Happy Musings Thursday my friends! I’m back with another musings post. I’ve got some thoughts, so let’s get to ’em…
Happy New Year friends! I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable New Year’s celebration, and I wish you all nothing but health and happiness for 2020 (and beyond)!
A new year often brings new resolutions. For some, they’ll make a list of resolutions…that they won’t keep. Others will make resolutions that they will keep.
Personally, I don’t make resolutions. Just like I don’t give things up for Lent. I feel like making resolutions (or giving things up for Lent) is just setting yourself up for failure. And the list is just a constant reminder of your failures. So instead, I just try every day to be the best version of myself I can be. Sometimes I succeed…and often I fall flat on my face.
No matter your stance, or feelings on resolutions the new year is a chance for a new and fresh start.
And it’s the perfect time for a new fresh start in TSTO.
This February will mark 8 years of TSTO. This game was released on “leap day” in 2012…February 29th. How fitting it would be, that as we’re approaching another “leap day” if TSTO returned to its former glory?
You guys have been around here a while. You know we’re not asking EA for the moon. That’s George Bailey’s job. No, we’ve all been asking for the same things over and over. In some ways, they’ve listened…and in other ways they’ve taken giant steps backward.
Let’s take a moment to see how EA has listened to us over the past year…
-4-week Events
Let’s all acknowledge that 6 weeks was WAY to long for an event. Despite the format, I think we can all agree that 4 weeks is the way to go. And I for one am grateful EA listened to us on this one.
–No More Crafting
Guys, I hate crafting. And I know some of you love crafting and that’s ok. The reason I hate crafting so much is because of in-game cash. We have millions upon millions of useless in-game cash just sitting there. I’d much rather have items I can buy for in-game cash, then grind for a specific event for crafting currency.
EA shifted away from crafting in 2019, and I’m grateful for that change.
–1 Prize Track, with no timer
Ok, so we technically have more than 1 prize track for events. 4 to be exact. BUT each prize track has a timer the length of the event. Which is nice. It’s fun because you had an entire event to work on the overall prize goal, and allows you to miss a day without worrying about getting screwed by the Act Timer. It’s a fair way of doing things for players new and old.
–Collect All, Sky Finger
This is one of my favorite 2019 additions to TSTO. I love the collect all button.
–Town Portrait
This would be my second favorite addition to TSTO in 2019. I love the ability to easily take a photo of my entire Springfield in one shot.
Now here are the areas they haven’t exactly listened to us on…and we really hope they will in the new year…
– Stick to a cohesive theme, and forget the multi-event format
I think we can all agree that we love the 4-week length for major events. It’s not too short, and not too long. But I think we can also agree that the multi-events have lost their luster. They lack a cohesive theme and get boring quickly.
It would be great in 2020 if EA picks a theme and sticks with it. Find characters/buildings/decorations that work together…don’t just throw crap against the wall to see what sticks.
– Bring Back Community Prizes and not in the half-assed way they were done for Tap Ball. The REAL Community Prizes we saw during Halloween and Christmas 2013.
There’s not much else to say about these other than they were awesome. Kept everyone tapping with a specific Community Goal in mind. Everyone worked together to unlock prizes as a group. It was fun and it kept players engaged.
– Better Neighbor Interaction
In the past, we were able to do things like egg a neighbor’s brown house or TP their elementary school. Now we just tap and run. Really, it’s gotten to a point where visiting neighbors is almost pointless.
TSTO is different than other games BECAUSE of neighbor actions. It’s what has allowed for the community feeling in TSTO. Those other games, from that miniature company, don’t allow for neighbors to interact the same way. Visiting neighbors in those games, if you can visit them, literally means nothing. In TSTO it used to mean a great deal. For Halloween 2013 you could possess their buildings and they’d earn Goo. For Christmas 2013 you could leave them presents for more event currency.
Make Neighbor’s important again. Bring back fun ways to interact, like leaving gifts (that are easy to find…some of the stuff recently has had a timer and has been difficult to find. I’m talking about you, stupid lawyers). In today’s world, we could use to be closer to our neighbors, not further apart.
-Bring Back Hidden Easter Eggs
Finding free donuts in TSTO because of a hidden Easter Egg is a blast. We’ve had a few during events in the past…during Halloween 2013 there were donuts rewarding for correctly guessing who should confess, during Stoneutters they were awarded for tapping the Stonecutter table 10 times while the appropriate Stonecutters were signing and there have been others. This has always been a fun scavenger hunt way to get players engaged in various things while playing an event.
– Bring Back Riddles/Puzzles To Unlock Bonus Prizes (ala Stonecutters)
This was one of the coolest things EA ever did, answer a riddle (by sending a character on a task) to unlock bonus prizes.
Bring this back. Players really loved it and still talk about how awesome it was today.
We’re not mindless idiots, we grow tired of “tap and wait, tap and wait”…puzzles/riddles/other challenging elements give an element of fun and excitement to the game.
Bring Back Characters Being Possessed/Attacked/Zombie’d etc by Neighbors When You’re Away From Your Town
These were great. For various Halloween events, characters would get bitten by Zombies (2012), possessed by ghosts (2013) or attacked by an alien (2014)…while these were only done for Halloween somewhere along the line they stopped. Bring them back.
Oh, and while you’re at it…bring back trick or treating costumes…
A Search Feature In Inventory AND A Way to Delete/Sell All Items In Inventory
Let’s face it, we’ve been playing TSTO for a LONG time. So naturally, we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff from our TSTO adventures. Who could forget those pink fountains or that construction yard or even that larger than life gingerbread mansion?
I love the memories made in TSTO over the years, but they’re just that, memories to me. Some items are better off as memories than features in my Springfield. It would be great if there was a way to sell some of those old items to keep my inventory down. So when I look for items I really need that I’ve stored away, like those special fences or trees, I can quickly find them. Of course, a search feature (where you can type in what item you’re looking for, not physically scan for it) would be handy for this as well. If I can’t have both, I’ll take either.
In the end guys, I’m not asking EA to make silly resolutions that likely won’t be kept. Instead, I just want them to put the best version of themselves into this game with every update. The updates may be great, and the updates may fall flat on their face…but if they put the best version of TSTO out, that we all know they’re capable of, then we all win.
Thoughts? Ideas for EA? Do you make resolutions? Stick to them? How do you plan to make a fresh start in 2020?