New Release -- December 22nd, 2009

[Chuckcbr]

If the person that came up with the new way of harvesting and plowing worked for me...He or she would be out of a job tonight!!!!!

[Old Goat]

Originally Posted by JeanLangford

I just got initiated to the new changes this evening. Can't say I like this batch. My avitar keeps getting in my way -- when she is not whining that she is busy... (She is starting to sound like me, lol) I understand the need for changes, but can you please take this one back???

Your avatar still get in your way?? Mine was too but last time I harvested and plowed for someone my avatar actually moved out of my way. Hope it changes for you too
Not totally convinced that this change is all good or all bad or what, but like it more than I did when it first hit us. Hated it!!! We'll see.

[calsuzie]

These new changes are simply terrrible. You can get no speed in harvesting or plowing because many people have layered fields so you have to move around and then you sit and wait. Also the server is frequently wonky about going in both directions, so if you have to go from the bottom up in order not to have your screen blanked out, once again you have to wait on your avitar.

I have loved this game and really enjoyed meeting other people through the "work on my farm" element. But unless this is changed, I will no be playing anymore. It would take forever to level up without this element, and I'm a level 52 now.

I understand about the lost points and coins, I lost them several times. But, I didn't worry about it much because I enjoyed what I was doing so much.

In this case the fix, is WAY worse that the original problem.

A sad and disappointed farmer.

[Rosie the farmer]

THIS business of making you wait for the avatar before you can plow or harvest one patch IS BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD!!!!

I just worked a neighbor's small farm --- and it took FOREVER!!!!

You have just made FarmTown way more frustrating and a lot less fun ...

I have stuck with this game through its various incarnations and I can understand glitches in a beta game and needing to be patient while glitches are smoothed out and worked.

But with this change, you have actually DELIBERATELY changed it from better to worse!!!! Who the heck does that in developing a game??????

Anyway, a lot of my neighbours have already given up on FarmTown. I don't blame them.

Until and unless this gets changed back, I am not going back to the marketplace to hire or be hired because I just don't have the kind of time it takes to do that.

And there are lots of people like me ... so it will become a less social game. If that is your goal --- to make it a less social game --- then congratulations, you have succeeded. But this will result in far fewer FarmTown players.

[Token]

I love FarmTown, I'm on every day. This is the best app I've found on FaceBook, but the new harvesting is painful. You say you expected some complaints, why don't you find out what is really important to your users. Do a poll and see which people would prefer, slow harvesting or losing some xp/coins. Find the root cause of the problem and fix that. If having lots of people working on a farm causes a problem, don't allow it. It's not worth the time anyway. I am so disappointed in this change, I'm already level 60, so I'll just quit working on other peoples farms, but I bought a big second farm so my neighbors who don't have the time I do could level up. With the new harvesting, they can't spend the time working on my farm and theirs.

[keegan79]

Hi there,

The issues are:

1) Lost xp's and coin
This is caused by double cliking to go faster. The first clik is a delayed register which allows for the registering of multiple cliks. This in turn allows for more coin and xp's to be delivered than the final count will allow. They are then deducted when the worker changes screens.
I have counted this dozens of times in my own efforts as a single worker. In working with other workers I have never known who got the coin/xp when over-cliking by another farmer, and therefore could not achieve an accurate count.
What people thought they were losing was not really theirs in the first place.
The double cliking to go faster has been, by far, the primary culprit in all of my counts.

2) Collisions? harvesting and plowing over work that was previously done by someone else.
Currently the game allows a plot to appear unharvested/unplowed to other workers after it has been harvested/plowed. And allows the other workers to treat it as such. Its being harvested is not showing to other workers/players and they are cliking it as a new plot and it is registering at some later time.
It is concievable that a single plot can be harvested by however many workers are on the field. There is no way to identify from the screen who/how many have harvested/plowed a single plot. We are certain that it is at least 2. So we know at least 2 people will have an errors in their earnings.

Your correction was:
Wait for avatar between each plow/plant and you have added harvest. That is what this amounts to. The avatar has to plow/plant/harvest each plot before the next plot can be done.

Should be:
Corrections:
1) lost coin/xp's - Post the action in real time on the first clik, eg: visual conversion to dirt or plow to all workers so there is no misunderstanding and no aggravation for another worker coming along and trying to harvest/plow that same plot. All following cliks won't register for another worker and do not register xp's or coin. The transaction is complete with the first clik.
The bottom line is that the first clik and the plot's immediate reaction is the key to everything.

This would also solve the problem of mouse trackers because they wouldn't be able to come through and steal harvests and plows because you allow that now by not registering the first clik. This happened to me twice this week. The speed was unblievable and she was able to take whole sections I had already harvested but that my avatar hadn't gotten to. The avatar's name was 0Lidia0, there were a number of other sigils before and after her name in addition to the 0's.

2) Collisions - See #1 under this heading


My response:
I can't play this game like this.

[crbeachgirl]

Originally Posted by ccalby

I really loved the last upgrades but i really hate this one, I cannot plow my layered fields now?!?! this is so frustrating. Please change it back to the original

If you do not like this upgrade and wish for it to be changed back, please post in the thread below
http://www.slashkey.com/forum/showthread.php?t=285118

i can no longer work....i cannot plow or harvest...NOTHING! I have tried all afternnoon...lots of lost time. I will not be able to continue w/FT if it does not speed up.

[OhComeNow]

I had no idea anything had changed until someone hired me to plow. Most frustrating experience. The little avatar jerked its way from square to square, and I could see the other two plowers struggling as much as me. One gave up in disgust after 8-10 squares.

I normally click very fast as my computer is new. I do not hog and resent being slowed down to glacial speed.

Thanks for the attempt, but fixing the game so that it goes from fun to dull in one day is no solution.

I won't threaten to leave as some have, but if I can't fit some fast fun farming jobs into my work lunch hour, what's the point?

[crbeachgirl]

I cannot do anything...NOTHING...no plow, no harvest. HELP

[BirdWhisperer]

Stupid! I hate this new way of harvesting. I am a fast harvester and can't stand how long it takes to get this done now and actually don't want to play the game. Please change it back. I understand about the losing of XP/coins, but there MUST be a better way to do it, and let us continue to click while waiting for the coins to add up. I also found that hitting the SAVE button helped with that problem and it would load up. There must be something to works much better than what you just did. I don't have 20 MINUTES to harvest one farm. I don't intend to spend ALL day playing on the game, and have a window of time to enjoy it. Please change it back, or make it harvest much much faster than it is now. not real crazy about the big seed bag, or harvester tool but can live that if needed. Thank you.