New Release -- December 22nd, 2009 - UPDATE

[DISPATCHBABE]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FARM TOWN for listening to your loyal players and changing the harvesting/plowing back to the old way. I would have payed you a million coins to change it back. The game was fun again with the new 2nd farm and other goodies you added but when you made that change i was on my way out the door. I was sad to say goodbye to FARM TOWN but that change was to much to take.
I do appreciate you listening to us because this is and always will be my favorite game.
They idea of limiting the number of ppl you can hire is a good idea. Would solve a lot of problems actually. NO ONE need 7-10 ppl to harvest or plow.
THANKS AGAIN FARM TOWN

[DISPATCHBABE]

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

I am so happy you are changing it back and the idea of limiting the number of hires is a good one. NO ONE need 5-10 ppl to harvest/plow. Make it a limit of 3 for each. Thanks for listening Raul

[DISPATCHBABE]

Originally Posted by LChambliss

I think the developers are wonderful and reactive to problems with the game. The newest changes are wonderful!!! Please do not change it back. I have read posts and I do not understand what is slowing people down? It is much more efficient this way. Maybe the problem lies in not saving when you work, or when you have folks working for you? I prefer the improved stability of the game.

Thanks, Leslie

Leslie,
I don't know how much you have used this new option but I did a friends entire 2nd farm last night and it took almost a half an hour to do 1024 squares. That is just way toooooooo long.
Merry Christmas

[susan gardner jimison]

i like the faster way of harvesting and plowing, this new way is awful. i had to leave 3 farms yesterday because it was so slow and they hired so many people that u did not make any money. please please go back to the faster way of playing, i hope today. waiting for her to plow or harvest each square is for the birds. i lost some coins and xps before but i dont care i would rather work. thanks for your hard work to try and please everybody but this was a bad move. i like the idea of hireing 1 person to work but what if that one person leaves before the job is done? will i be able to go back and hire another one? thanks and make this a merry christmas by going back to the faster version. by the way can u fix the gifts back to where we can send 60 gifts a day instead of 20, i loved it when i could please all my neighbors. thanks

[Joy64]

I think it would be good to make the game so that everyone does have to harvest in a straight line. Many times crops are overlooked when random harvesting. I try to plan my harvesting and it is quicker in a straight line but then right in the middle, somsone hits with a ramdom harvester. You a removing all over the field trying to get the strays. Can't you correct the coin/xp loss without this new version? Make it so you collect as soon as you click on a square whether harvesting or plowing. Frankly, I kind of like the new version with the exception of having to wait to cross the field. That is like the harvesting and plowing before the update before the 22nd. Thanks for listening

[ElkRiverRancher]

Originally Posted by LChambliss

Maybe the problem lies in not saving when you work, or when you have folks working for you?

Thanks, Leslie

Hmmmm ..... Leslie? I believe the 'save changes' feature regards not the 'farming' work of harvesting, plowing and planting, but the 'change' that occurs when a farmer decides to 're-arrange' features on the 'farm', such as moving the location of the 'buildings', 'fences', the trees and planting plots.

That said, I believe no one was 'losing' either coins or xp - the change that was made in that regard was that the 'hired hand' was getting the coins and/or xp points 'at the click' of the mouse, instead of 'at the completion of the 'progress bar' on each worked plot. Because the earlier version did not add the coins/xp until the progress bar on each plot went from '0%' to '100%', players were 'used' to seeing their 'numbers' increase, even when they'd stopped 'clicking'. So, when that version was changed, players were concerned and upset, because they had not been paying attention to their numbers whilst they were 'clicking', but only after they'd 'clicked' all the available work, when the progress bar had not yet shown the played plot at the '100%' completed stage. That was the problem - players thought the uncompleted plots they had worked were not being accumulated on their 'totals' board, when in fact they'd already been added when the plot was CLICKED.

That has been the 'problem' all along, with this game. There is no way for the developers to INSTALL A NEW VERSION OF "PAY ATTENTION" into the players! lol!

[dixiegirl]

First Let me say... Merry Christmas.
You have certainly made my merrier. I was one of the complainers. I love this game, call myself addicted, my friends laugh at me about it. But when i got the new release it made it almost impossible for me to play. I simply do not have that much time at one sitting to play.
So Thank you so very much for listening to your players and changing it back!! I will continue to play the game I love.
As for limiting the number you can hire, im not sure, needs to be more than one because some farms are to large for one. And I like to let the farmers that harvest plow also. Most want to plow because they need the points. I think it needs to be at least 3, or just let us continue to chose. We can always leave the farm, and I have, if there are to many there.

But mostly....THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!

[shellyjnx]

Thank you so much for reverting back to the way it was....In my opinion :-) which don't count for much, why limit anyone to how many they can hire, sometimes I am in a hurry and have to hire a few people, but most of the time I only hire one or two anyway, and really if you get hired and there are 10 people on the same farm, you have the ability to leave on your own. No worries, thanks again for putting it back!

[Roozter]

@VousDeux...
Like you, I tried to pick the out of the way place to start when there were multiple harvesters. However, I never had to wait for my avatar to reach the area I wanted to start. I would start clicking and it would make its' way over. Worked great for me.
I do totally agree that it takes way to long now to wait for it to get where one wants to work and between clicks. Not to mention the stuff that gets in the way..."I'm busy", avatars' head, etc.
And, like you say, practice makes perfect...I have also developed a "method" that enables me to work quickly and efficiently. Those who are not as quick just need to keep working at it. I find a trackball style mouse really helps here.

I also don't agree with limiting number of hires even though I hate it when there are too many...in which case I just say thanks and move on...problem solved. Personally, I never hire more than one unless multiple friends come by.
Instead of having the devs control this issue, I think it's better if we solve it on our own. One way is to utilize the Buddy List and neighbors...harvest and plow just for each other when possible.

Roozter

[Franklyn]

I have just planted my farm. I see what people mean now about the size of the seed bag. It's huge. Didn't interfer with planting though.