Feedback Santapalooza: SantaCon 2014

Howdy Farmers,

Please post your constructive comments, positive and negative, regarding the Santapalooza: SantaCon 2014 Event in this Feedback thread.

Please be sure to bring arguments for supporting your statements, simple comments saying you like it or hate it will not help the Team understand what goes great, and what needs to be looked into, when planning future events.

The FAQ of the Event can be found here. If you have any questions, please use the General Issues section or the Technical Issues section for technical problems - this thread is for feedback only. Thank you for understanding.

Don't forget: You are also more than welcomed to join us and give your Feedback, or ask your questions in Chat!

We are looking forward to your feedback!​

Your Farmerama Team

 

My initial reaction is that this event is much more do-able for lower level or less frequent players than some recent ones have been. I'm happy about that! The 6 hour harvest really helps!

 

After the last event (I finished level 3 then ran screaming) This so far is a much better format, the prizes are adequate and the alternating Bahamarama points is an excellent Idea. I can manage a 6 hour crop, this is important for the lower level players as well. Pressure is medium and I can get some stars.
So far so good. It's nice to have something that's attainable.

 

With the help from several very generous farmers I'm now pretty sure I can complete all the Silver tasks from the first 5 levels. Perhaps even from level 6. I've got enough chickens and sheeps. Today I'll get my last horses to help me get the Cheese Factory (all that's left when I've got this complete is an event where I can win one or more Mouse stalls ) and I'll probably be able to get enough Rabbits and Cows too. Hopefully with the chickens, rabbits, sheep and cows I'll be able to complete several gold quests as well as perhaps a few diamond ones.

So yes, the way I see it this is doable for lower levels like me. I'm level 30 now and I can make most animals. Of course, you need to have the appropriate level ( I can't complete the Fish parts yet, cause I don't have the right level for that), but I can do a lot.

And it's good that the silver tasks require no animals at all. I think the Jutes for only the silver tasks are doable for low-low levels (like real newbies) too, so that's good

Have fun & Happy Farming!

 

Easy going.....the drop item part seems to be the only hurdle to master.....this event should be manageable for most.
Great idea that now both drop items are possible to be gifted.....I usually have a great mismatch in numbers and for the drop item part I have to bite my nails 'til the last moment.....

 

I'm enjoying the pace. I'm not saying it is too easy, , it's just that it is not too difficult to fit it round RL commitments - and the prizes are very good. Always nice to have a rare pen. And I love cheese!

 

It must be easy, because I am finding it very comfortable to do it.
The last couple of events I was all perplexed and confused. This time around, if I can manage the drop items, I think I should be able to complete the entire quest.

This is definitely good from a newer players Point of view.

 

I really like this quest. It seems very doable, especially with trying to balance game-playing time and personal holiday(s) related stuff this month. I am looking forward to getting a cheese factory. Also, love, love, love the 6 hour crop!!

 

Yay my first event i've really felt prepared for. Helps that i hoard most of the animals that i've gotten from my stalls, heh. The Nov. bonus code helped also. Even if i don't finish this one, happy lady is happy.

 

I really like Santapalooza so far, I am really getting some good things from this and thanks to some good and gracious farmers sending me drop items I think I can come real close to finishing all the silver and possibly the gold too,keep them coming please. Bring this one back next year please.

 

Nice and laid back, not too heavy on the resources or time, prizes are okay and the Christmas pyramid is my favourite - so pretty.

 

I enjoyed this event. Thank you.

 

Well, as a relative newbie I've been able to complete all relevant tasks to get the rare production pen, the Cheese Factory, with help from several very generous gifters. Although I don't know if I'd been able to make it without their help, I do think it's quite doable to this with help from forum members.

So, thanks for everyone who helped! Wanted to give a shout-out to you here too

As for the original question: It's a fun event. I have to be honest, though, if you're not familiar with forum/not visiting the forum and you're a (relative) newbie, I think it's harder to complete the levels. But I think, as a newbie, it will always be hard to fully participate in events in a game where veterans are many, many levels ahead of you (in other words: a game which has been around for several years already).

So, all-in-all, I think for newbies it's harder, for newbies with generous gifters it's easier and for veterans I personally think it's pretty doable, but I'm no veteran, so can't really comment on that. It's just my gut feeling

I like it that each level has different tasks, so that you can participate upto the last level and maybe only do the silver tasks.

One thing I have noticed, but this is more in general and maybe something for the FAQ's: information about the cheese factory is very hard to find. Perhaps there could be a FAQ where it is stated which rare production workshops there are and how these workshops can be gotten (besides the ones you can get in the city for tools and the one you can get in the MM).

Thanks for organizing it! It was fun to participate!

 

Yes, it's a thing of beauty

 

Great event, great prizes, lovely graphics and I agree with the Christmas pyramid being lovely - reminds me of my time living in Germany. All in all 10/10 - well done, devs!

 

A smooth sailing event, thank you so much. Really enjoyed it, not too intense or a race to plant, harvest, etc., also really appreciate that there was a very reasonable amount of crops to grow. I also love the Christmas Pyramid, very well done!

 

I like this event. I am not yet sure I will finish it, but I do like it.

EDIT... not quite as happy as I was since finding out that the cheese factory requires mice. (I actually thought it processed milk) Since mice are a rare pen, most of us don't have them and buying the mice is pretty costly. This means the factories are worth little to most of us. Sure to boost the price of mice, but drop the price of cheese... a win for those who have the mice pens, but not for the rest of us.

I still like the other prizes, but that cheese factory seems a tad cruel. Also don't like that you have started putting cloud rows before the items that make them work, instead of at the end. Again, seems like a back-handed trick. We get something we think is valuable, then find out its worthless unless we have items not available or that we cannot win. At least in this case you don't have to get the cloud row first, you can get the other stuff and then come back for the cloud row. Still, several of us were already complaining that you did not clarify requirements for cloud rows well enough for people starting out, who have not done many quests and who have not opened the stalk yet. Now you make it even more likely that folks will unknowingly get the row only to find they cannot activate it.

I am still slightly hopeful that I will complete the full event, though drop rates are such that it will be a close call.

Edit: sorry,jennifersiegel, but I truly love the 1,2 and 3 hour coupons. I often play just before work and bed. An hour is what I need to pop in, harvest and then leave. I try to save the 12+ hour coupons for my days off, but usually wind up using just a short bit of them anyway.

I fully agree that more explanation is needed. I certainly did not understand CAC and the like when I started.. to me, they were mostly things I could sell for big bucks, a reasonable reward early on, but I might have done better had I fully understood how they all work. I already posted a suggestion thread about clarifying cloud rows.

Final- did not finish event. I cam up about 100 hats short, though with more than enough jute and just enough presents. It seems that events are getting harder, though I have not played long enough to really say. I did learn a few tricks to try for next time... we'll see. I hope the game is not moving away from free to "gotta pay if you really want to play more than the basics".

 

Nice and relaxed.
I really hope? I didn't play the whole event myself. I was hoping for that though and thank you very much for listening.
Low level players seem to be able to achieve much more. And hopefully are now looking forward even more to the day that they will be able to finish their first event. It is easier this way too altogether.

I like it a lot, well done team. The little hats and presents just dropping out of the fields are just adorable.

I looked at the rewards and think that they are competitive. I noticed that CAC has not been offered for a while as a reward and just before there were something like 10 offered as reward? I am sorry if I had anything to do with that, but I am an unusual player and did not know better! Ignorance is bliss... I usually would like a couple of CAC being rewarded because it helps lower level players for the running event (if rewarded at an early stage) or the next event a lot (until level 40, you can't even buy it). Maybe the In-Game bubble could say what it actually does or at least that they can find it in the barn to find out what it does there? Or am I just cluttering everything now? I don't know if anyone else would be interested in more direct In-Game information to be given.

The harvesters are too small hour wise. I don't think that 1 or 3 hour coupons are good rewards in normal grow crops events, I would give more coupons or longer amounts. For the advent calendar though they are a really nice reward indeed. The 1 hour harvest helper coupons should rather be sold in the shop as a 10 pack for let's say, 6 BB's, half price on sale? The dev team could maybe even just offer them for now as a time limited offer, because people might have to travel over the holidays and then the dev team could see if there is any interest.

I really wish that an information could be displayed (like the pop up when you hover over) In-Game that tells you what the cloudrow gives and that you need all the decorations for it to work. No need for extra frustration, if it could actually be done.

I would like the dev team to consider not rewarding cloudrows that often and think a bit longer as to the effects, compared to tech for buffs, etc. It might seem like an easy reward to give to the players and I use them on occasion, but the beanstalk should be looked at before adding to it from my point of view. I would think that buffs for example are more tech heavy then adjusting the mill speed for example, especially because they will stack up somehow with other buffs already existing. And if I were the dev team I would rather think about other ways to make the players happy for now.

And I am happy right now. Thank you for everything.

EDIT (newly added):

Yes I agree that the cheese factory was an odd choice and I would suggest indeed not to reward workshops that players need a rare animal to work for them unless they give the stall a step earlier. And maybe after the cheese factory, a mouse stall orange. It is like the wolf food, low level players are forced to buy the wolf food because they have not yet opened up broccoli yet.

People are asking for more space because there is so much stuff to put out. Maybe easing up some of the normal animal production by providing more orange stables might be a good idea. Especially because events might be asking for crops and animals from the market more frequently now, hopefully in small enough numbers if so. I don't know, but I used to be excited when I could sell some crops for a better price because I was lucky to have some spare during an event.

Not more space right now maybe, but a way to just grow one orange stall and something else? Maybe that could be one way of stacking animal pens for right now instead of a new complete feature. And they take somewhat longer, but there is enhancers already to speed up animal stalls and I think the florist needs some spoofing up anyhow, silver slot (please if, then at least a low level florist recipe because players should actually be able to use the buffs, poor players that actually didn't know better and have chosen the florist first).

The train would be for example a lovely way to provide more orange stalls. And if I don't like them I can just send them back straight away and try my luck again. The Tree train on the other hand should come around before that one, if anyone would ask me. Just to keep them alternating.

EDIT: And yes. The cloudrow should totally be one of the last rewards and definitely placed behind the necessary decorations leveling up in my opinion. There is no need to profit from the mistakes of the players, just make the rules clear and the cloudrow an asset to the actual gameplay. In a case of a farmers society event (which are my favorites, because I can choose more) were the order is more up to the player, I would still recommend to add a note saying that the cloudrow only works with the decorations from the previous steps of this event.

EDIT: I am sorry, I tend to repeat myself. And use sometimes quite strong formulations, this is why I tend to edit a lot as well myself. Smileys aren't really my thing... I just wish there would be a way for me to let the Mods know that I posted something so that they could help me being more polite more easily. No doubleposting... I know.

I have noticed that the CAC is saying a +2.
I love that!!!
So awesome.
Which thread do I have to post my feedback for that now?
Thank you everybody.

Maybe the drops asked for might be a little steep. As I mentioned I didn't play and I have all trophies, etc. so please lower level players how are you doing in that regard? I am just curious.

EDIT: Is there actually enough time to produce all the animals comfortably in that time? I know sometimes I just want to be able to be self sufficient and usually that seemed to be possible. Except for the Chestnut/Big Harvest Festival each year?

Maybe an event like this could have been a little longer? I would have no problem with events on occasion that go for 10 days for example if the event asks for long growing animals like fish. Or maybe less amounts asked for? Quests are different, there is no time limit. Events should be possible to be completed in the time alloted and in the case of animals maybe even if let's say a player has 10 stalls. Just by asking for small amounts the market will move around already. Because I for example just don't mind spending the CC's, if I consider it affordable.

Right now all animals on my market sell for 1000 CC's a piece. That is quite a raise. And expensive for players that didn't have stocks. Before asking for more animals how about checking if the prices relaxed.

But I am excited still.
I really like the event, even if I personally am less active on my In-Game Market than I would like to. Not that I had many animals available.

 

This was a great event, it was manageable for lower levels that don't have access to craft trade yet.
I've spent a lot of time and CC buying the animals to make lots of orange pens so the drops were not too hard.

I was really excited to get the Cheese Factory as I have Mouse Pens, my big disappointment was to find out that it's as useless
as an Egg Farm. It takes 5K worth of mice to make a 2K cheese.

 

It was a nice relaxing event and the cloud row items are really nice

The graphics dept have done really well