DaSud wrote:Seems like in the update which fixed the frozen XP bars, EA snuck in something which may as well be just as bad as the XP bars staying frozen, I'm talking about exponentially increasing bonus XP bars.This time around, I noticed my XP bar was a number around 178k. Thought that was just the side effect of leveling up from 27 to 28 and discounted it until I leveled up again today. The number is now 214,410, an increase of around 36k XP, or, an inflation of just over 18%Why is this bad? Power creep. At each bonus level, you get 0.15% worth of town improvement through donuts (assuming you pay the money to guarantee the 3 donuts). This was a fine model with the static bonus level requirements, because with no gain, your town could slowly progress and become more efficient.Obviously, 0.15% improvement in the face of 18% degradation is a landslide shift and a few bonus levels completed will essentially functionally kill off the bonus level system. Given that the amount of purchasable land in Springfield is finite, there will be no way to improve your efficiency (fun fact: if the current degradation continues at the same percent, it will cost roughly 360 donuits, or roughly $25 per level just to continue progressing towards the next level at the same rate).Killed a lot of fun of the game for me, as I liked trying to see how efficient I could get my town.

From what I saw the xp required to gain a bonus level dropped back down to slightly above the level cap required xp.So I think all it does it stop massive bonus level farming between level cap raising. It'll drop back down when lev 29 comes out to a reasonable amount.Also multiplier xp gains essentially decrease the amount of xp required for each bonus level. 300%-400% bonus xp makes that 200k level a lot smaller.

xboxbeta wrote:If you need donuts buy them. No one should ever try and get bonus levels multiple times just to get a couple donuts. Maybe that's your opinion, but there's a lot of us that like power building and seeing how efficient we can get our towns. Not to mention there isn't anything else to do in the endgame, which now essentially no longer exists, unless your idea of fun is artistically arranging your giant magnifying glasses and popsicle towers to spell out inanities in your town to make visitors shout profanities at your design.It's bad game design at it's most basic level. Any game with a level and experience system has to deal with these types of issues, and if the player doesn't feel any sense of progression, they often leave.Linky2g wrote:So I think all it does it stop massive bonus level farming between level cap raising. It'll drop back down when lev 29 comes out to a reasonable amount.What you're calling farming is called playing the game. If there is no purpose to the cash and xp you gain after a certain point, there essentially isn't any reason to open up the game at all except on new content days to dump in a new character or two.Someone who's avatar is from World of Warcraft should understand what's happening here. It's the equivalent of your guild struggling to finish Naxxramas or whatever is current, finally triumphing, then having Blizzard say "yeah we're happy for you, we're gonna let you have your gear, but we're releasing a new expansion TODAY!" and rendering what you just did pointless.I guess I have to thank ole EA though. This is my backpack in TF2 - http://backpack.tf/id/sud_ - it's worth over $4800 US which should show the extent I support the games I like. I've spent around $30-40 on this game and was contemplating spending more, but as a result of this nickle and diming, I'm definitely sure my money is going to go somewhere else.

There are people surprised by this? It makes perfect sense. If they changed the way the level system/bonuses work, it's entirely possible (if not the exactly what's happening) that bonuses levels are now just the NEXT level, with donuts as your reward for getting there early.So it doesn't matter if you're working towards a bonus level, or the next Level, the XP you need to gain increases each time.DaSud wrote:but as a result of this nickle and diming, I'm definitely sure my money is going to go somewhere else.EA made it harder to abuse their system to farm free money? Oh you poor baby.As far as there being nothing to do in the "endgame", that's false. I've been at Max since Halloween, and I'm still stopping in to my city at least 2-3 times a day to adjust how my town looks as new decorations and buildings come in.And I'm still trying to come up with what to do with the Big 3 Landmarks once I have enough money to buy them.

xboxbeta wrote:If you need donuts buy them. No one should ever try and get bonus levels multiple times just to get a couple donuts. Why not its everyone's game and you can play it how you like, I've never brought any as everybody knows and I think that the people who do and get upset over people like me,must be down to the embarrassment suffered from wasting money on this awesome product that suffers so bad to defects and bugs, well all I can say outta it is that every time iam concidering buying donuts there is a bug of some sort and I always jump on here, so you could say iam learning from your misfortunes and feel quite relieved I kept my hand outta my wallet, better not mention the glitch I got it would blow ur a$$ out.

The (eventual) death of bonus levels

jasonicus321
12 years ago
I don't see it as a big deal.
linky2g
12 years ago
From what I saw the xp required to gain a bonus level dropped back down to slightly above the level cap required xp.

So I think all it does it stop massive bonus level farming between level cap raising. It'll drop back down when lev 29 comes out to a reasonable amount.

Also multiplier xp gains essentially decrease the amount of xp required for each bonus level. 300%-400% bonus xp makes that 200k level a lot smaller.
DaSud
12 years ago
xboxbeta wrote:
If you need donuts buy them. No one should ever try and get bonus levels multiple times just to get a couple donuts.

Maybe that's your opinion, but there's a lot of us that like power building and seeing how efficient we can get our towns. Not to mention there isn't anything else to do in the endgame, which now essentially no longer exists, unless your idea of fun is artistically arranging your giant magnifying glasses and popsicle towers to spell out inanities in your town to make visitors shout profanities at your design.

It's bad game design at it's most basic level. Any game with a level and experience system has to deal with these types of issues, and if the player doesn't feel any sense of progression, they often leave.

Linky2g wrote:
So I think all it does it stop massive bonus level farming between level cap raising. It'll drop back down when lev 29 comes out to a reasonable amount.

What you're calling farming is called playing the game. If there is no purpose to the cash and xp you gain after a certain point, there essentially isn't any reason to open up the game at all except on new content days to dump in a new character or two.

Someone who's avatar is from World of Warcraft should understand what's happening here. It's the equivalent of your guild struggling to finish Naxxramas or whatever is current, finally triumphing, then having Blizzard say "yeah we're happy for you, we're gonna let you have your gear, but we're releasing a new expansion TODAY!" and rendering what you just did pointless.

I guess I have to thank ole EA though. This is my backpack in TF2 - http://backpack.tf/id/sud_ - it's worth over $4800 US which should show the extent I support the games I like. I've spent around $30-40 on this game and was contemplating spending more, but as a result of this nickle and diming, I'm definitely sure my money is going to go somewhere else.
trtx84
12 years ago
There are people surprised by this? It makes perfect sense. If they changed the way the level system/bonuses work, it's entirely possible (if not the exactly what's happening) that bonuses levels are now just the NEXT level, with donuts as your reward for getting there early.

So it doesn't matter if you're working towards a bonus level, or the next Level, the XP you need to gain increases each time.

DaSud wrote:
but as a result of this nickle and diming, I'm definitely sure my money is going to go somewhere else.

EA made it harder to abuse their system to farm free money? Oh you poor baby.

As far as there being nothing to do in the "endgame", that's false. I've been at Max since Halloween, and I'm still stopping in to my city at least 2-3 times a day to adjust how my town looks as new decorations and buildings come in.

And I'm still trying to come up with what to do with the Big 3 Landmarks once I have enough money to buy them.
emmcee1
12 years ago
xboxbeta wrote:
If you need donuts buy them. No one should ever try and get bonus levels multiple times just to get a couple donuts.

Why not its everyone's game and you can play it how you like, I've never brought any as everybody knows and I think that the people who do and get upset over people like me,must be down to the embarrassment suffered from wasting money on this awesome product that suffers so bad to defects and bugs, well all I can say outta it is that every time iam concidering buying donuts there is a bug of some sort and I always jump on here, so you could say iam learning from your misfortunes and feel quite relieved I kept my hand outta my wallet, better not mention the glitch I got it would blow ur a$$ out.
isetfire
12 years ago
I don't expect to get "donut rich" off the bonus levels, but they are a nice little treat. As for the raising the XP each time, seems to make sense. I hit my 4th and 5th bonus levels this morning after the compound finished. With the large amounts of XP each new building is giving it is basically like they come with donuts :-)
splatomat
12 years ago
emmcee1 wrote:
xboxbeta wrote:
If you need donuts buy them. No one should ever try and get bonus levels multiple times just to get a couple donuts.

Why not its everyone's game and you can play it how you like, I've never brought any as everybody knows and I think that the people who do and get upset over people like me,must be down to the embarrassment suffered from wasting money on this awesome product that suffers so bad to defects and bugs, well all I can say outta it is that every time iam concidering buying donuts there is a bug of some sort and I always jump on here, so you could say iam learning from your misfortunes and feel quite relieved I kept my hand outta my wallet, better not mention the glitch I got it would blow ur a$$ out.

Whoa. Take a breath. Try dropping a period here and there. Shorter sentences are your friends.
emmcee1
12 years ago
Sorry on an iPhone I get iPhone lazy and try type as quick as I can, plus where iam 4g isn't totally workin properly yet so it's like beat the server before you get booted and have to wait for phone to find service again.
jasonicus321
12 years ago
splatomat wrote:
emmcee1 wrote:
xboxbeta wrote:
If you need donuts buy them. No one should ever try and get bonus levels multiple times just to get a couple donuts.

Why not its everyone's game and you can play it how you like, I've never brought any as everybody knows and I think that the people who do and get upset over people like me,must be down to the embarrassment suffered from wasting money on this awesome product that suffers so bad to defects and bugs, well all I can say outta it is that every time iam concidering buying donuts there is a bug of some sort and I always jump on here, so you could say iam learning from your misfortunes and feel quite relieved I kept my hand outta my wallet, better not mention the glitch I got it would blow ur a$$ out.

Whoa. Take a breath. Try dropping a period here and there. Shorter sentences are your friends.

Ha ha ha. I can barely understand what the hell he/she is saying.

I find it amusing that EA has been adding little tweaks to deter house farmers.
emmcee1
12 years ago
What a pain,house farmers make it bs hard to find snakes. Not only that,to me it defeats the purpose of the game,why you trying to make millions and millions if you don't care about your towns appearance. Just so you can buy something else to cram in and farm? Just does not make any sense to me at all. I got no problems with farming if at least it looks like a proper town,with the gardens done and roads and trees etc. not buildings plonked all over place like they fell outta the sky.