Thank Grog It’s Firday!
I’m not going to “go there,” at least not much. But this has been one of those “Math Weeks” that just makes people crazy! Simplified, modern caucuses in Iowa, that turned out to be anything but.
Then there was the extremely predictable Senate votes…that turned out exactly how everyone expected, and yet was reported like it was not expected.
And then, there is the very, very, very odd update math for the TSTO Black History Month, that defies logic, and puts you in a position for loads of tapping, for the same results. Four Acts, over 5 Weeks, that start and stop, over nine and ten day periods.
It’s almost as if EA is conspiring with the calendar to make things more difficult, without doing much more than flipping a couple of minor switches in the programming.
Let’s break this down (not the politics…that’s permanently broken). I mean the event math…
As I wrote on the Calendar post, “be careful what you wish for,” when it comes to something as open ended as “Please Make The Game More Interesting and Difficult!”
It’s like asking a Genie to make you taller and more good looking, only to be turned into a replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David. Big, tall, gorgeous…but made of stone…with no working “dating parts.”
The most annoying aspect of the “new Leap Year Math” isn’t that it uses numbers that are just inflated and stretched across 5 weeks…but that they basically just did a 4-week event, and stretched it. We don’t get more prizes. We don’t get better prizes. We just have to tap more…and longer…to get what we used to get in four weeks, more EAsily.
Abes in Toyland-vs-Black History Month – Same Number of Prizes…harder/longer to get them.
I have often joked that EA’s “programming department” for TSTO, is just one part-time guy named Bob, who also delivers pizzas the rest of the week. Well…my guess is, that the football playoffs and the Super Bowl had his pizza job so busy, that he only had time for a bit of tweaking on this event.
Anyone who knows anything about programming, knows that making a change like “How many stethescopes does it take to earn X” is literally a couple of key strokes in the program code. It could just as easily be 50 as it can be 400.
The same goes for dates. Start and end dates are already built into the code for the Acts…especially since they have been using the same format for more than a year now. 7 days is easily transcribed to 10. Click. Click.
What is more difficult is coming up with great content. On this, I do give them a couple of pats on the head. At least we get new characters, and not rehashes or skins for existing characters. However the “animated task” as a prize is kind of another way of taking things out of the hopper, and re-purposing them.
I can even put up with the relatively clunky dialogue. As always…it is the fat, dumb, white guys that look the worst. But, Hibbert’s Dad is not going to win any honors for “Father of the Year.”
The most annoying thing about this event isn’t anything I’ve already mentioned. It is that EA has decided to MESS WITH MY WEEKENDS and FORCE me to play when I’d rather not…at all. I love weekends. Tapping is not something I prefer to do on Weekends. So…yes…even though they clearly are making it harder to rush this event with donuts, I will do so on the weekends.
Let’s see… I get 53 stethoscopes per cycle…and on some of these, I need 400 per prize. That’s 8 cycles, of 11 characters at 2 donuts per character…that’s 192 donuts PER PRIZE. Five prizes…I better get to farming! And that’s more time. But, then…even if I rush… the Third act starts on a SUNDAY! Bastids!
I could also follow the advice of NicoRox13, who wrote: Instead of speeding up the 5 stethoscope characters, why not send mr. Hibbert repeatedly. You state 24 donuts oer cycle gets you 63. That’s 12 rushes, 8 x 12 = 96, which is a bit more cost effective then speeding up the 5 unit characters.
Apparently…some people love math. The savings in time is negligible. But, hey…I get his logic.
OK…
On a positive note…I have long ago given up trying to figure out why they have some of these prizes…or why they bother with the “Mystery Box” that for most long-time players, doesn’t have anything in it…or just a couple of items we didn’t want.
It makes it easier to just say, “No thanks! I don’t want to have to pull something off of my layout (because of the ITEM LIMITS) to place something I didn’t want in the first place. So there’s that.
Add to this…the lunacy of making the alternative to be 12 donuts. COME ON! You want me to tap for a couple of days to get enough stethascopes to get 12 donuts??? I can farm 12 donuts in 30 seconds. It’s just not worth my time. I take them, to get through to something I do want. But, sheesh…12 donuts? But it’s better than a sharp poke in the eye with David’s “stick.”
It’s early. The dialogue may pull this one out of the hamper. But, at this point…I am ready to start a GoFundMe account, so Bob doesn’t have to work at the pizza place anymore.