The Daily reward system is a bit broken...
FluidEmotion wrote:I think it is a bit broken in a negative way. The main reason is because the mystery box has a very poor pay out. Before the complainers begin to harass this thread, which at this point resembles alot of other threads, hear me out. I actually like the fact that you can get hedges, parking lots and that kind of crap. This is the single reason one would be very happy the few times something good comes along.
Now, what I have an issue with, is that I think you should get more of the "crap" items. For a new player, those could be useful, as a new player don't have that much in-game cash to spend on decorations. And as it is, the pay out in the mystery boxes is usually so low, that the $1000 in-game dollars you get from day four is a better bonus. Sometimes the $750 from day three, and on occasion even the $500 from day two, is better than what you actually get in the mystery box.
I think you should atleast be guaranteed to get some in-game prize that exceeds the $1000 dollar prize of day four. Instead of 1, or sometimes 3 parking lot(s), why not get 10? Instead of three hedges (which would actually be worth about $1000), why not get 10 of those too. And get rid of those lousy pay-outs of $500 dollars and such. Jack them up with perhaps an extra zero.
What I want, is for those "bad" prizes, to become just a tad better. Atleast you'd feel you get a progress in in-game value. As it is now, I could just as well have taken the day four prize twice, instead of a mystery box. I am usually always low on in-game cash, and an extra 1000 is usually always better than the crap I get (even if that mean I pass my chance of perhaps getting something worthwhile). It would be an easy matter for EA to jack up the minimum pay-out from mystery boxes a little bit, and it wouldn't hurt the game at all.
The only issue I can see with this, is that EA would possibly have to give out more money to those that buy in-game cash with donuts, to match an increase in the value of mystery boxes. But those in-game cash are so overpriced anyway, that if anything, maybe a few more people would actually consider spending donuts on in-game cash, if EA gave out a bit more for donuts spent.
Anyway, to sum this up. I think the minimum value from the mystery boxes should be better. Atleast so that when you get a mystery box from playing five days in a row, you would know the box will always be more valuable than the money prizes from the four other days. Might be other people disagree here...?
PS.: I guess someone will make a point about me complaining on free stuff. Don't get me wrong, I really appreaciate that EA actually gives away a bonus to loyal players. But this bonus is a double-egded sword for the playerbase. It is after all a way too hook us to the game, and to do it just alittle bit more difficult to quit playing. And the ultimate prize for playing regularly is the mystery box. Therefore I feel the bottom prizes should atleast be better than the other regular prizes. This is all.
"What took u longer mate, typing all that or waiting to get something 'good' out of a Mystery Box?!" :twisted: 
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Not gonna happen, though
EDIT: Removed two redundant lines of text.
This. It annoys me alot when what I get from the mystery box has less value than what I get from the other daily prizes. Can't they atleast give us a decent amount of in-game cash, or a decent amount of hedges, parking lots and picket fences. If we would get a good amount of them, I'd actually not mind getting them that much
Since you are guaranteed a premium item, I don't have too much difficulties understanding that asking for a Homer Buddha every fifth day is a bit much. But they could jack up the odds of getting Buddhas from a mystery box. That shouldn't be too bad. Though the most important thing is to jack up the value of the "worst" prizes from a mystery box. As it is, I would never pay 6 donuts for one, and I wouldn't advice anyone else to do so either. The possibility of getting even 6 donuts worth of value back, is very low.
Agree with the original post, its been discussed here quite a lot though. Game rewards are very low in the game in general and prices are high, yet here we all are.
In this thread I am not arguing for more premiums, but more value from the lower end prizes.
As I see it, this daily system is first and foremost for new players. This is a chance for them to get nice prizes early on, to speed things up a bit, and maybe give them something really good, which would make them satisfied enough to continue playing. (Everyday one person plays this game, it will be more likely he/she spends actual cash to buy something).
Those players that has played the game until they reach the level cap, and have bought all the buildings and lands, aren't the target for mystery boxes. They have reached the point where EA hopes the effort (and perhaps money) they have already spent in this game, will keep them. Or if they start to loose interest after doing all they can do, there really isn't that much EA can do anymore to keep them playing.
I am making a point about the boxes being for newcomers, this can be argued, but it is without a doubt new players that has the most to gain on each box they open. And as it is, usually the prize pay-out is so bad, it doesn't really boost the incentive to keep playing daily and get more mystery boxes. As it is, you aren't even guaranteed you get a prize that has more value than the other days. This is just bad marketing. Jack up the bottom prizes, and both new and average level players, would atleast be content with what they get.
I totally agree with your rhetorical question
#4: Daily Bonus Mystery Box
Donuts/Premium Items can be obtained from the Mystery Box you get on the 5th day of the daily bonus. You have ~13% chance of getting a premium item or Donuts from a Mystery Box, and the Lemon Tree has a 10% chance of being pulled from the Mystery Box. The Donuts listed in (parentheses) is what you'll receive IF you already have the initial prize. So, if you already have Squeaky Voice Teen, you can't get him again. Instead, the reward is substituted with (Donuts).
Prize: / Odds:
Lemon Tree 10%
3 White Fences 4%
Bench with Towel 4%
10 Donuts 2%
Squeaky Voice Teen (30 Donuts) 2%
Homer Buddha 1%
30 Donuts 0,04%
Tire Fire (40 Donuts) 0,02%
Lard Lad Donuts 0,01%
Total 23,07%
These odds are borrowed from another thread by Simpsons00001, and the url is: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9286548.page
Sorry, for making this a bit messy, but since I am not level 2, I cannot upload pics or use the proper BBcodes. The table for odds and prizes is in the form of a picture at the abovementioned url. Perhaps a level 2 forum user, or a mod could repost this post for me.
Anyway, as this table states, it is less than a 25% chance you get something good in your mystery box. If I were working in EA, I would jack up these chances to 33%. I would increase the odds of getting 10 donuts, Squeaky Voice Teen and Homer Buddha up to 3% each. And maybe add a few more items like Apple trees and Orange Trees and perhaps a chance of getting 5 donuts as well. You should win something good atleast every third box.
But most importantly EA should really renovate their lowest pay-outs. The mystery box would be something a new player would really be exited about opening up. Imagine getting crap three weeks in a row. You'd stop get exited about this box, as so many long-time players have. I have only played for about three weeks myself, and I am not that far away from the level cap. Perhaps another three weeks. Those parking lots and hedges could be beneficial if I got some more every time I got them.
EA could even mix it up a bit more. They could give out former free limited items, this way players that started late, could atleast have a chance of getting unique items that they otherwise could not get. The Laramie vending machine would feel like a premium item for a new player, which would otherwise never be able to get it. I think this would be an easy way of making more players ALOT more happy with their prizes. It would feel more even more valuable than it was. And by itself the vending maching was worth about $3000 dollar in-game. This would be a perfect prizerange. I'd actually like to see as much as $10.000 in-game cash as kind of "low prize jackpot".
This suggestion would even make the mystery box seem a bit more worth it for 6 donuts, if you were interested in buying one.
As nice as that sounds, the premium items wouldn't be so much of a "premium" if everyone just gets it regularly on a 5-day basis. In addition, everyone's cash percentage earned from having premiums every 5 days would just keep going up and up, which I don't think EA wants to do. Furthermore, there wouldn't be an incentive to buy the lower costing premiums if you can just get it every 5 days or so, and EA doesn't want anything that's associated with "Loss of Revenue" on it.
I like this idea as much as the next person, but on a different perspective, I can see hey we'll never see that change.
70% 1 (one) parking lot (yes, it's only one - though even a Kwik-E-Mart needs at least 2)
29% 3 large hedges (woohooo!)
1% something else
What I am trying to argue for in this thread is the actual importance for jacking up the in-game value of the lowest prizes from the mystery boxes. And I discuss that this is important because new players, which one could arguably say is the user which mystery boxes are intended for, should get something useful that feels valuable almost every time (ideally). This effect could also be attained without the need of giving out premium items (which is almost guaranteed that EA won't do).
You will get closer to this ideal, if the lowest prizes from a mystery box is atleast worth more than what you get in in-game money rewards for playing the other four days in a row. If EA are going to keep parking lots, hedges and fences as the lowest prizes, give us atleast 10 of each or something. This way the in-game value will be alot better.
I'd like to see that EA gets rid of those very small cash pay outs, and make it possible that to get either in-game cash, or items worth up towards $10.000 from a mystery box. And furthermore I have tried to discuss that what would have been a good idea, to make a mystery box feel unique more often, would be to also give away former limited only items, for instance like the vending machine and the devil donut cart. Newer players that missed out on these items would even perhaps treasure them, as they would real premium items. And older players would perhaps like getting something like this better than the usual parking lot, hedges and fences.
Maybe that's just because I like gambling. :shock:
Yes, if they won't up the lowest prizes this is the fastest and easiest solution, and it wouldn't be too bad either. But if they do as I suggested, I think that even long time players would be pleased more often. Some currently high-level players has also lost out on limited only non-premium items they would like. If the mystery box would be a way to receive some of those items, it would feel more special even though it doesn't give out premiums more often. Doing this, and increasing the money prizes and the amount of hedges, parking lots and picket fences, and I think they have done a great job with improving the mystery box. As it is, it's just plain underwhelming most of the time.
By the way, nice to see someone agree
I actually got SVT in my first ever mystery box, but thought that was a normal part of the tutorial and the initial hook to get you excited by the boxes... until I joined the forum.