Belt System Updates -- June 2nd, 2011

[HelenJS22]

Originally Posted by JAS0643

That really didn't take me that long to come up with and if I really had Raul's ear you all would probably want to kill me. I like the idea of the belts, not the way it was done last night or the way they want to do the belts below the black level though. While I don't want to make it very hard for new players to get a new belt I think that only have to plant 1.5 24x24 full farms with no spaces to get the black belt is a little too easy. It should be a littler harder then that to reach the black belt. If it was harder people wouldn't be racing through the belts which means fewer belt pop ups and posts we have to deal with. I would like to see other things like the belts added to the game. Give us goals to work for but do it in a much better way then that other game company does it. While we would need some help from our neighbors it wouldn't be so much that we had to spam them with request or spam our news feeds for help with the goal. It could also be added to the tool box like the facility manger. The goals are there for people to work on if they choose but if they don't they would not be prevented form leveling up or have stuff locked on them. It would just be an options for those of us that want something different and new to do but the ones that don't want to do them can ignore the goals and never have to see them or get bugged to do them. This would also be a way to give an update every week because each week there would be a new goal or mission to reach and you could do them at your own pace. This would give people something new to do in between updates that have new levels, land, and facilities. It would also be a way to get the social part of the game back into the game. So many people have stopped hiring because they don't need the extra coins for the corps and it is quicker to do it themselves.

Hey Jaz, apart from having way too much time on your hands, that's a good system if it can be done.

I don't let my husband anywhere near my farm town game because he'd have 100 spread sheets, and 50 formulas all worked out to within an inch of their lives.

[Taz D]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

it is still not seperating the belts from the ingredient requests

i just posted for tuna sandwhich ingredients and then went to send my neighbours ingredients

i responded to a whole heap of belt posts and whithin not many clicks it says i didnt get any as i had already reached the limit

i then tried to send my neighbour some ingredients which she got but it said that i didnt get any as i had reached my limit yet it has been 3 hours since my last lot and i only recieved 1 set of ingredients from my post.


AAAAAARRRRRRR Please fix this

AL it is fixed. I did 1 request, then 3 or 4 bonuses, then another request. When I got to the limit for the bonuses I went back and did another request and got it.

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by Taz D

AL it is fixed. I did 1 request, then 3 or 4 bonuses, then another request. When I got to the limit for the bonuses I went back and did another request and got it.

must be intermittent as its not working for me im sure 480 tuna sandwhich ingredients is not 250,000 coins worth of ingredients


just tried it


still not getting my % or recieving any ingredients

[zippity]

Well it looks as if I am going to be blocking this game and moving on. I hate the belt system and all that it brings. You are turning a great game into a crappy Zynga ripoff, that I will have no part in. I have been playing this game almost since it was released and have invested a lot of time and money into this game, but so long now. Guess it is time to go back into the real world . My house will be a lot cleaner now lol. The game was by far the greatest game until you introduced the belt system and then it went due south from there. I see where the game is headed and it just does not interest me one bit to go down that road. So long fellow farmers

[JAS0643]

Originally Posted by HelenJS22

Hey Jaz, apart from having way too much time on your hands, that's a good system if it can be done.

I don't let my husband anywhere near my farm town game because he'd have 100 spread sheets, and 50 formulas all worked out to within an inch of their lives.

Well I like math so it is fun for me I like playing with numbers. I have been in a farm town spreed sheet mood this week. I have been working on getting my farm town data sheet updated. I haven't published anything new yet but I am working on it and should have everything updated early next week.

[Valdoe]

I live in Australia (5pm) and we going into our peak period for people to tend to their farms - America is about to go to sleep (Thank God) England and Europe is just waking up so they will start catching up with their farming.

In the last hour -
I have received from Farmtown 82 Notifications on MY WALL

23 Brown belt notifications flowers and harvest ( they also so said this is going to happen for trees and fish which will increase belt notifications per hour)
8 notifications to work in people facilities
8 notifications to refer clients
43 notifications to send ingredients
Most of the notifications came from my friends in the US and there going to bed.. I hate to look back on my wall and see how many notifications I got when it was US peak period of farming.

How many notifications will I get flooded by when my Australian friends come online from work to catch up with their farms ( this is the start of our peak period) and at the same time my English and Euro friends start farming too.


Farmtown is a great game because of all the challenges you give us. You give us a choice how to play the game and what we want to do with our farms, BUT IT GIVES YOU NO RIGHT TO FLOOD MY WALL with FARMTOWN NOTICES.

You say I don't have to notify my friends of things by hitting skip... and I DO.. but what about others that don't?

On my facebook I have a section called "Games Request" area where I can see the requests of gifts and other Farmtown and other games notification which I use all the time.

PLEASE PLEASE Continue notifying us in the "games request area" but kill the notifications that go to our wall.
.......... DO NOT MAKE ME CHOOSE - I don't want to block my friends or Farmtown

Spamming people walls does not encourage new people to play the your game
Good word of mouth will get new blood to play FARMTOWN.


ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I spend good hard cash to play this game.. and now you destroying Farmtown and making it into another Farmville.

If you aim is to kill this game then tell us so we stop wasting our money.

[Aero 1]

Originally Posted by Caren Katsmom

Raul, you are breaking my heart. I truly loved this game. You have been a genius, up to now (in my opinion). The belts are a disaster. Your explanation above is clear as mud. I get a headache trying to read it, much less trying to understand it. Shall we all start taking notes?

I've been playing Farm Town for two years now. I left the game for several months when it became boring... started playing Farmville, which was exciting at that time (to me). Zynga made the same mistake you are making right now. They decided to change the whole character of the Farmville game. They started making us post constantly... beg endlessly... build and build and build... makes me shake all over just remembering how frustrated I became with the game. The glitches multiplied with every new bell-and-whistle they added. I quit playing Farmville. Eventually, I quit playing every Zynga game and only send gifts if I can avoid opening the game.

I came back to Farm Town, and I was enchanted. You took a tired game and brought it to life. It was exciting again... and kept getting better and better with each new update. Raul, you achieved something that no other game on Facebook had ever done. You got me to spend real money on your game. I never gave Zynga one cent, in spite of playing many of their games for long periods of time. You got my money because Farm Town was different; special. At last, I could come home from a long day at work and just relax and have fun playing a game.

I trusted you, and I trusted Slashkey. I invested quite a lot of real money into Farm Town. I've recruited friends to play the game, and/or to return to playing the game. I can only speak for myself, but based upon many comments I've been reading today from other loyal Farm Town players... many long-time players who have invested in this game are feeling betrayed right now. I definitely am. The Belts feature is much more than just a new thing in the game. It represents a major change in policy... a change in the whole character of the game. You are taking away the game we love, and turning it into a Zynga game clone. You are introducing LIMITS. I hate limits. You are introducing pressure to post and spam the news feed. I hate spam posting and begging. People who leave Zynga games and feel at home in Farm Town are not going to stick around if you change this game to a Zynga clone.

I have a long list already of glitches in the modified Belts feature. I'm posting them on my wall. I feel my blood pressure rising, like it used to when I played Zynga games. I work hard all day, Raul. I won't play games that stress me, or put Stop signs in front of me... make me watch a clock... pressure me to choose which friends to help... frustrate me with glitches every day. I want to control my own game. I will not play a game that insists on controlling what I do, when I do it, or makes me beg others to be able to do it.

Limits are bad enough in a game, but... three hour limits? Raul, wake up. People work. They have jobs, and families to take care of. It's nice that you want to give an advantage to the unemployed or disabled, or whomever else is able to stay home all day and night and play games whenever they want to; but it's a very bad policy.

It will break my heart to walk away from Farm Town, and find another game that makes me (once again) feel relaxed and comfortable; but I will do it. I've done it before. I beg you to reconsider the direction you're taking this game, before it's too late. Get rid of the Belts -- and limits -- and anything else that is not what Farm Town is about.

Thank you for letting me express my thoughts and opinions. If I didn't care so much about Farm Town, believe me... I wouldn't waste my time doing this.

I feel exactly the same way couldn't have put it better myself

Why couldn't the belt system have been a personal goal for each player so that when you reached each a black belt you had 1 farm cash, no pop ups, no notifications just something for us long time players to aim for, players who have played since the beginning and are looking for new goals. I have spent loads of real money on this game and it would be real nice to get a bit back.

[maggiel29]

Raul - thank-you for responding so quickly. I was missing the pop-up notifications of when I had achieved a belt and seeing the little disappearing text was nice. It is never easy to please everyone, you are trying to keep this game interesting and evolving - that is much appreciated. I for one like this little extra incentive and would not want to see it go.
For those of you with flooded news feeds - go to your home page, click on "Most Recent" at the top right. Then click on the little drop down arrow and select "Status Updates" or whatever you want to see. Bingo - no more posts from games. You can then go to the games page and see all the posts for belts/ingredients.
I dont know that it is possible for a FB game to stop posts to news feeds and keep them on the game page.
For those of you comparing this to the dreaded Z games - - they do NOT give the same rapid response to problems. They have multiple new things all going on at once (most of which are juvenile) and worst of all of them hooking up with commercial entities to promote their product.

[Valdoe]

Originally Posted by maggiel29

Raul - thank-you for responding so quickly. I was missing the pop-up notifications of when I had achieved a belt and seeing the little disappearing text was nice. It is never easy to please everyone, you are trying to keep this game interesting and evolving - that is much appreciated. I for one like this little extra incentive and would not want to see it go.
For those of you with flooded news feeds - go to your home page, click on "Most Recent" at the top right. Then click on the little drop down arrow and select "Status Updates" or whatever you want to see. Bingo - no more posts from games. You can then go to the games page and see all the posts for belts/ingredients.
I dont know that it is possible for a FB game to stop posts to news feeds and keep them on the game page.
For those of you comparing this to the dreaded Z games - - they do NOT give the same rapid response to problems. They have multiple new things all going on at once (most of which are juvenile) and worst of all of them hooking up with commercial entities to promote their product.

Unfortunately all though a great way to rid notifications but you have to do this each time you log on... what a pain.. I made a farmtown group for approx 50 my close friends and family only which over 30 of them are active players and the ones I want to follow. Selecting Update status will show ALL the posts that I've be friended (150 on the list) making it worse because now I am seeing 100 more people unwanted posts

[JAS0643]

Originally Posted by Valdoe

Unfortunately all though a great way to rid notifications but you have to do this each time you log on... what a pain.. I made a farmtown group for approx 50 my close friends and family only which over 30 of them are active players and the ones I want to follow. Selecting Update status will show ALL the posts that I've be friended (150 on the list) making it worse because now I am seeing 100 more people unwanted posts

You can hide those people from your news feeds. You can also bookmark the status only updates and go that that every time you go to the bookmark you have saved.