Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Well…it’s not a 5 day extension but it’s an extension nonetheless! A patch just hit our games correcting the massive date issues that have plagued us for all of Phase 2. We now have a NEW date in the mix and that date is….January 14th.
EA has given us a 1 day extension on Phase 2 of Christmas. The new end date and time is….January 14th, 2015..12:00pm EST (1700 GMT).
They’ve also added a few items back into the shop….
Ski Lift and Stupid Sexy Flanders
Happy Elves Ride (will be locked in your game unless you have K-land)
Springfield Skating Rink
Springfield Mall
All 3 Festive Lamp Posts
Many of you have commented we didn’t do a Should I Buy on the Ride, the Rink & the Mall. You’re right…with the holidays they got lost in the shuffle. We do have posts about all of them (WDTCFs) but here’s a quick should I Buy for all of them:
Ride- Was free before, now 30 donuts. Another Ride for K-Land. This one is a go for. If you can get it, it’s always nice to have another ride for Krustyland. And 30 donuts is a reasonable price.
Rink- Was free before, now 85 donuts. No character interaction, earns at an ok rate…but that’s it. Just another useless building for Springfield (although when it get’s animated (like stonecutters etc) it has a fun animation. A Zamboni comse out from behind it). This one is a complete pass for me. Not worth those 85 sprinkles.
Mall- Was free before, now 90 donuts. No character interaction, earns at an ok rate…but that’s it. Another useless building for Springfield (animation also isn’t that good. The fan on top of it spins). Complete pass in my opinion. Definitely not worth the 90 sprinkles.
So so if you’re close to that Island get to tapping! You’ve got one more day of Bell Collection to make it!
Personally, I think this is a fair extension. It gives players who are close to the Island a chance to collect those last minute Bells & it’s not an overwhelming extension (in time) for those who’ve already collected everything.
Remember…if you’ve already collected all of your prizes…use the extra day to earn free donuts! Keep collecting those bells and turn them into Sprinkles! 🙂
What do you think of the extension? Thoughts on Christmas overall? Are you close to finishing or do you need even more time? If you’ve finished, how many free donuts have you gotten so far? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
Dang! I was really hoping for 2-3 days… I’m going to miss it by about 1000. I couldn’t visit my neighbours for a few days because of the outages. Was really hoping to get those days back 🙁
Great update except EA has snuck the price hike on the donuts for Canada under our rugs and now we are hit with more expensive donuts!
Yea it has to do with the new Tax and Exchange rates. It wasn’t EA it was the App stores. EA’s base prices are still the same…
I have nooo chance at making it, I’m just not getting enough elves. At the beginning of part 2 was doing great, but today I had 1 elf in 6 hours. And in the last 4 days I usually only get 3 or 4 every 2 hours. Not great when I’m supposed to be shooting 39 every 2 1/2 hours. How do they expect you to make it?
Enjoyed the event, even with the crashes, delays and missing Zultroy. Christmas is over, let’s take down the decor and move on to some Vday goodies – NO decorative fences EA!!!
I am a long time tapper, the 3rd x-mas event so far and i am quite disappointed. This is my first event where i cant earn the final prize(s) from the 1st and the 2nd stage. In the beginning the update hit me with 8!!! days delay and the system for the second is just nerve wrecking! To collect bottles and shoot them to get currency is awful and too limited. Got the “restaurant” today and how am i supposed to collect 5000 bells in 1 day! (Playing mostly freemium) and the responsiveness with the shocker is VERY BAD. Swiped multiple times over those elves to bottle them up.
All in all a frustrating experience.
Sorry EA, BUT YOU CAN DO BETTER, with less glitching, connectivity issues and all the other problems stated by other players!
Fingers crossed for valentines day!
Btw, Happy new year everyone!
I know many people have voiced their displeasure with this event, but I’ve really enjoyed it. Many of the prizes were very useful and the final prize was a great way to cap it off. Hey, anything is better than that dreaded spinning wheel. lol 🙂
Island! Squidport! Thanks Bunny!
Nooooo! I thought the later date giving us 5 more days was correct. 🙁 I guess it’s just my B accouny that’s behind, but still disappointing whe. I thought I’d have more time.
Boooo! I was gonna make it with the 5 day but now I have zero chance.
Yep the math don’t look good I need 220 neighbors to all her all 3 actions on my cannon of elf hatch.
Yep the math don’t look good I need 220 neighbors to all use all 3 actions on my cannon of elf hatch.
Can anyone give me the no. Or website so i can speak w someone about my zutroy. ..lol..no but seriously i want the guy..its bot fair he was in my inventory but i never gt him..im a level 44.. i play all the time and smart..so plz help thnx…xo
http://tstoaddicts.com/2014/01/14/troubleshooting-101-contacting-ea/
I want my zutroy…and its not fair that my elf bells were not increasing when id visit my friends and tapped on their bells… i wld of already had the 4000.. and im still missing zutroy..plz help.. i still love this game 🙂
There were limits on how many you earn each day from neighbors. There always is.
http://tstoaddicts.com/2014/12/29/math-of-earning-bells/
Hiya! Weird, I just tried to buy a small island, but can’t place it? Have lots of space but it just stays red, not allowing me to get it? Help!
Where are you trying to place it? It has to go on the water on Squidport.
Gosh. There’s a lot of negative comments about the Christmas event. I really didn’t have any issues at all. I collected all of the items offered, and I even earned enough extra bells for free doughnuts. In fact- I’m close to earning another free batch. For those of you who didn’t get everything, or had issues with EA- I’m sorry. But I will also say that if you had played persistently and with smarts, you could have earned everything too. I’m glad the event is almost over. I’m looking forward for the next event or level update.
Good for you, but many people who play with persistence and smarts still don’t have all of the prizes. The elf spawn rate is so low that it is possible to have played consistently, not missed any of the elves, and still not have enough bells for the final prize.
I’m a freemium player. I had to deal with the same elf spawn rate as everyone else. I’m reading other posts from people who’ve completed everything too. It was doable. I’m sorry for those of you who didn’t complete the event.
The elf spawn rate was the same for everyone and I got to the island a week ago without spending any donuts (and have managed to get enough bells to get three bonus rounds of donuts since then). I agree completely with LM. Although I’m sure you’re probably a smart person, perhaps you didn’t have all the “smarts” she was referring to vis-a-vis this event. The cannon really wasn’t the key to getting everything – it was getting all 120 ball-earning taps from just tapping friendvilles’ caves and cannons (yielding double bells for all taps) and constantly clearing your cave and cannon of neighbors’ handshakes throughout the day.
The only people who I think have a legitimate gripe about not being able to get all of the prizes are the ones who were locked out of the game for an excessive amount of time because of technical issues.
Yes, Sandra. I was using that trick too (as much as possible). I got one round of free doughnuts during the first phase, and I got one round of free doughnuts for the second phase. I think I might get a second round of doughnuts before the event ends tomorrow. I only need 180 more bells.
I’ve been over this event for a while now and besides working in retail it has reinforced why I dislike Christmas at the tender age of 24. Thanks to the extension I will be able to get the last prize and I’m ok with not having the time to go for the extra donuts because I’m just so sick of these elves. I liked the first part but this cannon stuff was a headache since I don’t have the attention span to be logging in every two hours or so.
Where to start? This has been the absolute worst update since I became a player 2 years ago. the lack of elves was almost as maddening as not getting enough bunnies during last Easters event. I have more bells than all of my friends, yet I am NOT on the top of the leaderboard… Anyway, not a fan of this update at all! Can throw it into a pile just like the prize wheel.
I too am not at the top of the elves fired leaderboard and I have 4000 more bells than the number 2 spot and 1000 more than the number 2 spot. That just goes to show that firing elves was only a secondary way of earning bells and was never intended to be the primary source of acquiring them.
Make that 1000 more than the number 1 spot.
RIGHT! I have always said that the best way to earn bells was to get all 120 friendville taps from cannons and caves only, each day. I earned way more from that than from my cannon (especially if you also add in the bells earned from continually clearing my own cannon and cave of neighbor handshakes). I think some people got WAY too hung up on the cannon thing during this event. There’s no reason why the person with the most bells should necessarily be the person at the top of the leaderboard.
I’m not at the top (~7-8) of the bell count with ~27500, but the only way I managed it was focusing (at least the first 80-100 or so taps) on cannons and caves. As Sandra had said in one of her (? I’m taking a reasonable assumption 😉 previous posts, as long as you get your strategy down early, keep an eye on the calendar s (thanks TSTOaddict team!) and login at least 2-4 times a day you should be good! I probably will get a second bell bonus but unlikely to get past level15, and I am happy with that 🙂
Sandra, you’re absolutely right. I missed loads of elves but still have close to 35k bells.
I’m about 50th in my list of elves fired – but I bet if there was a list of ‘Cannon/elf-door handshakes cleared’ I’d be near the top. The cannon was a relatively insignificant part of this event.
I also discovered the cave and cannon trick when tapping on friends. It’s time consuming, but it really paid off.
Yes, I totally agree. I was one of the ones at the top of the leaderboard, and was frankly puzzled. I had less bells than the players below me. I’m thinking maybe I had a head start due to an eastern time zone, and that was all it was. I loved seeing neighbors go past me, tried to help them, as they gallantly tried to help me. Aw shucks, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy about humankind. Thanks EA!
And…I do want to thank my extraordinary neighbors, who tried so hard to keep their canons and elf tunnels clear, and whenever possible tapped on mine. This event brought the best neighbors ever, and I just wish I could somehow throw a party for you all.
canon=cannon
I’d like the 90 donuts I spent to make sure the island didn’t disappear before I woke up this morning returned, please. *sigh*
I’m hoping to earn the Spruce Caboose today. Don’t mind missing out on the island so much. The only bummer is that they didn’t bring back the ice blocks for the final day. I was hoping to stock up and create something extra special for the palace. Hopefully they don’t all melt away when the snow goes away! (Ditto to the palace!)
I’m still over 2000 bells away from Ralph’s costume, but this is the first event where I’m not interested in a final grind to get the last prizes. (I’d love the last three prizes, but realized a week ago I’d never get them in time). I really didn’t like phase two, I don’t have the time nor the patience to log in more than two or three times a day, and collecting elves was very time consuming and frankly, annoying. The zapper didn’t make it any more efficient, I stil had to pass directly over the elves to zap them. The first phase I enjoyed, I liked the tunnel tasks, and they made it possible for everyone to attain all the prizes in a reasonable fashion. The elf cannon, though? I hate it even more than the dreaded prize wheel.
One thing to remember: If you’re close to winning the island but realize you’re not going to make it, see if it’s close enough to finish off using donuts. (I’d wait until late Wednesday though, to drive that number down as low as possible.)
For what it’s worth though, well, I don’t mind either way on the extension, but it was kinda rotten of them to create a confusion, then cut the event off. I did manage to get to the end on all three of my games through a whole lot of obsessive play over the last several weeks, and I’m kind of enjoying the “just clear my towns and be done with it” downtime for a few days. I reached the Bell Bonus once on my A-game, but there’s no way I’m going to get another 4000 bells again or on either of my two freemium Springfields.
I was hoping for the longer extension simply because I wanted another shot at bonus donuts. I got my first bonus last night. Now that I know I won’t get it, I’m not too concerned. I’m just trying to keep my cannon and tunnel clear for neighbors who need the extra bells.
Personally, I’m hoping for a little break. I want to redesign my town a bit. I’ve been working on it a bit over the past week, but would like an event break for a week or two at least. Although I expect we will find ourselves launched into something valentines related soon…
One day……that’s a bummer ain’t going to get the final prize now…..
Good to know that it’s one day and not five. I just got my third round of bonus donuts this morning, so now I know there’s no point worrying about getting bells, since there’s no way to get to a fourth round in one day. So now I can just go visit my friendvilles and finish out the remaining taps I have for all of them, without having to wait for the new bell-earning period this begin.
I don’t think there’s enough time to get enough cogs to get my cannon to level 16, but maybe…. It obviously doesn’t make any difference whether I get there though, other than “bragging rights,” so I’m totally not stressing about it either way.
Does anyone know/remember whether the cannon and/ or cannon control box earn any bonus multipliers and/ or Conform-o-Meter points? Trying to decide whether to store one or both of them after the event is over..
🙂
http://tstoaddicts.com/2015/01/13/christmas-2014-and-the-conform-o-meter/
Thank you! Apologies for being lazy there…I usually try and help myself before asking others for help. That squares away my Conform-o-Meter question – any idea whether either item offers a bonus multiplier? (If that info has already been posted, just tell me to go look it up myself! 😉 )
If they don’t have a multiplier, they’ll be headed straight into inventory once this event is over!
Most of the premium vanity do…should be on their Should I buy posts 🙂
Oh sorry, but I was talking about multipliers for the cannon and its control box, which weren’t really “for sale,” hence no “should I buy” posts to consult for them.
neither will impact a bonus %
Yay! Thanks!! 😀
In one of the post on this site it was said that event will be extended by 5 days and even worse in that post was said that it’s confirmed by talking with EA!!!!!
There is STILL items that will go to the 18th, that part is still accurate. The Bell collection is the only thing they have been trying to figure out.
Perhaps tasks and dialogue?
No… other items. But again, I get tired of posting stats and info to only have it questioned… so… we stopped. Lol.
I wish you would reconsider posting valuable information because a holier than thou post might occur. We miss out terribly if you fab three have to sensor your contribution to us all: (
It all comes down to one of my many sayings “kindness goes far”. When we spend a week or more pulling data from 200 different locations, compile it, clean it up, make it readable for all and as understandable as possible… then to ONLY see negativity and bashing against us for our hard work… well… it kinda makes us wonder what all the effort was for. Makes it feel like there was no reason to do it in the first place, know what I mean?
But, Bunny, you have to look at the ratio of the number of praise/gratitude posts you guys get to the number of insulting/complaining ones. From what I’ve seen in my time here, the vast majority fall into the first category – don’t let a few rotten apples spoil it for you and for the rest of us!
It’s funny…studies have shown that you can complement a person ten times and criticize them once, and they almost invariably remember and focus on the criticism more than the compliments. I guess it’s just human nature to be that way for most folks…
I started tapping out last Easter and until this Xmas it’s been great fun. The Xmas event here in the UK was one long frustration of being unable to connect for half hour stretches at a time on most evenings, leading to many lost elves and presents, slipped visit times to neighbours, and much sheer boredom watching that stupid countdown screen. Plus all the stupid glitches like the KwikEMart and the balloons in Krustyland that no one from EA can be bothered to correct or explain. And what was the point of the cogwheel and cannon upgrades when the supply of elves was too small to fire it more than three times a day – check the numbers out on your league table. I wonder if anyone wasted money on buying cog wheels? It seems to have revealed EA as a rather greedy company keen to take the profits but not to put in the investment into its servers or having anyone on hand to iron out the glitches. Then finally they cut the timescale back by four days without warning. I have the Island (not very exciting let’s face it) but it’s tough on those still trying to get it – though no doubt it will become available soon for 500 donuts….
This makes me wonder if some people had more elves in their towns than others. I was behind on bell count so all last week I was firing the cannon six times a day (setting an alarm!) and only right at the end of the week did I start to run low on elves.
As for EA, there are all kinds of forums about all kinds of games complaining about that company. Then again, most games with in-app purchases and online play seem to get a lot of criticism, so it might not mean much.
For two days early in part 2 of the event, I skipped firing the cannon but continued to collect elves. I saved them until I had done a couple of upgrades — most importantly the upgrades that increased the bell-payout per elf. I was always behind on firing the elves, accumulating over 600 at one point, but eventually got it down to about 100. Won the island a couple days ago and picked up one set of bonus donuts last night. Personally, I think the Ralph elf-skin was the best prize from part 2, and that part 1 was the Best. Event. Ever. That said, I was hoping for those five extra days since it would likely mean more free donuts.
I read this and did a little happy dance sitting in my chair. It’s over in one day! I won the Island late last week and won 1 round of donuts this weekend, but I am over the event. It is just painful. I go in about 3 times a day to clear out handshakes and such.
I was disappointed that they didn’t offer the new façades from phase one in the store. I’ve only been playing since April, so I didn’t have any of the old Christmas items, so I won those old ones in phase one. I was completely will to pay for the new ones.
It’s probably because they’ll be adding them back next year…
Nice patch EA, it still says 2014 not 2015. Hope Professor Drink’s sarcasm meter is turned on you probably need it to understand my posting.
I got everything last Sunday, Im kind of over this event, onto Superbowl and Vanlentine’s day….
Honestly, I’m looking forward to it finishing – I’ve had enough of Christmas now.
Chuffed that I’ve *finally* been able to afford the 900k for the strip club – saving up for that feels like it’s taken longer than I’ve bottling elves
I am somewhat disappointed about the extension and overall phase 2 event. While I play everyday, I only have one friend Springfield (my GF) to visit and with the elf spawn reduction that occurred early on, the outages and the removal (I believe) of elf bell bonuses with Little Helper Ralph tasks I am going to be short the island total by around 1,000 bells.
In addition, the canon upgrade schedule is completely mismatched to cog drop rate as is the fire rate to spawn rate. Seems like phase 2 was not really thought through.
You should have taken advantage of adding friends from here. You can easily load up on them by just putting your name on the lists.
http://tstoaddicts.com/category/add-tsto-friends/
If you are after some more neighbours, pop to the ‘find neighbours’ pages, you’ll soon have more than enough.
Can add me if you like as well.
jafhill76461