Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!
Ok, let’s talk about this Shattered Dreams Mystery Box that so many of you are asking about…and confused about. And I can’t say I blame you for being confused, EA did drop this on us during an Event…but didn’t really drop it. They kind of teased it out. So, let’s see if we can help get everyone on the same page.
Now I’m going to stipulate this with a word of caution… box is NOT live in our games right now. So take everything I’m saying with a grain of salt because EA could still make adjustments to this up until it goes live in our games. At which point I’ll have another post with more specific information. For now, this is just some basic information gathered from the game and the files, and some assumptions I’m making based on what I’m seeing.
Now, let’s get to it…
Let’s start at the very beginning…for those that may have missed the kickoff dialogue when it launched in our games last week, here it is:
Lisa: I’m depressed. I can’t even do things I normally love…like homework.
Marge: Is this about not getting that thing you wanted for your birthday?
Lisa: No, it’s way bigger than that. This is about climate change, and wealth inequality, and voting rights, and…and why didn’t you get me the Malibu Stacy Hollywood Beach House?
Marge: You already have the Malibu Beach House and the Hollywood Penthouse. What does Hollywood Beach even mean?
Lisa: It’s a place in Oxnard. It’s where people in Los Angeles go to get away from all the good restaurants and culture.
Marge: I’m sorry, sweetie, but life is full of disappointments. You have to find coping mechanisms.
Lisa: Like how Dad drinks, or how Bart always gets in fights?
Marge: That’s why they do those things?! Actually I was thinking of my shattered dreams box. The one I keep in the disappointment closet, off the failure room in the regret wing of our house. All those things that represent life’s letdowns, you shut away in a box where they can’t hurt you. Until you pull them out to look at them, or show them to your daughter, or move them to the re-glued-together dreams box if things have improved.
Lisa: Hmm. I like that. Maybe I’ll start a shattered dreams box of my own and get it out occasionally to reminisce.
Marge: Not too much. You don’t want to confront missed opportunities too often.
Lisa: I was thinking like once per event.
Marge: That’s perfect.
So from that dialogue you can gather that there will be some kind of box appearing once per event. Other than that, that’s all you missed from that dialogue if you skipped through it.
the Shattered Dreams Mystery Box
Here’s the panel we all saw in our games about the box:
So off of this panel, we can all make the same assumptions:
Let’s take them one by one…
-The Shattered Dreams Box will return between every event. When you complete each event you’ll reveal a new one.
Here’s how I interpret this: When you complete Act 4 of Hell on Wheels, the Shattered Dreams box will appear in your game. It will only last until the next event (I would assume it would be a mini-event or multi-event) starts. In this case, the files indicate this box leaves on May 25th. Which is 1 week after the Hell On Wheels Event ends. And of course, by now we all know EA’s pattern of updates, so that should be when the next mini-event starts. And it will appear again after you’ve completed the next event.
Here’s what we don’t know for sure: if it’ll only appear after multi-events, or if it’ll appear after both mini-events and multi-events. I would assume it’ll appear after both types of events are over, just something to do for that week between events. But again, we don’t know for sure until it happens.
-The box requires a Shattered Token, which can be earned by completing events, from daily challenges, or as a bonus with donut packs!
We’re already seeing this now in our games. The tokens look like this:
And you can earn them, as some of you have been doing, via Daily Challenges (I haven’t seen it appear as an option for me yet, so I don’t have a screenshot…but I know several of you have commented you earned them via daily challenges), and via purchasing donuts from the store. Here’s the donut options, and the tokens they unlock:
As a side note…don’t buy anything other than the Dozen Donut option if you’re just buying them for the tokens. If you’re getting it as a bonus because you want the donuts, than get what you need…but if you’re buying just for the tokens just buy multiples of the dozen donut option. At $1.99 for 1 token, you can get the 15 tokens (that come with the boatload) for $29.85+ tax if you buy the dozen donut option 15 times…vs spending $99.99 USD + tax for the boatload and getting the same 15 tokens. Make sense? Basically, if you just want the tokens, only buy the Dozen donut option…it’ll save you the most money.
What we don’t know yet is the part that says “which can be earned by completing events”. I’m not sure if they’ll be a token awarded when you complete an event or something else. We’ll just have to be on the lookout for this and see what it means as we wind down this event.
Basically, this looks to me as another way for EA to get you to spend money on actual donuts if you want any real chance of opening multiple boxes.
–Shattered Tokens are persistent and can be kept for future boxes. Collect all items in a box to reveal more non-unique items!
So I’m interpreting this to mean that the tokens are just continuous in our games, as in you can always earn them and you won’t lose them if you don’t use them. These tokens will not be able to be converted for donuts, like other mystery box tokens. You can just hold them until you see something in a box that you like and want to give it a try.
And, as it says…the more items you collect the more items you’ll reveal in the box.
–Each Shattered Dreams box contains a new list of themed items, available until the start of the next event.
So here’s how I’m interpreting this: Each box that appears will have it’s own separate list of items that appear in it, all themed around one past event or another. So you’ll see some items from the future for one box, or another set of items from the Rigellians in another box that will appear later, another box appearing later in the year may contain items from a past Halloween event, and so on.
You’ll never know what might appear between events, and my best advice is to hold onto your tokens if you’re going the freemium route (because they’re hard to earn) until you see something you really want in the box. But also, if you see something you want, go for it because you don’t know if/when it’ll come back.
And another note on this: initially I misread this. That’s what happens when you’re trying to do several things at one time. Now that I’m sitting here looking at it, and able to focus, I can interpret it better. So, for those who saw my comment about new items in the box…at least for now…that appears to be wrong and I apologize for giving you incorrect information. Thankfully it was in a comment and not in a post, which is why I try to take more time when writing posts vs comments. But I’m always happy to admit when I make a mistake in something like that and own up to it.
Ok so now that we’ve broken down the interpretation…let’s get to some questions I’m seeing over and over in the comments:
I’ve Earned A Shattered Dreams Token, Why Can’t I See the Box?
Because the box won’t go live in your game until you’ve finished the Hell on Wheels event (ie Act 4). So you won’t see it trigger until some time after May 10th, and the start date will be different for everyone depending on when they finish the Act 4 prize track.
When Does the Shattered Dreams Box End?
The box ends between each event. So it’ll run from when you finish the previous event (which will vary for everyone), or the last day of an event at the latest, until the start of the next event…which is usually about a week later. So in this case, this first box will leave on May 25th, when the next event should arrive (should be a mini-event).
Do I Have to Buy Tokens?
While you can earn tokens as a bonus when you purchase donuts via the store for actual real-life cash, you will also be able to earn tokens via daily challenges (and apparently some other way when an event ends, that we haven’t yet discovered). However, earning tokens via daily challenges can take some time as they don’t appear frequently. So if you’re really wanting to get items from a particular box, the fastest way (at least in the beginning) may be to buy donuts and earn the bonus tokens with it.
What Is EA Doing? Why Are They Forcing Us to Spend Money?
They’re not forcing you to spend money, they’re still providing ways for you to unlock the box without spending actual money…similar to how premium stuff worked before the days of donut farming. However, EA is still a business and TSTO still needs to make money in order for it to continue…so they’re trying to find ways to get folks to spend actual real-life cash in this game since donut farming has pretty much destroyed the economy of the game.
Remember, I’ve been warning about this for years. With the adaptation of donut farming, EA was going to be forced to find alternative ways to earn revenue. I thought they would create an alternate premium currency, and they basically have…just without the icons. It’s called cash. Similar to the cash items in our games, ie Truckasurus II, this is just another avenue for them to earn money for this game. However, unlike the cash for character items…at least this has a freemium option.
Can I See My Token Count?
Right now, I don’t believe there’s a way to see your token count until the Shattered Dreams Box itself appears. At that point you should be able to see it at the top, similar to other Mystery Boxes. Of course that’s an assumption at the moment, since we won’t know for sure until the box goes live…but I think it’s a decent assumption. So you’ll just have to try and keep a mental note of tokens you’ve earned in between events.
What’s Inside The Box?
As I’ve said before, this box is similar to the Yearbook box in that it’s FULL of returning content that a lot of folks have been asking for. There is a full list in the files, over 100 items at the moment. However, because it says the list will change with a different theme for each box, I’m not sure what will appear in this first box. If it’ll be all 100+ items listed, or a fraction of those for this box and a fraction for another box. So for now, I’m not going to list the items in the box I’ll wait until it hits and see if all of these items are listed, or if it’s just a fraction. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up with items that may not appear for some time. So we’ll see how it goes. But here’s a little sample of some of the items:
Jenda
Future Marge and Homer
Kodos
Teleporters
Rigellian Queen
Ghose Zapper
Frink-thetic Egg Generator MKII
Radish Station
Space Mutant
And the list goes on…
I will get you guys a better list once it’s live and I can see how this first round plays out. I have a feeling, and again it’s only a feeling not 100% what’s going to happen, all 100+ of these items will appear in this first box and then another item list will show up with the next update. BUT we’ll see what happens.
For now, hopefully, this info helped ease some of the confusion surrounding this box. Don’t worry about it right now. Just focus on the event itself and as we get into May, and start up Act 4…then we can talk about it some more. For now earn what tokens come to you via daily challenges, or if you purchased donuts, and complete this event.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Share em below, you know we love hearing from you!
FYI: Daily Challenges are not random. There are definite sequences. Haven’t yet figured out the master sequence.
When you dismiss one you don’t want to do, does it just go to the next one in the sequence? I do know that there are never “send all Springfielders” tasks in a row. If it is a set pattern, it should be easy enough to track it and suss it out. I’ve done that in the past with the Burns Mystery Box, and I have a general sense of the pattern on the rocket.
Used 4 tokens on one game today (5/14). Some bonus items. One free token at end of event.
That thing is what if you’ve already have pretty much all the items that they’ve released so far in the game I’ve gotten pretty much every item that’s been released for the game I’ve been playing since the beginning I’m what you call a coiner i’ve spent more money on the game that I’d like to say but I’ve gotten pretty much all the items that have come out for the game there’s a few odds and ends that I’ve missed like some of the black Friday stuff but other than that I’ve got pretty much everything so they’re in the box unless they have that stuff will be pretty much useless to me I would think unless they’re going to have new items in there and there are so a few of some of the items from the older events from years ago that I wouldn’t mind having a couple more of
Yesterday I won my first token, but i don’t have idea how it uses. Thank you for the post, you’re resolve my questions!
Today is the first day the token showed up in a daily task.
Same for me 😊
If only EA would take half the time involved for one of these new events or new features, to fully revamp Item Storage and make it useful. It really is a case of “never put anything into storage cuz you’ll go crazy trying to find it again.” Sigh…
I have a theory why i, and some other folks, like Alissa, haven’t been able to earn any tokens yet…perhaps it’s because we already have the items that will be in the box, so, just as we don’t see mystery boxes for which we already have all the items, perhaps they’re not, in our daily tasks, making us earn a token we can’t use, instead of donuts or IGC that we can use.
Possible. But as far as Alissa and my town’s are concerned, we both have nearly every item (save for a few for real cash items). However, I was offered one token in my daily challenges earlier this week.
Well, Alyssa hasn’t gotten one (like I haven’t), but if you have, then maybe my theory isn’t borne out. Probably won’t be able to tell until the box comes out and we see what’s in it!
Still haven’t gotten one
That’s what I said (but apologies for your name being misspelled…. the Swype-type typing feature in my iPad prefers that spelling and I usually have to go and change it, but I didn’t notice this time). But, yeah…my theory is that you and I may not have gotten One if those tokens because we’ll have nothing to spend one on when the box comes out. It’s just a theory though!
I’ve been considering finally getting Jebediah Springfield for actually cash along with Shattered Dreams tokens (provided the box looks worth it on 1 May), BUT I am only being offered the tokens on the three cheaper donut purchases – any idea why this might be?! (I’m in the UK if that makes a difference)
The newest item usually replaces the older one in the cash items until the newer one is purchased (or leaves stores). Not sure how it’ll work with the tokens and I unfortunately don’t have the ability to check as I purchased the Statue years ago.
For the tokens though you’re better off buying $1.99 at a time for 1 token. You’ll get more tokens for less money.
I broke it down here
https://tstoaddicts.com/2022/04/19/shattered-dreams-mystery-box-basic-info/
I was able to buy a token with doughnuts I already possessed (60 doughnuts). Kind of weird, but I’m ok with it.
To be clear:
I had one item in my mystery box (go cart race track). I had no tokens. I clicked on it anyway, and it gave me the option of getting the go cart track for 60 doughnuts.
its so weird, I have gotten no tasks for shattered tokens at all. even if i click out of the ones I get I still have received 0 so far. I have finished the act 1 two days ago and still nothing. I hope this changes. I feel like I’m being left out.
I haven’t had any tasks for tokens either.
I haven’t gotten any either…
Patients grasshopper, all will become clear, after act 4
I think I’d ask for a different surgeon –
is Doc. Hibbert available ?!? 🤪
Lol on the spelling problem…I’m that guy too…saw a moer(?) in my local paper today..Was supposed to be more.
Like the Proclaimers lamenting not cutting the grass when they were Coming To America ?!?
So many places they named, and all with no mower !! 🤪
Ooops, my bad – it’s Letter From America
Right now I reckon A.I. stands for Automated Imbecile but sometimes Autocarrot comes up with a moment of unintended comedy genius 🙃
Ok, this makes a lot of sense so basically it’s a Yearbook 2.0 but for a limited time?
I’m really enjoying this event. I love the cars, gas stations, etc. Suggestion for EA if they’re reading— why not sell advertising and give people the option of watching ads, and if they do, rewarding them with tokens. This is the platform that Words With Friends uses. And yes, I watch the ads on a daily basis to get the rewards.
No,
No,
No !!
No Ads is what sets TSTO apart.
It’s what makes it better than most other free apps.
Play free or buy stuff is a choice and plenty of us buy stuff so those who don’t need not suffer through annoying ads.
* rant mode : Off * 🤪
Maybe you didn’t understand what I was suggesting. The ads are OPTIONAL! Just like spending really money is OPTIONAL.
I did read and understand, but I really wouldn’t like EA to go down that route or sooner or later it won’t be optional – they are in it for the money remember.
My reply wasn’t meant as an attack BTW, I wanted to make my feelings on it clear and hoped the last line would show a little humour so you’d see it wasn’t personal.
Yes, I found your answer a bit.. . Well… never mind. Anyway, the Words With Friends platform works nicely. When I need coins for hints or to exchange letters, I’ll sit through a few ads. I’m glad I have the option to view some short ads (some are only 5 seconds) rattan than shelling out $’s, I like that I have a choice to watch a few ads IF I want some extra things. I will not play any games online that force you to sit through ads just to play. Words with Friends has been around a very long time, and they have never made watching ads compulsory.
” GOOD LORD ” PLEASE don’t say that. E A might read that comment and there goes our game. 😱
I hope they do! Would you rather they charge you money or go out of business because they’re not making enough money? I don’t see what the problem is. What do you mean “There goes our game.” It would be OPTIONAL for any extras. Just like in Words With Friends, it’s OPTIONAL. Do you know what optional means?
They’re not going out of business. No need to bring ads in. That’s not the income model they’ve chosen for this game and the one they did is working just fine at paying the bills. I do think that even optional ads would change the vibe. I use other ad-supported apps, and I don’t mind that, but I definitely would not like that for this game.
OPTIONAL. I keep saying OPTIONAL. I never pay money for any OPTIONAL characters or decorations.. but I would certainly watch a few ads for them. This was a suggestion to EA and a good one. I hope they offer this OPTION in the future. Would you rather pay money for an OPTIONAL character or a decoration, watch an ad, or bypass it altogether? Hands down, I would pick ad. Win/win for all. You have the OPTION as well.
I love that a random hypothetical is causing y’all to have this debate…
I got one task so far for a shattered token & it appeared the morning of event launch …… before the game teased me what the tokens was about
Seems a nice addition to the game… we’ll see how it actually but it is nice to see new things in the game
Thank you, as always for the great information! I appreciate all the time you take to post all of this prior to events.
Thanks for this information…much appreciated. I’ll keep clearing my daily tasks…hoping for a shattered token task. Other than that…not much to think about until the box is revealed. Thanks again…
I have received four but none from clearing a daily task.
Of course you wouldn’t receive one for clearing a daily task…I clear the task to see if a new task that offers a token as a reward replaces it. I’m thinking this shattered dreams box will be quite empty in my circumstance…since its very rare for me to get any mystery boxes/yearbooks with even 1 -3 items in it. We’ll see once the event ends…but I’m happy with anything new…
Between both my towns over six days, getting a new task and swapping a saved task, I’ve so far had 24 Not For Tokens challenges 😞🤪
Each day I pick one to complete and save the other two so I can keep trying the swaps but still get a fresh task too.
How did you get four of those tokens??
It’ll be interesting to see how the content itself works.
They have done at least 1 misery box previously that started with only Unique items and anything you had none of. Once you’d emptied those it then refilled with all the Repeatable items it had to offer.
If that’s what happens great, but if it starts with everything at once, every single Repeatable item plus any Unique items a player doesn’t yet own, it’ll be a pain with perhaps 100+ items and at best 2 weeks to go at it all.
It’s certainly got a lot of us curious ( or confuddled !! ) for now 😊
Is this replacing the yearbook
Not as far as I know. The yearbook is staying, but i don’t think new items will be added to it.
I have a question about “Shattered Tokens are persistent and can be kept for future boxes. Collect all items in a box to reveal more non-unique items!” Does this mean if there’s items in the mystery box (currently only one for me, the go kart track…but I don’t want a duplicate) then you’d have to clear these out before any new boxes/new items appear in the future? Meaning, even if it is a duplicate…do we have to buy everything that’s there in order to get a new collection?
We can’t say for sure until it happens, and we’ve had a few boxes. But I think the box is going to change completely every time between events.
I forgot to ask if anyone else is having trouble scrolling through the blog page..
For example. With this post I can go as far as ( WHAT’S IN THE BOX)
And that’s as I can go.
This time I tapped comments instead of post and was able to post this. I hope my comments make sense. I haven’t been able to get any sleep.😴
……..😎
Thank you for the very thorough Shattered Dreams Mystery Box info, Alissa (seriously? without TSTO Addicts, this Game App would fall apart under where EA lacks!) ☺️
My opinions –
🪙’s earned from Daily Challenge 👍🏻
🪙’s bought 👎🏻
Content worth the 🪙’s 👍🏻
🪙’s earned, but a Mystery Box only appearing if you complete an Event 👎🏻
(it’s guaranteed if I don’t want to Grind for the New Content? then I don’t complete an Event – and New 🪙’s for a New Mystery Box won’t encourage me to complete any Event if I don’t care if the New Content!)
🪙’s never expire 👍🏻
🪙’s cannot be traded in for 🍩’s 👍🏻 & 👎🏻 (lol – 12 🍩’s for 1 🪙 is still 🙄 right?)
This is definitely something New in the Game App that’s part Freemium (HIGH), but it is definitely EA going – “if you really want it? then sometimes you’re going to have to really buy it!” (LOW) …. I realize that EA needs to maintain some sort of profit in this Game App, so here’s my opinion – Fix the Game App first! You lose more Long Time Tappers with inadequate Tech Support (who can’t help you no matter how courteous they are!) then attract New Tappers via New Things! Too many have bailed on TSTO that spent real 💵’s (there are so many Tappers that I miss!) due to certain Game App issues which are never solved (ie Rollback Glitch!)
i was thinking of getting the Truckasaurus 2 bundle if there was some bonus associated with it. Will there be a SIB?
And, it would make sense for EA to INCREASE the tokens with higher boxes. If I can get 1 for $2, why would I spend $10 for only 3. Maybe 6 or 7 would be more enticing to folks.
There will be but not likely until later in the event, as it serves no benefit to the event itself. But there is no bonus % associated with it. Honestly, zero benefit to buying it other than because you like it.
I haven’t gotten any shattered dreams tokens, but I have a box for it. My box has items, that IMHO I consider crap.
Sorry E A. …..LOL
……..😎
Nope, I think you’re mistaking the Hell on Wheels Box for the Shattered Dreams one. Shattered Dreams one won’t appear until May 10th at the absolute earliest.
As always . You are correct !
….😎….LOL
Allan,
I would heed the advice Alissa offered up in the YouTube video and skip this $9.99 Truckasaurus II (no benefits at all!) This is one of those rare occasions when Alissa literally is telling you “don’t buy it!” and she’s right!