Feedback Producer Newsletter addressing the Current Issues

Howdy Farmers,

You can find here the Producer Newsletter addressing the current situation.

Please use this thread to discuss the newsletter and your feedback.
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Best regards,
Your Farmerama Team

 

I just want to say thank you to Varun and the rest of the BP staff for listening to our complaints, and hopefully our congratulations on things well done as well, this last month. As I've said before, you're never going to please all of us at the same time, it's just not possible. But I do believe you try to take into account the feelings of the vast majority, and that is appreciated. I know many game producers ask for feedback, then never take it into account, or don't ask for it at all, so the fact that we have the opportunity to effect how this game is developed is awesome. And the fact that you are willing to say, hey, we messed up, we'll figure out how to fix it, is impressive to me. I can be patient, as long as I don't feel like I'm being ignored. I look forward to the producer's newsletter every month, it is definitely a newer feature that should be continued. To me it's like a weather forecast, telling me if skies will be cloudy and grey, or if sunshine is in the future, and if you are going to bring back stars to the event quests, that definitely makes my day shine. Thanks for all your hard work, I remain, as always, a loyal farmer.

 

I played this game four years ago and left because of the lack of fairness, over emphasis on buying things, and quite frankly, the fact that the developers simply made the game intentionally unfair. I came back out of curiosity and have played for the last few months to find things mostly the same.

I do not mind playing for special things, or asking for a small amount of money for certain items. But they should be done in a fair manner and the benefits should be clear.

Here are some 'good faith' measures that I suggest that the BP could put forward to build back some credibility:

1) Make the Harvester free. Honestly, it is needed to really play the game, it would help all players, and charging for it is just greedy. Especially with fact that all these events require high amounts of crops in order to participate, asking players without it to do all that just not fair. It would allow more of the game to be utilized and enjoyed.

2) Allow powerfeed to be made in the Baha-Mill. This should have been done as soon as milling powerfeed was introduced. Breeding should also be one PF. Few of us really have the resources to breed frequently.

3) Remove the 300 limit on manure. It makes no sense - we create a product on our farm, we should get to keep it. The limit on the water should also be raised.

4) Find some way to allow us to get the tools we need. I have literally tens of thousands of tools and am still frequently lacking wooden boards yet I have 242 machine parts. Some sort of mechanism needs to be put in place to get rid of extra and get what we need - buying multiple toolboxes only to STILL not have what I need to unacceptable and greedy.

5) Have better, easier ways to earn stars and golden bananas. Some other mechanism - more events, more chances, more as rewards. I don't mind working for these, or making them hard events, but there needs to be more opportunities for those who want to.

Let me be clear - these are not perks or extra things that I am asking for. These are just basic accommodations that should have been remedied a long time ago. I don't mind paying for extra stuff and if the prices on 'extra special' elements needs to go up because of these, I am okay with that.

 

Whilst I appreciate your honest admission at having made an error I question whether you are truly listening to us with regards to the cloud row. You're going to stick to your guns, fair enough but the "fair compensation" just makes me think you're not listening to us. I bought the cloud row for the benefit of PF only and now find that for that purpose it is effectively useless - 1 month after I became accustomed to how the row worked. Therefore, the row is no longer wanted by me and I should be offered a refund. I shall wait to see what this compensation is but I have a feeling you may not like the backlash.

 

Hi!

I am glad to see the BP team is admitting that it did make a mistake, and claims to be looking into the biggest of the community's recent concerns. I will reserve further judgement/decisions until I see exactly what BP is planning as "fair compensation" for the CR and how else they intend to handle/address our current concerns.

I will say, given my experience playing another game (that has been in consistent development the entire time) for almost 10 years, clear and explicit communication is key!!! I have a high tolerance for disappointment, as long as I've been told/warned up-front what is going on. The mill CR issue could have been avoided if we (the players) had known how it was supposed to work (explicitly). As it was, we assumed it worked like all other buffs and CRs. Ditto with the manure change. If the announcement about the stars had been accompanied by an announcement of what star-earning mechanism would replace the star-giving short-term events, that might not have caused as much of a furor either.

So please, Varun & BP, make these decisions, the reasons behind them, and the intended implementations more transparent for us, the players. Telling us you value our opinion is good, but actions speak louder than words. Show us you care, and you will ultimately gain a much more loyal player-base.

-cpeterson

 

I was too upset to write in the tuesday question thread before it was closed, but I can address a few things here.

This newsletter contains something I have missed in the others, namely addressing the current issues that we care about. I have not appreciated the "everything is awesome" tone of the two previous newsletters that both arrived while lots of players were very unhappy.

Other than that the content has been fine, I understand the need to be vague about new features. But as pnp pointed out, if more info is promised next time, I will be disappointed when there is none.

Now to the current newsletter. I really appreciate the admissions made. I am glad to hear that there will be a compensation. And I am happy to wait for it, now that I know you are not ignoring us. I am curious to see what you think is a fair compensation, in the mean time I will be optimistic

Edit: Forgot to say thanks to all the mod teams who got this out to us before the weekend, makes a big difference

 

I appreciate these issues being addressed and very much the acknowledgement that BP have made mistakes. A heartfelt thank you for that! That happens far too seldom in the gaming world. However, that's about as much as can be said at this point. Until things are sorted out, depending on how they are dealt with, trying to communicate and admitting the mistakes is all that we can give credit for. I hope BP truly learns from this, and don't continue to "fix" things that aren't broken in the first place, or add/remove things without making sure it's what players actually want. There needs to be a clear and ongoing pattern of communication/willingness to listen/prompt bug fixing before true trust can be earned.

Last but not least, one of the things I keep repeating in forums and chat rooms of all sorts of games - don't be greedy! These are virtual goods, and you are more likely to have players willing to put real money into the game if they feel like they're getting good value for it and it doesn't rely on impulse spending. Give us a feeling of satisfaction with what we've bought, rather than a bitter after taste.

 

Yes, You do have one thing right .... This is a remarkable game with the most passionate and loyal community....But if you wish to keep it this way things need to be better communicated. People become very frustrated when things are 'fixed' that have no reasoning behind them. I still have no idea why you feel the need to Fix my cloud row. I bought the cloud row as described, it worked as described, I liked it as described. Now I will be very careful where I spend my money at knowing that at any time that item can be 'Fixed'. I don't think that is how any business wants their loyal customers feeling.

 

Much appreciated that our feedback was taken into consideration but still I have not discovered any real actions promised. My main concern was an absence of stars so I did't bother to complete a lot of stages of the recent previous quests when I could. I was wise enough not to purchase any wind mill subscription (used to do it every month) being disappointed with all changes. It seems that my decision was a good one.
Would agree with the previous posts that a lack of communication about any changes (star/manure matters) is more upsetting as well as a new mill not working properly (my 'queue' has just started to work, wasted a lot of hours relying on it).
All together I would say enormous thanks to our moderators, especially Teddy.Bear and our English-spoken Farmerama community and small thanks to the Producer and BP team.
Happy farming

 

Hello lovely Farmers,

Thank you all very much for your feedback, input, criticism, suggestions and kind words - they are all very much appreciated.

I would like to add that I appreciate the newsletter more than words could say - I am completely sure this situation is just as upsetting for the entire Game Team as it is for the entire community - both players and moderators. Special thanks for all their daily work and incredible dedication to our wonderful Producer and amazing Community Managers, and special thanks to all you wonderful Farmers for your understanding and patience during good and bad times.
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Best regards,
teddy.bear

 

Thank you Mr. Varun for listening to us. I think I was the only one who lost sleep over loosing the stars for the event quests. I will sleep well tonight. Thank you. I am willing to wait patiently for all of the fixes. You guys really do a great job! I'm sure it's not so easy but you do have a great thing going here. Thank you very much for your wonderful letter.

 

Hi!
I want to also thank you for your heartfelt letter and I am so happy the stars are coming back. I too quit playing, for about week, out of anger and was definitely going to let my subscriptions (harvester and mill) run out. I just lost interest and stopped caring. I was just checking in only to harvest my trees only and to see if anything was abuzz in the forums. I was moved by your letter and will continue playing now. Happy days have returned!!!

 

i am going to say it again , again and again put a stop option on the farm equipment we pay for its use why why why should we lose hrs we pay for waiting for crops to grow !!! i am sure i am not the only one that feels this way on this subject

 

Producer(s) .....I would like to thank you for this Newsletter...I know it's tough to admit that something went wrong.....I wouldn't! Honestly, I don't understand the uproar about the cloud row...nobody complained it didn't work the way it was announced before (reduction of time by 10% for 6 hours), now that it is fixed (intentionally, accidentally) everybody starts a revolution and runs to the barricades.
In my opinion the only issue is that a lot of things are not explained or described beyond any doubt or misunderstanding, whether the misunderstanding comes because of the wording or is created by people on purpose, reading something into it to their advantage.....
If the function or effect of something is described, be clear about it, and maybe in advance go through some scenarios just picturing the effect it has now and how it may be altered by new introductions.....I would like to think that the developers are using a test environment to see what happens with new features to the full extent......not only to program them and throw them to the masses to be tested there and fixed depending on the number of complaints......which could lead to "No Complaints equals No Fix" and will leave the game broken sooner or later.
Now I'll continue with the event...and hope for better things to come.

P.S. For those who keep reminding BP that it is advertised as a free game....there's probably only one response...."Get Real!".....Somebody has to finance the free part/content of the game.....otherwise there is no game. Or, who would employ people out of their good heart to provide entertainment to thousands for free.....Charities got more pressing things to support.

 

Thank you for your letter. I'm too stopped play for about a week because I lost interest after the stars were removed. So thank you for listing to our voices. I look forward to the future with Farmerama and seeing my STARS Again!!!. Thank you for listening to us.

 

I want to thank the producer team and the translators for communicating with us effectively. Above all else, what frustrates everyone is not so much errors/misjudgements, but failure to effectively communicate when things do happen. Thank you, both the producers and the translators.


Per the actual issues. If there is one key theme, it is, again, communication. I would add to the issues you mentioned the many events. They are now just overwhelming, no longer fun and special. This is a game/design issue. I fear that the decision was made, in part, in response to a recent survey. That survey was very poorly designed, by people who had not played this game. Therefore the results had little to do with anything that actually matters to us, the players. Key is the use of the word "excitement". The flat fact is that this game is not "exciting", but there are plenty of games that are. There is no way that a farming game can compete for excitement with a "shoot'em up" or even particularly with some of the quest (be it figure it out or seek and find) type games. The point is, we all know that when we start to play. We came here because we want something else, a change from those standard (albeit popular) formats. I would put forward that you have a choice. You can either try to be like all the other games, and wind up a pale copy that is not even really a copy at all, OR you can be your own game, go your own way. I vote for the last, but I am just one player. I have spent money, but whether I continue or not... we will see.

Ironically enough some of the actual issues that sparked the letter don't bother me as much as some others. I do miss the stars. If it were not for events, its unlikely I would have all the runes I have... and the runes definitely help with future events. Still, their loss has not truly diminished my enjoyment of the game, maybe just because I already have the major needed runes.

My greatest disappointment is in finding that my cloud row is now not working as it was listed when I bought it. I had initially thought this was just a glitche on my farm. I appreciate that teddy posted the announcement as soon as he found out. I certainly know the change is not his doing!

EDIT: Others have expressed opinions about what they would feel is fair compensation. The problem is that this is a continuing compensation issue. That is, we bought the cloud rows with one understanding and now, after we have bought it and used it for some time, you decide to change the parameters on us. You indicate that people milling large quantities was somehow "abusing" the cloud row, but why? The fact that the cloud row would reduce feeds for future production, not just the 6 hours, was a big reason for buying it. It did cost BB, which means real money for most of us. You have now, in one fell swoop, reduced the amount of powerfeed and other feeds we will have in perpetuity, and done so AFTER we already bought the item! In legal terms, this is comonly known as "bait and switch fraud". Sure, this is a game, but for many of us, this is more about integrity and promises than anything else. Per compensation, I don't know how you can truly compensate us for this future use. I mean, it would not be unreasonable to say that most of us are losing at least 2 powerfeed a day, though that is a bit tricky since this impacts more than just powerfeed (its just powerfeed is probably the most dramatic and most readily compensable issue). I tend to mill short time feeds when I am going to be on my computer for a bit, then do powerfeed during "down" times. I did not worry about rushing to do powerfeed first, or even waiting to activate my cloud row until I was ready to do powerfeed, because the row was supposed to impact all scheduled feeds. As long as I started the mill before the row expired, I was good. Simply refunding the row won't do it, either (at least in my mind). We liked and wanted the row the way it was. And... really, that does little to solve the integrity issue, which, in the minds of most of us is the real point. Its not so much that we lost powerfeed, other feed, its that you sold us something with one promise and then backed out of that promise afterward that really stings.


Again, above all, thank you for the communication. That, above all else will help issues to be resolved and keep small issues from becoming big issues.

 

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1) Make the Harvester free. Honestly, it is needed to really play the game, it would help all players, and charging for it is just greedy. Especially with fact that all these events require high amounts of crops in order to participate, asking players without it to do all that just not fair. It would allow more of the game to be utilized and enjoyed.

I play the game free. Have done for 4 years. Only payment I ever made was to get the last 3 Artisan village items- there seemed no realistic alternative. I would love the harvester to be free but think it unlikely. Must be a huge source of income for BP.
As for problems - well if you pay for free then you get what you pay for !!!

 

Thank you for your letter with accountability and responsibility. I have been eagerly waiting for an update as to what the fix will be in regards to the cloud row and mill, as well as what the compensation will be for those who purchased the cloud row. I understand programming takes time and I am willing to be patient. You say you have been working day and night but it has been a week since the mill was launched and approaching a week since the newsletter release. I think it is appropriate to have an update to the current issues just to ensure that players know that these issues are not overlooked, forgotten, or that postponed for an indefinite period of time.

 

Thank you all for your feedback and concerns.
Hello puppiesnponies,

I can assure you it has not been overlooked, forgotten or postponed for an indefinite period of time - however, a decision is not easy to be taken in these circumstances, and all the other things going on are not making the situation easier. As soon as we have an update from the Team we will let you know.

I apologise for any further delay.
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Best regards,
teddy.bear

 

Thank you for your assurance teddy.