Daily Nerf Point

Yeah....they freakin' went and nerfed our daily free points, it looks like. I'm at a loss to explain why on earth Zynga thinks any of us give a crap about a few clams. If you do...here 'tis:

It takes clams to make it in Chicago, Mafia Wars' newest city. Here's 5 to 12 of them for being a fan! http://zyn.ga/B5U <-- Claim your FREE CLAMS!

 3 Free Lucky Stash spins

Adventure World Ancient Hammer blooper

Um....thanks? I just got online today, and was greeted with this big pop-up thanking me for trying Adventure World. But...I haven't played Adventure World.

In fact, I have never played Adventure World, and I have it blocked! :D

 But nevertheless, there's the ANcient Hammer in my inventory. Thanks Zynga?

Zynga inquires about Family Progression issues

Ten days ago, I made a post wanting to know how many of you have had or are having issues with your Family Progression timers or objectives getting "stuck". After pressing the issue repeatedly with Customer Support, finally one of the Zyngons wrote back saying that my account had been reviewed for the problem. Since then, the only issue that I've had is the timer and objectives not resetting on nights that I don't complete all of the objectives.

I no longer bother with the forums or Get Satisfaction, as they generally offer nothing but canned answers, no resolutions, and infractions which you may or may not be told about, but I did happen to notice that Super Moderator Rinzler recently made a post about the Family Progression issues.

Hi Players,
Are you still experiencing family progression issues? If so, please reply below with the following information: 

1) Please describe your issue and anything else out of the ordinary you have witnessed. 

2) Please post your Facebook User ID Number, or profile link:
This is almost as important as the issue itself. 

3) Post Browser/Operating System/Flash Version: This helps us find patterns with particular issues. 

The more information and detail that you supply, the faster we can get this resolved. 

All posts will initially be hidden from public view, but will be moved to another location and made public if they contain no personal or other confidential information. 

Thanks!
-Rinzler

I can't imagine that many people would want to post their info on the forums, given the kind of behavior that moderators allow to go on there, so I made a test response to the thread to verify that posts are indeed private.

If you are having issues with Family Progression, please go to this forum thread and make your report.

Robbing Boards Open in Chicago

Robbing boards are now available for the clearing in Chicago!

For now all I see are Truck Shops, and I hear the ratio is not so hot. 

Time to upgrade those properties, ya think? 

Go HERE to send Chicago property building parts. 

Giving is receiving. 

3x Brazil Mastery

This banner just popped up on my Mafia Wars homepage banner, so it looks as though we will be able to get extra mastery when doing Brazil jobs until this coming Tuesday afternoon.

Using your Brazil crew member Strategist boost will not double the 3x mastery, however it does still double the original amount of mastery.

For instance, if you get 5% mastery on a job normally, you'll get 15% mastery with the 3x mastery event, plus another 5% mastery if your Strategist is active.

Snakewhipper

84 Attack 142 Defense

+ 4 Defense

Available in the Marketplace now for 46 Reward Points, there are a little over 3,000 left. 

*cough*overpriced*cough*

30 September - FAN BLAST : Skill Point

Biker Clubhouse

The Biker Clubhouse just became available for building. Following in the suit of the other recent new properties, you will have only one week in which to upgrade it.

Doesn't look like any new parts will be required. We've seen the Plaster, Cordless Drill, and Reciprocating Saws as building parts for the other limited-time upgradable properties.

The Biker Clubhouse offers a slightly better defense stat starting at level 7. I've heard that property builds have been nerfed, and if that's true, Zynga is going to need to offer better stats than this or it simply will not be worth even building the properties.

Worldwide Mafia Wars Meetup: October 8th

I didn't see any solid plans for a Nashville, Tennessee meet-up, but if anyone knows of one in the Middle Tennessee area, please let me know. I know there're Mafia Wars players in my area; I always get excited when I see local hits to the blog :0)

October 8th, 2011 is the next Worldwide Mafia Meetup Day! 

Join us in the fun by planning your own Mafia Wars 3-Year Anniversary Meetup with other mafia fans. Go and tell your friends to RSVP now!  

Pair of Pet Tigers and 60% off Reward Points

Today's free gift, as you probably already know, is the Pair of Pet Tigers. Again, Zynga doesn't tell you the attack or defense stats of the item because they'd much rather tell you that Reward Points are 60% off. I wouldn't get too excited about the Reward Points sale, if I were you. I'll elaborate.

I went digging in my inventory to find the Pair of Pet Tigers, and you can see it has an attack stat of 88 and a defense stat of 66. This makes it marginally better than the new class of loot that was recently made giftable.

But back to those Reward Points--why flush your money down the toilet? That's exactly what Zynga is doing to the game, and it seems obvious (to me at least) that they are simply trying to wring every last dollar they can from us before tossing us away.

They haven't started listening to us. They continually nerf the game. And the numbers don't lie about player response, but Zynga isn't listening to that, either. And why do you think that might be? I don't think Mafia Wars is going to see its 4th anniversary, frankly. Zynga has obviously decided Mafia Wars isn't worth sustaining, because they are doing absolutely nothing to sustain it and everything to drive players away.

As if you should need one more reason not to buy Reward Points, I suggest you read Jennifer's post about the sale. Or rather, read why she doesn't feel that she can buy more reward points at 60% thanks to a royal screwing by Zynga on a prior and rather significant purchase.

I used to spend smaller amounts of money on the game regularly. My "allowance money", if you will. I stopped for awhile because my husband lost his job. He's back to work now, but suffice it say it's become glaringly obvious what Zynga thinks about Mafia Wars. I won't be investing a single penny and I highly recommend you consider the same course.

29 September - FAN BLAST : Stamina Point

There is a Disturbance in the Force

...several disturbances, in fact. I suddenly found myself booted out of the game, after which I was greeted with a pretty white screen. My Family member Ann found invisible Family Boss Fights (shown above). Some are receiving strange errors in a pop-up message, others can't get in at all. Still others report that many scripts suddenly stopped working. I noticed I couldn't click to change the view Recent News in my Player Updates.

Close those Spinning Bullets

No, really! Now you can! I was about to yell when I tried to click in a war and got the Spinning Bullets again, but I noticed it now has a "close" option. And even better, it works! ETA: I forgot I had the Spockholm toolbar installed, which is where this new option comes from. Creds to them, NOT Zynga.

Spinning Bullets have always annoyed me (and many others, I'm sure) because once they appeared, you had to wait for them to disappear unless you wanted to refresh the whole freaking game. When I happened to be unframed when this occurred, Arun's RBD Killer was put to use, but I don't often take the time to unframe any more.

Thank you Zynga Spockholm, this is one minor change that will probably save me a lot of headache.

Thanks Jennifer :P 

Getaway Cruiser

Today's Mafia Wars 3 year anniversary gift to its players was the updated Getaway Cruiser. I could be wrong, but I think they also want us to be Reward Points :D Just a guess.

In their haste to make sure you knew Reward Points are 50% off right now, they neglected to provide any attack or defense stats on the Getaway Cruiser. So here they are: 61 attack and 83 defense. And Zynga was kind enough to offer you the chance to buy another Getaway Cruiser for 15 Reward Points.

Considering that yesterday all loot with a top stat of 85 or less was made giftable, you would have to be pushing the stupid envelope pretty aggressively to purchase another Getaway Cruiser at that price. At any price, really.

:0)

28 September - FAN BLAST : Energy Point

Tactical Shotguns Revisited

If you got the not-so-awesome Tactical Shotgun of old a few days ago, and wondered why everyone else got the better Tactical Shotgun with upgraded stats--check your game again. I just got this pop-up and now I do have the updated Tactical Shotgun in my inventory.

MORE Declare War Issues

Supposedly, the Declare War feature was "fixed" today for Chrome users. That may be referring to players who were unable to post Wars, I'm not sure, but something else is suddenly broken. Why am I not at all surprised?

Myself and apparently also some other players are experiencing a ridiculous amount of loading time and spinning bullets when trying to load a war. Or, if I'm lucky enough to not get the spinning bullets just for loading the War, I get hit with them as soon as I try to click on a target.

85 and under Loot Made Giftable, 426 items

The Zyngons have just announced that 426 more loot items have just been made giftable.

Mobsters!
We are happy to announce that we have heard your feedback and have increased the level of loot that you can gift! We’ve added 20 levels of awesome items, increasing the ceiling from 65 to 85! Making 426 more items giftable is something we’re excited to do as part of Mafia Wars’ 3-Year Anniversary Celebration! Now's a great time to dig into your inventory and share the loot!
- The Mafia Wars Team

To simply, they're talking about loot items with an attack or defense score of 85 or less.

da Real McCoy

The Real McCoy, is 1 of 6 Chicago Achievements and "Earned by fully upgrading the Speakeasy property in Chicago". So you start building a multi-story building that magically transforms to a riverboat steamer on its final stage. That makes senses, not!

The achievement pop-up and accompanying +1 skill point should appear as soon as you finish the final upgrade.

There are 9 stages and will require a total of 81 of each part.

Part	stage 1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17
	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17
	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17
	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17
	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17

Remember parts drop from jobs but drop rate is so abysmal it's hardly noticeable, you can beg for up to 5 of one part daily, and are still available from gifting, where you can either click on gift links from your Feed or bookmark Dem Chicago Property Parts blog post to send out as free gifts.

TIP 1: completely build the Speakeasy first for the skill point and achievement then the Warehouse for the item crafting and finally the Truck Stop. Or ignore the Truck Stop as the cash generated there is not worth the parts which can be saved for later.

TIP 2: even if you manage to finish all 3 properties or 2 and ignored the Truck Stop, continue to collect at least 162 more of each part as there are still 2 as yet unrevealed properties.

Tip 2, is in light of the fact that this is the first time since Italy, when for a very brief 2 weeks or so all property parts were giftable. If you don't take advantage of that now then consider they could turn off gifting any or all of the total 5 Chicago parts **at any time** they wish and then you will be stuck with begging for your daily 5 parts which would lengthen the time to build out the last 2 unknown Chicago properties.

You can always check your progress from the in-game Inventory screen using the following Filter settings:

Mantis Shrimp Still Available

Collectors! I bet you thought today's Limited Edition Item, the Mantis Shrimp (wtf?)was already sold out. You'll be overjoyed to know that there are still over 4,000 of them left :0)

Mantis Shrimp

These guys have a far worse bite than bark.

141 Attack 83 Defense

Collector's Edition Item 4,110 left in stock

Purchase for 35 Reward Points

27 September - FAN BLAST - Health Point

Youtube Video Tribute For Jose Perez

I put together a video tribute to my friend Jose Perez, a Mafia Wars player who died on September 13th, 2011. He was loved by many. I miss him.

New in game pop-up for Adventure World...play to get item

Pop-Up....Oh look....a new zynga game they want us to play in order to get a single item ... read the small print... level 5 by 09/30...reward given on 09/30. Stats: 102 Attack 50 Defense....but is it worth the time to you? Reminds me of the prior zynga corroboration attempts from cafe world, etc. So unless you are a collector, or just have the extra time...it's probably a pass. An~isty

Henchmen Are Here

All of the people items previously categorized as Armor have been converted to Henchmen. Stock up to stay competitive and be sure to arm every member of your Mafia for maximum benefit. 

As was announced last week, the new Henchman category will be introduced to the inventory system very soon. Some players may notice that their total Armor stats will decrease when this happens. This is because many of the items previously listed in your Armor category will have been moved into the Henchmen group. Although this will primarily affect your Armor, there may be a few items from other categories that will be moved into the Henchmen group as well. If you notice a decrease in any of your original item categories, you should note an increase in your new Henchmen one, and your total combined score should actually be larger than when people items were categorized as Armor.

If it appears that your stats have not adjusted correctly, try purchasing an item from a city store using city cash and then visiting your fight page. Doing so will trigger your inventory to update, at which point it should reflect your most recent totals for each category.

Loot Upgrades, Mafia Wars 3-Year Anniversary Upgraded Classics

I guess they finally figured out that we didn't care for the old bullet-proof vests and tactical shotguns :0) I'm dubious about calling any of those items "classic", though. While the upgraded stats will come in handy for some, these are still rather sub-par... Anyway, also notice they indicate some Chicago loot will be upgraded as well.

Mafia Wars is celebrating its 3-year anniversary by giving away some cool throwback gifts! Play Mafia Wars everyday to receive a free classic item that has stood the test of time in Mafia Wars. We've already given away some of the originals, but we'll be switching to updated and upgraded versions today, so come back to see the old made new:

 

Mafia Wars 3-Year Anniversary Upgraded Classics
Bullet Proof Vest (63/89)	Getaway Cruiser (61/86)	Pair Of Pet Tigers (88/66)	Tactical Shotgun (87/68)

In other loot news, some rare Chicago items are about to receive an upgrade as well, with stats more deserving of items used by original gangsters.