Newbie observation

I have sugar, salt, and floral wire trees. It made sense to me to go ahead and open them up first. I'll get to the bakery whenever I am willing to spend the RL money to open it up. I have been pleased with opening up the confectioner followed by the florist, but it seems to be a personal decision based on the original recipes offered per level and a person's strategy in game.

 

I did spend some BBs because I decided to go ahead and open the bakery shortly after I opened the confectionary. I haven't opened the florist. I think I'll wait and see what the next (not tomorrow's) Renzo fair brings - by then maybe I'll be ready for a third trade.

If you haven't already, start fulfilling the Country Fair and Farming Contest quests. I found the Country Fair easier and have gotten through the first five levels of it. Those trophies are a pain in the derriere to lug around from field to field, but they really do increase the drops - I never needed any extra of those bouquet holders and have managed to amass quite a few sugars, salts and floral wire (they'll come in handy eventually).

That said, I also only bake or make jam every couple days. And I can tell you that the confectionary you start out with two - apple jam and rhubarb jam. Apple jam isn't all that wonderful. Rhubarb jam is better, but you gotta have 100 rhubarb to make one jam...so I didn't make any during the Easter event. The Bakery you start out with Bread Roll and Oat Bread. Bread Roll gives a little EP. Oat Bread gives you additional wheat in your wheat harvest for 8 hours...I bake a couple every few days and then spend some time planting and harvesting wheat...because without wheat, you can't bake anything. - the basic dough need 100.

So then today I finally decided to go for it and buy the pumpkin jam recipe - it was 81 BBs in the Pirate Pig's corner...figured it wouldn't get any cheaper, so I plunked down the BBs and now I can make that, too, that is if I grow more pumpkins. The moral of this story is that additional recipes cost you RL money.

 

@sewinglady ..just so you're aware, there is a half price shop sale every once in a while and you can get the recipes in that. I too bought some full price and in the Pirate's Cove until I found out about the sale.. . I would also advise that some craft items just aren't economical to make compared to what you can buy them for but obviously it's your call on what's worth it..

 

A point to ponder....

Once you have the first 2 trades open (confectioner, bakery or florist) to level 3, you automatically get the third trade for free. I agree with fifi -- you will find some recipes not worth buying. There are many I have not bought.

 

Oh figures...well, lesson learned. I have a feeling that at the rate I'm going, it's going to be months before that third slot will open up unless I win it at Renzo's fair.

 

From the FAQ - "At the moment, you can open 1 trade for free, a 2nd one as a purchase or won at Renzo's Fair, and the 3rd trade will open automatically when the 2 other trades are both at Trade-Level 3. This only applies to the level 40 trades: Bakery, Confectionery and Floristry."

So it is possible to open all 3 without using real money.

Something else to consider. Until you open the first trade you will get drops for all of them. When the first trade is opened you will only get drops for that trade.It might be worth opening the others as soon as you can, even if you don't want to do anything with them for a while, just to start accumulating the ingredients. I'm still playing catch-up with the florist drops because I opened it much later than the baker and the confectioner.

 

So I don't have to open a trade immediately when I hit level 40 and I will get drops for all 3 trades? Seems like it might be a good idea to wait and build up stuff before opening it.

 

regarding the confectioners: I was advised by my mentor to go for this one. I don't know if it was the best choice, but FYI, you need to have a lot of apple trees in place: the basic jelly you need for the jams requires them, and at the first level (which I am still struggling through) you have a choice of making apple of rhubarb jam. The former takes 10 apples (as does the basic jelly) and the latter takes 100 rhubarb. Apple jam gives you 10 points, and it takes 1500 to get to the next level. I still have about 400 to go

 

There are actually five trades so you get drops for all five until you open one. I started this (second) farm just over a year ago and have not opened any trades. I now have between 17,000 and 20,000 trade products waiting in my barn for when I make a decision. I am not sure if I will open any as I am finding buying is just as easy/cheap as making my own when you consider all the ingredients needed. I told myself that I would make my choice when I got 20,000 of all trade products but now I'm not sure.

When I get bored and want something to do maybe ...

 

with the tree of wisdom, do you HAVE to select everything in a line? I want the icon for breeding extra animals, and not any of the rubbish ones between there and the peach tree (the last one I got); but, even though I have enough stars for it, it doesn't seem to engage. Must I waste stars on all the useless things in between before I can get it?

 

im starting too see this with most aspects of the game. market is the best tool in the game. so many item that are just cheaper to buy than to make. not enough people at the markets buying? would have loved to play the game 4 yrs ago at its peak to see the dynamics of the market.

 

In a word, yes. The runes that have a gold lining are available to open (if you have enough stars), but the runes that have a silver lining aren't. You can choose which path on the tree you want to take, but you can't open a rune unless an adjacent one is open.
For what it's worth, you'll find that those "useless things" come in handy.

 

To add to what steph2014 said, within one rune, you only have to open one option in order to move on. (IE: Breeding Rune currently has 17 animals listed the default one showing the Officer Chameleon. You can scroll through and choose just one to move on. The Flaming Steer is probably the best one to choose as you can then use it for the Beanstalk Quest.)

 

I have been playing the game for over five years now and have seen many changes. The market was very different at the start and I can't say if it was better or not, I have got used to the current market and it has definitely grown on me. Dare I admit, when there was little going on in the "good old days", I would spend many an hour buying and selling poo, sometimes winning, sometimes just ending with a very large pile of smelly stuff and no CCs!

I can honestly say that I intended to play this game just to pass the time while job seeking. I was going to play till I "finished"! I found a job almost immediately - and I'm still playing. ROFL!

 

oh; you can only choose one animal? I thought it was a general thing. OK; then I will forget that line entirely - Thanks for the info Cal and Steph

 

Chris, that is not what I said. You only need to choose one to move on. You can eventually choose them all but you only need to choose one to move up the tree or further out on a limb.

 

I gotta say I'm relieved I don't have to go ahead and open a trade. I didn't think I was ready to add another aspect I have to learn when I'm still getting the hang of the basics. It's probably much better to focus on one or two types of animals to raise but it's just not in my nature. I want them all!

 

Me, too! My farm is more like a zoo some days. Then I realize I have to feed them...and some have to come out to make room for crops. It truly is a juggling act.
And if my posts are missing the letter "I" it's because it has suddenly gone 'wonky' on my keyboard. Good thing DH will be home for lunch...and is something of a computer nerd.

 

Holy Cow! How much do I love Renzo's Fair? Someone stop me before I spend all my hard earned BB's on tickets. I'm pretty darn good at whack the groundhog though.

 

I won't stop you Renzo's (right now) is one of the best places you can spend your BBs, there are some excellent items that give good value for your BBs. Best take advantage of it while it lasts