I spent donuts on the fireworks and everyone got them free anyway.

erik319 wrote:

lll3lucky wrote:

erik319 wrote:
It's interesting to see that most of the challenges that EA has with this game are related to user expectation caused by a lack of communication 8)

Basically they don't think through "cause and effect" well enough. They should do a little bit more about (short term) scenario planning, I think :wink:

Perhaps they have touched on a new game genre, with undiscovered and very specific dynamics and dependencies.

If not then I'm interested to know what other games are comparable and how corresponding user communities respond to them!

I whole heartedly agree :) On the lighter side... no game gives directions to hidden levels. That's why so many Hints & Tips sites have become so popular. Before the www was invented, people had to play Atari and Nintendo games over and over to discover everything. Even though EA should communicate a lot of things, they don't...for whatever reason. When I purchase a console game, I never see exact directions. Maybe that's just a flaw with all games. Just my opinion :)

To make sure we understand each other. I mostly mean that if they first sell something, and then later give it away for free, then they should (1) either not sell it in the first place or not give it away for free later, or (2) communicate in advance that it will be given away for free later if they choose to do both.

Another example is regarding the maximum objects limit. People should be notified about product limitations in advance if they are going to spend money on it. It's fine that a game has a limit of 3.000 objects, but it's not fine that people have to find this out for themselves after spending months and a couple of hundred dollars playing it :lol:

The final example is about suddenly extending Whacking Day while many people bought donuts to speed up tasks or to buy snakes to be able to make it through, only to find out that this was totally unnecessary and a waste of money because suddenly they had a couple of extra days to wrap things up :wink:

I mean, it's all REALLY that simple, it's definitely about expectations and communications :D

And in the meanwhile we become more suspicious and streetwise every day 8)

I definitely agree, but unfortunately retailers do what they want with their business'. Not saying that they are right. We as the consumer either buy the product(s) right away or we lose out or we wait for the next big deal and possibly not get the same items. To me it's: "get it while it hot or not". That's the choice we have. If people don't like one retailers business practice...they normally find another that is best or better. Yes they should communicate with us, but we must remember that whether we like it or not their main concern is to make money. Even though good business practice should come into play, it always doesn't. I don't know many companies that will say that they are giving away something for free, when they are trying to make money first. If a company wants to give away in advance they let you know (i.e. EA gives away a product for an episode tie in). Also when business' want to extend an event they just do it. Sometimes the extension comes from being able to sell more or sometimes bad publicity.

Well... that's all I have for now :D I'm off to get me a cold beverage LOL :)

Do you want your knickers back? I'm untwisted them for you! Pull your panties up and get on with it.

cking1429 wrote:
Do you want your knickers back? I'm untwisted them for you! Pull your panties up and get on with it.

Why hasn't this thread been locked? Terribly, terribly vicious things are being said, feelings are being hurt, and the legions of ten year-olds that (apparently) read this board are becoming misshapen adults with every word. O, the humanity....

bradyc79 wrote:

Sahl908 wrote:
Seriously? Are you really complaining because you no longer own a special box of premium fireworks, now that everyone got one for free? Be happy that they gave you a 50 donut item.

EXACTLY!! 50 DONUT ITEM!!

I believe that is the largest amount of donuts or their equivalent to ever be given away for free on a holiday.

I missed Halloween, so I don't know for sure. But usually we got 5 donuts for free on holidays. So I actually like this value even more. Thank you!

Are you on drugs? Barney? All the free stuff from Christmas. 50 donut giveaway is nothing.

And to everyone else here...stop blindly defending EA's stupid decisions and grow a pair.

I haven't got free fireworks!? How do i get them?

I thought about buying the crate....glad I waited and got it for free.

I didn't like the fireworks so I didn't buy them. Now that I have the boy I like it I might buy more or the other one. :)

It makes noises and does stuff when I tap on it.

You guys are just blindly defending EA. They ripped people like me off. Plain and simple.

I'm annoyed, too.
I have no use for the bonus as I already own all of the land and all of the buildings and decorations that you can buy with game dollars and a pile of cash on top of that.
There are the bonus levels, but trying to get donuts that way is a losing battle. Over a million exp to get 3 donuts? Millions to get 3 donuts? No point.

It's still not nearly as bad as the Whacking Day extension. I started playing during that event and I scrambled to catch up, but I was still looking at a shortfall. I dropped over 300 donuts to make sure I got everything. Then they extended it AFTER it was supposed to end.
But I got several Whack Boxes as a result... all of them containing a small amount of game dollars. Wheeeeeee