Note from Alissa: Hey Howdy Hey Tappers! Just dropping in with a quick note. First off as of this little update note (4pm EST on 12/17/13) we’re sitting at just shy of 403,000,000 Gift Bags dropped. So keep dropping those Gift Bags my friends. We’ll unlock the first prize by this weekend!
Second, and this is a biggie so listen up! According the game files it looks like EA has dropped the requirements to reach the community prizes DRASTICALLY. It looks like the NEW totals are as follows:
1st Prize: Remains the same at 450 million.
2nd Prize: Dropped to 625 million (down from 1 billion)
3rd Prize: Dropped to 800 million (down from 1.5 billion)
4th Prize: Dropped to 975 million (down from 2 billion)
5th and final Prize: Dropped to 1.1 billion (down from 2.5 billion) as of 12/29/13 EA again has changed the total. 1.2 billion now.
I’ve added next to Bunny’s numbers to show the new estimated total according to the files.
Clearly EA is hearing the complaints of the goals not being reached fast enough and they want to ensure we unlock ALL of the prizes. Of course we won’t know for absolute certainty until we unlock the first prize and see what in fact the next goal in the game is…EA is sneaky like that. But i’m fairly certain they’re not trying to be Grinchy this Christmas and want to make sure we unlock EVERYTHING.
Happy Gift Grabbing Friends!
Well here we are with 3 1/2 weeks left in the event and we still have not quite yet hit that first Community Prize. Now seeing what EA has done in the past, and thinking that it would be quite silly to go through all that trouble to create prizes and NOT give them to us, I am not too worried. They have been quite generous lately for us freemium players.
Now on to what I am sure you came here for. What exactly are the Community Prizes? Well I will go through and list each one along with its “current gift bag level” (as I foresee EA making an adjustment if it isn’t hitting the way they intended.)
For those of you wondering just exactly how do you find the countdown area, it is just a quick few steps. One way is to click on the candycane striped trophy in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. It will first take you to the Personal Prize area. From there, you can now see in the bottom right corner two icons…Homer in his “WOOHOO” pose and the Community Characters. Click on the Community and now you will be in the Community Prize screen.
First up on the Prizes, A Christmas Totem (decoration). Set to release when we hit 450,000,000.
Second, Santa’s Workshop (building). Set to release at 1,000,000,000. (NEW ESTIMATED TOTAL 625,000,000)
Third, Ebenezer Burns (skin). Set to release at 1,500,000,000. (NEW ESTIMATED TOTAL 800,000,000)
Fourth, The Yes Guy (character). Set to release at 2,000,000,000. (NEW ESTIMATED TOTAL 975,000,000)
Fifth and Final Prize, Candy Cooling Towers (façade). Set to release at 2,500,000,000. (NEW ESTIMATED TOTAL 1,000,000,000) as of 12/29/13 EA has once again reset the count to now 1,200,000,000.
So there you have it. MORE free items for the event. Don’t be an Ebenezer and get to gift bag giving as quick as you can. If you would like to see how the new items will effect your conform-o-meter, check out Alissa’s post here (note not all are listed due to they have no impact).
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A few quick tips, your friends requests easily get lost in the comments so make sure you are placing them in the proper area. “ADD FRIENDS HERE”
Also, if you are interested in using all these cool new items to pad your pockets with some extra FREE DONUTS, take a look at our ongoing Holiday Contest. IT CLOSES TONIGHT (11:59PM EST)!!! So hurry!
**Bunny**
Sorry posted twice, but any help would be nice
So the Santa workshop was not put into my inventory after I receive the post? Is their anything I can do to get my 2nd community prize?
Sorry you’re experiencing issues. Try the basic troubleshooting steps. If that doesn’t work, contact EA.
tstoaddicts.com/2013/12/02/glitchy-gil-deal/
I agree I love these events. I am addicted. I just think that say for like new years they should do a count down and at the end they should give us a shake mode. Where we shake and it collects all our cash at once. Would save time and people maybe like myself who check while working it would be quicker to collect. I love the search for the characters. That is the perfect touch. Great job guys 🙂
Great idea! 🙂
Lots of people are complaining about the community prizes… but EA is giving us for free so why complaint…
My thoughts exactly Jansen 🙂
I’m really happy that EA seems to read what the fans write and react to it. The Simpsons are one of the few entities that I don’t feel bad spending money on merchandise and dvds even when the creators have more money than they could possibly need, and with this game(at least) EA kind of gives me the same feeling. Sure, I spend too much time and money on an imaginary town, but I get so much enjoyment out of it and it softens the blow when the makers think about how we feel and what we want. If only more businesses were like that they would probably make more money and have better images.
I don’t care if the counter is rigged. Free stuff! You know what they say, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Hooray for Christmas!
boy I wish the cooling towers were first
Me too! 🙂
I must say the last prize given is a little on the meh side, I feel it should be unlocked sooner but hey it’s free I guess.
Sorry you feel that way. I love the candy striped cooling towers but they come from my favorite Christmas episode so I’m probably biased.
I’m surprised that EA adjusted the prize level down.
I suspected during the Halloween event that it was timed to give everyone all of the community awards. I would have thought that about this event as well.
Who knows?!?
Definitely adds a certain legitimacy to the counter. I’m just happy EA listened even if most of the convos leaned towards the whiny side.
So was this the update we got earlier today?!?
I think so. Hopefully there were some more glitch fixes in it as well.
The counter was at 265MIL this morning and now it’s at 430 less than 8 hours later. I don’t understand it but I sure am glad to see that!
Looks like EA has set a task for nearly all the characters to do, ‘eat at a restaurant’ for 4 hrs
All being rewarded with gift cards. They are obviously trying to nudge us all towards the community prize…
no, it was just part of your mission… After 12 springfielders eat at a restaurant, it will be erased.
Yes the task gets removed when finished, but while active, more than 12 can do it. If you work it out right, you can get plenty of extra gift cards.
Not only did they lower the goals, something happened with the counter this afternoon. It was close to 225″ some 6 hours ago and it was not going fast. Now it is already at 413″. That is strange! And the counter is not going that much faster now than it ever did when I checked it these last couple of days.
Santa magic 😉
I like the idea and I like the prices, I don’t like things that are fake. But on the other hand: if it was all fake, why manipulation the requirements?
It’s a Christmas Miracle!
A Christmas Miraculam too!
It might be a nod to all the people who couldn’t drop or receive gift bags for awhile because of the glitch. Depending on how many active players were impacted, that definitely could have skewed the community totals. The “jump” might be calculated to make up for that.
Or it was those happy elves. 🙂
Love those elves! Find all the prezzies hidden by my prankster friends.