The Lucky Streak (or more appropriate; The Woeful Streak) has come to a close. Not all players (free and otherwise) won a Rockstar. I guess I can say I was ‘Lucky’ since on my very last spin I received the Lion’s Mane Fish which was the last loot I needed to collect to win the Bronze Rockstar.
It’s a small consolation prize since this game is more like a runaway train heading for a washed-out bridge that used to span a deep gorge.
Back in 2010, when I began playing Mafia Wars, I was able to complete nearly every event just by putting in some effort and only a little time (I didn’t need to play the game 24/7). Ironically, Mafia Wars generated much more revenue for Zynga back then and the game was still among the top 50 games on Facebook in DAU and MAU.
The game has changed drastically since 2010. Although my character has grown to level 4458 I find the events much more difficult for me to complete. I couldn’t even get 20% of the way through the Robber’s Delight event even though I sit at my computer for many more hours than I did in 2010.
When tasks within the game become impossible to complete one begins to ask themselves; ‘Why am I playing this game and wasting my time on it?’
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Take the ‘new’ Challenge Mission: Moscow event, for example. We are ‘supposed’ to be able to accrue 20 Cycloptics from clearing Robbing Boards and 20 more by fighting in The Arena. Players are reporting having difficulty acquiring Cycloptics when doing both of these tasks. This will leave players up to 40 Cycloptics short each day of the event. Thus making this event that much more difficult to complete. Thus making the event that much less exciting.
My experience with clearing robbing boards is that you ‘must’ have 9 successful robs on a single robbing board to collect just 1 Cycloptic. Even then the Cycloptics do not get rewarded every time. In addition, If I use a Rob Squad or a Burner to clear a Robbing Board I have found that no Cycloptics drop for me at all. I have burned through 30,000+ stamina while robbing to only accrue 5 Cycloptics. From this alone I have derived that this is becoming yet another event in a growing list that I will not completely master.
I have not tested The Arena, yet.
Then there are the events that have the Leaderboards. These include Ice Boards, Job Boards, Family Inheritance, etc…
We will be told that if ‘we don’t like these events then we should ignore them’. That’s all great and good for those who continue to reap the rewards from those events. It IS also counter-productive!
The point of the game (or so I thought) is to grow stronger as you progress through the game. One can’t, however, grow stronger IF they can’t achieve the goals and tasks that are within the game. For players to be dominated and urinated on, as Susej states is his thrill of playing Mafia Wars,
is NOT enticing to us ‘Peasants’ to continue to play this game.
Yes, we could spend money on this game to grow our characters as others may or may not have;
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But, how much money would we need to spend to become competitive with these juggernauts?
Since many players are reaching toward 100,000 personal skill points allocated to their attack, defense, health, energy, and/or stamina this would simply be impossible for the average player to achieve. The cost could easily be more than a years wages for most.
For a player to reach 100,000 personal skill points in each skill set they would need to spend;
| 20 Health – 100,000 / 20 = 5,000 --- 5,000 * 12 RP = 60,000 RP --- 60,000 RP / 1000 = 60 Purchases --- 60 * $200 = $12,000 ($6,000 @ 50% off) | 6 Attack/Defense/Energy Stamina – 100,000 / 6 = 16,667 --- 16,667 * 12 RP = 200,004 RP --- 200,004 RP / 1000 = 201 Purchases --- 201 * $200 = $40,200 ($20,100 @ 50% off) $40,200 * 4 = $160,800 ($80,400 @ 50% off) |
| ----------------- | ----------------- | --------- | ----------------- |
| TOTAL | $12,000 + $160,800 | = | $172,800 |
| @ 50% Off | $6,000 + $80,400 | = | $86,400 |
** Calculations based on starting at 0 and would be lower depending on skill points already on hand **
That’s a fairly expensive movie, if you ask me.
Consider that those numbers above DO NOT include loot purchases from sales events, crates nor events where players buy their way through. They have no bearing on a players Mafia Attack/Defense strengths.
Yesterday, June 20th 2013, Zynga asked for players inputs as to what they might like to see in a Mafia Themed game.
Mobsters! We’re trying out ideas for a new mafia themed game. Please share your feedback here-->http://zynga.tm/hpH
All I can say, at risk of repeating myself, is that IF Zynga wants to improve upon this game then they MUST make the game playable by ALL players. That means make the events reasonable and achievable with the paid perk buying a players way through it quicker than working a players way through it.
SLOW DOWN the pace! NOT everyone can be on their computers 24/7.
MAKE THE GAME AFFORDABLE!! Not ALL of us have Donald Trumps bank account! If we did we, most assuredly, would NOT be playing a computer game.
MAKE THE GAME FAIR!! All players should have the same opportunity to complete and compete in ALL events regardless of the money they’ve spent or not.
LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!!
I have tons of ideas that would make this game (or a Mafia Themed game) a much better game than this game is in its current state. I just don’t have the computer knowledge to code it nor the money to hire someone who can. I won’t be giving my ideas out for free however. I have seen how they are taken and twisted into something you end up not liking (The Arena, for example).
I will continue playing Mafia Wars, for now, because I love the concept and I believe the game still has great potential.
I hope you all enjoyed my rant. Thank you for taking a few moments to read it.
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