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

jules314 (US1) · 25.11.2015

Cookiie4me (US1) said:

farmerjohn 22 (US1) said:

Cookiie4me (US1) said:

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).

Are you aware that even if you complete 100% of your list that you'll be stuck at the same deco level next week if even one member of your coop hasn't completed their list?

John I'm in a 2 person coop with my husband -- if he doesn't complete his end of things, what do YOU think is gonna happen?

But I'm sorry, this is likely not the case for many of us that aren't able to enjoy that luxury. We are in coops that are much larger with people all around the world as members. Some people aren't able to participate all week and the required amounts are absolutely ridiculous. So yes, your comment is a funny one but it's not helpful to say that your progress reflects many of the rest of here that are struggling.

pollop (US1) · 25.11.2015

Big Farm just released the Wish List for week 4:

Level 40 and up players will have to donate the following to fulfill the Wish List:

2 Kidneys
4 Unicorns
3 Purple People Eaters
2 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Rings
and last but not least..... You're first born male child.

If you can't complete it within 6 days, you can ask your coop members for their child, but it must be male.

Remember fellow farmers, It's only a game, and the game is what you make it

Helga7 (US1) · 25.11.2015

I'm right there with everyone else - filled half of the orders only to realize I'd given away bazillions in resources and gotten nothing back. Two others in my family did the same thing. We lost a lot, but we're cutting our losses and we're done. GGS, you're losing players' support left and right. Major fail, GGS.

LuckyKarl1 (GB1) · 25.11.2015

Kamilcom (GB1) said:

CM Nafaru said:

I would like you all to focus on actual calculations, though, instead of just assuming that each and every order is too hard to fulfill given some examples shown on the forums.

First results of our data analysis show that some users have already almost finished their first order, just some hours after starting the event - without spending a single gold coin, even as a high level player.
This indicates that there could be a discrepancy between perceived difficulty and actual difficulty. Or it could mean that the difficulty changes a lot depending on playstyle, strategy, farm setup and level.

Therefore we would like you to try and remain level-headed and give feedback based on your own orders instead of basing your own experience on experiences of other users (except if you would like to talk for them or emphasize on a general problem you see).

That's all I meant to say. General panic won't help, constructive criticism as well as thinking about potential strategies is more likely to do help in this case.

I think you are missing the point here a bit. Maybe some orders are doable - appart from those parts proven not to be by calculations already (which should be enough for you to see the point) but anyway. It is the overall investment compared to reward which put's a lot of people off. Who's going to put all this time and dollar investment into near useless deco and sort of laughable hw rewards? I certainly have a better use for it. And even if I could do it, it's not just me, but the whole co-op, with people spending much less time around computer then me. Your talking about "panic" is completely inappropriate here. It's not panicking. It's our assesment, and it is informed assesment. It could be more precise if everybody did all the calculations, but we would most likely arrive at the same conclusions anyway. It's not relaxed Christmas fun, which many expected. Balancers blew it. Face it.

As to gold reportedly not spent, the same results can be achieved using sea-weed stuff. Which basically still relates to gold as you don't get that much sea-weed products in-game withoug spending gold..

No offence to you, but on the other hand don't think that we are all fools not knowing what we are talking about. Many people have life, you know.

EDIT: Ther's one point I can think of that would sort of justify your comments. That is you intentionally made some orders not doable while others more easily doable, so as to encourage mutual help among co-op buddies. Well, even if ...... I wouldn't go for that either, unless I see at least half of co-op budies with contracts like a piece of cake.

nafaru i was at start a lvl 19 payer i had to make 10600 pigs,this was actually impossible ,i HAD to spend 3,500 gold to sort out my farm so i could do this amount and not let my
co-op down i have achieved 70% and run out of animal feeds,as a lvl 2 mill(cannot get lvl 3 mill till i am lvl 28) is not big enough..this santa thing was not well thoughtout at all

coolyoungtd (US1) · 25.11.2015

I don't understand this event. I just dumped a barn full (1200) of eggs beyond my weekly request and the happiness meter went from 15.152 to 15.162. It seems like we are trying to get to a happiness of 16 to earn 100 ears of corn. Let me see, it takes 9 feed for me to earn 48 eggs. It takes 26 ears of corn to produce 10 feed. That and average of 23.4 ears of corn to get 48 eggs. To get to 16.000 happiness from 15.162 requires 0.838 more happiness which is 100,560 eggs at 1200 per 0.01 happiness. This means I'll need to produce 49,023 ears of corn to get 1885.5 chicken feed to get 100560 eggs, to get 0.838 happiness to earn 100 ears of corn for my co-op. This is after all the other stuff I've donated above and beyond to get to 15.162 happiness. Does this make any sense? I've been reading the event descriptions and the forum and can't seem to find out how to increase happiness and whats the point of donating goods above and beyond the requested amount for the week.

LuckyKarl1 (GB1) · 25.11.2015

This event ,is too much. the orders are too big yes they are possible but it means you cannot earn dollars to grow.
i was a lvl 19 at start and HAD to spend gold to have a CHANGE of fulfilling my orders,so you saying about no one using gold is unfounded.
However due to the large sums needed on the list i also cannot sell very much in order to make dollars,to grow and progress.
The santa list is far too big and also crippling on grow,far much more than other weekly events..
this is constructive,but also it will be ignored,and rhetoric will be spewed forth rather than you yourself give something constructive..
The orders need to be made possible without stiffiling growth or enjoyment of the game.
i am off work this week and MIGHT manage my order.
LEVEL 19 and THIS IS MY ORDER
1160 corn
300 chicken feed
5490 milk

5390 pigs

8640 apples

5330 pigs

This might seem small to alot here,but for a lvl 19 it is excessive as to where i can grow..

debj (GB1) · 25.11.2015

Sorry about the long message but have waited too see how this event is working out ... and also this forum keeps signing me out every time I change page for the last 3 weeks so am taking the opportunity to add whilst i can ...

This event is just so badly thought out. My cooperative has 42 members ranging from L192 to L19, all of us work and so we are quite relaxed about activities but we try to do our best whilst still keeping the game fun and sociable. And even though we said not to start unless you thought you could get 100%, most have wanted to join in and only then realised the problem ....

One donated 3% of the order and hasn't been online since because was so aggrieved at this event and is one of my cooperative top players, another is going on holiday for 2 weeks to celebrate his 60th birthday from today didn't realise and started and is now upset that he will cause the cooperative trouble, then we get to those who are staying online but the amounts are a problem ... a L38 player has been asked for 16,000 apples and over 6,000 apple pies and fruitcake as well and only has 2 apple orchards.

To add to the problem of those getting almonds and apple pie or almonds and almond muffins what appears to be causing the greatest trouble is so many throughout the coop being asked for both large quantities of fruitcake and apple pie or two products from flower shop as a result we are all going to struggle to refill to help out on Sunday let alone do anything next week especially as we won't know what will be on the order on sunday.

You described in an earlier post that it was like the telescope event ... the problem is for my cooperative that when I said this it didn't mean much because only about 7 of us who have seen that event are still playing therefore although we can understand not seeing what we are getting the rest cannot as they have never come across this style of event before. I will add that most of us who did do the telescope event said it was not worthwhile and was glad when it stopped coming. To donate so much with no guarantee of a minimum end result is not good and will leave many people feeling upset and aggrieved.

Then we get to the dollars ... between islands and costs involved most are struggling severely with dollars. To afford to donate so much for 5 weeks is impossible to withstand for anyone. The lower level players assume that the the higher level players will be able to compensate as we normally do with projects but because of the scaling we will not be able to help enough. Have your balancers taken into account when determining what each farm should be capable of contributing that now because of the island development has slowed? members from L30 to L100 now have much less well developed farms because they do the island events and as a result they have to focus on developing their main farms which means a lot of my cooperative have considerably less than optimal gourmet and flower farms and those are the people getting a lot of gourmet and flower farm requests.

Many people within the cooperative did not understand the event and there are so many not obvious aspects that it has made it overly complicated ... even with an explanation some members of my cooperative thought everyone's list was the list that they could see and so it wasn't so bad and started.

And just one thought ... if so many people do not play week 2 because of how badly thought out this event has been nor start it .... hasn't the development of this event been a waste of GGS money?

So in summary ... quantities too large; event too long; amounts do not take into account that it is Xmas people go on holiday and also work; too many items needing the same product; too many items needing either the bakery or the flower shop in one list; does not seem to have taken into account the impact of island events on farm development and dollars; too complicated to understand; because is donation a serious financial impact on the farm; also too much work to make it fun and games are supposed to be fun or else people quit which has been happing a lot in my cooperative with people citing too many cooperative challenges.

A lot of words have been used within my cooperative to describe this event most of which have had to be left to the imagination due to word blocker .... but honestly one simple word sums it up ... bad.

and ways to solve it ... sorry draw a blank because there are too many fundamental problems. However, a lot of rebalancing of quantities and items and make santa pay for the goods he gets might help though ....

Jiesta (NL1) · 25.11.2015

@CM Nafaru @CM Latten

QUESTION:

Coop 1) has the possibility to merge with another coop 2). That other, smaller coop 2) of 5 persons (highest level = 22) would then join the first coop 1). Coop 2) hopes to be able to finish this Santa's Event by joining, and coop 1) hopes to fill its empty spots a bit more and get more benefit from doing so .....
What would be the consequences? Would it be wise to merge the 2 coops together now or better after the event?
We know coop 2) loses all its money, gold, coll-items given tot the coop. But will they also lose their Santa's list from this week?Would taking this step now benefit both of the coops?What would the consequences be for the happiness value and/or visual upgrades of the deco?I they do lose their Santa's list for this week, would it then be an idea to let them join coop 1) on Sunday evening or very early on Monday morning so that they'll have a fresh start with a new list on Monday? What will then be the consequences for both coop with regards to this event? Hope to get a respond from a CM. But if anyone else thinks they know the answers, please jump in!
THX

PS: I tried to put an ordered list in this post, but this doesn't seem to work!! Technical bug?

BriannospamGame (SKN1) · 25.11.2015

@Jiesta (NL1)
Personally I think that it will be beneficial for both coops if the merger as soon as possible.

Here comes the explanation why I think that with quotes from the announcement in italic:

If a cooperative member leaves, or is removed during the course of one event step, all additional progress they contributed to the happiness meter will be lost. These users have to start their orders over again if they join another cooperative or re-join their existing cooperative.

ok... the players from the small coop loose what they already have donate, but:

** Hint: The more member slots you have unlocked for your cooperative, the more members should take part in the event to maximize the happiness of your cooperative decoration!

But !!! - there is also a (in the moment) unknown factor:
GGS has admitted that there should be some adjustments or changes to this event!

But there is currently no information about what will be changed, we only can hope the best.
Read this message from @CM Nafaru :
Nafaru: https://community.goodgamestudios.com/bigfarm/en/discussion/comment/2714597/#Comment_2714597

Edit: Added comment: Because of the unknown comming changes: I'll say: Merged as soon as possible, but don't donate more than you already have done before we known how they will change this event.
- good luck.

Farmer Loki (US1) · 25.11.2015

pollop (US1) said:

Big Farm just released the Wish List for week 4:

Level 40 and up players will have to donate the following to fulfill the Wish List:

2 Kidneys
4 Unicorns
3 Purple People Eaters
2 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Rings
and last but not least..... You're first born male child.

If you can't complete it within 6 days, you can ask your coop members for their child, but it must be male.

Remember fellow farmers, It's only a game, and the game is what you make it

OMG---ROFL!!! You know, I was going to post the "first born child" requirement as soon as I looked at the requirements for this debacle. Yup---that's pretty much it. Kidneys, kids, maybe a unicorn....meh. My co op has also realized what a waste of resources, money & time this is and will not participate in it--it's harsh enough for the higher level players--I can't imagine how much worse it is for the lower level ones. Bad idea, bad Santa, just.....bad.

Dixie Daisy (US1) · 25.11.2015

Tiggergirl77 (US1) said:

To CM Popeye - ok so I have a question - when it says you can choose to skip a donation and it won't affect the coop going to the next level.... does this mean you cannot donate anything in the list at all???? is the 100% needed for the whole list or just each thing you start in the list... idk if i'm making any sense but I don't know how else to put my question! LOL

If you see you can not do one of the items, do NOT donate anything of that item. I don't have a bakery, and I got apple pie. Well, the game gave me apple pie in a "bubble" from a worker. I cannot donate it, cause it will make me play that item. If you do not donate to an item at all, then it is not counted or looked upon on day 7. It is like it isn't there. So don't start one, if you think you can't do it. Leave it. However, if you do accidently start one you can't finish, on day 7, the game will give you a substitution to do. Then your co-op members can help donate to that subsitute item. Hope this helps. Prayers!

Kamilcom (GB1) · 25.11.2015

@debj (GB1) Applaud to Debj. Excellently written summary.

debj (GB1) said:

Sorry about the long message but have waited too see how this event is working out ... and also this forum keeps signing me out every time I change page for the last 3 weeks so am taking the opportunity to add whilst i can ...

This event is just so badly thought out. My cooperative has 42 members ranging from L192 to L19, all of us work and so we are quite relaxed about activities but we try to do our best whilst still keeping the game fun and sociable. And even though we said not to start unless you thought you could get 100%, most have wanted to join in and only then realised the problem ....

One donated 3% of the order and hasn't been online since because was so aggrieved at this event and is one of my cooperative top players, another is going on holiday for 2 weeks to celebrate his 60th birthday from today didn't realise and started and is now upset that he will cause the cooperative trouble, then we get to those who are staying online but the amounts are a problem ... a L38 player has been asked for 16,000 apples and over 6,000 apple pies and fruitcake as well and only has 2 apple orchards.

To add to the problem of those getting almonds and apple pie or almonds and almond muffins what appears to be causing the greatest trouble is so many throughout the coop being asked for both large quantities of fruitcake and apple pie or two products from flower shop as a result we are all going to struggle to refill to help out on Sunday let alone do anything next week especially as we won't know what will be on the order on sunday.

You described in an earlier post that it was like the telescope event ... the problem is for my cooperative that when I said this it didn't mean much because only about 7 of us who have seen that event are still playing therefore although we can understand not seeing what we are getting the rest cannot as they have never come across this style of event before. I will add that most of us who did do the telescope event said it was not worthwhile and was glad when it stopped coming. To donate so much with no guarantee of a minimum end result is not good and will leave many people feeling upset and aggrieved.

Then we get to the dollars ... between islands and costs involved most are struggling severely with dollars. To afford to donate so much for 5 weeks is impossible to withstand for anyone. The lower level players assume that the the higher level players will be able to compensate as we normally do with projects but because of the scaling we will not be able to help enough. Have your balancers taken into account when determining what each farm should be capable of contributing that now because of the island development has slowed? members from L30 to L100 now have much less well developed farms because they do the island events and as a result they have to focus on developing their main farms which means a lot of my cooperative have considerably less than optimal gourmet and flower farms and those are the people getting a lot of gourmet and flower farm requests.

Many people within the cooperative did not understand the event and there are so many not obvious aspects that it has made it overly complicated ... even with an explanation some members of my cooperative thought everyone's list was the list that they could see and so it wasn't so bad and started.

And just one thought ... if so many people do not play week 2 because of how badly thought out this event has been nor start it .... hasn't the development of this event been a waste of GGS money?

So in summary ... quantities too large; event too long; amounts do not take into account that it is Xmas people go on holiday and also work; too many items needing the same product; too many items needing either the bakery or the flower shop in one list; does not seem to have taken into account the impact of island events on farm development and dollars; too complicated to understand; because is donation a serious financial impact on the farm; also too much work to make it fun and games are supposed to be fun or else people quit which has been happing a lot in my cooperative with people citing too many cooperative challenges.

A lot of words have been used within my cooperative to describe this event most of which have had to be left to the imagination due to word blocker .... but honestly one simple word sums it up ... bad.

and ways to solve it ... sorry draw a blank because there are too many fundamental problems. However, a lot of rebalancing of quantities and items and make santa pay for the goods he gets might help though ....

ayman chaudhary (INT1) · 25.11.2015

Love Santa

katmorr (AU1) · 25.11.2015

Oh my, so many disappointed and unhappy farmers. Takes the good cheer and sparkle away from the festive season.
I have read many/most of the comments.
However, I may have missed, reading what may answer my question.
My question being -
If a co-op has a member not online during any week of the event, unable to contact. Can Co-op see what needs to to be added by that member on Sunday. If new members are accepted, members removed, how does this effect Santa's Wish List?
Happy farming
and a early happy Christmas wish to all
k

Jiesta (NL1) · 25.11.2015

In French forum it is already announced by a Community Manager that massive changes are expected before the end of this week. Massive changes for players that is, it is mentioned that this will not necessarily mean massive changes with regards to the structure or operation of the event. < (= abbreviated quick translation)

First post French CM: https://community.goodgamestudios.com/bigfarm/fr/discussion/comment/2716086/#Comment_2716086

Second post French CM: https://community.goodgamestudios.com/bigfarm/fr/discussion/comment/2716231/#Comment_2716231

Third post French CM:
https://community.goodgamestudios.com/bigfarm/fr/discussion/comment/2716402/#Comment_2716402

From the last (3rd) post I have translated this for you:

[quote] "We regret that we can't yet confirm the precise nature of these changes, the planning, etc. - but for now our information is not specific enough. The only certainty we can give you is there will be many changes and they are perfectly in line with the wishes expressed by the players". [unquote]

katmorr (AU1) · 25.11.2015

Jiesta (NL1) said:

In French forum it is already announced by a Community Manager that massive changes are expected before the end of this week. Massive changes for players that is, it is mentioned that this will not necessarily mean massive changes with regards to the structure or operation of the event.

First post French CM: https://community.goodgamestudios.com/bigfarm/fr/discussion/comment/2716086/#Comment_2716086

Second post French CM: https://community.goodgamestudios.com/bigfarm/fr/discussion/comment/2716231/#Comment_2716231

Thankyou Jiesta. I guess my questions are....what if??? I haven't been able to find related discussions, I don't want to leave it until the last minute to find I should have been better prepared.
Members can help each other out. Do we help out by supplying items or supplying harvest to help produce items. We all want to help out the best way we can.
Thanks again
k

Kamilcom (GB1) · 25.11.2015

Sounds "massively" promissing @Jiesta (NL1). If only my French was a bit better.

Jiesta (NL1) · 25.11.2015

French Forum:

I will try to keep my post here above updated to my best abilities (and spare time, coz many other things to do), so please check back to it if you wish to hear the latest.

adoptapet (US1) · 25.11.2015

pollop (US1) said:

Big Farm just released the Wish List for week 4:

Level 40 and up players will have to donate the following to fulfill the Wish List:

2 Kidneys
4 Unicorns
3 Purple People Eaters
2 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Rings
and last but not least..... You're first born male child.

If you can't complete it within 6 days, you can ask your coop members for their child, but it must be male.

Remember fellow farmers, It's only a game, and the game is what you make it

What? Only one of my sons?? I guess that is considered "doable" by GGS standards.

DonnaSue58 (US1) · 25.11.2015

I play a lot, & have progressed really fast...& did extraordinarily well in all of the competitions....but, really? How am I supposed to grow a couple thousand peaches, & make 3800 fruity cream cakes, & donate all of my fertilizer at the same time....it is an oxymoron.....it is not possible. I would have to have a farm 3 times my size....& there isn't enough land for that. So, even though I play night & day, I will not be able to accomplish the task...not even by using seaweed, which I have done....so here I am, 2300 short on the cream cakes, & a 1000 short on the peaches as of this writing. The thing is, everyone in my co-op is looking at the same problem. You asked for the product & the production material at the same time.

katmorr (AU1) · 25.11.2015

Farmer Loki (US1) said:

pollop (US1) said:

Big Farm just released the Wish List for week 4:

Level 40 and up players will have to donate the following to fulfill the Wish List:

2 Kidneys
4 Unicorns
3 Purple People Eaters
2 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Rings
and last but not least..... You're first born male child.

If you can't complete it within 6 days, you can ask your coop members for their child, but it must be male.

Remember fellow farmers, It's only a game, and the game is what you make it

OMG---ROFL!!! You know, I was going to post the "first born child" requirement as soon as I looked at the requirements for this debacle. Yup---that's pretty much it. Kidneys, kids, maybe a unicorn....meh. My co op has also realized what a waste of resources, money & time this is and will not participate in it--it's harsh enough for the higher level players--I can't imagine how much worse it is for the lower level ones. Bad idea, bad Santa, just.....bad.

....and a Partridge in a Pear Tree....Bad idea, bad Santa, just ....bad (greedy Santa) Christmas time is the time for giving, not receiving....(We're sure as heck not receiving). BTW the first born was a male, NO WAY AM I GIVING HIM UP! (the best comment I have read

)

CM Popeye · 25.11.2015

Hey farmers, I spoke a bit too soon in regards to the timing of the update. It was a misunderstanding on my part, and I apologize for that. Please take a look at the message from my good friend 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.

enochnock (US1) · 25.11.2015

@Jiesta (NL1) Thanks for the information, looking forward to see how/what changes are going to be made to improve this event. Going to read.

adoptapet (US1) · 25.11.2015

My grandson thinks this event is more of a "Satan" list than Santa list. Santa brings presents and joy!

Out of the mouths of babes....

Pingo4 (US1) · 25.11.2015

Jiesta (NL1) said:

French Forum:

I will try to keep my post here above updated to my best abilities (and spare time, coz many other things to do), so please check back to it if you wish to hear the latest.

Thank you VERY much, Jiesta, for taking the time to translate and share this information!

Doctor Annie (US1) · 25.11.2015

Is there any indication how much time we have on Sunday to help our friends finish? It would be useful to know when we will run out of time

Cathaline (US1) · 25.11.2015

I am very glad to hear that feedback is being taken into account!

I do have one question (or, really, something I hope can be passed on to the developers to take into consideration): how are we going to be compensated for the rough start? It seems likely that my co-op is going to decide not to continue with the challenge, and by the time the changes go live and we potentially revote, it will most likely be much too late to complete week one. I do not like the thought of our co-op failing week one and losing our "safety" week/our opportunity to get the highest-level deco because the event was poorly balanced to start with. I feel that a significant number of co-ops will probably be in the same boat. I understand that there is only so much tweaking that can be done to the challenge and a flat restart is impossible, but I am also concerned that the changes, though welcome, may be too little too late if the devs do not take into account the sheer number of people who gave up after beginning their orders, particularly since this is a holiday weekend in the US.

tabanam (INT1) · 25.11.2015

Can we continue to work on our own orders on sunday?

gavinfarms (US1) · 25.11.2015

Doctor Annie (US1) said:

Is there any indication how much time we have on Sunday to help our friends finish? It would be useful to know when we will run out of time

I have been assuming that this is 24 hours from the start time of the game "day" which is 6 p.m. EST in America, but if it is different, we do need to know.

gavinfarms (US1) · 25.11.2015

Also, will the challenge come during this? Because that would be particularly hard, and my coop would probably do worse on one or the other (or both) as a result.

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

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