New Release -- December 22nd, 2009 - UPDATE

[joytheresa]

Hello,
Well after reading the posts I am glad to hear you are not keeping the Dec. 22 release. It was frustrating to say the least. As far as losing coin and XP I know I have lost a mill in coin at least but what the heck it ain't real money and I have more coins than can possibly be spent in this game. It's like someone previous said, you still have multiple players being hired to harvest and plow and it is still a big mess when that happens, I usually leave. What I don't like is the Avatar movement dictates where your screen is, I prefer to chose where I want to be on the screen, some people like the screen zoomed in and others like it zoomed out. Also I find b/c I am a fast clicker I am constantly waiting for my Avatar and my screen is jumping all over the place, very aggravating. Up until yesterday I would spend hours playing FT, I am a more recent convert from Farmville. I have planted an after Christmas crop as well and if things are not back to what it was prior to yesterday I doubt that I will continue playing either, which is unfortunate as I have made many online friends playing this game and I will miss the camaraderie. we'll see i suppose.

[Kelsey]

Originally Posted by Nadine

Every time you do an update, you have people complaining. You can't please everyone all of the time.

This is a social game. In less than a year, you have 28M people playing. So it shows that people like the game.

This new way is an improvement, as far as speed goes, from FT v1, yet much slower than the queued version. People screamed bloody murder when queued harvesting/plowing was released. Some loved it, some hated it.

I believe the faster queued version speed destroyed the social aspect. Most people do not hang out and talk while plowing or waiting for the meters to fill. They do their job and leave. As quickly as possible, moving to the next job. I've not met and and buddied/became friends with one person that I have hired from the Marketplace because they wanted to hang out & chat. Most of my buddies/neighbors are from before this fast plowing/harvesting or just recently from the forum.

If this version stops people from losing xps/coins, especially since they are not being replaced, then I think this is a better version... for the moment. If you lose some players, then so be it... you will gain others. And you can still figure out an alternative.

However, that alternative should NOT be limiting the amount of workers. I harvest with friends, and have done so since I started the game. Its very rare that I even bother working from the marketplace. With friends, I can work with from one up to 20 people and have fun. I am here for the social aspect of the game, to meet people.. not to zoom up levels or become a millionaire in days.

Even when I hire from the marketplace, the farm with 488 crops, I usually hire one or two people. The one with 1024 crops, I hire four when hiring from the MP.. only friends will my 1024 crops to themselves. It is PURE GREED people who are begging you to go back to the fast version and limit it to one or two people. That's just ludicrous. People looking for work in the marketplace would get LESS WORK, because players would stick with their friends. I'd rather make my friends rich than some random strangers in the Marketplace.

If I had to hire one person from the Marketplace to harvest, and one to plow, I WOULD NOT BE PLAYING.

I VOTE TO KEEP THIS SLOWER VERSION, while trying to come up with a sensible alternative.

You had players BEFORE you added "turbo harvesting/plowing" and you'll continue to have and gain players without it.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of posts from people who are losing xps/coins, and reverting to the previous way is just basically flipping them the bird, especially since you aren't reimbursing them. It's not fair at all to them. I can't even believe the amount of posts now that say "Oh so what about a few xps/coins lost.." You have people complaining of not reaching levels because of lost xps...

Please reconsider.

Agreed!! Please reconsider.

[raynman]

Originally Posted by scarecrow moe™

Yes, 1 person harvesting/plowing is a good idea. Or the way it was before, but maybe add an option for the person hiring to either boot or warn by means of a strike anyone who gets out of line, like the people who just start clicking randomly where others are working in a straight line. 3 strikes, you're on the bench or reported or something, maybe even have it where it shows everyone else which people have gotten strikes so they can choose not to hire that person in the future. Or maybe set it up so wherever a person starts working, they can only work in a straght line till they collide with someone else, then they are finished. But this slow down that is happening now is just too slow. And for the people who just can't keep up or go as fast as others, well, they either need to upgrade their 10 year old pcs, or get a faster internet speed than dial up, or just simply practice to learn to click faster & more accurately than the more experienced people. Maybe there's a way to have different marketplaces for those with dial up, then they are all in their own room together and won't have conflicts with the vast majority of users on hi-speed connections.

Personally I like the idea of having only 1 person working at a time. Maybe you could share with us the reasons you think this would cause problems so we can put our heads together & come up with possible solutions or alternatives. Many heads are better than 1.

That's a great idea. I can't stand hiring more than one person and they begin to fight ove the money crop first.

[FarmerB81]

I'm very happy that the old method is being re-implemented. In my opinion, missing out on a few xp or coins is trivial compared to having to spend 10x as long working to earn them. I spend enough time on Farm Town as it is, and the slower speed was brutal -- it was unplayable and not fun at all to help on others' farms. I'm tired of people complaining about "greedy" farmers. If I'm hired, I'm going to harvest or plow as quickly as I can. It's not my fault if the farm owner hired others. It's a game, a competition, to earn coins and xp to build up your own farm. If you're too slow, that's just too bad. For the people who like the social aspect of the game, go hang out in the inn. I don't chat other than brief polite conversation when I'm working. I'm there to get the job done and move on to the next job.

[Mrs Giles]

Originally Posted by Nadine

Every time you do an update, you have people complaining. You can't please everyone all of the time.

This is a social game. In less than a year, you have 28M people playing. So it shows that people like the game.

This new way is an improvement, as far as speed goes, from FT v1, yet much slower than the queued version. People screamed bloody murder when queued harvesting/plowing was released. Some loved it, some hated it.

I believe the faster queued version speed destroyed the social aspect. Most people do not hang out and talk while plowing or waiting for the meters to fill. They do their job and leave. As quickly as possible, moving to the next job. I've not met and and buddied/became friends with one person that I have hired from the Marketplace because they wanted to hang out & chat. Most of my buddies/neighbors are from before this fast plowing/harvesting or just recently from the forum.

If this version stops people from losing xps/coins, especially since they are not being replaced, then I think this is a better version... for the moment. If you lose some players, then so be it... you will gain others. And you can still figure out an alternative.

However, that alternative should NOT be limiting the amount of workers. I harvest with friends, and have done so since I started the game. Its very rare that I even bother working from the marketplace. With friends, I can work with from one up to 20 people and have fun. I am here for the social aspect of the game, to meet people.. not to zoom up levels or become a millionaire in days.

Even when I hire from the marketplace, the farm with 488 crops, I usually hire one or two people. The one with 1024 crops, I hire four when hiring from the MP.. only friends will my 1024 crops to themselves. It is PURE GREED people who are begging you to go back to the fast version and limit it to one or two people. That's just ludicrous. People looking for work in the marketplace would get LESS WORK, because players would stick with their friends. I'd rather make my friends rich than some random strangers in the Marketplace.

If I had to hire one person from the Marketplace to harvest, and one to plow, I WOULD NOT BE PLAYING.

I VOTE TO KEEP THIS SLOWER VERSION, while trying to come up with a sensible alternative.

You had players BEFORE you added "turbo harvesting/plowing" and you'll continue to have and gain players without it.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of posts from people who are losing xps/coins, and reverting to the previous way is just basically flipping them the bird, especially since you aren't reimbursing them. It's not fair at all to them. I can't even believe the amount of posts now that say "Oh so what about a few xps/coins lost.." You have people complaining of not reaching levels because of lost xps...

Please reconsider.

You say it much better - what she says Devs! lol

[FruHilda]

[quote=Raul;.

Please provide some feedback about this other alternative on this thread, or if you rather prefer the way it was before, unlimited hiring, faster work but more potential for collisions and lost coins/XP.

thanks

--Raul[/QUOTE]

No! Please don't allow unlimited hiring! That has its own problems. If it can be limited to a couple-three people or maybe 5 max, it wouldn't be so bad, but I won't hire more than one person at a time. And I don't stay on farms to harvest/plow if there are more than a couple of other workers. Multiple hirees really makes for an uncivilized experience.

[lfbrockm]

First - thanks for changing back.
Second, my suggestion.
In my opinion, there's never a need to have 4-5 (or more!) people working a farm. (I never hire more that 3 tops and they're usually but not always people I know). I think having some reasonable limit on the number of hires would be useful - perhaps the number of hires allowed would be dependent on the size of the farm....
Thanks again for your work on this fun game.
Lauren

[kimberlybrooks]

Thank God! You need to poll your users before making a change like this! I decided yesterday that if it did not revert back, that I was done with FV. I'm sure many felt the same! Although you made that change, there were some that could still manipulate the entire field of crops leaving some without the ability to harvest anything. Somehow, they were able to do this even though you made that change. Also, only allowing one person to harvest and one person to plow will also be a problem. I've found that at time I will hire someone and they'll flake out and leave the farm in he middle of the job leaving unharvested crops...or they will take a job then decide they have somewhere they need to be in the middle of the job...leaving me to have to go hire someone else. This will create a problem. If you limit the number of hirees to maybe 3 to five maybe but limiting it to one will generate issues in itself.

[Big Mom]

all tools that i use to plow, plant, harvest multiple plots are not working. I don't have time or patience to do each plot separately. I don't hire workers so that's not the issue.

[Teura]

I'm really disappointed in the changes and all of the complaining that apparently led to these changes. Hogging and fast clicking!! are you kidding me... I read a post by someone who said that if you arrived at a "mob farm" I call them a "rat race" and you don't like it LEAVE. But instead the developers of FT made changes WOW I understand that people were complaining about loosing coins and XP but was it because there were impatient - I think so!

If I choose to participate in a rat race then I'll click as fast as I can along with everyone else. But hey the job is getting done right... Otherwise I still click as fast as I can but stay in my nice neat rows... I advertise myself as a Fast Farmer - but as of today (when I discovered these changes) I decided not to participate - which sucks because I really enjoy working on other peoples farms. I agree with other posters that said that while their avatar is catching up they chat - I do that too.. I end up adding great new people to my buddy list and look for them next time. I prefer to hire one person at a time or 2 people and I would hope that they are polite to each other BUT I don't expect if one is fast and the other is slow to let the slow one get their 50% come on ... it's a game!!

I would really appreciate it if you would put it back to the way it was - I will NOT harvest or plow until it's changed. It took me 5x as long and I did not feel accomplished at all after doing it.. I also liked someone's analogy of waking up fat and old or somethign like that - lol .... I was to be the best farmer I can be so please put it back!! Otherwise I will just play FarmVille ... but I prefer FarmTown because it is interactive.