New Release -- December 22nd, 2009 - UPDATE
 

Hi There,

We have been monitoring you feedback and most likely we will be reverting to the old version early tomorrow and try to find a better compromise.

One of the alternatives that we considered was to only allow one worker harvesting and one worker plowing on your farm at the same time. This was also suggested by several other users on the other thread, however we thought that was going to be even more problematic.

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

don't mind
 

Well!
I have been playing the game for about six months and feel that it is great.
One thing I have noticed is that everytime you guys improve things for people others get unreasonably( I feel and I am sorry) upset. As the saying goes you can't please everyone all the time.
People should just accept that it is a game, go with the flow and accept the challenges each change brings.

Personally I quite like the new way - as you say it has removed the stamped for crops.

Have a great holiday

PS. I would like to be able to buy a holiday pig though!!!:)

Thank you so much for going back to old version. I prefer the was it was before, unlimited hiring, faster work. As far as potential for collisions, it is worse on this new version since everyone lands in the middle and tries to work in the same area. Personally, I never saw myself lose coins, as they would always show up as I left the job. Thank you for listening.

THANK GOD!!!!
the original way was better. Please do the limited hiring practice as this will reduce the collision issue.
If you have to recode things for it to be done, please reset the game back to the way it was until you have the new code done that limits how many people you can hire.

Thanks again for listening to your valued players and keep up the great work on the game.

Ha!! Just signed up so I could have my rant about the various issues I have had with the update.....seems I no longer have to rant.

THANK YOU so much for reverting back tomorrow :-) Merry Christmas to you all!! Apart from this slightly dodgy update, thanks to the Devs for such a fantastic game, and thanks to the Mods for keeping these forums in line. (I have been lurking and reading in here for months).

I would prefer the way it was, nevermind the random xp / coin loss.....granted I do only hire one person to plow and plant most times...sometimes if I am in a rush I will hire a few to do my farm :-)

Whatever you choose is fine by me now that I know Dec 22 Update isn't hanging around too much longer.

Woooooh!!!

Thank you!!!!!

I never had prolems with the old way, loved it. I never lost points or coins, tonight was the first time that happened.

I like the idea of limiting the number of people you can hire, as long as there's some way to monitor when they leave, because normally i'll hire someone, then stick around in the marketplace looking for jobs, so it would be nice to get a msg pop-up or something letting you know they've left, so that your crops don't go to waste, or so you can hire someone else to finish...

THANK YOU for going back to the old way!!!!

I rarely heard complaints before these changes where made. I have had nothing but frustration tonight while trying to play. As someone else stated everyone is still hiring mulitple people and everyone is trying to stay close to where they are standing to work so here we are all fighting over a little screen place at a time. Before we could quickly move to different areas and work together. I just prefer the old way better as everyone was in a good mood and happy to be playing the game. I do understand updating systems and making play better but have learned to many changes at one time makes for trouble as today has been. Thank you for converting back to the old system.

I like it the way it was. You can choose yourself how many people you want to hire. Please go back to the old farmtown. I really love that game.

I'm glad you'll be reverting back. One reason I like this game over others is that the graphics are more mature. The 12/22 change seemed to make the game more juvenile ... especially the harvesting tool being so huge. It is absolutely too slow, and all of my friends had the same complaint without realizing what had happened. (We hadn't been to the forum yet.)

I think being limited to hiring just a single worker is equally bad. Sometimes a couple of my friends get together on someone's farm and chat away while working together. I have two large farms with enough work to support a couple of workers. I think the choice should be ours. If someone hired from the marketplace feels that there are too many workers on a farm, they have the option to leave. I dread the thought of only being able to hire one person, and equally dread the thought of another day of the game being so slow. All of the fun is gone. And I simply don't have an hour to sit and watch somebody harvest my farm, plot by plot by plot by plot by plot. It's like a toy with run-down batteries.

Many thanks for asking for feedback and for listening.

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. :cool:

I would completely support limited hiring. "Too many workers" is the biggest complaint I hear about on my farm. That is why I hire one, and sometimes two workers, maximum, to work on my farm. I have received many comment from people who thank me for limiting the number of workers on my farm. There are many people with slow connections and they're left out in the cold because of people with very fast connections. By limiting the number of workers it will equal the playing field in a more fair way, yet not slow down someone who may have a fast connection.

Another valid reason for limiting the number of workers that can be hired on a farm is this: I have been hire to work on numerous farms and have found sometimes 6 and 8 other workers there when I arrive. Some of these farms are the smallest a player can actually have in the game. I've yet to understand why 8 workers would be needed on the smallest farm in the game. But, for some reason, there are farmers who feel the need to hire that many workers at one time. That, to me, is a lack of consideration for other only to satisfy one's own lack of patience to wait an extra few minutes for one or two workers to complete the tasks at hand.

Just the thoughts of a Level 60 player here. But, I'll support the developers...no matter what they decide.

Thankyou SO much!!
 

I'm so happy you're going back to how it was before. It wasn't perfect, but it was enjoyable and usable and my favourite game on facebook.
And if the issues with putting trees on top of your crops is caused by a separate update I would love for that to go back to how it was as well. I love having my trees surrounded by plants :)

Thank you for listening to your users, it is appreciated. Limiting hires is an option. However, it is a game and meant to be competitive. Each farmer has the choice of leaving if there are too many others. Many in the marketplace make it clear that they only want solo jobs. They seem to be hired. Personally, I generally hire one rarely two. The game seems to move faster that way. But, I like having the freedom to choose how many to hire.

Forcing farmers to stay until the harvest has been completed has also been suggested. That I oppose. Most of us have lives after all and life can get in the way of a game. If one needs to leave, one should be able to do so.

I think if you limit workers to about 2 or 3 that may be a help. It seems to slow things down if more are in the room at one time. Thanks for your work.

My friends and myself are happy with the new way..:)

I agree with everyone's complaints about over-hiring. But I just wanted to reinforce that some of us (friends) gather on farm and work together. It's how we socialize ... talk about the kids, work, holiday plans, vacation ...

I wish the solution to over-hiring didn't have to be so severe.

It is absolutely too slow
 

even if it is only you harvesting or plowing, the "wait i'm busy" sign is back and............................................... ......................it takes forever to harvest or plow................. too slow...................................:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused: :confused:

quit yelling at us all!

Old Version
 

Hopefully going back to the old version as is indicated will happen will also mean reducing the size of the plant/harvest cursor? I can see it being a little bigger, but my God...it was bigger than a plot of farm land. Please make my Christmas wish come true and reduce the size. And if I didn't post this in the right location...tough..

That is what raul is saying, he and slash key are changing it back but he needs our opinion

Yes, they need our opinion. In a nice, small, quiet font. My eyes were screaming after seeing Donella's post :eek:

I am very thankful to hear u plan to go back to the other way i really like being able to talk to my friends while we were working this new way took that away from me i like the suggestion for limiting hires i for 1 usually only hire one to do my farms and yes i mean farms i have 3 farm on her that i love to work on and i work on at least one everyday some time all of them in a day ive been doing this for awhile now and spent many hour on here and this is the only game i use i was thinking maybe u could use your new patch for the people that use multiple hires only, that might fix things for them cause ive been victim to that cause too to many people for too little farms maybe restricting them will help i dont know

Thanks for listening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The change back won't be soon enough for me!!!!

THANK YOU FOR GOING BACK !!! I've been playing a while and love it, play everyday. I don't like to work in a crowd but just like someone said I have the option to leave and do sometimes. Can I assume when it goes back my screen will quit changing all the time? When trying to plant my plowed areas would disappear and when I would try to move the farm around on the screen it would go back to where it was, very frustrating. Thanks again for going back.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!! I registered just to complain, I did post a complaint and then saw this new thread. (sorry) Thank you for going back to the old way.

As for the hiring, I say set a limit. Small farm 1 and 1, Large farm 2 and 2 and huge farm 3 and 3. I only hire 1 and I have a good size farm but I try to use friends or someone that is under lvl 15 or 20. It would stop the over lapping, but in all honesty people are greedy and there will always be issues but if I can only be playing for 3 weeks and get to level 25 then something is working! Good luck and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Thanks so much for going back Raul!

I don't see what the problem is with fast harvesting and plowing. To me it seems like a skill... heck, it IS a skill.

I only hire one person to harvest my massive crops... I do that because I get 20-30% more for the harvest. It seems that NOBODY knows that little (Large) rule. When my worker gets exhausted and leaves... I hire ONE more.

When I hire others to plow, if no neighbor is around I hire a couple workers. What the heck it's not that big of a job... until this update.

Please go back to the old way
 

I tried to play tonight with the changes that were made and it was not enjoyable. If you don't chose to change back, I really don't find it enjoyable and won't keep playing. I have talked to several people and they feel the same way. Leave it an option if a farmer wants to hire multiple workers! That is just part of the game. I can't tell you how many times tonight when I played that I clicked on a plot and it told me it was already done. It is awful, takes the fun out of it and is dreadfully slow! Thanks for listening to the feedback! It shows you truly want to please your players.:confused::confused::confused:

Happy Farmer
 

Thanks so much for listening, I am sorry for griping, but intolerable is still intolerable and I love this game. I like the idea of limiting the amount of workers, but there could be some control over this, for instance, number of workers linked to number of spaces available to harvest or plow. I hate showing up to harvest 300 spaces with 8 farmers present. But on a large farm, four workers can still be workable and I also love visiting with my buddies and neighbors while working the spaces. Please do not take away the ability to layer, I love my trees where they are, it is so pretty with the crops surrounding them. Trees are my favorite part of this game, but they do not give the coins, and no exp past purchasing them initially. Like the animals, they are mostly worthy of eye candy. And just stacked on the sides is not as attractive or lifelike. Although I would never be able to put as many trees in my real fields as they limit sunlight. I am so glad that I will be able to get up in the morning and complete my harvesting and planting before heading to work. You guys are the best, that's why this game is the best. While I have your ear, wouldn't it be nice to be able to water the flowers in the farms while we wait for our coins to complete? I hate just leaving those dead looking flowers. Thanks again Bye:):):):)

I always stayed till i got my coins and xp, but this new change is doing my head in, toooo slow.. if it doesn't get undone I and my friends are going back to pogo!

YES!! Its so bad. Im on here, often times, too long as it is.
This is way way too slow. Sometimes we are pressed for time
too. Have enough time for a quick visit but at this speed of doing
things.. there is no such thing as a "quick visit" LoL
(And I have a fast connection and good pc)
I love the concept of this but speed it up please.
Thanks Farm Town :)

Thank you!!!!
 

Raul...

Thanks for uninstalling the latest release. My compliments on doing so. It is appreciated fer sure.

My feeling is that the old way was better. There just isn't a perfect solution. Even by slashkey admissions this new release only solved 70% of the lost xp problems anyway.

I don't think limiting the number of harvesters/plowers will work. That can be done but I always have the option of leaving a job if there are too many people.

Thanks again for backing out the new release. I appreciate that.

I sent you this in a private message earlier but I'm an application developer and would be happy to serve in a group that does user/acceptance testing. Just a thought.

Thank you! In addition to going back to the old way while you work on a better "fix," why not give us a fire tool to get rid of inappropriate employees. We've been asking for this tool for a VERY long time and need a way to get people off our farms when they are spoiling the experience.

If someone wants to hire too many people that is their business and their farm. There is nothing forcing us to stay and work when there are too many people working. We can always leave.

The more experienced players do understand that any more than one or two people working is too many. I don't even plant until everything is complete because I know it slows down my workers.

Let's all be courteous and think about our employees and not just ourselves.

Good points! We're gonna give it till the new year and if not undone we're giving farmtown the boot, and back to club pogo!

I like some of the new changes...like the new graphics and functionality. Thanks for taking the time to update and make the positive changes you have been. Most appreciated! It's nice to know you guys are willing to improve!

I like the idea of only allowing one (or two) people per farm on a hire. I think that's great really and it gives a person a chance to get some real coin and xp. Perhaps then we wont have to keep going to the marketplace for new jobs if we get what we need at one or two farms.

But....please yes do go back to the old way of being able to que up the plots while harvesting and plowing. It really makes the game go by so much faster and less of a 'chore' to do the work. For some of us it's 'fun' to see how fast we can get a farm done....and it's great for the hiring farmer too!

Thanks again.....

Peace Out

OK....reality check...now you want to tell people HOW to harvest?? Is everyone forgetting this is a game?

Look...If I want to hire only one person, I'll hire only one....if I want to hire 3 I'll hire 3. That should be my choice. I agree with the person who said if people get hired with more people than they want to work with, then they can leave. What happened to personal responsibility. As for those with slower connections/computers, well, that's life. With any game, some will have advantages. Should I be penalized because I may click faster or have a faster connection? Why not just give different colored jumpers to those who only want to work alone. Then they can decide and I know not to hire them. But as for a few people who want to work by themselves, I should not have to play the game just the way THEY want it played.

I appreciate the work of the devs and the moderators and everything they do to make this game better, but I do think sometimes they give a little too much weight to the opinions of those who just want to control how everyone else plays. We don't need a fire button....just block that person and don't hire them again. We don't need to be told how many people to hire...people can work for us or not as they choose. We don't need someone dictating which pattern we click in when we harvest. I think a lot of these players are new to online games and even chat, and they take this stuff waaay too seriously. You will NEVER be able to control strangers in a game. It doesn't work like that.

Ok...rant over....I'm very happy the game is going back to the old format. Thanks Farmtown....love you guys :o)

Well, all I can say is, Thank Heavens! The 22nd was my birthday ... and I was thinking, 'What a terrible BD surprise, the 'new' version of FT is!'

Frankly, I thought the version working on Dec 21, where coins and xp were added to the player's totals as they clicked, instead of as the plot cleared, was fabulous! I never saw any loss of coins or xp in any of my playing, no matter how many hired hands were working with me. I heard others complain about 'not getting' their coins/xp; but when I pointed out they should watch their totals, and notice that the totals were indeed increasing as they clicked, they did so watch, and did so observe that they were not 'losing' coins, or xp, at all!

I personally thought that farmers who hired 10 workers to harvest a farm, whether it was a 14 x 14 or a 24 x 24, and then also hired another 10 to plow the same farm at the same time, were doing so to be entertained by the 'commotion' - but I always felt empowered, and intelligent enough, to just leave any such employment scene! I also felt e & i enough to just leave, if a farmer hired one player to harvest and another to plow, instead of hiring two (or more) to harvest, and waiting until all the crops that were ready were harvested before hiring the same players to plow, thus allowing both to share in the coins and xp. But, I considered it the farmer's perogative to hire as they pleased .... and my perogative to leave the employment if the farmer's style didn't suit my delicate sense of fair play! lol

Sometimes, trying to please all the players all the time just results in everyone being dissatisfied! I personally think the only 'new' version needed is to include a 'you're fired!' menu offering! And, trust me, such a button might indeed be used without justification by some farmers ... but hey, I'm smart enough to not accept employment a second time by the farmers who 'get a kick' out of a confused mess of hired hands, so I believe I'd be smart enough to refuse employment from a farmer who hired and fired 'for fun'. And I'm sure other players are equally smart! :)

Hello developers I am in agreement with the people who hate the changes at level 60+ and millions of dollars it has taken the challenge out of the game made it more for the younger or people who don’t like a challenge seems these changes are to keep people in their place instead of having fun as for myself I have never lost a dollar or an xp the game was a blast now it take forever to do a harvest or plow and everything is on top of everything to me this game is now a dud.. hard to see with the huge tools and words flying all over the avatar right on top of everything not to mention it feels like your under someone’s thumb not this girl I will be finding another game seems the game has had a lot of creativity taken out of it along with the challenge of it humm could be a meany phoo but why you all know why the changes. I know what your saying the changes are for but those of us who play the game hard know better. People make things up so it looks better well it looks worse and the play has gone out of it thanks for what was a grand game it really is to bad it was the best game out their till now…The game has now become so pathetic!Also the data on your top right corner is totaly incorrect just so you know also the data on the left side...

New Programing--lost connection more of a problem
 

Old Program vs the New Program.

I like certain aspects of both versions.

I think the bigger Issue is the Server Timed Out.

I have lost coins and XP points on both versions.

But, I must say, the times I have lost these , is because I have had the Server Time Out on me.
There is nothing more frustrating than harvest or plowing a complete field ,
then have the server time out on you.
Then you get nothing for all your time.

I wanted to reply about old version vs new. I like the idea of one person harvest and one person plow. I dont know why so many people are in such a hury that they have to hire so many others which causes so many problems. I hire one person to do both and i get really good feedback. There is anouther problem i need to bring up. I was booted out of almost every harvest/plow job tonight. During the process of working, the system reset and sent me to the farmtown load page i lost the work and could'nt appologize to the person who hired me which was also frustrating. My husband who also is on ft as jammer, couldnt even get his aviator to function correctly and lost coins+exp because as he was workin he wasnt gettin any of either. Thank you for trying to make this game more enjoyable and also for listening to us, the people.