Happy Musings Thursday my friends! This week I’m finally musing about Halloween! So before EA disappoints us again, I’ve got some optimistic thoughts, so let’s get to ’em…
So I want to do a couple of things with this week’s musings post, wrap up Cthulhu’s Revenge and talk about Halloween 2019. So let’s first jump into Cthulhu’s Revenge…
We recorded an episode of Addicts Live last night (which will air on Saturday), and we all came to the same general conclusion. This mini-event was ok. The writing was great, prizes were ok, and we liked it more than Krusty’s Last Gasp.
Content-wise, this felt like an add on to Last Year’s THOH episode…or 2015 THOH event. Almost like they had this idea back in 2015 and sat on it to put it in the show…OR they intended for this to be an add on with last year’s THOH event and decided it didn’t work with last year’s monster theme and pulled it. That would explain why Dracula shows up in the dialogue….
But speculation, while fun to do, won’t get us anywhere. So let me give some thoughts about the event itself as it all winds down…
Aside from the Oyster eating table, I was pleasantly pleased with the prizes available with this one. All of the items fit well in Springfield…even if they are from Fogbury…and they all come with a permanent task. Always nice to see items getting use.
The Cthulhu character as the final prize is a nice touch. I’m happy to see it’s a full character with tasks and not just an NPC…Brooders may disagree with me, but TSTO does not need more NPCs.
Overall I’d give this event a solid B. Not outstanding, but not average or awful. The dialogue was great, really funny, and the addition of the Cthulhu as a full character moves it from a C+/B- to a B in my opinion. A nice little time filler while we wait for the real Halloween event in TSTO…
We talk about Cthulhu’s Revenge a bunch on Addicts Live, so check out the new episode on Saturday morning for more…
Now let’s talk about the real Halloween event…
There are two things Tappers can expect every year in the TSTO event cycle…Halloween and Christmas. Those are two standard events each year, and two events we usually mark as the “gold standard” for TSTO. Generally, if EA’s going to make a change in gameplay/structure that change is made during Halloween or Christmas. (Wheel style gameplay…Christmas event, the introduction of 3 Act Structure arrived with a THOH event, introduction of multi-events Christmas event…)
Over the last 7 years, we’ve come to expect excellence from EA when it comes to Halloween and Christmas. Sometimes we’re let down…Pagan Christmas…and sometimes we’re rewarded…Rigellian THOH. It’s because of this history I can confidently say…to those cynical Tappers…this is not it for Halloween. This Cthulhu’s Revenge mini-event is just a Halloween appetizer, NOT all we’ll get for Halloween. (Well, I base that on history and the fact that it’s only October 3rd and this hit on September 25th…even EA’s not that lazy/dumb to release a Halloween event 5 weeks before Halloween.)
So let’s get into a little speculation, shall we?
–Timeline…based on when the mini-event ends I do think we’ll be in for a 4-week THOH Event this year. I suspect it’ll start on Wednesday, October 9th and end Wednesday, Nov. 6th. About a week after Halloween. That generally fits into the THOH end date pattern over the last few years…
–Format…as much as I hate to say it, I do think we’ll see another multi-event for Halloween this year. I hope/think this will be the last one, but I do think they’re aiming for a full year (at least) of them. So I do think Halloween will follow the multi-event format.
As a side note: I do think the multi-event format, at this point, is a failure. It would be a good format the throw in every once in awhile, but have every event…mini and multi…following the same structure has become a failure. And it’s causing a lot of players to just stop playing TSTO altogether.
-Content… EA has a golden opportunity with THOH this year to really do something special. This is the 30th Treehouse of Horror AND episode 666. Do I think they’ll do something special? Well, I hope they will, but I’m not holding my breath…
Now that we’re closer to the actual episode airing, FOX is releasing a little more info about it. As a reminder here’s the poster that was released over the summer…
And now we have an official Synopsis of it…
The 30th “Treehouse of Horror” features a demon Maggie, a mission to rescue Milhouse from another dimension, dead-Homer’s spirit trying on some new bodies for size and Selma finally finding love in an unlikely place – the alien in the basement.
And a TON of promotional images have been released…scroll away if you don’t want to see them….
I don’t know if the fact that we’re still three episodes away from the actual THOH episode airing will prevent EA from putting content from the actual episode in the update…so they don’t spoil the episode. BUT, let’s pretend we know for a fact they’ll be basing the event on the episode.
4 Acts to a multi-event, 4 central themes in the THOH episode.
-Week 1 could feature demon Maggie, with the final prize being a demon Maggie costume.
-Week 2 parodies Stranger Things and focusing on Milhouse and Bart. Tasks for the kids (Nelson, Martin, and Bart) riding bikes and a Lisa as Eleven costume as a prize(like in the poster)…with the central focus being the saving Milhouse storyline.
-Week 3 can you imagine the possibilities of a dead Homer trying on new bodies in TSTO? How hilarious would that be?
-And Week 4 is a parody of The Shape Water…joint task for Kang and Selma, and it would be nice to have the central focus of a week be on someone other than the main Simpson 5.
That would be a nice tidy THOH event. And I think something like that, where each week is based on part of the episode, would get folks excited about the game…even if it is another multi-event.
Anyway, I’ve rambled long enough this week about it. Let’s just hope EA has been listening and puts out a great THOH event that we’ve all come to expect over the years. We shall see what happens next week 🤞
And remember to check out Saturday’s episode of Addicts Live for our thoughts on all of this…
And I’ll add this in here once again this week…EA if you’re reading this, and let’s face it we know that you are…it would go A LONG way with players if you actually sent the event info teaser packet out BEFORE the THOH actually starts. Build some hype for it. Which was, you know, the whole reason you started sending out the info packets in the first place…
And that’s it guys, my latest round of random TSTO Musings. Thoughts? Care to share your own musings on the topic? Sound off below, you know we love hearing from you!
Have the new treehouse of horror 2019 update on tapped out. Does anyone know when it actually starts?
http://tstoaddicts.com/2019/10/22/halloween-2019-spoilers/
Well now it’s the 15th and crickets 🤷🏻♂️
No hay ni rastro de la actualizacion
Yo creo que este año nos quedamos sin nada.que opinas
Halloween is canceled
🙄 there’s always one…
🤣
Es seguro?
I have wondered since the great drought of updates and new content ended what happened to cause it? Was it an evil curse? Did the Aliens abduct the writers and or programmers? Or did a mouse get in and short out the wires by chewing on them or the other way? I am thankful our little distraction and small provider of small doses of happiness is still being kept alive…Its Alive! anyways hope they do decide to start randomizing the formats of the events and change things up as well. Happy Tapping fellow STO addicts.
Why did everyone hate Pagan Christmas so much? Was it because of the way it was structured, or was it the content? Personally I love Star Snowsuit Maggie, chopping her little stuffed sheep’s head off, and honestly I felt a non-traditional Christmas event was…..refreshing, in a way. I work retail and I get so sick of holidays, Christmas especially, so I liked that it was DIFFERENT! That event made me happy and I still love the content from it, but it sounds like I’m in the minority
On a different note, I am wondering what it means that the official Facebook page of TSTO hasn’t had anything new in over a month.
I wouldn’t take much stock in that page. Sometimes it’s updated sometimes it’s not.
I can’t believe some people think Tapped Out is not going to do a Halloween event this year. It’s arguably the most anticipated event of the year on Tapped Out.
Halloween is in 2 weeks.
I’m probably in the minority who don’t mind if the Halloween event will be a multi event but I really hope it would be like the very first multi event at Christmas with lots of prizes and land tokens with the prizes, certain prizes that can be bought for cash multiple times, new and returning items in store every few days (instead of every act), a couple of mystery boxes with items not available in the YMB, and some things I would really like to see would be neighbour interactions, some more autumn/fall greenery, an option to use different types of rivers that were from past Halloween events permanently and a trivia question to the new THOH episode.
I do agree the multi event format would be good once in a while or 2 to 3 times a year. But because they are always between mini events it has made them overused and predictable just like major events became last year. There could be a mixture of major, mini, multi, and 1 week updates throughout the year to make it a bit more interesting.
Instead of having 6 week major events again, we could have updates that last a week or 2 for permanent additions like new Road to Riches prizes, new friend point prizes, new Springfield Heights updates, different vault items every few months and episode tie ins again. The only time that there wasn’t an event (mini or multi) on this year was Marge at the Bat and 4th July.
For the current update, the prizes seem much better than the ones from the last mini event because we have 2 buildings, 2 decorations and a character as prizes rather than 3 decorations, 1 building and a costume (along with the 24 donuts). Most of the prizes are used by Cthulhu (the final prize) for his tasks in contrast to only 2 of the prizes being used. The premiums from both events seem decent in their own ways.
I traded some no return visit friends for new ones. It is exciting to see where they take their Springfield. I hope they have as much fun as I have playing our little game.
Wow! Lots to think about and discuss, so here goes (my opinions, and I will read everybody’s, too)
I. Cthulhu’s Revenge
I had fun, for the most part, even though L-EA-Z-Y missed out on a few things (ie a Stonecutters type of Table for M’nthster, Cthulhu, and the Simpson’s family would’ve been better, A derelict Tavern with Seagulls on the roof).
I will say it was more fun then Krusty’s Last Crap (and most of the Mini Events) this year – a B – glad to have M’nthster and Cthulhu playing catch together, but 2019 has been L-EA-Z-Y’S choice to disappoint me (and a lot of Tappers) due to not even trying most of the time.
I 💜’d THOH 2015 Event, so of course I enjoyed Cthulhu’s Revenge, but what will THOH 2019 be? 🤔
II. THOH 2019 TSTO
Each Halloween Event has been awesome, except the year we got Harry Potter lampooning (that was stupid, please don’t epic fail again like that EA!) – yeah that wasn’t fun, as in “Pagan Christmas wasn’t fun for so many they had a crap attack and quit the Game App” (I made the most of that Event).
I guess it will be 4 Weeks, each Act will be 1 Week long, and a designated Mystery Box (yeah same format, just Halloween)! I don’t know what that will encompass (last year was fun, the content was based on a THOH Episode Opening Scene – like Cthulhu’s Revenge). Too easy to keep that format going (EA isn’t going to change things up for a 6 Week Event, or will they? Wait and see!)
All I can predict is “don’t screw it up, EA! You’ll lose Tappers if you do!” (Tappers are fed up! We appreciate what is cool, but too much about the Game Apl sucks now – I don’t need to repeat what that is!)
III. THOH Season 31 Episode
So, of course, why it’s THOH 30 (there was no THOH Episode in Season 1) and hey the 666’th Episode of The Simpson’s (lol! Jeebus Compels You!) needs to make some changes (my opinion).
If more then 3 Segments? It needs to be an Hour Episode (50 minutes with commercials), as a good to great segment needs more than 2 – 5 minutes to tell the story. Cramming too many segments into 30 minutes (22 minutes with commercials) means we get a hit or miss (more often a miss) in under 3 minutes each – and that sucks (not counting time for “the opening scene” as that’s usually under 2 minutes and it’s a given).
I miss Marge coming out to warn us (great homage to Classic Universal Horror) bring that back, please! And that’s about it – either I will 💜 the whole Episode, or certain parts, or just go “meh” and watch something else (I do appreciate THOH Episodes, because this harkens back to a time when every Network had Halloween specials! They don’t do this anymore, unless it’s a cable channel OR free digital subchannel! Today’s Gen is missing out!)
Keep On Trick Or Treating, Tappers (or Beware Of Hitchhiking Ghosts for 50 Years!) 👻🎃🦇💀
We’re going to get a Halloween event, the leaves haven’t changed colors.
Well I hope you are wrong about the 4 week multi event format for Halloween ( sure you’d be pleased if you were ).
There is only so much you can do with this format, so I cannot see how it can be special.
Like to think EA will surprise us. At least we seem to have lost those long gaps between events & the prizes in this present one are good.
So bit at a time, EA could be getting their act together.
I really hope the old format will be used for events again, like clearing ghosts in your town and helping your neighbors clear them etc.
It felt more interactive to me, much more fun.
Anyway, excited to see what they come up with this year!
Let’s hope! And thanks again for your musings, Alissa! 👏
Speculation, think we have had it, next update Christmas, 1 week mini event, beginning of December, 😉
Ok now thats just blasphemy. You can’t just skip an awesome holiday like halloween…or sugar coat it with a foo foo 2 week mini teaser
(dont spit on my cupcake and call it frosting).
Dont you be one of those Lets-talk-Christmas-even-though-there’s-still-green-leaves-on-the-trees kinda guy. I won’t stand for that sir.
Let’s just relax and wait patiently and stay positive.
Then when next wed rolls around and we get nothing….then and only then can we smash stuff. Lol 🎃🎃🎃
Haha 😉 let the smashing begin, 🎅🤶
Npcs are underrated
Sorry I commented on the wrong comment
My prediction is that halloween, will not be an event. In contrast, we will be given a few decorations and an opportunity to by old content that everyone already has at inflated prices. It will end up looking like some of the july 4th type content, minus the presidents.
🤯🤯🤯🤯
That’s not good
THOH is too popular to just skip a year
They aren’t skipping THOH.
…but we DO need more NPCs! 🤪
I really hope THOH event is awesome this year. I feel like we deserve it! ❤
Npcs are underrated
I’ve been reading this site for awhile and constantly see complaint after complaint, or comment after comment that EA seems to owe us. What exactly does EA owe us? People complain when we don’t get new content, and then complain that they don’t like the style or type of content, or that it’s lazy. If people are that disappointed or don’t like the content, then don’t play. Delete the app and move along with your life. Perhaps you’re been playing this game for years and spent money in that time on doughnuts, who cares?
Rant over
All we need is a little patience🎶
🤯
I have my donuts saved for when sandytoes74 loses it!
Curious to see what they do with a Stranger Things parody, so much good content to pick from, hope they focus on the good stuff and not the so-so stuff.
~MIB👤
Waffles…we should see eveyone hunting for waffles. 😆
Alas, we already know that EA will (yet again) miss a great opportunity.