10 September - FAN BLAST : Energy Point

Hurricane Irene Relief: Rescue Chopper

The Players asked for it, and we got it! The Rescue Chopper is now available in the Marketplace, which you can buy with Reward Points. The proceeds are for aiding the mess left behind by Hurricane Irene. Someone recently pointed out that it wasn't a Hurricane that did the damage - but nevertheless, Hurricane Irene was the cause.

Earlier this year, we pulled together for something very similar, the Disaster Relief Truck, to benefit victims of a reign of tornadoes in the southeastern United States.

One thing we never found out, was how much we raised and in what ways we helped the tornado victims. I recall I pestered Blue-Eyed Nate about it for awhile, because we wanted to know how this benefit was affected if we paid for the Relief Item with already-accumulated reward points, and what if we bought reward points at a discount? But he said there were complicated algorithms involved.

This time Zynga has attached a general price tag of $3, and $3 is how you get the item.

This sorta sucks for me. My husband got laid off last month, and I'm a part-time student, so we won't be able to invest even $3 at this point. Were I able to use reward points, that'd be different. But, on the other hand, this is much more clear-cut and hopefully direct. 100% of the purchase price is supposed to go towards helping those affected by the disaster.

This is one purchase from Zynga you should make if you're able.

Brazil Jungle Map consumable

As mentioned on this week's MW livecast, sometime next week we will be seeing a new Brazil mission that will segue into another Brazil Secret District, titled "Eldorado". Now the only way to find your way to Eldorado will require some navigation by using a Jungle Map. So further digging around Inventory uncovered it.

As you can tell from the above pix, the Jungle Map is a consumable item with 0/0 stats.

You can start sending them out as gifts to your mafia by clicking on the link below, if you are so inclined.

http://bit.ly/MsendJungleMap

Of course use the link *at your own risk*. There is really no way of telling if the Big Brother Z will let you keep what you have for Jungle Maps when Eldorado finally does get released. So really don't come crying back to us if they do indeed get the rollback treatment. Ya 'ave been warned...

A Particular Person Called Ben: A Mafia Wars Customer Service Story

Jason R., Godfather of [M.P.R] recently contacted Customer Support with some specific feedback, and he received a confusing response. Please see the post in its entirety HERE on the [M.P.R] blog.

 “I would like this message passed to Ben the new community manager for Mafia Wars. . . ."

That would be Ben AKA Don Perogi. He is not a new face at Zynga, and is the new face of Mafia Wars Live since Nate fled screaming from the tyrranical clutches of the Zyngons (ok, that last part was a slight bit of literary license on my part...).

Jason addressed some clear and valid concerns and feedback in his message, and was surprised to receive this response from Customer Support:

"I understand that you are trying to reach a particular person called Ben, I’ll be passing this information with a different department Jason, but if it is possible for you it would help if you provide us the full name for this person so that we can reach him."

::scratches head::

They don't know who Ben is??

And what's this 'other department' the CSR was forwarding the message to? And why? Much of Jason's feedback was specifically for community managers. 

09 September - FAN BLAST : Health Point

Where To Find Cuban Mercenaries

background image courtesy of Gerry Pacher

With less than 4 days left before the reclosing of Cuba, some players are still scrambling for Cuban Mercenaries. If are you don't have Facebook friends eager to give these things away, you can farm for them fairly easily if you know where to look.

And you don't have to spam your friends, either.

Cuban Mercenaries can first be found in the El Soldado tier in Cuba, from the job Establish Contact With The FRG. Actually, the FRG is a common theme when looking for Cuban Mercenaries in Mafia Wars. With Top Mafia bonuses, this one comes out to about 1.70 XP/NRG ratio.

In the next tier, El Capitan in Cuba, you'll find another FRG job that puts out Cuban Mercenaries, Meet With The FRG Leadership. This one has a better ratio that the last one, at about 1.82.

In the El Jefe tier, you can also find Cuban Mercenaries dropping from the job Help The FRG Steal A Truckload Of Weapons. This one has better ratio of 1.88 - almost 1.89, and that's actually the best ratio you're gonna get for Cuban Mercenaries in Cuba job tiers.

There are a few other FRG jobs, but they don't drop Cuban Mercenaries.

Gold Mystery Bags are back

It seems that Zynga has decided to grace us with Gold Mystery Bags again. You won't be able to miss it, as there is not one...

...but TWO advertisements on your Mafia Wars home page banner. Once it again it says they are here for "one day", but we know how that goes.

08 September - FAN BLAST : Defense Point

Mafia Wars Live Recap

For those of you who do not have the time (or the patience) to sit through the Mafia Wars Live Broadcast we have done it for you! So you can hear about all the new features coming to Mafia Wars this week and in the near future. I am not going to post the Question and Answer session. I will just get to the stuff we all want to hear, what’s new, what’s fixed or what’s nerfed or soon to be nerfed. For those of you who would like to view the rebroadcast in its entirety go here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17128666

The first few minutes of the broadcast were plagued with technical issues so they did a little pre record and got it right up for us. 

~

First up was a recap of events last week and this week. As we know Cuba reopened and there have been two subsequent Time Sensitive Missions of which Monday 9/12/2011 will be the deadline for Cuba and the Mission: “Out of Time”. So if you have not hit Cuba hard to get that Ruby Mastery or to Capitalize on all the new Cuba loot, now is the time!

Next up was the review of Phobia Crates which are available right now in the Marketplace. If you are a collector the items in the crates are pretty decent stat wise and the artwork is well done. If not save those RP’s for refills or Skill Points which pay better dividends in the long run.

Pun Intended! Mafia Wars is having a Mafia Wars Family Boss Fight Taunt Contest. They are looking for something scary, punny or sadistic to add as the “Taunt” details and entry can be found here: http://blog.mafiawars.com/2011/09/announcing-the-mafia-wars-family-boss-fight-taunt-contest.html

Now to the good stuff or not so good stuff if you already feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to do within Mafia Wars.

~

New Crafting Property will be releasing sometime today or tomorrow. The new property will be called “The Hawkeye Sports Bar”. The items that we will be able to craft will include Skill Points. There is a catch. You will be allowed to upgrade this property as much as you can within a week. After which the items you create will be forever at the level you were able to upgrade the property to. I have to say that this seems to be another RP gimmick, with consequences. I do not care for this at all but I will reserve judgment for when it releases and I am able to see how hard it is to upgrade the property. The plan is that each week an within the near future more of these properties will be featured in NY.

Following in line with the push for RP purchases a new Marketplace Rewards Card will soon be available and with every 15th RP purchase you will get 15 skill points. On Friday they will be doing a collectible piece for the Hurricane Irene Victims. The piece will be called the “Rescue Chopper” and all proceeds will go to relief. 

~

Coming Next Week and no Specific day or date was given; there will be a new Mission for Brazil entitled “Led Into Gold”. This will be just like the last Mission that led to the Secret District Smuggler’s Haven. “Led Into Gold” will lead into the new Secret District Entitled “Eldorado”. Word is the difficulty will be comparable to Smugglers Haven so stock up on the leveling RP’s to refill for this one. Don’t expect the ratios to be like SH was when it first opened. I can guarantee this one will come pre-nerfed. Last but not least we were left with the prospect of many new exciting things are on the way but they cannot hint at any of it!  Well that’s all from the MW Live Show, thanks for reading! ~BB