Just gave up derby and chose life 🙀

[TonysFarm]

You are so right Tony, the house always wins.

No addict admits they are addicted, well we are addicted to hayday but thats a different story 😌

First it starts with buying a sixth task, then spending diamonds on trashing tasks, then speeding up boats. And then you find yourself tracking your friends progress and making calculations and wondering why you didn't score 1500 pts per person. And those are your friends who were there when you got married, got a new job, played and chatted for a long time.

Derby is just a tool, its a horse shoe box next to our nh house that wasnt there until a few months ago. Some hate boats some hate trucks. We can just ignore this horse shoe box as well.

I am sure we will get our horse shoe prizes as usual but not more poking a neighbor who is yet to complete their fifth task because they need some family time. I got two horse carriages already, one for my farm, one for my town. I guess thats fair enough and if we can't event get the horse shoe prizes, waow too bad 🙀😏

I saw it coming for the past two weeks since the new matchmaking system was introduced. Last week ppl got burned out by over achieving and this week noone was popping up in chat. And after we decided to take this new direction people just kept popping up, chatting, joking, helping, trading, laughing like we used to.

Aggressive derby competition is not enjoyable, sustainable or fun. Its just burning you out without you knowing it.

Sounds like a trip in a time machine to pre derby times .... Laughing, chatting, helping, joking.

I hope neighborhoods that are derby derby crazed can monitor those things and see if they are slowly eroding into the history of the game for the neighborhood. You know .... Most of the very intense neighborhoods have many members who play a lot at times they should not (work, family time, sleep hours, etc). I have been very very guilty of that and vow to change that. A more relaxed hood will hopefully lessen or eliminate the 'need' to have to sacrifice those things in favor of making sure your virtual eggs are harvested in time.

[TonysFarm]

This is EXACTLY what happened in my last NH except change the number to 1920. They've since adopted a new policy that if you can't do 6 tasks that you're to opt out of the derby for the week. I'm sure spending diamonds to shuffle the board is just around the corner, doing all 320s is next to impossible otherwise from my experience.

I have heard of derbys where this existed. How many people were in your neighborhood? It seems impossible.

[marme2500]

When the derby started, our NH goal was 5 horseshoes. We tried the "gotta win" motto for about 3 derbies then decided that we are going to go for 5 horseshoes. After we reach that goal, we look at where we are in the derby and decide if we want to push forward. Our NH is all family, we enjoy chatting about what is going on and who needs to upgrade more than how many tasks and who hasn't done something on a derby task.

[MadeleineAkaino]

When the derby started, our NH goal was 5 horseshoes. We tried the "gotta win" motto for about 3 derbies then decided that we are going to go for 5 horseshoes. After we reach that goal, we look at where we are in the derby and decide if we want to push forward. Our NH is all family, we enjoy chatting about what is going on and who needs to upgrade more than how many tasks and who hasn't done something on a derby task.

🌺💛This week is our first week without the derby being our primary goal. I thought may be it would help other leaders to tell how things have been so far in my Neighbourhood.

Most people are still doing tasks, some tasks are indeed attainable and they fit your usual playing style. For instance i love town and i took a 281 pts townie task, i fill a lot of gc & nh boats so i took a help task etc. I didnt take any boat task just because its 320 pts because i hate it. And i am glad because i had a goat cheese & regular cheese boat right after i made this decision 😨🙀

Its just we don't give the puppy eyes look to some people when they just do 2-3 tasks a week and we don't care anymore. Neither we give appointments 😏😏 to people who opt out and leave the hood on Monday and come back on Tuesday if they want to take a week off.

May be its easy for us to say this because most of us agreed derby was like a full time job and felt more like work than play. If your hood goes into a conflict may be you can try telling them the more you compete the more you are expected to spend, be it time or diamonds. I really wish you guys the best and even if some members eventually leave i hope you all do it gracefully 🍃🌺

The week after the matchmaking tweak we had won another gold cup. But it was a major burnout for us with many members taking a sixth task. The week after that we took this radical decision mid derby. No one was chatting in our once fun hood where jokes are cracked all the time. No one was staying in chat more than a couple of minutes. It was like everyone was having an excuse to mind their own business, including me and many long term members.

Why would we keep doing this to ourself?

This week thing are almost back to normal. Ladies are chatting about their families and kids, i am goofy as usual 😏😌 my mum is learning to spell a few more words in English correctly, we are having Turkish and Arabic 101 lessons time to time We are helping each other expand, fill orders plant seeds, the usual stuff we did before the derby. We don't worry about which member did how many tasks anymore. Those who still want to participate do take tasks, but this whole "no obligation" approach has significantly made us feel more comfortable.

[tuppenceworth]

IMO it's a real shame because we had a taste of what was super fun for a couple of weeks there when supercell got it right -- random matchings, some weeks with a chance to win and others not, but always fun and not over-stressful. Now it's just multiple teams ahead of us doing 6x320 and I don't know how it's possible to keep up that pace unless you are retired, or don't have have kids, or are independently wealthy and just don't have to work.

Exactly. Everyone in my small hood enjoyed the derby, my sister and I being on the more competitive side but there were weeks when we said, "oh no, not going to happen this week, look at the competition" and then just sat back and did what we could. That's the key - it was random. We haven't won anything since the matchmaking debacle, and only just recently decided that we are proudly a four-horseshoe hood and probably no more (two members can't play that often).

So be it.

[maaritu]

This week thing are almost back to normal. Ladies are chatting about their families and kids, i am goofy as usual ���� my mum is learning to spell a few more words in English correctly, we are having Turkish and Arabic 101 lessons time to time We are helping each other expand, fill orders plant seeds, the usual stuff we did before the derby. We don't worry about which member did how many tasks anymore. Those who still want to participate do take tasks, but this whole "no obligation" approach has significantly made us feel more comfortable.

our NH loves derby, we had not yet won derby after matchmaking, but last derby was so near. 127 points more and WE were winners, not just 2th. And we did huge points too... We chat much, we have fun. We help each other much more than before derby (as possible) because we have same goal, win the derby! We help upgrading barn and silo and help with land area, fishing areas etc. Derby does not mean that you can not enjoy the other part of the game!

[MadeleineAkaino]

our NH loves derby, we had not yet won derby after matchmaking, but last derby was so near. 127 points more and WE were winners, not just 2th. And we did huge points too... We chat much, we have fun. We help each other much more than before derby (as possible) because we have same goal, win the derby! We help upgrading barn and silo and help with land area, fishing areas etc. Derby does not mean that you can not enjoy the other part of the game!

I do enjoy the game, please dont get me wrong. What i don't enjoy is tracking and policing my neighbors as a coleader. Or doing boat tasks despite my enjoyment of town. I still do five tasks because at my level its very easy if you are a daily player. We just won't ask anyone or show them the door because they do two tasks or take a week off I won't buy sixth task anymore either, and save my free diamonds for my dream ditch river. The "obligation" to do at least 1500 is just too much for us, or making decisions when you want to keep it fair for everyone, and i am glad you guys don't take it too hard.

[Bqbowers]

Madeleine, it is wonderful to read your thread just now. I had such fun visiting your nhood a while back, and know what lively and supportive chat you had. Sorry it paused for a bit, and am SO happy it is back.

I think it was the third or fourth derby that our nhood had an open discussion, and decided to just play. We love the derby, actually, just don't want it running us. We have been doing fine, with each member playing as they like.

We were winning every derby till the matchmaking change, despite our lackadaisical approach. Now, it is different, seems pretty hopeless to try for gold or even to place in the derby race. Oh well! Our members have pretty much stopped buying the sixth task, as the race is so out of reach. We still enjoy coming together to help each other to achieve our five tasks.

best, Barb

[Janilee]

I wonder if players are buying more or fewer diamonds due to the matching change. I guess the big, deep-pocketed NHs might be buying more, since they are super-competitive and have to in order to win.

My NH is definitely spending less. We never spent that many to begin with, admittedly. Sometimes someone would buy an extra task if she screwed up on accidentally. (Took a task she meant to trash, say, or took a wool task without realizing she had to produce it rather than buy it.) To sort of make it up to the NH (even though we did not expect that). And a couple of times, I bought an extra task at the last minute to get us into the winner's circle. (I did not tell my neighbors, because I didn't want them to feel pressured to do the same.)

Now, there's no point in buying extra tasks. We are so far behind even if we all bought an extra 320 point task, it wouldn't make a whit of difference.

[TonysFarm]

Well, we have just completed our first derby as a much downsized, stress free derby, neighborhood.

Gone was the status of being a Power Neighborhood with 9/28 players being solidly into the 100 level ranks and a few others knocking at the door.
Gone was a co-leader who among hayday players can be described as an elite power player.
Gone was the almost constant chatter due to neighbors covering all parts of the globe.
Gone was the instantaneous help whenever anything was flagged.


While that may sound like it was a lot to give up .... It was replaced by the following.

A smaller subset of players who while not chatting as often, really chatted up a storm when they were on.
A feeling of no stress to meet the visions and demands of others.
A bonding among All of us that was lacking before, especially with some of the mid level players.
An appreciation for the simpler aspects of the basic game, as opposed to constant over ananysis of the derby moves that more resembled a chess match between grand masters, than it did a relaxing game.
Playing the game during our leisure time because we wanted to, not during work time, family time, or sleep time .... because we felt obligated to do so.

I could go into more detail about dome of the things we missed, but that would just fan some burning embers. Time for everyone to move forward and not dwell in the many mistakes of the past, made by more than just one or two people.

Surfice it to say we all had a lot of fun. We are still adjusting, but life did go on, and as far as I can tell .... Everyone did enjoy it.

We plan to grow the neighborhood very slowly and deliberately .... Much like the old neighborhood, being selective about who is brought into the fold. Helping to turn our mid level players into high level players, because after all, we are focused on more than just the derby.

So in case you wondered .... In a derby that we played and were only striving for 5 horseshoes .... We placed 2nd with a Silver in a close race. Really nice surprise. Well done team!!!!