Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
So last Saturday I asked y’all to rate TSTO in 2017, so far. To get some honest feedback at where the game sits in your mind nearly 6 months into 2017. As usual y’all didn’t disappoint with responses!
Let’s take a look…
Not surprising most of you fall in the “Middle of the Road” Category, while the vast majority of the rest think it’s “Amazing Content, Flawed Game Play”. That kind of speaks volumes to me.
Doesn’t seem like EA is succeeding at “Raising the Bar” so far this year. Most of you think it’s just “eh” so far. And I suspect the biggest issue is overall length of event…they’re just too long. 6 weeks is too long for an event, where most of the event is repeating the same game play over and over.
6 weeks may not be bad if it was a new style of game play every 2 weeks, but if it’s the same thing over and over it’s hard to stay engaged over a 6 week period of time. We notice it here, players start dropping off halfway through act 2. They either just fall into a tapping routine and forget the fun aspects of the game…and the game begins to feel like a grind. Or they just stop playing the event all together (or only tap once a day). We’ve been seeing it more and more over the last 6 (even 8) months.
What do you think of the results? Surprised? Not surprised? Ready for what’s next? Think EA will change it up for the next event? Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!
Seriously i ve got bored of the game now. I have not updated the new event. And may not even do it.
One thing is true, the best way to play is not just the event,it also building your resources and trying to max them out.When your playing the event bulging rail road building free donuts and level then it becomes more than a yawn.
Oh my… ‘my lvl 939-oooh-yaaaawn’. Be glad! Its a game. Just put in some new examples/ideas for the game…maybe EA has the ears for it. For the rest, keep spending those bucks cuz I like it that way (maybe spend some more, so that EA can add more fun stuff) 🙂
I have been playing for several years. I have spent more money on this game than I care to discuss. Sometimes I wish I had just spent the money on expensive Lego sets…my other guilty pleasure. I believe 6 weeks is too long for an event. I would like to see MORE characters utilized throughout the event…meaning every two weeks a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT batch of characters are utilized for event. You do not need the dialogue or multiple animations here…keeping the character list changing allows you to do more fun things with other characters that have funny outside job animations…this goes especially for the premium characters. Knowing I can send a bunch on different tasks without having to stay in 4 hour window would be great. Come to think of it…let’s phase out the 4 hour window for a two hour one. Make the events 3 weeks long with 2 hour windows for gathering prize content…I’d tap more often but be justified in doing so. Coming up with excuses every 4 hours at work is not easy.
My biggest gripe is storage accessibility. I HATE running through my stored items when everything is NOT alphabetical. I HATE having items that’ll never be used. All that rEAlly needs to be done comes down to 2 things.
1. Let me permanently delete undesired content from storage. I don’t care if I get reimbursed with in game cash. If EA will not be using it in future events then I don’t need it (6 months max on unwanted crap would be ideal).
2. Please please please EA…learn how to alphabetize content and give us a letter scroll option. When I want a tree…I go to “T” and every tree regardless of name is there…when I go to “C” every stored character regardless of name is there…how hard is this? Simplicity is key. The storage is way too complicated. Give us an index with better categorization!!!
…drops mike and descends from soapbox.
Hey i see where you all come from but i like how much time they give you. I used to play family guy game to and they never give you any time at all 2 years playing fam guy i only completed about 3 everts so i love playing simpsons cuz i no i can complete them and witch i do. It would pi.s me off if i didt and stop playin like fam guy. The simpsons tapped out They care about there players witch is a good thing
I’m not surprised by the survey results. The designers need to start thinking outside of the box. I’ve been mentioning this for over a year now. I used to think that the designers read blogs like this web site, but I’m beginning to wonder if they’re reading our comments, or if they even care. We need shorter “big” events, and something different than the three act format.
They need to come up with something new, something short and sweet.
More breaks in between events with 4x heights currency again would be nice.
I have three characters for each SH currency who earn between 12 and 120 SHc each eight hour.
I agree the events are too monotonous, but I’m not really sure how to fix them other than make them shorter. Maybe add more of a random element to getting certain prizes although that just ends up pissing people off when they don’t get the prizes they want even when they play a lot.
On the other hand, I’m at the point in my game where I almost don’t even feel the need to play if there isn’t an event going on since I’m just harvesting money to buy rat trap trucks so I don’t know if longer breaks is the answer either.
EA has tried a random way of getting prizes: The Wheel Of Fortune. That went not well. I call is The wHELL of Misfortune 😡😡😡
I do like the extra time the recent events have given us (especially when we get the opportunity to earn bonuts), but it does get boring waiting for the next act. I wouldn’t mind EA shortening the acts or giving us something different to do instead of “meet goal, get prize.” Maybe bring back community prizes (though they always seem to start off buggy) or leaving things in your neighbor’s towns (aside from clicking buildings).
I agree 6 weeks is to long doing the same thing in act 2 and 3, I just get into a tapping mode and don’t enjoy it, a new concept in how long we tap and prizes we gain, 2 acts over 3 weeks, or just a general make over in game play
At least they haven’t taken the route that TinyCo did a while back by making it almost impossible to finish an event without spending real money. I agree that doing the same thing for up to 6 weeks gets pretty boring but I keep at it and usually finish a week early.
I’m in the amazing content, flawed gameplay camp. Really loved the japanese items, dedicated a rather large part of my town to them. Also the spy items are great and funny.
Storylines have come to a point when i am just skipping all dialogues. The 4 hour cycle changes between a mindnumbing grind, or I am done one week early thanks to “pay2win” premium characters. Balance is really off.
At least during the spy event you could grind for lots of bonuts after the prize track, i got two rounds per day. During the travelling event it was more like 2 days for one bonut round.
I would really like for the events to be shorter. Last winter event, for all its flaws, had good timing. I am totally fine with the current downtime, so nice to simply set everyone on 24hr tasks and just check in the next day. I’d be more than ready for an exciting major event lasting maybe three weeks and then back to a couple of weeks of calm.
It’s a tap game. The monotony speaks for itself. The only time they added anything that needed an ounce of thought, was during Stone Cutters. I guess they tried during Around the World, but since you were sending everyone on flights you most likely got lucky anyway.
They also keep bringing items back. Making your town less and less unique. It used to be so awesome to have items that a majority of players didn’t. I understand that it isn’t necessarily fair to new players, but they could have implemented a system that unlocks those unique items at higher levels, for doughnut purchases of course. Especially since they killed levels at 60.
I play for the design factor and probably always will. The last thing I play for is content and game play.
Last, prices. They are insane. Video games for consoles are $60 and all content is included. Maybe down the road there will be a dlc that costs $15. To have everything in this game you’d have to spend thousands.
But what do I know. Millions of ppl play and buy doughnuts. Clearly they have a good enough business model.
I think what needs to happen is to have a longer break not just a week. It should go back to how it used to be. Am annoyed by the constant updates. I know a lot of people on the ea forum disagrees but I’ve spoken to some and they are peeved too. What’s your take on this? Does anyone agree?
They always had something. Instead of mini events it was level updates and 2-3 weeks to move through them before an event. If you look at the updates page and release dates you’ll see the schedule is pretty much the same…maybe a week or 2 off.
Would be nice to be able to do an inventory sell out, there is so much unwanted stuff in my inventory that is never used.
loved the around the world event, was rather meh about the spy themed event.
overall, I appreciate that they added tons of new characters and buidlings to the game. events back in 2016 seemed more like they just recycled characters/buildings/decorations longtime players already had.
and yes, I also think they could get a little more creative in the game play of events. I am a bit bored by the same 3 act, crafting and 4 hour task routine by now.
More land in SH…..that would be a nuance.
I love TSTO! I have been playing since nearly the beginning. My all time favorite event was the Stone Cutters. As for improvements, I do wish there was a way to make TSTO a little more of a social game. As a former Mystery Manor player, I enjoyed meeting people all over the world. Some of us have become friends in RL. There is a pop up wall over there which you can use to ask people on your MM friends list for specific in game gifts to advance your play and also to chat. How great it would be to talk to my neighbors here on TSTO!
Hey gang haven’t been commenting but I still read the blog and yes I feel the game feels more like a grind after a while I myself have been getting notifications from homer “are you cheating on me with another game” and “stop doing things and come play with me”. Although the latter always happens when I’m in a elevator or a meeting. I will always love the game and new content and a day and night mode would be awesome.
Nice to hear from you again my friend! 🙂
I think a few minor tweaks here and there could ramp up the value a bit. If there were a way tappers could select a single “favorite” job for each character, for example, and then use the unemployment office to execute those jobs, players could more easily customize their gameplay to those tasks they enjoy for the time interval they choose. I also like the idea of night/day and weather as Curious Mark pointed out above. What about a “scratchpad” for designing Springfield? A place where we have everything our current Springfield has but we can design there from scratch. Then, when ready, we can deploy it live so we aren’t “testing” with our live Springfields (Clash of Clans does this). As for events, I think longevity is the biggest problem, too. 3-4 weeks is enough. 6 is awful.
I love being able to finally buy things I missed first time around. 😁 Glad for the discounts on premium characters and the new wide variety of characters!
Played for ages but missed being there right at the start. EA, it would be awesome if there was a “pick your own event” or a whole bunch of events, where during the 6 week time period we could replay anything we missed! Multiple events at a time, even! Really REALLY want a chance to play the Aztec Homer event! Please EA? PLEASE???
-Signed Still Super Addict!!! 🙂
As smart phones and tablets are becoming more powerful it opens up new possibilities for EA to explore. I think VR isn’t a perfected technology yet but down the road who knows what can happen. Give me variable weather, night mode (depending on your time zone), make the streets wider so that cars can actually drive around. You’ll never stop The Simpsons, have no fears we’ve got stories for years.
I started playing during the Clash of Castles event, from what I remember about it there was the need for some sort of strategy in visiting your neighbors, that event is still one of my favorites. Maybe because it was the first one I played, but I don’t remember it just being 6 weeks of sending 6 characters on 4 hour tasks…
I love getting the new characters and buildings etc… but I do miss the freemium decorations you used to be able to buy. All of the events now just have 1 or 2 freemium items and usually they’re not something worth buying more than one of.
I play daily, and make it a point to finish all of the story lines during events, but they really do drag on, and usually the story line only takes 2 days to finish, then there’s 12 more to go before the next Act…
I like the mini events but I really appreciate a break now and then so I can work on town design and not feel obligated to log in every 4 hours to clear tasks.
Overall a great game and the only one I play, but it could use a little freshening up.
Honestly I do not think there is much more they can do with the game.
I have been playing since 2012 and have seen every building, variant and theme possible. To that end, there is nothing they have not done and nothing else left to add.
Right now all we are getting is variations on old themes, characters and buildings nobody has ever heard of. I have started to lose interest in the game being at Level 939. I am finding myself only going to the game to get new buildings with the insane amount of donuts that I have and no longer actually enjoying playing.
Personally I think they will end up curtailing the app in the near future. What more can they do? Adding Shelbyville is about all that is left..
http://tstoaddicts.com/2013/11/30/is-it-the-game-that-will-never-end-will-it-go-on-and-on-my-friends/
They are still making new episodes of the Simpsons, there is constantly new possible content to be added to the game from that alone, not to mention many things they have still not added yet. Still no Bleeding Gums Murphy!
You are looking at this from a personal perspective but not everyone is in the same shoes. Some people are just starting. Some people don’t have insane amounts of donuts. And the vast majority of people playing right now probably haven’t been playing since 2012. Of course if everyone was in the same shoes as you with an “insane amount of donuts” then yes the game would die because the only thing that keeps this advertisement-free game going is people who buy donuts. If you are no longer buying donuts then this is all a free ride for you and whether you keep playing or not is irrelevant to their bottom line.
I don’t mean that in a snotty way, just to be clear. What I’m trying to say is this game is really kept alive by new players because the old players will either tire out or they will reach such a high level that they will no longer need to buy donuts.
The problem you have is that your at level 939, have lots of donuts , most of the items & so really have it too easy & have become bored of the game. The majority of players still have something to play for & the way I play ( do not donut farm ) means donuts are precious & as I did not take advantage of the glitch that speeded levelling up, it will take me years to reach 939.