New Release -- December 22nd, 2009

[silvia8917]

HIRING:

I only ever hired one person at a time, but with this new change I'll hire several more, because it is so slow.
I predict a rising tendency of employers hiring a bunch of people in order to speed up the process.
And players usually prefer sharing work with as few as possible, don't they?


GETTING HIRED:

- The time-out problem
I got timed-out in the middle of my job about 1/3 of the time, BUT I could deal with it. When I noticed I didn't receive money or xp i.e. got timed-out, I took into account how many fields were left. If there weren't many, I finished the job. If there were too many for me to spend time without compensation, I told my employer he/she needed to hire another person, then I reloaded and searched for a new job. This took time, yes, but doesn't the new policy generally lengthen my time of finishing a job? I can clicker much faster than the one-field-at-a-time speed. And 2/3 of the time, I wasn't timed-out and I finished my job quickly and neatly.

- The "slob"/messy-clicker issue:
I don't consider a field nearby the best place to start working, even if the person works in neat rows. It doesn't matter much in harvesting, but shows in plowing. As people usually plant their seeds starting from the corner (it's more troublesome to plant starting from the middle of a field), the best way to plow is to start from the corner, so employers can starting planting when you're in the middle of the plowing. Being a fast and methodical clicker, I always start from the corner and harvest/plow in rows, but now it takes so much time to get to the corner, discouraging me from working in the most employer-friendly way i.e. starting from the corner. Implication? The change not only prevents the worst scenario, but also prevents the best.
And what about those farms where farmers deliberately put their fields at the corner? It takes so much time to walk to them now.
By the way, people usually click randomly only when the field is large and packed. With such a large field, I can often start somewhere untouched. And, as weird as I am, I consider clearing fields for the random-clickers quite interesting, although I know it's just me. LOL



While I agree that the new change is something that can be dealt with, the change is also far from an "improvement". It is just... a change, with something getting better and some worse.

Also, the slower a thing is, the less exciting it becomes. Never bodes well for a game, the purpose of which is to interest and excit.

If I were to vote, I would opt for the old arrangement.

[macmomma]

Please go back to the old way of harvesting and plowing. This new way really sucks!! I cannot just sit here and wait til my avitar gets on the square next to one to click it. If this is not changed back to the old way, I'm leaving farm town and taking my friends with me. They do not like it either!

[disappointed-with-FT]

You've taken the fun out of Farm Town. I've lost XP and coins countless times and I've never complained about it once. It's just a game to have some fun with which I really enjoyed.

Now it's really ridiculously slow to plow and harvest other farms.

I've been playing for 2 months on level 58 and 17+ million coins, 2nd farm and I'm not whining about lost XP nor coins.

Another problem is timing out with your big bright idea.

I have never timed out before this.

How are you going to fix that?

[Babsy1970]

Have to admit, I hate the new way or harvesting and plowing - far too slow for my liking.

[boskherder]

I like the new harvesting. TO bad everyone is jumping on the "go back to the old way" without giving it a few days and try it out.

I still say the time it takes is the same as the old way.

[cherylwordweaver]

I have read everyone's comments. Obviously with different computers and different servers there are some different issues. I have always harvested and plowed in orderly rows as I can go faster that way than any other. When I am on a site where the owner has hired a gazillion folks, I try to find a corner far away from the mob and just do the best I can.

This new system has not allowed me to do this. I was just hired by a person who hired over 10 folks to do a very small farm. I tried the go to an off corner, having been told my avatar would teleport to the spot. IT DIDN"T. It creeped and crawled and backtracked and turned etc. Finally it got to where I was. I clicked waited for the rod to count down and tried to click on another block right beside the one I was on. my avatar TURNED AROUND AND WALKED BACKWARDS away from the square. Went around a hedge, a fence and finally came back.

Now I don't have the fastest machine around but this is crazy. I asked the person why they hired so many and the reply was, "with the new system, this is the only way I can get plowing done fast. If I waited for one person I'd be here all night."

So I'm not seeing the good side of this yet. I am frustrated and tired. I understand it is a "free" game but trust me I have spent money on things so I feel like I am participating and not free loading. I appreciate it is beta and the folks are trying to make it work. but this new (which is really going backward to an old way of doing harvesting and plowing) way is not working for me.

I see folks hiring more people to get the job done faster, losing patience with the game, etc.

I hope a good night's sleep will help me. I do not consider myself a crybaby or any of the other names that some have tossed out here. I am stating my opinion.

If this change is here to stay, then I respectfully request that the PTB figure out a way to teleport the avatars consistently and get the harvesting and plowing to go faster. Not every farm is filled with long straight rows of just crops with nothing breaking up the fields.

Thanks and
Aloha,
Wordweaver

[primrose711]

...if it ain't broke, don't fix it - why did you "fix" this??? It's awful.

[emmersom biggins]

the game could offer a harvester and seeder that are solar powered that you can pay with coins. or offer fuel that can be purchased with coins to fill a gas tank that is purchased and placed on your farm. How about that i stayed positive for two minutes.

[farmer_steven]

I read the "fixes" they made, but I don't like the new plow and harvest methods. I think they suck and need to be changed back. Problems or not, I liked it better the other way. I just worked for a couple other people and hated it. I wll probably quit now.

They pulled me back into the game with the plow ahead and plant ahead, but I think this is going to be the end of my two farms.

Good changes:
-plow and plant ahead
-second farm
-harverster, plower, seeder (and fuel)
-new crops

Bad Changes
-changing the plow and plant ahead logic
-anything that slows down farming

Changes still needed
-ability to fire a farmer after you have hired them (mainly because they are slow and suck)
-ability to hire a farmer to harvest and plow in one request
-ability to hire a farmer to work on both of your farms in one request
-ability to combine the two abilties above
-ability to chat in full screen mode
-ability to buy fuel with coin
-other solar power (and more expensive farm equipment)

[Jomama1152]

I do have to say that I came to the forum to really complain about this new harvesting and plowing thing. I mean we're back to "wait I'm busy" again......
However, after reading why you did this I can understand and I will just have to get used to it. I really like the fact that now some rude person can't just plow or harvest all over the place where you are. They only ruin themselves. THANKS for that! So, this is just a Kudo's for what you are always trying to do for us. I love Farm Town and all the work you guys do for us.
One small thing though..... the new trees are soooo cheesy. I told all my friends to send me only old style trees. I don't want any of the new ones. I would really like to still be able to buy the old style trees. Whoever is making them, you need to replace that person with someone who knows how to do better graphics.
So Merry Christmas everyone and Thank you again!
Jo