Thank Grog It’s Firday!!
What a difference 24 hours makes.
I was totally ready to write one of the most scathing, loathsome, vitriolic rants ever. I had it composed in my head, and it kept me up half of the night with anxiety over blowing up our new “friendship” with EA.
And then, I got the text from Alissa…at 4:44 in the morning Thursday (it’s OK. I was up already…seething)– Ebron says EA increased limit overnight…11,600 now.
Like a missile operator, with his finger poised over the red button during the Cuban Missile Crisis…I was THAT CLOSE to going full blown Dr. Strangelove on the EA programmers.
And then, I got the text. Then I re-read my post from last week, telling everyone to “chillax” reminding everyone that “it’s just a game,” and that “real life is way more important.” And then, I felt foolish. Mostly.
But, you have to understand how these things get started. It all has to do with trust, and trying to do the right thing, and new relationships with official NDAs and virtual slaps on the back for the good times to come…which turns into what appears to be the fustercluck of the century…with no real warning…because you ASSUMED that EA would be smarter than that. (but remember…Assume makes an Ass out of U and Me! Right?).
Let’s review.
Last week…we were burbling with excitement over not only getting an “insider’s view” of what was to come…but, also the assurance that this was going to be cool, and fun, and solve a bunch of problems.
We were sworn to secrecy (literally), about the “Nuking of Krustyland,” and believed that it was a good thing. As they explained, their stats were pretty clear, that very few players visited Krustyland, and that there would be an EAsy and sEAmless way to save your work, and all of your items. Why wouldn’t we believe them? The whole plan was right there on paper…
You can save everything you wanted to save, in big group clusters, and then…only when you were ready…you would Nuke KL, and be able to place it all back on “the other side” (our Springfields), assisted by getting a ton of Free Land Tokens to make room.
COOL!!!!!! What could possibly go wrong?? I think I even hinted in a comment that this was going to be “great” and a real “game changer.” Well…I was half right.
Imagine my surprise when after storing my KLand…(after snapping some screen shots), and then Nuking it, I gleefully started placing all of the Free Land I could, burming through all of my Free Tokens (not where I really wanted to place it…but, hey…it was free…right?), and then commenced to start placing my grouped items back into some semblance of how they were placed.
Right away…HUGE wait time lags between selecting what group to place, and actually placing it. And then moving them around afterward? Fergitaboutit! It took (and continues to take) up to 45 seconds for each tap to activate. Same thing when highlighting and clearing anything else in my town (like clusters of KEMs). But…OK…I get it. It’s new…there is a ton of data being shoved around…I can be patient. It’s only a game…right?
But, then it happened. After my 1st grouping was placed, I went to place the next one, and BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!! Locked up.
I tried three more times…logging off…closing down…logging back in…Finally…after 10 minutes of freezes…I GET THIS…
AAAAAAAGH!!!!! What????? You let us store a ton of items…and then didn’t raise the freakin’ Item Limits??? HOLYFREAKINSHIRT!!! You idiots!
After stripping my KL section off all trees, decorations, and small booths, I was able to at least get the game to play again…but, I WAS NOT HAPPY! I had been turned into a PLOPPER! I couldn’t decorate. I couldn’t move forward in the game. I couldn’t do anything except try to figure out what to eliminate.
I decided to sleep on it… or at least TRY to sleep on it. What I had plopped, only represents about 1/50th of my KL. I still have well over 800 items in storage…PLUS a ton of decorations that weren’t grouped.
I mean…dammitall…my Krustyland used to look like this…after weeks of grinding and work… CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE FULL SIZE
In my haste (and misplaced trust of EA and our new relationship), I missed a few minor screens…but you get it. Loads of flowers, shrubs, tiny decorations, and fun. I didn’t expect it to just move in one nice chunk…but I sure as hell didn’t expect to get blindsided by the Item Limit being ridiculously overlooked or ignored.
However…by mid-morning Thursday, I did try again, and got a “normal” item limit…which should allow me another 700 items. Not ideal. But a heckoflotbetter than it was when they threw the switch.
So…an increase of 700 items is better than a sharp stick in the eye. At least that’s what my ophthalmologist tells me.
Yes…I am still suffering the “horrendous lag” that showed up when EA started allowing us to grab rivers, streets etc. with the “large selection tool.” And yes…I admit that I am bit non-plussed about some of the violent text that is coming from Itchy and Scratchy (but also amused by Scratchy’s prose)…and I don’t like being forced to build the race car bit…
But…I will survive. And with the 700 items that I have in my buffer… I will design something that is passable. Because…when all is said and done, I have to believe that EA is trying their hardest to please us…while having to deal with legacy code, from a game that they never expected to be going this long.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND TIPS ON REBUILDING KRUSTYLAND
But…for those of you who are saying, “I LOVED MY KrustyLand…I want it back!!!” I have this to say...So, Build It!
I have already started on rebuilding mine. Yes, a few less flowers…but, I can EAsily create a pretty close replica…right next to my Itchy and Scratchy Land. Think of it being like Disneyland and California Adventure. Right?
Build it and they will come…
So as of this morning, I have my Krustyland getting back to normal…with some added fun from the fact that I’m not limited to KrustyLand decorations. And in the middle of my re-vamp? Along comes a lone park patron…wandering over from Itchy & Scratchy Land. This bodes well…
OH….Yes…there is some weirdness…Like how the little guys we are supposed to tap have a penchant for hiding INSIDE of the mountain. Again…I suspect that the Quantum world is at play here, but, I digress…
If you KNOW there are some clickables hiding…just mask the decorations, and you’ll see them.
And remember…if you are trying to find something that you thought you stored…and you don’t see it in your group save area, just check the individual category storage…it is likely to be nicely stored Alphabetically under “Krustyland___” EAsy to find!
Bottom line… be patient. It is obvious that EA is going through a bit of hell right now with their servers…as witnessed by our Neighbors Disappearing for a while last night…along with some very random login issues that are likely related to the same server problem. (You can’t have neighbors show up if their IDs are scrambled).
Yes…this freaked us all out, because we LOVE our NEIGHBOREENOS! But they are back…after what was likely a major reboot of the entire server system.
Almost all is forgiven, EA. I expected bugs. I didn’t expect brain-dead short-sightedness…but you fixed it, and I learned. We’ll get over it…and survive to play another day.
And let’s be honest, if truth be told, I didn’t go to Krustyland that much…and will enjoy trying to figure out how to make due with a few less trees and flowers…
ON ANOTHER NOTE… WE ARE SOOOOO CLOSE REACHING OUR GOAL for this round of School Supplies. The kids go back to school next week…so PLEASE consider helping us finish this up. EVERY DOLLAR HELPS! I have to wire money to Emma on Monday…so please consider helping. Thanks!
DONATE HERE…THANKS!!!
Keep on tappin’… life is fine. EA is trying…I have to believe that!