,

Nick

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

Tsk tsk, this is no place to advertise non-Supecell products! ;) :p

Cheers,

Nick

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Supercell could take a lesson from customer satisfaction and service as well as refund policies, price matching, etc from said non-Supercell company. One of the few companies left with the policy of the customer is always right...

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Originally Posted by Tiaxotrax

*** Bit of s soapbox in no way am I attacking haystacker it's just the pixel comment rang true and so here goes.....


I agree that you are correct the game is entirely pixels and I shouldn't have trivalized the pixels in general.

I'll instead trivialize the decorative non game essential pixels. They aren't pixels that produce goods pixels. They aren't pixels that add experience or value or coins or diamonds or change the game in any tangible way. they are decorations more specifically they are bragging rights. (look at my farm I have decoration X and this is how i displayed it.)

I don't see these as questionable business practices instead it's a novel way to infuse a bit more money in coffers without taxing every single player of the game. those that have the money to spare get a decoration that does nothing for them and in 3 months will most likely be in their storage. meanwhile the players that can't afford to make the purchase fast forward to 3 months down the line and already don't have it displayed. There are a lot worse ways SC could have gone about getting the extra funds which would have driven players away in droves. meanwhile this will annoy a few players for a week make a few others really happy. and after the week is up we will move on. and only revisit it as reference for complaints later.

I've been looking for a new game to play for years and all games that are vaguely similar to hayday that I've found so far. have at least 1 of 3 basic flaws. either (A) I have to sell out all my friends in order to advance in the game. (IE you must request help from friends that only they can give you) or (B) you must use premium currency to get essential items for the advancement of the game or C you must pay a monthly or yearly subscription for the game weather you like it or not. (this one is the worst because it usually takes 3-6 months to decide the game is going no where at which point you've already spent 30-180 dollars supporting ♥♥♥♥) as of yet Hay Day is the only farming simulator game that has been worth playing and they have made very few mistakes in creating and keeping it up.

I wish I could find the pay to play vs freemium vs pay to win game thread that perky was mentioning I vaguely remember it and I think it was a prehash of this thread.

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I understand what ur saying. What's a deco? It's a pixilated item that adds no value to gameplay. Who needs it? Players who like to decorate...players who know how to make it nice and pretty on their farms...players who value their worth and know how to make good use of it, rather than just placing it in storage. I often wonder why the hate for decos. Maybe a lack of creativity? Who knows.

It's like this...u have been grandfathered in with an unlimited texting plan with ur cellular company. All of a sudden, they decide to charge u per text. Unlimited plan goes away. Seriously? The only people who aren't going to be upset with that are people who don't have a texting plan or use text infrequently. It's a business...sure. They have to make their money in other ways I suppose, but ticking off the majority of their players while doing so, especially on their birthday, is a horrible move.

But SC is gonna SC. Whatcha gonna do?

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Originally Posted by Haystacker

I understand what ur saying. What's a deco? It's a pixilated item that adds no value to gameplay. Who needs it? Players who like to decorate...players who know how to make it nice and pretty on their farms...players who value their worth and know to make good use of it rather just placing it in storage. I often wonder why the hate for decos. Maybe a lack of creativity? Who knows.

It's like this...u have been grandfathered in with an unlimited texting plan with ur cellular company. All of a sudden, they decide to charge u per text. Unlimited plan goes away. Seriously? The only people who aren't going to be upset with that are people who don't have a texting plan or use text infrequently. It's a business...sure. They have to make their money in other ways I suppose, but ticking off the majority of their player while doing so, especially on their birthday, is a horrible move.

But SC is gonna SC. Whatcha gonna do?

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Add to that that this game is designed to engender a sense of farm ownership in players. It is designed to make you care about your animals and how your farm works and looks. This is why many of us, especially those of us who are amongst the 60% of seniors who play online games, care about deco and like to have it on our farms, and why we feel gyped at present. Youngsters who are just into HayDay for the thrill of the leaderboards (meh), won't understand this yet, but you will one day. :)

After I posted my reference to the non-Supercell company referenced by Besta earlier and the dissimilarities in terms of customer service and satisfaction, it occurred to me that maybe non-USA members might not see the immediate glaring opposites or understand the reference.

1. if you buy something from said retailer, and it goes on sale soon thereafter (at manager's discression but 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in light of their advertising monthly specials) then there is a no questions asked price matching or if it was a BOGO you'd get that item. How dissimilar to Nick's response and brush-off to Oldbat about the diamond purchasing and deco package.

2. If a product is bought at said retailer and it is recalled or it was erroneous in pricing, you don't have to find that out for yourself, they mail and email you telling you that "hey you bought this on xx/xx/20xx we goofed please come in for a refund". How dissimilar to the way the onion and tea diamond fiasco was handled with the update. Sure people on the forums knew to contact support and maybe get their diamonds back with varying degrees of success, but no effort appears to have been made at all to contact the untold 10's of 1,000's who probably went ahead and spent the 17 diamonds and have never set foot in this place or bothered to visit Facebook (some countries aren't as obsessed as others with living their personal lives in glass houses).

3. If there is a discrepancy or confusion in advertising, said retailer will refund, give you what you want or simply refund your money. How dissimilar to the way the trucking event prize was handled. Ignoring those who might have been trucking for the diamonds without an option of hey do you want this instead is sad. How much more mileage could have been obtained by supercell had they simply changed the diamonds to the chocolate fountain and at the same time delivered 5 diamonds to everyone with a message "we goofed, this is on us".

4. Said retailer is all about the customer, read their Facebook or Twitter in how they handle people. Their responses aren't antagonistic, or leaving the people feeling that they are being brushed off.

There are countless more examples I could come up with. The TLDR version is, customer service and customer satisfaction has taken a nose dive with how longtime players, and longtime forumers are being spoken to.

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

...Change is inevitable! :thumbsup: We have no plans to introduce production buildings with diamond packages however. That would change the course of the gameplay itself which is not in our plans.

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Thank you Nick for the reassurance. I hadn't even considered the above possibility until you brought it up. :)

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

We made the choice because we wanted to give it a go, and try something out-of-the-box. Will we do it again? Maybe, can't say. Will these exclusive decorations become available in the shop sometime in the future - probably, eventually. When? No idea.

Cheers,

Nick

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Per some articles I read about Supercell's culture, the Supercell CEO wants his employees to be entrepreneurs. I don't know what it meant until now. As I understand it, each game team is an independent cell, organizing and operating a business and taking greater than normal financial risks. Supercell believes it's vital to give its Supercellians "the freedom to fail" because that's when rapid learning takes place.

This isn't the first time Team Hay Day introduced a controversial element to identify a new revenue stream. Last year it was the Derby which evoked strong emotions from us forummates. And prior to that it was the Boat Leaderboard.

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

Change is inevitable! :thumbsup: We have no plans to introduce production buildings with diamond packages however. That would change the course of the gameplay itself which is not in our plans.
Cheers,
Nick

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Darn! If the production buildings introduced with diamond packages are a SECOND DAIRY machine and a SECOND SUGAR MILL, I will definitely buy them! Complete the package trio with a SECOND BARN, too! Still optional, right? You buy or not is up to you :smirk: ;) :D :p

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Originally Posted by Gazzanga

Darn! If the production buildings introduced with diamond packages are a SECOND DAIRY machine and a SECOND SUGAR MILL, I will definitely buy them! Complete the package trio with a SECOND BARN, too! Still optional, right? You buy or not is up to you :smirk: ;) :D :p

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♥♥♥♥. I may consider buying a diamond package if it comes with a Second Barn.

It's not ruled out at this time. :)

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Originally Posted by LynnK2015

It's not ruled out at this time. :)

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I must have missed your promotion or hiring, Congratulations.

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Originally Posted by rbcrewser

After I posted my reference to the non-Supercell company referenced by Besta earlier and the dissimilarities in terms of customer service and satisfaction, it occurred to me that maybe non-USA members might not see the immediate glaring opposites or understand the reference.

1. if you buy something from said retailer, and it goes on sale soon thereafter (at manager's discression but 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in light of their advertising monthly specials) then there is a no questions asked price matching or if it was a BOGO you'd get that item. How dissimilar to Nick's response and brush-off to Oldbat about the diamond purchasing and deco package.

2. If a product is bought at said retailer and it is recalled or it was erroneous in pricing, you don't have to find that out for yourself, they mail and email you telling you that "hey you bought this on xx/xx/20xx we goofed please come in for a refund". How dissimilar to the way the onion and tea diamond fiasco was handled with the update. Sure people on the forums knew to contact support and maybe get their diamonds back with varying degrees of success, but no effort appears to have been made at all to contact the untold 10's of 1,000's who probably went ahead and spent the 17 diamonds and have never set foot in this place or bothered to visit Facebook (some countries aren't as obsessed as others with living their personal lives in glass houses).

3. If there is a discrepancy or confusion in advertising, said retailer will refund, give you what you want or simply refund your money. How dissimilar to the way the trucking event prize was handled. Ignoring those who might have been trucking for the diamonds without an option of hey do you want this instead is sad. How much more mileage could have been obtained by supercell had they simply changed the diamonds to the chocolate fountain and at the same time delivered 5 diamonds to everyone with a message "we goofed, this is on us".

4. Said retailer is all about the customer, read their Facebook or Twitter in how they handle people. Their responses aren't antagonistic, or leaving the people feeling that they are being brushed off.

There are countless more examples I could come up with. The TLDR version is, customer service and customer satisfaction has taken a nose dive with how longtime players, and longtime forumers are being spoken to.

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Very well said, Robin.

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Originally Posted by rbcrewser

After I posted my reference to the non-Supercell company referenced by Besta earlier and the dissimilarities in terms of customer service and satisfaction, it occurred to me that maybe non-USA members might not see the immediate glaring opposites or understand the reference.

1. if you buy something from said retailer, and it goes on sale soon thereafter (at manager's discression but 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in light of their advertising monthly specials) then there is a no questions asked price matching or if it was a BOGO you'd get that item. How dissimilar to Nick's response and brush-off to Oldbat about the diamond purchasing and deco package.

2. If a product is bought at said retailer and it is recalled or it was erroneous in pricing, you don't have to find that out for yourself, they mail and email you telling you that "hey you bought this on xx/xx/20xx we goofed please come in for a refund". How dissimilar to the way the onion and tea diamond fiasco was handled with the update. Sure people on the forums knew to contact support and maybe get their diamonds back with varying degrees of success, but no effort appears to have been made at all to contact the untold 10's of 1,000's who probably went ahead and spent the 17 diamonds and have never set foot in this place or bothered to visit Facebook (some countries aren't as obsessed as others with living their personal lives in glass houses).

3. If there is a discrepancy or confusion in advertising, said retailer will refund, give you what you want or simply refund your money. How dissimilar to the way the trucking event prize was handled. Ignoring those who might have been trucking for the diamonds without an option of hey do you want this instead is sad. How much more mileage could have been obtained by supercell had they simply changed the diamonds to the chocolate fountain and at the same time delivered 5 diamonds to everyone with a message "we goofed, this is on us".

4. Said retailer is all about the customer, read their Facebook or Twitter in how they handle people. Their responses aren't antagonistic, or leaving the people feeling that they are being brushed off.

There are countless more examples I could come up with. The TLDR version is, customer service and customer satisfaction has taken a nose dive with how longtime players, and longtime forumers are being spoken to.

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Originally Posted by TexasLea

Very well said, Robin.

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Ditto ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️

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Originally Posted by rbcrewser

After I posted my reference to the non-Supercell company referenced by Besta earlier and the dissimilarities in terms of customer service and satisfaction, it occurred to me that maybe non-USA members might not see the immediate glaring opposites or understand the reference.

1. if you buy something from said retailer, and it goes on sale soon thereafter (at manager's discression but 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in light of their advertising monthly specials) then there is a no questions asked price matching or if it was a BOGO you'd get that item. How dissimilar to Nick's response and brush-off to Oldbat about the diamond purchasing and deco package.

2. If a product is bought at said retailer and it is recalled or it was erroneous in pricing, you don't have to find that out for yourself, they mail and email you telling you that "hey you bought this on xx/xx/20xx we goofed please come in for a refund". How dissimilar to the way the onion and tea diamond fiasco was handled with the update. Sure people on the forums knew to contact support and maybe get their diamonds back with varying degrees of success, but no effort appears to have been made at all to contact the untold 10's of 1,000's who probably went ahead and spent the 17 diamonds and have never set foot in this place or bothered to visit Facebook (some countries aren't as obsessed as others with living their personal lives in glass houses).

3. If there is a discrepancy or confusion in advertising, said retailer will refund, give you what you want or simply refund your money. How dissimilar to the way the trucking event prize was handled. Ignoring those who might have been trucking for the diamonds without an option of hey do you want this instead is sad. How much more mileage could have been obtained by supercell had they simply changed the diamonds to the chocolate fountain and at the same time delivered 5 diamonds to everyone with a message "we goofed, this is on us".

4. Said retailer is all about the customer, read their Facebook or Twitter in how they handle people. Their responses aren't antagonistic, or leaving the people feeling that they are being brushed off.

There are countless more examples I could come up with. The TLDR version is, customer service and customer satisfaction has taken a nose dive with how longtime players, and longtime forumers are being spoken to.

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Originally Posted by TexasLea

Very well said, Robin.

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Originally Posted by Bestajunior

Ditto ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️

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plus one👍🏻

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Originally Posted by ejarvis226

Please don't make this mistake a second time. I think we can all forgive this one as just an "oopsie" on trying out new ideas, but to go through it again could be disasterous, and i really don't want to lose this game.

Thank you Nick

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

What we will do in the future, in regards to special diamond packages, is still unknown. If we will bring out more, we know what to do, and what not to do. This was our first one, and we have learned a lot. :)


Cheers,

Nick

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I just wanted to clarify what i meant by mistake. it was not that attaching deco prizes to diamond purchases was a mistake but in which the manner it was done. i actually don't mind linking a deco to a diamond purchase. it's a nice way for SC to say thank you to the ppl who support them....as long as it's done in moderation.

No need for a comment Nick, think we've all gone round and round with this thread bout long enough, thanks.

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Originally Posted by rbcrewser

After I posted my reference to the non-Supercell company referenced by Besta earlier and the dissimilarities in terms of customer service and satisfaction, it occurred to me that maybe non-USA members might not see the immediate glaring opposites or understand the reference.

1. if you buy something from said retailer, and it goes on sale soon thereafter (at manager's discression but 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in light of their advertising monthly specials) then there is a no questions asked price matching or if it was a BOGO you'd get that item. How dissimilar to Nick's response and brush-off to Oldbat about the diamond purchasing and deco package.

2. If a product is bought at said retailer and it is recalled or it was erroneous in pricing, you don't have to find that out for yourself, they mail and email you telling you that "hey you bought this on xx/xx/20xx we goofed please come in for a refund". How dissimilar to the way the onion and tea diamond fiasco was handled with the update. Sure people on the forums knew to contact support and maybe get their diamonds back with varying degrees of success, but no effort appears to have been made at all to contact the untold 10's of 1,000's who probably went ahead and spent the 17 diamonds and have never set foot in this place or bothered to visit Facebook (some countries aren't as obsessed as others with living their personal lives in glass houses).

3. If there is a discrepancy or confusion in advertising, said retailer will refund, give you what you want or simply refund your money. How dissimilar to the way the trucking event prize was handled. Ignoring those who might have been trucking for the diamonds without an option of hey do you want this instead is sad. How much more mileage could have been obtained by supercell had they simply changed the diamonds to the chocolate fountain and at the same time delivered 5 diamonds to everyone with a message "we goofed, this is on us".

4. Said retailer is all about the customer, read their Facebook or Twitter in how they handle people. Their responses aren't antagonistic, or leaving the people feeling that they are being brushed off.

There are countless more examples I could come up with. The TLDR version is, customer service and customer satisfaction has taken a nose dive with how longtime players, and longtime forumers are being spoken to.

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Originally Posted by TexasLea

Very well said, Robin.

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Originally Posted by Bestajunior

Ditto ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️

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Originally Posted by Gymgirl4a

plus one

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+ 2

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Originally Posted by ejarvis226

I just wanted to clarify what i meant by mistake. it was not that attaching deco prizes to diamond purchases was a mistake but in which the manner it was done. i actually don't mind linking a deco to a diamond purchase. it's a nice way for SC to say thank you to the ppl who support them....as long as it's done in moderation.

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ditto

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Originally Posted by Gazzanga

Darn! If the production buildings introduced with diamond packages are a SECOND DAIRY machine and a SECOND SUGAR MILL, I will definitely buy them! Complete the package trio with a SECOND BARN, too! Still optional, right? You buy or not is up to you :smirk: ;) :D :p

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Thanks for the idea. ;)

Cheers,

Nick

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

Thanks for the idea. ;)

Cheers,

Nick

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The dog who bites the hand that feeds him, no longer gets fed.

Why the birthday gifts were received only from some farmers? I thought that kind of gifts was sent to everyone... 🙄

If it were me, I would have gifted players at least ​the balloons after the 100th truck order was completed. That was a lot of work to do and individuals should have been rewarded a little extra for going that extra mile. Badly done, SC.

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Originally Posted by Paulaximena

Why the birthday gifts were received only from some farmers? I thought that kind of gifts was sent to everyone... 

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Welcome to the forums, Paulaximena. If you are a new farmer and this is your first special event, here's how it works. If you complete a certain minimum number of farming chores (in this case trucks) for the global event, you will receive the special global prize. The chocolate fountain was the prize for this birthday event. The other "gifts"--balloons, piñata, and bouncy house--were prizes that you get if you purchase special diamond offers. Those offers are still available and you can see them if you tap the little red "3" at the top right of your farm screen.

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Originally Posted by Gazzanga

Darn! If the production buildings introduced with diamond packages are a SECOND DAIRY machine and a SECOND SUGAR MILL, I will definitely buy them! Complete the package trio with a SECOND BARN, too! Still optional, right? You buy or not is up to you :smirk: ;) :D :p

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Originally Posted by LynnK2015

♥♥♥♥. I may consider buying a diamond package if it comes with a Second Barn.

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Originally Posted by Nick[Supercell]

Thanks for the idea. ;)

Cheers,

Nick

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I'm pretty sure most of us are smart enough to have figured out a long time ago when it was no longer frowned upon or against the TOS to have secondary farms, that running a second (or third) small farm is an economical way to achieve this...

Takes little to no effort requiring only a few minutes several times a day to double dairy and sugar (and anything else you ultimately want to achieve). And the added bonus is you GET diamonds instead of parting with them and real cash. Plus it comes with its own brand new barn easily upgraded to a few hundred spaces.

And let's face it you can buy a cheap Android tablet for well below the largest diamond package.

So let's see... part with more money, or play for free... hmm difficult choice. Almost as hard as deciding between paying diamonds to be able to "request" a donation sooner or just have someone toss it in the last crate and pay 1 coin... [/sarcasm]

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Originally Posted by rbcrewser

After I posted my reference to the non-Supercell company referenced by Besta earlier and the dissimilarities in terms of customer service and satisfaction, it occurred to me that maybe non-USA members might not see the immediate glaring opposites or understand the reference.

1. if you buy something from said retailer, and it goes on sale soon thereafter (at manager's discression but 2-3 weeks is not uncommon in light of their advertising monthly specials) then there is a no questions asked price matching or if it was a BOGO you'd get that item. How dissimilar to Nick's response and brush-off to Oldbat about the diamond purchasing and deco package.

2. If a product is bought at said retailer and it is recalled or it was erroneous in pricing, you don't have to find that out for yourself, they mail and email you telling you that "hey you bought this on xx/xx/20xx we goofed please come in for a refund". How dissimilar to the way the onion and tea diamond fiasco was handled with the update. Sure people on the forums knew to contact support and maybe get their diamonds back with varying degrees of success, but no effort appears to have been made at all to contact the untold 10's of 1,000's who probably went ahead and spent the 17 diamonds and have never set foot in this place or bothered to visit Facebook (some countries aren't as obsessed as others with living their personal lives in glass houses).

3. If there is a discrepancy or confusion in advertising, said retailer will refund, give you what you want or simply refund your money. How dissimilar to the way the trucking event prize was handled. Ignoring those who might have been trucking for the diamonds without an option of hey do you want this instead is sad. How much more mileage could have been obtained by supercell had they simply changed the diamonds to the chocolate fountain and at the same time delivered 5 diamonds to everyone with a message "we goofed, this is on us".

4. Said retailer is all about the customer, read their Facebook or Twitter in how they handle people. Their responses aren't antagonistic, or leaving the people feeling that they are being brushed off.

There are countless more examples I could come up with. The TLDR version is, customer service and customer satisfaction has taken a nose dive with how longtime players, and longtime forumers are being spoken to.

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Wow. I have never in all my years met a retailer like this. If this is your experience, no wonder you are upset with not getting your way. I guess that is why some people had expectations which were not met, while others cannot quite understand why you had those expectations in the first place. Thanks for the information. it helped me understand the issues much better.