Elf spawn

meinaz wrote:
Now the people that are on more times than that are complaining because they don't have enough elves.

Yes, there is no particular reason why the number of elves spawned should equal the number of elves able to be shot. People might think it ought to be so, they may wish it was so, but there is no reason to assume that the failure of the two numbers to correlate is a fault or an oversight.
The focus of this thread is mostly ignoring the fact that it's not actually elves you need, it's bells. Elves are a means to get bells, of course, but if you're on track to get all the prizes, then you have enough elves.
The existing elf/cannon arrangement works particularly well for the more casual or intermittent player - a surplus of bottled elves will accumulate on days of less game activity, and this can then be discharged on days of more intensive play later in the game when there are higher numbers of elves per shot and faster cannon cool down rates.
The faster cool down rates mean that players can catch up by shooting off elves several times a day if they feel like it (and this is quite a fun thing to do), but the spawn rate means that they don't have to log on on every two hours, day and night, just to complete the event.