A few observations

I have been playing for about 2 months, level 21 (i think) and I only have 43 friends. I have only had one glitch and it was during the last update, origin signed me out and I had to wait most of the day before I was able to log in again but a lot of people on here had that issue as well. I have never had any major issues with it. The minor issues are not anything that I got upset over. My Moe was on an endless loop of all of his quests, I had to delete a friend because this one person was freezing my game when I would click their town to visit (I couldn't even get in) other than that I have had a great time playing this game.

I too wish krusty doll and burns monster were hideable but I have begun to forget they are there because they are quite small if your zoomed out as much as possible. I don't know about the balloons, they seem a bit random and just something to give us to satisfy everyone's need for new "holiday/seasonal" content.

Glad your having an easy time playing like I am.