Saturday, February 4, 2012

MAFIA WARS secret district Smuggler's Haven banner replaces The Slammer

I had to laugh when I saw this. Now that the Mafia Wars secret district The Slammer has come to a close, Zynga thought they'd throw the banner for Smuggler's Haven on your Mafia Wars home page...just to let you know it's there, of course.

Of course, clicking on the home page banner only takes you here.

GIVE ME YOUR MONEY!! (says Zynga)

I just laughed and logged back out.

MAFIA WARS Zynga player survey: The Slammer secret district

Now that The Slammer secret district for Mafia Wars is almost dead and gone, what do you have to say about it? Since I didn't get to play much of this one, I don't have much I can say about it (and maybe that's a good thing).

Zynga wants to know your opinion, so don't be shy:

11R <-- Take a quick survey about this event.

☟ Let your Facebook friends and Families know about this survey by clicking the Share button immediately below this post ☟

MAFIA WARS Starter Packs and Booster Packs -- buy nothing for nothing!

A funny thing started happening in Mafia Wars earlier this afternoon with the offerings of Starter Packs and Booster Packs! Some players are seeing banners and headers in the Marketplace showing these packs for sale for $0.00. Don't get excited, though--they're also offering zero loot items, zero stats, zero reward points, and zero reward card punches. Nada!

Obviously it's some kind of glitch. It's being seen by players who did purchase a Starter Pack already (like me), and by players who have NOT purchased any of these. Some players are seeing no change at all and still have a valid Starter Pack available for purchase.

It struck me as humorous though--buy nothing, for nothing!
(or maybe I should take a break from these boring text books....)

MAFIA WARS skill point reallocation 2/4

Skill Point Reallocation is currently available in the Mafia Wars Marketplace. I'm not sure how long it's been there, so hurry to reallocate now! It can be found under Stat Items > Skill points. If it is not showing there by the time you look, most likely Zynga has already pulled availability for this time.

Hit the Share button immediately below this post to tell your Facebook friends and Families ☟

MAFIA WARS Reminder: secret district The Slammer ends today

Those of you working on the secret district The Slammer in Mafia Wars will want to pick up your pace today, as the secret district will be slamming shut in just over 8 hours!

How well did you do? Did you finish it? I didn't have a chance to even touch this one, I've been way too busy with that Real Life thingie. I'm hoping I can work on the next secret district that comes out, presuming the ratios are good, anyway. (and no, I'm not paying to reopen Smuggler's Haven!)

Good luck!

Hit the Share button immediately below this post to remind your Facebook friends and Families ☟

MAFIA WARS Zynga links changed again

I noticed a few minutes ago when I went to post today's Mafia Wars fan blast (those are the daily free points they post for us on the Mafia Wars fan page) that the link had changed again. First it was Zyn.ga, then it was fun.zynga I think, now today I saw it's zynga.tm. I wondered why that was, and I see the Official Mafia Wars blog has posted an update stating that they've changed the links again. Fortunately, they also say they won't be changing them again for awhile. Now, if only they'd get back to making those This & Next Week posts....

Mobsters,

Because we know that the validity of shortened game links is important to you, we wanted to give you a heads-up that, starting at 12:01am (Pacific Time) on Saturday, February 4th, the links we post to our Facebook fan pages will begin with "http://zynga.tm". These links come directly from us, so you can trust them as legitimate. We realize that we recently changed our shortned links once already. Switching to "http://zynga.tm" should be the last change we make to them for a while.

Thank you for your patience,
The Mafia Wars Team

MAFIA WARS 2/4 fan blast: skill point

Today's free point, I wonder why they changed the links again? Were people still having trouble accessing them from Facebook? Courtesy of the Mafia Wars fan page:

Got skills? You can get a little extra with a FREE skill point!

http://zynga.tm/1N <-- Claim your FREE skill point!

Congratulations! For being a loyal player you have been rewarded with one skill point.

Hit the Share button immediately below this post to share this with your Facebook friends and Families ☟

Friday, February 3, 2012

MAFIA WARS What's with all the Starter Packs?

Yesterday we saw the first of these Starter Packs that are being offered on the Mafia Wars home page and also in the Mafia Wars Marketplace. I got a pretty good deal on one for $6 USD, then the Starter Packs vanished. They reappeared later, but it seems that not everyone is being offered the same deal. What's up with that? The difference is largely in the amount of reward points that come with it, and not all of them offer the same loot items. It might tick some players off if they purchase a certain Starter Pack and then find out there were others. Maybe Zynga should rotate the offers...

On the account where I purchased a Starter Pack for $6, I now only have the option to buy a Booster Pack at a higher price. No thanks!

MAFIA WARS fan blast 2/3: stamina

Courtesy of the Mafia Wars fan page:

Keep fighting & robbing with a FREE stamina point!

http://fun.zynga.com/1JJ <-- Claim your FREE stamina point!

Share this with your Facebook friends and Families ☟

MAFIA WARS group sale: Short-Eared Fox

There's a new group sale for Mafia Wars players, located on your home page banner and also in the Mafia Wars Marketplace. This item is the Short-Eared Fox. As with all group sales, the earlier you buy, the cheaper the item is. As more people buy, its stats will go up, but so does the cost to future buyers. This item will be available for the next week.

Not really a deal in my opinion, even at 15 reward points. But maybe if they didn't always start these in the middle of the night I might try it out once if I can get in at the Bronze level. Thanks to Zynga's horrible pricing, these items rarely increase fully in stats, though.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

MAFIA WARS Dasvidaniya mission event: mission 10, Aftermath

Aftermath is the 10th mission in the Dasvidaniya mission event for Mafia Wars. It's a doozey, but not unexpected. The first objective wants you to build 3 Weapons in your Weapons Depot. Assuming you can build 1 right away, you're looking at a minimum of 36 hours wait here. The next objective wants you to loot 15 Huecuvas from the job WIPE OUT A FAVELA STREET GANG, which is in Heliopolis, Brazil. 15 might not sound so bad, but that's a relatively high energy cost job, so get started as soon as you can. Icing 75 opponents in New York shouldn't be terribly hard to complete, and hopefully I should get that accomplished before I'm ever done with the first two objectives.

Time required for this mission: at least 36 hours

Grand total: 7 days, 2 hours

**that's forced wait time for building and wars by my calculation--functions that have a timer; this does not include waiting for energy and stamina to refill.

Aftermath

Ivankov Dimitrovich

But something ... someone wants me to stay alive. I am needed.

Objectives

0/3 BUILD 3 WEAPONS IN THE WEAPONS DEPOT.
Plan for the future.
0/15 LOOT 15 HUECUVAS FROM JOB: "WIPE OUT A FAVELA STREET GANG".
Prevention is better than the cure.
0/75 ICE 75 OPPONENTS IN NEW YORK.
New opposition will keep on rising. You keep fighting, my friend.

MAFIA WARS Starter Pack and Booster Pack

You'll get a pop-up the next time you enter Mafia Wars about a Starter Pack at a special price. If you choose to bypass the pop-up, you can, for now, still locate this special in the Mafia Wars Marketpace. For $6 USD, you get:

3 of the new Mime Crates, 6 stamina, 6 energy, 2 Reward Card punches, 30 reward points, AND:

Hammerhead Goggles

163 94

Ringmaster

94 163

I couldn't help myself in this case, it's a pretty good deal for once! Normally, it costs about $6 just for that many reward points.

I was next offered this Booster Pack. It's pretty much the same items, but at a higher price. I didn't partake of this one... $28 in one fell swoop on Mafia Wars kinda makes me cringe, and I'm on a real tight budget.

If you purchase these, MAKE SURE you go to Facebook and CLEAR YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION. Facebook doesn't tell you in any obvious way, but any time you make ANY purchase through Facebook, Facebook stores your payment information. That's why spammers and scammers are always trying to get your account information. Clear that out of there double-quick.

On Facebook, go to Account Settings > Payments > select Payment Methods. You'll be prompted to enter your Facebook password, go ahead and do so. You can now manage your Payment methods and remove the payment info that Facebook just stored "on your behalf".

Brazil: Smuggler's Haven Secret District: it's back!!

Brazil's first secret district: the Smuggler's Haven released back in Aug. 2011 is back again. Presumably those that did not get a chance to finish on the first go-round can have another crack at it. I've finished to Ruby the last time and the only reason to do it again is for the additional farming for 3 loot items for the related skills.

10 of each for 5 Attack.
25 of each for 5 Defense.
50 of each for 5 Skills.

My character is not built for energy farming (only 2600 energy here) and especially not at Ruby levels so the only saving grace is that they kept somewhat ok ratios with all but one Job over 2.00 ratio. Remember it was nerfed at least once when it was first released. Hopefully they don't nerf their nerf.

Best
Help Defend the Haven from Police : 2.23 : 594 Energy Req'd

Worst
Recover Lost Cargo : 1.47 : 1130 Energy Req'd

Oh and you may need to get Life Savers as a consumable if you don't have enough from the previous time in your Inventory. Life Savers are again available on Free Gift page. Don't expect 100% gift returns from people, if they plan on skipping this re-release and/or their ZMC is bogged down with new Family Property, the Reinforced Concrete. Be smart and post on your Wall asking who needs them and send to those that like or comment on your post, knowing they are more likely to return the gift.

~~Good Luck!~~ A couple hours after this post, they decided to slap a 35RP pay-to-play fee to access the re-release. Well, I for one, say F.U.Z.!!!

MAFIA WARS new fight loot, special event loot items added 2/2

A whole truckload of new loot items have been added to the Mafia Wars inventory! Including...drum roll please...NEW FIGHT LOOT! These are actively dropping, from what I'm being told.

Iberian Lynx (A:109 D:47) [Animal] from Fighting

Weightlifter (A:46 D:106) [Henchmen] from Fighting

Cyborg Exoskeleton (A:107 D:45) [Armor] from Fighting

Boom Rifle (A:49 D:108) [Weapon] from Fighting

Unfortunately, these aren't really great items as far as fight loot goes. I know these aren't even active items for some players. Zynga should consider something a little better for fight loot.

These items are probably from the Mime Crates that were just added:

Powder and Paint (A:104 D:144) [Armor] from Marketplace

Exploding Cards (A:144 D:104) [Weapon] from Marketplace

Mime-mobile (A:104 D:142) [Vehicle] from Marketplace

Eastern Spotted Skunk (A:157 D:114) [Animal] from Marketplace

Anti-Print Gloves (A:157 D:112) [Armor] from Marketplace

Street Performer (A:113 D:158) [Henchmen] from Marketplace

Bulletproof Bowler (A:123 D:172) [Armor] from Marketplace

Mime (A:173 D:122) [Henchmen] from Marketplace

And here's a whole bunch of "special event" loot items. None of these items present any real clues as to what they're for, so we'll have to wait and see. I hope to goodness these are for separate events that won't be crashing into our Mafia Wars game at the same time. And I hope it's not another dumb Marketplace event.

Fingerprint Scanner (A:75 D:132) [Armor] from Special Event

Undercover Vest (A:112 D:70) [Armor] from Special Event

Great Skua (A:72 D:114) [Animal] from Special Event

Night Switch (A:117 D:73) [Vehicle] from Special Event

Assisted Suicide (A:74 D:119) [Weapon] from Special Event

Plated Arm Guard (A:121 D:75) [Armor] from Special Event

Stage Magician (A:77 D:124) [Henchmen] from Special Event

Dhole (A:126 D:78) [Animal] from Special Event

Anti-Glare Face Visor (A:80 D:128) [Armor] from Special Event

Futura XK (A:130 D:82) [Vehicle] from Special Event

Rust 'n' Bone (A:84 D:132) [Weapon] from Special Event

Needle (A:72 D:114) [Weapon] from Special Event

Velvet Worm (A:116 D:73) [Animal] from Special Event

Swamp Ski (A:74 D:118) [Vehicle] from Special Event

Anti-Flame Suit (A:120 D:75) [Armor] from Special Event

Ring Blade (A:76 D:122) [Weapon] from Special Event

Car Salesman (A:125 D:77) [Henchmen] from Special Event

Dugong (A:79 D:127) [Animal] from Special Event

Electric Riot Shield (A:129 D:81) [Armor] from Special Event

Wave Smasher (A:83 D:131) [Vehicle] from Special Event

Spinal Tap (A:133 D:85) [Weapon] from Special Event

Hit the Share button immediately below this post to share this info with your Facebook friends and Families ☟

Mafia Wars from a Player's Perspective