New Release -- December 22nd, 2009 - UPDATE

[picketree]

i think the pay/fire button is a wunderful idea!!!!!

[Tyler45]

Great job developer team. I would rather have the old way back and lose coins/xp points

[ladyismad@yahoo.com]

Thanks for going back to the old version. At least now you can keep up with harvesting and plowing instead of having to catch up. I lost money and points. Happy Holidays to everyone.

[lost soul]

As one of the people who for a long time was losing coins and points I was so happy to see a new version of Farm Town. Last night and this morning was the first time that I did not have to leave a farm that I was working on due to lost coins and points. I think that what many people forget is that this is just a game. So many are rude and arrogant and complain about everything. I have also left farms that I was working on as others were just clicking everywhere and it does not matter how many crops there are they will follow you and start clicking all over the place once again. They are just greedy and I have no doubt that they were the ones with all the complaints about the new version as now they could not do this. I refuse to fight over crops and fields to plow ~ if it is that important to them then they can have them. I laugh when I read how some threaten to leave if the game is not changed back ~ why not just do it instead of threatening. The game would be a lot more fun without them. Nobody has a gun to their head so they are not forced to play. I am so tired of reading their posts and cannot believe how demanding they are considering that they are playing this game for free. I know that at some point today you will be going back to the old version of the game and I am a bit disappointed that all of those that complained got their way as I have no doubt that there were many like myself that like the new version. I guess the problem is that when you are happy with something you do not find the need to post it but when you are not that is the first thing that you do. I hope that a reasonable comprimise can be found.

[esflanag]

I used to pay to play POGO and cancelled my membership when I found FarmTown.. the only problem I have ever had, is that I never got my money (Farm Cash) on my original farm when they handed out the second round of funds. And no amount of postings got me any money. Finally bought my farm cash and have now gone back for a second round of buying Farm Cash.. (and still have not spent as much as my membership for POGO).

Love this game and I just go with the flow. If they change it for the good, then I enjoy it.. If they louse it up, then I just compensate and go back to whatever the majority wants.

As to limiting the number of people hired to do a job.. This STINKS.. we should be able to hire as many as we want.. I would prefer we find a way to FIRE the really lazy workers who don't harvest, but just stand around waiting to plow!

For those who are so uptight and counting coins and XP, I feel sorry for them.. they are losing sight of the fun of the game.. IT IS Truly A GAME!

No need for bugets, spreadsheets etc... Enjoy LIFE!

Originally Posted by Raul

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

[shadowfa11]

Originally Posted by Raul

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

Thank you... you might want to consider limiting it to two or three. You also really need to look at load balancing or fixing the slow servers. I hired 3 people and 1 of them was working 200% faster than the other 2. Even if you can only que 10 fields in advance or withing in a set area.. like a 20 field square it would be better than what we have now.

[hamilob]

Having worked on a farm as a youth (and hating every second of the 28 days and 4 hours) I realize that even when doing your best work, something like the weather could prevent the farmer from planting and/or harvesting... so the farmer lost money, one could argue, lost the experience they would have gained HAD they done this. So, whenever I lost XP or coins... I took a deep breath, and figured it rained and washed the crops and my stuff (coins and XP) away. Nobody said a farmer's live was easy.

I just plowed and harvested for the first time under this method (new or old, I don't know which... new to me, but to others it seems like the old method (your documentation really needs to be improved IMHO... or I just need to find where it all is). Anyway... this is slow, I prefer fast... I'll take a deep breath, no body said a farmers life was easy.

And yes... as someone said. This is a game. I'll consider this 'hindrance' part of a farmers life... some farmers like it, some don't. Pretty realistic game, eh?

Keep on Plowing!

[weedville]

like that you reverted back to the new way even though the slower way had some advantages. my thought is can't there be a happy middle of the road between the two ? as stated in other posts maybe after you start in area you can get the speed but you can't hop around .

Also instead of limiting it to one worker just put a cap to how many people you can hire to harvest and plow. going to a farm with 20 people is over kill..... over all love this game and the improvements have been great .

[Wild]

Originally Posted by bradwill

The playing field wasn't leveled with the update; it was slowed down to a crawl to address the issue of lost XP/coins that may or may not happen frequently. Some seem to not understand the purpose of the update had nothing to do with the few Nazis on FT who want everyone to do exactly what they do and won't tolerate anything else but instead to address the XP/coin issue. The resulting slowness made a few happy and all the rest extremely PO'd.

Anyone who thinks that yesterday's harvesting/plowing was somehow "faster" than the days before is really doing something terribly wrong.

You are absolutely right that the update was not put into place to "level the playing field", but to address the XP/coin issue and that many seem to be missing that point (or they just don't care because they weren't losing XP/coins).

However, I do not believe that you are correct in saying that the majority of people did not like the update or that the update should be rolled back because of the "outcry".

As a player since the first month that the game was released, and as one of the first mods added when they added mods to the forum, my experience tells me several things:

1) Those with complaints about changes/upgrades/ etc are MUCH more vocal about telling the developers about their displeasure than those who like the updates/changes and happily go off farming and enjoying the game.

2) While the forum is here to collect data from the players and the developers have ALWAYS been VERY responsive to the feedback and suggestions that they get, there are those who scream, "I'm quitting" at the drop of a hat rather than offering constructive feedback. Ironically, most do not. They either get used to the "new way" and decide that they actually like it more once they give it a chance, or they take a "leave of absence", go try out some of the other games out there and eventually return because Farm Town offers a level of social interaction that other games do not and because the developers here are always making more and more changes and making the game better.

3) The XP/coin problem HAS to be addressed and this was/is a viable solution to the problem with very little downside.

4) Limiting the number of people who can be hired is NOT a viable solution and WILL cost the developers droves of loyal, long time players who play the game for the social interaction (which is what separates us from "the competition") because they have - since the very beginning - liked being able to hire GROUPS of friends to do "harvest parties" and such. THOSE players are the ones who will stick around - as long as that part of the game is not taken away from them. Those who are only concerned with "getting it done fast", earning points and coins and leveling up will be the ones who will leave ANYWAY because there will never be unlimited levels and enough new stuff to buy to keep them engaged. They will "finish" and then move on to something else.

5) ALL of the people out there using cheat programs (bots) to do their farming WILL hate this new, latest release because it will prevent them from using those programs (which are in violation of the game's TOS anyway).

[hosob]

Let's go back to what we had yesterday. With what we have now, waiting for the avatar to move or catch up is a waste of time. At least before, once all the plots were marked and I could see that no more coins or XP were being added, I could just leave and go on about my business. Now I have to wait for the avatar to move and watch it tell me the he's busy. Give me a digital gun so I can shoot him. How about boxing him in with something so he doesn't move while I'm clicking on things.

What about being able to bring our tools with is to harvest or plow? Maybe use the farm owners tools and our fuel?

Back to the current situation, I have my doubts that "popular demand" played a very big part because I don't think you get input from the majority of the players. It's only a vocal minority that use the forum that has anything to say about it....and I'm only here now to ***** about the change.