Christmas 2015 101: Crafting Act 1

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Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!!  IT’S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!  Snow is falling in Springfield and snowmen are being built, Gingerbread is cooking and IT’S CHRISTMAS!   May be less enthused about other holidays but Christmas is my favorite!  Favorite at home and favorite in TSTO!

For the last year or so, EA has broken up Events into stages.  Where every couple of weeks new prizes will be released.  They’ve also, over the last year, added an element of crafting to each Event, where you pick which prizes you want and craft accordingly.  And they’ve continued both methods into Christmas 2015.

While the prizes themselves are pretty self explanatory, collect this to earn these prizes, crafting is a whole other “animal”.  Crafting requires some self direction.  You decide what you want and collect the items to craft accordingly.  Sometimes this is successful and sometimes it’s not.  However, crafting for this event is pretty simple and straight forward…and there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to get every craftable item you want this time around.

Now I know some of you still have questions about what to craft, if you should wait or craft now and what will happen in future Acts for Christmas…so as we’ve done in the past, we’re here to breakdown all the crafting fun for you guys.  So let’s take a look at the complete guide to Crafting in Act 1….

As always let’s start with the basics….

How Do I Access the Crafting Menu?

To bring up the Crafting Menu you first have to access the Event Hub from your main Springfield screen.  This is represented by the trophy in the bottom right of your screen:

From there you find the crafting Icon…

Tap on the icon and you’ll bring up the crafting menu, which will look like this:

What Items Do I Need to Craft? 

The crafting items for the ENTIRE Christmas Event should remain the same.  To craft during this Event you’ll need the following:

Bows

Baubles (Ornaments)

How Do I Get Crafting Materials? 

As of Act 1 crafting materials can be earned the following ways…

Via Naughty/Nice Presents (check out this post for details on naughty or nice).  Presents will yield bows.

Via tapping on Merrymakers in both your town and your neighbor’s town.  Merrymakers yield Baubles (ornaments)

Via the daily/weekly challenges.  Various challenges will unlock bows/baubles.

How Often and How Many Merrymakers Spawn?

The Merry Makers are supposed to spawn at a rate of 1/5 minutes.  There can be a MAX of 40 in your town at once, and there’s a “bank” of 20.

Take that information for what it is…don’t yell at us if the results vary in your game.  This is what’s “supposed” to happen according to the files…but as always results may vary.

So now that we’ve covered the basics…let’s go over some of the none basic questions you guys are asking…

Will this Crafting Currency Remain for Acts 2 and 3 or will it Change out?

As far as I can tell…this is it.  These two crafting currencies will make up the crafting currency for the entire event.  Which means when Act 2 hits you’ll still need to get those 2.

Is this It for Crafting Prizes Or Will There Be More?

As the Event continues MORE prizes for crafting will be added.  I can’t promise they’ll be amazing, but more will be added.

Will Act 1 Prizes Still be Available When Act 2 hits?

From what I can tell, yes.  The prizes won’t leave the crafting menu, just new ones will be added when new Acts hit.

Should I Hoard Crafting Currency or Craft What I Want?

I think most of you will agree that it’s pretty easy to earn crafting currency for this Event, unlike past Events.  So honestly, if you see something you want just craft it.

And now let’s FINALLY breakdown the Act 1 Craftable items….

As I always say…craft what you want and what you like.  It’s a personal decision…if you like it get it.  If you don’t pass. 

Item: Wooly Bully
Cost: 20 40
Size: 4×6
Conform-O-Meter: No impact
Unique: Yes, only 1 per Springfield
What Does It Do?: First, this one is a required crafted item for the questline.  Second, this is pretty cool because it’ll earn you prize currency (Act 1, Santa Hats)!  Every 4hrs you’ll earn 160 

Item: Fancy Igloo
Cost: 227  506 
Size: 6×6
Conform-O-Meter: Consumerism +10
Unique: No, craft as many as you want
What Does It Do?: Nothing, it’s just a decoration for Springfield.

Item: Christmas Clams $50 a Pound
Cost: 408  778 
Size: 2×3
Conform-O-Meter: Consumerism +10
Unique: Yes, only 1 per Springfield
What Does it Do?: Nothing, just another decoration for Springfield

Item: Ski Chalet
Cost: 839  1440 
Size: 7×6
Conform-O-Meter: No impact
Earns: $150, 13xp/8hrs
Unique: No, craft as many as you want
What Does It do?: Another “building” for Springfield.  Earns at a decent rate.

Item: Festive Bow Lamp Post x3
Cost: 78 
Conform-O-Meter: Vanity +100
Size: 1×1
Unique: No, have as many as you’d like.
What Does It do?: Decoration for Springfield

Item:Festive Lawn Bell x3
Cost: 78 
Size: 2×2
Conform-O-Meter: Vanity +100
Unique: No, have as many as you’d like
What Does It Do?: Decoration for Springfield

Item:Marge Snowman
Cost: 80
Size: 1×1
Conform-O-Meter: Vanity +200
Unique: No, have as many as you’d like
What Does It Do?: Just a decoration for Springfield..no bonus…will melt when Christmas is over.  (reform next Christmas)

Item:Santa’s Little Helper Snowdog
Cost: 80
Size: 1×1
Conform-O-Meter: Vanity +200
Unique: No, have as many as you’d like
What Does It Do?: Just a decoration for Springfield..no bonus…will melt when Christmas is over.  (reform next Christmas)

In the past SLH awarded a .75% bonus, I can’t seem to get the bonus to register with the crafted SLH.
As far as the other snow people go, not all of them awarded a bonus in the past.  Here’s a breakdown.

And that my friends concludes all of the details for crafting during Act 1 of Christmas!

What are your thoughts on crafting for this event?  Do you find it fairly easy so far?  Or are you struggling with it?  Thoughts on the craftable items?  Which ones have you gotten so far or do you plan to get?  Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!