Upcoming Event - Santa's Wish List - Your questions and comments

Kamilcom (GB1)

Thanks Latten.

september. (US1)

CM Nafaru said:

  september. (US1) said:

CM Nafaru said:

Craftycritters (US1) said:

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May I suggest that the amount and type of product remain the same if other coop members were to help out?Therefore, if a member is short of 2000 olives, other members help by making up that 2000 olives. This is the natural meaning of 'help'. Varying the type and amount is not logical.

The current system seems to assume that high level players don't need help with filling their items. I don't think this is true. Not every high level player can be at their computer for a sufficient period of time (especially during a festive season) to meet his/ her huge orders. If a high level player is short of 5000 apple pies on day 7th, let it be that other members, including lower level ones help to make up the 5000. This is enough of a challenge in itself.

The current system assumes everybody might need some help in one way or another.

If the system were to ask for 2.000 olives instead, low level players would not be able to help a higher level player at all. Just imagine you were the only high level player in your cooperative, how unfair would that feel?

With the current implementation, everybody gets a chance to help.
Think of it as swapping items. You're having trouble producing olives? Well others can help you with their goods in respective amounts. In turn, you can check what you can donate and help them out with goods you may even partly have in stock since you focused on other requests.

Hi Nafaru, thanks for taking the time to address my queries.

I stand corrected on my previous assumption. I do agree that a system that assumes everyone needs some help somehow is the correct system to adopt. However, the implementation of varying products and amounts does not meet this objective/ assumption well.

To reiterate, the swapping system is arbitrary. Who is to say apples, for example, are a good replacement for olives? Or how is the amount determined? Even if the mechanics were revealed to us (which I'm sure is very complicated), it does not account for the qualitative difference (apples are just not olives)

I take your point on the lower level member not being able to help. However, that member will not be able to help in just that one aspect. There are so many other areas that member can help in.

Fairness is not an issue here because not everyone expects to help out everybody in every way.

I hope these are sufficiently convincing arguments you could take on board to swap the swapping system with one that sticks to the original type and amount of products. (pun might be intended)

PCA (GB1)

CM Nafaru said:

enochnock (US1) said:

At what point and when will we be able to see what our coop members need in order to fill their weekly list?

You will be able to see them by Sunday.

Two more questions pls Nafaru:

1 - On Sunday, how do we know who is helping whom and how do we prevent over-donating one item while maybe missing the chance to focus on the next order

2 - what happens to those players who cannot participate 1 or more weeks (vacation for example) will they get a new order the following week or will they get the same identical order over and over ?

bdreish (GB1)

I have not started this event  as the amounts needed are way out of my reach.  I am at a  reasonably high level (129) and have quite a lot of spare farm cash as I have never started the temporary farms or horse ranch, yet the requirements for the first (easier???) week alone would cost me millions to fulfil.  I will give you an example:-

I have been asked for 32,740 dung. This is quite a large amount to donate, but when you add to this the 3,830 peaches, 3,940 apple pies (requiring 18,084 apples and 3,940 almonds) and 3,740 apple turnovers (didn't work out requirements for these as had already given up on the idea of starting event) it is impossible to do without sitting at my computer for 24hrs a day and spending lots of cash too.  To produce the apples/peaches/almonds would require me to fertilize the orchards, but if I have no dung to produce the fertilizer I will be unable to do this. 

As I stated in another post, we are a very small coop consisting of just 5 active members, so the chance of any of the other members being able to help finish this order is not very high.

This could have been an enjoyable event, but I am afraid that so many players have been given impossible orders like mine and it has been spoiled for too many of us.

TMMaddox (US1)

Sincerely hope that the surprise awaiting us on week 5 is getting all our stuff back or paying us half of what it is actually worth. Honestly, I'd be happy if it was a third.

Chalaryl (US1)

Pardon if I missed this somewhere, but I have one question.  If someone starts week one but doesn't finish, can they choose to not participate in subsequent weeks without causing the co-op to fail to progress? Or to state it another way:

2 ppl start, 1 finishes week 1.  Week 1 will have to be repeated.  New week 1 (2nd week of event) - only 1 person starts and finishes.  Is that sufficient to progress the appearance of the deco to 2nd level?

CM Nafaru

PCA (GB1) said:

1 - On Sunday, how do we know who is helping whom and how do we prevent over-donating one item while maybe missing the chance to focus on the next order

2 - what happens to those players who cannot participate 1 or more weeks (vacation for example) will they get a new order the following week or will they get the same identical order over and over ?

1. You will see % displayed in the far right column to see who donated something.

However, this display has no indicator to show which order you and your friends are actually working on.
This will have to be coordinated through other means if you would like to prevent the rare case of donating the same items for the same order at the same time - leading to an "over-donation" (which still isn't too bad considering a potential push in happiness). Communication and coordination will be the key to success on Sunday.

2. What order you get solely depends on the progress of your cooperative. If you managed to finish step 1 successfully, every member will get an order according to difficulty of step 2.

CM Latten

Chalaryl (US1) said:

Pardon if I missed this somewhere, but I have one question.  If someone starts week one but doesn't finish, can they choose to not participate in subsequent weeks without causing the co-op to fail to progress? Or to state it another way:

2 ppl start, 1 finishes week 1.  Week 1 will have to be repeated.  New week 1 (2nd week of event) - only 1 person starts and finishes.  Is that sufficient to progress the appearance of the deco to 2nd level?

Yes, that would work perfectly fine. Only the week you're currently in would be relevant.

buddy194 (US1)

All that would be necessary to change this from a stupid event into merely a tough event would be to change the 100% rule from the whole weekly order to any individual item on the weekly list.  Instead of having to supply all seven of the items on the weekly list, if any one completed item counted towards the co-ops total, this would be a lot of fun, especially since we could help other co-op members complete some of the items they were not able to fulfill.

Farmer Jo Jo (US1)

This event needs prizes BETTER than the No Pain No Gain event.  NPNG is a great event with great prizes (and you don't even donate)...I only wished it lasted longer.  I would take 5 weeks of NPNG over this donation fiasco.  And as mentioned above the 7x7 deco is not congruent with most farm arrangements.

jules314 (US1)

You can also let the Developers know that I can't see how many people can even keep a temporary Viking farm afloat with this Santa's Wish list. I can see the event is going to start soon and I already know it's going to be tough funding it. Not making any of my normal fruit cake or honey cream, and not actually filling market orders is putting a huge dent into profits, especially since I'm still trying to save up since the Candy farm ended.

simfinatic (US1)

Greedy is not the word! That is an understatement at best! While Mr. Greenjeans in Germany laughs at everyone all the way to the bank at Christmas. Thanks for such drudgery! Merry Christmas to them...not us!!

Jerry Boyd (US1)

After seeing the wish list, as they call it, the name needs to be changed, To NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS !!!

CM Nafaru

Alright everyone, as mentioned earlier we sat together with the Big Farm developers in order to discuss all our international feedback given towards the event.

The main points of criticism across all countries were as follows:

• combination of overlapping product requirements (e.g. almonds and almond muffins) and amount of requested goods
  
• donations towards orders could cause financial issues since items are donated and not sold
• incentives & rewards for donations

Everyone involved was very sympathetic and understanding about your criticism and productive ways to tackle some or all of the issues at hand were discussed.

We will most likely need another couple of days to evaluate which of the potential steps can be taken given technical limitations of the game and the event, but overall we're confident that we will be able to quickly identify ways to improve the event for everyone involved!

Important: We cannot promise anything definitive at this point as the evaluation process is still ongoing. We will keep you updated as soon as we have more information for all of you.

Thanks again for all of your constructive feedback and help with answering questions about the event.

eug1 (NL1)

Thanks Nafaru, this is an answer I can live with for the moment. I look forward to the reaction of the developers.

Patricia Jennin (US1)

This has got to be the worst event ever! There is no way I can complete this list without going bankrupt! My whole co-op has decided not to do it. Funny thing is...the ones that are doing it will not participate in the co-op challenge for better prizes. Merry Christmas Good Games!!!

Mira (US1)

It's good that this is being reconsidered, but the fact that players had to point all of these obvious flaws out leads me to wonder whether the developers actually stop to consider whether something might be fun or a chore.

Lately, I've come to realize that this game is actually not much fun at all compared to most others, and I don't even feel like logging in most days.  Most people who feel the same way I do would not even bother to comment, they would just be out the door to more fun things.

Cash grab after cash grab isn't the way to entice people to stay long-term, as it's more than obvious to even a relative newcomer that this company is seriously desperate for money.  All you're doing is turning off even long term players to the game entirely and one day people will just stop logging in.

Mad Bunny (IN1)

How can we increase the quality of the decoration ?

Patricia Jennin (US1)

FarmerMarkD (US1) said:

Thanks Studbuzzrd for posting on behalf of the Brat Pack. As a co-leader of the Pack, I want to mention that several of our members had started participating in this event before realizing the large requirements/small rewards aspect. Personally, this first "easy" week is asking me for items that I could sell for almost $5m! Not only that, but in order to make those items, I'd have to stop filling many of the market orders and completely change production on my farm. I'd be cash poor at the end of the first week, with no chance to build up stock for whatever comes the second week. This just doesn't make sense to me. I'm just happy so many of our members were on line today before me and figured out what a gigantic rip off this event is. They saved me from "donating" any products. As a whole, the Brat Pack is not participating. And I don't appreciate the digs we are getting in this and other threads. If you want someone to blame, try blaming GGS instead of the top coop. 

Our co-op is saying no also to this event. When I first saw all the things they wanted I knew it wasn't doable. Like you we are still recovering from the cc. Maybe this will send a msg. to GGS.

Maggiltilda (NL1)

My major concern is that you don't have time to reorganize your farm and dollars to spare by all events out there, The Candy Island, Coopmissions, Hardworkersevent en the weekly event, It is not a relaxation it looks like  a job, only we get no salary. I know you didn't have to do anything ,but you do anyway. And again a weekly event.

Jiesta (NL1)

@Maggiltilda (NL1) 

But you can choose, right? You don't have to do them all at the same time, you can choose what event(s) you want to do this week/month and what event next week/month.

I f.i. often only do the Island event partially, to gain just enough horseshoes. I often skip the theme event, only do 1 once a month (every time a different one). And our coop only participates in the Coop Challenge once every 3 months.

Highly recommendable, no stress! 

Happy farming!   

Jiesta (NL1)

RunsWivScissors (GB1) said:

Byron Longford (AU1) said:

I think well done GGS, I am liking this.  It is a  bit of variety.  Only minus I have so far is reward for what u donate is not high enough.  I think a bit of a challenge is good, if it is too easy may as well not even do it.

Good job.  And I think this is one of the few times you would have heard this from me.

I sort of agree.I do think that it is way too complex & has a LOT of coops struggling to know what to advise their members to do, so would probably be better 2nd time around, once people understand exactly how it works, but it does have the makings of an interesting event. We still need to see just how the 7th day works, so that could throw a spanner in things if its not what we are expecting & I totally agree that the progress rewards are way too low, they are verging on insulting imo.

I agree with @Byron Longford (AU1) and @RunsWivScissors (GB1) I do like this event, too. Indeed the amounts are very high and the 'hard-work' rewards are way too low comparing to the hard work that is required. And the game is quite difficult to understand - I like the challenge to figure everything out but still don't know exactly what to tell my coop members ...... So it could do with some improvement over all - but I like it.

Fawners (US1)

Well said FarmerMarkD and Studbuzzrd.  I say HUMBUG to GGS and this seriously flawed event!.  It should be named Scrooge's List!!

Pingo4 (US1)

I want to thank Nafaru, Latten and others for listening to our concerns and bringing them forward.  And thanks also to all the players who posted here giving examples and illustrating just where the problems are in this event as it currently stands.  I am very glad the team is looking at changes, and am hopeful the result will be an event that more of us will want to take part in! 

ashim (IN1)

RunsWivScissors (GB1) 

gavinfarms (US1) said:

Question-
How high can the reward happiness go?

The maximum for a level 7 deco that is 7x7 would be 490 happiness.

from where u get this information 

ashim (IN1)

viif39 (IN1) said:

How can we increase the quality of the decoration ?

by noramal upgrade your deco shrey 

tabanam (INT1)

Maggiltilda (NL1) said:

My major concern is that you don't have time to reorganize your farm and dollars to spare by all events out there, The Candy Island, Coopmissions, Hardworkersevent en the weekly event, It is not a relaxation it looks like  a job, only we get no salary. I know you didn't have to do anything ,but you do anyway. And again a weekly event.

I just do the lowest difficulty of the weekly event - it gets done without effort and i get some seeds, feed, xp - so I always see it as a useful thing

spiritoforion (NL1)

On my level 78 farm i can produce a lot of things, but not over 30.000 almonds in a week. I like events and Always try to push myself a little harder to get things done, but this one......
I wish I took the time to read all the rules of the event  before donating a single item. That has cost me already a lot of farm dollars and not being able to complete the list makes it a useless action. This event is the biggest disappointment in this game I ever had.

MRG1 (US1)

CM Nafaru said:

Alright everyone, as mentioned earlier we sat together with the Big Farm developers in order to discuss all our international feedback given towards the event.

The main points of criticism across all countries were as follows:

• combination of overlapping product requirements (e.g. almonds and almond muffins) and amount of requested goods
  
• donations towards orders could cause financial issues since items are donated and not sold
• incentives & rewards for donations

Everyone involved was very sympathetic and understanding about your criticism and productive ways to tackle some or all of the issues at hand were discussed.

We will most likely need another couple of days to evaluate which of the potential steps can be taken given technical limitations of the game and the event, but overall we're confident that we will be able to quickly identify ways to improve the event for everyone involved!

Important: We cannot promise anything definitive at this point as the evaluation process is still ongoing. We will keep you updated as soon as we have more information for all of you.

Thanks again for all of your constructive feedback and help with answering questions about the event.

Thank you for taking all our concerns into consideration.
I sincerely hope that week 2 is actually easier than week 1, otherwise there is no way I am participating again. Week one is extremely hard, but I already had a stockpile in the barn. By week 2 my stockpile will be gone, and I will have earned nothing. Temporary farm will start and I will need to use my money there.

Cookiie4me (US1)

I'm 83% complete on the 2nd day of this event.  I should be able to finish my donations tomorrow and spent the rest of the week re-stocking the inventory, so for me, this event is working out well.  And I have not spent any gold (so far).

I like this game more for events like this than for the heavily competitive events, like the CC challenge.  I'm a builder, not a competitor.  I like an event that gives me a clear goal.  I run my farms at 80% happiness or better, so cash is not an issue for me.

When an event starts I make a decision -- am I participating or not?  I've skipped 2 or 3 island events and I only do missions when I need certificates.  Everyone picks and chooses what to do.  If you don't enjoy an event, just don't do it.

This year I am very Thankful for this game -- Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!