Attention seeking farmers

This is pretty annoying, apparently some neighbors had learn to exploit this, in order to get more people to visit their farms for various reasons.

We often try to look for neighbors that needed help in the [!] tab. (the 2nd tab, the one right after your NH icon)
And... there's no boat docked or a boat that still have empty crates.
looked around and there was no trees nor bush that needs tending.

it's annoying to me, im not sure if it's the same for others.
i wanna help fill crates, and this just hit my nerves sometimes. of course, another solution is also to remove that friend. this might be old to you but some still dont know.

these people like to exploit by hiding a small tree that needs tending behind a building/object.
just try tapping around if you want to "fix" that annoying thing.

I actually unfriended a neighbor for the first time because he insisted in hiding a bush needing to be revivied behind his house. The first time I found it I thought it was an accident, but within 10 minutes it had been replaced!

not sure if it was the same player here.
i've added most of my neighbors from this very forum itself.
i hope for those exploiting this, just stop. it's pointless.
there's no achievement for hitting numbers of farm visits. (or there is?)

It's not necessarily a bid for attention. Sometimes when players flag crates and trees, then log off HD by hard closing, despite being later filled or watered, the flags will remain until the player logs back in & reconnects to the server. The last state of the farm is saved in the servers until that player returns. That's also why abandoned farms still have machinery running even the player is no longer active.

Rather than be annoyed, look at it as an opportunity to gain some XP. A NH mate of mine flagged 8 or so trees then logged out. By the time they returned a few days later, every other member in the NH had watered those trees at least half a dozen times a day apiece, and we racked up some XP. We even took turns one night and had a blast doing it! In our case it may have been a legitimate glitch, but it was one that came with benefits.

that should be the case for abandoned farms. or the case where the game was hard-closed so the server couldn't sync it yet.

the frequent ones that annoyed me was that the exclamation mark disappeared right after i tapped on a wilted plant which was intentionally hidden right behind a big building. in my case this player always placed it behind the silo.

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Originally Posted by yulia33

that should be the case for abandoned farms. or the case where the game was hard-closed so the server couldn't sync it yet.

the frequent ones that annoyed me was that the exclamation mark disappeared right after i tapped on a wilted plant which was intentionally hidden right behind a big building. in my case this player always placed it behind the silo.

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The player I mentioned was also Obviously hiding plants. I spent the time to find a few and they were always replaced. I'm not sure what he thought he was accomplishing, but it was a waste of time for me, so I just dumped him and moved on.

That's weird. I know there was a glitch a while back that kept putting flags up for no reason, but you say you actually found a hidden plant?
And I know when my daughter and I sit side by side, she can flag her trees but when I go, the flag is not there and I have to refresh sometimes three times. I thought that kind of thing was the reason.

Also , I have a friend on my list whose farm keeps showing on the needs help tab, but when I go there the flag is gone and there is nothing to do. And then it happens again, I visit, no flag. It's as if I keep missing her tree. I don't think this would happen if there was actually a tree hidden.

So there are definitely glitches or issues with phantom flags. But I never heard of anyone actually finding a hidden tree. I agree what's the point?

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Originally Posted by LadyJEM5

It's not necessarily a bid for attention. Sometimes when players flag crates and trees, then log off HD by hard closing, despite being later filled or watered, the flags will remain until the player logs back in & reconnects to the server. The last state of the farm is saved in the servers until that player returns. That's also why abandoned farms still have machinery running even the player is no longer active.

Rather than be annoyed, look at it as an opportunity to gain some XP. A NH mate of mine flagged 8 or so trees then logged out. By the time they returned a few days later, every other member in the NH had watered those trees at least half a dozen times a day apiece, and we racked up some XP. We even took turns one night and had a blast doing it! In our case it may have been a legitimate glitch, but it was one that came with benefits.

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Interesting. I have one follower whose tree always needs watering. Always the same tree. I guess she must have quit playing Hay Day.

I'm going on vacation for two weeks this summer, leaving my phone behind. If I remember, I'm going to try and leave my neighbors a forest of trees to water while I'm gone. :)

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Originally Posted by Janilee

Interesting. I have one follower whose tree always needs watering. Always the same tree. I guess she must have quit playing Hay Day.

I'm going on vacation for two weeks this summer, leaving my phone behind. If I remember, I'm going to try and leave my neighbors a forest of trees to water while I'm gone. :)

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Now thats a great idea! Use the glitches to our advantage :)

as for the op, that's just weird. You know what to do if it bothers you that much ;)

Lately, there seem to be more farms with a help sign but no tree or bush to be found. Not even behind other vegetation or buldings. Must be a glitch.

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Originally Posted by yulia33

This is pretty annoying, apparently some neighbors had learn to exploit this, in order to get more people to visit their farms for various reasons.

We often try to look for neighbors that needed help in the [!] tab. (the 2nd tab, the one right after your NH icon)
And... there's no boat docked or a boat that still have empty crates.
looked around and there was no trees nor bush that needs tending.

it's annoying to me, im not sure if it's the same for others.
i wanna help fill crates, and this just hit my nerves sometimes. of course, another solution is also to remove that friend. this might be old to you but some still dont know.

these people like to exploit by hiding a small tree that needs tending behind a building/object.
just try tapping around if you want to "fix" that annoying thing.

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Originally Posted by HogFan

I actually unfriended a neighbor for the first time because he insisted in hiding a bush needing to be revivied behind his house. The first time I found it I thought it was an accident, but within 10 minutes it had been replaced!

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Now that you know about the glitch, is it possible that these farmers you thought were hiding bushes behind buildings more than once actually only did it once, but the glitch makes it look as though they did it several times?

I have been lucky enough to water the same tree/bushes over and over due to the glitch, but have also taken my time looking for trees/bushes to revive and have found nothing. Had I been in your shoes and found a bush behind a building and revived it, if I found it there again and again, I think I would just not look any longer, pretty much just ignore the (!) when I saw it on their icon, but I wouldn't unfriend someone over it. Then again, I may unfriend someone for things that others wouldn't worry about...everyone handles things differently. :)

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Originally Posted by yulia33

these people like to exploit by hiding a small tree that needs tending behind a building/object.
just try tapping around if you want to "fix" that annoying thing.

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Wow I have never heard of that! That definitely is very sneaky (also brilliant) and would explain why some farms have that. Very interesting discovery!

Yes I have had a neighbor do this in the past. I know him to be a joker so i let it slide but I too searched around at first for a bit before realizing what he was doing.

I make it a game within the game to search and find all the hidden plants that need revitalized, or the ones that are located where the stats bar or friends bar usually cover, and that are commonly missed. It provides a small level of satisfaction to clear the exclamation marks from a farm and make all of them disappear from the needs help tab. I discovered the hidden bush trick on one random farm, cleverly hidden by two different trees. I also discovered the glitch where revitalized trees wouldn't clear, after it dawned on me that I had revitalized the same patch of 24 trees three times. There was no way that the sum of trees on the farm was great enough for the farmer to move them around for easy revitalized hunting. I did nab the XP a few more times before the player logged back on. As to why people do it? I suspect it's to drive additional traffic to RSS. If I'm feeling benevolent, I pick off the DD ads that have exclamations on the first pass. If someone has a persistent revitalization request, I would visit them in that case, where If they didn't, I might not check out their RSS at all.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt before assuming they have ulterior motives.

I've done this three times, I think. When trading with someone who has a large number of friends in the game, sometimes my boat score isn't even high enough for their leaderboard. It can be very difficult to find a person. So, I have put a help on a bush so that I show up in their friends needing help tab. My own friends will usually help the bush instantly unless I hide it for a few minutes, long enough for the person I'm trading with to find me and help the bush (so that they are now in my recent helpers tab. It works both ways.)

The process takes a few minutes, but a player doing this will not have a help on a hidden bush indefinitely. So I give people a minute. There are legitimate reasons to hide a bush with a help on it.

I also have the same glitch mentioned above where a player keeps showing up as needing help, but the help goes away when their farm loads. Then it comes right back again.

I have had a few people tell me that they come to my farm to respond to a help flag but can't find the tree, and they wonder if I am hiding them to be difficult. No, absolutely I don't hide my trees!! But I do have a lot of friends who are really really active, and the average time that it takes one of them to find and revive one of my trees is only about 1 or 2 minutes. So from another person's perspective, it is quite possible that they come to my farm in response to a help flag and look around, only to find nothing because someone else got there first.

~powdermonkey

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Originally Posted by LadyJEM5

It's not necessarily a bid for attention. Sometimes when players flag crates and trees, then log off HD by hard closing, despite being later filled or watered, the flags will remain until the player logs back in & reconnects to the server. The last state of the farm is saved in the servers until that player returns. That's also why abandoned farms still have machinery running even the player is no longer active.

Rather than be annoyed, look at it as an opportunity to gain some XP. A NH mate of mine flagged 8 or so trees then logged out. By the time they returned a few days later, every other member in the NH had watered those trees at least half a dozen times a day apiece, and we racked up some XP. We even took turns one night and had a blast doing it! In our case it may have been a legitimate glitch, but it was one that came with benefits.

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Exactly. Thanks for explaining it so well LadyJEM. This glitch isn't as widespread as it once was (many of us remember that headache), but it is still about here and there. They are working on getting rid of it once and for all but it's an elusive little bugger.

As for those few who place a plant behind a sign or building, that's what we always tell folks to do so they don't lose important stuff accidentally beind the house or sign....fill up the space with plants. Rather than waste their money on plants and then never use them, I'm guessing that their getting their money's worth by actually harvesting the plants while they do their work of keeping more important things (like fields) from getting caught behind there.

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Originally Posted by Cricks3

Exactly. Thanks for explaining it so well LadyJEM. This glitch isn't as widespread as it once was (many of us remember that headache), but it is still about here and there. They are working on getting rid of it once and for all but it's an elusive little bugger.

As for those few who place a plant behind a sign or building, that's what we always tell folks to do so they don't lose important stuff accidentally beind the house or sign....fill up the space with plants. Rather than waste their money on plants and then never use them, I'm guessing that their getting their money's worth by actually harvesting the plants while they do their work of keeping more important things (like fields) from getting caught behind there.

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Actually, crick, there are those that will move a bush to behind a building to conceal it and other time they will bury into a grove of trees so you can't see the sign or the plants jumping around. They do these acts deliberately.

It is a play-style decision, and everyone's going to have a different opinion about it. Sometimes it's a glitch, sometimes people are doing it intentionally. But even when it is intentional, that still doesn't make it "bad form" or an incorrect or inappropriate way to play. It's just their style.

I think that removing the player from your group of neighbors or friends is the best solution, and the same advice I'd give to someone who didn't like any other aspect of another player's style.

HayDay gives players great freedom to craft the experience they will personally enjoy, so I suggest we all use it.

I have that "problem" or the glitch with John's (Boroyob's) farm at the moment. He is constantly on my exclamation mark tab, but when I go to his farm there is no boat or any plants and no exclamation mark next to his farm name/user pic. So he has my attention without seeking it ;) :D

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Originally Posted by GirlMixALot

I have that "problem" or the glitch with John's (Boroyob's) farm at the moment. He is constantly on my exclamation mark tab, but when I go to his farm there is no boat or any plants and no exclamation mark next to his farm name/user pic. So he has my attention without seeking it ;) :D

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:) Me too, and 3 others that I know don't usually hide their items. I've been to John's farm a few times this morning, and the other 3 as well. In all of these cases, I'm pretty sure they don't intentionally hide things...never seen them do it before. This used to be a glitch a few months ago, but since then it hasn't happened much until just recently. One of my four neighbors has been "glitched" for several days now.

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Originally Posted by d2l5p2

:) Me too, and 3 others that I know don't usually hide their items. I've been to John's farm a few times this morning, and the other 3 as well. In all of these cases, I'm pretty sure they don't intentionally hide things...never seen them do it before. This used to be a glitch a few months ago, but since then it hasn't happened much until just recently. One of my four neighbors has been "glitched" for several days now.

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If you think about it, doing this intentionally can backfire. One of my neighbors farm always pops up in the help needed tab, and when I go there the flag is gone etc. just like some of you said. Now when I see her farm there I ignore it. One of these days, she will need help and I won't bother even opening her farm. So I doubt anyone is doing this to annoy you or "exploit" anything. If they are doing it to try to keep their farm available to someone they are trading with, it makes sense. Wish I had thought of it when my daughter falls off my last helpers tab. But to do it to try to get people to come to their farm will back fire. It's just a glitch. Let's not make assumptions.

I have to say I usually don't get annoyed or worked up about anything other players do. I think each to their own. But this action is downright rude. I click on to friends that need help many many times during gameplay. Like an idiot I spent ages looking to help my neighbour. It's so selfish. I'm dropping the neighbour right now...once I figure out how.

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Originally Posted by Hangleav

I have to say I usually don't get annoyed or worked up about anything other players do. I think each to their own. But this action is downright rude. I click on to friends that need help many many times during gameplay. Like an idiot I spent ages looking to help my neighbour. It's so selfish. I'm dropping the neighbour right now...once I figure out how.

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It is not necessarily selfish or intentional. THere is a glitch. Several of my neighbors have the same problem with one of our most active players. His farm is always coming up needing help but he doesn't need help. He plays with his wife and I've never seen him need help just like my daughter rarely needs help because we help each other. But this glitch has caused me and others to ignore his help flag. He wouldn't like that and wouldn't do it on purpose. DO NOT DELETE this neighbor because of this unless you know for certain that he is causing it. Unless you see a hidden tree, it is because of the glitch. Please read the whole thread. Only the first few posts relate to intentionl behavior. Plus some have said they do it temporarily to help someone find them. Not to annoy you. I am not going to tell you how to delete them because I am pretty certain it will end as soon as the update is installed.

I agree with Tiggerr129, this could be a glitch. Several of my neighbors say my help tab is constantly on, but I never have any tree to revive/boat to help. I most definitely did not do this intentionally.

Another possibility is that the person had a tree that needed help and an ad up, and then someone found the tree before you get there. I have hundreds of trees and ads up all the time. It's quite possible people are fixing my trees just as fast as the flags are going out to my friends on the other side of the world (or just far away).

How can I get nghbrs? I'm new and don't know about neighborhoods etc. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

benefit of the doubt yes.
there are some of my neighbors with had the flag but when i go their farm, it's gone.
most of the time it's due to glitch, in a lot of ways it seems.

the ones who did this intentionally is very few. i have 2 neighbors of them.
i can confirm those are not glitch because they decorated their plants in sections, but only one lonely tree was way off the map hidden behind a building in the opposite direction.
and the [!] sign was gone after that. you will know if those were done deliberately if you really go around and scout for farms to help daily.

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Originally Posted by Tiggerr129

If you think about it, doing this intentionally can backfire. One of my neighbors farm always pops up in the help needed tab, and when I go there the flag is gone etc. just like some of you said. Now when I see her farm there I ignore it. One of these days, she will need help and I won't bother even opening her farm. So I doubt anyone is doing this to annoy you or "exploit" anything. If they are doing it to try to keep their farm available to someone they are trading with, it makes sense. Wish I had thought of it when my daughter falls off my last helpers tab. But to do it to try to get people to come to their farm will back fire. It's just a glitch. Let's not make assumptions.

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I have a very high level farmer as a neighbour who always has the (!). I doubt she does this on purpose as she has enough people visiting her farm just because of who she is. Whenever I click on her name, however, the (!) disappears but then it pops up back a few minutes later. Weird glitch is what I think it is.

Update...

I've found myself on the other end of the "tree always needs watering" bug. And it doesn't seem to have anything to do with whether I'm connected to the server or not. I am connected, and playing, yet the tree needs watering again and again, even though I know it has been watered. It only lasted for a day or so, though.

Also, my follower with the perpetually jumping tree is definitely still playing. She puts new stuff out on her stand - things like olive oil that wouldn't sit around for long. Her tree has needed watering for weeks now. Always the same tree.

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Originally Posted by Tiggerr129

That's weird. I know there was a glitch a while back that kept putting flags up for no reason, but you say you actually found a hidden plant?
And I know when my daughter and I sit side by side, she can flag her trees but when I go, the flag is not there and I have to refresh sometimes three times. I thought that kind of thing was the reason.

Also , I have a friend on my list whose farm keeps showing on the needs help tab, but when I go there the flag is gone and there is nothing to do. And then it happens again, I visit, no flag. It's as if I keep missing her tree. I don't think this would happen if there was actually a tree hidden.

So there are definitely glitches or issues with phantom flags. But I never heard of anyone actually finding a hidden tree. I agree what's the point?

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Tigg, my DH and I do the same thing, play side by side (or over the phone) and we always have to refresh several times for the exclamation to pop up. The boat requests pop up while we wait, but not the trees/shrubs. Strange...