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Me too, Haystacker. Even if I don't fiddle with the game during the day the way I used to, I still make sure the dairy and sugar mill are filled, crops are planted, animals harvested and fed. And I still play the game before getting up in the morning and before going to sleep at night, which is how I sold 8 bracelets for default the other night. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Haystacker
Last time I played that tired I called the train in early. Those townies had to walk around all night!Quote:
Originally Posted by Shealie54
Ooh I love that idea. Five butters, or ten brown sugars, even a couple of those awful looking lobster pizzas!Quote:
Originally Posted by GladeMaid
Well, at level 46, I would hate dairy products as a reward. I can appreciate they must be in dire need at higher levels, but I sell stacks of goat cheese all the time. I produce way more than I have any machines/recipes to use, so that as a reward would be as insulting to me as getting TNT.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shealie54
Someone in this thread said they hated getting TEMs as a reward and I would love those! I am in desperate need of TEMs, especially paint buckets and maps that the townies rarely seem to want to give me.
I began playing a couple of days before the cookie event, but this event was the first one that I just didn't bother to finish...
The events used to be way to disrupt my farming routine, and I felt great when I reached that 5th goat, and frustrated when I couldn't. The prizes were the cherry on top.
I think that HD was a challenging (but rewarding) strategy game before the town update, but I also believe it still has all the right elements to continue to be both hard and fun, and meant to be enjoyed for a long time. I just hope that SC won't wait too long to make some adjustments before it turns into a game of chance.
I also think that adding new features to the game without addressing current issues is not a good practice when you are a software developer.
Example: the sewing machine. It gave us 1 new crop and 4 new products, and a new mastery. It also made the sheep and the loom more relevant, and now wool products are almost rare in the paper (that's nice).
But that doesn't change the fact that there's still a high chance to get consecutive boats asking for dairy. Or that filling a white sugar boat gives you the same quantity of boat points (plus the ubiquitous green voucher) that you'll get filling a wheat, bread and carrot pies boat. Or that getting a boat that doesn't ask for dairy/sugar/jam or 3 products that use them is rare. (or that not all android players are able to connect to facebook).
I like the new machine and the new products, but I also expect that the default action when I see a boat won't be that I'll cast it off (or wish that I could use some TNT to sink it).
If the topic did seem to shift away from just discussing events, I think it's because the apathy you speak of is, in conjunction with a lack of satisfactory incentive or reward, a direct result of the imbalance now in other aspects of the game. The opinions expressed are evidence that something is off, & it's not merely a lack of interest in giving away premium products for a few mundane items that can be had through a lot less effort. Your own statement that you only do what is advantageous in the town seems to indicate that you also sense the crunch other contributors have spoken of.Quote:
Originally Posted by devirris
Prior to the introduction of the town, if I recall correctly, there were two unsuccessful events, one early on with a diamond prize & the Easter basket disappointment. Since the town, there have been only two or three successful events, one or two boating & one fishing. For me & many others, this speaks volumes, & points to a greater underlying cause than just lack of incentive or nice rewards.
As has been pointed out, within the space of hour or two of wheating, the same personal goal prizes (the exception being vouchers) can be obtained, often in larger numbers than items rewarded, & without the necessity of depleting barn loads of stock, dedicating machines exclusively to the production of one item, or depriving oneself of the revenue those items could have generated through other avenues.
A global prize of 5 diamonds doesn't hold the same sparkle it once did, especially in light of the fact that 3-5 times that amount can be found daily through treasure chest hunting, movie tickets, or mining, each of which requires little effort & minimal investment of time or resources, yet not one of these factors have changed since the events began, so why have farmers suddenly become so parsimonious with their products?
Could it be that new factors have been introduced into the equation? Could it be that demand has risen to a point that producing & maintaining sufficient stock to participate in all aspects of the game is no longer sustainable? Could it be that players have become jaded? Could it be that players are now having to decide which parts of the game they will play without going into a hole?
I believe the answer to all these questions is yes. The events (as well as amount of help given, numbers of boat & truck ordes completed, & rare goods found in The RSS ) are showing the effects of all of these factors; it isn't just one reason & one reason only, so as this thread has progressed the fact that towns, boats, & trucks are being discussed underscores that these are legitimate reasons for the event apathy you've noted.
I would like to see SC shake things up in a positive way...just not necessarily through the introduction of more products, machines, animals, or characters, as these only add to the current downward spiral of unsustainability, yet if they upped the reward to 10 or more diamonds, I'm not sure even that would be enough to jump start players' batteries.
Excellent suggestions have been made already. Unique decor items always generate interest.
A standard system of prizes has garnered popular support from many, and it makes sense too. If an event requests 56 cream cakes, then those cakes should command the same reward for all players, not 5 gold vouchers for some & 5 sticks of dynamite for others.
Reward vouchers should reflect the the value of the requested product. A jam, lobster soup, & cheese boat should command gold, not just another green in a string of green, green, green.
Perhaps SC's developers should revisit the number of items requested during events & in other aspects of the game, or consider not asking for event items in other game play during that time. 56 cream cakes during an event, another 8-24 on back to back boats, another 4-8 in town, & another 8 on truck orders is impossible & leads to frustration, stress, & an inevitable search for a game more conducive to relaxation. Yes, players have the choice as to whether do these types of orders, but I believe that most also want to have a sense of accomplishment, a sense that was formerly attached to gameplay but is being rapidly replaced by "not another ridiculous sugar/dairy/fish order I can't/won't/don't want to do" sentiment.
As GladeMaid suggested, if the prizes were high demand production items then perhaps a renewed interest would be sparked, yet then again, another poster said definitely not, so the solution may not be so simple or pleasing for everyone, but it is a growing issue which SC should look into & address. The bottom line is always net profit, & if farmers become stressed, bored, frustrated, or jaded, they will begin to abandon the game. Just as in the game, sustainability is key, & if players begin to leave in droves, profit margins shrink, much like the stock has been doing in many of our barns.
Most of you know I don't play the town to its full extent, so that hasn't affected me filling my boats. I just can't keep enough dairy and sugar in stock for my machines let alone helping somebody need 18 cream per box on the boat. You are so right the boat orders are so crazy. I think I only do one boat per day if that. I'm sure SC will come up with somethibg to bring the spark back to the game. Instill play all day every day:rolleyes:
Darcelle, if you sell stacks of goat cheese all the time, then you and I need to be friends so that I can buy stacks of goat cheese off you all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Darcelle
SC obviously can structure the game according to level - boats for lower levels have 5 or 6 crates of a small number items to fill; higher levels have 9 crates of high numbers of items to fill. Perhaps rewards could somehow take level into account? TNT and saws for new players wanting to create a wasteland by blowing up all their rocks and cutting down all their trees; 'ems for mid level players wanting to expand; and dairy and sugar items for those of us above level 60 or 70? Just a thought.
I finished my ten boats, and did a few more. I would have loved the 5 diamond reward. 15 or 25 diamonds per day?? What??!! Never happened to me even once. I can't believe most people are getting that sort of regular return from treasure hunting. 10 diamond reward from an event? Wow, yes please.
(Oops, I lied! I got two sea chests in a day when they were first introduced!)
Goat cheese is usually what I set up to make overnight due to the long production time. I had accumulated close to 30 the other day (which I do not have the barn space luxury to keep) and thought, "How much of this stuff do I actually use?" I checked my machines and the only things I can make are Potato Feta Cakes and Feta Pies, each only take 1. I've had almost no use whatsoever for PFCs. Townies & boats haven't been asking for them, there's the rare truck order that usually doesn't give enough coin/EXP to bother, so I rarely make any (I think I've had the same stack of 6 I made when they first became available in my barn forever). That just leaves Feta Pies that I have to interweave with all the other pies I need, most of which are in high demand by everything in the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by GladeMaid
What's really irritating is I just received my soup kitchen and the first soup they give me is lobster? Really?! I think I've been able to make 2 soups so far. Why on earth didn't they start with tomato? It would have given me something else to do with goat cheese and would have been something I could start making routinely. My soup kitchen's just sitting there gathering dust right now while I figure out how to get more lobsters for the ludicrous amount of Frutti De Mare pizzas the townies want let alone soup.
I also point this out because I've been disappointed with the last few machines I've gotten. I work so hard to unlock them and then when I do it's a letdown, either due to difficult ingredients needed for the only product I can make or ridiculously long 'cook' times. Meanwhile, as soon as I hit the level to unlock it the game besieges me with orders of whatever it makes from everywhere even before the machine's had a chance to finish building.