Well, Hello Daniela! Is that a cigarette in your hand? Or are you just happy to see me back playing Mafia Wars?
Zynga seems to think that this will draw players either into Mafia Wars or back into Mafia Wars. And it might.
It is more likely that if the DAU rises suddenly it would be more because of current players re-opening their ghost accounts. Players will want to acquire the loots that can not acquired anywhere else than this feature that appears to only be available to new players and players accounts that have been dormant for a while.
I do not know, at this time, how long an account needed to lay in dormancy for this feature to be available on an account. The account used for this posting was my sons account and he is involved in other things now and has no desire of returning to Mafia Wars. He did permit me to use his account in for the purpose of making this post.
Upon re-launching his account I was welcomed by Daniela of Daniela’s Deal Promotions. 
Ok, it looks interesting enough. But Zynga, he’s tough to find because he quit the game about a year ago, or so. He quit playing because the game is just too demanding of one’s time. He quit playing because the game has become a haven for cheats, scripts, and is nothing less than a bully-fest that resembles street gangs moreso than it resembles anything that one would expect in a Mafia (or organized crime) game.
This feature, upon first review, appears to have potential. But that concerns me since too many of the good things that players once loved about Mafia Wars have been modified or overdone and now players despise.
I’ll get this out of the way before I get into my review of this feature. What I, and my son, do like about this feature is also one thing that many existing players will soon be pissed off about. We like the idea that this feature appears that it will allow players to stay in Chicago and build their characters strengths (attack, defense, energy, stamina, and MAS and MDS) before completing the quests and the city and being thrown into the mix with all the monster accounts that are now in the game.
The downside to this feature is that the active players accounts that are not that strong and do not have this feature will soon find fighting on the fight page and getting ices even more difficult than they are now.
I do realize that this feature, or something similar, will likely soon be available for ALL players. Zynga, you will have to provide something similar or you will risk losing even more players.
I can presume this because my sons account gained nearly 25,000 loot stats points to attack and defense within just a couple of hours today alone. Therefore, this feature will ultimately place a much greater importance to a players personal attack and defense skill points.
For the new players this feature does provide a lot of information as players enter the game. The information has a clean appearance and is logical and most should understand it.
Players are also encouraged by stash helpful rewards that are contained in The Briefcase.
Players are then taken through a short tutorial.
Included in the short tutorial is The Arena. Upon new players first look at The Arena they might be confused a bit.
They may not realize that you must be a fast clicker on your mouse in order to do well in The Arena. They, also, are likely unaware of the boosts and how to build them or use them.
I made a short video so that players can see The Arena in action before they access themselves. Check the vidoe out below;
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Or Click Here To Watch The Video
Once you enter The Arena you are committed to joining a fight room.
Once The Arena fight has started you do have the option of quitting it. Take note that you will have to wait until that Arena is over before you can join another one.
The fight rooms in The Arena (for this feature) range from player vs player (1 on 1) up to 6 fighters (including yourself).
If you had the courage to stay and fight, once The Arena is over your scores will be calculated.
You will then be taken to the scoreboard where you can see your results in comparison to those you fought against.
By clicking on the ‘Your Results’ tab you will see all the loot you won during that Arena.
The Arena does have a few bugs.
- It tends to freeze. (DO NOT EXIT THE ARENA - the workaround seems to be to refresh your browser)
- You can’t scroll backwards on the ‘Your Results’ tab.
Also, the loots that you will need to drop for the ‘Point To Make’ Quest (scroll down to see more about this quest) appear to never drop. As you can see below, I fought in 42 Arena’s today and not a single Vampire Squid dropped.
Once you are done in an Arena you will likely want to see your stats and how well you did.
On the home page of this feature you can find 3 locations that provide your stats.
- the top of the page shows your remaining stamina and energy and how much experience you need to level up.
- By clicking The Arena tab in the middle of the page you will find your Arena Stats (exampled in the image above)
- At the bottom of the page you will find 2 tabs. One for your profile (which shows your personal Skill Point distribution) and one for your Inventory (which has your loots attack and defense strengths separated – click the attack or defense icon to view either or).
If you find yourself in need of Energy or Stamina you have a couple of options.
1. You could buy an energy or stamina refill by clicking on the numbers of your energy or stamina stats to bring up a pop-up that gives you the option to buy your energy or stamina.
2. The second option (and more favorable) is to use an Energy or Stamina Pack. Both can be accessed by using the method shown above or simply by clicking the appropriate collect button on the image below.
You can collect one of each every 8 hours.
If/when you decide that you are tired of Chicago you’ll want to finish all 6 Chicago districts to Ruby Level.
You’ll also want to complete all the Quests first. I am hearing that there are currently 6 of them. But, like I have shown above, this account is having trouble getting the Vampire Squids to drop. This account might, therefore, be stuck in Chicago. More research needs to be done to know for sure.
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As you work your way through this new ‘Intro’ feature you will likely level up many times.
If you are new to Mafia Wars you might not be aware that for the long time players they can share a bonus when they level up.
It is apparently not possible to share level up bonus’s while you are working your way through this feature.
