The end is near...for me anyway.

It has been far too long since i blogged.  And I think I finally have something to say.  It is time to quit mafia wars.  I am sure it won't be easy for me, and might take a couple months to totally detox, but it is clear to me now:  I should not spend any more money on this game and should start spending less time on it.  Zynga doesn't deserve meh :P

It has been a fight with zynga from the beginning.  They have fought the player base tooth and nail.  They killed our beloved trading communities.  They loaded us down with event after event.  They failed to fix glitches and errors that were actually annoying and instead made changes to the way we became accustomed to playing the game. They bombarded us with "fire sales"/marketplace promotions.  They continue to offer double builds at very annoying and limited times that are hard for working americans like me to catch (when the obvious simple solution is to make the double builds triggered individually on a timer).  They continue to dump limited time properties on us.  They created an exclusive "VIP" program.

They drove away millions of mafia wars players.

I think the final straw was that I, like many of you, now no longer get proper experience points when attacked, or am being limited to a certain amount. I am now relegated to 25k experience every 5 minutes. (But the final, FINAL, straw was reading of yet ANOTHER limited time property, the Naughty one or whatever it is going to be called.)

Mafia Wars has been a central part of my life for 4 years solid now.  It has been so much fun, and I have made so many real friends.  Zynga truly created something special. But they screwed it up beyond all recognition (i believe the expression is FUBAR :v ).  I mean, this game has gone to places that I don't think Mark Pincus could have ever dreamed up.  The social side of this game is HUGE!!! So many war pages and family pages and help centres and secret groups and blogs and on and on.  I have seen true friendships, and relationships, and even a marriage result from mafia wars.  I have seen amazing teamwork, and hierarchy, and organisation, and camaraderie.  And the camaraderie...that is what really makes it hard to quit.

But it is time.  The game has become not unlike a drug addiction.  The fun part of getting high every day is over. Now it's become this miserable slavery of spending and time consumption and dealing with zynga's crap.

TO ZYNGA AND MARK: you ruined this game.  Just like you are ruining your company. I hope you go bankrupt Mr. Pincus.  That might make me feel better about the stupid amount of money i sent you.

TO ALL MY FRIENDS and FOES: I love you all. You made this game fun and amazing.  Without you there is no mafia wars. And so many of you are leaving the game.

TO ALL THE QUITTERS:  Yes i have strongly disliked the quitters, but soon, I am joining you ;)

From the artist formally known as {ℳ} ßrµ╬µ§, I bid you adieu.  

There is a boycott set to begin at 12:00 AM June 23rd Pacific (California) Time. The FB page for the boycott group is here
The countdown timer can be found here

Spotlight Sale "Event" *Repeat* 9/02

Spotlight Sale "event" Repeat.  Reward points are *not* %50 off as they were Spotlight Sale *event* 8/22

Which will probably work just like the last Sale Event which asked us to buy 25 items  Edge of Triumph Sale *event* The Grand Prize for buying all those items is one Comedian, nice stats.

Here is the cute little bar we are supposed to fill up with the 25 purchases. I clicked the cute little question mark and got the fun pop-up which says in the small print at the bottom

Items purchased for less than 5 Reward points, Treasure Chest and Skill Point Reallocation do not count towards the prize. Well, last time items that sold *at* 5 RP did not count, so it *should* say, items selling for 5 RP or less don't count, but *whatever*. I am staying on my Mafia Wars Spending Diet. 

Spotlight Sale *event* 8/22

Another Sale "event". Reward Points are %50 off again.

Which will probably work just like the last Sale Event which asked us to buy 25 items  Edge of Triumph Sale *event* The Grand Prize for buying all those items is one Comedian, nice stats.

Here is the cute little bar we are supposed to fill up with the 25 purchases. I clicked the cute little question mark and got the fun pop-up which says in the small print at the bottom

Items purchased for less than 5 Reward points, Treasure Chest and Skill Point Reallocation do not count towards the prize. Well, last time items that sold *at* 5 RP did not count, so it *should* say, items selling for 5 RP or less don't count, but *whatever*. I am staying on my Mafia Wars Spending Diet. 

Mafia Wars Delayed Reality: Athletes Mystery Bags 8/13

The 2012 Olympic Games officially opened on July 27th, more than two weeks ago, and the Closing Ceremony was on August 12th, yesterday. As with *many* recent events, Zynga has been well behind the times, like back on May 4th, when we finally got April Fool's Foolproof Gift Collection Event (facepalm)

On Saturday morning Mafia Wars seems to have accidentally released the Athletes Mystery Bags You can see on that post that I did not get any of the lovely loot items that we normally get with Limited Time special Mystery Bags, like Pa Barker Mystery Bags had the Pa Barker. This morning these new Athletes Bags were back and with a banner to announce them.

Voila! And I was even able to get two of the new loot item released with this bag:

First Step, Weapon [120/160]

Not bad if you can get a few of these. 

Now that they have released this, and all the bogus purchasing events, maybe, just *maybe*, we can get them to open the third Family Property

I'm not holding my breath, and they're not getting me to purchase anything more for now.  My Mafia Wars spending diet continues.

Edge of Triumph Sale Event 8/3

Javelin Thrower, henchmen, stats vary

Another Sale event, and I am on a Mafia Wars spending diet. Oh well... let's see what we've got going on.

Okay so I'm all excited and it says "Buy any 25 items*" oh looky an *asterisk*! What's that about?

Scroll your eyes to the bottom to see, just as in previous "sale events" that "any" means "any item costing more than 5 Reward Points" and voila! The payout of a Javelin Thrower is pretty decent if you are willing to dump that much more cash into this game at this time.

I would think that for spending a minimum of 125 Reward Points to get the top item, it would have an equally high defense as it has attack. I guess not? Pffft. No sale here. Even with 50% off Reward Points, I'm on a serious Mafia Wars spending diet this week.