Today's Stranger's Swag: Lipizzaner 7/28

Today's Stranger's Swag is a Lipizzaner, animal, [148/88]

Daniela's Deal (not) 7/27

*facepalm* If I thought I would be playing for another year, I might take this up but....no.

Official Mafia Wars Blog tries to explain Daniela's Deal

From what I read, it seems to me Zynga is saying, "Hey folks, buy 260 Reward Points now, let *us* hold them for you, and we will give you ten Reward Points per week for the next 52 weeks" And yes, that is double the money. With the mess that's been going on the past 16 weeks, I can't say that I see myself playing  in 52 weeks. Sorry kids, I'm just not that into the spending on the game.

*updated* Riches To Rags Mission Event 7/27-8/4

Chance to win an Auctioneer (henchmen [192/120])

Lisa Jenning is probably the boss we will be beating down later.

Today's new event is a Mission event, Riches To Rags, announced earlier on the Official Mafia Wars Blog

Mission #1: The Traitor

This will use a fair amount of energy to get the 20 Satchel Charges, one part begging, and one part robbing. The reward for completing this mission is one

Yangtze River Dolphin, animal,  [93/149]

Mission #2: The Heist-man

The first thing is Defeat Toshiki, if you click "Go Now" you will be redirected to the fight page where you will find Toshiki

Declare a war 2 times, and Get Support from your mafia, this Mission should be easy to complete today, or immediately for a few more Reward Points.

Once The Heist-man is completed you will be rewarded with a Beak

Weapon [150/93]

*UPDATE*

Mission #3: The Stood Up

Collect from your Olympic Stadium 3 times should take 24 hours *or* you can spend the 27 Reward Points.
Job: Evade An Ambush in Chicago will cost 810 energy (do this job 40 times or spend 20 Reward Points)
Rob 22 Olympic Stadiums in London (or spend 55 Reward Points)

Upon  Completion of The Stood Up get one Quick Release Vest, Armor, [150/92]

Mission #4: The Warlord

The first part, ask for 15 Bark Spuds, will post a beg on your wall like this:

The next part is Build 3 Vehicles in the Chop Shop. This part is going to take *me* a couple of days because I had already done my build for this 18 hours. After that fight 150 opponents in London, I will get this part done this morning.
For completing this mission, we get a Mantis, vehicle [92/149]

Mission #5:  The Visitor

This Mission goes pretty quickly:
Part 1: Get 2 crew members.
Part 2: Loot 22 Incriminating Documents from job "Expose a Treachery in your Family" 432 Energy
Part 3: Ice 30 opponents in Brazil
Repeating Loot: Yangtze River Dolphin

Mission #6: The Runner

Part 1: Get support from your Mafia
Part 2: Clear 5 robbing boards
Part 3: Help in 5 wars
Repeating Loot: Quick Release Vest

Mission #7: The Reviver

Part 1: Win 2 wars takes 8 hours to complete
Part 2: Win 150 fights in Brazil as much stamina as it takes
Part 3: Collect from your  Underground Station 3 times 24 hours
Repeating Loot: Beak

Mission #8: The Outbidder

Part 1: Build 3 Weapons in Weapons Depot approx time 3 days
Part 2: Job "Contact a Comando Do Candiru Agent" 40 times (lots of energy)
Part 3: Loot 30 Bark Supds? Spuds from fighting in London
Repeating Loot: Mantis


Mission #9: The Revenger

Part 1: Loot 20 Bark Spuds from robbing in London
Part 2: Ice 50 opponents in Chicago
Part 3: Get Support from your mafia (15 Mission Crew)
The Reward for this one is the Auctioneer

*what's next?*

From Don to Dusk sale event 7/26

Announced this morning on  Official Mafia Wars Blog: From Don to Dusk "sale event" has begun.

Since Zynga has been on this Reward Point/Cash/Buy crap event spree I am losing track of what's going on, but here is the last one like this that I remember: Midsummer Manic Sale Event

We can progress through this event by spending 40 Reward Points per day to get to the next level of loot.

Day 1, Secretary, Day 2 Raven's Beak, Day 3, Cooter, Day 4, Poker Player

The Loot is good, and may even remain usable for a little while

Day 5, Close Shave, Day 6, White Nosed Coatis, Day 7, Loan Shark

***READ THE FINE PRINT***

Good Luck, I'm not sure if I am going to participate in this one or not. 

Robbing Spree Wrench Knobs Ask button gone 7/26

For the Robbing Spree event the Ask for More button is gone.

Since there are two more days left in the event, I went to the Support tab in the game and checked there

Robbing Spree FAQ it is stated there that the last day to ask for these was July 25 and now these are purchasable by Reward Points.

"New" Boss Fight?

Zynga never ceases to amaze me.  The timing of the ridiculous "New" Boss Fight with Mimi La Noir is impeccable.  Yesterday we witnessed what was probably one of the most epic fails the game has ever known.  Hundreds of items were suddenly giftable.  Some of those were stupidly made giftable (in my opinion), like gold treasure chest keys and knob wrenches. Of most interest to me were special parts and exotic animal feed (EAF), because I always need more.  But in classic Zynga fashion, they OVER corrected and took away MOST of the items' giftability.  No more gifting of special parts and EAF.  In half a day the trading community went through an entire life cycle - reincarnation, life, and death - déjà vu all over again. Coinciding with this catastrophe was the return of the family boss fight (FBF). What I find to be another FAIL is that nothing is really different.....

When rumors spread of the return of the FBF, I'd hoped there might be all new loot to fit in with the evolution of current loot stats.  But of course I was an idiot for thinking Zynga would do something rational.  With the exception of maybe a couple superior items that i don't recall seeing before, and of course the new holy grail item (the Quick Draw 203/203), nothing has changed other than the name.....Mimi La Noir (facepalm).  Even the top item is not that awesome.  With how much loot scores have shifted upward, I would have expected the top item to be higher than 203/203.  Hell, the crates in the market place offer items that are approaching 200.  Not like it matters though, since so few people have ever earned the top FBF loot item legitimately. I would only see my scores change by 65 points lol. WOW I gotta get one of those :P

In conclusion, I don't even care that the boss fights are back.  It's a big snoozefest.  I'll join the FBFs simply to hand out whatever buffs people are beggin for, but not even the 3.0 stamina/XP ratio interests me.  I'll keep using my stamina on the fightlist and my rivals.

Truly befuddled,

{ℳ} Қetąmῗиe Қῗd =Ʀ²Ƒ=

Family Boss Fight has returned (finally) 7/25

Mimi La Noir

I am *so very* to have the Family Boss Fight back.

The loot could use a bump up

(Superior)

(Rare)

(Rare page 2)

(Uncommon)

(Uncommon page 2)

The third Family Property....

Still not open...

They're BACK! Rob squads return! 7/24

Rob Squads have returned!

This is how mine looks now versus how it looked two nights ago.

Let's get to robbing!

Rob Squads Missing

UPDATED Gifting Insanity

****UPDATE: Zynga took action, probably too much action, and made many items back to being ungiftable.  Gold Treasure Chest keys being among them, and of course the items needed for the limited time events such as mafia poker.  Some of those are good to not be giftable. UNFORTUNATELY, Special Parts and Exotic Animal Feed are also among the items that are no longer giftable.  Zynga can't get it right to save their lives.  Morons. I RECOMMEND EVERYONE CONTACT CS AND DEMAND SPECIAL PARTS AND EXOTIC FEED BE MADE GIFTABLE AGAIN!****

Well, I am stunned by this recent gifting expansion by Zynga.  It is LONG overdue.  And it's also fraught with error.  Either by oversight or apathy, Zynga has created an unfair advantage for certain players.  Gold treasure Chest Keys are giftable.  The items needed for ALL 3 current limited time events are giftable....which really leaves me scratching my head.  The knob wrenches, the parts for Ripped Rims, AND Poker Cards are giftable....this is obviously a great thing for players with multiple accounts, and an even greater thing for people who have multiple accounts that actually get played often.

I am no judge of people with minis. I have several.  I think minis are one of a few reasons the game survives - they drive the DAU number up considerably.  I'd say AT LEAST half the DAU are mini accounts, if not more than half.  My judgement, as always, is reserved for the idiots at Zynga.

I am, however, excited about the new life this has breathed into the trading community, which was all but dead.  The trading community was a special part of Mafia Wars. Maybe some people who quit playing when trading died out will come back.  I know I will be compelled to do some trading to get my hands on some of these damned treasure chest keys.  I am also pumped that special parts and exotic animal feed are now giftable.

So my final thoughts are: I am saying "Way to go, Zynga" in two very different ways at the same time. One is very sincere, one is very sarcastic.

uh,

{ℳ} Қetąmῗиe Қῗd =Ʀ²Ƒ=

Ripped Rims Build Event 7/24

Didn't we just finish a  Limited Time Property?

When I noticed we have yet another event/special build thing going on this morning I almost fell out of my chair. But here it is. The Ripped Rims: Mafia Wars Official Blog announcement gives a detailed explanation about how this will work.

Clicking on the question mark in the banner reveals this information:

If I read this right, we can collect 45 parts per day.

 We have had events like this in the past. Let's begin with the begging for Rim Spinners from the Home page in-game. Click that and you will see these posts in your news feed.

The stats will go up for the Big Spinning (vehicle) and Spina Spin (henchmen) 

Each build will require a certain number of parts

2nd ****UPDATE**** Missing Rob Squads 7/22

**** UPDATE #2 ****
Zynga is aware of the missing Rob Squads, but it appears to be unintentional
Missing Rob Squads: We are aware and investigating this issue
Please go to that page and click the Bandage so they will *fix it*!
**** UPDATE #2 ****

Now that we have the exciting new Robbing Spree Event our Rob Squads seem to have disappeared.
*UPDATE*
From a reliable source, you can still use Rob Squads in Spockholm Robber BG v 1.08 beta
*UPDATE*

We still have burners, and *yes* the Rob Squads did say "Limited Time" for a very long time, so maybe we just forgot that the time was limited, the way that Zynga forgot that the Third Family Property is still "Coming Soon". 

I did find that I still have all of my Rob Squads in my Boost inventory, so we still have them. Maybe they'll come back later.