Originally (spring of 2009), I started to FT because my wife "needed neighbors" for the #3 farm.
I got hooked......
I now have my farm and a son's - both of which I fully manage.
Early on I realized that the game had two paths to offer: 1] only use coin and the occasional $25FC to buy tools and facilities.... or 2] supplement the game with my own money to have the farm cash necessary to have the goodies.
The new levels were okay, and the free FC was/is too. But it means that the devs have given.... GIVEN..... me 580 FC over time (actually double with the two farms).
Many players, I assume, eventually dropped out and spent their disposable cash on other things like smoking, eating out a lot, iPhones, etc, etc. To each his own.
I have no problem getting a couple gift cards each month and building up my FC reserve. Then when a new release hits,
(and we should be about ready to close the old thread this week and get a new release next week), I am ready to purchase.
So .... 48 farms expanded to the max, all the tools at both and many duplicate facilities. In fact, I made a modest $7 billion, at each farm, or so since the last release while posting only a couple times a week at most.
Expensive? Yes ! Am I fortunate to bear that expense? I suppose so. But I prefer to NOT smoke or buy the latest phone, notebook, pad or other insanely expensive items. Again, to each his/her own.
By the way... my wife stopped playing back when there were about 8-10 farms..... lol