Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Love is in the air in Springfield! And our stores are full of premium items from Valentines past!
As with Valentines past (and other events) EA has decided to make old items new again, and give players who might have missed out on something a second chance to get it. Of course that second chance doesn’t come with out a price, as many of the returning items are premium.
The Valentine themed premium items making a comeback this year are: Phineas Q Butterfat’s, Howard’s Flowers, Up Up & Buffet!, the Tunnel of Love, Madame Chaos and Mindy, Brandine & several decorations!
I know many of you have been asking if these items are worth your Sprinkles. Well before you hit that confirm button…let’s break down the pros and cons and take a look and see if these items are worth YOUR donuts!
his will run a little different than our typical Should I Buy posts. Basically I’ll give you a quick overview, some pros and cons & my opinion on it now…but I’ll also link you to the previous Should I Buy for more insight…
REMEMBER: ALL of these items will leave the store on 2/17/15 (Which is also when the event is slated to end). So make your purchases before then…or you’ll miss out.
So let’s kick things off with the returning stand-alone buildings…
Building: Phineas Q. Butterfat’s
Donut Price: 80 donuts
Dimensions: 8×5
Payout: $275, 22xp/ 16hrs
Conform-O-Meter: Gluttony+10
How You Got it Before: Freemium 2013, Premium 2014 (80 Donuts)
Pros
-Old building making a return
-Neat looking design, fits nicely in a downtown area
Cons
-No Character interaction
-Pricey for just a stand-alone building
-No animation Associated with it
Final Thought:
Premium
If you’ve been coveting this building for a while in a neighbor’s town, I say go for it. It’s not a bad premium buy, if you have the donuts to spend.
Freemium
Save your donuts on this one. No character interaction + no animation= not a good buy if donuts are hard to come by for you. You’re much better off saving your Sprinkles for a character or another building (like Up, Up & Buffet!)
More Details
Should I Buy
Where Did That Come From
Building: Howard’s Flowers
Donut Price: 70 donuts
Dimensions: 7×4
Payout: $200, 17xp/ 10hrs
Conform-O-Meter: Consumerism +10
How You Got It Before: Freemium in 2013, Premium 2014 (70 donuts)
Pros
-Old building making a comeback
-Colorful building, will brighten up Springfield
-Adds to Consumerism, one of the harder areas to max out
Cons
-No Character interaction
-No Animation
Final Thought:
Premium
If given the choice between Howard’s Flowers or Phineas Q Butterfats…I’d choose Howard’s Flowers. This is a decent buy for your downtown area, especially because of it’s size & price point. Plus it’s a bright color, I like how it looks in my downtown section. Really stands out. If you have the donuts to spend…go for it.
Freemium
This is another building I’ll tell you to pass on. No character interaction + no animation= not a good buy if donuts are hard to come by for you. You’re much better off saving your Sprinkles for a character or another building (like Up, Up & Buffet!
More Details:
Should I Buy
WDTCF
Building: Up, Up And Buffet!
Donut Price: 90 donuts
Dimensions: 12×11
Payout: $800, 80xp/2days
Conform-O-Meter: Gluttony +10
How You Got It Before: Premium 2014 (90 Donuts)
Pros
-Old building returning, one many of you have commented you wanted
-Uniquely Designed Building for Springfield (We’ve got cars, trains, boats, and now a plane)
-A building Characters will use! It unlocks a special 10hr task for Skinner, Willy, Comic Book Guy, Squeaky Voiced Teen, Duffman & Bumblebeeman. Premium characters earn $530, 135xp, non-premium earn $350, 90xp.
Cons
-No characters or questline associated with it.
-Large building, will require a lot of space in Springfield. Difficult if yours is already cramped.
-Takes 2 days to generate income.
Final Thought
Premium
Buy it. This is probably one of the better buys that they’re bringing back. Character interaction, decent payout, plus it looks cool! If I had to choose between all 3 buildings, this is the one I’d pick.
Freemium
This is a good buy. Out of all 3 buildings this is the one I’d tell you to pull the trigger on. If you have the donuts go for it.
More details:
Should I Buy
WDTCF
Now let’s jump to the one Stand-Alone Character offered for this event…
Character: Brandine Spuckler (and Birthday, Dubya & Whitney Spuckler)
Donut Price: 100 donuts
How You Got Her Before: Premium 2014 (100 Donuts)
Pros
-Premium Character Earns 50% cash and XP on all jobs
-After you’ve completed the main quest she unlocks a special task that births 3 Spuckler kids.
-Spuckler kids will earn you additional money
-Humorous outdoor tasks
Cons
-Expensive. At 100 donuts she’s one of the most expensive premium characters in the game, with out a building.
-Not voiced
-It takes 90 days to birth a Spuckler, or 30 donuts to speed up.
-Spuckler kids do not have any tasks, but they do earn income (similar to Krustyland).
Final Thought
Premium
One of the better characters you can buy in the game. Buy her, you won’t regret it.
Freemium
IMO this is a good buy for a character. You’re not only getting a premium character but you’ll also get 3 more Spuckler kids to run around your town. While they don’t have tasks, they will earn you more cash and XP. If you can only buy 1 premium item this Valentine’s Day, Brandine should be it. So if you have the donuts, get her.
More Details:
Should I Buy
Real Housewives of Springfield:Brandine
Walkthrough
Krustyland got a little love this update too..
Building: Tunnel of Love
Donut Price: 60 donuts
Dimensions: 10×12
Payout: 60 Tickets, 22xp/ 8hrs
Krust-O-Meter: Nausea +10 (remember K-Land only)
How You Got It Before: Prize won when you cleared the wheel
Pros
-Another ride for Krustyland
-Unlocks a special task for Marge and Homer in K-Land
-Unlocks the ability to send Marge to K-Land
Cons
-It goes in Krustyland, an area a lot of us tend to forget about
-Was free last year, pricey for a K-Land ride.
Final Thought:
Premium or Freemium
Honestly, this isn’t a bad buy either way. However, I would suggest before pulling the trigger on this one you take a good look at how often you actually use Krustyland. You’ll want to determine if you use it enough to warrant spending the 60 donuts on a ride. If you don’t think you do, those donuts might be better spent in Springfield.
More details:
WDTCF
And now the sole Character/Building combo
Building/Character: Madame Chao’s/Mindy
Donut Price: 145 donuts
Dimensions: 5×8
Payout: $300, 30xp/ 12hrs
Conform-O-Meter: Gluttony +10
How You Got It Before: Free in 2014 with Questline
Pros
-Returning Character/Building Combo from last year
-Premium character earns at a premium rate (yes that means Mindy now pays premium)
-Comes with a questline
Cons
-Pricey for something that was free last year
-No character interaction outside of the main questline
Final Thought
Premium
This is an ok buy if you’re a premium player. It’s a high price, but not an awful one. Mindy does have some fun outdoor tasks & she also comes with a questline, so it’s an ok buy for premium.
Freemium
I’m on the fence with this one. If donuts are limited for you (or you’ve been saving to get Barney), I’d pass on this one. But I know some of you have been coveting Mindy in your neighbor’s towns for a while, and if that’s you this is one you might want to pick up. As I say above, she’s not a bad buy but personally, I think Brandine is the much better buy.
More details
Housewives of Springfield-Mindy
Walkthrough
And finally…a quick word about the 3 returning premium decorations
Valentine’s Pond- 30 Donuts, 0.75% Bonus on all Cash and XP
Cozy Hammock- 40 Donuts, 2% Bonus on all Cash and XP
I Choo-Choo Choose You Train- 50 Donuts, 2.25% Bonus on all Cash and XP
Decorations are a personal thing, IMO. I think if you like something & you want it you should go for it. I will say that out of these options, the Cozy Hammock offers the best return for donut spent. So, if you want the smart buy…that’s your best bet. Otherwise just go with what you like & have fun 🙂
And that’s it for the details on the returning Valentine’s Day items!
As always, we can’t tell you what to do. In the end it’s you’re call, we can only tell you what we did & didn’t do. In this case I own every item listed & enjoying having each one in my town. Just remember..whatever you decide do so before February 17th, as these items will then disappear from the store forever! (or at least until next Valentine’s Day)
What do you think of the returning items? Any you picked up that you missed out on previously? If you played last year and picked up premium items this year, what made you change your mind over the last year? Thoughts on Valentine’s Day in general? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
I can’t seem to find Brandine in my shop so that I can get her in my town. Can someone please help before it’s too late?
I dunno if it’s you asking over and over again..or if there’s some strange miscommunication….but this is like the 4th comment I’ve seen on this today. Brandine is NOT available. You’re reading a post from 2015…she did not come back for the 2016 Valentine’s Day Event. This post was linked in the 2016 rundown post as a link to the Should I Buy for Mindy, Howard’s Flowers & Phinneas’. The content that’s in the 2016 update is in this post:
http://tstoaddicts.com/2016/02/10/in-game-update-valentines-day-update-arrives/
Hey I need a little help deciding….I’m freemium and I dont know whether to get brandine or not, I have 260 donuts but I also want barney at some point too. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.
Best advice I can give you is…Brandine will leave the game tomorrow Barney will still be there. Beyond that it’s a personal decision & going to come down to what you want in your Springfield
Ok thanks for the advice!
Are any of Mindy’s tasks outdoors? (I read the linked article, but I think it was written before you started indicating where tasks take place.) Also, does she still not have a 4-hour tasks? (I don’t see one in the task list in the linked article.) Finally, does the restaurant have any kind of animation with it?
Hoping for an answer before time runs out, because I’m teetering on the fence here about getting her combo!!
Tanning and Ride motorcycle. So at least those 2
Thanks, Alissa! Any idea about the answers to my other two questions? (If anyone else knows, feel free to chime in!)
sorry totally missed those. No 4hr task & I don’t remember if Madame Chaos is animated. It’s only used during the questline and then there are no tasks for it, so i honestly don’t remember
Okay, thanks!
This indecision is agony! 😛
lol you’ve at least got 1 more day 🙂
So, I caved…the allure of having a Chinese restaurant in my town proved too hard to resist! The questline didn’t start (probably because I had already put everyone on their overnight tasks), but I’m glad, because I feel like I already had some quest activity today, finishing up Valentine’s Day and going on to the next Stonecutters quest task, so I’d rather save some excitement for tomorrow lol!
I got it free last year so no decision issues, but I love it – it’s one of the more attractive buildings and really looks great in my town. And Mindy is awesome!
Hey everyone. I was wondering about the freemium decorations available. I am a mostly freemium player who loves decorating. I want to have as many limited time decorations in my inventory as I can. So my question is, how many is too many? I want to have a little more than I could possibly use but I don’t want to have so many I won’t ever use them. I love decorating for holidays and I like changing things around. Especially because holiday decorations can be used in krustyland, where there is lots of extra room, I like having a lot. I know it’s personal preference, but sometimes I don’t know when to stop, so I guess I’m curious how many things other people who like decorating have so I can try to figure out my number. I have been playing for a little less than one year so any holidays and events I participated in are my first time but when the holiday comes around next year I like being able to decorate. Just to give some examples, I have about 200 jack o lanterns, 40 pumpkin patches, 100 dead trees, 30 spooky trees,about 50 of each of the different festive light posts, 10-15 of each of the freemium parade balloons, 200 stonecutters walls, 25 tube slides. I even bought 30 freemium islands when they were marked limited time. I know it might be a lot but in game cash is pretty easy to come by so I like my inventory to be stocked. Anyway, I know it might be hard to give actual numbers so I guess I’m curious how many items other tappers got so I can see if I’m crazy for getting so many. Thanx and have fun.
i don’t think you can put a numerical amount to how much is too much, because it just depends on what kinda plans you have for the items. if you are planning to build up a farm with lots of pumpkin patches, i don’t think 40 is too many. and i bought up a bunch of dead trees like you did because i wanted to use it for kodos’ ufo crash site, though i only ended up using a few. i didn’t buy so many jack-o-lanterns, and only half the amount of stonecutters walls you did, but i’ve seen people make awesome designs with both items, so i wouldn’t say it was too much even if you bought 1000. not sure what you plan to do with 10-15 of each parade balloon though… i only bought one of each, heh.
basically, if you have an intention to use them all, it’s never too much. however, if you are stocking up simply for the sake of stocking up….. *shrugs*
I bought Brandine and just got to the part in the quest line where Cletus has to grow tomacco aaaaaaaand I’m growing corn… Oh well, the task can wait, I’m not storing the farm until I get my golden goodness haha
LOL – I did the same, but I caved and sacrificed my corn. It was only 10 days in though….
I’m a month in lol
I had really hoped for some sort of event, even a mini-event, for Valentine’s Day, since it was my first one. I was really glad for the sale of old items and the free skin for Milhouse. The bear is “meh.” Here’s to hoping they have something awesome coming up soon.
So I bought the airplane – no quest lines 🙁
i hope you weren’t expecting them, because this very post explicitly stated that there are “No characters or questline associated with it.”
Actually per the previous post it was to be a permanent quest line
Alissa | February 13, 2015 at 4:26 pm | Reply
Permanent
Permanent tasks, not questline.
This was the whole convo..
Agentkat17356 | February 13, 2015 at 4:23 pm
Are the characters associated with the Up Up Buffet have permanent tasks or is it part of a one-time questline?
Alissa | February 13, 2015 at 4:26 pm
Permanent
If they were permanent they why didn’t it trigger it when it was purchased?
Tasks are different than quests. Quests are the game telling you to do something, tasks are just in the characters task lists. If you look at Skinner you’ll see he’s got the 10hr task now..
Hey, Meme – I understand that you were disappointed in your purchase because you misunderstood what Alissa had said and expected a questline, but please try and stick with a “disappointed” tone, rather than a petulant one. Keep I mind that Alissa and the other moderators here donate TONS of their free time (and money!) to run this site, out of a pure love of the game and of helping others. So, even if Alissa had given you the wrong info (which she didn’t), it would have obviously been a unintentional mistake, made with the best of intentions, and, if it were me, I’d be inclined to cut her some slack (even though I would have been very disappointed to have misspent some of my precious donuts, which I work so hard to accumulate).
I think it’s cool that you got the plane… If I weren’t saving my donuts right now for a couple of specific things, I probably would have purchased that and, together with a few other items, would have tried to put together a nice airport for my Springfield! 🙂
i love this event. I’ve used the decorations in KL also. Great characters, etc.
Gonna save my donuts. Hopefully we’ll be getting a super hero or comic con event soon/Tuesday; that’ll wipe me out donut wise.
Being an absolutely freemium player, who began to play in the middle of the CoC event, I have managed to get 230 donuts until now, and I’m saving them to buy Barney & the Bowlarama. At the same time, I’m very tempted to get Brandine or Mindy. Ohhhh… to buy or not to buy…. I think I will keep saving my donuts for Barney and wait ’till next year ‘sight’
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!
I would get Brandy – I’ve been playing for four years and this is the first time I’ve seen her
Just a thought…. Barney is available year round, Brandine might be gone awhile.
Barney is worth it !
And the **** Origins network is down just like on Christmas Day! EA, get your crap together!!!
I don’t think Origin is down… I’m not having any trouble logging into it.