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Event format… a bit boring

Hi all,

I have been a player since day 1, i nuked my town during the attack of the clones event and didn’t have the patience to put it back together. However fast forward to July 2021 i just finished putting my town together and loved it… however im not sure i’ll stick around. The new event format is boring, it repetitive, the 4hr task - repeat thing really has sucked the life out of it for me. What ever happened to your friend interactions. I am going to stick around for halloween because it was always my favourite event but i might be gone after that. Real shame

Replies

  • 4junk3000
    6783 posts Member
    edited September 2021
    My first thought is that i agree this format is redundant, compared to the variety we experienced over the first 6? years.

    But my following thoughts are thus:
    If a game is no longer entertaining, you can just quit playing. And later restart. Anytime. It's ok.

    If a game entertained you for almost 10 years, i think it did a pretty good job, regardless of its cost.

    I don't recall playing any other game almost every day for ten years. Monopoly never offered this much entertainment and i doubt anyone announced they were not going to play again because it was boring.

    I expect once i finish my rebuild, I'll become bored with checking in daily - again. My enthusiasm for the game has dropped before. So I'll just visit less often and play the events as they occur, because i love the Simpsons and the funny dialog, i enjoy seeing what few features they'll introduce from the show, and i enjoy integrating new features to my town. Even if i hit the max, it's a challenge to work within the constraints of the game and still maintain an attractive town.

    But i don't think games are meant to continue indefinitely. So I'll take from it whatever fun i can and adjust my expectations accordingly. There doesn't seem to be another option, unless i want to give in to negativity about the game's reduction in innovations. Which i don't, tbh
    All my designs look unfinished because i can't place as many plants, streetlights, and fences as i would like. PLEASE REMOVE THE LIMIT, EA!
  • @4junk3000, I couldn’t agree more. I bring up solitaire as another game that I’ve played every day for years. I have about 7 different variations on my iPad, play three every day. (Have to do something between visits to Springfield)
  • Been here since day 1 and I got to point where in my main town I just started getting bored with it so I then decided to start a second town and I'm just enjoying the game even more. :)
    I've tried other games but nothing compares to tapped out.
    Here have a banana!!
  • I decided to start playing simcity build it again. They released a new season today. I'm currently level 32 in it. But it's somewhat similar with the design aspect and it's EA so it's got some depth. I play that and COD mobile. I started to play marvel future revolution and put in almost 30. But I don't think it's something I'd really want to invest in. So just simcity, simpsons, and cod for me on mobile.

    Regarding tapped out events... yeah they pretty much got simplified and dumbed down. No finding and tapping npcs. No mini games. No crafting. They really just gave up on effort for the game. I can't say it's all bad because there has been some good buildings decorations and characters. But why financially support something if you do not like it? Not sure if I will be putting any more money into the game with the output we've received. I won't say it's terrible. But I will definitely say that it is lacking. And also repeat that it has lost its fun factor with events. It's unlock items and task characters to read a story. That is all. Oh and sometimes we do get visuals. Eh...

    I like the game but I want more from it than what it is for events. If that's not clear enough then continue on with the redundant reading and unlocking. 😒
    $$Donuts isn't an issue$$ -$1,000 spent-tk7ebwtnrlv3.jpg
  • When did they stop changing the events? I think it was early 2019. You know when they gave us the Golden Goose and the Yearbook MB it seemed like a time of change.
    Whoa, whoa, whoa – I only accept cash, bitcoin, or GameStop stock.
  • It’s obvious that this is not a money maker for EA so they are not going to put effort into it. That’s why the updates are just lazy anymore. To be honest, I’m surprised they even add new content at all
  • It’s obvious that this is not a money maker for EA so they are not going to put effort into it. That’s why the updates are just lazy anymore. To be honest, I’m surprised they even add new content at all

    You would be surprised on how much money EA make of this game.
    Here have a banana!!
  • I kind of agree that the format can be boring and repetitive but previous event formats did get repetitive after a while. The current multi-event format has been around for nearly 3 years now and the 5 weeks/4 acts have been around for just over a year and a half now so I image that there will be a change or a tweak to it soon.
  • I suspect these factors:

    Game initiated with certain talent contracts, possibly w 5-8yr limits, which all expired.

    Longer term game revenue data illustrates that theyre making the same profit with a repeating objective structure, vs crafting, coding and testing new structures every new event. Less work, same income.

    Game dev crew may have been downsized during the last EA reorg

    Enthusiasm for the app has declined enough to make it a second or third tier project priority for EA. Lack of action here supports this theory.

    Newer projects have absorbed talent from this fully matured project.

    Support from Fox (tv tie-ins, etc) have dwindled since Diznee acquisition?

    So many factors to consider. But regardless, negative discourse about the game just contributes to fatalism which is self defeating. So I will keep looking for silver linings to maintain my enthusiasm for now. Cuz we'll KNOW when it's over and it wont be a good day
    All my designs look unfinished because i can't place as many plants, streetlights, and fences as i would like. PLEASE REMOVE THE LIMIT, EA!
  • I can remember the older events and the nonstop complaining from some about how hard it was to complete tasks, how useless the crafted items were, how some rushed the tasks with donuts and thought the crafted items were too expensive.
    I remember the complaints about having to visit neighbors to advance the event. “It takes too long to go from town to town“. They complained about the horrendous amount of time it took to go to Krustyland, now it’s gone.
    My take on all this; if you don’t like the game don’t play it. Don’t ruin the experience for others just because you can.
    I really believe EA does monitor this forum, to a certain extent, and what we see in the game is a reaction to the complaints from some on this forum.
    In real life, if you don’t like something, you avoid it. (Like me and avocados, ranch dressing, and okra. (Combined or by themselves)).
    *walking away from the now fully crushed soapbox (got to loose a little weight or find stronger soapboxes)*
  • I don't think it's lazy programing, or lack of budget because the writing is really good (but too long), the character animations are really well done ( and that's not inexpensive ). Maybe it's more to do with all of the game issues from so much going on in the game? Remember how long it used to take to download a new event? And so many glitches. I think they wanted to get rid of the glitches headache so they found a method that is the least glitchy. I wish they would just add just a few of the aspects of old events. They don't need eight different things going on at a once, just a few. Dropping gifts in friends town. Toilet paper houses, etc.
    Make Nightmare Pile like Zombie Sandwich. All kids trick or treat at once.
  • Hi. I'm new here. I'm not new to the game, however.

    I've been playing TSTO since 2014 on and off, have maxed out levels and cash and have been sitting with a totally empty Springfield until about five days ago, when I started putting things back in.

    What I've found when building up is how much I really miss being able to craft things, or just having themed events where the buildings all make up part of a single 'area', and supporting decorations. You can have as much variety in the buildings as you like, but you still have to find a way of using the same ultra-limited set of decorations to support them in your Springfield.

    Events like the Wild West, or the Casino event..... even Itchy and Scratchy land.... these were all fun because you got to create a new part of your Springfield, not just try to work out which combination of the same 69 town building decorations (covering SF, SH + KL, excluding roads and tiles) you're going to use every time.

    I picked up some windmills in the recent event because I thought I might be able to use them somewhere, but they had absolutely nothing to do with the event. Neither did the Rigellian portal, the wavey army dude or... anything else. You couldn't even make an area out of the buildings and decorations that appeared in the same act as each other.

    Theming is a massive part of TSTO and these ridiculously boring events are doing nothing beyond provide marginally interesting stand-alone items and a103 different versions of Homer.

    I'd certainly like to see another themed event and I'd love to get another crafting event. It doesn't even necessarily have to be new - I'd be happy with one-week events that let us build up content from some of the previous events, even.

    Wishful thinking, perhaps.
  • Castiel19x wrote: »
    It’s obvious that this is not a money maker for EA so they are not going to put effort into it. That’s why the updates are just lazy anymore. To be honest, I’m surprised they even add new content at all

    You would be surprised on how much money EA make of this game.

    If they are making a lot of money then the development team is just lazy
  • Castiel19x wrote: »
    It’s obvious that this is not a money maker for EA so they are not going to put effort into it. That’s why the updates are just lazy anymore. To be honest, I’m surprised they even add new content at all

    You would be surprised on how much money EA make of this game.

    If they are making a lot of money then the development team is just lazy

    Why not just contact EA and tell them off. :)
    Here have a banana!!
  • I can remember the older events and the nonstop complaining from some about how hard it was to complete tasks, how useless the crafted items were, how some rushed the tasks with donuts and thought the crafted items were too expensive.
    I remember the complaints about having to visit neighbors to advance the event. “It takes too long to go from town to town“. They complained about the horrendous amount of time it took to go to Krustyland, now it’s gone.
    My take on all this; if you don’t like the game don’t play it. Don’t ruin the experience for others just because you can.
    I really believe EA does monitor this forum, to a certain extent, and what we see in the game is a reaction to the complaints from some on this forum.
    In real life, if you don’t like something, you avoid it. (Like me and avocados, ranch dressing, and okra. (Combined or by themselves)).
    *walking away from the now fully crushed soapbox (got to loose a little weight or find stronger soapboxes)*

    Agree whole heartedly! All the way to the avocados, ranch dressing and okra, and I’d like to submit artichoke to the ick pile as well…

    anyway…😼

    I started with in months of the release and other than the break in 2018-2019 because of devise incapacity, I’ve gone through all the “Love it” “bored/frustrated with it” spectrums. Truth is, while I know they wouldn’t have to do any new coding to use elements from other events (crafting, mini games, friend visits, etc) as it’s already written and tucked in the code. So maybe they could at least spend the dev time to implement the variety they already coded into the game. However, if they don’t, I will just play till I’m done redecorating 😂

    I do miss the trick-o-treating kids and the zombie towns folk, the visiting friends towns (which I try to do anyway) oh and the Easter eggs and Xmas packages and all that, we do have mini game elements that stayed in our towns. There’s the insanity cauldron and the excavation plot. There’s the space invasion games-yea I know they’re all the same sort of games. But they’re in town. Even chasing down Maggie (which I never liked actually! 😝

    There is a lot of stuff to keep me interested and like so many have said-there aren’t many games that I started almost a decade ago that I even still have on my phone.
    I play TSTO for the redecorating and I come here for the bright shiney convo ROFLMFAO!!!

    Yea okay, so maybe too far there in that last bit :)


    Nothing as loud as the silentmiaow.
  • Hi everyone, thanks for the replies, all very interesting comments, maybe i was a bit hasty saying i won’t be around, however i might become less of a daily tapper. As some have rightly said my town isn’t going anywhere i can just check in and out every now and then, so there is that advantage from it.

    I guess the bar was set very high with the early events like Haloween, tapping ghosts and shooting down kang, obviously Whacking day was a very special event, leaving eggs in your friends town, whacking those squirmy snakes.
  • Been playing the game since right before it was yanked from the store around month two. I don’t think it’s any of the above mentioned ideas, but I don’t work for them so who can know for sure. My guess is that when the used all those different formats and tried all the different reward mini games and crafting, there was a ridiculous amount of backlash and complaining about time consumption, inability to craft enough to the personal liking, etc. event after event, the forum was filled with incessant whining. Shortly after they changed, the amount of complaining plummeted. I guess the easy boring version was cupcake enough for the masses complaining, and now it’s just long term players occasionally reminiscing/complaining now.
  • iain51269522
    789 posts Member
    edited October 2021
    I don't think they cared about the complaints. The event format and lack of game play in general is to reduce the amount of time you spend logged in.
    Post edited by iain51269522 on
  • The event format and lack of game play in general is to reduce the amount of time you spend logged in.

    As someone else mentioned, almost everything in the game is downloaded to your device so it really isn't that much of an impact on their servers. So, it's probably more about cost for people to program and design elaborate events and maybe they were tired of all the glitches from the events being too complicated.

    The last event brought back tappable NPCs. That was exciting. That felt like old times. So, who knows, maybe they are working on bringing back some of the old features we love.
    Make Nightmare Pile like Zombie Sandwich. All kids trick or treat at once.
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