Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Here we are again. Yet another Thursday with no new update in TSTO released the previous two days. At this point, while I don’t think this is the case, it’s hard not to feel like EA’s ghosting us. As usual, I have some thoughts on things, so let’s get to ’em…
-First, for all the new folks to TSTO Addicts…welcome! TSTO Addicts is an amazing Community of players from around the world who all love TSTO and The Simpsons.
I want to start things with a simple reminder (for those long time Addicts members, my apologies in advance). We’re not EA. We don’t work for EA. We don’t work for FOX, Disney, Gracie Films, or anyone else associated with this game. We just love TSTO and have since it started, so we’ve been blogging about it for the last 6 years.
I assume you’re here because you’ve enlisted the help of The Google to see what’s going on with TSTO, and I assume that you assume, because we appear pretty much at the top of the search results, that we’re part of EA. We’re not.
So please don’t yell at us about the game. We’re just as frustrated as you are. And we can’t do anything about it.
-I’m starting to feel like a broken record…but as of right now the game isn’t dead. It’s still active on the servers and, aside from the lack of updates, there’s no indication that EA has opted to stop supporting it. Also, EA had their 2019 FY Q4 earnings call yesterday, and while TSTO wasn’t mentioned by name, there was no indication that they’re eliminating the game from their catalog. (we’ll talk more about this on Addicts Live, this Saturday)
We’ve also heard from Matt Groening, Matt Selman, and some others that the game isn’t over. This is pretty much just a lull. For whatever reason, reasons we don’t/won’t know unless EA decides to share them with us, we’re going through a lull right now.
– Unfortunately, no one will be happy until we hear from EA on it (and even then there are those who still won’t be happy…) Either via an update, and continuous updates, or some sort of message.
Until we do hear from EA everyone is going to speculate wildly, and all over the map, on what’s going on. I’m hearing/seeing EVERYTHING you could possibly think of about this. Things like:
-Disney Pulled it/they’re waiting until they get an ok from Disney to continue. (both of these theories are wildly inaccurate)
-They’re moving servers.
-They pulled developers from TSTO to work on Apex.
-They’re out of ideas.
The list goes on and on. The reality is that unless you work on TSTO, no one knows what the hell is going on. No one.
The “internet analysts” are letting their imaginations run wild. They’re reading to much into one thing, and not enough into another. It’s the nature of the beast. Silence from EA breeds wild speculation. So just take information with a grain of salt.
-I’m also seeing a lot of people complain that the last “real major update” in TSTO was Halloween. Guys that’s bull hockey! The last major event update was Valentine’s Day, the last mini-event was Classless reunion. (I’ll have you that Marge at Bat was an update, but nothing else) Just because you didn’t like an event doesn’t mean it wasn’t an event.
-And speaking of wild speculation and people complaining about when the last update really happened…I’m seeing people speculate that Halloween was when they started to pull people out of the game because they didn’t finish it and used the recycled Dig Site.
Guys, this is EA we’re talking about. They reuse stuff ALL THE TIME! They’re lazy AF (yes, I really just wrote that). Why do you think Pat coined the term EALP? Because EA comes out with new and original gameplay styles for TSTO every single update? No, because they come up with 1 idea and recycle it 100 times until people get bored with it.
The Wheel during Christmas 2013 was recycled 1 event later for the 2014 Valentine’s Day Event. Mystery Boxes? Those started with Easter 2014! And it’s all just a recycled way of using the Wheel.
Remember those little animated videos you unlocked with The Springfield Jobs last year when you collected certain prizes/crafting items? Well, that was just a replay of the 2016 Wild West Event!
The list goes on and on guys. They come up with a new and original idea, and then they recycle it over and over. It’s been 6 years of this, it’s amazing how a lack of updates will mess with your mind…
-Now all of this nonsense goes away if EA just says something about TSTO. The TSTO team needs to reach out to the TSTO community, share some kind of message as to what’s going on (we know you know how to get ahold of us). To go from a pretty regular schedule of updates (from, at least, 2015 to now) to a screeching halt is frustrating, to say the least.
While, in reality, the TSTO team doesn’t owe anyone an explanation, after a month of no updates (and nearly 2 months of physical content updates) they should provide some kind of information. Even in a lighthearted way through the game dialogue. The radio silence is just infuriating customers.
The game is not over, but by allowing the nonsense to fester they’re just turning off players who’d otherwise stick around if they knew what was going on.
As a reminder, here are a couple of places you can go to share your frustration with EA, aside from our comments of course….
The TSTO Forums, there’s a post there by Willy. Add your voice
TSTO EA Answer HQ, there’s a post there by NAT. Add your “Me Too”.
Check out this post for more ways to share your frustration.
-While it’s not an update to TSTO, I hope you guys are enjoying some of the new regular posts we’ve added to the site during the downtime, and we’ve still got a few more to roll out. Plus a new Addicts Live on Saturday! It’s been a while, and we’ve got a lot to say! 😊
As I said last week, we’re not going anywhere. As long as you guys keep coming here we’ll keep writing. We enjoy what we do, and we love this community and that doesn’t go away just because the game isn’t updating.
We’ll all navigate this chaos together.
And of course…as soon as an update hits the server (or if we get an info packet from EA) we’ll share that info with you guys immediately (as long as we’re allowed to), that’s a promise!
Thoughts? Care to share your own musings? Any thoughts on regular posts you’d like us to run during downtime? Did you contact EA to tell them you’re mad as heck? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
What is EALP? EA lazy pig?
OK, I’ve been patient and making the best of this lull. I enjoyed the downtime, did some pretty substantial remodeling and picked up a bunch of stuff from the yearbook. Then the connectivity issues became so annoying that I barely played for about three weeks. Over the last few days it’s been much better so I decided to do some donut farming. I bought about 10 Rat Trap Trucks and cashed in. Fine. Then I bought about 20. No problem. An hour later I bought about 20. I cashed in on two donut chance and: BART SCREEN. “Cannot connect to server”. I got right back in. One donut chance. That’s it. Tried it again with 30 Rat Trap Trucks. 2 donut chances then BART SCREEN. Loggged back in. Two donut chances. This HAS to be by design. That’s it. I’m done. No mas. Adios. Buh-bye.
If EA wants to introduce some new super-donut currency that cant be farmed or reorganize the way premium content is obtained, I understand but this is TOTAL B.S. Grinding for game cash to have it wasted like this is just not worth the frustration. I’ll check in here to see if anything new happens but I’m pretty much over it. Been tapping since the second Treehouse of Horror event, BTW and spent considerable real money along the way.
You are lucky, I have crashed after 3 RTT and not get all my donuts.
Been playing since the start. Because of the yearbook, I’m farming as much as I ever have. But they either need to bring back golden goose reality or add land to the yearbook. My Springfield is like a storage locker. Why not give us golden goose. I’m going to finish these 700 items soon as fast as I’m farming
I’m fine with the no updates/events as a long time player but…….the silence from EA is shameful! They read (assuming) they have to know they are reeking havoc, a simple press release would sole so much, grrrrrrrr
Hi, Handsome! It’s nice to see my Neighboreeno on here!
When I was having trouble with my grandsons old TSTO on his phone (he lost all of the New Springfield,tunnels,buildings and jobs) I spoke to several of the support staff. They were never able to get his game back the way it was so they set him up with a new that they copied. He had to use a different email to get it. Anyhow one of the support staff mentioned something about a big major update in December that could fix the problem. I don’t know if he was serious or just trying to placate me but it is something to think about.
I assumed the down time was there to give people a chance to farm donuts, buy all the yearbook items, and work through the quests they may contain before eventually giving us another update(summer or 4th of July)
I keep trying to remember that there are many players out there who aren’t like me and already have most of that stuff.
☯️😎☯️
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YSa9S34.jpg[/IMG]
☯️😎☯️
Been tapping for six years, several times a day, seven days a week.
I never thought my family was right about this being an addiction. I have to now admit they were right. I’m an addict and tapping is my addiction! EA please!
It would seem easy for them to just revive one of the old events to buy themselves time.
The one where we attacked other towns with castles and all that was one of my favorites.
All conspiracy theories aside. They owe us a real explanation. Iv’e read some post where EA owes us nothing..explanation wise. Ridiculous I say! After the first month of this “lull” they should have made a statement. Not doing just shows they don’t give sweet, flying fudge about us. Maybe we have made them too rich to give a damn!
I will keep playing until the content is pulled from the servers, heck I’m still trying to finish everything in FWOT! As for this site, I love the content and really appreciate all the hard work that goes into it…I’m like an infestation, once I’ve found a place I like, I’m very difficult to evict. So as long as TSTOAddicts will have me I’ll keep reading:
1)Because of the good content and
B)Because trolls and flamewars are not welcome here
Keep up the good work Ladies & Gentlemen!
~MIB👤
I have had.only one real conspiracy theory. EA is waiting to release the next update.until AFTER all the bugs are fixed. Judging by recent updates and how long it took them to correct issues, it could take from 5 weeks to never.
I was thinking of game I used to play online. You could go to a market place and trade items with individual players. You could had a “stock market” where you could set a price to buy or sell a commodity. This would be a great way to eliminate items in your inventory or get items that were in limited supply. Adding that to TSTO would be a great way to stimulate the game.
Torn?
I believe it was Runescape.
I think there’s also a very real possibility that EA isn’t commenting on the lack of updates for legal reasons, specifically pending legislation that was introduced (and will likely pass) regarding microtransctions. EA would have to make significant changes to the game (basically eliminate loot boxes or police the age limit) in order to comply with this law. See https://abovethelaw.com/2019/05/republican-finally-proposes-non-idiotic-video-game-law-for-first-time-in-recorded-history/.
Possible…but not likely. As they are still selling donuts…for cash.
I know you’ve said in the past that you think they’re opening themselves up to a class action lawsuit for still selling donuts. Respectfully, i just don’t think that’s true – so long as the game is operational and donuts have uses, there’s no such cognizable legal claim. If they shut down the servers tomorrow then maybe, but even then it would be shaky given repeated notices that donuts have no monetary value. The Futurama Worlds of Tomorrow hasn’t had a real update in a year but they’re still selling premium currency to buy out of their mystery box.
There’s three possibilities – the next update they had in the works had serious bugs, the servers are having serious bugs, or this is the beginning of a long winddown with occasional smaller events but almost all of it being recycled content. I think the first or second would both have small questline events with no new content if it was the first two options, and suspect it’s the third.
In truth, except for serious whales and farmers there’s still a ton in the mystery box most people don’t have and it will tide over casual and newer players for some time. I do recognize this is a shame for longtime serious players, but six years is a veryyl long run on a game like this.
As always, I remain open to being proved happily wrong. And none of this is legal advice, obviously.
I think he was referring to them selling donuts and then flipping the servers off tomorrow. That would be an issue. Right now there are still things to buy for donuts in the game, so as long as the game is on the servers there’s no issue. But if you don’t give a warning, allow people to buy currency and then a day (or even an hour) later shut the game down completely (as in pull off the server), then that opens you up to a class action suit.
Basically, his argument has been, as long as they’re selling donuts there’s no need to panic.
Except that the.legislation was introduced as after the last update was released.
What kind of parent allows their kid to have credit card access on their phones so they can spend a lot of money on a game? If my parents allowed me to have a unsupervised credit card access as a kid I would have bought so much candy and junk food my room would have looked like Wonka’s chocolate factory.
I believe it is important for parents to instill financial responsibility as earlier as possible. I remember having my own bank account when I was eight (earning 5%). As my mother said, “You can use your money to buy candy or your can save it up to buy something you really want.”
I don’t think that law would apply to TSTO. You don’t have to pay realspace currency to progress in the game and you can farm donuts to get plenty for premium stuff or use them on mystery boxes to get a mix of good and bad. Bonus items and the collider that make farming very lucrative do not require realspace money to get either. There are only a few things that require buying donuts with real money to get, and none of them are essential to the game.
If children have access to credit cards, that’s the parents’ problem and I’m sure they have worse things to worry about with realspace purchases. It is crucial to turn off in-app purchases and password the switch and not let the little darlings see you entering that password ever. I do this myself so I don’t accidentally buy something. I get annoyed at the lack of safeguards against accidental purchases, but avoiding them has become part of the gameplay…. My iTunes account is not accessible to any game unless I take all the steps to temporarily unlock in-app purchases.
I’m surprised that EA hasn’t provided a way to get donuts or tokens to collect to get donuts by watching little commercials. That’s a way to get money out of cheapskates like me who refuse to let loose of realspace cash. But I will rent my eyeballs to them for a chance at more donuts.
I’d like to think that this downtime has something to do with a complete overhaul of the game. It would be nice if EA is putting some real thought and programming behind some new twist in gameplay. Maybe they’re brain-storming ideas. Maybe they’re coming up with something actually new and NOT recycled.
On the other hand…….they might be preparing some kind of grand finale as a send off to the game.
I’m leaning towards the latter idea, but I have absolutely no idea at all.
I get how much players love the Simpsons; love the game; love their Springfield’s, love this site. Hey I even think some are starting to love Patric, as they’ve turned their pitchforks to firmly target EA now instead.
But like many of you I’ve played since the start, in that time I’ve gone through periods where I’ve liked the game, loved the game, been bored with the game. I’ve sometimes played more, sometimes played less, but yes I admit over 6 years it’s become a part of my routine.
I’ve got to know Alissa through the game, and through writing for the other Addicts site I know how much work goes into this site. Hell even though I lurk over In The FGQFS something, something dark side Alissa has let me write a few silly posts for this blog.
But in all those years of playing and blogging about 3 games, I’ve never lost track of one fact, they a just that, games. No more, no less. In fact I’ve just given away the fact TSTO isnt even my only game, yes there’s no monogamy for me when it comes to mobile gaming.
But back to this game, and if it were to end tomorrow, which I don’t think it will. Well I’d be a little sad, but honestly that sadness would last for only a few minutes. Why, because it’s only a game. And I’d have no complaints about the money I’ve spent. I’ve probably spent more than some but a lot less than others, Off the top of my head I reckon I’ve spent around £200, possibly a little more on the game over those years, and considering I tapped most days, I think I’ve my money’s worth. Crikey I’ve spent £60 on console games I’ve completed in a day or two, so £200 for over 6 years of mostly lighthearted easy going fun, well you’ll hear no complaints from me. And remember that £200 spend was optional, technically I could played all these years without spending a penny, and I’d still have had fun.
I don’t think this lull is the end and I don’t think Disney have played a contract trump card and snatched the rights. Of course I could be wrong on both of these, but my personal thinking is the downtime is to try sort out server issues and the future content schedule of Tapped Out. I’ve said before that the constant demand for new stuff isn’t a good thing in the mobile gaming market, with so many different platforms, operating systems and devices now. It’s meant time isn’t spent beta testing and glitches that start small grow. It’s not just here I see it, it’s over on FGQFS as well, and I saw it rear it’s ugly bored head on the ill fated FWOT. It’s this player need for constant content and instant gratification that is kryptonite to mobile games.
This isn’t meant to not play down anyone’s love for the game, or dismiss the concerns of those who generally can’t imagine not being able play anymore, I get folk have become attached to their little Springfuelds. But if the worse thing that had happened in my life in the last six years was falling in love with a game only to watch it die, then I’d actually feel blessed, because games can be replaced……
I think i’m done to be honest. Played for about 5 years, sunk I dread to think how much real money into the game…. there is no point (in my opinion) playing without any new content. In case this is my last visit here – thank you very much for everything you have done with this site 😀
As a long time player, I am enjoying the downtime. I am still playing a couple of times a week, but the sense of “ I must log in every four hours’ is not there. Hoping for something big when it comes
I love you guys!! You are a major reason I still play the game. I keep checking back here for ‘anything important’ as I know you’ll be the first to know. The break has been nice.. a little design time, plus accumulating some land tiles so adding some space for future buildings, etc. The one thing I *have* noticed is I do get more Bart ‘ugh not this screen again’ screens! Normally it would frustrate me during an event. But since I log in maybe 1 or 2 x daily now, it’s not a big deal. Certainly plenty of time to get those past hidden goodies in the box for 30 donuts each too. But yeah, some tapping action and dialogue would be good again. Miss my peeps!
Thanks Alissa, and Patrick.Great thoughts/input from a variety of sources, that unfortunately add-up to the same conclusion: no one knows until, or if, or when EA releases info. And the fact that the servers are active is neither conclusive or non-conclusive. Getting land tokens has zero bearing on either expansion, or continuance. I continue to “play” spoadically, hoping like everyone for the best result. Gaming track record and a Disney related gaming, in general leave me suspicious of the negative.
However, it was a fun ride!