Seasonal Scam
And there it is...pay $14.99 for seasonal tokens. This season is a joke. Whoever thought it up should be fired. Why would I ever buy mayors pass again if I never know whether or not I will have to ...
Forum Discussion
You buy the Mayors' pass to get the buildings that are in there. You also get currency, which you can use to buy some more buildings.
As much as I, too, dislike being shown a lot of stuff that I won't be able to get, the current Mayors' Pass isn't a bad deal or anything. Some of the criticism surrounding the new way seasons are done is valid (like a lack of transparency regarding how much currency we can actually earn), some is not. Fact is, the current pass certainly isn't a bad deal in terms of how many buildings you can get, if you compare it with earlier seasons. It's probably even better now, depending on how much extra currency you collect.
Before, you bought a pass and you got 6 buildings. Which ones? That was entirely determined by EA. Now, however, you get four from the pass and currency which you can use to buy at least 2 more. It's easily the same number of buildings, even more if you pick the cheaper ones (like Gardencourt Estate, which in my opinion is among the best buildings available). The added advantage here is that you get a lot more choice, getting the option to pick the ones you like and ignore the rest. Let's be honest: in previous seasons there were always some (though, between players, differing) buildings included in the MP that many of us didn't care about, but they were included in the deal. Now part of the deal is that we get currency and can just supplement the pass with stuff we actually want.
Maybe people are just looking at this the wrong way. You don't get less than before. You can get as many buildings per season as before, the only difference is that you get presented with even more buildings. Can we get all of those? No, but perhaps getting disappointed over this is more a matter of setting reasonable expectations. Fact is, in terms of buildings, you certainly won't get less out of it than before and we have more choice now. I think €9 for four buildings and currency to buy at least 2 more, with more choice and more agency than before, isn't such a bad deal.
There are plenty of reasons to complain, but to suggest the MP has lost its value seems to be a misconception. Don't focus on what you can't get, ask yourself the question how much you get now vs. earlier seasons. I think you'll find that things have improved, in that sense.
I understand your point, and I agree we are seeing more flexibility in the reward selection. However, the way premium album completion is structured has taken a very predatory turn, and this Munich season illustrates it perfectly:
- Week 1: The pretzel-to-coin conversion rate was so low and labor-intensive that it effectively lured players into purchasing the Premium Mayor's Pass just to complete the album without an insane amount of grinding.
- Week 2: The album requirements suddenly skyrocketed to a level that even the rewards from the Premium Pass can't fulfill. This creates a classic sunk-cost fallacy, pressuring those who already paid for the pass to now buy seasonal coin bundles so their initial investment doesn't feel wasted.
This leads to the big question: Are we supposed to expect a similar huge shortfall in Weeks 3 and 4? Will completing the final album require another $15 top-up each week?
This whole model just feels wrong. We've seen EA occasionally hide information to incite spending since the album feature was introduced, but the execution this season is by far the worst. I'm convinced that if the Week 2 requirements had been revealed from the start, many of us would have made very different decisions, like not buying the Premium Pass in the first place or not even bothering to upgrade the fun fairs.
First, thanks for the respectful reply. Unfortunately that seems to be the exception here.
I'm not particularly happy with the way too high requirements for the album completion either, but personally I've learned not to care about those. There have been a few seasons where I absolutely wanted them - like with the New Year tower. In other cases I just realised it's supposed to be a highly exclusive thing that I wasn't willing to spend the necessary money on.
I certainly agree with you that they should be more forthcoming about the requirements and what can and can't be obtained. Keeping things constant and not switching between seasons every time would certainly be an improvement too. I've always said so and filed the same complaint in other threads about this subject.
I think the most bothering point for everyone is the intransparency! If I had known, that the upgrade to level 9 is not doable, I would have spent the currency on other buildings instead of leveling Oktoberfest to level 8 and get stuck there. My conclusion on this is, that I will not spent any additional Money for this game, as for me it is pretty disrespectful how I‘m treated as a customer.
Perfect! I think so too! I wouldn't have bought it!
