Nation’s Story: USA — what’s the point?
This event pretty much epitomizes EA’s lack of effort and imagination with FCM right now.
First off, the event launched with text indicating we’d win more shards if we used fewer hints to guess the players. However, correct guesses resulted in 0 shards awarded. EA subsequently deleted the aforementioned text within the first 24 hours and represented that it had been a mistake. Now we’re left with an event where hints have no real bearing and all we can win after naming all 8 players is 200 shards (which, quite predictably, will not be enough to buy anything worthwhile).
So what’s the point? It sure seems like the event would have been more interesting and challenging if EA had stuck with the original design and let the hints actually mean something (and enabled users to win enhanced rewards [more shards!] based on their knowledge — i.e., their reliance on fewer hints). Instead, we’ve ended up with a boring event with lame rewards. And we’re led to believe that either EA (a) intended it to be this way all along (in which case quality control botched things yet again with the erroneous event instructions), or (b) decided at the last minute to abort a more challenging event with richer rewards in favor of an unchallenging event with watered-down rewards. Either way, it begs the question: Is anyone putting any effort whatsoever into this stuff??? Cuz it seems like the company is mostly phoning it in. Why bother creating an event if you aren’t going to invest it with some creativity, challenge, quality control and appeal?
EA recently went to considerable trouble to replace the main shard system with the new voucher system — all so they could claw back value from users and place it behind a higher paywall. Fine. Personally, I think the move stinks, but if this is going to be EA’s approach then it should at least square the value equation by putting a similar level of effort into creating engaging and rewarding events and stop handing us warmed over slop containing rudimentary errors.
